Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Smallbrook Studio, Nellie

Nellie painted and weathered

Yesterdays photo showed Nellie painted, but looking a bit flat. The colours were there and all very pretty but I felt there was no life in them. That's not unusual, especially for matt black. There is only one solution - weathering!

First up, all the black was dry-brushed with dark grey (Humbrol 69). This works for anything black and immediately looks better.

After that, I wanted a dirty loco that had been cleaned so worked around the model using Lifecolor Rail Weathering paints and some MiG acrylics. Little squirts of brown were put on a palette (plastic lid from the swwet'n'sour sauce pot from my local Chinese takeaway) and then painted on the model.

After the paint had dried, a matter of a few minutes, it was wiped away with a paper cloth. Difficult to reach areas got the cotton bud treatment. If anything seemed to be sticking where I didn't want it, a brush with some water tackled that.

After this, there was grime around the rivets and in one or two areas where the resin surface was a little pitted. This could have been a problem but I quite liked it.

Emett's cartoons showed careworn locomotives so that's the effect I've tried to replicated. Working in a large scale (this is G gauge) is different from the smaller ones but in this case not much.

Finishing touches were to fit a jewel in the lamp and glaze the windows with Krystal Klear. Now all I need is a driver, and I have a kit for one of those...

1 comment:

Peter said...

A big plus to Mike at Smallbrook Studio for producing an Emett style kit, amply rewarded by your excellent assembly and illustrious paint job!

An Emett fan since the 1951 'Festival of Britain', tho' unable to afford a 'ticket to ride' on his 1/1 scale railway exhibit. Those memories have guided my model interests into narrow gauge - 0n16.5 and 0n30.