A lot of projects are getting painted in the shop these days. The pirate train engine is one them. The sculpting is now finished save for a little bit around the bulkhead. That has to wait until we get final specs for the controls and instrument panel from the chassis builder which should be in our hands in a day or two. The base coats are now all on and the crew are starting in on the glazes. It is amazing to see how fast the locomotive comes to life! It is going to be fun to see this shell mated to the working chassis and give it a test drive down the track!
Instant old
The bright colours of yesterday's base coats of paint quickly muted as Peter brushed on and judiciously wiped off the glazes. The textures and crevices were enhanced by the transparent paint left behind. The plaster suddenly looked old. Once the glazes were dry Peter then added the highlights and further aged the pieces using a dry brush technique. The last step was done by using the sanding disk in the grinder to deliberately remove paint from the freshly painted metal. Each pass was carefully planned to appear haphazard. A little sprayed acid aged the metal by years in a few minutes.
Instant circus!
As we start painting the base colours onto our features things tend to look pretty bright and garish initially. We know from experience that things will quickly tone down when the glazes are brushed on and then brighten again as we add the highlights and dry brushing. As we brushed on the bright orange base colours of the bricks and bright blues of the rocks this was quickly forgotten. It looked a lot like an instant circus. But tomorrow things will soon look like they are supposed to. Stay tuned...
