Hello again,

As you may recall my blog is aimed squarely at our newer modlellers seeking advice and inspiration.

This particular article focuses on protoype observation.

What can we glean from these pictures?

1,British Railways Mixed Traffic lined black in all its glory. with the earlier tender emblem 1950-56.

2,Locomotive is preserved and general condition is clean(ed) in service.

So how does this compare with your newly acquired prize possession ?Or did you buy the weathered one?.

First immediate problem ,Black.

So you bought some paint to weather it with ! Black is a good start.Now compare it to the pictures which black is it?and which black do you have?.............

Manufacturers Black,Henry Ford Black,LNWR Black. Really its all imaterial.

What finish would you say your current model is Glossy,Satin or Matt?.................................

As rule you will find your model unweathered, will be a quite uniform satin finish.

Right then,back to the pictures.

The boiler is very much 'as' painted a glossy finish like this can be achieved with TCut from all good motoring shops.Alternatively a thin coating of gloss varnish will make all the difference on the boiler cladding.

Now look at the contrast with the smokebox. Is that black as well? Matt varnish applied here will dull your smoke box down a great deal,but really you need to use a weathered Black/Dark grey then a matt varnish to flatten the finish.

Now as you can see the boiler is a shiny clean but streaked with ash and soot.In order to best achieve this effect you mix up some lighter greys with some talcum powder paint on with a brush and wipe off the excess three or four applications like this and should build up a lovely effect. The contrast in colours and shade is of course quite noticeable.By now of you should be recognising the various finishes your aiming for.In such a small area you already have gloss,satin and matt combined with maybe four or five shades of grey/black.

The running plate and front footplate also have an accumulation of ash and soot.Again,look at the colour you are trying to achive here.Far from being black it is a very flat matt grey with some real texture.Footprints can often been seen on these running plates as result of oiling round, hanging lamps etc.The odd dribble of gloss to represent spilt oil would easy to achieve but remember dribble not slick.

A cleaned smokebox door, the best way to represent this would be to apply maskol to the original finish before attempting everything else. Alternatively a thin wash of gloss varnish will convincingly bring out the cleaned finish.This is very definatley a shiny black.

Wheel and motion on an in traffic though clean machine will show element s of acummulated muck in the frames,firebox wheels and pipes.

Again a mixture of greys and avariation of wahes in gloss satin and matt on the wheels will give you the texture you are looking for.

A wheel oiled motion can be created with Humbrols Metacote range though trial and error will be neccesary to achieve a lifelike finish.You are aiming for that greeny/yellowy hue that a translucent oil would give.

You can tell by now i have resisted the urge to call this article Fifty Shades of Grey but in real terms that is what you are dealing with.Mixed traffic black is a very common livery. Black is or should be an easy colour/shade/neutral to model. A blanket application of black will not give you the results you require. Weathering is all about tone, texture and finish. Whilst you are not recreating the actual damage and effect you are aiming for a recreation of the depth of accumulated muck,grime and in some cases the cleaned areas.Good analysis of a picture is the basis of this and converting that picture into your own work of art is the final result.

My current project involves this picture from Flickr.http://www.flickr.com/photos/22110327@N08/2138813778/in/photolist-4fZYPC-4H1j6M-6sRNP6-6w6gYC-gNhjCN-8TJYF5-9NrNXe-9NuS6h-aERfhT-egRn9c-gQc5MS-7Zc3PU-eTMejb-fePb6d-9nKW85-9Sdvy1-dr2DhD-eSJsbz-8sMxVb-92ZxxM-8TFU1x-8TJYGN-8TJYK5-8TFTWR-8TFTYB-8TFTXF-8TJYJ9-8TFTZP-8TJYEq-95UfFz-dez7Af-9NuE3J-8Nw6Yk-9vnXU8-dgfZNf-f1FVDQ-f1cNi8-cFMXVL-dD6jBx-aZftBe-e7R96F-dptBNw-dkULuo-dgHwqm-aZftD4

What do you see ?...........

The Devil's in the detail.

Best regards and very merry christmas to you all

Eric &Gripper