Mick Bonwick

Was he flying a Tiger Moth?

Both days. Missenden stand or wandering about, depending on time of day.

Heading for a dirty weekend.

The aibrush now turns to the sides of the locomotive and has been loaded with a mix of frame dirt and weathered black. The former is prominent - only a small amount of the latter has been added to the mix. A very light coat has been sprayed along the bodywork and immediately manipulated by brushing downwards with a dry 1/2" flat shader. The paint was drying fairly quickly and the use of a dry brush moved it downwards inconsistently. The result is a deliberately uneven layer of dirt.

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When the driving wheels were being airbrushed, the paint was being applied to the complete underframe on each pass of the airbrush. Spraying started off the left hand end of the model and continued along the whole length, not stopping until the airbrush had passed the other end of the model. This produced a relatively even coat of dirt everywhere under the running plate. In later stages this evenness will be disrupted by other materials and effects that are intended to show the differing shades and textures present on the real thing, coming from differing sources and influences. You can see where there is some overspray on the side of the tender and cabside where I made no attempt to protect the original paintwork. This approach was taken because I knew that there would be more paint to add and the overspray would act as a 'base coat'.

Underframe dirt is being represented by Railmatch Frame Dirt, variously altered in shade with random additions of Railmatch Weathered Black. It is applied by airbrush in very thin coats, turning the driving wheels a quarter of a turn between coats. This allows the complete wheels to be dirtied without leaving a paint-less shadow behind rods, motion and other necessary gubbins. When it comes to areas behind the wheels (frames, ashpan, springs and so on) then the airbrush will need to be carefully angled to get the paint into the right areas, possibly over several applications. The most important aspect of this process is to keep the amount of paint deposited from each pass to an absolute minimum, almost to the point of not seeing any difference. You may be able to see what I mean from this sequence. Sorry about the blurred one - my hands aren't as steady as they once were!

Not quite true . . . . ..

Empty field on the layout or empty field outside the house?

So do the grooms.

It doesn't matter what you do or where you do it, there will always be somebody whose view differs from yours. Now that everybody and his/her/its dog can freely state their views for all to see, there will always be a negative being expressed somewhere. Whether you're comfortable with accolades or not, there will still be plenty of them, of that you can be sure. If you don't give a flying fig then you will most certainly continue to attract and be able to see many, many more accolades. Just keep on doing the wonderful modelling you are doing, so that all we lesser mortals have something to aspire to. And drool over.

Work will start with the underframe and to facilitate this I have used a scrap piece of protective foam channel and inverted the locomotive into it. Like the vast majority of materials and methods I use this is not a Bonwick original idea. The idea came from Tim Shackleton (who may well have copied it from somebody else) and the channel came from Gilbert of this parish (who may well have liberated it from a skip) as a free gift at a Missenden weekend session. While the inversion is in effect the wheels can be freely turned by the use of either a 9v battery or a favourite power supply and a couple of fly leads. In this case I want to turn the wheels slowly so a Gaugemaster DC controller will be used. The enamel paint will be stirred extensively using the Badger paint stirrer (what an imaginative name) to ensure that all of the pigment is fully mixed with the carrier. I don't want tiny particles of unmixed pigment blocking the airbrush at the worst possible moment. On the left hand side you will see strips of 2mm greyboard that can be used as masks to prevent airbrush overspray going where I don't want it to. The rear of the tender has been supported by a folded paper towel to bring the whole length of the locomotive to the same level along the channel. You will have noticed that the spray booth filter will very soon need to be changed for a new one!

Result!

Me too, Steve.

So I've heard!

Another kit-built Southern liveried locomotive, this time a Maunsell L1 4-4-0 in lined olive green. The PDK kit was built by Chris Phillips: http://www.crphillips-models.co.uk/srmodelspage8.html This locomotive will be filthy! First step to be illustrated this time is the preparation of the workspace. Before commencing any work I have cleared the decks from the last project, laid down clean paper towels to give a little bit of protection to the old bedsheet covering the as-yet unlaid trackbed of my layout, and set out the main tools and materials that will be used. Those that you can see are: Railmatch Frame Dirt and Weathered Black enamel paints Glass dish containing clean white spirit Disposable pipette for transferring white spirit into airbrush cup Old paintbrush for transferring paint to airbrush cup Airbrush (Iwata Eclipse SBS) cup Plastic bottle with Eclipse adapter, containing clean white spirit Various fiddly-pokey tools, just in case MIG Productions pigments - Black Smoke, Track Brown, Dark Mud and Rubbel Dust If I remember, I'll explain the use of each of these as they are utilised.

It's a good job it's only me that has access to my pockets.

In the response I made, when I view it on my screen, the photograph shows up as a link: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_2019_09/2371.jpg.e8338076cc891efd86329aad56e083c7.jpg I assumed, possibly incorrectly, that others would be able to see that link as well. It was an attempt at humour, which seems to have failed. How about an unsolicited photograph of an aeroplane?

There's a clue in the photograph incorporated in my response. If that is not quite as obvious as I thought it would be () then the answer is bacon flavoured.

Coming along nicely.

Yes.

Bracket nudging. Quick, start another thread . . . . . . . . .

Nearly all of the items weathered in this blog have been attacked by one or more of the following brushes: Comb 1/2" flat shader Rigger Filbert The use of these brushes is detailed below, in the sequence they appear in the accompanying photograph. The comb brush is used to work on paint that has already been applied in order to create uneven streaking. The combination of long and short bristles, when dampened with or dipped in thinners, will unevenly remove or displace more or less paint with each stroke, depending on the pressure applied. Strokes are usually vertical from the top to the bottom of the subject to replicate the runs and streaks created by falling precipitation taking some of the accumulated grime with it on its journey rail-wards. Used mostly on boilers and tender sides. The 1/2" flat shader is used to manipulate areas of paint into corners, remove excess should it have been inadvertently applied, applying an overall wash for subsequent partial removal and creating regular vertical streaking where relevant. The rigger has long bristles but a thin point, and this configuration helps with the application of pin-washes, the so-called process of applying a wash to corners and edges of panels and detail to replicate built-up grime or to highlight detail. Capillary action will take a suitably thinned wash into all the detailed areas that are connected to the contact point. The filbert brush has soft but firm bristles with a rounded end and is used for the application and manipulation of pigments, applied in small quantities at a time. With the possible exception of the comb brush, the use of these brushes has been mentioned in many of the topics in this blog.

Yes, my captain. Tomorrow.

Not for this one, Steve. The next one will be a bit of a contrast, though.