MikeTrice

I have revised my method to simplify. A couple of coats of Clear/Klear to the sides (including covering the windows) to protect the Hornby printing. Tone down the darker areas around the doors and door ventilators with oil paints/liquin as previously described and clean up with turpentine Add shadow into door joint and around door ventilators with Model Mates Soot Black dye using water to clean up. Final coat of Vallejo satin varnish to restore original sheen. As has been stated previously the toning down is just that NOT a complete invisible match to the original grained finish and under magnification the original demarcation can still be seen, however the overall effect on the eye is quite dramatic. I still believe that exaggerating the door joints and shading around the door ventilators is worth doing and after trying various options returned to using the Model Mates dyes, for the simple reason that clean up with a damp brush is so easy and cannot damage the graining. A full third treated as described but without the final coat of satin varnish and with the original roof colour taken in a brief moment of sunshine today: The brake third treated with the earlier more complex process (using Humbrol washes) but with more care taken during clean up. The colour match of the graining patches is not quite as good, however the effect is I believe is still a vast improvement on the model out-of-the-box:

As had been stated previously, something had to be done with those roofs. So I have been experimenting with a technique known as "Oil Wash" which gets mentioned in posts occasionally. This involves a smidgen of oil colour thinned with Mineral Spirits. So a few experiments first: A wagon with a fairly heavy application: And a thinner application just toning down the lettering: Streaking applied to the roof: So encouraged by the results I braved applying it to one of the Hornby models. I was after a very light weathering rather than a heavy application and after application wiped a lot of it off with tissue paper resulting in: and Much better than the original off white.

Many years ago (just predating the Hornby release) I did a quick and dirty Thomas, Annie and Clarabel in P4 for a Chatham Dockyard Exhibition. The coaches were built using the Hornby short coaches, however I obtained a spare coach and spliced an extra compartment in. Milliput formed a nose. New roof and torpedo vents, and wagon W-Irons completed the vehicles. One of my fondest memories of the hobby were hiding Thomas, Annie and Clarabel in a tunnel, playing the theme song and bringing the train into view. Kids swarmed to the layout in their droves which was great fun to see. Thomas was a shortened Hornby E2 body, scratchbuilt chassis and Milliput face. One year Thomas was entered in the Scalefour Society's Deputy Chairman's Cup, much to the disgust of the more staid members of the Society. Nearly won too, which would never have done ;-)

I am running out of coaches to treat

It is probably over zealous clean up. The oil top coat is semi-transparent by design so you will still see hard edges however I really should do this under magnification with good lighting. Bear in mind how small this is in reality (and my eyesight is not what it once was). In my opinion it is still better than the untreated door on the left and is much improved at normal viewing distance.

This is a really cruel enlargement showing original door on left and treated on right, without shading added.

The enlargements certainly do not help. The trouble is without them the sides seem very flat. As I said, I am in two minds.

Agreed, which is why I paint them to match the panels. It makes a big difference.

Hornby Thompson with some livery modifications.

Final result. I have taken to using a wash to emphasise the door joints but am not 100% convinced of the result. Any views?

Applying the acrylic varnish before overpainting the brown has worked very well. I have also adjusted my paint formular to give an even close match the the Hornby paint scheme: Yellow Ochre with just a touch of Burnt Sienna thinned with Liquin as before. Here are some doors treated straight from the paint shop (so paint appears slightly glossy). Some hours later I spotted some smudges on the windows in the photo and have since removed them with turps and a fine brush. Untreated door on left.

A word of warning for anyone wishing to follow my lead and modify their Hornby Thompson's. As I discovered putting some photos up for a sister thread, thinners/turpentine will dissolve the Hornby overprinting so to ensure this does not happen give the body a coat of Acrylic Satin varnish first. I have use the Vallejo Satin varnish which goes on thinly and gives a superb finish, in fact it is difficult to see where it has been applied.

If you look you will find formula for mixing some of the Humbrol colours such as track colour. These were published when the colour was initially withdrawn.

Just to prove that a neater (hopefully) job is possible. The mix: Applying the graining: Graining applied. Some clean-up required: After clean-up with a clean brush dipped in Turps and most moisture removed: And yes the marks on the windows are down to me. I am hoping these will disappear after a coat of Clear once the oil is dry.

As hinted at last night, here is a Hornby Thompson Coach as supplied. Due to printing limitations there are prminent dark frames around the doors which distract from the overall appearance. Likewise the printing process has been unable to get into the corners of the droplights also leaving them dark brown: It did oocur to me that I might be able to use oil paints and Liquin to apply the missing overgraining. Here is the result: It totally transforms the vehicle!.The graining was applied using Windsor and Newton Chrome Yellow Hue to which a VERY small amount of Burnt Umber was added. Liquin used to thin as before. The graining was painted over the dark surrounds and any overspill cleaned up with a dry brush. Unfortunately I did this in artificial light last night nd it suffer for it as a result. In daylight it is clear how badly I cleaned up, however I do believe the effort worthwhile as the vehicles look much better. As an aside the roughness around some of the windows is not where I have gone off line with the paint, it was already on the windows on the coach as supplied. Honest. The only down side is that the Chrome Yellow Hue does seem to take longer to dry than the Burnt Umber

Watch this space! Awaiting natural light to reveal all.

Thanks. Got there in the end.

Not certain if the forum will let me post this image, but for a change I have scanned the side rather than photograph it.

