Much better! As Hot Water suggests, & you'll hear this frequently, practice, practice, practice, and less is more. It's a lot easier to add more if you prefer. Sometimes harder to undue what you did, when you went too far, especially with paint. One reason why pastel chalks are good when testing the waters. As stated, Dull coat will seal the pastels & will tone down the effect some. Pastels also stick better to a surface that has been dull coated which can be used to an advantage.
Yes, finding colored photos on the internet may be the easiest way to start. Believe it or not, ebay is a good source for colored photos of weathered rolling stock, try a search for: "Weathered O scale boxcar". I download the pictures that I find appealing.
BTW, check out Forum member, Norm Charbonneau, & I hope he doesn't mind being referenced as a source for excellent weathering technique & execution. His weathered engines, rolling stock, & buildings, are in a league of there own, & is a great place to start for ideas. I suggest you check his YouTube page & numerous videos of his layout. There are also plenty of other skilled hobbyists out there. Don't be afraid to study other types of model weathering for techniques on achieving various effects, paint fading, rust, dust, age, etc. There are many military modelers who use multiple techniques to achieve various results. A lot of which may be too extreme for our model trains, but the point is, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Weathering is very subjective & rarely will 2 people agree on what looks best & how to achieve it. Try starting with dust & dirt, which is almost always visible on all rolling stock & engines, on the running gear & lower bodies. You can achieve this initial weathering relatively easy with an air brush, even pastels.
While practicing & learning, start with the less expensive models you have or even buy some beat up models to experiment on. Even when you come up with your perfect solution, it's almost impossible to take 2 of the exact same models & weather them to look exactly the same. Not sure why anyone would want to, since variety in weathering will add more interest.
The most important thing is what looks good to you. As you become more proficient & comfortable with the tools at your disposal, weathering will become easier. It's just one more aspect of our hobby that turns that toy into a realistic replica of your world.
Have fun & enjoy!
Joe
