7mm On Heather's workbench - Western royalty

This build has reached a point where there is a myriad of small jobs that need to be done, and then all of a sudden it's nearly finished.



The crew have been primed, so I will get them painted this afternoon, then I can install the cab interiors.



Once the interiors are in these babies, I can attach them to the sides and roof. Hopefully the joins will be made to disappear, and then I can prime and paint the bodywork. Before I do that, I ought to work out a representation of the various struts and braces either side of the steam heating boiler - and really set my mind to making the thing so it, too, can be fitted inside. The headcode box panels are "masked" with spare glazing. Laurie at JLTRT kindly sent me a spare set in case of hoo-hahs on my part. So far, so good, although some of the glazing that ought to be nearly flat was a little wavy in places.

Onwards!

As I type this the loco body, assembled with ends and roof, is under cover in the paint shop with a coat of primer. Tomorrow I shall see how the various joins worked out and whether any remedial work might be required on them before I set to with the maroon paint!

It's amazing how quickly things begin to come together. I hadn't intended on getting that far today!

The various joints weren't too bad, all things considered. The primer coat showed me where the worst bits were, so out with the filler and sanding blocks. Another blast of primer shortly.

Knowing how translucent enamel reds and yellows can be, I have to say I'm very impressed with Precision's warning yellow when sprayed. I was expecting a couple of coats over a couple of sessions, but I got a decent density in one session of light spraying over a white primer base.



Now the tricksy job of masking the panel so the livery maroon can go on.

Yesterday saw a good day in the paint shop. I got a second coat on 10001, including all the awkward-to-get-at bits around the skirt and buffer beams. D1042 also got a very good dose of maroon applied, and pleased with my efforts I left everything under cover, turned off the lights, closed the loft hatch and went about other tasks for the rest of the day.

This morning my plan was to repeat the hard-to-get-at routine with D1042. Before that, an inspection of yesterday's efforts.

Hmm. Well, the overall finish was nice and relatively smooth. Some very thin join lines were evident at the cab/side junctions, which I can live with. Some swirly sanding marks on one side, though, I am not so happy about.

I pressed on with the filling-in spray work, and I have again left the maroon carcass under cover. Later, or perhaps tomorrow, I shall inspect again, with a view to getting the masking tape off before too much longer. If the swirly marks annoy me, it looks like a rubbing down session in that area, with the hope I can respray it without making a mess of everything else.

You'd think I'd have this painting game sorted out by now, wouldn't you!

I brought the carcass down from the paint shop, as the Precision paint has dried well enough for mild handling.



Inspection in daylight shows a few imperfections, some I can live with, some I don't think I can.



The worst are the swirly scratches mentioned earlier. In some lights they are pretty bad, even though you'd probably never notice them in the big scheme of things. So, I think it's out with the wet'n'dry, see if I can improve things, and then respray as best as possible.

Wish me luck!

I am never keen on leaving masking tape applied for any longer than necessary. I think my fears are unfounded, as I use Tamiya yellow tape which doesn't seem to cause any lasting problems.

Nonetheless, I decided to remove the tape before I tackle the paint repair. It can always be reapplied as necessary.



Not as bad as I feared. I need to learn how avoid the ridge you get where tape meets paint.



Sadly, a speck of crud found its way into the cab, and adhered itself to the driver's side window. Not much I can do about it now.

Onwards and upwards!

Heather Kay said:

Not as bad as I feared. I need to learn how avoid the ridge you get where tape meets paint.

Onwards and upwards!

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Hi Heather,

I'm sure that Warren will be along with the 'right method' but I was told a long time ago to remove the masking tape asap after the spraying is completed so that the paint can then flatten itself, thus doing away with the ridge. OK I suppose if you only paint one side/end at a time but obviously depends on the livery involved.

Best of luck with the rest of the build.

Kind regards

Mike

Heather Kay said:

Not as bad as I feared. I need to learn how avoid the ridge you get where tape meets paint.

Click to expand...

One method we used to use for getting a good finish on coaches was to mask for the first colour and then once dry reverse the masking and paint the second colour. So in this case mask the maroon area and paint the yellow. Then mask the yellow and paint the maroon, obviously it was easier on a coach with a simple straight edge.

