Auscision N Class

Hi Guy's

Just finished weathering a couple of Auscision N Class. They are real nice models and I think they are on Parr with the EL's that they did a couple of years ago. I have documented the weathering process so here we go.

These are the 2 N class straight out of the box. Nicely detailed but a paint job like this would of lasted a couple of days in service before the effects of weathering would be seen. I didn't want to weather them heavily at all. So I mostly worked on all the chassis area and a bit on the roof. Anyway there was a bit of work to do with the masking tape.

I had been looking at a way to mask a Vline logo and I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before. Simply cover the logo with tape and outline it with a texter. Then remove it onto glass and cut it out with a razor blade.

My main aim with this masking was to put a lighter grey on the loco body to fade the paint a bit. masking the logo means I don't need to replace it with a decal later. I used UP Harbour Mist Gray for the lighter shade of grey. I also did the bogies with my usual mix of grimes and darkened the roof while I was at it.

I also use a similar approach with the Vline Pass N class but I didn't want to do any weathering to the body as this scheme is relatively new and I haven't really seen any photo's of these heavily weathered as yet. So just the chassis and roof got a treatment.

The Vline pass N class also got another mask so that I could darken the area behind the side grills. After I painted this I removed the tape then cleaned the paint off the grill with a cotton bud soaked with turps.

After this I was at the stage that I masked up all the windows and put a little bit of a dusting around the pilots and got the brush out. I used a paint brush to high light details like the little lourvered panels of the side of the hood, the door locks, any little foot step holes and just about anywhere that dirt and grime can build up. I usually get a really wet mix of grimy black and turps on a brush and all I have to do is touch the area with the brush and the paint spreads out and covers the area. It usually dries in a few seconds or so and if it need more I just do it again. If it get too heavy I just dry the brush out and go in a soak up the excess before it drys. I also do this with the bogies usually with engine black and high light the springs, axle Journals and any wholes in the bogie. It makes a difference and give more depth to the models. The last thing is to cover the model with a dullcote and remove the tape from the windows.

Any here is the end results

Anyway this is my approach to weathering a pair of N Class loco's. They should look good on a Vline Pass set.

Cheers Justin Moy