Hopper Weathering Clinic III By Bill Mock January 2010

OK, I gave the inside of these hoppers a wash of Engine Black below the coal line. They look pretty good. At least they no longer look like raw plastic. Why am I weathering the inside of these hoppers? I don't know. You can see some of this surface above the Hay Brothers Coal Load. So that good. But who knows? Some day I may try to add some cross bracing and attempt to run these hoppers empty. May be it's just a Z-Scale - Zen thing.  

 OK, time to go inside those hoppers! They get the same treatment, an acrylic rust wash. But this time, it's a wash of Grimy Black, Rust and a hint of Flat Aluminium. I used a cotton swab and "blue windshield washing fluid" to really scrub the inside of the plastic shell; to make sure that the paint-wash covers evenly. It looks awful to have the wash "bead up" around a bit of residual casting release oil. So scrub it down and then wash on the paint - all sides at once. Then let it dry, sitting on it's wheels. The paint wash gently washes down the side walls in a very realistic pattern. Let the first coat dry and then come back later to see if any additional paint washes are necessary. I'll probably add a wash of "Engine Black" below the line where the loaded coal sits and grinds into the side walls.

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