ModelWorks Foden 
Builder's Diary

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Painting - Session 1

Session 2

Monday 24th July: Painting is one the major tasks left to ModelWorks kit builder.  While painting can be done quickly it provides the kit constructor an opportunity to make their model stand out.  

Normal model engineering practice would be to build a model unpainted and only once all parts have been proved, strip, paint and reassemble.  Contrary to this practice I painted my ModelWorks POP and Burrell as each kit was supplied.  Building the kits without painting would enable each months kit to be speedily assembled but leaves the constructor with nothing to do for the rest of the month.  Once the model is complete there would be the enormous task of disassembly and painting.  Having done the build once it now has to be done again but without the advantage of the component being bagged and labeled.  By painting as the kits are delivered I have found that the time between kits to be just about right to keep me occupied.  The other important factor is that painting should not be rushed and the months wait for the next kit encourages tasks to be preformed at a sensible pace.  Taking two years to paint a model is a luxury that most model engineers cannot afford but provides a opportunity for kit constructors to produce stunning results. 

I shall be painting the Foden during the build but there are bound to be some hiccups along the way.  ModelWorks are not infallible and I expect a some rework to be necessary on previously supplied kits.  Even though I had to paint the Burrell's spectacle plates several times I do not regret painting them during the build.  It is a lot easier to remove a few parts to repaint, that strip an entire model at the end of the build.

Etch-primer: Non furious metals such as brass and aluminum form a oxide coating to which ordinary paint will not stick.  Etch primer includes an acid that etches the oxides away enabling the paint to bond to the base metal below.

I have found spraying to be the easiest method of getting a good finish.  Some expense is necessary to get the right equipment but it the content of the overall spend the cost is modest.  Bear in mind that it is quite easy to spend over £100 on paint.
  

It is inadvisable to spray inside the house as the vapor could affect members of the household and the paint cloud has a habit of settling where it is not wanted.  Remember that anything is the same room as you spray will get a fine coating of paint.  While the aforementioned is off-putting spraying is the easiest method for a novice to get good results.

I have three spray guns that I use on my traction engines.  I mainly use a Badger 200 air brush.  I like the Badger as the width of the paint stroke can be adjusted from fine to well over 1 inch.  For larger items, such as the water tanks, I use a Kite gravity fed spray gun.  This takes 100ml of paint at a time and it does not take long to use a 250ml can.  For nasty items, such as etch primer, I use a cheap Clarke air brush purchased from Machine Mart.   Results are not quite as good as with the Badger but it enables me to avoid spoiling my expensive spray guns.

The last piece of equipment is a compressor.   I have two 7cfm compressors, one in the workshop and the other in the garage.  One of these I brought from B&Q expecting it to be rubbish but I have found it to be better than its more expensive rival.  A 7cfm compressor will be just about big enough to run the Foden but I don't expect it to be man enough to run it continuously.  To do that a much bigger and expensive compressor would be required for which I see little justification.
 

I had previously prepared and primed them with red oxide primer and today I put the first coat of red on the inside of the rails.  The temperature at 25C was a bit on the high side but I pressed on as it is unlikely to be much cooler in the next few days.  Over the last few days the daily maximum temperature recorded on my max/min thermometer has exceed 30C.
 

Tomorrow, provided it is cool enough, I will give the other side of the rails their first top coat. 

As it likely it will be cooler next week I have pressed on and prepared the smaller chassis parts for spraying.  I have mounted them on stalks to enable me to manipulate them and so present them to the air brush at the optimum angle.  

For lighter parts I use either 4" or 6" nails.  Having filed the top of  the nail flat I fix it in an unobtrusive

If you can't hold it you can't paint it

place using a small blob of Loctite or superglue.  When done the nails are simple removed by giving them a sharp tap.  For heaver parts I use steel rods which have their ends threaded fixed to one of the part's mounting holes.

I hope this diagram makes it clearer

When painting larger surfaces I like to avoid the air/mist bouncing off the work from blowing over the area I have just completed. To enable me to control the direction the air/mist leaves I angle the paint to arrive at an angle to the surface.  The best angles are found by experimentation.. 

I prefer to have the face I am spraying an a slight angle to the vertical and while I can just about manage horizontal surfaces I find undersides next to impossible.

Priming the smaller parts went fairly well but I did have difficulty getting a good coverage inside the Us of the tensioner support brackets. 

I decided it was a good time to make a start painting the saddle as this would enable the whole chassis frame to be assembled.  As this is quite heavy I attached a stalk made from a substantial steal bar.  It is attached though one of the axle support holes using a M10 bolt.  To minimize the amount of saddle obscured by this I fitted spacers either side of the bolt. 

Tuesday:  Today I got on a glossed most of the chassis components.  I used the airbrush for the smaller components but decided to get the Kite spray gun out for the saddle and other chassis cross members.  

I, applied by brush,  the second gloss coat to the inside of the long chassis rails.

Wednesday: Today I gave the other side of the chassis rails their second gloss coat.  They are looking much better and I am debating whether to give them a third coat.  As I think this would best be done after the assembly of the chassis I shall put all parts to one side to allow time for the paint to harden. 

The Foden is coming to life and it will not be long before I can permanently assemble the chassis.

The chassis components painted ready for assembly

Wednesday 17 August: I have returned from my  holiday in Cornwall.  On reviewing progress I found that I only needed to spray the chassis side rails to have a completely painted set of components to assemble the main body of the chassis.  As there was not much to do I used the Badger Airbrush to apply both primer and topcoat.

I plan to assemble the chassis next week though I am debating whether to give some of the components a second coat as they appear a slightly different colour.  I think this may be due to the dark red oxide undercoat not being sufficiently covered though it could be a trick of the light.

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The paint mist has settled on the trailer except  where covered by the lifting frame

Thursday: I shall be attending the Detling Steam Rally with the Burrell this weekend and in preparation I have lowered the trailer to the garage floor.  Even though I only sprayed the components of one kit the paint mist has covered the trailer.  This can be clearly seen on the picture right as the lifting frame covered part of the trailer bed.  I am not too fussed by this but is clearly illustrates the need to either remove or cover any cherished item from the spraying area.

W/E Friday 25th August: I spent most of the week decommissioning the Burrell ready for the winter.  I decided to give the smaller chassis components another gloss coat to bring them all to a consistent colour.

With the component painting complete assembly of the chassis continues within the Kit 1 account.

Session 2