PAINTING AND TRANSFERS

The Victorians painted their tank wagons black, grey and red. I chose black because I have few other opportunities for a black wagon on my layout. Also, black is the easiest to do. I masked the tyres of the wheels with narrow masking tape (Tamiya), then sprayed the whole model with Halfords grey primer. For the top coat, a pure ‘black’ paint can look unrealistic, so I used Halfords (228) Volvo dark grey. This colour gives the appearance of black at a usual viewing distance. I decided to make the most of the transfers supplied with the kit. I have imagined, the ‘Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Tar Distillation Company’ included on the sheet began its life as a smaller operation in Lincolnshire. This let me trim off the ‘Yorkshire &’ to let the transfers fit onto the model, and use the location of Gunness (on Trent) in Lincolnshire. I omitted the transfers for the Great Central because this railway began its operations in 1897, too late for the period of my project. The Halfords paint dries with a high gloss finish and this makes positioning the transfers easier. After the transfers had dried, I used Micro Set and then Micro Sol to let them bed down and wrap over the strapping. This gives them a ‘painted on’ look. If you are using these products for the first time, it is important to never, never touch a transfer with a finger. It will instantly wrap itself around your digit and become unusable. Use a small paintbrush instead, but choose an old one because Micro Sol especially seems to dissolve brush bristles. I let the paint cure for a week, then finished the model with some light coats of a spray satin enamel varnish. I expect the paint will still rub off the brass coupling hooks soon, but when this happens, a touch with a black Sharpie will make a long-lasting repair.