Stourpayne Marshall - motive power #4
Following the debacle mentioned in the previous blog entry, 5MT 73049 has now been paired with the correct type of tender. The route I went down was to buy a second hand Bachmann model of 73049 itself, what I should have done in the first place, but since I'd already gone to the trouble of weathering and renumbering the original loco, I decided to swap the tender from the new model and use the old tender and new model (do keep up at the back there) for a future repaint and relining job into BR black. An additional consideration was that the BR green lining wasn't as finely applied on the new 73049 for some reason, so I thought I'd retain the older model for that livery.
It wasn't all plain sailing, though. The tender was pristine and needed some weathering and toning down of the lining, to blend in with the earlier loco. I also reckoned that the shade of green on the tender was a bit brighter than the older model, although that might just be a function of the weathering I'd already done to the loco. Rather than dig out the airbrush, I set about using weathering acrylics, applied thickly then immediately swabbed off with a cotton bud. Disaster! The lining, and the BR emblem, immediately started to lift! I managed to back off before any more harm was done, but it was already too late to save the emblem, and the lining was now broken in patches. The weathering acrylics are quite mild so I can only conclude that I still had some cleaning solvent on the brush when I first dipped it into the acrylic pot, and enough of this transferred onto the tender to lift the printed details. However, I was still surprised at the speed with which it all started to come away. I've had this happen with two other locos, both Bachmann. In one instance, the mixed traffic lining on a 4MT began to lift just from the model being handled - again, possibly due to solvent residue on my finger tips - and I remember a similar issue with a Prairie. I've certainly not encountered similar vulnerability with the printed details on Hornby locos.
In order to repair the damage, I removed the emblem completely, using Micro-Sol and a blunt cocktail stick, and then replaced it with an HMRS decal. I also used HMRS lining to repair the missing areas, which is a bit of a bodge but I really didn't feel like lifting and relining the entire tender side just for the sake of a few small areas. The HMRS stuff is a bit wider, and more orange in hue than the red-tinged lining applied by Bachmann, but I think a little toning down hopes it blend in well enough. I think the picture below shows that there's still a discrepancy in the BR green shade between loco and tender, even after weathering, but it's not something that the eye picks up quite so readily.
One final touch, which I've forgotten to do, is to add a proper set of numbers to the smokebox, but that'll be attended to in due course. Oh, and I'll do something about the coal. and maybe add a tablet catcher if I can find one. All good fun.
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