Weathering Bachmann 16t Mineral Wagons

[mick]

It's almost 2 months since there was any progress with the 16t mineral wagons but today I've finally managed to get round to fitting my first scale Instanter coupling which can be seen on the wagon pictured below.

The first thing that strikes me when looking at the wagon is how big those lumps of coal are but they're not really so prominent as they might appear here. The links of the coupling need squeezing together a bit more when I go back downstairs.

Here's a few more photos of the same wagon:

For someone as clumsy as myself (all fingers and thumbs) the links are extremely fiddly to assemble and I'm sure it's going to be no easier to couple the wagons together but I won't be doing any shunting so once they're coupled that will be it.

To fit the couplings to the wagon you first have to remove the chassis. The plastic coupling hook is then sliced off with a sharp craft knife and a slot made in the bufferbeam to accept the new metal coupling hook. I simply used a craft knife to cut the slot but others drill a series of holes using a small drill and then enlarge the slot that way. The new coupling hook comes with a spring and a split-pin to create a working sprung coupling but I found there wasn't sufficient room to fit the spring so the coupling has been permanently glued in place. Looks great I think...!

[mick]

I've now completed three wagons and that's about as much as I can endure for today.

There's a knack to coupling the wagons together but with the aid of a short length of wire it's getting easier to do. The tricky part is putting the coupling into the short position but by the end of a couple of dozen attempts that too didn't seem too much of a problem. Even with the coupling in the short position there's still a fair distance between the buffers which is a shame, but I suppose it'll help to get them round sharp curves and through cross-overs.

[IanR]

Those wagons really do look good Mick, the rust effects are very realistic, I'm very impressed.

[mick]

Yes, it's been so long since I last touched them that I'd forgotten how pleased I was with the rust effect on the last batch I did. I'm not sure just how successful the instanter couplings will prove to be but they add to the realism and although it's a painfully slow process I can't wait to get the remainder fitted to be able to see the whole train in action.

I've got a few other wagons to add to the rake for a bit of variety, including some 21t hoppers - all require weathering yet.

[cleanerg6e]

I agree with Ian Mick, those wagons look "just like the real thing" or at least pictures of the real thing. Have you thought of sprung buffers for those wagons?, then with 50+ of them you'll get a nice buffer clash sound when the train stops.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

I recently finished my 16 tonners all 59 of them and was going to give them all a trial run on the railway. But it's been howling a gale here for three days and then today it went calm. I thought ohh good, where upon it quickly clouded over and is now raining, ohh damn.

I want to see if my freight locos (steam that is ) will haul those 16 tonners with the extra weight provided by the Australian coal in them.

The freight locos I'm going to trial are my 9F, 8F, Super D, WD , ROD and Q1. The Q1 and 8F are the worry as they're Hornby lightweights.

I think they'll all be ok as I've now illuminated all gradients on the partially rebuilt railway.

Roy.

[mick]

To compensate for the additional weight of the added coal loads, I have removed the metal weight from between the body and the chassis. A loaded wagon now weighs more or less the same as one that has no added load. The weight is glued in and some can be a bit stubborn to remove, but it can be done without causing any damage - even on the most stubborn.

I've just bought another eight 16 tonners so I'd better get cracking and get the rest weathered and son on.. Looking forward to seeing your rake when it stops blowing.

[cleanerg6e]

Yes it will be great to see a long weathered coal train full of coal and I'll take a video of it and upload it to my you tube channel. Unfortunately it's going to rain for the next week. Over here is a public holiday on Monday, known as the Queens birthday long weekend. Yes I know she had her birthday in April but we boggies in the antipodes celebrate her birthday with a long weekend in June and have done since before I was born. Also did you know that in 1988 we gave a horse drawn coach to the queen known as the Australian bicentennial coach. At Bill and Kate's wedding Charley , Camilla and Kate's "olds" rode in it from the abbey to buck house. It's the black one with the gold top and the youngest coach in the "Mews". I wonder how much that cost.

Roy.

[mick]

Yesterday evening I made another renewed attempt to complete a few more of my weathered mineral wagons. Some wagons required just final weathering and reassembly whilst another 4 were fitted with scale instanter couplings. This is an ongoing project, and has been for more than 2 years now so don't expect too much all at once but slowly I'm getting together a nice rake. Photos taken this morning on Worsley Dale viaduct showing the complete rake of 10 wagons and brake van behind my WD 2-8-0 loco have been added elsewhere so here I'm just adding 4 photos taken at the same time but showing the wagons themselves in closer detail.