Adrian,

are you not compounding the 'problem' - if you start off with a totally flat surface and apply the masking tape, the depth of paint will equal the thickness of the masking tape, if you then apply the masking tape to the newly painted surface - the depth of the face to be painted equals twice the thickness of the masking tape and therefore when the masking tape is removed from the first painted surface, you still have a face on the new paint equal to the thickness of the masking tape.

cheers

Mike

Sorry Mike I'm not quite sure what issue you are describing, I'm not too sure why the paint equals twice the thickness of the masking tape.

The thickness of the paint is down to how much you apply rather than the thickness of the masking tape, admittedly there may be a bit of a meniscus with the tape but only at the very edge. At the moment the yellow panel is one layer on top of the primer where as the maroon is two layers to the primer, this makes it harder to smooth the joint as the two levels are different.

By masking where the maroon should be when painting the yellow it means that when the maroon is painted it is only one layer on top of the primer instead of two. There is still a small ridge where the joint is but this can be carefully cut back with a polishing cloth/cream/sponge (whatever you use). As the two colours are the same number of layers it is easier to get a smooth finish between the two.

Thanks Adrian. That makes sense. As I have to respray the scratched area, I might sort out a mask for the yellow again and get another coat on it to build it up.

I think that may be next week now. I've spent a bit too much time on this model, although that's what seems to happen when you get to certain stages of a build.

All I do is spray away from the masked edge, this reduces the ridge, also a very light rub with 2000 wet and dry. Don't worry about dulling of the paint as varnishing will take care of that.
Another method is to hand draw the boundary with a pen then mask upto that using the spray away from the edge method.
Finally the thicker you can get the paint as it has less chance of settling back up to the tape

Comprende

adrian said:

Sorry Mike I'm not quite sure what issue you are describing, I'm not too sure why the paint equals twice the thickness of the masking tape.

.

Click to expand...

I was just relating my obviously ham fisted approach to spraying and masking thinking that the thickness of the paint would be constant to the thickness of the masking tape- a bit like when you put concrete into a shutter.

I will try to follow the method set out by Warren and see how I get on.

cheers

Mike

As there was some remedial work to do on the paint finish, I let things simmer for a while at the back of the bench while I considered the best approach. At least the paint would be nice and dry by the time I started!

To remove some of the scratch marks meant rubbing down to the bare resin, but once I started with the wet and dry I found I wasn't happy with the rough finish of the original surface. Where the side and cab joints had been filled and sanded, they were obviously much smoother than the untouched surfaces.



And here's where I am on one side. The white patch is where a moulding flaw had become apparent under the paint - for all the world it resembled a misplaced fire extinguisher control like the one next to it, but that had been placed wrongly and poorly hidden. Most of the rest of the side has been rubbed down to try and alleviate the slightly rough surface. Of course, as is the way with these things, I won't be able to tell how well I've done until I've primed again - perhaps not even then!

I think, once rubbing down is complete, I shall have to mask the ends and cab windows. The plan is to only respray the sides. A slightly gritty finish to the roof doesn't worry me.

I got some further primer on yesterday, remembering just too late the acrylic primer over enamels is a bit of a no-no. I let things dry and inspected this afternoon. Yes, there was some crackling, but it was in small areas quickly dealt with by some more wet'n'dry action.

The carcass is now back in the paint shop, and will be receiving some more top coats shortly.

And another go!



The dust simply loves my wet paint. Pictured earlier, before being dragged back into the paint shop for some more top coat attention, this is after some mild rubbing down to remove the grollies.

Heather Kay said:

The dust simply loves my wet paint. Pictured earlier, before being dragged back into the paint shop for some more top coat attention, this is after some mild rubbing down to remove the grollies.

Click to expand...

Heather, a useful addition to the 'paintshop goodies' is the top part/lid of a seed incubator - suitable size of course. All you need do is to have a block of wood placed across the track at each end, under the ends of the lid, the resultant gap allows the air to circulate around the lower parts but importantly, keeps the dust from settling on the important bits. Being transparent, you can check progress of the drying without having to disturb anything.

Hope this is of use.

regards

Mike

Mike, thanks for that. I already have a similar set up. The problem seems to be dust gets to the paint before I get it under cover!

I've talked about some form of extraction system in the paint shop. However, a more pragmatic approach is to get a professional to deal with painting stuff for me.

Heather,

Your work here is great and like you struggle with pesky dust particles getting onto the surface of wet paint. I wonder how the pro's get around it... must be a very good extraction system!!

Cheers
Lee