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Weathering a Bachmann WD 2-8-0


mick
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Whilst progress with my weathered mineral wagons is on-going I've also been busy trying my hand at weathering the WD 2-8-0 loco and a brakevan which will complete the train. The WD loco is a factory-weathered version which basically means it's received a quick spray of track colour along the chassis and lower body area before being distributed for sale. I want mine to be in keeping with the general condition of the wagons themselves; dirty, rusty and rather unkempt. So, I've started giving it washes of thinned enamel paint using a mixture of track colour and roof dirt and applied using a wide brush. I've lost count of the number of washes I've applied so far. I do have a small spray gun but it's not the weather for going outdoors and of course it's not something that can be used indoors - at least not in the living room in front of the fire.

Anyway, this is what the loco looks like so far. Apologies for the photos but they've had to be taken indoors - starting with a couple of the loco itself

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Here's one showing the loco and brakevan....

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.... followed by a couple of the brakevan, complete with rear lamps and instanter couplings

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And this last photo is just to show that I've added real coal to the tender, applied directly on top of the plastic coal load supplied and secured with PVA glue.

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There's more work to be done here but I've concentrated on trying to get rid of the plastic look and achieve something that looks more metallic - albeit of a rusted nature. There'll be lighter rust staining added to bring out some detail and there'll be coal overspill on the tender top once it's complete. It's future re-sale value has probably dropped significantly but I am much more satisfied with its appearance now and it is going to look the part at the head of the mineral rake for sure.

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You should visit the paintings of David Shepherd Mick. He captured incredible detail during the last days of steam and the rundown locos. I can't remember which one it was, but he showed a cabside number that had been wiped clean as a small detail. Memory fades, and what you are doing looks perfect, but there is nothing like a little reminder is there.

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Wiping the number was going to be one of my last touches Roddy. Funnily enough I used to do that when I worked on the railway - it seemed the right thing to do at the time. Had I been there in steam days I would have also wiped the crest on the tender sides. I've got headlamps and screw coupling to fit on the front of the loco and I reckon it'll look better with some fireman's tools along the side of the tender. Lots of little touches.

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I've got a few Telerail videos of the Steam World Archive series and the WD's filmed in the 60's were a mighty unkempt bunch. Just looking at the footage I don't think that they were ever cleaned and the only time that they were clean was after a works visit and a repaint. Between works visits or repaints they were just plain filthy with huge amounts of white foaming from the water treatment chemicals, track dirt, coal smoke dirt you name it and it was stuck to them. I often wondered how the people who had to repaint them felt and wondered if they felt is was a waste of time and paint.

Your weathering is looking good and one day I'll have to weather mine which is a "weathered" example from Bachmann.

Roy.

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cleanerg6e said:

I've got a few Telerail videos of the Steam World Archive series and the WD's filmed in the 60's were a mighty unkempt bunch. Just looking at the footage I don't think that they were ever cleaned and the only time that they were clean was after a works visit and a repaint. Between works visits or repaints they were just plain filthy with huge amounts of white foaming from the water treatment chemicals, track dirt, coal smoke dirt you name it and it was stuck to them...

Never witnessed that personally myself Roy but from archive photographs the WDs appeared to me to be always dirty - true workhorses - and that's the image I'm trying to achieve with my whole mineral wagon train, not just the loco. I really haven't a clue what's right and what's wrong and I may be weathering parts that shouldn't be weathered or that should be done in a different 'colour'. I'm not really concentrating on one single item but trying to get the whole thing looking right - the wagons, the brakevan, loco and tender. It's a set that will remain together once coupled although I could always change the loco at times for something not quite so dirty to fend off too much familiarity, so in a way I'm trying to create a picture.

Weathering a loco is certainly different to weathering a wagon, the roundness of the boiler is not as easy as the flat side of a wagon and requires different techniques to be learned. I'll probably look back at this attempt in a few weeks time and wonder what I've done once I've learned a bit more and got used to it. The main thing is to have a go and see what works. I have images in my head of how I want it to look and that's all I'm following.

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It was always my intention to add rust stains to the WD tender and so last night I made a start - here's how it went:

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I've tried to add rust where I think it would naturally accumulate, that's at the base of detail fitments and around any projections. It would also, in my opinion, accumulate along the top edges of the tender where the framework could easily sustain damage whilst being coaled. I don't want to overdo this and make it look unnatural so I proceeded carefully and applied very little paint ensuring that it was well dispersed and didn't actually collect heavily in any one spot.

The paint was a mix of brake dust and light rust, well thinned with white spirits. A small spot was placed in the desired location at the base of the handrails etc and allowed to flow naturally from brush to model. It wasn't painted on, just allowed to flow from the brush. If it looks too heavy then simply drop on a little more white spirits (I can still smell the fumes even now!!) so that it flows easily and the colour is dispersed.

For the streaks down the body side I placed a small amount of the thinned colour at the very top of the side. If it's thin enough it will run downwards. Working from the bottom I then add little dabs of white spirits to make sure that the paint runs downwards - anywhere where it looks too heavy just dab on some more white spirits (maybe use something not quite so potent!!)

I think the effect is pretty good, especially round the handrails and water tank filler cap. You'll notice that some kind soul has attempted to clean the emblem on the tank sides and the number on the loco cab sides

I then tried similar techniques on the front of the loco where I think rust would form, namely the lamp irons, buffer beam bolt heads, handrail knobs etc...

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I'm not sure which particular locomotives it applies to but I've noticed that some WD's have a fire iron storage space down the right hand, non-driving side of the tender top. I thought it would be a good idea to add one of my own and noticed that they were/are available for purchase online. However, in keeping with the overall condition of my WD I decided that I could add my own representation of a fire iron storage by using a few bent and shortened staples. The proper version includes a narrow piece of sheet metal that extends along the lower part of the tunnel but I decided to omit that and depict just the four support posts. I've actually drilled into the tender top and inserted the staples with a spot of superglue before adding a bit of colour and weathering to blend them in. I have now also added a bit of coal dust spill-over on top of the tender tank which just requires the surplus shaking off.

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It's nice and warm indoors but the lighting isn't ideal for modelling so in order to gauge the latest weathering attempts I decided to brave the cold and capture one or two photos of 90630 outdoors on top of the viaduct. As you'll see, there's still a bit of snow around and the route into the shed is still blocked - has anyone requested a snow plough?

Under the living room lights I was beginning to think that my rust effects were becoming slightly too yellow but outdoors they're much less prominent. It's coming along nicely now and perhaps I'll do something about adding side window glazing, a footplate crew and a fallplate to bridge the gap between loco and tender. Does this look hard-worked enough?

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Looks great Mick... You should be exceptionally pleased with it.

Now... is that a smoke gen I see poking out of the Chimney?

Id go easy now from here on in... to my eye, it looks pitch perfect. Rust looks great, but Im loving the spilt coal on the tender and the gunk on the front plate.

The outdoors light today is perfect, as its overcast and there are no shadows as such, giving it a very realistic feel. Would love to see her from a scale POV, down low, tilted up

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doublecee said:

...Now... is that a smoke gen I see poking out of the Chimney?...

Yes, this is the only loco I've got that has a smoke generator fitted. I've added one or two videos previously of it in action. I had nothing to do with the fitting of said smoke generator as I purchased this loco ready fitted with sound and smoke. It's a shame that the gen spoils the look of the chimney, poking out as it does. I had considered removing it altogether but for now at least I'll leave it alone and get hold of some more smoke oil. I don't really want to start taking things to bits because I always have trouble putting them back together again but the main drawback is that the gen isn't switched via the decoder and is always on. Probably end up removing it once the novelty's worn off.

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Mick, speaking as someone who did work on these in their final days I can assure you that your doing a great job. Many of them were in a far more disgusting state but of course it depends how far you want to go. I am only 'tinkering' as far as weathering goes but your efforts are quite inspiring especially as you consider yourself a bit of a novice!!

You mentioned about it reducing the re-sale value but I feel that if it's done well it might actually enhance it because the right buyer might appreciate not having to do it himself OR pay a professional to do it. Personally, I now think my 9F is just crying out for this treatment so I will come back to your thread for my 'tutorial'.

As for fitting a tender 'fall plate', I have tried this on several loco's & it works well providing the corners are cut away enough not to foul the cab sides on curves. I did not use a stiff plastic but a light card covered with black pvc tape & attached with same to tender so that it just bent or detached rather than derailed. On Loco's with double side windows the front one was fixed & & usually so filthy as it was never actually looked through, worth painting those a rusty colour on the inside of the clear plastic. Also, cab side doors (which conceal the gap even more), I just paint a piece of card black & glue to onto inside edge of tender with a suitable gap to the cabside again to prevent fouling. Fire irons are just bent & shaped stiff wire painted with 'rust' for the 'Pricker & Dart', the shovel obviously requires a blade of plastic or card. Whilst not the fine detail of those you can pay good money for, they are passable ....... for a none perfectionist like Me! Just a few of my ramblings on things you are probably way ahead with Mick but I got a bit carried away.

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Well, it looks as if the previous owner used the wrong size Seuthe. But its an easy fix, as is connecting it to the decoder.

But give john a tinklle at youchoos and see what he would charge for that small mod. He is brilliant, and being able to switch the steam on and off is 2nd only to Live Steam. I thought I would tire of the smoke gen on the 9F and I have to say, thats not going to happen for a long long time.

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You wont be needing the article in ModelRail this month Mick, about weathering without an airbrush - you seem to have cracked it! The WD is looking really good - so much better than the "factory weathering". I see youve got some limescale streaks around the boiler - a few from the wash-out plugs would be good too - if you want to push it some more :geek: .

