From what I have seen of the layouts and information available on here so far I think it is fair to say that there is a wide range of modelling skills involved in contributing to the forum.  From the pretty amazing layouts we can see demonstrating a stunning level of detail to the complete beginners such as myself we do seem to cover all standards.

For myself I am always open to learning new skills and, despite being a modeller in many different arenas over the years, I still think there are many of us including myself who could say that they would like to know a little bit more about the subject of weathering.  It was with this in mind that I decided to sign up to a couple of courses at Pendon and consequently this last weekend I attended a day of airbrush tuition followed by a day of weathering with a paint brush to try to overcome my reluctance to have a go with the airbrush and finally get the thing off the shelf, brush the dust off it and have a go.  Both days were under the tuition of Mick Bonwick, himself a student of Tim Shackleton, who many of us already hold in very high regard.

The first day saw us all being pretty much at the beginner stage of airbrushing skils and so the course was adjusted accordingly to best meet our needs.  So, while we did not produce a great deal in the way of finished articles, we all learned a great deal about how to go about getting the best out of our equipment and consequently all gained a great deal in confidence and became significantly more familiar with the workings of the airbrush.

The second day proved to be just as much of an eye opener in quite a different way with us all developing a much deeper awareness of the benefits of washes, pigment application, rust effects and general brush applied weathering.  Despite my own experience including a number of years of using weathering techniques to enhance my own model boats I still found the course very informative and a great arena for sharing ideas, techniques and general dos and don'ts of the practise.  This day I was able to produce some surprisingly satisfying results with nothing more than washes and pigments and took me to the point whereby I cannot wait to try these out in conjunction with the airbrushing techniques learned the previous day.

For anyone wanting to gain a degree of confidence sufficient to enable them to have a go at some weathering or even to take thier own skills to a higher level I cannot recomment the courses highly enough.  The room is extreemly well equipped and yet the course incorporates enough flexibility to enable you to try as much or as little of your own equipment as you want to gain that level of familiarity that you are looking for.  Mick is always to hand and is always happy to offer guidance, assistance or even advise as and when required.  Even to the point of letting you know exactly why the item you have brought may not be ultimately the most cost effective tool for the job!

After the second day I was able to produce an effect combining washes and pigments to produce this, which will further be enhanced with additional airbrushing and rusting effects as soon as I can get the gear set up:




This was a first attempt at using purely pigments but the over bright lighting has reduced the effects to the point where it actually looks a lot better in real life!  Again further effects will be added to get it to an acceptable standard:

Great review, and super results. If you don't mind me asking, was the course expensive, and did you need to supply your own equipment for the course?

On the first day all airbrushing equipment, paint and consumables were supplied however you could take your own gear and Mick would help you to learn how to get the best from it.  I took my own compressor and airbrush and quickly learned that the cheap airbrush that I got with the compressor was really not up to it.

On the second day all paints, brushes and consumables were supplied.  All the items that are used are also available to purchase should you wish to so I bought myself a new Iwata airbrush, a set of specialist brushes, some Testor's Dullcote etc..

The courses cost £75.00 per day, start at 09.30 hrs and are scheduled to finish at 16.00 hrs when the museum closes however, on both days, we stayed later and were told regularly that we could continue for as long as we wanted.

In between building the layout I have been having a play with the techniques that i learned at the course and come up with a process for waggons that I am now fairly happy with.  I want to have a degree of consistency that ensures they look real while also having a degree of individuality dependant on thier individual ages and usage.

The couplings are Smiths three link and the load is Geoscenics Limestone.

Anyway just some test runs:

:thumbs  Does it for me.

Can you post some details of the course please. If I'm in the area I might give it a go as I am only a self-taught weatherer.

Thanks

The details of the courses are all here:

https://www.pendonmuseum.com/news/post.php?s=2017-01-29-modelling-workshops-for-adults

As you can see there is a course in November and then February, June and November next year.  You can get an idea of the content from the description but if you book a course Mick sends you a more detailed synopsis.  I might ask Mick if he minds me posting the content of his course sheet on here.

