Weathering Wheels with Paint Pens

[DakotaLove39]

Just wanted to share my own little trial I have going on. Someone on Facebook turned me on to Testors paint pens for model weathering. I picked up a three-pack at Michael's today. This one has Aged Concrete, Weathered Black and Roof Brown. There was another which had two shades of brown and a sandy tan color. I'll probably get the other one this weekend and see what those colors do for me.

The photos below show Testor's CreateFX Roof Brown applied to Intermountain wheels.

The overall effect is pretty good, black trucks aside. The paint does scratch off easily, but I can see it providing a solid foundation for more weathering. The higher-profile wheels such as 36" wheels on hoppers and 33" wheels on cabooses look MUCH better with just a coating of this paint.

Most of my cars need weathering, but the most glaring thing I noticed when running on the club layout is the super-shiny wheel faces.

 

[tootnkumin]

Thanks for posting this DL. I have been using a small soft brush for this, but it is hard to keep the paint off the treads whilst getting coverage on the ends. I'll have to have a look for these, see if they're available here, anything that makes a tedious job easier, quicker with less mess, gets my vote. (and money). Diesel wheels also need rusting up too, makes some of them easier to see if they are turning when in a consist.

 

[ianacole]

I use one of these pens for the face, then a silver sharpie for the ... er ... part/face that would be in contact with the rail, on the black plastic wheelsets.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

The results look great with the pens. I have some that I never used so I better try them on some wheel sets. I use Micro-brushes and liked the results, the pens are interesting.

Like the log cars also.

Thanks for the information.

Greg

 

[Espeefan]

Just one comment: The technique is a good one, but cars with journal bearings? You should consider "Oily Black" or "Flat Black" as the journal boxes leaked like crazy and the wheel faces were always covered in oil. Newer cars with roller bearings? Brown is perfect! Use the brown on the inner wheel faces and the axle as well if you can see them.

 

[flyboy2610]

Many of the cars I see today look more black than brown on the wheels. Along with the track.

 

[DakotaLove39]

Just one comment: The technique is a good one, but cars with journal bearings? You should consider "Oily Black" or "Flat Black" as the journal boxes leaked like crazy and the wheel faces were always covered in oil. Newer cars with roller bearings? Brown is perfect! Use the brown on the inner wheel faces and the axle as well if you can see them.

See, I knew that "weathered black" pen would come in handy.

 

[DakotaLove39]

Here with a follow-up. I've since bought up two additional sets of paint pens. The second set I got contained two different light shades of brown and one very sandy color pen. As it is now, I haven't found a use for these yet. These may be better in use for work on loads or layout scenery.

The third one was an actual train-themed set containing Rail Tie Brown, Rail Brown and Rust. Rail Brown is very close to the Roof Brown I was using and is only maybe a shade different.

For the wheels I started with Rail Brown on one set and Roof Brown on the other. When that was dry I then hit the wheel faces with Rust, trying to concentrate it around the center mostly.

With the trucks I started with Weathered Black, and the applied Rust to the corners, cracks and crevices. When that dried I finished it off with brown.

I bought new freight cars today so of course they had to be treated. It looks a bit off with clean bodies, but I don't have weathering powders yet.

 

[Espeefan]

Shoot some clear flat on them. You’ll need to do that before applying weathering powders anyway and you’d be surprised at the difference a flat coat will make!