The weathering was a challenge because I wanted to copy the exact same weathering patterns seen in the movie. Although there are 4 trucks used in the movie, and careful watching (and reviewing screenshots) showed the same truck in most scenes. Also, a 1:160 truck is pretty small, only about 1 1/2 inches long! The various weathering effects have to be scaled appropriately, since photographs will enlarge the truck many times and any stray paint blobs will be huge.

In addition to the weathering, I built a bumper out of two pieces of small rail. This was missing from the stock model, despite being such a cool (but ominous) feature of the truck in the movie. I also made license plates that are actually legible despite being about 1mm tall! Finally, I made a swamp cooler for the back of the cab using a brass square tube and etched metal grill.

Here are a few completed images of the truck, followed by screenshots from the movie.

Thanks for reading, Tom

Another photo from the diorama!

The Z scale (1:220) boxcar in the middle is about 2 1/2 inches long!

This scene is HO Scale (1:87)  and everything you see is only about 5 inches long!

Some time ago, I was looking for technique to simulate surface rust.  In the past, I used the foam brush technique of “dabbing” rust colored paint on.  However, what I wanted was something quicker and that would result in a more random appearance (the foam brush technique results in rust *only* where you put it, so sometimes rust patterns look too “scripted”).

So here is what I came up with.  I apply a fade coat to the car using almost straight up Polly Scale paint to intentionally create a slight texture.  Let this dry overnight.  Next, mix some Liquidtex Burnt Umber with RO or distilled water to create a mixture that will spray with an
airbrush.  You can add Polly Scale rust to this to brighten it up.  Spray this on and let it dry enough so it doesn’t look wet.  Take a brush wet with water and remove it by scrubbing it off.  The dryer the paint, the tougher it is to remove and the result is a light rust coat that fades at the edges.  Paint that is more wet comes off in pieces creating hard edges.  You can vary the brushes to get different effects.

The textured fade coat protects from any rust paint too easily coming off.

The technique takes a little bit of practice, but any mistakes can be fixed by applying more rust mixture with the airbrush.

http://esmc.com/5100/Item5104.html

This will be a nice addition to your collection.

This is a z scale (1:220) boxcar that I weathered as a proof of concept to test out salt weathering in small scales.