An American in England

[tedp]

Progress!

After a weekend filled with distractions - an old school meeting, seeing several classmates of 45 years ago - and the development of a stinking cold, I completed the road trials of 'Lyn'.

Yesterday I experienced some trouble with the Peco wagons being forced off the track due to the overhang of the loco, sharp and sudden curves behind the backscene and several other factors. The Peco wagons have rigid NEM coupler sockets, very well for the loop and hook couplers but less so for the N gauge couplers I prefer. And they weigh next to nothing. Increasing the lateral movement of Lyn's couplers and adding weight to the Peco stock helped.

I spent a restless night with ghosts dancing over my bed - at one stage I had a table full of tiny brass and steel screws in front of me that had to be sorted out. All due to the side-effects of the cold virus, grrr.

Today I decided to ignore the discomfort as far as I could, and go to work again on Lyn. The last thing I had done was treat the cab and the tanks with very fine wet-and-dry and water. This morning I took the loco apart and cleaned it with methylated spirits and a soft brush. Then I masked off various parts with sellotape and sprayed on two thin coats of grey cellulose primer. Soon afterwards the loco was re-assembled and tested, and I painted the smokebox, the footplate and the roof black, and the bufferbeams red.



You may notice the headlamp. This is the LED, which was filed down to get rid of the flange at the back. Then I cut the top off the whitemetal lamp from the kit, filed a round recess into the underside and glued it to the top of the LED. A piece of brass scrap was bent into a 'U' shape and glued to the bottom of the LED. A piece of wire was wound round a screwdriver, cut to a ring and glued around the lens. Then the assembly was painted black.



And here is the cab end, which received rather less primer than intended, but I suppose it will provide enough of a key when I start painting. Note that the scarring on the tank sides is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. One coat of paint and I suppose it will be invisible. The bunker needs a bit more sanding down and some filler. I use superglue gel as filler for tiny holes, which works fairly well.



More later!

[Jeff Schumaker]

It is coming along nicely, Ted.

Jeff S.

[tedp]

Thanks, Jeff. I'm making good progress now, as I've entered the...

Painting stage!

Today I added a bunker bulkhead to the cab interior (not visible on the outside, but since the interior is painted light grey, I expect it will reflect the fire glow better). I also touched up the chassis and painted the coupling and connecting rods light grey to get rid of the brass etch colour and the red of the coupling rods. I painted the cranks with their unprototypical counterweights black to camouflage the incorrect pattern.

Then I set to work with Brian Mosby's Maunsell light Olive. This is a Precision Paints colour which I think is semi-matt paint. It dries very slowly which I suppose is normal as I have seen the same with Revell semi-matt. The paint goes on very thinly and evens out very well.

Here is the first result. You'll see there is still a little bit of the undercoat shining through - a second coat will be needed tomorrow. No lining and borders yet, of course, so it still looks a bit sombre.





More later.

[Brian Mosby]

Looking Good Ted

[tedp]

Thanks, Brian. I thought you might like this:





After adding another coat of Maunsell light olive and rebuilding the smokebox saddle, here the Baldwin, still lacking lining and various details, runs more trials on Inverlochan Moor.

I think this turns into quite a passable L&B train.    ;)

[tedp]

Since I'm now waiting for feedback on painting details from the 762 club, I decided to entertain myself and you with another video. Note the much improved running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R88caKzlU7s

[tedp]

Painting and lining trials!

Today I tried using a bow pen with white acrylic paint on the test piece, which is a patch of Maunsell Olive Green on an old credit card. This failed miserably as the paint doesn't flow as it should. So I looked around on the internet and found various art pens used in calligraphy. I know a good art shop in town, so I jumped on the bike and went there.

They had something called a 'gel pen' which drew beautiful white lines, 0.7mm wide, on a piece of black paper. This one is sold under the 'Signo' brand but made by the Mitsubishi Pencil Co of Japan.

In addition I decide to buy a yellow acrylic paint pen produced by a company named Molotov. The yellow is something I used in lining other liveries. Regrettably the latter is 1.5mm wide, but it might be bordered in black, so the width doesn't matter. However, when I used the acrylic pen, the paint crept under the ruler and smudged. This can be countered without trouble.

Back to the Maunsell livery. Using the white gel pen, I drew a line on the test piece. It dries very quickly. Then I added a black line using the Stabilo pen I bought a few days ago. The lines were put on rather roughly, so their width is not very even. But I am confident this can be improved with some practice.

Here is the test piece in cruel close-up.



The dimensions fall into place when I zoom out. The test piece is about the size of the Baldwin pannier tank.



Next, I will need to experiment with the transfers Brian sent me.

More later!

[Jeff Schumaker]

Interesting technique, Ted. Good luck.

Jeff S.

[tedp]

Thanks, Jeff.

Luck is what I'm going to need, because something went wrong. Not too badly, but it set me back a day. The white ink of the gel pen proved to be water soluble. When I had carefully lined out a tank and then applied the Methfix transfer, this is what happened:



The lining went all runny when I applied water to the transfer paper! So I painted out the smudged lining and carefully cleaned up the edges of the lettering.



This will have to dry out for one night, then I'll do the lining again, apply matt varnish and try again.

Sh*t happens.   ::)

[theelliotts]

I would try a test portion after the white lining and test the varnish on it.

David

[tedp]

I have just done so and it seems to hold without problem. The white ink obviously needs to be sealed. I will try to repair the damaged side tomorrow. If all fails I can rub it down, repaint and try again. It's only a flat surface.

Probably the best method is to reverse the process - put on the lettering first, then varnish and do the lining.

Ah well - each new model means a new learning curve.   :laugh:

[tedp]

I just surveyed the damage in daylight and it doesn't look too bad. There is nothing lost - it's just the kind of problem you encounter when trying something new. I never anticipated the white ink would be water soluble - a simple barrier coat of flat varnish would have been enough.

The Methfix transfers are very good by the way, clear and sharply defined. I think I'm going to apply the numbers first now - some number doctoring will be needed since I have to turn 763 into 762.

[tedp]

Here are some images of the latest work.

I'm not very happy with the gel pen - it works quite well on long stretches, but on the short lines a lot of correcting work is needed.

Where I started about an hour ago, with the flat varnish on the tank side:



One stroke of the pen along the top of the tank, which looks fair enough:



The present state of affairs. I'll spare you the image of the cab with all the blotches where the pen leaked:



Some touching up is still needed, but we're getting there. This will be followed with flat varnish to seal the lining. Now I'm off to buy a tin of flat black instead of Anthracite which I used on the cab side and tank tops. And a tin of gloss varnish, to mix with flat so I arrive at an eggshell finish.

More later.

[tedp]

I have been working at the black parts of the cab which look rather neater now - far more contrast to the olive green and it looks rather more 'Southern' to me now. Still not quite satisfied with the lining - sometimes further correction leads to more trouble than you had in the first place!

Not too bad I think - at a distance!  :P



Probably will look better with a number, lining on the tank front and red name plates.

[tedp]

A cruel close-up of the tank side, not yet cleaned up - a few blemishes to be removed and the final coat of flat varnish added. As you can see I turned 763 into 762. And Eastleigh has been designated as the home depot.



;D