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About this blog

A record of weathering work, intended to show both good and bad results, including explanations of what is used and how.

Entries in this blog

Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 10 - Airbrushed Dirt.

Reference to many photographs of working Pecketts  has indicated that there are several areas where dirt seems to accumulate more than others. I have continued to apply the dark mix of frame dirt/weathered black to areas such as the leading edge and corner of the saddle tank, the upper corners of the coal bunker and the join between cab and tank. A simple waft was all that was needed, just to hint at the discolouration.   I also applied a small amount of this same colour to the wheel c
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 1 - Cleaning.

In order to establish just how much grease needed to be removed, the chassis keeper plate was unscrewed and the result was:     All this was tackled with a cocktail stick and some clean paper towels. Even though lots og grease was removed, there was still a plentiful layer left to lubricate all the moving parts. I thought I'd better check the top end of the transmission mechanism as well, and found this:       Back to work with the cocktail stick an
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

5

Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Introduction.

The recent crop of Peckett locomotives from Hornby has lured me back into collecting habits. Temporarily!    Their reproduction of the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) locomotive, 'Westminster', which ended its days at Kidlington (Shipton-on-Cherwell) cement works (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8539534,-1.3086071,1896m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en), proved too much of a challenge for me and one was purchased specifically for the purpose of describing how it was to be weathere
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 4 - Airbrushed Underframe Completed.

Problems with my camera (or maybe the lens) have disrupted progress recording with this subject. I have managed to salvage one shot of the airbrushed underframe, though, and here it is.     Once the main colour was finished, an application od MIG Dark Wash was run into all the detail areas with a rigger brush. This served to highlight the shadow areas and bring out the intricate details of the bogies.
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 3 - Underframe Airbrushing.

The three colours are mixed in the airbrush paint cup, but thinners (white spirit) are placed first. That is because  the first thing to reach the nozzle is then thinners rather than unmixed paint. The latter will block the nozzle before you even start the weathering. When mixing colours, start with the lightest and add the other colour(s) using small amounts at a time. In this case the orange was added to the thinners first (a small drop), the leather was added next (one brush load) and the bla
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 2 - Underframe Preparation.

The underframe is where I invariably start with any model because everything that follows can be done with the model on its wheels.   I was introduced to foam cradles, that originated as worktop edging protective covers, by a friend who liberated some from a skip. I use them for most models that I work on now. Having exhausted the supply that I, in turn, liberated from waste disposal receptacles, I decided to buy some direct from a manufacturer, but had to order a minimum quantity. I n
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 1 - The Plan.

Something a little more modern, just for a change.   My reference library doesn't contain any photographs of this locomotive in this livery, so I looked through one of Strathwood's "Looking Back" series and found a Transrail liveried example that was depicted in a fairly well used but cleaned state. Sides and roof looked fairly clean, but the underparts were not.   The tools and materials list:   Iwata Eclipse SBS airbrush - not a large volume of paint to be used, b
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 7. Summary.

The finished vehicle can be seen to have a very light weathering, road dirt accumulated from a short time in service (possibly since its last heavy overhaul) and nothing allowed to become totally obscured by grime. Windows are still relatively clean and only edges and corners have accumulated dirt so far. There is a slightly heavier accumulation in crooks and nannies and on the underframe but,  for the most part, it is a good advertisement for the company.   Materials and tools used we
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 6. Finishing Touches.

The filbert brush has been used to pick up the 'dust' remaining in the pigment pot lid, and the brush is then gently wiped on a paper towel to remove the larger particles.  The brush is then gently wiped against the panel edges, at right angles, so that the very edge of the detail collects the 'dirt'. Easier to do than describe. No need for precision, this group of panels was done all at the same time by wiping from the left hand end of the coach along to the right hand end, without stopping, an
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 5. The Underframe.

The panels and the rest of the sides are now completed, and it's time to attend to the underframe. The shade of black used to paint the underparts represents a fairly worn state, so the only work required is to add something to break up the evenness of colour. Once again, AK Interactive Dark Earth pigment is used for this in the main, but some small amounts of MIG Productions Russian Earth were used as well. When looking at the carriage through a camera lens the difference is barely noticeable,
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 4. Removing the Pigment.

Continuing the panel work, the same method as in step 3 is used to place pigment in all edges and corners, making an absolute mess of everything. Please note that I didn't do this without first testing on something that didn't matter!   Once all the pigment has been applied, work begins on modifying the appearance. Clean cotton buds were used for this, but not the type that fall apart as soon as you look at them. The ones I use are intended for use with make-up rather than with small c
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

1

GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 3. Applying the Pigment.

Very small amounts of pigment are placed, using the tip of the brush, into the panel edges to create a strong shadow effect. At first the effect will be too strong, but later work will reduce the contrast. Because the pigment will go everywhere if given the chance, the work area is being kept as clean as I can possibly make it. When working on the panels the vehicle is laid on its side, and if there is any excess pigment lying on the paper towel, it will transfer itself to the coach side when ap
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 2. Materials and Tools.

