Weathered Locos & Stock

[Podartist79]

Thank you All, very much.

Mike, I’d have liked to totally obliterate the BR insignia altogether but wasn’t sure it was right for my client.
I looked at lots of photos from various sources, and found quite a few where there had been a small effort to make it show through; this is what I ended up depicting.
I will at some stage be undertaking a rebuilt Bulleid Light Pacific to a greater level of grime than this 9F and I believe neither the insignia (nor any lining, with perhaps the exception of the cab side) will be applied (the loco is pre-paint currently).
*Still using oils yes

Paul, thank you for the heads up on this. I had no idea anyone did such a thing - I’ve thought for a while it would be such a great idea!
It would be terrific if the RTR wagon and freight vehicle manufacturers produced some of their vehicles that way - particularly PO wagons.
Faded full liveries would be super too!

Thanks All again,
Neil.

 

[oldravendale]

I will at some stage be undertaking a rebuilt Bulleid Light Pacific to a greater level of grime

Hi Neil, and there's some wonderful stuff here. I admire your artistry.

I know this is an original condition pacific and that it's been on here previously but this is a really filthy Light Pacific (34110) at Seaton Junction on 29th August 1961. Why any effort had been made to clean up the area of the BR totem and the suggestion of a location for the badge which 34110 never carried we'll now never know.



But you need rebuilt examples so to help your research for filthy rebuilt pacifics how about this one of 34040 at Waterloo on 23rd May 1965?



Or 34021 also at Waterloo on 26th March 1966. Even the cab side number hasn't been cleaned.



All are my own photos and copyright is mine.

Brian

 

[King Crab]

Along with a group of other young scruffs I spent many Sundays cleaning locos in Bolton shed.
We got rags and ladders from the stores and were allowed to get on with it.
I never understood why nobody down South did the same, especially as under the grime there was some fine paintwork.
We had to make do with our pets 45110 and 48773, which were kept in pretty good nick.

Were the authorities so unfriendly that cleaning by enthusiasts was out of the question?

Peter

 

[Podartist79]

Hi Neil, and there's some wonderful stuff here. I admire your artistry.

I know this is an original condition pacific and that it's been on here previously but this is a really filthy Light Pacific (34110) at Seaton Junction on 29th August 1961. Why any effort had been made to clean up the area of the BR totem and the suggestion of a location for the badge which 34110 never carried we'll now never know.

View attachment 199370

But you need rebuilt examples so to help your research for filthy rebuilt pacifics how about this one of 34040 at Waterloo on 23rd May 1965?

View attachment 199371

Or 34021 also at Waterloo on 26th March 1966. Even the cab side number hasn't been cleaned.

View attachment 199372

All are my own photos and copyright is mine.

Brian

Evening Brian,
Thank you for your kind comments and also very much for those images - fantastic!
The paintwork is almost like sandpaper.
I shall definitely look to use those when the time comes.
Being an SR fan (actually I love it all as many will know) I do have quite a few references of filthy BLPs - but the more the merrier!
Thank you,
Neil

 

[Quintus]

Hi Neil,
I was B.R. fireman in the 60's, and I can only say your work is spot on.
There were no cleaners at the depot at that time, I think I must have been the last one before I was passed for firing.
I would often wipe over the B.R totem, or cabside number on a loco, especially if it was a "good un", but for the most part, you had to look quite closely to see any other lining.
I remember occasionally if there was a bit of time to spare, I would clean the whole cabside, but perhaps only on one side!
It was not unusual for a loco to have the cabside number wiped over to make it legible, but after a week or so, it would begin to blend in with the rest of the grime, and consequently the number would grin through more than the lining.
Regards
Mike

 

[oldravendale]

Were the authorities so unfriendly that cleaning by enthusiasts was out of the question?

Yes!

 

[LarryG]

Cleaning was a luxury by 1960 on the LMR, as Passed Cleaners were too useful firing. Realistically, most paintwork was too far gone due to lack of cleaning, particularly on Tender and bunker backs.

 

[michael mott]

Neil it is always a pleasure seeing your work. Your skills in the art of making models look as if they’re not models but pictures of full size locomotives is stunning.

Michael

 

[Podartist79]

Mike, Larry and Mike,
Thank you very much for the information and very kind comments.
If I’m getting it somewhere near for people that worked on them in the day, that means a lot to me.