I'm just looking for something that looks and feels right to me and from what I can personally remember, these wagons were always in a run-down, dilapidated condition and covered in rust. In their heyday perhaps they were less so but I'm going for the rusty work-weary look and to me these are quite pleasing. I've ordered another batch of instanter couplings as well as some cosmetic brake van lights to make the rear of the train more realistic looking so expect this rake to grow further during the coming days and weeks.

[mick]

I've assembled my final 3 instanter couplings and fitted them to 2 more wagons which are now ready to join the rest of the rake making a total of 12 completed wagons so far. The latest 2 wagons are depicted below with one additional image showing the weathering on the reverse side of one of the wagons. It's possible that these wagons have featured before in some of my posts as they've been waiting for the instanters fitting but from now on I'm going to keep a photo record of each wagon as it is completed and added to the rake.

These particular wagons were done at the time I was trying to add more rusty effects into the weathered finish - hence the yellowing rust marks I've attempted to streak down the sides. The rust is exaggerated by the camera and isn't quite so prominent as it might appear here. The first two images show each side of the first wagon

The next image shows one side of the wagon that has been fitted with just a single instanter - retaining the standard Bachmann tension lock at the other end.

And this final images shows 2 wagons coupled together with the instanter coupling in the short position.

[roddy]

Your wagons look incredibly realistic. With those couplings you will get the clang effect of them catching each other up on decelleration. I wonder if you will also get the rebound effect. As I remember it, all of the old freight stock was incredibly dilapidated in appearance. Dirt, rust, grime, chalk marks, all on top of the battering that they took during their lives.

[ba14eagle]

 

Quote

I've ordered another batch of instanter couplings as well as some cosmetic brake van lights to make the rear of the train more realistic looking

Mick - you might like to look at these - not cheap, but a nice finishing touch .

http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/lighting/tail-coach-lighting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mick]

I'd thought of something like that Iain but I don't think there's any real need, especially for this mineral wagon train, and of course the brakevan would require three lamps on the rear as opposed to the single lamp shown. I'm more than happy just to have the cosmetic application of lamps on the rear of the van.

[mick]

I'd never thought of doing any kind of tutorial on my weathering techniques and I still don't feel proficient enough to do so. I don't follow any recognised techniques and there are probably much easier ways out there but I will describe some of the methods I use or have used to give an idea of what can be achieved. Remember, I have no previous experience and anything you read here is just what I have discovered works for me - it may not give you what you yourself are looking for.

I'm going to start off with a very simple method I have used because it's one that I am currently working on and I have some examples to hand to illustrate the process.

In this case four brand-new (yes, brand new ) Bachmann 16t mineral wagons were firstly painted all over with a very lightly thinned mixture of enamel paints. The colours used were sleeper grime, coach roof and dark rust. It doesn't really matter how you paint them, just spread it on and then put them aside to dry for about 24 hours or so. Doesn't have to be exact providing the paint is dry. You'll end up with something that looks like this:

That was a brand new wagon! It doesn't matter if there are marks, dust or scratches, worse is still to come.

Once the paint is dry I use a cotton wool bud dipped in white spirits and begin rubbing at the paint in an effort to remove some of it. At first you'll find it's very stubborn and you might need to rub with a bit of force but eventually it'll start coming away in damp flakes. You'll need to decide what effect you're looking for as that will dictate how much paint you need to remove but I've done 4 examples with varying degrees of paint removal so you get some idea of what effects this method can produce and photographed them alongside each other - see picture below:

You can start with a real rust bucket with just a glimmer of the original paint showing and work up to one with just a small amount of rust around the edges. You'll also notice in the topmost wagon how the paint ripples and resembles flaking rust so if you like that effect don't wipe it away.

Believe it or not, any of the above wagons would look just fine in a rake of similar wagons once given a weathered underframe and fitted load but I'll be working on them some more to improve their appearance and will add details of that in a subsequent post.

[mick]

I've been able to make further progress on my rake of mineral wagons and another 10 have now been fitted with instanter couplings and reassembled. In addition I have also completed one brake van by weathering and the fitting of couplings with just the tail lamps requiring fixing to the rear. The WD 2-8-0 which is usually photographed at the head of this particular rake has also been the subject of some additional weathering and I now need headlamps and screw coupling for the front and the addition of real coal to the tender. That last task I'm having to think about because the tender is where the DCC chip and speaker are located and I want to ensure that the sound can still escape properly and that any glue I might use doesn't come into contact with anything it shouldn't.

