Sylvian Tennant

Cheers guys, it's a real confidence booster when you're starting out on projects like this. Jamie, your work is fantastic I hope I can do work equal to yours soon.

Hmm here's my feeble attempts at a realistic! unfortunatly, I'll leave the photoshop to those who actually know what they are talking about! I must admit the previous photo is incredibly impressive... I love the 08

Yes, I continue my weathering practise and unleash my horrors upon the modelling world bwahahahahaha *cough cough*... anyway! Over the past couple of days I have been doming some more practising and experimenting... namely on some of my old Hornby stuff. The next victim inline was my fav old A4 of the lot "Bittern" The body sides had a mix of metalcote gunmetal, leather & chocolate applied to them then wiped off with a cotton bud. when dry it was them buffed with a dry cotton bud and burnish with a toothbrush. The loco frames were matt black & leather (I think) Wheels & oily patches were metal cote, leather, again burnish when dry the roof & bulkheads (cab interior too) were painted gunmetal (metallic) & matt black The smokebox door up to the chimney where painted metalcote gunmetal ,metallic gunmetal & matt black adding leather to give a bit of warmth. afterward I burnished it again which really toned down the leather in the mix. I don't see this alot of model A4s which is a real shame. The rear of the tender, I'm told, was left relatively unclean so I only lightly wiped the mix away from here. Again this was polishe dand burnished though. The cab interior was given some nice colours painted on with a toothpick... the colours were brass (pipes) copper (top handles), scarlett (handwheels, regulators) and a wash of metalcote gunmetal. When all of this had dried, I bought a cheap set of pastels (which came witohut a brown...GAH!) and lightly sprayed some matt varnish. I masked off the sides up to the handrails and brushes some of the black grey soot along the top of the loco. again I spray lightly some matt varnish over it. Unfortunatly it's taken on a light greyish colour and the varnish I used was humbrol.. I'm not too taken by it really. I might invest in some weathering powders next time. Finally, some leather was dry brushed around the water filler and the space surrounding... some more practise I think. This was followed by some black chalk along the top of the sides using the same technique as before. Hmm... still not too taken by it really. Afterwards polished the sides of both loc and tender by lightly buff with a cotton bud dipped in a very slight ammount of white spirit. Overall, I think a good first effort but please let me know what you guys think. Next up I have had another crack at the 9F... I basically just washed the same mix as I used it on before. But with some light grey dry brushed to represent water & limescale deposites. I shall look forward to being torn apart on my efforts

You have a very fine point there Awww no, that's a cracking name for a Q1! In the end my missus decided mine should be called Derek!

Good work I adore 14xx and you've done it proud.

I love Barking Bill's collection, he has some brilliant A4 pictures. The last ride I had on the NYMR was behind this little beauty, good work Chris.

Thanks guys, but can I just ask which pictures can you see the brush marks, so I can see where I went a bit awry? I must admit one side of the tender looks better than the other! I think when I come to do further models with the same glossy finish, I'll spray it lightly with matt varnish. I'm trying to avoid an airbrush as much as possible because a) I don't have one and B) unless it's a full re-livery I'd think I'd feel more accomplished in myself to learn how to hand brush weathering & c) I really can't be bothered cleaning up all the time afterwards. Im must admit if it hadn't started to wiped the weathering job off already I would have been quite happy with it however, I think a light spray of matt varnish would help. I yeah, I'm thinking of how to do the smoke deposites along the top without having to rely on an airbrush. Im going to hunt around for powders & chalk pastels.

Fourthed... but don't stop it's brilliant!!!!

Continuing my weathering practise I took the plunge and decided to do my first ever locomotive! And was very please with my first time results… until I cracked open the power lube and this ended in me accidentally coating the loco in this stuff after cleaning up the mess I caused whilst trying to free up the valve gear. The story is I spilt it and afterwards absently maidenly picked up the loco and tender… whoops! What followed was a wipe down with baby wipes that left the loc look rather greasy. Which was nice but unfortunately I removed parts of the weathering. Also it was a rushed job so I could defiantly do better, and this has pretty much destroyed the rusted/greasy effect of the valve gear & coupling rods (plus the lube was a disastrous effect too.) Anyway… after kicking a lot of my room about in frustration after wards here are the results. The engine was an aold Hornby-tri-ang 9F a friend gave to me, there as some pics of it before the process on my gallery somewhere so you can take a look at the difference!! These are before the final wash. The end product before the accident And finally after ward (and this morning after trying to get the sodding camera to work) Please don’t be too harsh… it was my first time and I did cock up

You are a credit to us all and an inspiration.

57xx: Haha, great mind think alike well in a sense! I'm currently trying to remedy the fact that our club has no N gauge layout, I hopin I can use some of these methods to those projects Dr Al: I must say, I'm not always too positive about my my projects but the woodwork really impressed me. A lot of people make it out to be quite a difficult process, and it looks it, but that was my first ever attempt at it and I just stuck by what I've read in articles. At risk of repeating myself, to get really productive comments from people who I've really looked up to over the past year/years does alot for confidence and bravery. Hopefully soon you'l get to see some of my rolling stock. Thank you

Hi guys, thank you for all the kind and productive comments Leopard1299: Yes you are very much correct, there’s loads more I want to try out but even with he plastic wagon, the black really bring the detail out. Jamie: The timber was my greatest feat. As for the underframe, I noticed that as well, I think it’s the gunmetal I dry brushed onto it. But it’s a work in progress… as I mentioned before I block painted Tamiya flat brown, and Humbrol Chocolate and these look pretty okay, but forgot to take a photo of it… do’h! The A4 for very much an anticipated project because I really want to get into weathering my locomotives now. I have to agree on the black areas. They seemed to be very thick and just slopped on. I’ll hunt around for Grahams Muz’s article but I must confess, it was that thread you linked me (6WTS) to that started all this off. It is very much appreciated that I can take a look though it again. Thank you. 57xx: Cheers for that, and thanks for the tip on wooden planking I’ll have a look at Gauche Can I just ask, you’re a 2mm scale modeller; that is quite impressive. Chris Nevard: Thank you very much for those kind words. To get those compliments from someone whose work I admire defies words. Sorry if I sound a bit bum kissing there… but honestly, thank you There shall be more.

Ooooh that is amazing keep u the good work.

Aww thank you, I must be honest with you. I thought that was going to be the hardest job of all but it was really simple, and the variation you can do just by adding further begie/grey colours plus maybe a little black & white is just amazing. What makes it come to life is the wash. I forgot to add that I dry brush a little revell 84 on the interior saction rivets where the door is.

Luckily I have it was al just bits and pieces that I was messing around with! but I would like to show you the fruits of my labour and also gather some tips and creative criticism. (I don't want, "that looks like a bag of s***e", I want, "That looks like a bag of s***e but here's how you could improve...") Anyway.... First of all, I began by trying out some wood effect on a knackered old Dapol Brake Van. This was done using Tamiya Acrylics The base colour was Deck Tan, followed by mixing Flesh, Dark Brown & Nato Black. Followed by a wash of Humbrol 98 & 33 Overall, I was really pleased with the Flesh, Deck Tan & Dark Brown mixes but Nato Black greens everything... less of that in the future! Currently I am limited to these Tamiya colours but will be getting more soon. I did one another one with humbrol 147 & 187 but I forgot to take photos plus the technique is practised elsewhere! The next one was to do a basic wash of Humbrol 33 of the whole wagon (including chassis), taking into jointed and raised detail. the wash was about 90% thinners & 10% paint. This was a full paint up from priming to weathering here. The wagon body was primed with Halford red oxide. I had also sprayed the interior white. That will be a one off I think. The side with the "patch work planking" was Humbrol 113... I had made a slightly mistake in the painting and weathered it whilst still wet and removed the paint back to the priming so it was reapplied and looked a little more dustier than the first attempt. The second side was painted with Humbrol 133 and both results I was quite pleased about. I followed this with a wash of Humbrol 98 & 33 wiped away with a cotton bud, one end in white spirit to get into the corners and the other dry. I DO recommend leaving the paint to dry for a day or two before to this bit! Finally the metal work was picked out with Revell 84. (I know I the planked effect looks pants on it, that will be improved! and the photos make the rust effect look a little bright too!) The interior was as said before, Humbrol 187 & 147, slapped on in parallel with the wooden planked and left for about an hour to dry before slapping on a thin followed by a slightly thinker mix of Humbrol 98 & 33. This was again worked in along the way of the planking and don't worry about the second coat initially looking too thick. It will thin out as your work along it. For the chassis work I tried different methods I used Tamiya Dark Brown (XF-10) block painted & 98 again blocked on. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures again! But the attempted with 98 & 33 blocked in I did photograph. The result was finished by dry brush Tamiya Dark Brown & Revell 84. I also dry brushed Humbrol 53 & humbrol 62 but I think the effect is dire. The axel boxes were treated to a drop of Metacote gun metal. Finally, I gave loco weathering a try. The cab roof was given three different cotes. The right was Humbrol 33, 98 & 53 ( the middle was the same but with less leather), the left was humbrol 33 & 53. The loco body was painted in thinned Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal & 62 then rubbed away with a cotton bud in white spirit, then with a dry cotton bud. The top was dry brushed with the same mixture, then rubbed away with a dry cotton bud when touch dry. The valences were dry brushed with Humbrol 53 and a 90/10 thinned Humbrol 33 worked into the recesses. Revel 84, Humbrol 62 & 53 were dry brushed around the top of the paneling. the smoke box door was a Metalcote gunmetal, 62 & 33. Hmm... looks a little too brown for me so may need a little more work. I went a little into overkill with a cotton bud soaked in white sprit the morning after though! Anyway, please let me know what you think for a first attempt.