Weathering trucks and wheels


H

hamltnblue

Active Member
Hello All

In a weathering techniques article the author shows a car being air-brushed with the trucks and wheels on. Is this the correct way to do this? Shouldn't the wheels be removed and shaft holes masked? I would imagine at a minimum that the wheels could get paint on them which could transfer to the tracks
 
Good question. Along those lines the Kalmbach book shows the author painting locomotives trucks while still attached to the engine.:confused:
 
It depends on how much effort you want to put into it!

I remove and disassemble. I'm ordering a wheel mask from Modelers Choice to paint my wheel/axle combos faster, leaving the tread clean (any equipment used is more prototypical if the tread is clean & shinny).

I've never masked anything by the bolster point on a truck, but masking where the axles mate up would work also. Never had any problem with it myself, yet, to find it to be necessary.

If you want to paint the side frames while they're installed, and avoid having to clean wheel tread, Summit Custom Cuts makes a 3 axle locomotive mask, and a 2 axle freight truck mask.
 
Well I personally leave the wheels in the trucks but take the trucks off the car. Then again, I model o scale so everything is MUCH larger and it enables me to easily weather the wheel sets and axles while still mounted in the truck. When I modeled HO, I took them apart and weathered everthing seperately, then reassembled the car and did the final spray over the entire car so everything had a uniform look to it. You want the same dust/grime on the trucks that's on the car body right above the trucks ;)
 
I like to leave the trucks on as you can blend in the color from the trucks to the side of the cars as if the the dirt traveled up from the under side of the car.

just my choice to do it.

Trent
 
I always leave the wheels on locomotives when I'm painting and weathering. A few strips of Scotch Magic Tape around each wheel keeps them from getting any overspray. Actually, once you get really good with an airbrush and use the right tips, you can spray the truck and outside surface of the wheels with almost no overspray on the wheel tread even without masking.
 
hamltnblue, for cars, I remove the trucks from the cars. remove the wheels from the trucks. the wheels get a coat of rust. then the trucks get a coat of grimy black, then rust sprayed over that. Then whatever weathering your putting on the car. Here's an example..........................

100_1186.jpg


For engines, I remove the trucks from the engine, remove the sideframes, remove the axles. The wheels get rusted, the trucks get black. The sideframes get colored if needed, then weathered. Here's an example...................

100_1548.jpg


100_1615.jpg
 
I've been varying between Floquil Roof Brown, and Model Master Rust, then adding chalks & powders.
 
The size of O scale allows me to weather the wheels and trucks as a unit. I remove the trucks from the car, adjust my airbrush to a very small spray pattern, and then roll them on a scrap piece of track while I airbrush the wheels and axles. The I switch to grimy black and hit the trucks. Finally they are re-attached to the car and final weathering is sprayed and dull coated as a complete car.

IMG_0079.jpg


IMG_0067.jpg
 
Very nice work on the reefer and trucks. The only thing I would change is a light dry brushing of rust to the springs and journal covers. It's unusual to see a car that weathered without at least some rust on the trucks.
 
Well, on friction bearing trucks, you hardly ever see any rust due to all the grease and oil that collects all the dirt and grime. Other types of trucks generally show lots of rust on the springs and journals, but about all you'll find on friction bearing trucks is lots of oil and grease covering everything ;)

Thank you for the compliments. :)

This pic shows the same friction bearing trucks on 2 different cars. One with rust and one without. I had rusted them all until doing some more homework on the friction style trucks. Even the oldhead carmen said that those things were so nasty as the grease and oil covered everything and then collected all the dust and grime from the track. So rust was rarely seen on them, but you would find a good inch of oily crud coating the entire truck. I know, technicalities, cuz I prefer the rust look on the springs and journals. Once again, I model 3 rail..............so I can pretty much get away with anything lol

IMG_0088.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, I'm gonna say this: the last loco I picked up rather cheap was a BLI AC6000 that didn't work well. The last owner had done the overspray weathering technique and covered the tread surfaces along with the crucial contact points. I picked up the unit for only $90 shipped, and he said it was a bli with no sound, but it turned out to be a bli Paragon shell on a Blueline chassis, so I'm not complaining.:D
So go right ahead guys and paint them locos with the trucks and wheels still on them, I'll wait for you to get frustrated and sell them cheaply, lol.:cool:
 
ThoroughBreed makes a very good point here. That is one reason I hand paint mine. I don't get any un-wanted electrical problems later on.
 
jbaakko said:
I'm ordering a wheel mask from Modelers Choice to paint my wheel/axle combos faster, leaving the tread clean (any equipment used is more prototypical if the tread is clean & shinny).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I just ordered a set of both 33" and 36". Any other cool tools?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top