Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
It's the little things that take the time. For much of the past week I have been trying to sort out the paintwork to my satisfaction. Not that there was much wrong with it originally, just what's happened to it as I lined out the sides. Let me explain.
The original painting sequence went body colours, gloss varnish, lining/lettering/satin varnish. This was all well and good, but as ever some pesky spots of dust landed on the satin coat. I took a sharp blade and carefully pinged them off. Of course, some went further than the varnish layer, and a tiny spot of primer shone through. So, I carefully spotted body colour back on, then another coat of varnish.
Where I went wrong was not varnishing the whole side with gloss again. The dull paint showed through the satin varnish. You live and learn. As the weathering spec is for "slightly tired", I really didn't feel I could shrug the dodgy spots off as part of the weathering that would pass any kind of inspection. So, out came the 1200 grit wet and dry and the T-Cut and I spent a day rubbing things down.
I used the W&D wet, rubbing carefully in small circles. I cleaned off the residue, and set to with the T-Cut. Small circular motions with just a tiny amount on the end of a cotton bud. I then took a plain paper kitchen towel, and rubbed the side to remove the excess scratch remover. This buffed things up quite nicely, but inevitably some of the lining went with it. In for a penny, I decided I could repair lining later, so I completed both pairs of sides, and then took a soft mop in the minidrill to buff things up where I couldn't get with the towel.
Of course, you know what happened next. I managed to damage the paint in some places by being a bit over-enthusiastic. Cursing my ham-fistedness, I ploughed on. To try and repair this time, I used a large soft brush, thinned paint down and carefully painted the sides again - picking round the numbers.
Well, the results weren't perfect, but looked okay for a tired finish that had been left in the rain for a bit. I did like the shine I'd got with the minidrill mop, though, so I had another go.
I carefully ran the mop in up and down motions, just letting it gently touch the side. Effectively, it took the paint off that I'd carefully painted on, but it brought out a nice slightly scruffy effect.
The next stage was to paint some gloss varnish over the damaged lining, and overlay small sections of transfer to repair it. Then an overall coat of satin varnish was brushed on to the sides to level the finish off. It worked. I don't recommend the process, but I managed to salvage what could have been a bit of an embarrassing mess.
The plan had been to weather the sides before assembly. With all the faffing about, I decided it might actually be easier build the coaches and weather them in the round. The look I'm after is a bit of grime around hinges, handles, a spot or two of corrosion developing around the bottom of panels and windows, but otherwise looking fairly respectable.
So, glazing was next. I'd painted the frames and prepared the frosted panes some time ago, so I just fettled a bit for fit, and held them in place with drops of Micro Kristal Klear. The corridor handrails, and those in the toilets because you can see them through the frosting, went on next, and before I knew where I was I'd fitted the sides and ends of the brake to the floor!
Here is the roof in place, though not bolted on. I'm going to need to trim the ends as they stick out about half a millimetre, when the roof should just overhang.
Inside, the guard's compartment desk and letter tray have been fitted. Don't let me forget to paint the floor.
You can see the handrail in the lav window. I need to tidy up the frosting a bit on this one. It's created by rubbing the window moulding on some wet and dry: nothing fancy. The viewports are drops of solvent adhesive plopped on the frosting. The final satin varnish finish has just the right amount of shine to my mind. I am pretty pleased with the finish after all that messing about.
As you can see, the end is proud by a gnat's. A job for tomorrow, I think. I will fabricate a gangway cover for this end of the BSK. I have also done something I've always wanted to do, and that's imitate the chain clips for the lighting connectors - again, only on the end of the brake.
Fingerprints galore! The fake veneer looks nice through the windows. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the models look. I'll sort out the fitting of the ends tomorrow, get the TSO to the same stage as the BSK and fit the tables. I suspect both coaches will be mounted on their wheels, and then I'll set about the weathering. Oh, and the Non Smoking stickers for the windows to go in.
I was considering airbrushing the weathering, but on reflection - and considering I have the lurgi again and don't fancy spending any time in the face mask with a runny nose and coughing fits - I think some careful drybrushing will create the finish I want. As promised, I will document the process.
