Pre-weathered Athearn boxcars

[ssw9662]

Does anybody here have these?

I've been considering buying one of these cars but I haven't seen any photos of them (Besides the shots Athearn has). My weathering skills are limited at best, so it would be nice to have one of these to give my collection of weathered cars a head start.

[Hoydie17]

All I've seen thus far is the Athearn marketing photos. 

They don't look bad, I think they'll be alright if you're just trying to put some filler in your inventory and don't want to take the time to weather every last car.

[R Federle]

This is something that may catch on if done if done right. I too am not one to get involved with weathering. I have tried in the past and did not like my results but I may be my toughest critic.

Does anyone on the list know of any reviews done on these pre weathered cars. I would like to see additional photos besides the ones in the advertisement.

Robert Federle

[nssd70]

I have one of the weathered cars and there not too bad for the price,but a bunch of them would look kind of strange with the same type of weathering on every car.

Doug

[R Federle]

I dont have one yet but I might just try it. As far as having them all look alike, it might be possible, since the base is there , to add some weathering here and there to change the appearance slightly? May not take a whole lot to do (of course I haven't got one yet to try this approach). Maybe a couple "dry brush" strokes here and there.

I dont know. Just a thought though.

Robert Federle

[nssd70]

Yes,you could add more weathering to change the looks of the cars.

Doug

[ssw9662]

OK, thanks for the info!

I can do some of the basic stuff (Rust splotches, streaky lettering, etc.), so I guess I could add that to a pre-weathered car.

My one gripe is that Athearn chose to weather mostly newer cars that have not picked up much dirt and grime yet.  I guess if I buy one of these cars I'll get one that would legitimately look dirty, like an SP 50' hicube.

[Hoydie17]

OK, thanks for the info!

I can do some of the basic stuff (Rust splotches, streaky lettering, etc.), so I guess I could add that to a pre-weathered car.

My one gripe is that Athearn chose to weather mostly newer cars that have not picked up much dirt and grime yet.  I guess if I buy one of these cars I'll get one that would legitimately look dirty, like an SP 50' hicube.

I don't know, some of those Gunderson TBOX's are looking pretty worn already, and the CP Rail ones as well.

The pre-weathered is a concept that is being tested on the Athearn Genesis line to find the feasability for further expansion into other lines including Blue Box kits. 

The weathering on these "pre-weathered" cars should be enough to truly take a car out of the box and set it loose on your layout with little work other than maybe putting metal Kadee couplers on.  Of course as a modeler you can always add more weathering to "mix it up" a little bit and add variety. 

The biggest headache with pre-weathered cars will be changing road numbers, as one will almost certainly scrape numbers and have a difficult time making the new numbers set correctly against the dried weathering agent Athearn is using on their cars.

Sean

[R Federle]

If Athearn expands this to the Blue Box kits it may boost sales slightly. Seems that it may be an idea better suited to the kits. I can see them wanting to expose the idea of weathered cars out of the box though.

Changing the number though will be kind of tough. The area of the number and data could be freshly done though to give the appearance of being "cleaned" (wiped down) so the info could be seen.

Robert Federle

[ssw9662]

I finally saw one of these cars in person at a hobby shop, they look pretty good to me. The red boxcars (Particularly the N&W ones) looked especially realistic.

Athearn got the weathering level perfect. It's noticeable but the cars don't look like they've been stuck on a siding for 25 years.   

[ns_7011]

I recently purchased a NW 60' hi-cube with the pre-weathering, and I must say it looks good! IMO.

[darkhorse2]

you could add graffiti decals to break up the look. also i use the black part of ttx flat car or autorack decals to use as a repainted area and put new numbers in the box . and a third method i have used is to cover the number with a little bit of scotch tape,then weather the car. after your done remove the tape and you have a freshly repainted number look.

[scooter3798]

Another easy way to do patches if you don't want to paint them is to use Microscale's trim film. It is a sheet of decal paper printed in one solid color. They offer about 30 different colors. All you have to do is cut out the shape of the patch that you want and slap it on the car. You can then use some of their data sets to renumber it or add new weight, capy data.

Scooter

[NorfolkSouthern91]

I'd rather weather my own cars and locomotives because they have that personal touch.