Smokebox and Wheel Painting

ModelWorks 4 inch Scale Burrell Agricultural Traction Engine

Time to add  more colour
 

Saturday 16 October: I am starting a "final" push to get everything painted in readiness for the boiler whenever it arrives.  Since I have relocated painting to my garage I am finding that  the weather is against me. 

I have removed the tender from the engine stand and substituted the smokebox.   The first task was to etch prime all the non-ferrous areas using two part etch primer. Since, once mixed, this has no shelf life I did everything in one hit.

Sunday:  Looking around at both full size and model engines the smokebox can be either painted with gloss or matt paint.  While gloss is more common these days I chose high heat matt black.  I have heard that in times gone by a mixture of soot and oil was used, whether this is true I don't know. While matt might be more authentic I suspect that gloss would wear better.  I hope I will not live to regret my choice.  See below My final chore of the day was to paint large name ring vermilion.

Midweek: I would like to say things went smoothly but I can't!  The finish on the smoke box was too rough.  I striped back to bear metal several times before I got the finish I was looking for.  Once happy I baked the smokebox for 1 hour at 250 degrees to "set" the high temp paint. With the smokebox off the engine stand I made a stub axle to support the front wheels during painting.
Sunday: As a gentle start to wheel painting I  decided to tackle one of the front wheels.  I debated whether it was necessary to masks the tyre and in the end I decided to do it with gummed brown paper.  I chose this because even if I leave it on for some time it can be removed without leaving a residue. Because the wheel is an awkward shape I decided to use my airbrush.  I worked out from the hub and I am glad to say that while it was slow it all went well.  To achieve a durable finish I shall wait a few days and then giving it a second coat.

Saturday 30 Oct: In the week I have found time to paint the other front wheel and one rear wheel.  It took me 4 hours to paint one rear wheel with my air brush.  Perhaps an air brush is the wrong tool but while things are slow everything is controllable and most of the paint ends up on the wheel.  I have found having the wheel on the engine stand invaluable as it enables me to twirl the wheel around at will.  I apologies for going on about the stand but without I would not be able to position the heavy bits for painting.

This afternoon I plan to paint the final rear wheel.  Hopefully kit 24 will arrive early next week to give me something to get on with while waiting for the paint to harder in readiness for the second coat.

Saturday 18 Dec:  I have been preparing the smokebox in readiness for the boiler.  After fitting the perch bracket and name ring I noticed that the paint was already getting tatty.  The matt finish was just was not durable.  

As it was going to spoil the engine I had no alternative but to strip everything back to bare metal.  I did find the matt paint on the chimney extremely tough.  It withstood a vigorous attack with a wire brush without hardly a mark!  I conclude that there is nothing wrong with the matt paint but my technique in applying it.  It is very susceptible to dry spraying but unfortunately I am not sufficiently skilful at preventing this before it is too late.  

Having successfully used the gloss high heat paint on the hornplates I decided to use this for the smokebox and chimney.  This paint  is also very quick drying and susceptible to dry spraying so I use my Kite spay gun in preference to my airbrush. (The truth is I had another unsuccessful attempt with the air brush - is the smokebox jinxed?)

As yet there is no sign of the boiler but I am now ready.