Sunday 10 January 2010

Dennis rides again


The other work done was to paint an engine to match the coaches previously done. I'd built the loco, "Dennis" from GEM. Actually I wimped out and didn't bother with the valve gear or some of the detailing but this was my first loco kit for decades so I cut myself some slack.

I kept putting off the painting till really it was too cold. I'm sure I read somewhere that you should not spray paint in the cold and now it's Christmas. I decided I had nothing to lose so I cleaned the body with a glass fibre brush and then scrubbed it with Shiny Sinks. It was left in the airing cupboard overnight to dry and then the moment of truth - what happens when you spray in the cold?

The answer is that you spray paint and it just works. Call me cavalier but I don't have a spray mask or a spray booth so I just go and stand in the middle of the garden and do it, firstly with Humbrol Acrylic primer and then, after a suitable period, with Humbrol midnight blue.

The results speak for themselves. The black and the red were brush painted Humbrol enamels. I'm really pleased with it as normally painting is the one job where I rearely like my handiwork but this suppassed itself.


I put it on the track and hooked up the coaches and .... it dragged the coaches off the track on one bend every time. See the previous post where I went through the back to backs. It took me a while to resolve this one but I had bent the upright tang on the coupling to too steep an angle and the Bemo coach coupling was snagging and dragging the light coackes off the track. A quick straighten with pliers and I now have a presentable loco and coaches.

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