Flat car decking

[markoles]

Hi guys, 

 

Just a simple little project on a Saturday afternoon.  I painted up my B&O flatcar deck using art store acrylic paints.  White and brown sort of mixed on the brush gives a worn and sun drenched look to the wood. 

 

The first image is the deck as I was painting it, showing the red deck, standard on the Aristo freight cars.

 

Here's a shot of it when I was done.  I may end up going over some of the darker spots to soften the weathering a bit. Maybe not.  My New Haven flat car is similarly enhanced.

[enginear joe]

 That looks great from what I can see. (when I click on the image, it says I do not have permission to view?)

Could you share anymore tips on how to paint that on to get that look? I was considering swapping out the deck with real wood to get that look.

[markoles]

Joe,

 

I changed the setting of the photos so you should be able to see them now. 

 

What I did was I took a paper plate and squirted some of the brown in one place, and some of the white in another.  If you want more texture, you can choose a couple of browns.  So, then, you dip the brush in to one of the paints and sort of drag it over to one of the browns, and you sort of allow the colors to intermingle.  In order to avoid a uniform color, and therefore the same look as the original red, don't mix it too much.  Then, just go along the grain, back and forth with the paint brush.  I covered the edges of the car with blue painter tape to keep the brown/white to the wood section.   I like the acrylic paint because it is water soluble, making clean up really easy. 

 

By mixing it up with lighter and darker browns, you can achieve the look of sun bleached and otherwise stained wood decking.

 

Here's a photo I found online of the New Hope Valley's efforts at replacing decking on a flat car.  I'd expect they'd stain or otherwise protect the wood once they are done.  However, if you notice the loading steps appear to have that graying that I note with most woods.

 

[enginear joe]

 Thank you!

[markoles]

Joe, I also did this to the insides of two of my older REA era gondolas.  I've been thinking I should paint the floors of some of the 40' boxcars, too.  It didn't take hardly any time at all.

[Jerry B44]

Nice work, much better than the stock.