The main pigment to be used for this model is AK Interactive Dark Earth. This choice comes from studying photographs of lightly weathered brown and cream coaching stock from many eras, including preservation examples. The paint finish on the model is such that it will hold pigment very well, so care will need to be taken in where it goes in the first place.   Most of the application will be done using a normal round (or candle flame) brush, size 2. This gives a fairly narrow point for
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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GWR 70' Post Office Sorting Van - Step 1. Introduction.

Something a little bit different, for me, at least.   This coach is to be lightly weathered, to represent a vehicle running in the 1930s. I don't envisage using large quantities of anything, but the difficulty will be to portray a very light coat of dirt without making it look blotchy.   I plan to use pigment for most of the work - AK Interactive Dark Earth. Application will be done using small brushes, probably a round no. 2 and a filbert no. 2 or 4. Being a panelled coach,
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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December - a statement of intent . . . . . . .

Modelling commitments for December are minimal (a bit of planning was involved), so there should be plenty of time to work on another subject. He said, confidently.   One suggestion received involved a modern image van, VDA or similar, so I've found one in a box and will now look out for some suitable photographs to work from. There will be hundreds, if not thousands, on the Internet for me to investigate, so I'll just have to knuckle down and get to work on the keyboard.   Just to add a lit
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

2
Weathering

Dapol O Gauge Jinty

A touch-up job this time. A friend had fitted sound, crew, coal and working lamp to this Jinty and removed paint from the coupling rods and brake gear in doing so.  A half-cupful of Railmatch sleeper grime, weathered black and matt black soon sorted out that little problem.  
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The Sharpie is indeed used for removing the bright shiny finish of the wheel rims, and the coupling rods, too. I have found in the past that airbrushed paint on these bare metal surfaces can rub off too easily, and even flake off  if applied too thickly. I read, many years ago somewhere, that this could be prevented by blackening the surfaces before applying the paint. At the time I didn't fully understand the term, 'blackening', and used a marker pen. That looked blue to me, rather than black (
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

Buffer beams get dirty. They're not alone in that, obviously, but this aspect of weathering doesn't always get the attention it deserves, and I include myself there.   There is much opportunity for detail weathering in O Gauge, so I decided to put a little more effort into this subject by applying a wash to the varied protruberances on the buffer beams. A straightforward process, involving a rigger brush, white spirit and MIG Dark Wash.   The brush bristles are first loaded w
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The chassis of this model includes a representation of the inside motion, visible in the gap 'twixt boiler and running plate. It's bright red! I didn't want to hide this completely, so decided to add a layer of wash to the parts that were visible. The rigger brush was ideal for this task, enabling just enough wash to be deposited.    
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol o Gauge 14xx No. 1444

It's the turn of the airbrush now. The inderframe will be discoloured using Railmatch Sleeper Grime, applied with an Iwata Eclipse SBS. The driven wheels are turned while the paint is sprayed, to prevent there being a patchy finish to the rims. With N Gauge and OO/HO Gauge engines this can be done with a PP9 battery, but this doesn't work with O Gauge. I use two pieces of scrap OO Gauge rail screwed into place through a piece of wiring terminal block set at the width of the wheel treads and bent
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

Out of the box this locomotive has a rather shiny smokebox, much more so than I would have expected. Before going any further I decided to apply a layer of Testor's Dullcote to that area so that pigments could be applied at a later date and that I could be sure that they would stick.   Dullcote dries very quickly into a usable state. These photographs were taken only two minutes apart.       My masking wasn't very good, so the Dullcote has landed on part
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The cab roof comes off!   Heart in mouth moment when I removed the engine from its wheel-spraying cradle - something fell on the floor. Only the roof, though, not being held in place by the two small magnets any more. This gave me the idea of adding some grime to the easily accessible cab interior, so out came the MIG Dark Wash again and some was applied to the brightly coloured pipework. Not covering the whole assembly with grime, but just hinting that there had been some work going o
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

A layer of Sleeper Grime/Frame Dirt mixture was prepared for airbrushing the sides, using more than the usual amount of white spirit. I wanted to be able to apply very thin layers, even thinner than my usual approach. Why a mixture of the two colours? Laziness, basically. My pot of one was empty and I couldn't be bothered to find another. The two colours are so similar that I didn't think it would matter.   The whole of both sides and ends was given a thin application of this mixture a
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

A full story for this subject - I remembered to take photographs with my newly serviced camera while doing it. The plan is to weather it in a used but serviced condition, working from a photograph in a book from my reference library.   I'll be using a selection of materials from my usual stock and will hopefully remember to introduce them as the steps progress. Being a small engine it sits quite comfortably on the painting turntable.   Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll b
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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