It's not suitable for taking any stock outdoors to be photographed today but just as soon as the weather improves I'll get plenty of images of the full rake. I'm actually looking forward to seeing it myself as I'm very pleased with the few that I have done so far and I'd like to see them all together outdoors in natural lighting. Nothings finished yet though and I'll continue to work on any that I feel need something more. I'm still trying to add a few examples that are less rusty but I'm finding it easier to do rust rather than pristine and still have them looking realistic.

[mick]

Nothing too exciting to report on today but just a few photos to share.

The first is a photo of the 'kit of parts' that forms one single instanter coupling. I've clearly arranged this one without my glasses on because you'll notice there are two springs entwined when only one is actually required per coupling. In fact I don't use any springs at all because there isn't enough room between the body of the mineral wagon and the chassis to fit the spring over the coupling bar. I fasten the coupling bar permanently on the chassis.

Putting the parts together takes only a few minutes but it's very fiddly as you can imagine, especially when your eyesight isn't so good and your fingers aren't as nimble as they once were.

The next photos show the latest eight wagons which have just had their coal loads added and have been left to dry out. You'll also see the WD 2-8-0 loco which has also had some real coal added to the tender. Hoping these come out okay. I decided again to make the loads removable by using cling film between the load base and the packing material on the wagon floor. The cling film will be lifted out and removed once the PVA glue has dried enabling the coal load to be replaced.

[mick]

This is just an update to my post No. 54 above in which I gave brief details on how I go about weathering these Bachmann 16t mineral wagons. I focused on one method that I use, that of painting on an enamel paint mixture, allowing it to dry and then removing sections of dried on paint using a cotton bud soaked in white spirit or sometimes by scratching away the paint with a wooden tooth pick. I'm sure that looking at the photos of the four painted wagon bodies with varying degrees of paint removal having taken place on them that you'd be forgiven for thinking what the heck..? But this is how one of those wagons has progressed since that photograph was taken.

Firstly a reminder of how this particular wagon looked after it had been painted in a mixture of enamel paint and then been treated to a brief removal of some sections leaving only a small trace of the original wagon paint visible.

I decided that this particular wagon would be subjected to some rather extreme weathering and be given a real old rusted appearance.

If you compare the above 2 photos you'll see that it is indeed the same wagon as pictured in the first image although there has been some minimal additional paint removal since that photo was taken. I began by mixing together some enamel paints into a rusty brown colour and then stippling this onto the sides of the wagon using a small piece of sponge. The more you stipple with the sponge the drier the paint becomes and the tackier it gets. The tackier the paint gets the more rusty the effect becomes which you can see on the lower photograph along the top edge of the wagon sides.

Once I have created the stippled rust effect and allowed the paint to dry I then add a further layer of paint mixed to a lighter rust colour and paint this around the edges of the wagon panels, removing surplus whilst still wet by dabbing with a paper towel and that's as far as this example has gone right now.

The above wagon will now be left for the time being but isn't regarded as being finished just yet. I've added a coal load and fitted instanter type couplings but I may return to add some additional weathering later.

[george356]

Top notch, Mick, and great instructions too. Thanks very much, it is inspiring me to

a) Buy a load of 16t minerals

and

b) Get weathering

[mick]

It's certainly worth having a go George and the wagons are relatively cheap so it's not going to break the bank. It's also more satisfying than simply running a rake of wagons straight out of the box. I'm sure there's no need to go to the lengths I've done and change all the couplings - I just wanted to do that for myself - they'll look just as good with the tension lock couplings in place. It's taken me a long time to get to this point but I feel like I've stepped across the divide and become a modeller now and I'm no longer just a collector (although I do enjoy collecting!).

[cleanerg6e]

Tremendous job Mick and far far better than mine. It's also strange to read the last part in your post as one person I know said to me when I was thinking of buying an old Triang Lord of the Isle. I was told I'm a modeller Roy not a collector. Yet we are all collectors and when I visited this person in the UK he had a large tall cupboard full of old Lima DMU's. I said so much for the just a modeller theory.

So if we were all just modellers when we decide to get rid of a layout then all the rolling stock would go with it. No room for sentimentality. But life isn't like that and neither are we modeller/collectors.

Roy.