Thank you kindly.

The problem for some of course might be the distances involved especially if you live in the North and what with Pendon being in the South.

But even so, and judging from your attempts, the trip would be more than worth while.


Allan

Pendon is Oxfordshire, so many would consider fairly central, although only individuals can determine whether the distances are worthwhile.  I travelled very early on the first day and stayed overnight locally between the two days.  Again the expense of accommodation has to be taken into account but, I guess, that is the same for anything else we want to do.

I do know that friends and colleagues who are residents of Oxfordshire do not consider themselves as in the South!

An interesting conversation.

How far are you fellows traveling?

It was relatively easy for me as it was only a couple of hours driving but it could easily be three or fours hours.  Interestingly one of the guys on the course I was on had driven from Plymouth, which was around a three and a half hours drive.

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

An interesting conversation.

How far are you fellows traveling?

Compared to distances in Oz, it would be just like crossing the road to you, Max !


Allan.

Possibly, Allan.

How far would that be in distances?

From where I live, Max - which is about halfway up the country, I would say about 170miles to Pendon but I' need to check it out more precisely on a map. 
So, about the same distance from your nearest corner shop would you say, Max!

That's over 270 kilometres in the old money, Allan.   (I think).   :roll:

Not to be sneezed at.  

We have an advantage in that away from the urban areas, there are long distances of open road speed zones, but it would still be a few hours behind the wheel.

I live south of the capital, so if I drove somewhere north (towards where Sol lives), I'm faced with an hour and a half of urban driving just to clear the built up area.

On the other hand, I live about 15 minutes from the Southern Expressway, so I can be in Melbourne in 7 hours and change.

I have been following Chris Tarrant and Michael Portillo on the telly lately, and I'm starting to get a feel of the scale of the UK.  I'm really enjoying their shows.

The UK, Max is 874 miles top to bottom ( according to Wiki ) - that's from John O' Groats in the North ( Scotland ) to Lands End ( Cornwall )

A  fighter jet flat out out can do 1,550 mph ( again, Wiki ) so it could take off from  John O' Groats and land at Lands End just some 25 ?  minutes later !  - yet it could take four times that to travel just one mile on the M25 !


Widest point is 271 miles, so about an hour and a bit in the fastest Ferrari  -  And the fighter jet ? - well by the time the wife would have found reverse gear and backed out of the drive it would be on its way back !

If you need any more information about weathering courses at Pendon feel free to ask.

My first experience of Pendon's courses was attending one run byh Tim Shackleton a few years back and Mick was assisting him. I immediately struck up a raport with Mick as it was quickly established we appreciated each others sense of humour. When I later went on the advanced course many were doting on Tim's time and I spent most of the session with Mick.

Since then Mick has taken over the Pendon weathering courses from Tim and is doing a fine job. He has also taken over the weathering tutoring at the Missenden modelling courses which Tim used to do. Tim I believe has moved on to other areas that interest him.

Mick constantly experiments with different techniques and materials in an effort to get a more realistic finish. If you are interested in weathering workshops and can't get to Pendon or Missenden, then Mick also does courses for The Airbrush Company and has recently set up his own concern Mobile Weathering Studio where he will visit clubs (for a fee of course) and run his workshop. You can sometimes find Mick at a few shows demonstrating. He has been a regular demonstrator at The Great Electric Train Show and Andover MRC annual show. 

I would thoroughly recommend Mick's weathering courses.

However his skills do not end with weathering. There are other courses held at Pendon such as scenic techniques, scratchbuilding in card, control systems amongst others. Mick and I jointly run the scenic modelling course which we took over from Gordon Gravett and Mick assists me with the card modelling course.

If these interest you then take a look at the programme of dates on http://www.pendonmuseum.com for dates and prices.

A couple of things about the courses that hasn't been mentioned so far is that you get the opportunity to have a look at the superb modelling at the museum and that all courses include lunch, endless tea or coffee and bad jokes.