Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
HK....... Gutters were green to match bodyside......certainly thats the case with most of my Southern Region colour images ........While I'm here, is your client having the Buffet scratch or kit built.....? respects etc.....Brian W

Green it is. You know, colour photos of anything but Mark 1s in BR(SR) livery are hard to come by. I literally hopped over to the Hornby web site to see what they did with their Maunsells!

I am not sure about the buffet. I was corrected by the client as there is only the buffet and an open being built, not three as I thought previously. All I know for certain is the open isn’t available from Slater's.
 

2-Bil

Western Thunderer
Hi HK.......if any Southern passenger stock comes your way again i can recommend" Southern Coaches in Colour" by Michael Welch/Noodle Books.......pretty faithful colour repro/doesn't take up much shelf space .......and useful reference when you get that commission for a 10 coach inter regional..........BW
 

Jack P

Active Member
Those interiors look the business. Not often you see the slightly garish bright green in the guards ends modelled!

I'd never thought of using cling film before. I too have little trust in low tack masking tape. What a great idea, thanks Heather!
 

Ian@StEnochs

Western Thunderer
Be careful with cling film. I used it once on a loco and it marked the paint so badly that I had to strip it all off and start again.

I have found this useful. It’s a film which stretches and can be moulded over detail and odd shapes but doesn’t stick. I got it from Wizard models at the last York show I attended.

Ian.

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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Good and timely warning Ian. :thumbs:

I only kept the film in place long enough to do the job. As soon as the paint was dry enough, the masking was taken off - with the Precision quick air drying thinners that can be almost as soon as I’ve cleaned the airbrush after the session.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
No photos because they won’t really show anything, but the first coat of gloss varnish has been applied. If it looks okay, I’ll do the lettering tomorrow and another coat of gloss.

Steady progress. It’s all good.
 
Rub down, respray, and repeat

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Well.

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An odd day, Monday. I managed a grocery shop. Then a spell of paint inspection. Each yellow tag is a flaw that needs addressing. No coach came out unscathed. Then I ran out of energy. Another day for the varnish curing wouldn’t hurt for what was to come.

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So, I think a fair amount of loud music to keep my brain cell from veering off to darker places, plenty of fine emery, and away we go. I hope a simple blast or two of varnish will do for repair, but I fear some remedial green will be required here and there. Even allowing for the fact the models represent coaches towards the very end of their service lives, I don’t think I’ll get away with a really shoddy paint job.

I may be some time. ;)
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
You're having some trouble with these coaches Heather. When I did a rake of plastic Maunsell's in OO for myself a few years ago, I gave them a coat of Halfords grey Plastic Primer over the Hornby paint. With your O gauge coaches, I would have followed on with a second coach of Plastic Primer for added protection of the plastic.

It wasn't worth me having cellulose mixed to pattern and so I bought a quarter litre of cellulose car paint F0501 Green. Celly gloss paint dries with a lovely surface for lining and attaching HMRS 'Methfix' transfers. Then I toned them down with Halfords Satin Lacquer.
 
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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
You're having some trouble with these coaches Heather.

True, but no more than I usually hit. A round or two of rubbing down and respray is annoying but nothing to fret over. It’s usually down to me being a bit hasty.

I know Warren H also recommends celly. I agree, but I’m more confident with enamels. Anyway, complicated liveries head to Warren!
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
At last, time for lettering!

A question of the WT hive mind, please. Set numbers: were they only applied to both sides of one end of the outer brake coaches in a set? Or were they applied to each end of all coaches in a set?
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
At last, time for lettering!

A question of the WT hive mind, please. Set numbers: were they only applied to both sides of one end of the outer brake coaches in a set? Or were they applied to each end of all coaches in a set?

Outer ends only and yes, both sides.

Adam
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Cheers Adam!

It’s one of those things that ought to be obvious, isn’t it. While set numbers and the vehicles that make the sets up get endless discussion, the actual form of the lettering is often overlooked. It’s almost as if it’s such an obvious thing it doesn’t need to be mentioned.

Right, fresh No10A blade, warm water with a drop of washing-up liquid, clean paint brush, cotton buds and some paper towels. I think I’m ready.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Well, aside from the missing GUARD branding on 3789, that’s all done. If Fox are up to their usual game, the transfers will be here tomorrow, so I’ll complete the lettering and get things varnished for protection.

Then it’ll be the fun of glazing everything. That might take a while.
 
Airbrush chat

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Unless I've missed your comments...

I failed to make any comments!

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This is the beast. Iwata HP-C Plus. I’m not sure if it’s a current model now, but there must be an equivalent in the range. I purposely chose the model with the largest cup, and so far it’s proven to be an absolute sea change over the previous broken one. It’s so easy to disassemble to clean the needle, nozzle and cup. At the end of the barrel is a knob that restricts the needle travel, which is very handy at times. The spray pattern can go from very wide (and quickly emptying the cup) to very narrow. The black contraption is an air control valve which lets me lower the air pressure at the brush. It lets air out of the hose before it gets to the brush.

Bought as a thing to keep me going, I find I’m quite unlikely to get the other brush repaired now. The HP-C Plus is the brush I should have bought the first time!
 
Lettering complete

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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#notmy4mt

Fox delivered again. Less than 24 hours from the order being place, the transfers dropped through my letterbox. So, main body lettering now done and varnished. Time for that there glazing to commence.

It may be a while. I have my second Covid jab this afternoon, so we’ll see if I get any side effects this time.
 
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