Tonight I finally gathered enough nerve to heavily weather a brand new Walther’s torpedo car. They look so nice out of the box I was hesitant to touch them, but they didn’t look right without grime.
When hot metal is poured out from these cars there is residue on the outer lip of the spout. I have heard this called “skull”. After looking at some actual pictures I decided to use a brush to paint dilute white glue around the opening of the torpedo car and sprinkle on Highball N Scale Cinder ballast. After letting the first coat dry overnight I reapplied more ballast today and let it dry. I heavily flecked chalk onto the cars with a dry brush – first rust color over the car and grey around the spout. I hit the car with Testor’s Dullcoat and applied more chalk. Afterwards and while the car was still wet I misted rubbing alcohol over the car. The created the mottled look that I was hoping for – albeit a happy accident.
Here are some results:
