An Industrial Narrow Gauge Adventure - test #7 - painting the loco

With the construction finished, I sprayed the whole engine with Makes Paint Stick (a clear lacquer that is designed for undercoating plastic garden furniture) then undercoated with Halfords grey primer, an undercoat that I believe to be one of the very best available. Remember to buy the plastic primer!!!!!

The bulk of the painting was done with a small portion of sponge, the sponge that is used as packing material for miniatures. I break off a piece and then holding it in a pair of tweezers, I dab on progressively lighter colours - a bit like drybrushing, but using a sponge. I find that this gives a much better transition than using a brush.

The red buffers were painted with an enamel base or undercoat - I find that enamel red is so much better than acrylic red and then highlight with acrylic paint and washes.

The cab interior was painted with two or three coats of watered-down white acrylic paint and then washed with a light grey wash to dirty it up a little.

Weathering was done with some drybrushing, but mainly washes and the rust colours were mixed from various browns and oranges and applied with a No. 2 detailing brush.

When the painting was finished, I spray painted on another light coat of Matt varnish and after painting the areas where the SPA CO LTD would go with Future (Klear in the US) I used White Letraset to add the lettering.

The model was once again matt varnished before final weathering was applied. This was once again done with washes, remembering to drag the washes in a downward direction to mimic rain water streaks. Then I brushed on some rust powders to the rust areas to help define some of the detailing.

In this final image - showing the sculpted driver (more on this figure later), I have used a 7B pencil to add some graphite to the lower running area.

I still need to add the clear plastic card windows, but this can wait until later.

The Feldbahn engine was great fun to both model and paint. I would like to say that it is a great runner, but the Horby 'Smokey Joe' 0-4-0 mechanism is damaged and I will need to buy and modify a second, before I can get it running on some test track.

For more details and posts about this 1:27.7 (or 11mm = 1 foot) Narrow Gauge Adventure please use the Narrow Gauge label to the right.

Tony