Sometimes, brushes are better than spray guns

Now the wasp stripes are on and varnished, it's time to turn to the main body of the 01 diesel. This is to be painted black.

Simple enough you might think except that I don't want to risk the lovingly applied stripes. In theory, a little masking would allow me to spray with impunity (actually black paint but you know what I mean) but the very real life the handrails get in the way. Tape won't bend around them properly and I'm terrified of lifting off the stripes by pushing it too hard against the body. But if I don't do that, the spray could get underneath and ruin them.

Solution - it's a black loco and Humbrol's matt version is an excellent brushing paint. I'll do it by hand. Once the thing gets a spray of varnish, no one will ever notice.

The paint wasn't in the best of conditions but a little thinners sorted that out. I know a new pot would have made more sense but then so would not trying to finish the model for a competition. After the first coat, you can see in the photo that things weren't perfect but no bad either. I thin remembered all the bits that were supposed to be stuck on after the stripes and will need to be black too.