jdb82

Dabbled with airbrushing the buffer beams and some weathering powders on the smokebox this morning. Whist not perfect, it's definitely given the loco a bit more of a 'used' look to it. Haven't done anything to the smokebox door yet, so still looks a bit shiny. Not quite sure what's going to happen to the weathering powders once I varnish it; the plan is to vanish in satin first so I can add some washes more effectively, before then giving it a final matt coat of varnish to seal everything in.

Unable to think of a better way, I rectified the paint mistake on the tank top by using thinners in the end.I have a couple of very fine cotton buds, and so worked away at the affected area until the paint was removed. As it also removed the primer, I reapplied this before giving the model another coat of black, cover anything I'd missed first time round. Although you can see a small 'ridge' where the old paint meets the new, I think a good job on the weathering in this area will make that disappear. Drying acrylics in the heat here doesn't take very long (touch dry at least), and so I was able to unwrap the masking to see it's basic livery together for the first time. Next, the coupling hook needs painting black, and the coupling links need adding, before the whole lot gets a coat of satin varnish before I weather it.

Back to the workbench today after a couple of weeks of craziness at work, followed by a week recuperating staring at a volcano and beach from a rather nice pool in Bali. Living this side of the world does have it's perks ;-) Anyway, last news was that I'd primed the body, and just before I went away, I managed to paint the buffers, steps and cab. The cab isn't as yellow as it appears in the photo, although it's a deeper colour than intended.....needed a bit more white to make it more creamy. Today, I masked everything (with the exception of one or two small parts.....intentionally, of course!) that isn't going to be black. Not the neatest of jobs in terms of bits sticking out all over the place, but it did do the job. A deep breath was taken, and on with the black coat. I can't help feeling this is probably a bit like watching your child growing up......it was all beautiful as a baby-faced brass beauty, and then it grows up..... I knew it already, but painting was always going to be the most challenging aspect of this build for me. Whilst I'm fairly handy and practical, artwork is not my strength! I did manage to avoid any runs in the paint, which is the thing I was most concerned about. I think she'll need another coat though, as looking at the photo below, the right side of the running plate, left as you look at the photo, hasn't had an even covering. This is something I only noticed looking at the photo - it was obviously difficult to tell with all the paint wet, and it's currently drying under it's ice cream tub to keep the dust off. Also, there are areas like under the lip of the chimney, and underneath the tank step that got missed, as by the time I thought about them, I couldn't then turn the model upside down. Ah well, learn as you go..... To steal Bucoops's signature below his posts, I still very much have my modelling L plates on. Now to the biggest booboo I made, which never crossed my mind before applying the black coat: when painting the cab a couple of weeks ago, I didn't mask off the windows, and a small amount of cream coloured enamel (satin) was spread onto the tank top behind one of the tank pipes. The black paint I have used is acrylic (Vallejo model air), which has otherwise covered really well. However, as we know, oil and water do not mix particularly well, and the black won't cover the cream. I'm reluctant to get the thinners out, as this might affect the surface of a wider area.... what would any wise heads out there do?

Here's the link to the Tony Wright video - I lapped up all 5 1/2 hours of it before I started building my first kit in September last year.... well worth every minute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1DGQsXapFk

Seems like I'm after the rarest of the lot.......Issue 12 of Model Railway Journal. I'v searched high and low, and it's about the only issue I've not managed to find! If anybody has one they would like to part with, I'd be most obliged! John

Impressive stuff Peter - I aspire to this level of craftsmanship one day!

Thanks Izzy, that's really helpful. It's a beautiful little model you built!

Great! I'll see if I can get my hands on a copy. Thanks Dava!

I see, schoolboy error! Any idea where I can get my hands on some drawings?

Hi Izzy, I know this thread was written a little while ago, but I've just been reading through it with a view to one day scratch building an old Manning Wardle. Is this the H class, or an older class of loco? I was also wondering where you obtained your plans/drawings for it? Ideally I'm looking for something online as I live overseas, but haven't found anything yet! Thanks! John

Yes please!

