Good thread, Steve! I haven’t posted much here for quite a while, but following this thread has motivated me to chime in.
10 years ago I never even thought about weathering, and even if I did, there’s no way I could imagine myself actually finding the courage to “ruin” my pristine equipment!
But then in 2010 I joined this Forum and I started to notice the incredible, realistic work posted here by true artists (in my opinion at least), and started to think, “WOW, this weathering thing is pretty cool”.
Fast forward another year or two, and I finally convinced myself to give in to the temptation. I sent off two brand new cabooses to be weathered by two different regular contributing “weathermen” here on the Forum. Upon receiving them back, I was hooked!
I studied these guys’ great work and thought to myself, “You can do this”. Yes, I knew there would be a LONG learning curve, and that my first work would not be very good (that was an understatement for sure!!)...but I always had a bit of an artistic side, so I figured what the heck, let’s give this a try.
I started with rather inexpensive Weaver and “old” Atlas rolling stock, and eventually felt I was ready to try a locomotive. The rest is history. In my mind now, nothing in my collection is so valuable that it can’t be weathered.
I’m still not GREAT at it, and I accept the fact that I may never be as good as guys like Steve P. (SIRT). (On a side note, and like Johan stated above, SIRT has been/still is a true inspiration for me.) However, I continue to learn more and more with each piece I complete, and I'd like to think my work will continue to improve over time. All I know is that it’s fun...and it’s addicting!
Thanks for starting this thread!
