[net.railroad] weathering

kcm@cybvax0.UUCP (Keith C. MacKinnon) (10/11/84)

  I have been using plastic building kits for most of my layout and
found out that they look realistic more than the cardboard ones do, but
one thing lacked and that was weathering from nature or human causes.
  So I experimented with a few less precious buildings.

  This is what I came up with, using an assembled building preferably a
brick building use a very fine piece of sandpaper, then rubbing only
a few strokes against the brick, just enough to give the brick a rough
surface, but not to rough to be noticed by the naked eye. Then using
a white charcoal stick(witch can be picked up in any dept. store) and
a fairly sharp razor, scrap the razor backwards against the stick. This
will produce shavings or powder witch you then place over the brick siding.
  Then with a large artist brush, brush the powder all over the siding
untill most of the powder has moved into the gaps of the bricks. Try not
to handle the sidings that much as the charcoal will gling to your fingers.
  This sould produce a fairly weathered building, but experiment with your
own buildings first because some building sidings are already rough from the
castings. 
  You could also use this technique for roofs(minus the sandpaper routine),
cars, trucks, and even loco's.

I hope you have good success in weathering

..!mit-eddie!cybvax0
Keith C MacKinnon
Cybermation Inc.
Cambridge MA.