A Look At – Weathering The LX175-OO 40ft Twin Container Kit

Make sure the kit is free from any loose debris bits etc. Put down a protective layer on your workbench, old newspaper or in my case a plastic bin liner bag.

I’m starting with one of the long sides of the container. So an even coating of hairspray is applied to the side of the model I’m working on. This will form a good adhesive surface to apply the weathering powder too.

Start with darker powders first. So here I’m using a black powder as the first layer.

Dip the brush into the powder, you don’t need much powder on the brush.

Now wipe off the powder off the brush on a kitchen towel or piece of paper. You only need the bare minimum weathering powder on the brush.

It helps if you have some reference photos to work from, either your own photos or plenty can be found on the internet, as well as in various books on transport etc.

I’m starting off from the top of the container side & working downwards. Think how dirt naturally collects on the real thing, such as how rain washes the dirt downwards leaving streaks, how dirt collects whilst the container is being transported.

Work the brush with downward motions.

Using a downwards motion with the brush, work along the container making sure you get into all the nooks & crannies. Think how the dirt naturally collects in the corners. Don’t worry if you get to much powder on at this stage.

Re-apply the bare minimum of powder to the brush as you work along the container.

Having gone the full length of the container side, I start to work in the powder that’s already on the container with another clean brush. Here I’ve turned the brush sideways & working the powders into the corner edges.

Having worked the powders into the corners, I turn the brush flat ways & work on the raised rib sections. Using an up & down motion this time.

Switch to the sponge applicator & use downward strokes to really work the powders in.

Now if it looks like you’ve added to much powder to the model, it can be easily removed or thinned out more. Dip a cotton bud or q tip into some water.

Lightly rub the soaked Q tip over the area you want to remove or thin out the weathering powder. You can create water streak marks in the black powder using this method.

As I’m working my way along you can see how it’s removing the powder. Varying the pressure with the q tip gives different effects & streaking.

Be sure to regularly change the q tip for a freshly soaked new clean q tip. Work along the container till your happy with the amount of black powder left on the container.

Now it’s a change of colour. Here I’m using a yellow clay colour for the heavier dust layer. As before take a small amount of weathering powder on the brush.

Again as before, brush onto a piece of paper kitchen towel to leave the bare minimum of powder on the brush.

With the reference photos I’m working with, the dust appears heavier along the bottom of the side of the container. The dust graduates to a lighter covering up towards the middle of the container side.

Here you can see the area marked in the orange box shows the clay type coloured dust. Graduating from heavier at the bottom to lighter towards the top.

Now it’s a change of colour, this time a rich dark rust colour. Carefully use the brush to lift out a lump of weathering powder from the powder container. Place on to piece of paper.

Next drag the brush over the powder lump. This will leave the various shade of the powder colour. So for rust, it creates darker & lighter shades.

Press a q tip/cotton bud on to the rust coloured powder on the kitchen towel/paper. Next, decide where you want a rust patch on the container side.

Press the q tip/cotton bud on to the container side & drag downwards a little. Decrease the pressure on the q tip/cotton bud as you drag it downwards.

This now leaves a rust effect as circled in the photo right.

For the final powder layer, I’m adding a light mid-grey colour. So as before take a small amount of powder on the brush.

Brush the powder onto a piece of kitchen towel/paper.

Add a small amount of dark or black powder on to the mid-grey powder as circled in the photo on the right.

Now mix the two colours together. This will give us a dirtier looking mid-grey colour.

Work the mixed colour onto the container side.

Using the sponge applicator, work the mixed mid-grey into all the nooks & crannies. Then to finish off use downward strokes.

Here you can see the difference between the non-weathered container top, & the weathered container bottom. Seal the weathering with another coating of hairspray.

Now repeat the weathering on the other side of the container, again using reference photos as a guide to work from.

Having weather both sides attention is turned to the container roof. On the reference photos i’m working from, the roof is heavily weathered. So as before the dark black layer is added first, & thinned out using a q tip soaked in water.

Next layer to go on is the mixed mid-grey/dark black powder. On areas that need thinning out another clean soaked in water q tip, is used to remove & lighten off some areas on the container roof.

A sponge applicator is used to work the mix mid-grey/dark black into all the nooks & crannies.

Having completed the roof, a coating of hairspray is added to seal the weathering powders.

Now, attention is given to non door end of the container.

Spray a coating of hairspray on the container end & as before work in the dark black weathering powders. Again working from reference photos of the real thing.

As before follow up the dark black layer with the lighter clay coloured powder. Work this in along the lower part of the front end, with more along the bottom & less higher up. Add some rust areas if you so wish then a light mix of mid-grey/black as a final layer.

Seal with a spray coating of hair spray.

All that’s left to do is the door end. So as per my reference photos, I’ve given it a heavy weathered look. This was then sealed with a spray coating of hairspray.

I’ve not weathered the underside as this won’t be seen once on the layout.