Victory weathered…

The thing with a ready to run locomotive is, I can’t help but weather it! So of course, with four decorated samples of the Planet Industrials ‘Victory’ in-front of me it was only a matter of time before one was worked over…

I chose the black model, as black is a difficult colour to work with. I was keen to preserve something of the lustre of the paint under the weathering, I’ll leave you to judge the results (above) for yourself. So how did I achieve this?

The first step, shown here, was to darken the metal rims of the wheels with black paint, and touch in any other bright spots in the finish with Matt black enamel. This provides a good foundation for further work. I also blackened and applied the works plates to the bunker, choosing to avoid giving this one an identity.

Second stage was dealing with the raw metal coupling rods on this pre-production sample (the finished model will have blackened nickel plated castings). This is a mix of Humbrol Metalcote ‘steel’ 27003 and Matt 62 leather. I also applied a wash of Humbrol 98 and 33 in varying proportions across the chassis and footplate, including the wheel faces. This was also applied to the body, but the cab and tank sides were cleaned in a vertical motion, the boiler too, with it wiped off around the handrails but left on the top and underside. Some detail painting of light grey streaks (Humbrol 28) and rusty patches (98 and 82) on the smokebox look garish but are toned down later.

The model was then airbrushed with a mix of Humbrol metalcote gun-metal 27004, Satin 133 and Matt 245. This was focused on the top of the boiler, tanks and smokebox, as well as chassis and rear of the bunker. A darker blacker mix was then sprayed down the centre of the model to represent a sootier deposit.

The rods were finally treated to a Humbrol gloss ‘oil stain’ wash, stipple a little, before step edges, frame, handrails and wheels were dry brushed in Humbrol gunmetal 53. This lifts the finish nicely, a Modelu lamp and Smith’s 3 link chains were added as finishing touches… I may add a crew, coal and some oil cans on the footplate in due course, but for now I hope to have captured something of the mass of these prototypes, and brought this toy to life. Nearer the time I will develop some custom weathering options for the model, which will be offered to customers, this model has taught me a lot of the best way to work with the black scheme and the model itself. In the meantime, it looks great on Pont-y-dulais. More soon…