Thanks for sharing your background, Charlie. Your art degree has been a great tool for your modeling!

 

A few years ago, I purchased a color wheel. After reading all the info on both sides of the wheel, I was amazed. I also wish I had bought a color wheel a few decades ago. Here’s a short review on using a color wheel.

https://youtu.be/DfKx7MjSEK0

 

My last art class was about 45 years ago and forgotten. I added the color wheel to my tool box and it’s been instrumental to mix paint for freight car models. At some point, I hope to enroll in an intro to art class at a community college so I can understand more about color, tints, and shades. A color wheel scratches the surface of possibilities.

 

 

Eric Hansmann

Murfreesboro, TN

 

 

 

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Charlie Duckworth
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 1:48 PM
To: main@realstmfc.groups.io
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Rapido X31A

 

Bill

Thanks for the compliment; a little background is warranted.  I did major in Art in college and minored in history.  Having an art degree meant to my father I needed a ‘real’ income and he got me a job working on a Mopac tie gang in western Kansas as I’d intended to go back and get a masters degree.  I quickly learned what end of a spike maul to use, how to run a tie crane and was the assistant Foreman in a few months as most of the gang was bidding on  gangs closer to home.  The assistant Foreman job was a blast as I took a little Fairmont motorcar to the job site every morning to put out our red and green boards to indicate to the train crews where we were working (they also had a train order indicating the mile poles where we were as well).  Dad mentioned one weekend our IT department was hiring so I moved into management and was transferred to Ft Worth on the T&P (no more school for me).  38 years and 20+ different management positions I retired 10 years ago.  

 

I’d always built models since I was a preteen  (aircraft and armor) and got into model railroading in my late 20’s.  Weathering was just an airbrush technique when I started.  I then started seeing what the armor modelers were doing with filters, pin washes, pencils, etc and started applying the same techniques to my HO freight cars.  To me, what we have as an advantage over the armor modelers is their tanks probably didn’t last over a few campaigns.  Our freight cars lasted for decades meaning we have all kinds of choices with fading of paint, paint loss, rust, etc.  Making for interesting consists or a cut of cars at a siding.   

 

There’s lots of YouTube videos out there on armor weathering that are worth viewing.  But be careful you might end up with a T-34 or Sherman on your workbench!