Rushby's Resins Battery Electric - part 2.

I decided that I wasn't happy with the paint finish, so I rubbed the model down and applied another coat of primer (Hycote white auto acrylic). This crazed, so I ended up doing more rubbing down before re-spraying with Humbrol  A6069 gloss yellow. The finish still isn't great, but I'll just have to live with it. I did consider chemically stripping the bodyshell but an internet search suggested that paint stripper, even Modelstrip, can soften resin.

Once the paint had hardened I applied the wasp stripes, made easy by using gloss paint for the topcoat. These are simply Fox transfers, pack F4303. Whilst one end went without fuss on the other end the transfer broke into three pieces. With care each piece was butted up against its neighbour, aided by a soft brush and a modicum of patience, leaving only the slightest trace of any mishap. A brushload of Carrs Transfix (at least 20 years old!) helps settle things, and a squirt of Testors Dullcoat seals the deal. I did need to do a little touching up with a drop of Revel black paint. Hopefully the striped ends draw the eye away from the cab fronts, which is where the surface finish is at its worst.

I was in two minds whether to paint the window surrounds or not, especially as I'm hardly the tidiest of painters. In the end I decided that picking them out with a touch of Tamiya Nato Black (to represent rubber seals) would add interest. Glazing is cut from the usual 1mm clear sheet, I'm not sure what material it is but its the stuff sold alongside plasticard. Cutting and fitting flush glazing is quite irritating, but the results are worth the effort. A drop of Johnson's Klear run around the edges with a fine brush fixes the panes in place. I have a full bottle of Klear bought when it was mooted as the next best thing since sliced bread, fixing glazing is the only job I use it for. Perhaps I should put it on Ebay...

A black plasticard shelf sits inside the cab, which can be seen in the doorway. Under this is glued additional lead bringing the loco's weight up to 31 grams. In the photo below the shelf is in place but I hadn't yet added the weights;

And with the lead in place;

To hide the motor bogie and that shelf I've made cab doors. I wanted them to look like a local modification made from wooden planks, so I've used .040" plasticard with the planks scribed with an scrawker and grain added using a razor saw blade. Handles are .33mm brass wire suitably blackened. Originally I wanted bare wood, then decided that they might look better painted yellow. So two pairs of doors have been knocked up which can be swapped around until I make my mind up (they're a light push fit). The bare wood pair were primed with my usual Hycote grey acrylic auto paint, then I drybrushed them with first Revel Aqua Color (sic) 378 Dark Grey, followed by Humbrol 5029 Dark Matt Earth and then Revel 75 Stone Grey. A coat of Testors Dullcoat helps blend them in.

At the moment I'm unsure which I like the best so the loco has a yellow door on one side and a bare wood door on the other. I suspect that it'll stay that way for a while...
Weathering can wait.

Paul.