Model Railroading > Golden Peanut tank car

Here's a car that should have been easy yet I struggled to get it right! I really wanted to portray a tank car with various shades of heavy rusting and thought this would be the perfect candidate. I remembered the advice given to me by Jimmies (TO member) and sprayed a thin layer of Modelflex concrete gray along the top. This indeed helps a great deal! I then applied Model Masters burnt sienna and later burnt umber acrylics. It looked pretty good and I thought I had it right. But then I decided to work in some Pan Pastels rust colors. Oops---that was a mistake! It basically blended it all into one distinct color again!!

Luckily I had some oil-based acrylic rust colors made by Winsor and Newton. I applied these with cosmetic sponges and let the paints dry thoroughly between coats. A few coats of trusted dullcote sealed the job and now the car looks more to my goal. I'd swear tank cars are the hardest to weather because of their natural shape. Also, photographing them on a layout has it's own challenges with glare (or shadows) from the lighting. What looks good on my basement workbench will look totally different at the club. Regardless, I'm done with this darn car!!

I will also note this Atlas product (Trinity 25,000 gallon) came with a noticable horizontal mold line that is not present on older runs. I filed and sanded it but cannot eliminate it!

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It came out well. Nice job. Bruce

Very nice. I see a lot of tank cars roll by the house and just about anything goes!

TJY

Oooo, nice job on the car, plus I see I'm not the only one carrying peanut oil.

Good for you for "sticking with it" considering the challenges that arose during your weathering process. Your tank car looks like it turned out very well in the end.

Jim

Nice looking IHB SW as well.
JB

Nice work.
TC

Very cool indeed. Also love that IHB SW.

Thought you had put a pair of bolsters on a peanut butter jar, but nope just spread some peanut butter on a tank car. <B.G.>

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ghemr Wrote:
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> Here's a car that should have been easy yet I
> struggled to get it right! I really wanted to
> portray a tank car with various shades of heavy
> rusting and thought this would be the perfect
> candidate.

Looks great. Now if you can replicate the smell at the plant. I mudhopped a peanut butter factory in Oakland (or was it Alameda). The smell......wasn't quite as bad a Corn Products.

TAW

Nice job on the rust. Looks perfect to me. 

We're seeing lots of those cars coming out of the South on CSX (through Virginia) carrying, yes, Peanut Oil ..... going to a variety of food product manufacturers who use that product in their foods.

Your track work looks great!

Nice modeling all around. 

Nicely done!
Really captured the look of a tank car that is a veteran of many years of service.
Thanks for posting the great images, and describing the technique used.

> a noticeable horizontal mold line that is not present on older runs. 
I have run into the same problem on weathering the Athearn Oil Cans.  In order to mold the shell as a tube, the molds part in 4 pieces, creating 4 mold lines.  The usual mold line down the center of the top is gone, thankfully.  However there are now 2 mold lines along each flank.  They aren't super noticeable, until I apply weathering.  The mold line interupts the smooth flow of the sides, and catches anything that is used as a wash or powder.  About the only option left is to spray or stipple, which you have done to GREAT effect.

> I filed and sanded it but cannot eliminate it!
I am considering methods to remove the mold lines, but suspect I will encounter the same issue of not being able to scrape/sand them away.  If the shell on each side of the mold line are not perfectly in the same arc, one side will be lower than the other.  I will probably have to create a mask, apply filler, remove the mask, then sand it smooth.  The thought of having to do this 4 time per car, 60 times, keeps me up at night.  Guess it will give me something to do during the next lock-down.  ;-)

Dave



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/22 09:03 by tmotor.

Excellent work, even with the recently replaced wheel set!

Andy

tmotor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nicely done!
> Really captured the look of a tank car that is a
> veteran of many years of service.
> Thanks for posting the great images, and
> describing the technique used.
>
> > a noticeable horizontal mold line that is not
> present on older runs. 
> I have run into the same problem on weathering the
> Athearn Oil Cans.  In order to mold the shell as
> a tube, the molds part in 4 pieces, creating 4
> mold lines.  The usual mold line down the center
> of the top is gone, thankfully.  However there
> are now 2 mold lines along each flank.  They
> aren't super noticeable, until I apply
> weathering.  The mold line interupts the smooth
> flow of the sides, and catches anything that is
> used as a wash or powder.  About the only option
> left is to spray or stipple, which you have done
> to GREAT effect.
>
> > I filed and sanded it but cannot eliminate it!
> I am considering methods to remove the mold lines,
> but suspect I will encounter the same issue of not
> being able to scrape/sand them away.  If the
> shell on each side of the mold line are not
> perfectly in the same arc, one side will be lower
> than the other.  I will probably have to create a
> mask, apply filler, remove the mask, then sand it
> smooth.  The thought of having to do this 4 time
> per car, 60 times, keeps me up at night.  Guess
> it will give me something to do during the next
> lock-down.  ;-)
>
> Dave

Maybe do it like you do on a car. Use a fine grain filler and use a large sanding block to "block sand" the tank. 

PHall Wrote:

> Maybe do it like you do on a car. Use a fine grain
> filler and use a large sanding block to "block
> sand" the tank. 

One issue is the Oil Cans have an outer jacket that is made of overlapping layers of sheet metal.  The seams are not butt welded.  One layer of steel is on top of the other, like a lap weld.  This means the surface of the outer skin is on different levels, not "smooth".  I could attempt to make a sanding block that had the same profile as the shell, maybe with Bondo.  The trick would be keeping it square to the shell when sanding.  

Maybe all of the raised sheets can be sanded at once.  Then the lower sheets can be sanded individually with a sanding block that fits that specific spacing.  I will experiment with it.  :-D

Dave