Weathering an MDF loco is harder than it looks

Adding a bit of dirt to the Hunslet, pretty much essential as the faded yellow was still VERY bright, was supposed to be simple. Blow earth colour around the bottom, blackish over the top and track colour pretty much everywhere.Just like I do for everything else I build for the railway world.

The end result looked a bit flat. Maybe I should have given the yellow a coat of satin varnish to make it pop a bit more, maybe I didn't clean out the paint cup properly and the earth colour took the edge of the others, but I wasn't really happy.

Wanting a bit of dirty hanging around the detail, I tried a wash of Agrax Earthshade shading ink. On the sideframes it looked good so I went for it over the rest of the body. Normally, it's paint on, wipe off. Here, it soaked into the surface a bit so I had to wipe quickly. Another reason I should have varnished the yellow.

After that, a bit of dry-brushing and I'm reasonably happy.

The figure by the way is a Kara's character. I do like his stance, leaning out of the cab. A bit more lively than most.