Saturday, November 08, 2008

Dark Blue Paint

Blue PaintOn inspection, the Garratt seemed OK apart from one corner where some water hadn't been dried out properly, was OK. This issue was quickly dealt with and I moved on to the next stage, paint.

Trevor had requested that the locomotive be finished in S&D Blue - apparently this is similar to the shade used by the NCB, who would have eventually owed this loco and might have repainted it in their colours. I thought he was nuts as the one colour prototype photo I have show it in a faded red which would (IMHO) be much more attractive. My model will be either this or pale green. It's his model though so I suppose he gets to chose...

Anyway, I set up the airbrush and mixed up a pot of Railmatch S&D Blue with about 40% cellulose thinners. Spraying commenced with the engine unit bodies as I couldn't go too far wrong with these. Then the engine units themselves with the waggly bits masked off as best I could. Finally the boiler & cab changed colour.

All this went pretty well. About 3/4 of the paint pot was used leaving some for touch ups later. Quite a few coats, applied with airgun in one hand and hair drier in the other, were required to build up the required depth of colour. I kept taking the model outside to make sure all was OK.

I think I am learning to like this colour. It looks a bit dark in shadow and will need some dirt to bring it alive but at least this loco will stand out on display.

No comments: