The LNER Encyclopedia

2002EarlMarischal wrote:More news from "beginners corner"!

Having a play tonight with a damaged NRM Scotsman body which had huge gobs of glue on superheater covers, broken steam pipe etc. Want to turn it into Humorist.

Goody! We seem to think alike on these projects.

Which Humorist? There is a nice 2 page spread at the back of Yeadon covering the main variations.
1 Original A3 (as built 1929-32, LHD, 94HP boiler, deep cab cut-outs, GS loading gauge)
2a With cutaway smokebox and cowl (1932)
2b With cutaway smokebox and vanes (1932-34)
3 As 1 (1934-37) but don't know when the cab would have been altered (no RCTS 2a yet )
4 With Kylchap exhaust and double chimney with rim (1937-38)
5 As 4 but rimless chimney and smoke vanes (1938-1947)
6 Smoke vanes replaced by full smoke deflectors (1947-63), 94HP boiler replaced by 94A unit with banjo at same time. Unsure when lipped chimney and split smokebox handrails fitted.

My guess is that you are probably contemplating 5 but 4 is worth thinking about because you won't need to fit those vanes or change the double chimney fitted to your NRM Scotsman. However, 6 is worth thinking about if you also have in mind stripping the deflectors off any Bachmann A1s or A2s.

HTH


BTW did you strip the superheater covers off because they have been badly damaged by the glue or because you have a better replacement in mind?

I look forward to your posts All Thumbs because I can guarantee that we will indeed be thinking along the same lines!

Humorist will I think be version 4 - the easiest option, but I might change my mind. As much as anything it's a test of whether I can tinker with a body and make good afterwards.

The chassis and corridor tender from this model are going to a black-nosed green Kingfisher (sounds like this post should be on a "twitcher's" forum ). The A4 used as the basis for this is an ex-Flying Scotsman set Kingfisher which donated it's tender to my workshop grey Woodcock project. It's just had it's second coat of apple green - hopefully it will be worthy of some pics in due course!

Btw the superheater covers were irretrievable, I would have kept them ideally.

Today's work-in-progress at beginner's corner!

Just taken the masking tape off Kingfisher after 2 coats of apple green.
Her current state must make her the most peculiar A4 I have yet seen!
I suspect it might be best to leave it a few days for the paint to harden before I mask it off for the black nose and valences.

That looks a very good match - whose green did you use? Air brush or spray can? Your masking of the windows also looks very good, particularly the cab fronts - tape or Maskol?

Thanks - it's aerosol Phoenix Precision P50 LNER Loco Green(Doncaster Shade) (Dull). As has been commented elsewhere this paint is THICK so you have to be very restrained!

Yes I used Maskol for the windows after a tip off on this great forum - it's great stuff (and I even seem to be able to wash it out of my brushes easily enough).

My most sincere apologies if I've missed it, but is she staying as Kingfisher?

I wouldn't blame you for being confused with all my mixing and matching!

Yes she will stay as Kingfisher. I'm working towards having an A4 in every livery (maybe not every permutation though). This is the story so far:
Working up from the bottom:

2509 Silver Link (RTR)
2512 Silver Fox (RTR)
Gap!
4483 Kingfisher (WIP)
4489 Woodcock (WIP)
4498 Sir Nigel Gresley (RTR)
4468 Mallard (RTR)
4901 Sir Charles Newton (RTR)
34 Peregrine (WIP)
60027 Merlin (RTR)
60024 Kingfisher (RTR)
60009 Union of South Africa (TMC)

2510 Quicksilver is lurking in another cabinet, as is 4492 Dominion of New Zealand with twin tenders (aka Bittern).

No self-respecting Gresley fan could do without 4498, but strictly speaking I ought to replace her with a Dominion/Commonwealth model for the purposes of the alternative livery show.

This is the only cabinet where I have permitted non-LNER livery!!

A4 heaven

I'm surprised at how light Woodcock looks, I thought it would be a lot darker. My collection of six A4's; Mallard, Bittern, Sir Nigel Gresley, Silver Fox, Union of South Africa and (due for Christmas arrival) Silver Link seems rather small now

I'm hoping to replace my old tender drive Silver Fox with a single chimney BR green TMC jobby next year (assuming she was single chimney in the Elizabethan film).

I actually prefer the look of the A4s in proper LNER green engine livery, although with the parabolic curve at the front rather than an all black smokebox area.

If the livery were not so labour-intensive to apply, I'd be tempted to refinish my garter blue 4-8-2 in green.

I've just noticed that the tender corridor covers on your Silver Fox and Silver Link are different colours. Could anyone explain this?

I'm surprised at how light Woodcock looks, I thought it would be a lot darker. My collection of six A4's; Mallard, Bittern, Sir Nigel Gresley, Silver Fox, Union of South Africa and (due for Christmas arrival) Silver Link seems rather small now

Hey Blackout - I've been collecting for 40 odd years, and although these A4s are all relatively new, quite a few locos have been bought and sold along the way to get where I am now. Your collection sounds great too.

I have to say I'm a bit worried by how light Woodcock looks but there appears to be no definition of workshop grey and so I have used Tornado as a guide. One assumes the A1 Trust would have researched the colour to some degree. Perhaps when it has its white letters and numbers it will look "right"?

I actually prefer the look of the A4s in proper LNER green engine livery, although with the parabolic curve at the front rather than an all black smokebox area.

I agree Graeme, and a parabolic curve apple green A4 is one of the next projects. I didn't expect Hornby to do the black smokebox version but I thought they might re-do Golden Eagle. I might just hold fire until 3 January.

I also fancy doing William Whitelaw with part-removed valences as another permutation!

If the livery were not so labour-intensive to apply, I'd be tempted to refinish my garter blue 4-8-2 in green.

That would be a sight to see! If a beginner like me can do a decent job to finish Kingfisher, (and that remains to be seen), then I am sure you could do that majestic 4-8-2 quite easily! Go for it, or better still, please build me one together with an A1/1!!!

Lovely stuff Earl!

Very nice collection indeed well done mate, and I'm liking the Apple Green A4 unfolding.....

What was your method for repainting? Did you strip the loco, primer then add apple green?

Thanks very much B1 Tom! I don't airbrush so I'm reliant on aerosol for a good finish. Knowing the Precision paint to be thick, I didn't think I could risk a primer coat as well for fear of losing detail. So, shock horror(!), it was a case of very careful masking and then straight on with 2 coats of lovely apple green on 2 successive evenings. The gamble appears to have worked! Still a long way to go though!

Well - disaster to report!

I attempted the same technique for the black areas on my apple green Kingfisher. Despite testing the paint, the Halfords satin black I used didn't like the garter blue body areas but was fine on the original black nose area. Worse still, despite thorough masking, and I just don't understand what could have happened, some black got through onto the apple green which I was really very pleased with, and not only that, it seems to have eaten into the plastic around one of the washout plugs.

So Modelstrip mail-ordered to get back to a clean starting point, and I'll have to see if I can fill and make good the washout plug area. It's put me in a bad mood these last 2 days!

I can well imagine that you do not feel very happy Halfords top-coat aerosols, including the satin black, do seem to me to be a lot less aggresive in their action on previous finishes that was once the case when such aerosols were simply cellulose, but initially light "test application" on a non-crucial area still seems to be a near-essential precaution. The grey and red primers from the same aerosol range are less aggressive still, and will (if built up in light, fairly "dry-mist" coats, with care) provide a sufficient barrier coat over Hornby colour finishes, providing that you don't intend to then chuck on a heavy, wet, solvent laden top-coat which will simply pickle the lot!

Explore the healing powers of a violent verbal outburst, then calm down and try again.