Minitrix 15401 Gas Wagon Set - weathering and stuff

I purchased a set of Minitrix's 15401 Gaskesselwagen-Set at Opherline when I was in Europe in February and received another set for my birthday from my wife as we decided to head north and do a little shopping at the EuroRail Hobbies shop!  So now I have a 10 wagon set of 'gas wagons'! Almost a real train!

These 5 car sets seem to be a good value; they are standard Minitrix quality (which is good) and retail for just over $100 USD, which turns out to be a bit more than $20 USD per car!  I think that's pretty good these days!  They also come nicely packaged in an attractive box and with individual cases for each car.

My only problem is that they are too pretty and need some dirt and rust! So off came the bogies, wheel sets removed, and away I went with a variety of washes, powders and some air-brushing to try and mimic some of the great weathering I've seen from others.

I'll skip sharing photos of 'how' I did it because I basically just used all sorts of techniques that you can find through any search of the web or YouTube.   Below are three of the wagons, the wagon in the foreground was untouched, while the two in background were given different types of weathering. I noticed in the various photos I looked at that sometimes the roofs would get really dark on some wagons, while others still stayed fairly white.

All wagons -except for brand new ones!-  show some rusting at the various rivet and joint areas.  I used a 'rust' wash from Vallejo for most of the rust streaks.  When I wanted a bit heavier rust pattern, I would mix in a bit of a rust weathering powder.

In general, I think they turned out really well and I like the look of this train a lot! I also weathered two VTG Gas wagons that I had purchased a few years ago and which I think will look fine as part of the train...for a total of 12 wagons!

But here's the problem....these wagons are heavy!  I first tried to pull them with a Kato Class 66...no luck!  My Arnold BB 25500 had no luck!  Wow! I only found one locomotive that could pull this train alone with any confidence that it could also make my 2% grades as well!  That locomotive was a Bachmann HHP-8 (what!? You say? Isn't that an American loco? Well, yes, sort of...but its cool and I have secret plans for it in the future...stay tuned for that!), anyway.....ultimately I'll have to figure out how to use my Roco Multimaus to program a multi-unit lashup to pull this train of 12 cars!

To paraphrase what others have said before, weathering is an act of faith.  Each time I weather a car, I am usually pleased with the results.  I think the most important part is having a good reference for what you want your results to look like (I had several photos from the web I printed out as reference), and some good materials to work with.  The various washes and powders that are increasingly available at hobby shops seem pretty fool proof if you apply the materials with care and aren't in a hurry!

Okay, that's it for now!  From a now dirty and rusty Quinntopia...Happy Modelling!