Thompson teak: second attempt. Taken a different approach this time. Started with my usual light orange base coat over white primer. Apply masking tape over both lower panels and using an airbrush feathered Villejo Orange Brown along the 'seam'. With a post-it note quickly masked along various verticals and also applied shadow. For variety did the same with Sunny Skin Tone. Peeled off masking and remasked just the lowest panel and repeated the shading on the waist panel trying to randomise the shading. Peeled off last of the masking and shadowed the lower edge. This is the result: The Vallejo paint is very fine. It was thinned with Revell Aqua Color Mix and gave good coverage with no paint build up along the masking. Masking reapplied along the lower edge of the windows and teak graining applied to the upper panels with Burnt Umber oil paint and Liquin as before. I found a slightly higher content of Liquin worked well on the Thompsons: After leaving the paint to dry overnight, the masking was removed and new masking applied over the top graining to provide a good line for the lower panels. Teak graining then applied to the lower panels: The results are very subtle, with the panel demarcations just being visible, just like the prototype. Unlike my first abortive attempt I can live with this one!

I am thinking of an alternative approach involving varying the base coat, rubbing down any ridges before the final graining coat. Just need the inspiration to give it a go.

I have been in two minds over whether to post the next section or not, however you can learn as much by mistakes as you can your successes so I thought, why not? I was curious in how suitable the technique presented to date could be applied to Thompson coaches. I managed to pick up an old Triang Thompson for a reasonable price specifically to try out the technique. Yes I know they are not accurate, but are sufficient for my purposes. So here goes: As before sides are sprayed in white primer and given a coat of light orange base colour. The lower sides comprise two painted panels the upper one being (in 4mm, 5mm wide). Some 6mm Tamiya masking tape applied to align with the lower edge of the windows: Using a straight edge and a new scalpel blade the width of the masking tape was reduced by removing 1mm from the lower edge. In order to get the tape to lay flat it was also necessary to slit down beside the moulded handles: Finally a strip was removed from the end and a panel line scored for the depth of the side, repeating the other end: Burnt Umber oil/Liquin is used to grain the upper and lower panels. Unfortunately the graining of the upper panels could have been more prominent: For variety I gave some of the lower panels a hint of arrow head graining. Masking tape removed. Oops, some of the base coat and undercoat has lifted off, probalby due to lack of cleaning of the second hand sides: After touching up the lifted base coat the whole side was treated to a coat of Humbrol Clear. The top panels and lower panels were then masked and the waist panel grained and masking tape removed: Again I attempted some grain variety on the waist panel: So not a great success. Where I cut the masking tape originally applied it has resulted in a horizontal groove between the panels which has filled with teak and look like a dark line as had the border with the masking tape. Also need to vary the basecoat colour as in the Gresley. If at first you don't succeed????

As stated previously the color variations are also apparent on works photographs which would have featured all teak (no veneer).

There are certainly photos of former LNER coaches still in teak livery at the end of 1951. Hopefully other posters can add to this.

One of my objectives at the start of this post was to reproduce a varnished teak finish with currently available products. I am a fan of Vallejo paints however they are not commonly available so what do you do if you cannot obtain them? The Windsor and Newton oil paints on the other hand should (hopefully) be universally available. So this final post presents a summary of the method (ignoring the mistakes made along the way) and covers materials in a bit more depth. 1 ) Spray coach body with white primer. I use acrylic primer from Halfords but any make should do. Some of the subsequent colours can be a bit transparent so a white base will result in fewer coats to get good coverage. 2 ) Mask off the roof along the top of the cornice. I have found the Tamiya tape brilliant for this. 3 ) Paint on one or two coats of light orange base coat. I have used acrylic as it dries quickly and in the case of Vallejo paints does not hide the detail. If a single coat is insufficient leave the first to dry and apply a second. 4 ) Pick out random panels in the two alternative shades to provide some variation in tone. Leave to dry for at least two hours. 5 ) Apply sealing coat of Humbrol Clear or Johnson's Klear to protect the base coats and again leave a couple of hours. 6 ) Apply graining coat using the Burnt Umber oil paint mixed with a small amount of Liquin. The Liquin thins the paint slightly increasing transparency and speeds up drying time. Brush out in direction of grain. If you do not like the effect keep at it or if all else fails use turpentine to remove (it should not affect the acrylic base coats). Leave to dry for at least 12 hours. The surface will change and take on a matt sheen. 7 ) Apply another sealing cote of Clear/Klear or if unavailable it should be possible to use a gloss varnish. 8 ) Apply transfers and line in primrose paint. 9 ) Apply another coat of Clear/Klear or Satincote. 10 ) For a slightly weathered finish use Model Mates sooty black weathering dye, Humbrol Black Wash or mix your own from black paint and thinners. f mixing your own make sure the coach has had at least 24hrs to fully dry out before applying. Paint the coach in the wash/dye and let dry for about 1 hr. For Model Mates dyes wet a cotton wool bud in water and carefully clean the panels of dye leaving deposites along the beading. Use the same technique for washes but dip the cotton wool bud in thinners. Leave to one side to fully dry. For a heavier weathered finish apply the Humbrol wash or home brew and whilst still wet remove the surplus with a dry cotton wool bud (or two or three). This will result in a heavier layer than the light weathering. When cleaning panels use the cotton wool buds in the direction of the grain. For Model Mates dyes they will need a final coat of varnish to waterproof. Humbrol Satincoat is ideal. 11 ) Remove masking and admire. The following image can be used as a reference for base colours used. I am aware there are reproduction issues in scanning and uploading but I hope they will give a good indication should you not be able to source the Vallejo paints. From left to right the colours are: Vallejo Light Orange (022) as the main base coat. Vallejo Sunny Skin Tone (020) as a panel variant. Vallejo Orange Brown (131) as a second panel variant. Happy teaking ;-)

As promised some photos taken under natural light showing the heavy weathering achieved with Humbrol Black Wash, and removed before dry with a cotton bud: Using a similar technique to the Model Mates dyes, this has had Humbrol Black Wash applied and allowed to dry (not fully) then a cotton wool bud dipped in white spirit used to clean the panels :