Once you have uploaded the video to YouTube and copied the link as per Horsetan's instructions, you can then go to the full editor in RMWeb (click the "reply with attachments" button), click on the "Special BBCode" (third from the top left), choose 'media' and paste in your YouTube link. This embeds the video into your post :-)

Cheers Simon, I'll give it a go. It does hiss and I do get a small puddle underneath it. Think it's aimed at more of a hobbyist nail painter than nail bar use though - it was only about 60 quid ;-)

Yep, although it has clearly collected quite a bit - this is a good 24hrs after use, and there was a little puddle on the floor. It's a pretty cheap compressor - one of Sparmax's basic models; no tank, and I'm still using the basic coiled hose that came with it. You have to take what you can find out here! Really meant for painting nails I believe....the shop assistant gave me a bit of a funny look when I bought it! The humidity here is pretty high, and that can't help..... I might need to limit my spraying time each session - it was only towards the end of covering the whole body I had any problems

True to form, I lost the badminton. I consoled myself by priming 'Hamburg', which seemed like good therapy (or at least provided me with a good excuse to get to the workbench!). Got into all the nooks and crannies, and behind all the pipework fine, and seem to have a nice smooth base coat. I did end up with some condensation being blown through the airbrush, which has discoloured the primer (on the left tank top, and the side of the right tank), but doesn't seem to have affected the surface texture at all. As the top coat will be black, I don't envisage this being a problem. Hopefully. Does anyone else have a problem with condensation and airbrushes? I wondered if it was partly a product of living in a hot, humid climate? Slightly disappointed by how many imperfections, especially with the castings, have been shown up by the primer that I hadn't spotted before painting! Close-up + primer = cruel

Haha, we certainly don't need to wait too long for that 'warm' day! To be honest though, when it comes to the weathering of brass, I've not really had anything to compare it to, as I never built a kit in the UK. From a visual perspective, I tend to have 24 hrs before I notice much of a difference in colour. The heat certainly helps with paint drying times though!

Part of the problem with an immediate coat it that I can’t really get inside the smoke box to dry it out that quickly. After being immersed in water it takes overnight to really dry it out. Maybe the oven is the way forwards as Regularity suggests above. I have some time this morning, so another quick going over with the Gariflex block, another dunk in the cleaner, a bake in the oven and then a coat of primer seems to be the order of the day. And then the quarter finals of the Brunei Badminton open, as I actually managed to win a couple of matches yesterday

With work as crazy as normal, and my attempt to make it past the first round of the Brunei Badminton Open this year, there has been absolutely zero progress mid-week! I did spend a couple of hours de-tarnishing and generally cleaning her up this afternoon though, which has allowed me a moment of indulgence with probably a good 30 minutes just spent admiring my hand-work. I'm generally quite self-critical, but I'm just allowing myself a moment of thinking that actually, for a first build, I've not done too bad a job . I now have more cleaning up to do: the mountain of Gariflex 'droppings' and picking out tens of fibreglass shards from my fingers..... I make no apologies for the number of photos that follow ;-) Now it's off to the ultrasonic cleaner for a bath, before it gets a coat of primer, hopefully tomorrow morning.

Can you do that on the treads of wheels too? Do you know if it affects conductivity?

Unfortunately not. The paint on the chassis seems to be holding up with me handling it, however anything with a hard edge easily takes paint off. The primer certainly hasn't 'etched' into the surface from what i can see.

In that case, my plan might be to polish it, admire it, and then ruff it up a bit with some wet&dry.....not too much mind - don't want scratches!

I think I might just admire it for a while.... I love an engine in the nude She’s quite tarnished and grubby currently after sitting on my desk for several weeks. No doubt there’ll be a few photos posted here once she’s shiney and sparkling, before getting covered in monochrome primer....

Things improved a little bit after a bit of running in this evening; though still not perfect. I think I might get the finer grades of wet and dry paper out and really polloh the back of the flange up to try and smooth it out.

Fitted the pickups this afternoon. I'd read about various different options for pickups. I don't have any plungers here, and top wipers as described in the instructions would have been too visible for my liking. The Slaters wheels used are all insulated, so split frame pickup (is that the right name?!) wouldn't be an option. I went for the wire on the back of the flange option. It seems to work OK. Some of the time. It's fine once it gets going, but can be a bit sticky to start off, and need a tap to get it moving (see video below). Is there anything I can do to improve this, or have I just chosen an inefficient pickup method?! Thought I'd see what the loco looked like all put together, just to indulge myself. Think it'll look pretty good once the body is painted up. Not looking forwards to trying to clean all the nooks and cranny's up though! https://youtu.be/Jx2bmOm1mlc

And now with the chassis built up, brake blocks and hangers on. And it still runs smoothly. Bonus. I'll cut down the crankpins and blacken the nuts once I'm sure everything is as correct and final as it's going to be! And just to prove it still runs slowly: https://youtu.be/52YxAAwzfUE