Mick Bonwick

Not if you view it from baseboard level.

Round to the other side of the chassis now. Same process, but you can see where the last rotation of the wheel has yet to be sprayed. Still no masking, and the small spray area resulting from coming up close has kept the overspray off of most of the frames. Turning the wheels with the battery is still keeping the backs of the wheels clear because the wiping action of the pickups is removing the still wet paint.

Open your I's and C what you're looking at.

I'd recommend going to a model shop and looking at what they have on the shelves. You might see other things to inspire you, as well.

Had you thought of putting the money, spent on getting somebody else to do it, towards a course that will teach you how to do all your own weathering in the future?

The first few coats of paint have been applied. Each coat consists of a pass across the chassis to apply a very light coat of paint. This only results in a very slight discolouration of the wheels, or at least those parts of the wheels that show above the frames. The wheels are then turned a quarter of a turn using the battery and the exercise is repeated. You can see in the accompanying picture that there is still one small area on each wheel that needs to be covered. You can also see that although there has been some overspray, it is only covering those areas that would be as dirty as the wheels. Notice also that the turning of the wheels while the paint is still wet has kept the pickup-wiped rear surfaces of the wheels clear of paint. No attempt has been made to keep paint off the wheel treads.

Getting tools prepared. As already mentioned, the airbrush to be used is an Iwata HP SB Plus, with a 0.2mm nozzle for fine control when working close up. I'll be utilising this airbrush's ability to come in close and only cover small areas at a time. The glass dish contains clean white spirit, as does the plastic bottle to the left. The former is used during the mixing of paint to achieve the necessary consistency and the latter will be used to keep the internals of the airbrush clean during the spraying session.

It is indeed dual action. My preference is for the colour cup on the side rather than on the top, so that if I'm working close to the subject I can see precisely where the nozzle is.

For this project I have chosen to use Railmatch Frame Dirt on the underparts. This is not my usual colour for working on underframes, but I had some available so thought I'd give it a go. The airbrush I am using in this case is an Iwata HP SB Plus, because it gives me a great deal of control over the area to be covered for each pass along the model. When working on the whole length of a model, whether it is the chassis, bodysides or the roof, I like to have complete control over the area to be covered rather than just blasting away and then cleaning up afterwards. The two main ways of achieving this control are masking and distance from the subject. In this case I'll be carefully positioning the airbrush before pressing the trigger to ensure I only cover the wheels, brake gear and, probably, the lower edges of the frames. I won't be doing any masking.

You'll have to wait for Step 3!

Britchcombe Farm. It must be the Berkshire accent!

High-tech cradle in use to support upside down model while underparts are dirtied. The battery is used to turn the wheels during airbrushing, to avoid paintless shadows from the connecting rods and to get to those parts of the wheels hidden behind the frames.

How it all began. Out of the box, couplings removed but no hoses yet added to the buffer beam.

Ultimate Acrylic Thinners. You can use the one product to thin all acrylics for airbrush use. https://www.umpretail.com/products/ultimate-airbrush-thinner

The first subject is a Hornby Class 09 D3721, purchased several years ago and tucked away until I could think of something to do with it. I haven't yet attached the various hoses, but I have removed the couplings.

Both Bachmann and Hornby 08s can be weathered without dismantling. Start by holding the locomotive upside down in a cradle and airbrushing the wheels, turning them under power as you do it. As long as you only spray very light coats at a time you will not clog up the pickups. Clean the wheel treads and back of the rims with isopropyl alcohol applied with a cotton bud to remove any paint that gets there. Once the wheels are complete the frames and coupling rods can be done, using a simple paper mask cut out to protect the wheels. The upper bodywork can then be tackled using a simple card mask cut to size and rested against the chassis to protect that from overspray.

Is that another way of saying that it is actually complete? Or is your version of reality virtually complete? Or maybe it really is a virtual girder bridge. Please let us know . . . . . . .

I just happen to have been working on a Dapol 08 today, that needed some finishing touches, so here are the buffers for you. First coat was Railmatch Frame Dirt, the same as the rest of the underparts. This was followed by a thin layer of MIG Track Brown pigment and the splodge of grease in the middle is from the bottom of a very old and otherwise useless tin of Humbrol 27004 (Metalcote). A final application of MIG Dark Mud pigment added a bit of colour variation.

I have used Tortoises on two layouts to date and never had a problem with any of them. One layout used DC and DPDT switches and the other uses Hare decoders, Digitrax control system and JMRI. I have installed Cobalt on two layouts and had to return 2 of the 9 used as faulty. They were replaced without question. On both layouts they were controlled with DCC, but if DC had been chosen then my choice for operating them would be DPDT switches. A personal choice dictated by experience and simplicity of installation in conventional control (mimic) panels. It was all a matter of decisions based upon experience, cost and ease of installation and use. Not everybody would have the same requirements or experiences, so there will be many solutions to your 'problem'.

Look at your Cobalt from the operating lever side. Wires from your switch attach to the two outside contacts on the Cobalt contact switch. Three addidional wires are needed if you wish to control frog polarity, and these connect to the second, third and fourth contacts from the left. The second contact goes to one outside rail of your point, the third goes to the other outside rail and the fourth goes to the point frog. Will you be using a DPDT switch or a pair of momentary contact switches to operate your point?

A little bit of searching found this: http://www.lbscr.org/Rolling-Stock/Locomotives/Stroudley/E1.xhtml Edit: I see that burgundy has already posted this. Sorry for duplication. Moral? Read the full thread before responding to a post!

Ah, but how many weeks could you keep this up without repeating yourself? Answer me that! Still on thread . . . . . . .

Thank you for posting these, Andy. Did you get plenty of coffee?

Thanks, Mikkel. It's a Minerva gunpowder van - O Gauge.

My air hose!