I was less than impressed with the finish I got from the Precision Paint. This despite the fact that I used a good quality brush and I had stirred the paint thoroughly for a good five minutes with a spatula. "Why didn't you spray it?" I hear you ask. I try to avoid spray painting wherever possible as the spray paint gets everywhere, even when using a homemade spray booth (cardboard box). Spraying is usually carried out in the garage or rarely outdoors if it is a calm day, this is a rare occurrence as I live beside the sea and it is almost always windy. Anyway, I prefer to paint with a brush in the comfort of my own home whenever possible. I remember repainting a Mamod loco by hand with Precision Paint about 30 years ago and got good results by rubbing down with wet and dry paper between coats.
I rubbed the offending paint finish down with wet wet & dry paper until the surface was smooth again. I then applied two coats of Humbrol 33 matt black enamel. When the second coat was dry I applied the company crests to the tank sides and finally I applied two coats of Humbrol satin varnish from an aerosol spray can. I sprayed the varnish outdoors as it was a very warm and unusually calm day! The resulting finish is not perfect but it is perfectly acceptable for a hard working loco which is not intended to be a showcase model.
Works plates were fixed to the tank sides before joining them to the cab front. The side tanks and cab front were then attached to the chassis using the existing fixing lugs and 6BA screws.
The loco is not modelled on any particular prototype but with its slab sided tanks and flat smokebox sides, it bears a passing resemblance to something built by Thomas Green and Son of Leeds. For that reason I used a set of Thomas Green works plates that I had originally intended for a model of their tram engine, works number 169 that was built for the Dublin and Lucan Tramway in 1892. I decided a while ago not to build the tram engine and I could not let the plates go to waste. The Dublin and Lucan sold the tram loco to a contractor in 1896 and it was used on a railway building project in Donegal, either the CDR Letterkenny line or possibly the L&LSR Buncrana to Carndonagh extension. So with a bit of a leap of the imagination one of the contractor's locos could have been sold on to the TBLR on completion of the contract.
All TBLR steam locos have a crew of two. The driver is a Brandbright 'Roger' correctly scaled at 1:20. Roger has had his ponytail cut off and more radically his left hand was also amputated to avoid obstructing the gas filler valve. He came off better than the fireman, a slightly underscale Bachmann G scale figure, as well as having the end of his shovel removed he was amputated at the waist and glued to the top of the gas tank with silicone adhesive. Roger was also stuck in place before the cab rear (with number plates applied) and roof were fixed in place followed by the rear buffer beam.
Finally a pair of re-railing jacks and a cast toolbox (from Roundhouse) were glued to the front running plate left and right hand sides respectively. These hide the fixing screws on the front of the side tanks.
No.6 (as she is now known) really looks at home on the railway now and is a powerful and reliaable runner. The sound produced by the chuff pipe is very realistic when the loco is working hard.
I rubbed the offending paint finish down with wet wet & dry paper until the surface was smooth again. I then applied two coats of Humbrol 33 matt black enamel. When the second coat was dry I applied the company crests to the tank sides and finally I applied two coats of Humbrol satin varnish from an aerosol spray can. I sprayed the varnish outdoors as it was a very warm and unusually calm day! The resulting finish is not perfect but it is perfectly acceptable for a hard working loco which is not intended to be a showcase model.
Works plates were fixed to the tank sides before joining them to the cab front. The side tanks and cab front were then attached to the chassis using the existing fixing lugs and 6BA screws.
The loco is not modelled on any particular prototype but with its slab sided tanks and flat smokebox sides, it bears a passing resemblance to something built by Thomas Green and Son of Leeds. For that reason I used a set of Thomas Green works plates that I had originally intended for a model of their tram engine, works number 169 that was built for the Dublin and Lucan Tramway in 1892. I decided a while ago not to build the tram engine and I could not let the plates go to waste. The Dublin and Lucan sold the tram loco to a contractor in 1896 and it was used on a railway building project in Donegal, either the CDR Letterkenny line or possibly the L&LSR Buncrana to Carndonagh extension. So with a bit of a leap of the imagination one of the contractor's locos could have been sold on to the TBLR on completion of the contract.
All TBLR steam locos have a crew of two. The driver is a Brandbright 'Roger' correctly scaled at 1:20. Roger has had his ponytail cut off and more radically his left hand was also amputated to avoid obstructing the gas filler valve. He came off better than the fireman, a slightly underscale Bachmann G scale figure, as well as having the end of his shovel removed he was amputated at the waist and glued to the top of the gas tank with silicone adhesive. Roger was also stuck in place before the cab rear (with number plates applied) and roof were fixed in place followed by the rear buffer beam.
Finally a pair of re-railing jacks and a cast toolbox (from Roundhouse) were glued to the front running plate left and right hand sides respectively. These hide the fixing screws on the front of the side tanks.
No.6 (as she is now known) really looks at home on the railway now and is a powerful and reliaable runner. The sound produced by the chuff pipe is very realistic when the loco is working hard.
 Millie before modification |  No.6 - Transformation complete |
RSS Feed