Painting and Weathering Freight Car Trucks

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  • Опубліковано 9 гру 2024
  • In the months following the initial posting of this video, I received a number of comments suggesting that Grimy Black on the wheels would look more realistic, since the journal boxes continuously leaked oil onto the faces of the wheels, causing a buildup of grimy black dirt and dust. So I posted a photo survey (see the Posts tab on my home page) and 80% of modelers chose Grimy Black over Rust. I confess I prefer it, too, and I have since started using Grimy Black. I guess you're never too old to stop learning!
    In my video “Breathe New Life Into Old Freight Cars”, I deliberately glossed over the details of painting and weathering the trucks to keep the video reasonably short. Not only that, but as viewer Ravenbow pointed out, I utterly failed to provide any links to the products I used.
    I’ve been gratified by the overwhelming response to that video, which leads me to believe that many modelers are still interested in this sort of project. This short video is an attempt to expand on my methods.
    Bettendorf trucks? Or roller bearing trucks?
    Bettendorf trucks, like all of the trucks that preceded them, used solid axles held inside a rectangular journal box. The axle was surrounded by packing (or stuffing) which was usually cloth waste, wool waste, or even old rags. The packing was then soaked with oil until a pool of oil formed on the bottom of the journal box. As oil leaked out of the journal bearing, it was replaced by oil wicking up from this reservoir. Train crews routinely added oil to the journal boxes on their trains. When the reservoir ran dry, the bearing overheated, started to smoke, and In some cases caught fire. (Note: preliminary evidence indicated that it was an overheated roller bearing that caused the derailment in East Palestine in early 2023.) Solid bearings were prohibited for interchange service starting in 1994.
    Roller bearing trucks were first used in the 1920s, but did not see common use until the 1940s. The first uses of roller bearing trucks were on passenger cars and on locomotive and tender wheels. These were enclosed bearings, unlike modern open bearings, which can be seen rotating as the wheel rolls. The modern style open roller bearing became predominant in the first half of the 1960s.
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    Links to items mentioned in this video. (Note: I am NOT endorsing any particular product(s), nor am I compensated by or connected to any of the companies mentioned.) I do NOT guarantee that these links will give you the best available price! Consider these links to be a starting point for your search.
    Truck sideframes: accurailinc.co... Use either Bettendorf or Roller Bearing. Parts number 164/165 (12 pair), 154/155 (50 pair), or 151/152 (100 pair). Note the 50 pair and 100 pair packs are available only from Accurail.
    Truck tuner: www.micromark.... The tool shown in this video is from Reboxx and is no longer available. All of the online comments I have seen indicate that the MicroMark tool is superior.
    Metal wheelsets:www.intermount... The website provides excellent guidance on selecting wheel diameter. I model freight traffic in the 1950s, so I use 33” wheels almost exclusively.
    Microbrushes: www.micromark.... I use the Fine size for painting wheelsets, but as long as you’re placing an online order, buy 100 of each size - you will finds dozens of uses!
    Model Master acrylic paint is no longer in production. Try Vallejo or Tru-Color paints for similar colors.
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    This video was edited using Shotcut for Linux. Video footage and still images were recorded using a Galaxy A10e phone and a Nikon D7100 camera.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 24

  • @ardenkwong9153
    @ardenkwong9153 Місяць тому +1

    Excellent! Thanks for showing everyone that upgrades can be simple, cost-effective, fun, satisfying, attainable, performance-enhancing, and realism-enhancing. AND all in one video! Amazing! Time very well spent for the best hobby in the world! Inspirational and inspirationally shared too! Tony Koester talked about this for encouraging new modelers in an MR editorial ages ago - inspiration and NOT intimidation! Please keep up the great videos!!!

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Місяць тому

      Wow! That is incredibly high praise. Thanks for the feedback - and thanks for watching!
      BTW if you go to the posts tab on my home page and scroll down, you'll see a survey showing that 80% of respondents preferred the appearance of Grimy Black on the wheels versus rust. I have to confess I prefer it too, and I have since switched to Grimy Black.

  • @dcrrails3402
    @dcrrails3402 Рік тому +1

    I have a lot of old rolling stock that I boxed up as a kid. I need to do a lot of tune-up work on my rolling stock to get my layout up and running smoothly. This video and your Breathe New Life into Old Freight Cars are invaluable to me. Thank you for taking the time to share.