 

[Osgood]

I just wanted to add a line to the discussion upstream regarding texture. My own observations relate to the fact that RTR tends to be perfect, there is very little In the way of panel variation, this is especially true of diesels where you just don’t get that indication that these things are made of sheets of metal, not moulded out of one piece. Very hard to reproduce I know.

Just my ha’penny worth

John

Might this image illustrate the problem?

https://flic.kr/p/fKkhBL

Maybe there is an artistic technique that could go some way towards replicating the effect?

Other pictures of this locomotive with a very dull finish show little or no sign of the unevenness - which of course is accentuated by reflection, although in this one the weathering provides a kind of ghost outline of the more pronounced variations, defining the framework behind the skin:

https://flic.kr/p/hunnmp

 

[John57sharp]

Indeed it does. I guess it’s hard to replicate especially in smaller scales.
Cheers
John

 

[Max M]

Might this image illustrate the problem?

https://flic.kr/p/fKkhBL

Maybe there is an artistic technique that could go some way towards replicating the effect?

You probably could do this but the highlights would represent what you see from where you are standing. Someone else looking from the other end would see a different reflection or depending on where the light is coming from no reflection.
It would also (IMO) only work for a static display. When something is moving we would expect to see any highlight change as the object position changes relative to the light source.
Perhaps a better way would be having a single static bright light to represent sunlight and let the gloss on the object provide the highlight.
This would change as the object moves and if a someone's bonce got in the way you immediately have the effect of cloud.

 

[jonte]

Indeed it does. I guess it’s hard to replicate especially in smaller scales.
Cheers
John

Hi John

Not sure whether it would be viable on larger stock such as diesels/tenders/coaches, but I proposed -somewhere on here - creating this effect using thin panels of annealed brass, suitably ‘distorted’, and then glued onto the sides of wagons/hopper type vehicles, before painting.

I’ve attached a couple of shots of something similar I tried on the replacement (scratchbuilt) gas tanks of a GP-38 to show the type of thing I mean, although this was to replicate a heavy dented prototype I’d seen in photographs so is a little too extreme, but I hope it goes some way to giving you an idea of what you can do with annealed brass:



Apologies to those of you who’ve seen these umpteen times before.

I guess heavy weathering would mask a lot of the effect, but for representing newly shopped stock that you often see, I think the accompanying sheen would show it off to good effect.

Jon

 

[jonte]

Neil:

Take a look at the state of this Pacific at the start of this short video:

Jon

 

[steve50]

Absolutely sublime! There are no words to describe the level of realism you've given those models! (the 9F and the Pannier)
Are there any new techniques we should know about
On the subject of texture, it goes to show how easy it is to overdo texture, in the past I've sometimes added talc to paint on 4mm models when, in that scale, at our viewing distances the texture would be barely noticeable. I've ended up with more texture on a 4mm model than you can see on your models, yet the texture you've put on looks so real!

 

[Brian Daniels]

I think the only way to replicate bodywork like this is a great big hammer! Looks like someone has done it on the real one.

 

[SimonT]

Pugsly went there with rippling on his 37 seven or eight years ago. I would post a link but I can only see a way to link to reddit and other apps and not to here.

 

[daifly]

Pugsly went there with rippling on his 37 seven or eight years ago. I would post a link but I can only see a way to link to reddit and other apps and not to here.

Allow me

Reproduce this!

I am in the midst of scanning several hundred large format colour slides taken by my friend Tim Mills in the mid 1960s. I wonder, if anyone produced a model faithfully reproducing the bent and battered state of these cylinder covers on 60034, Lord Farringdon, at Aberdeen Ferryhill, would they...

www.westernthunder.co.uk

Dave

 

[daifly]

I would post a link but I can only see a way to link to reddit and other apps and not to here.

Simon


Click as shown. Copy and paste the link that is revealed.
Dave

 

[SimonT]

Thank you Dave, I hoped you would step in. I clicked on the icon (actually I pressed everything I could see. Remember press all buttons in sight until it does what you want it to do) and presumed that the URL was for the use on the buttons above. School Day.
Somewhere there must be Matrin's complete thread on the 37 but it didn't come up on mysearch.