Happy Accidents
Entry posted by wiggoforgold
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Sometimes, the construction of models doesn’t go quite as planned. In a recent experience, at every stage in the construction of a model building for Diddington, something felt “not right”. I tweaked it to try and improve things, hoping it would be all right in the end, but as construction progressed things clearly weren’t to be, and I scrapped it. I’m currently thinking about starting it again.
Sometimes however, the accident can be turned to advantage, and as a result I discovered some techniques that I can hopefully use again in the future. I’d like to share a couple of my favourites.
I made a “Terrier” for Diddington, by modifying the old Hornby model. I was inspired by some pictures of the abandoned Terriers on the Edge Hill railway, and I thought an apple green industrial loco with red wheels would make a change from my usual BR black. When I came to paint the model, the body was sprayed with grey aerosol primer. Once this dried, the body colour was sprayed with a Humbrol Acrylic LNER green. This is where things didn’t go quite as intended. Because I hadn’t used the Humbrol acrylic before, and because I was concerned about it drying too quickly and clogging the airbrush, I over thinned it. This meant that when it was sprayed on the coverage was poor. To avoid too much of a pain build up, and runs, I stopped. When the over thinned coat dried, I was left with a faded top coat with the undercoat showing through, which gave a fine impression of faded, weathered paint. Exactly what I wanted, though not what I expected. I left well alone, and carried on with the weathering.
Recently I made a 350hp diesel shunter (08 to the younger generation), from an old Bachmann model. The finished article was to be heavily weathered, so to get the effect of grime in the gaps between the panels, I started by spraying the entire body with a mix of Humbrol Gunmetal, Matt Black and Dark Earth. Once dry, this was oversprayed with Railmatch BR Green and transfers applied. At this stage the model looked rather nice, and I was almost tempted to leave well alone and proceed no further, but I did, and this was when things started to go slightly wrong.
To seal in the transfers I sprayed it with matt varnish from a spray can. I used a spray can of Vallejo matt varnish which I had to hand, but which in retrospect was a bit old. When it dried, it had a white powdery crust in places, which spoilt the overall finish. The effect was reduced by working over the model with a stiff brush, so I proceeded to the next stage of the weathering. This was to coat the body with a heavily thinned mix of Tamiya NATO black, Dark Gray and Matt Earth, much of which was immediately wiped off from the centre of the bodyside panels. When dry, this again reduced the white bloom, but not quite enough, and it was still in the centre of the panels where I didn’t want it. I put a bit of T-cut on a cotton bud, and used this to restore some shine to the centre of the panels, and remove some of the thinned Tamiya mix and the faulty matt varnish. The result was body panels that looked like they had been cleaned in the middle, with a grimy faded appearance to the edge of the panel which I wouldn’t have achieved if the varnishing hadn’t gone wrong in the first place.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the way both these models have turned out, and present them as examples of how setbacks can sometimes be turned to advantage, and how they may provide an opportunity to discover new techniques.
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