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I imagine you'd also have to be careful with glued on components? I'd normally epoxy details like cast axleboxes, but heat is a good way of breaking epoxyed joints, no?

 

On rubbing down, I guess I'd never been patient enough with enamel!

 

J

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Lining out on the P2 has progressed with the use of pens, paints and ink. It’s important that you have a painting cradle to support your hands and straight edge when painting, whilst also holding the engine: the white plastic bar helps to stabilise the object and all surfaces have a soft neoprene lining. The photo shows the set up that I made years ago. It’s actually a bit small for the Mikado, but works well enough and the old school ruler certainly has heritage.

 

n1b0ap.jpg

 

I would again heartily recommend Ian Rathbone’s book on painting and lining, and what I am going to describe is very much based on Ian’s input. The bow pen needs to be well made and have very smooth jaws that meet rigidly. The tips can be honed with a file and fine grit carborundum paper.

a5d9uh.jpg

hstiwz.jpg

 

For lining from an edge, a pair of compasses can be useful and a dogleg on the passive side will allow the blades of the pen to sit at a better angle to the work.

23k99ia.jpg

 

The paint is loaded into the pen using a cocktail stick and any excess wiped off. The paint should be quite viscous, such that it wants to stay in the pen and is always gloss. The white lines are, of course grey, and the red lines maroon.

2ext3lc.jpg

 

To get the paint flowing, I always try out the pen on a spare body, painted as per the current project to check line width: a gentle tap downwards on to the work will sometimes start it off. Also it is better to leave the gap between the white lines rather than one solid white line, as it is then easier to fill in the black line.

jg7j8w.jpg

 

The ruler (with polished edges) is used bevel side down, so that there is clearance for the pen above the workpiece, and of course is mainly supported by the cradle. Very important to take your time and ensure that the lining sequence doesn’t interfere with itself and smudge the paint. Any mistakes are wiped off immediately with a pledget of paper towel, held in tweezers, soaked in lighter fuel. The cellulose paint will resist any actions with the oil based solvents. A sharpened cocktail stick will again be very useful for tidying up stragglers.

 

With everything nice and dry, the next stage is to place the black line between the white ones, or at the edge of them. Ian uses black gloss Humbrol in a bow pen for this, but I prefer Indian ink through a drafting pen. These are much easier to use than bow pens and the Indian ink is water-based so can be removed with a moistened paper pledget (saliva) without affecting the white lines.

25z5ieo.jpg

 

The pens I use were made by Mecanorma, but are now made by Aristo in Austria. 0.18mm will produce a good black line, although there is a 0.10mm that will work in tight spaces. They make it much easier to see where you are going than a bow pen; especially important when you are putting the black line down the middle.

p88ro.jpg

 

These pens do not work with white ink as it is not opaque enough. However, I have very successfully used a yellow acrylic ink in the past for full panelled LMS coach lining. Next stage will be to make the boiler band transfers.

 

Tim

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The boiler bands on the P2 are transfers, which very adequately represent the metal strips that hold the cleading in place. The transfers are made by spraying plain transfer paper with a good coat of the grey lining colour. When dry, black lines are drawn on using enamel paint and a bow pen. Before cutting out the transfer a piece of paper is used to give a rough guide to the length required.

wk3so.jpg

 

The transfer is cut with a single light stroke of a razor blade, using a straight edge (for this I use an old power hacksaw blade on my workbench - bolted through at one end to stabilise it). The tricky bit is getting both sides of the line the same. There will be quite a few rogue lines, so make plenty to play with. To be suitably narrow, the ‘white’ line should only just be visible from the margin of the straight edge, and the black line relatively wide - that is the proportion of LNER lining. The razor blade is much sharper and finer than a standard scalpel. However, a scalpel is used to gently cut through the paper either side of the lines.

dnfv6f.jpg

 

The strip is then soaked in water and the excess white strips peeled off, rather like one of those ghastly cheese straw thingys. The transfer proper is then re-wetted and slid into place from the backing paper, with Micro Sol decal softening solution on the model to make sure that it is well adapted; helped by a gloss finish on the paint. Final positioning can be undertaken using a wet paint brush and the ubiquitous cocktail stick.

swst8o.jpg

 

The lining is now in place. It will tone down with the varnish coat and some weathering.

118gd8g.jpg

 

Tim

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With everything nice and dry, the next stage is to place the black line between the white ones, or at the edge of them. Ian uses black gloss Humbrol in a bow pen for this, but I prefer Indian ink through a drafting pen. These are much easier to use than bow pens and the Indian ink is water-based so can be removed with a moistened paper pledget (saliva) without affecting the white lines.

25z5ieo.jpg

 

The pens I use were made by Mecanorma, but are now made by Aristo in Austria. 0.18mm will produce a good black line, although there is a 0.10mm that will work in tight spaces. They make it much easier to see where you are going than a bow pen; especially important when you are putting the black line down the middle.

p88ro.jpg

 

These pens do not work with white ink as it is not opaque enough. However, I have very successfully used a yellow acrylic ink in the past for full panelled LMS coach lining. Next stage will be to make the boiler band transfers.

