I had originally intended to reveal the painted FK3D Lister a few days ago but the original set of photos revealed a chip in the paint on the driver figure's hat and I just couldn't un-see it... hence repairs and a re-shoot. As a bonus that time gap allowed me to fit the couplings to the model and properly finish it off.
Normally when painting a locomotive model I use a process of primer> main colour (spray or by hand)> and then ancillary colours, but for this model I wanted to try something different, more akin to the way I might paint an item of machinery or a figure. Once the grey primer was on I ran a fairly heavy black-grey wash over the model, making sure it sat in the many crevices, angles and recesses of the print. I then masked off and painted the coupler blocks and brake wheel, firstly red-brown as an undercoat and the dry-brushing red over the top. Similarly the bonnet front was masked off and dry-brushed with several coats of a light grey. The intention was to allow the darker colour to remain in the recesses and add depth.
With the paint on the coupler blocks, brake wheel and bonnet front fully dry, I then masked them off to protect then and started to apply the green. Vallejo 'Flat Green' is the order of the day (again!) with a spot of a darker green added in to make a future stage easier. The colour was applied with a large flat brush and was again almost dry-brushed. I was particularly keen not to flood the solebar areas with colour as my intention was to use the dark grey base to provide some extra shadow and create an impression of more depth. The darker wash also shows around the grilles on the bonnet and in may other little spots.
The green had covered in one coat, but I then ran over it again very lightly with the undarkened colour, subtly highlighting the edges of raised detail. Other details such as the gear lever were picked out in appropriate colours and some extra dirt effects added in places. The 'Lister' logos on the bonnet side were dry-brushed in the light grey and I attempted to do the same in green to the 'AUTO TRUCK' lettering on the front. Meanwhile the driver had been painted, again dry-brushing over a dark grey wash, using subtle colours so he doesn't stand out too much. Everything was treated to a spray of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish to seal it all in and give a flat finish.
Finally my attention turned to the couplings. The print does have NEM style receptacles designed to take a Peco coupler, but not at "standard" height. I did try a Greenwich NEM style coupler but it didn't locate properly and even if bent down to the lower height would have stuck out a fair way. In the end I have used a pair of standard Greenwich couplers (the ones I had actually used to experiment with on O9 models a few months ago) located at the base of the block and bent upwards to the correct height. A rather unusual modification is that the loopholes that usually hold the coupler loop have been bent upwards and actually now help locate the coupler into the coupler box. A new hole was drilled in the shortened shank and a Peco trackpin through the coupler block, secured with superglue, holds the coupler in place.
Colin
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