from whence they came.
A good portion of my structure mod- els started out looking prim and prop- er. My metal roofs, for the most part, began life as metal colored models. In other words they were gun-metal, steel gray or antique aluminum. After they are dry is when they were “attacked” with chalk,
airbrush, sandpaper,
ink/alcohol wash and dry brushing. The same can be said for walls. They may look pristine, at the onset, but the model (if wood) is treated with a wash of india ink and alcohol under and be- fore the main paint job. When I have finished painting the fi- nal color, some of it is removed to expose the weathered under-surface. The vary- ing degrees of that color that are re- moved are done so with a wide variety of methods, some gentle, some a bit on the violent side. If the model is made of styrene or cardstock, an undercoat of dirty gray or tan paint can be applied such that some gentle scrubbing of the subsequent color will expose the base
color below. Plaster buildings receive their color from thin washes, lightly ap- plied and built up slowly, until the de- sired results are achieved. Stains tend to dry lighter, so wait a few minutes be- fore rendering final judgement. Whenever you mix a custom color, make sure you produce a good 25 per- cent more than you think you will need. Touch-ups and minor fixes may be need- ed, and credible matching of the original color as precisely as it needs to be, is neigh on to impossible. Test your colors before you plunge head-long into the fi- nal paint job. View them under layout lighting, and you will probably have to lighten accordingly. Speaking of lightening, the D&RGW’s coaling tower in Chama, New Mexico has stood for over 100 years. It is still (even as this is being written) absorbing coal dust. It is black! This was not al- ways the case, as it started life like all of its fellow D&RG buildings of the 1880s era, in a nice tuscan red. At high noon on the summer solstice, it is a black silhou-
ette. A model of this tower, in even a well lighted basement, sucks every lumen out of the room. From long and often bad experience, I painted my model tuscan red, then began "sooting" it a little at a time. As a result, a small hint of the tus- can shows through, and one can almost see the detail. It was not only one of my most difficult projects, it was (surpris- ingly) one of my better efforts. Being somewhat proud of the model, I took it to an Sn3 Symposium to entered in a contest. The contest room was (as they almost always are) poorly lit. The black lumpy thing shaped like the Chama coaling tower never got a second glance. Fault: mine and mine only. Enter lighter colored models that your audi- ence can actually see. When I got it home, I misted a lightening coat on the model, and it can now be appreciated. Model railroaders are, by their na-
ture, a very observant group. Make even the slightest mistake and it will be no- ticed and good naturedly called to your attention. Conversely, add some really neat detail to your model, and it will be noticed, but they won’t say a word most of the time. Once in a while visitors just have to ask. “What is...?” My friends rarely ask, because they know I will break into a long-winded story. I would council that on some occasions, it is best to put forth a fabrication. The engineer’s side of some of my locos have a brown streak from the center of the cab win- dow to the rear. Prototypical? I'll ex- plain, and you will understand the pos- sible need to lie. The year is 1963, and two young rail-
Most model buildings have shingle roofs, but metal roofs (top) can add a different tex- ture to a model and can be painted and weathered in various ways. Adding vintage de- tails (above) is a great way to date a scene and enhance its visual interest.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
fans (John Huber and yours truly) have been invited up into the cab of the Du- rango switcher, a K-36 2-8-2 No. 480. The engineer at that time was Bill Holt, who’s claim to fame was that he was one of the engineers in the head on collision in the MGM movie Rio Grande. “Bill was pretty salty! He chewed cut-plug to- bacco, and his fireman had objected to his spitting juice on the hot backhead. Bill usually aimed for the firedoor, but occasionally missed and got some por- tion of the fireman. After some discus- sion of alternative uses of a No. 4 coal scoop, Bill reluctantly spit his tobacco juice out the cab window. The fireman was ten years his junior and bigger. Thus, the brown streaks on the engi- neer’s side of the cab. I made the mistake of telling this sto- ry to one of my non-railroad visitors, a lady friend of my wifes. She huffed, “That’s Disgusting!” Then she stormed up the basement stairs. Thus my council to create a fabrication, to avoid offend- ing the sensibilities of those of a higher station. By the way, Donna could not go upstairs right away, until she stopped laughing, and dried her eyes.
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