Goods Shed Part Three

Fixing the roof to my NSWGR G-2 Goods Shed left me with one glaring problem. The model building almost looked too good. With construction of New South Wales G-2 standard corrugated iron goods sheds dating back to the early 1900's, Philden Goods Shed looked more like a brand new Titan shed than an historic railway artifact. The solution? Rustall.

This was a Christmas present from years back that had waited patiently for construction to start on my HO layout.

A few Christmases ago, my daughter's boyfriend impressed his future father-in-law with a gift that was sure to win him over. I'd looked for Rustall here in Australia for years without any luck, and somehow he'd managed to trace down a kit for me. The only problem was that selling my N scale empire and starting work on my Australian HO layout has taken me this long to be able to use it. They say Rustall 'rusts anything'. Well, I was about to find out.

Step 1, painting the rust onto a new model at first looks a little harsh.

Without any experience using Rustall before, I dived straight into the box, quickly read the instructions and pulled out my paintbrushes. It looked pretty straightforward, 4 numbered bottles, 4 different results, simply stir and apply. Bottle 1 is the rust, a muddy-looking concoction that achieves varied results depending on how thick you apply it. At first it looks a little harsh when applied onto a new model, but I soon discovered it worked best when applied in gradual layers.

Step 2, adding the black-wash highlights gives the rusted areas some body.

Bottle 2 was simply some black-wash highlights that randomly collect on the rusted panels, giving the rust some body, and the barer patches of corrugated iron a much-needed coat of weathering.

Step 3, the flat grey toner blends all the layers together.

Without sounding like I'm giving make-up tips, bottle 3 was a flat grey toner. When applied, it blends the rust, black-wash and painted silver surface of the corrugated iron together. There was a 4th bottle in the kit that contained a dirt powder for dry-weathering the finished model, but as my goods shed will sit up on a timber platform, I think I'll save that for another project.

The finished result, my goods shed is now awaiting the fascia, corner soffits and bargeboards to be added.

In Australia, corrugated iron rusts. The older the structure, the deeper the rust tends to be. Without having photographed an actual G-2 Goods Shed to use as my reference, I simply gave the roof a rustier finish than the side walls. I wanted to rust the goods shed now, before fitting the fascia, corner soffits and bargeboards to the model. My model is meant to replicate a well-worn, but still functionally sound goods shed, and although I was a little heavy-handed at first, for my first-time using Rustall, I'm pretty happy with the results. Now I just have to get those fascia boards painted, but as usual, that's a story for another day.

See also; Goods Shed Part Four or Goods Shed Part Two and Goods Shed Part One and Building a Goods Platform