I needed to paint the wheels and side frames on my S-Cab project switcher, and MR had a recent article in which Cody Grivno describes some techniques for this ("Tank cars for Jones Island", April 2021, pg. 26).
He spays the side frames with flat black spray paint, then applies Vallejo Oiled Earth Wash. For freight car trucks, he temporarily replaces the wheelsets with a spare set to mask the sockets, but for the switcher, the side frames were removed as part of the project, so I didn't have to worry about sockets. I also applied little touches of gray and rust washes here and there. The following photos, which I took of some switchers in the 1990s, show the kind of effects I used for inspiration. (Note that the wheels on locomotives really aren't very visible behind the side frames).
For the wheels, Cody brushes on Dark Rust from Mission Models, which I didn't have. Instead I tried Vallejo Model Air Rust, which I think looks very similar to the photos in the article.
I used Microbrushes for this work, and I liked the results. I plan to use these techniques going forward for all my locos and railcars.
Summary of the techniques:
- Use Microbrushes for brush painting.
- For the wheels...
- If necessary, clean wheels with alcohol.
- Brush wheel faces with Vallejo Model Air Rust (no. 71.080).
- For truck frames...
- If necessary, mask wheel sockets with spare wheelsets.
- Spray frames with Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2 Flat Black (no. 249127).
- Apply Vallejo Oiled Earth Model Wash (no. 76.521).
- Apply touches of Vallejo Dark Rust Model Wash (no. 76.507) and Pale Gray Game Wash (no. 73.202).
- Update - I decided on another approach to try...
- Don't bother with spray painting.
- Use a micro-brush.
- Paint trucks using Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rust (no. 70.302).
- Paint wheels using Vallejo Model Air Rust (no. 71.080).
- Use Pan Pastels to add grime and additional rust.
