Morning all,
A bit of a restless night so I thought I'd continue the J70 saga.
The bodies, having been further dismantled by the removal of the ends were given an initial spray with the matt varnish to act as a key for the powders.
I decided to follow my "method" of weathering vans and other planked wagons. The bodies of the J70s were painted, rather than varnished wood but I wanted to add my own take on these locos. There is, to the best of my knowledge, only one colour view of these locos. That was taken at Stratford of a loco, post withdrawal. So, we are reliant on those available black and white images, which are open to interpretation. Therefore, this is my interpretation...................
The first powder applied was an overall dusting of smoke, inside and out allowing it to settle into the gaps in the planks. Some shading was applied to the plank detail on the interior of the ends using black on the edges before the smoke was added over the top.
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The end doors, were fitted and weathered at the same time. If they were to be modelled open, they were done prior to fitting.
Once happy, the whole body was once again sprayed with matt varnish to seal the powder.
Once dry ( a matter of minutes ), the smoke was removed from each individual plank using a 2mm fibre brush, working horizontally from the centre of the plank out to the edges. Varying the time spent doing this, varied the finished colour. Take "the edge" off the fibre brush first and practice on something first as these locos are effectively unobtanium.
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Further variation was added by applying small amounts of dark rust (yep, really) and further smoke to individual planks. This was then worked in using a larger, softer 4mm fibre brush. This in effect polishes the planks but provides both texture and variation.
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You cannot rush this. Basically when it looks about right, it probably is. And if you think it might be, put it down and leave well alone or you risk a visit from the Cock-up Fairy.
A bit of white was added to edges here and there and a pencil used to suggest worn metal on the lamp irons etc and that was essentially that.
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The rooves had black applied to the rain strips and around the chimney. Bells were picked out using gold acrylic and the whole roof was the weatgered using a mixture of dark earth and smoke before being sealed.
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All three were weathered in this way and rightly vary from one to the other, providing the finish I was after.
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Rob.