LET'S SEE SOME WEATHERED AIRLINERS!

Used to be, you very seldom saw weathered airliners.  Line boys were cheap, planes were kept spotless.  006 is correct, one sees a lot more crud on airliners today, though few really bad.  I do like to model ramp queens, but see few airliners still in service that count.  A few derelicts around, though.

They remind me of city buses nowadays.

It's been a while since I used commercial aviation (thanks TSA), but most of the weathering I saw seemed like the result of using less-expensive surface coatings, or of not renewing those coatings as often.  Decidedly not the immaculate finishes of old.

However, rendering such things at airliner scale could be a bit tough.  Getting, say, an Aeroflot in Lake Victoria service to not look like a person was a bad modeler would be an exercise in skill.

I've tried to weather a couple of my 1/144 airline builds, decided I need to do them showroom fresh because I sucked at it. If I built 1/72 airlines, I'd probably try again.

Older, piston engined airliners can at least take some exhaust stains.  Almost all of the piston airliners were powered by radials, and those engines threw a lot of oil as well as the actual "exhaust" carbon.  So even airlines wanting to keep their planes as clean as possible had to suffer the exhaust stains.  Exhaust stains on smaller scale, like 1:144 can be a challenge, though.  Requires skill with an airbrush or drybrushing.

Doesn't anyone have any pics of weathered airliners that they built.... or from a contest?  I went through this forum and found none.

So, how about some ideas for weathering?  I'm thinking of a single prop aircraft that was in the air for some 36 hours.  What one see in weathering there?  I'd like to build a Spirit of St. Louis as it would appear following the flight to Paris.

It would probably have some mud from that takeoff, and maybe some exhaust stains, but the flight wasn't that long in terms of weathering.  I think of weathering as more sitting out in strong UV day in and day out.

It would be interesting to work up a diorama of a retired craft in a boneyard or an airport's "corrosion corner". Go crazy with the weathering, oil stains, scrap parts, ladders, etc.

jackball74

It would be interesting to work up a diorama of a retired craft in a boneyard or an airport's "corrosion corner". Go crazy with the weathering, oil stains, scrap parts, ladders, etc.

Wow - that's nice work!

There is a derelict Beech 18 at my local airport.  It was not an airliner, but I believe some 18s were used in commercial service.  I have thought sometimes of modeling that plane. It is parked on the other side of the ramp, though, so I cannot get close to it and it might be hard to take photos.  They are getting a bit funny about folks wondering into the operating areas these days :-(

One place that has a fairly accessible "holding area" is Opa Locka in South Florida. Easy to take pics, and they have everything from DC-3s to 747s.

Kind of interesting.  I'd really be impressed to see some airline kits built to look the way most actually do - with visible ware.  I look online and at contests and everyone seems to like making them look like desk top or book shelf decoration displays.  Some specifically want that and I guess it's personal taste.  But there's something to be said for realism and I admit it's not easy to do.  There's no shortage of weathering in military and aircraft -  it would be great to see the technique spread to airline kits.

I even find this with military aircraft, which generally are more grungy than airliners.  Weathering has not seemed to have caught on that well in aircraft modeling. I believe the model railroad folks started it.  Armor guys picked it up pretty soon, but car and aircraft people seem to be reluctant to use it.

Car builders are all over it.  Check out the SAM forum and search under beaters.  You'll be blown away by what you see.

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Yes, I see weathering in "beater" cars, and in rally cars.  Much less common on factory stocks, rods, and racing cars.  A little on dirt trackers, less so on pavement track race cars.

Here's my favorite example of weathering on commercial aircraft. I took this on a flight from Anchorage, AK to Deadhorse, AK.

I have an okay grasp on how to weather armor and other military models but the proper method for weathering other types of models escapes me. That's why my other models tend to end up looking like what 006 called them....decorative displays. I want realism in my models no matter what they are but even after building models all my life I just can't seem to understand how to achieve that. Often times it seems as if I've gotten as good as I'll be able to get in the hobby. It's frustrating.

I used to fly 737s and during the walkaround I'd see glove prints all over the hot section of the exhaust.  It turns out that the ground crews would press their hands against it to warm them up in the winter time and they would leave prints behind.

JimNTENN

I have an okay grasp on how to weather armor and other military models but the proper method for weathering other types of models escapes me. That's why my other models tend to end up looking like what 006 called them....decorative displays. I want realism in my models no matter what they are but even after building models all my life I just can't seem to understand how to achieve that. Often times it seems as if I've gotten as good as I'll be able to get in the hobby. It's frustrating.

Do you build any prop planes, or jets only?  Exhaust stains are a good way to start.  Maybe even simpler is getting some dirt and age to the tires by painting them an off-black rather than a pure flat black. If there is any black anti-glare in front of the windshield, tone that down a little.  Appropriate to all eras.

  Also, a wash of a transparent red can be used to get some subtle hydraulic fluids around landing gear.  Also, a light coating of dust on LG may be easily done with an airbrush.  If you are using Alclad on natural metal finish aircraft, use some white aluminum on some panels, instead of all surfaces having a shinier aluminum.

I think over time I've built more props than jets although the last plane I finished was Tamiya's 1/48 Me-262-A. I was pretty pleased with it since it was my first time doing that kind of camo. But I tended to weather it with a similar technique that I would use on armor by giving it a very light dusting of pastels. And it looked just like that...an airplane model with a light dusting of pastels. I think on a couple of occasions I've built planes with a natural metal finish but they pretty much looked just like a model plane with silver paint. But that was a long time ago in my teenage and young adult years. I think I've avoided doing any more like that because I just really don't know how to start when it comes to the finish. And I could go on and on but I'm still very much a beginner, I think, when it comes to painting a model because I'm still stuck in that beginner's habit of painting a model in one session rather than building it up in layers. I think I'm just able to get it to look decent because it's done with an airbrush instead of rattle can or hand painted. But they inevitably end up looking like a model with a good coat of paint rather than a realistically weathered and finished replica. And while there have been times I have tried to use some of the finishing and weathering techniques of experienced craftsmen that I see in FSM I think my biggest hindrance is that I've never really learned how to BEGIN the finishing process of a model. If any of that makes any sense.

I find the finish (painting) of a model takes as long as the total assembly.  Now, of course, some parts need to be painted during the subassembly work, but the final exterior painting  of the whole model is what I am referring to. It starts with primer, then sanding, and often sanding between coats of the color paint.  Alclad finishes are really time consuming, because one needs to get a flawless gloss black coat on before alclad spraying.  Gloss finishes are much more work than flat finishes.  So painting does stretch the patience!

One thing I noticed while sitting in a tool crib at a major airlines overhaul hangar was the different color paint on certain panels. And the gear was always a dirty mess. Another thing was the missing paint on the rivets. Depending on what was being done to the aircraft it may go out 1/4 of the aircraft in fresh paint after a major check.

Here is a beat up B757

1/144 minicraft/contrails 757.

Very nice.  The stains back from the slats are interesting.  I notice some crud below some of the aft windows.  Hadn't thought of that.

As an aircraft mechanic looking at these things every day, I have to say that 7 5 is the best looking model I have seen. These aircraft are very dirty. Even repainted, they don't stay clean long!