bluing Darkening my drive shafts etc...

[Esmedune]

Hello all,

I have a Hornby Black 5 (NRM "5000") and it comes with shiny tin drive shafts and couplings, and I want to make them look like this...

I don't really want to paint them, does anyone have any suggestions?
 

[Mick Bonwick]

A black indelible marker pen.

 

 

[ianLMS]

Options that i know of are Sharpie type marker pen, blackening liquid or painting. I use blackening liquid (Birchwood Casey Brass Black)

 

"Birchwood Casey Brass Black 29057152258 | eBay" https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Birchwood-Casey-Brass-Black-/154428669564?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYqHJ6AMz31oLae5tMFNHbYPG0cwmkaIpElXh70o6D7vx0FxOxCLOQAaAqGKEALw_wcB

[The Johnster]

I use matt black or matt dark brown acryilic mix, and avoid the crankpins or anywhere else things move against each other.  The piston and slide bars are best left along, and the crankpin areas darkened with felt marker brown or black.  Run the loco immediately after you have applied the felt marker colour to ensure that everything runs freely.  Use the same paint mix to cover the bright axle ends as well.  I also paint out any bright wheel rims, but not of course the tyre surface, only the side surface.  You can take this as far as you like, as with any weathering, but it does IMHO dramatically improve the look of the model.  Real locomotives did not retain the ex-works bright finish for very long once they were in service, as as soon as the official photograph is taken the motion is greased for service, and the grease immediately starts attracting the general railway muck of it's working environment.  Even well looked after and cleaned locos do not have bright motion in service.

 

This is worth doing even on modern models which have chemically blackened motion IMHO, as this tends to be too shiny for my taste.

[Wheatley]

I suspect Hornby's blackened coupling rods are lacquered so thinned black enamel paint would get the same effect. But as mentioned, a Sharpie marker is quickest if you don't want to use paint. The usual recommendation for painting to look realistic (rather than just black) is a 50/50 mix of gunmetal and light brown; if paint is not an option I think you can get Sharpies in brown, you can certainly get them in different colours. 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Wheatley

[Esmedune]

So yay for cold bluing liquid.  I picked up a bottle on eBay and I had a go with a rod from a 0F, and it is a slower process than other I have seen, but I like that, as I was worried that I would end up with a jet black rod within seconds.  So the stuff that I got from eBay and a before and after.

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by Esmedune

[ianLMS]

Looks very good! Did you submerge the coupling rod or just paint on the liquid? Has it been buffed at all, or did you need to rub down the rod with an emery stick or glass fibre pencil at all before or after applying it?

 

Ian

[Esmedune]

Hi Ian. The first attempt was just dunk it in the bottle without reading the instructions. Yesterday I did it as per the instructions, and mixed it 1 part bluing to 3 parts water. It says you can dunk or brush, and after trying brushing it was rather slow, so I dunked for 5 minutes.

This is how they came out and left to dry for an hour.

After that I left them in oil and then rubbed them down with a cotton pad and then with a polishing wheel on the Dremel.



I also think it is also worthwhile noting that I am doing this on a pair of old scrappers and the Jinty could be from the 1950s, and the metal is not very good, but overall I quite like the results as I really don't want to paint moving parts.  The test will come when I try it on my Black 5, which is not that old.

Another example is the 0F bug, which again is a bit blotchy but convincing. This image is after the oil bath, and the bottom one had been wiped with an Isopropanol loaded cotton pad.

 

They do look better when buffed, but the camera is too good compared to what you see with your eyes, which is a lot more pleasing.