Railworks America

These are pictures of a repaint I'm working on with decals for the rust spots and the dark streaks
The problem I'm having is that the decals look good from a distance, but when you get close up they're blurry. Does anybody know why this is happening? They're good quality in the photo editor, so I don't get why it's happening . Any help is appreciated, thanks. In case anyone is wondering where I got these, they're from http://www.textures.com/category/decals/52338
I also need some tips on weathering realistically because I'm very new at this.

Sometimes it depends on the size of the original texture. The smaller, the fuzzier. You may not be able to control the fuzzy or blurriness. Even top quality payware can have this. The rust spots actually look pretty good to me. I've used this site many times over the years and have had good luck with their textures. I would definitely suggest a more "railroady" font. I used a stencil font for my own ACRR GP-38 patch job which came from an FSX site, and looks quick and dirty. My usual ACRR jobs use the UP font called "Cityof". You can use ordinary Times Roman and extend it horizontally with the transformation tool in Photoshop.

There may also be a practical limit to how close you can get to any subject. Your second shot could be about it. In your last shot, look how blurry the door handles and red stripe are.

Best,
tagsdm

OK, so I changed the text on the side of the cab. But now I need advice on adding weathering effects to the rest of the engine.

Nice work!

OK, I think I figured out somewhat how to make the engine look dirty. Although I will admit that it doesn't look all that realistic

Practice makes perfect.

There you go, you're doing great. Use the same large brush for dust on the lower hood, trucks, tank and frame. If you can, put all your weathering on separate layers so you can modify or delete one without affecting the others.

Best,
tagsdm

tagsdm wrote:There you go, you're doing great. Use the same large brush for dust on the lower hood, trucks, tank and frame. If you can, put all your weathering on separate layers so you can modify or delete one without affecting the others.

Best,
tagsdm

Thanks! I actually didn't think to make separate layers It's fine though, this is my first repaint anyway. At least I'll know for the next one.

Nice work.

Dang! That's better than my first attempt!

I've decided to come back to this. For this update, I've only added a "patch" to the side of the cab. I realized that there are numbers on the long hood after I took the screenshots.
Let me know what else I should add to improve the overall look. Thanks

I don't have this GP9, but it looks like the numbers are a decal. You could alpha-out the numbers though the cab numbers would also likely be gone. In that case, you'd paint the numbers right on the cab patch but then you'd then have a one-number engine. You wouldn't be able to use auto-numbering. If you don't like the number placement on a model that uses a decal then your options can be limited.

tagsdm

tagsdm wrote:I don't have this GP9, but it looks like the numbers are a decal. You could alpha-out the numbers though the cab numbers would also likely be gone. In that case, you'd paint the numbers right on the cab patch but then you'd then have a one-number engine. You wouldn't be able to use auto-numbering. If you don't like the number placement on a model that uses a decal then your options can be limited.

tagsdm

Not to sound rude, but as a first go at repainting, I wanted to just put a patch behind the original number of the engine. I was thinking of covering up the original font with a new one while keeping the auto numbering. Thanks for the tip though, I'll keep this in mind for future repaint.

This is a good first repaint, lots better than my early attempts. You also had a good concept with the patched numbers and roadname. I see leased units patch painted the same way all the time. Keep up the good work.

Harry

harryadkins wrote:This is a good first repaint, lots better than my early attempts. You also had a good concept with the patched numbers and roadname. I see leased units patch painted the same way all the time. Keep up the good work.

Harry

Thanks