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому +2

      One difficulty that I did NOT address in that video is replacing truck-mounted couplers. I plan a short video sometime explaining how to replace these with body mounted couplers and improving the truck mounts. Stay tuned!

  • @pdrrengineer1404
    @pdrrengineer1404 Рік тому

    Another well-done, concise how-to video on the complete sequence to produce a prototypical appearing freight truck. Thanks for sharing your process and choice of materials with us.

  • @Christiane069
    @Christiane069 Рік тому

    Thanks for this video. Of course there are possible variations on the colors used.

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому

      Absolutely. As I mentioned in the video description, Model Master acrylic paints are no longer in production, so you'll have to find suitable substitutes.

  • @ЛЬВИНИ
    @ЛЬВИНИ Рік тому

    Good video, like

  • @johnbutler8388
    @johnbutler8388 Рік тому

    Thank you for your video I was going to do that to start painting my trucks on my rolling stock thank you thank you very much

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому

      You're welcome! You'll find that painting one pair of trucks at a time is a painfully slow process, but painting 10 or 20 pair at once goes pretty quickly.

  • @stevebryan5779
    @stevebryan5779 Рік тому

    Good video--thanks

  • @joeraderblackrockcentralrr
    @joeraderblackrockcentralrr Рік тому

    good tips. Thanks

  • @w.rustylane5650
    @w.rustylane5650 4 місяці тому

    Keep those plastic wheel sets for loads on gondolas or flatcars. Seems I can't seem to throw those away. I've got an old pint can of Rust-O-Leum rusty metal primer that I use for my wheels. It really looks like old rust & is lacquer based. It holds women's eye make up really well (I use it instead of weathering powders 'cause I get it from the dollar store). Cheers from eastern TN

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  4 місяці тому

      Absolutely! But first, please *please* cut off those pointed axle tips!

  • @roberthultman9691
    @roberthultman9691 Рік тому

    Do you do any prep work on the Accurail Delrin plastic truck frames? I've found the occasional Accurail truck frame with some flash that needs removal, but not near as bad as the older Athearn BB DElrin truck frames.
    I've read that some modelers grit-blast the Delrin to get better paint adhesion. Maybe that step isn't necessary by using the rattle can spray red primer as the base color for the frames.

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому

      I've never done any extra prep, and the Painter's Touch 2X adheres very well. I've not tried any other primer - I got lucky on the first go!
      I have tried using a truck tuner on the axle pockets, but I've never seen any improvement in performance as a result.

    • @roberthultman9691
      @roberthultman9691 Рік тому

      @@rwissbaum9849 The only time the truck tuner helps in my view is if the wheelset axle is too long for the truck frame. In that case, I inwardly squeeze xtra hard on the journal boxes while twirling the tuner. This makes the conical "hole" in the journal boxes a little deeper & I can usually get the "was too-long" axle to slip into place & spin w/o any detectable friction slowing down its spinning.

  • @CassidysWorkshop
    @CassidysWorkshop Рік тому

    Nice, clear video with good tips, thanks. I like your truck-holder a lot better than the one I made 20+ years ago. Time to upgrade it. Do you do any painting on the back of your wheels or axles?

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому +1

      No, I never bothered to paint the axles or the backs of the wheels. They're not noticeable, and I fear that painting them might make them stand out more, rather than less.

    • @CassidysWorkshop
      @CassidysWorkshop Рік тому

      @@rwissbaum9849 Cool, thanks.

  • @Christiane069
    @Christiane069 Рік тому

    Actually, even the result are very fine, there are possibility to vary slightly from car to car.

    • @rwissbaum9849
      @rwissbaum9849  Рік тому

      Absolutely! Making them all the same will defeat the purpose. I would suggest, though, that the variations should be subtle - freight cars traveling across Oklahoma will pick up a lot of red dirt, so if you're modeling an Oklahoma-based railroad, the trucks (and cars) should reflect this. Cars on interchange service - for example, a Pennsy freight car on my Rio Grande layout - would be expected to differ from the others. THAT'S getting pretty detail-oriented, but that can add to the fun of model railroading.

    • @Christiane069
      @Christiane069 Рік тому

      @@rwissbaum9849 Thanks for the feedback. Yes, this called FUN. I am in southern California, and we have a lot of dust. Sand color is dominant.