Saturday, May 07, 2011

Whack on a coat of primer

Primed Class 26

After all the grille work, I had a fair bit of filling to do, especially on the sides of the Class 26 model. As I've mentioned before, the only way you can see what needs doing is to get the body into a single colour. Some might say I am a little premature with this as there is still work to do on the nose, but I'd argue that this is simply sticking disks on and if I needed to do any more filling and filing, it's easier without extraneous detail in the way.

A quick blast of Modelmates grey primer later, I had my answer. So I shoved some more green modelling putty in all the holes that had magically appeared and left the model to dry for a few hours.

After this a few minute attention with a big flat file (don't use a needle file for this) and emery board followed by another shot of primer and I think I'm as near there as I'll get. The loco still isn't perfect under the cruel eye of the camera but it's reasonable to the human eye. My locos are best described as "layout locos" after all since they are intended to be seen in the context of a bigger scene so while I'll do my best I try not to lose sleep over it. To my mind a reasonable model on the tracks is better than a perfect one that never gets completed.

3 comments:

Matt Dawson said...

It's looking good, though I will ask one question.

Is the body sitting properly?

Phil Parker said...

No it's not. Technically the body is what is known as "plonked on for a photo", it will sit better than this. I might even work out a proper fixing, but I was so chuffed I couldn't resist. Most of my projects would be finished quicker if I didn't keep putting them together part way through just so I can see how I'm doing.

Rob Waller said...

I think you're spot on with your 'layout loco' approach.

That's what I've always tried to do with our rolling stock on Dduallt & Bron Hebog.

I think the most effective layouts are those where everything is to a consistent standard giving the whole piece a homogeneous feel, rather than having a few super, super detailed items which can end up looking a little lost.