Emery paper and masking tape

I have been making slow progress over the last few months with two 3D printed Diesels, a Narrow Planet Baguley-Drewry and a CWR Hunslet, both as used at RNAD depots. I was keen to get a good surface finish so spent much time with fine emery paper, then a coat of primer, more rubbing down, this was repeated 4 or 5 times until I was happy the print lines were gone. These were both good quality prints, but the effort in surface preparation is worthwhile.

The recent fine weather was a good chance to spray with the top coat - I chose Halfords enamel dark green, as I've used for other locos, and looks rather smart. The rattle cans give a good finish with little effort, so I decided to spray the black frames and roof too.



This is the first time I've used masking to spray different colours, and I was very pleased with the result. It helps that the break is between body and footplate so lining up the tape straight is easy, and there's little chance of bleed under the tape. I used Tamiya tape (yellow) for the edges, which sticks well with a clean edge but low tack, and "domestic" masking tape for covering the bulk of the model in between.



After spraying a few coats of Halfords black enamel, the exciting bit is peeling back the tape!



The Tamiya tape was carefully pulled away with tweezers. I'm very pleased with that finish!



You may notice I haven't yet fitted the etch components including the bonnet sides, I thought it might be easier to paint this way. The etch has been blackened, primed, and painted separately.

So now the details are being brush painted with enamels. Buffer beams get a coat of white followed by two of red (I considered yellow and possibly even wasp-stripes, but I do like red with the green). Cab interiors are cream. You may notice another loco has made it to the paint shop too...