Weathered truck trailer

I have two cheap plastic truck trailers.  I heavily weathered one to use on the layout.  The trailer top snaps off of the base.  I used fine sandpaper to distress all sides and the roof of the trailer top, effectively removing all but bare traces of the lettering.  I cut a rectangle of paper, painted it silver and touched it up with brown rust paint, then glued it the the front of the top section.

I then used brown oxide acrylic craft paint to create rust spots and for rust on the fittings and edges.  I also did a little wash in some areas with paint diluted with water.  After the paint dried I selectively dabbed it with my rusty paint in alcohol solution.  When all was dry, I dusted the model with both reddish brown chalk and orange chalk.

I removed the rear wheels from the base, separated them, painted them, then glued the single set of wheels back on to the base.  The exposed parts of the base were painted rusty.

Later I will likely weather the other truck trailer, but in a different manner.  There were no cabs for these trailers, but that is not a problem when the trailers are parked adjacent to a loading dock.