PanPastels and one wedge-shaped
sponge in hand, I triggered a stopwatch.
When I had finished weathering the lo-
comotive, the total time I had spent was
only 8 minutes!
I then located a second Berkshire and
tried again, this time pausing a stop-
watch at each step when I stopped to
take a photo. My time improved slightly
to 7 minutes and 13 seconds. I doubt that
I’ll improve on that going forward, as I’ll
probably find ways to enhance the pro-
cess that will also add a bit of time.
Emphasis on ‘easy’
To be sure, I’ve seen better weathering
jobs, but that isn’t the point. The concern
here was to find a simple way to get a lot
of cars and locomotives weathered
quickly. By using the same tools and
materials but taking a little or a lot more
time, I’m sure even better results can be
obtained with a little practice.
Even so, I doubt you’ll find an easier
and quicker way to achieve acceptable
results. Those of you who are pressed for
time, don’t own an airbrush, or are in-
timidated by the usual weathering pro-
cesses might give PanPastels a try.
Hard water creates white streaks as it runs down the boiler jacketing from the
pop (safety) valves and blow-down muffler and dries. This effect is easy to get by
using light applications of the white PanPastel color to simulate dried minerals.
By the 5-minute, 29-second mark, Tony was applying Red Oxide and Burnt
Sienna to simulate the rust on the locomotive’s pilot, cylinder heads, trucks, and
other low areas to match his collection of reference photos.
Associate editor Cody Grivno used
Tony’s PanPastel methods on a
locomotive on our new Model
Railroader project railroad that will
debut in January’s issue.
To wrap up as the stopwatch ticked past the 7-minute mark, Tony applied a little
more rust to the smokebox front and pilot, then did a bit more dry-brushing with
light gray to ensure details stood out and everything blended together.
NOVEMBER 2013 • Model Railroader
43