Model Railroading on the Cheap

    Sometimes you can salvage a bad paint job with heavy weathering. Here is a car that I thought was too nice to keep off the layout. It originally was a highly detailed northeastern caboose by LifeLike with improved detail like glazed windows, finer rivets, and end railings, plenty of open grab irons, correct style steps, and larger cupola windows. There is a proper interior with a track powered light, operable doors, hidden weight, and underbody details. But the design of the electrical pick-up adds unwanted binds to the trucks and tracking quality. This contributes to a flickering lamp and excessive derailments.

   For weathering I used a 6 inch long cotton swab and water based paint. I like to work weathering paint from two or three light tan colors on a pallet.  I roll the swab between my fingers on the car side to get the varied texture and no brush strokes. This close picture makes me think I should have applied a bit of weather to the trucks also. I added the railroad man with his yellow duffel bag entering the opened door: obviously leaving for work somewhere either a wreck or track maintenance. With this much attention devoted to those fine details I felt I should be able to find a place for it on the Yardley and Hillton RR.