 

Tim

Tim,

 

Impressive work as ever. Do you have any suggestions for suitable black and yellow inks? I've got some LMS coaches which haven't got beyond the primer stage because I realised they'd need lining.

 

Thanks,

 

Simon

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I've used a similar technique in the past, applying a thick layer of white enamel to sellotape stuck to a tile, drawing black lines across this and then peeling off strips.  Fixing was by dipping the lining in a 50/50 mix of varnish and thinners, then applying to the loco.  If you leave the strips in the mix for a few minutes then soften sufficiently to allow them to be manipulated into curves using the ubiquitous cocktail sticks.

 

LP is looking good, Tim.

Jim

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The ink I used many years ago is Speed Dry Magic Colour, Simon. Found this link.

https://www.saa.co.uk/paint-colour/acrylic-paint-ink/magic-color-acrylic-ink/magic-colour-liquid-acrylics-28ml

The black is Rowney Indian ink.

 

LP will become MM very shortly, Jim.

 

Tim

Simon,

 

I used these paints to try some coach lining - straw on maroon coaches. For this I used lunar white and opaque yellow (not listed in Tim's link, process yellow looks close), mixed 5 parts to one, if I remember. I have a set of Mecanorma from 0.1mm to 0.5mm to do the lines with. I got all this from Freestone Model Accessories at various exhibitions. I can't say I was 100% successful, but that was down to me not the pens and paint. I used Indian ink for the black lines too. 

 

If you are not in a hurry, I'll lend you my pens and paint if you want to try them. Maybe you can contact me off topic to arrange things.

 

Nigel

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The ink I used many years ago is Speed Dry Magic Colour, Simon. Found this link.

https://www.saa.co.uk/paint-colour/acrylic-paint-ink/magic-color-acrylic-ink/magic-colour-liquid-acrylics-28ml

The black is Rowney Indian ink.

LP will become MM very shortly, Jim.

Tim

Tim,

Does this mean that Lord President will be impeached and be substituted by Mons Meg?

John

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Simon,

 

I used these paints to try some coach lining - straw on maroon coaches. For this I used lunar white and opaque yellow (not listed in Tim's link, process yellow looks close), mixed 5 parts to one, if I remember. I have a set of Mecanorma from 0.1mm to 0.5mm to do the lines with. I got all this from Freestone Model Accessories at various exhibitions. I can't say I was 100% successful, but that was down to me not the pens and paint. I used Indian ink for the black lines too. 

 

If you are not in a hurry, I'll lend you my pens and paint if you want to try them. Maybe you can contact me off topic to arrange things.

 

Nigel

 

Thank you for the information Tim - very useful.  Also thanks Nigel for the offer of use of your pens.  That's really very generous.  I'll send you a PM.

 

Simon

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After a month in the paint shops we now have an ex-works engine, called “Mons Meg”. This engine was named after the medieval cannon resident in Edinburgh Castle and the engine, when new, visited Kings Cross a few times - it should look at home on Copenhagen Fields. Few more little jobs to do, but tomorrow I’ll probably make the cab windows on the MRC Demonstration Stand at Ally Pally.

 

2i6j8u8.jpg

mkxb2b.jpg

 

Tim

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Wow! does not do it justice!  That is one superb loco, Tim.  You'll need to bring it up to Edinburgh (or as some of us refer to it 'that city in the east whose name shall not be mentioned') and photograph it on top of its namesake.

 

Jim well impressed)

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Looks good Tim! Nice to see it finished, I really like how you documented the whole thing here.

 

One thing I noticed in the pictures though, are there cracks in the paint on the smokebox? Near the back there are a couple of small cracks or gouges, but they're on both sides so maybe it's deliberate?

Also, why the change from Lord President to Mons Meg?

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One thing I noticed in the pictures though, are there cracks in the paint on the smokebox? Near the back there are a couple of small cracks or gouges, but they're on both sides so maybe it's deliberate?

 

 

 

They're on both sides, in the same place.  So deliberate I'd say

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I was incredibly fortunate to see this fantastic locomotive at Ally Pally yesterday and be able to speak at some length with Tim. It really is a wonderful piece of modelling and I can't wait to see it operating on Copenhagen Fields. We also discussed Tim's next project which I am really looking forward to seeing!

 

I really like Tim's method for producing boiler bands, so much easier than trying to line out the two thin 'white' lines separately!

Edited by Atso
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It will be No 1, but not as we know it, Jim...

 

Thank you for all the kind comments, I have enjoyed posting the “how-to” stuff in this thread. Actually, the engine still needed glazing, which was done yesterday at Ally Pally and last night at home. The front windows took three hours to do, they were swines (equivalent to a difficult root treatment in an upper second molar). I made about three times the number of windows required and they are a tight fit, held in place with a bead of varnish.

ru9wk6.jpg

 

I wasn’t happy with the final finish in some areas and so they were rubbed down with a pledget of Duraglit wadding, followed by polishing with a paper towel, especially the smoke box front and tender sides.

2cde35i.jpg

 

The deliberately reflective photo shows the improved finish; indeed the camera now has difficulty focusing on the black. Judicious weathering will follow.

 

Tim

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