Vehicle Weathering

More Photos Here

I was over on N SCALE LIMITED and saw a discussion about weathering vehicles. I think this topic is a great one.
If you are at your local chain market and look around the parking lot, you'll see vehicles that range from the new to the held together with tape and prayers. :)  Many of the cars in N are somewhat plain and blank feeling. A little weathering or a new paint up can really help.


This can add a lot of detail to your scenes and overall layout without being a huge time hit, as it were. You can sit down and weather a car in a half an hour time span or weather several cars if time allows.

These small projects are FANTASTIC to have in your pocket as a busy modeler. You can jump into them if 30 minutes of time opens up, then jump out again when time is up to scramble back into your life and day to day tasks. This has made a huge difference for me. With family and work taking center stage, I have a range of projects going at all times so I can fit the project to the time I have to work on things. That way, I always have SOMETHING to do if hobby time opens up.

Many of the train weathering techniques can be used to weather cars and trucks.

This is a simple little tutorial example that might be worth checking out:




And for those with a little more time and power, MONSTER RAILROADER has some skills to learn from.