Thursday, November 22, 2012

Cart Before the Horse

Today I took a little time and worked on my first piece of HO rolling stock, the Athearn 40' Single Dome Tank Car #73203 in Southern Pacific markings of course!  For just under $20.00 at my retail outlet, it proved to be an outstanding buy considering the level of detail.  I spend the majority of my railroad time deep in N scale, so to have at the big brother of the Micro-Trains Line 65,000 Tank Car was a real treat, and easy on my failing eyesight.  

 This is an example of the cart in front of the horse in the grand scheme of things, but with such a large pallet crying out for a beat-down, I couldn't resist.  This is a pretty straight forward weathering project that I will illustrate on a few other versions of the same tank car (and sharper pictures) in a near future post.  Basically it's a layered overcoat of thinned down concrete color with additional layers on the top sides and then thinned streaks of Reefer Yellow followed by rust and a dark mix of 50% rust and black over the lighter areas.  I use the multi-media philosophy of weathering...what ever works, works.  Lots of washes and highlights, small brushes and good ventilation.  This car is a bit over the top given my time period and  location, but each component has it's story and this one involves a tank car that spent 20 years on the Western Division of the PE, so Salt and Sun play a big factor in the finish.

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