First up were the buffer beams. Now as I mentioned in the previous post I'd bought a pot of Buffer Beam Red acrylic paint from Humbrol's rail colour series, and I had intended to use this to (funnily enough) paint the buffer beams. I was rather shocked when I opened the tin to find that the paint colour really doesn't match the sticker and probably falls foul of the trade description act for not really being red. Having said that it does appear pretty close to the buffer beam on the N gauge Graham Farish loco I own so maybe it is accurate. Either way I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and duly painted both the front and back buffer beams. Well it's definitely not right, or at least it didn't look right, so it was painted over with a thin layer of Model Color red (70.947) which I think you will agree looks the part.
Next I dealt with the window frames, which were more than a little taxing. I wanted the frames to be brass so this required painting them black and then using the same lacquer I used for the cab controls while ensuring I didn't get any on the red body paint. Of course I managed to slip in a few places and so I've had to touch up the paint slightly, but it really isn't noticeable. The windows still need glazing but I can't do that until I've varnished everything so as not to frost the "glass".
After the windows I moved on to fitting the handrails. Annoyingly the left one looks on even more of an angle than it did before, goodness knows why. Anyway the knobs were painted black before fixing to the body so that I didn't run the risk of getting black paint on the saddle tank. The rails were then painted in-situ and everything glued into place. The final step was to slip the whistle through the hole in the mounting bracket, dot a spot of gel superglue on the end of the pipe and then rotate into position.
I'm really pleased with how the details have pulled together, and it certainly looks a lot better than it did a few days ago!
Difficult to tell the colour on the Graham Farish loco and I couldn't have told you that buffer bars were red anyway. Glass in the windows!? Now there's a challenge.
ReplyDeleteWell, by glass I mean glazing the windows in the same way as I have done before.
DeleteI have a feeling that the Humbrol Rail Colour range is mixed to be a match to the paint used on Hornby/Grafar locos.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the loco looks rather fine! Handrails are a nuisance, and often get knocked about and bent in industry, so there's a good excuse for a little wonkyness if an excuse is needed!