A coat of Eastwoods etching primer unified the model and allowed me to look objectively at it. There were a couple of minor areas to be touched up especially on the back bufferbeam which needed a touch of filler. Mostly though I think I get away with it. Sharp eyed readers will notice I haven't masked the slide bars or rods very well - that's not laziness on my part, the prototype has red paint on these parts.
Painting threw up another challenge. The real steam engine is blue. A blue described as "Oxford" but sadly not the same colour as the Oxford blue in the Humbrol range. The colour appears to fall somewhere between numbers 14 and 15 with more 14. Of course in the photos light effects make it difficult to get an exact match and even if I could, this probably wouldn't look right in miniature due to the effects of atmosphere on our vision. Generally colours have to be a shade or two lighter when shrunk. There is science to work this sort of thing out properly but I have neither the time nor brainpower to understand it properly, and am not convinced it would make a big difference if I could.
So a mix of the two colours was made up and compared to the pictures. When happy I sprayed a coat all over the model. After a dust free overnight drying session, I think I might get away with it. The gloss finish is horrible (and always is on models as millions of diecast cars attest) but some satin varnish once the bufferbeams are painted will fix this. I also forgot to paint the sandboxes (they are seperate to make under boiler painting easier) but will do these with a brush later today.
Of course I'm not discounting the possibility that once varnished this locomotive isn't going in the paint stripper so I can have a second go. Having missed the deadline I will use the extra time to get a better finish. Or go mad in the attempt.
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