Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - Painting The Groundwork

I've been working on the new engine for the last couple of weeks and the progress can be found on earlier posts, but at the same time I have started painting the main layout. I have used household emulsion paint tester post which I had mixed up at B&Q for the main colours and applied the paint with both a large 2 inch brush and a smaller detailing brush to paint around the sculpted features. 

The first coat looks a little 'flat' but I will be both 'washing' and drybrushing over the top once the whole board is finished. The rear and board edging have been undercoated with a grey undercoat and once again this has been sanded back and re-painted prior to taking these photos.

Progress has been slow, but as this is a long-term, side project, I'm not too worried. I would hope that I could get trains running before the end of the Summer so the Grandchildren can see some movement.

Tony

Recent Charity Shop Finds

This week I have been lucky enough to pick up these two Charity Shop finds. The first is this book - British Steam Tugs by P. N. Thomas and first published by Waine Research in 1983. The copy I have is the second edition printed in 1997.

The book is mainly black and white illustrations of various vessels but does have some stunning colour illustrations - for example this owners colours page.

The book was bought in a charity shop in Kidderminster for just £2.00. There were other items obviously from the same donation, additional books and plans for similar boats, but I thought this book was the best value.

I've wanted to model a steam tug ever since I built the Airfix Great Western kit as a teenager. Just maybe these illustrations will be the push I've been looking for.

In addition I also picked up this Archimedes drill also for £2.00. At the time of purchasing it, it was stiff and not working properly, but a quick service with a fine wire brush and some oil has it back in full working order.

The new nine and a half inch model will supplement my existing seven inch Hobbies model which I have previously written about, for more details, see this post.

Tony

Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - A New Locomotive part fifteen

Engine No. 190 is now complete. I have reattached the 'Smokey Joe' chassis and glazed the cab with clear plastic card as well as supergluing the cab in place.

The Hornby Nem couplings have also been attached. I inserted them into a small hole and superglued them in place.

There has been a touch more weathering with weathering powders and pastels, particularly around the base of the cab and along the roof.

The final image shows the 'critter' alongside one of my scratch built figures to give an idea of the size of this latest model.

This was a great project and I'm very pleased with the final result.

Tony

Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - A New Locomotive part fourteen

With most of the painting completed, I weathered the engine with weathering powders and ground-up pastels which were applied with a large soft 'fan brush'.

The 190 number decal (from GW) was applied over Future floor polish and sealed with the same prior to matt varnishing and weathering.

There has been some detail painting, for example the metal grab handles on the rear of the cab and the bright polished brass ring of the headlight lens surround.

The cab is still to be glued in place as I am going to add clear plastic card glazing.

Tony

Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - A New Locomotive part thirteen

Once again, following this You Tube tutorial I have added various oil washes to the metal engine parts and the wooden cab.

I used tube oil paints and low odour white spirits applied with a large flat brush to 'draw down' the diluted paint and produce streaks and shadows.

The red oil paint was used for the cab and wooden buffer beams which were further 'aged' with some acrylic paint chipping.

Here are the three oil paints used in this technique, two from Winsor & Newton and the third from a cheap oil paint set bought in The Works.

For larger images, you can 'click' on the pictures.

Tony

Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - A New Locomotive part twelve

This update shows the wooden engine cab painted. I chose a deep red colour with a grey tar paper roof for this model.

The main colour was Pyrolle Red from GOLDEN with a touch of Abaddon Black from GW added in the shadows. The tar paper roof was painted in Wolf Grey from GAME COLOR with more Abaddon Black used for the shadows.

Tony

Yellow Pelican Mining Co. - A New Locomotive part eleven

Still following this You Tube tutorial, the next step was to layer up some Raw Sienna acrylic paint which I mixed with a little bit of Burnt Umber. Once again the paint was applied in watered-down layers allowing the darker colours to show through in the shadows and concentrating on the upper surfaces.

Tony