Those of you that have visited my layout, would have realized that I am quite anal about weathering. Nothing on a railroad is clean.... nothing. My reasoning is, that why would one spend thousands of rands on realistic models, and in the end they're not prototypically correct, because they are clean. Look, I am not saying that everything must be weathered, a clean loco has its place, but hell, they just look better dirty. Buildings the same thing..... as my little photo essay down here will show.
Right, over the years I have powdered pastils, grinded crayons, used iron oxide, and finally ended up with a product called MIG pigments. It is awesome stuff, but difficult to apply correctly, and very easy to damage. You had to practice with that stuff. But.... it was all that was available here, and sadly, we live in a country where you cannot get what you want, you take what you can get. The little bottles of pigment sell at R80 a pop, and trust me, they do not go far.
Then, just before I started selling stuff six months ago, I stumbled onto an award winning model railroader. An old man in America, that simply have been around the block, and knows what works, and what doesn't. I got a couple of jars from him, and my world changed. Literally. Now I could weather to my heart's content, because it is large jars, and I will guarantee you that this will be the last weathering set you will ever buy. Seems expensive? Think again. I have spent ten times this amount on pigments, and that was that.
Now, I can weather a locomotive in an hour flat. Handle it without it shedding half my hard labour. My friends, this is the ultimate set. You will not buy again. If I couldn't finish it on a 40 square plus layout, and those of you who have been here all asked how I got my railroad so realistic..... well here is secret number one. You guys know that EVERYTHING here is weathered.
But let's move on. I am busy building a new train yard. On it I have a couple of large sheds/warehouses. These were bought build up, and you will see the glue marks of the builder, and lots of shiny plastic. So, I took one in tonight and quickly weather it. This building took me no more than half an hour. Ok, it is not finished, but in another hour or so, I will have a signature model. I also included a little cheap loco that I roughly painted with the 'instant weather' jar. You will see, no airbrush and no amount of acrylic paint drybrushing will come close. The stuff in the jars are industrial pigments, colorfast and thinned with Isopropyl alcohol. Stickers and branding are safe..... but best of all, now dirt has a texture. Like it should be.
Enjoy the transformation.
And that's that. Postage will be R40 in the RSA, or come fetch it in Benoni. 2 sets available, so be quick.
