I am looking for some help/advice weathering an Atlas Trainman Engine House. I don't have an experience weathering plastic buildings, so any advice is welcome.
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Here is mine! I used a a variety of white and grey acrylic paints to create the mortar and grimy look. I used India Ink for the black and dingy looking bits. As of right now this is not its final appearance. I'm going to go over and redo some things. I plan on using a few Woodland Scenics Light Kits inside of it. Also I have to remove the plastic base as it won't accommodate Fastrack so I'm going to build my own and make a more realistic interior. For the back two portals I'm going to build my own window inserts so people can get a better view inside.
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For the back two portals I'm going to build my own window inserts so people can get a better view inside.
FYI, Korber sells some laser cut windows with really thin mullions that will fit the engine house windows. Contact Rich Redmond via the Korber website and he can set you up.
https://shop.korbermodels.com/contactus.sc
Originally Posted by Bob:
For the back two portals I'm going to build my own window inserts so people can get a better view inside.
FYI, Korber sells some laser cut windows with really thin mullions that will fit the engine house windows. Contact Rich Redmond via the Korber website and he can set you up.
https://shop.korbermodels.com/contactus.sc
Thanks! I will look into that since I've got my eye on more than a few Korber kits.
Brian:
Trainwizard pretty much said it all.
To make pretty any building look weathered adding mortar / repainting the roof to make it more realistic looking adds greatly to the final look. One thing I would add is spray with dullcote to take the shine off the plastic.
A good example is shown below. First picture is a 'before and after'.
Joe
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I use the atlas engine house walls for kitbashing other building. The walls in the middle under the pedestrian overpass are from the atlas engine house. You can easily and greatly improve their appearance by:
- Adding mortar lines.
- Then flat spray to reduce shine.
- Then weather with chalks.
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Thanks for the input! I took a stab at weathering the little office building that comes with the kit. I think it turned out ok, even though it's a little darker than I wanted. I'll keep playing around before I start on the main engine house.
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I think you nailed it!
Thanks Dennis! I actually pulled out your book to get inspiration.
For those that don't have DennisB's book:
Originally Posted by DennisB:
I think you nailed it!
That looks great!
Brian:
Excellent work on the mortar.
Joe
Looks great. Take you time and do a little research. I found few articles in Model RR Magazine and then saw a few brick building that were from a warehouse area in Chicago. All about what you think looks good.
I made more progress on the Atlas Engine House. I think it is turning out ok. I still need to finish the custom base and touch up a few areas (roof, doors, add vent stacks, etc.) Here are some pictures on the layout...
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Nice job!
Looking very nice. great details
Brian,
You did a very nice job on this building. You really brought out the green doors when you painted the hinges black.
Alan Graziano
Looks great! How did you go about making the base?
TrainWizard5972 posted:Looks great! How did you go about making the base?
The base is MDF. A router was used to cut slots for the rails. The depth of each cut is just enough to have each rail stick up slightly above the board. A single piece of 40" Atlas flex track is used in each stall. The base ended up being secured by simply screwing the track down at both ends. It's pretty solid.
You can see the unweathered Atlas Engine House in the background. It's crazy what a little paint can do.
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Great job, Brian. You got the right balance of brick, mortar, and soot!
Bob
RRDOC posted:Great job, Brian. You got the right balance of brick, mortar, and soot!
Bob
Thanks RRDOC. At first I thought it was a bit dark, but I really like how it is turning out.
I ended up using just three main "ingredients":
- white gesso (because I did not have anything else that was white)
- covered the walls completely, then wiped away with a paper towel leaving really nice mortar lines
- Rustoleum brown camouflage spray paint
- lightly sprayed the walls
- wiped with fingers and paper towels
- black chalk
- make it a bit dirtier (walls and roof)
I am practicing on the Atlas kit in preparation for building a Korber roundhouse.
Looks great Brian! Nice solution with the base.
Andy
I'm working on the same house now. I am putting a wood floor over the base supports. thought it would look nice without the plastic base struts.
Looks very nice!
Bob
