Yellow paint

The yellow Humbrol I had handy for painting my "Critter" locomotive was obviously well past its prime. Keener to carry on with the model than I was to wait for the shops to open I decided to see if it would spray adequately. The plan was to get an OK finish rather than perfection as the weathering would cover a lot of sins.

As usual, I thinned the paint with cellulose thinners but this didn't seem to work as well as normally does - the mixture had to be constantly mixed to keep the pigment in suspension. However I did manage to get it out of the front of the airbrush and spread over the model. A few coats and a reasonable body of colour had built up. Enough for me to be happy anyway.

Once dry the roof went bauxite, exhaust and window frames matt aluminium, and wasp stripes black - all brush painted. I can't be bothered to mask this sort of thing up. It's a hobby after all so we don't want too much effort !

After a few hours drying the weathering process started. I wanted it to appear that the paint had bleached in the sun so the yellowist cream colour I had was dry brushed over the model to highlight all the corners and give some variation to the colours on the sides - the paint finish was rough enough to pick up a little paint from the brush. Once happy the model was dusted with talcum powder to dry the paint and give a bit more texture.

Again things were left to dry and rust colour paint, well thinned, was washed on and encouraged to sit in the corners. This highlights the detail further especially the edges of bonnet doors. Thinned Precision weathered black brought the grilles to life.