The original painting sequence went body colours, gloss varnish, lining/lettering/satin varnish. This was all well and good, but as ever some pesky spots of dust landed on the satin coat. I took a sharp blade and carefully pinged them off. Of course, some went further than the varnish layer, and a tiny spot of primer shone through. So, I carefully spotted body colour back on, then another coat of varnish.
Where I went wrong was not varnishing the whole side with gloss again. The dull paint showed through the satin varnish. You live and learn. As the weathering spec is for "slightly tired", I really didn't feel I could shrug the dodgy spots off as part of the weathering that would pass any kind of inspection. So, out came the 1200 grit wet and dry and the T-Cut and I spent a day rubbing things down.
I used the W&D wet, rubbing carefully in small circles. I cleaned off the residue, and set to with the T-Cut. Small circular motions with just a tiny amount on the end of a cotton bud. I then took a plain paper kitchen towel, and rubbed the side to remove the excess scratch remover. This buffed things up quite nicely, but inevitably some of the lining went with it. In for a penny, I decided I could repair lining later, so I completed both pairs of sides, and then took a soft mop in the minidrill to buff things up where I couldn't get with the towel.
Of course, you know what happened next. I managed to damage the paint in some places by being a bit over-enthusiastic. Cursing my ham-fistedness, I ploughed on. To try and repair this time, I used a large soft brush, thinned paint down and carefully painted the sides again - picking round the numbers.
Well, the results weren't perfect, but looked okay for a tired finish that had been left in the rain for a bit. I did like the shine I'd got with the minidrill mop, though, so I had another go.
I carefully ran the mop in up and down motions, just letting it gently touch the side. Effectively, it took the paint off that I'd carefully painted on, but it brought out a nice slightly scruffy effect.
The next stage was to paint some gloss varnish over the damaged lining, and overlay small sections of transfer to repair it. Then an overall coat of satin varnish was brushed on to the sides to level the finish off. It worked. I don't recommend the process, but I managed to salvage what could have been a bit of an embarrassing mess.
The plan had been to weather the sides before assembly. With all the faffing about, I decided it might actually be easier build the coaches and weather them in the round. The look I'm after is a bit of grime around hinges, handles, a spot or two of corrosion developing around the bottom of panels and windows, but otherwise looking fairly respectable.
So, glazing was next. I'd painted the frames and prepared the frosted panes some time ago, so I just fettled a bit for fit, and held them in place with drops of Micro Kristal Klear. The corridor handrails, and those in the toilets because you can see them through the frosting, went on next, and before I knew where I was I'd fitted the sides and ends of the brake to the floor!
Here is the roof in place, though not bolted on. I'm going to need to trim the ends as they stick out about half a millimetre, when the roof should just overhang.
Inside, the guard's compartment desk and letter tray have been fitted. Don't let me forget to paint the floor.
You can see the handrail in the lav window. I need to tidy up the frosting a bit on this one. It's created by rubbing the window moulding on some wet and dry: nothing fancy. The viewports are drops of solvent adhesive plopped on the frosting. The final satin varnish finish has just the right amount of shine to my mind. I am pretty pleased with the finish after all that messing about.
As you can see, the end is proud by a gnat's. A job for tomorrow, I think. I will fabricate a gangway cover for this end of the BSK. I have also done something I've always wanted to do, and that's imitate the chain clips for the lighting connectors - again, only on the end of the brake.
Fingerprints galore! The fake veneer looks nice through the windows. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the models look. I'll sort out the fitting of the ends tomorrow, get the TSO to the same stage as the BSK and fit the tables. I suspect both coaches will be mounted on their wheels, and then I'll set about the weathering. Oh, and the Non Smoking stickers for the windows to go in.
I was considering airbrushing the weathering, but on reflection - and considering I have the lurgi again and don't fancy spending any time in the face mask with a runny nose and coughing fits - I think some careful drybrushing will create the finish I want. As promised, I will document the process.
