Repainting Skaledale tunnel portal

[GWR_NZ]

Hi,

I have the double tunnel portal from the Hornby Skaledale range in red brick. While the brick colour is good the factory weathering less so.  Has anyone repainted Skaledale tunnel portals or brick wall and it so which products did you use.The main concern is losing the detail in a coat of paint.

 

Thanks.

[Ray Von]

Hi, I would wash the model with a 50-50 white vinegar and water solution to get rid of any oils, an old toothbrush will help shift any debris in the detailing. Allow to dry and, handling by the edges to avoid any skin oils getting on the visible surface, spray a light mist of ordinary grey plastic primer over the model - just to give your chosen paint something to key to whilst minimising loss of detail.

 

You could strip off the original paint, but I've never attempted that on a resin model before. The method I use for styrene and white metal models is this:

 

Wrap your model in tissue or kitchen towel and place in a freezer/sandwich bag. Tip in some Dettol, enough to soak into the tissue and adhere to the model, you can press the tissue from outside the bag to ensure good contact and it doesn't hurt to have an excess of Dettol.

 

Express all air from the bag and tie, place in a second bag (Dettol stinks!) take to the bottom of the garden (optional) leave to soak overnight.

 

Next day, wearing gloves, remove the model and dispose of tissue DO NOT RINSE WITH WATER! Instead, using an old toothbrush and a blob of washing up liquid, brush away the offending goo - this method has always been very successful in my experience, but can depend on the kind of paint you are trying to remove and how many coats. Once the paint has gone, the model can be rinsed and prepped with water/vinegar as per the above method.

 

Incidentally, white metal can benefit from a few hours in neat white vinegar- this causes microscopic pitting on the models surface and really helps the primer to stick.

 

I hope this helps.

Edited January 5, 2019 by Ray Von

[Butler Henderson]

I've repainted a number of resin buildings in part or entirely - they take paint well in my experience without any prep needed. With regard to the detail that is not different to painting a plastic building kit and there are a number of approaches possible such as;

- paint the wall mortar colour then dry brick the brickwork

- paint the wall brick colour and then use a thin wash to add in the detail (acrylic or water colour)

- paint the wall brick colour and use a commercial model "mortar" to add in the detail

[Ray Von]

With regard to the detail that is not different to painting a plastic building kit and there are a number of approaches possible such as;

- paint the wall mortar colour then dry brick the brickwork

- paint the wall brick colour and then use a thin wash to add in the detail (acrylic or water colour)

- paint the wall brick colour and use a commercial model "mortar" to add in the detail

and if you're going for a repaint, why not take the opportunity to create something a bit different? - i find yellow brickwork (widespread in the capital and south of England) can lend buildings and structures a very "realistic" quality, it's hard to explain why but I find it just seems to.

 

There are a number of posts on here on the subject, the method I use is a modification of one shared by "Colin K" under the topic "Yellow Brickwork" in 2017.

The only difference is, I tend not to bother with a mortar wash. Take a look at my latest blog if you're interested in finding out exactly how to create it - it's not that difficult to do and the results are good.

 

Let us know how you get on! :-)