Model Train Weathering Methods for Rolling Stock

An important aspect to creating a realistic looking layout is to weather your trains and rolling stock. I mean, if you have gone to all the trouble of making realistic scenery for your layout, then its goign to look odd if the trains that are trundling around on your tracks are all shiny and new.

While the thought of taking a perfectly good train or rolling stock (particularly if it's brand new) and making it look old and used can make most beginners nervous (and don't worry, there are a lot of experienced modelers out there who feel the same way). But you would be surprised to see just how much difference a well weathered loco can make to your layout.

There are various methods that you can use for weathering, and in the following videos you will see 5 different methods that can be used.

1) Weathering with an Airbrush

In this video, we can see Brian on his first attempt at weathering a CN Box Car

 

2) Weathering with colored pencils

Here we see Bill from Model Railroad Hobbyist showing us how to use water-soluble colored pencils to apply weathering. All of the properties of watercolours but with the application control of a pencil.

 

3) Weathering with paints

Will from modelrailwayreviews.com shows use how he uses paint and brush to apply weathering to his rolling stock.

 

4) Weathering with Chalks

CSXNSModelFan (I don't know his real name) shows how he uses a combination of spray paint and chalks to do his weathering.

 

5) Big Al Mayo's Weather Dipping Method

Despite this video being over 2 years old and the fact that I love Big Al's stuff, his technique of "Weather Dipping " passed me by. See what you think of it.

 

Remember, no matter how eager you are to get started trying out these weathering techniques, I would highly recommend that you practise on some old rolling stock first. You can pick up some absolute bargains through eBay, second hand stores, garage sales, etc which you can use as your test subjects, before attempting to weather something from your own collection.

Weathering isn't something that you need to be scared off, and once you find a method that works well for you (whether its one of the above, a combination, or something that isn't even covered here) you may even find it enjoyable.