BP Models

Started off the day by working on the details of the front end of the car. The headlamps were painted in Flat Black according to the color plate finishing guide and their "lenses" painted with Tamiya Clear Red. The air hose for the brakes was also painted, with enamel Gunmetal, and the various metal fittings painted with Metalizer Gunmetal and then given the Rust wash/Burnt Umber dry-brush treatment. The bumpers were dry brushed with Steel and I dry brushed some Burnt Umber on the plow blade as well to round out the front details.



A lot of work, but no photos due to the fact that I was trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for a vacation tomorrow, so I'll be short in summarizing what came next.

Everything was sealed with a Future coat, the simple balkenkreuze markings applied and snugged down with some Solvaset, then a 2nd coat of Future laid down. Once all that was dry, I started in weathering by applying dot filters of enamel Gunmetal (to simulate soot) and Raw Umber. A pin wash of Burnt Umber was applied to all the raised details and such, and that gets everything to this stage:



...which is where it will sit for a while as I don't return from Cancun until Sunday.

After tweaking a couple of places here and there after returning from vacation, I decided to call an end to this by applying an overall coat of Testor's Lusterless (Flat) via rattlecan. The base was sprayed with Testor's Gloss and then masked with regular masking tape and the rail bed sprayed with the Lusterless to get the finish I was after. It didn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped, probably due to the nature of how the rattlecan functions more than anything else in terms of even coating/distribution, but I did end up with a demarcated glossy base and flat rail bed.

Taking photos of the finished combo of rail car and bed was a challenge...the darn thing is too long to turn lengthwise in the photo booth so I had to move the camera instead, limiting the options. Here's a couple to show the finish.