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sykarost said:

...As for fitting a tender 'fall plate', I have tried this on several loco's & it works well providing the corners are cut away enough not to foul the cab sides on curves. I did not use a stiff plastic but a light card covered with black pvc tape & attached with same to tender so that it just bent or detached rather than derailed. On Loco's with double side windows the front one was fixed & & usually so filthy as it was never actually looked through, worth painting those a rusty colour on the inside of the clear plastic. Also, cab side doors (which conceal the gap even more), I just paint a piece of card black & glue to onto inside edge of tender with a suitable gap to the cabside again to prevent fouling. Fire irons are just bent & shaped stiff wire painted with 'rust' for the 'Pricker & Dart', the shovel obviously requires a blade of plastic or card. Whilst not the fine detail of those you can pay good money for, they are passable ....... for a none perfectionist like Me!....

Thanks for the tips Brian - I'll probably end up using most of them! I'm sure, given a couple of photos, that I can knock up a few fire irons and shovels although saying that I do think that I've got some in a box somewhere if only I can find them. Likewise the front screw coupling, I know I have a decent plastic one and it's only for cosmetic purposes so it would be fine if only I could find it.

doublecee said:

Well, it looks as if the previous owner used the wrong size Seuthe. But its an easy fix, as is connecting it to the decoder....

Wrong size looks likely doesn't it, but like I say I'm not unduly concerned and I don't really want to start sending it away to have modifications done. If I'd thought about it beforehand then maybe I could have but now I've done the work on it it's less durable and more prone to getting damaged. Perhaps removal would be best as I know that a filling of smoke oil doesn't last long - in fact I would be lucky to get a complete circuit of the garden.

ba14eagle said:

You wont be needing the article in ModelRail this month Mick, about weathering without an airbrush - you seem to have cracked it! The WD is looking really good - so much better than the "factory weathering". I see youve got some limescale streaks around the boiler - a few from the wash-out plugs would be good too - if you want to push it some more :geek: .

I almost did some staining from the washout plugs this afternoon but wanted to see what it looked like outdoors first before adding anything else. I reckon it could take that.

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Quote

I'll do something about adding side window glazing

Excellent work Mick, it certainly looks the part. I used to see lots of these locos in my spotting days of long ago and I never saw a clean one. I like the debris under the smokebox door.

Regarding side window glazing, I don't think many had it fitted did they?

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IanR said:

...Regarding side window glazing, I don't think many had it fitted did they?

You might well be right there Ian. That's probably why mine doesn't have any then :oops:

I've been trying to see whether any did in fact have glazing and the only one I can locate is the one from our gallery section with the austerity on Wakefield shed. It's not entirely clear even then but it does appear that the fireman's side at least has either glazing or some kind of temporary mock-up to keep out the cold. I'm sure that some footplate crews would have come up with novel ideas to keep out unnecessary draughts but perhaps I'll leave mine as is then, it will make the job easier. My concern was that the openness created by the non-glazed window just exaggerates the gap between loco and tender so maybe I'll focus my attention on concealing the gap instead and once some footplate crew are added it might appear differently.

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Rossi said:

Mick, re the austerity windows.

I was on Wakefield shed in the sixties (ref your photos) and came across this rather rough photo of a WD.

I think it shows window glazing.

Thanks for that Rossi. That looks like at least 2 examples showing window glazing then.

Rossi said:

I'm afraid (like the pristine picture of the 37 diesel, "Vale of Rheidol"), I'm probably the same as Iain, love the newness of the locos out of the box.

Maybe the answer is to buy weathered locos, because they certainly look the part.

I've got several factory weathered locos and they NEVER look the part to me. I don't think it would be possible, or at least financially viable, for manufacturers to offer a decent realistically weathered loco other than one that has received a quick spray along the chassis with a single colour. Weathering isn't everyone's cup of tea, you either love it or loathe it. I've tried with the WD to portray an image of a heavy worked loco in keeping with the condition of the mineral wagons and coming to the end of their days. I certainly wouldn't do this with all my locos - this is a one off because of my desire to own a set of mineral wagons and loco in this condition - it's how I imagined the days of steam to be.

Window glazing or not I decided it was time to close up that unsightly gap between loco and tender so using the plastic insulation sleeve that came with one of my Hornby loco decoders I cut it into the shape of a fall plate and 2 cab doors. The plastic is very flexible and should flex if necessary but I've given it plenty of free space all the same. The doors could do with straightening up but when you take a photo focusing directly on them it does highlight any irregularities - in use you'd probably not give it a second thought but I'll have a go at cutting them a bit straighter once they've dried. It's an improvement over the gap.

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Yesterday I added some fine coal dust to the front bufferbeam beneath the smokebox. It wasn't glued in place but placed there just to see what it looked like on a photo. This morning I brushed it away and added some proper ash out of the log fire. Once dry I'll give this a clean up and see how it looks. It may be worth commenting on how the ash makes a suitable weathering powder too! I've given the top of the smokebox a brush over with it.

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A bit of additional leakage from the washout plugs and I think we're almost at an end - don't want to overdo it!

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