2 inch new guy!

Hello everyone,

Having been to a few steam rallies and popped into the factory for a brew and a chat with Dean and his team I'm about to begin work on my first kit.

Having read through a lot of the forums and seen your pictures I decided to have a go myself. This forum was part of what really pushed me to go for it so thanks for that.

I will no doubt be pestering you all for advice very soon!

Jim

Dean go to you then. Made a very expensive cup of tea.

Welcome to the crew of builders. Say goodbye to your finger nails.

HI AND HAVE FUN

Have fun
Ian

Welcome aboard Jim.

Wheels built and prepped ready for araldite and tyres.

Had a leaflet in my kit from Adam Meredith advertising a painting service. Has anyone used them? Recommend it or not?

Also if I decide to paint my own kit would the group suggest using a brush or a spray to get the best finish?

Any advice greatfully received.

Hi Jim,

Re the painting, I'll jump in first and say the opposite to what everyone else'll probably say!

Definitely brush paint it. A spray painted engine will have a smoother finish, but if you use decent paint and a decent brush, and make sure your brush strokes travel for the full length of the piece you're painting, with a bit of practice you'll get a decent finish without obvious brush marks.

Also brush painting gives a thicker coating each coat, if that makes sense, and it's a lot less messy. The real thing would have been brush painted so you'll get a more authentic finish too.

I'm brush painting mine, I've also painted 2 full size railway locomotives and an old Land Rover this way and wouldn't consider spraying instead!

All the best

Damien

I read all the info on craftmaster paints and thier painting guide etc but just wondered what everyone else was doing. It's an agricultural engine at the end of the day so I'm not necessarily looking for a "showroom shine" on the thing.

Cheers for the advice.

Hi Jim,

welcome, hope your getting on well. I went for option c.... which is a combination of both, after painting many cars I now how thin sprayed paint can be. With the harsh environment of an steam engine you need a tough durable finish. To an extent this is in the quality of the paint in the first place, but a big part is you preparation and technique. I have chosen to spray my primer on in a couple of thick even coats then hand paint my undercoat, this build up a nice depth of paint then finally spraying my top coat. flatting back and smoothing of inbetween each. This has given me a great finish and a real depth of colour, also with a nice build up of paint underneath. I have had a couple of accidents where I have chipped paint while in the workshop and so far I have not gone past my undercoat so I must be doing something right
tbh though I think it comes down to what equipment you have and what your comfortable with, I feel more comfortable spraying others hand brushing, if done properly there is little difference between the two.

Hope this helps

Ryan

Cheers Ryan,

Yes that helps a lot. I've made plastic models as a youngster and painted wooden ships I've made in my later years, just not had much practice with metal.
I think I would be most comfortable spraying my undercoat and brushing my chosen colour.

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

In my case, using Craftmaster paints I have hand painted the primer and base coats then given it 3 good Coats of top coat which was spray applied. The Craftmaster paint is great for both hand and spray finish. However as ever with spray paint there is quite a bit of waste compared with brush application so I wait for several bits to be ready and do all at the same time to save paint.

Hi Jim

I've got my 2" engine in a 1001 parts at the moment, due to finding rust in the tender. So she is getting a bare metal repaint and I'm using Craftmaster paint all the way, and brushing it on. I wasted so much paint spraying it on last time, brushing it on seems easier and the finish looks a lot deeper than before.

One thing to be aware of is paint tolerence. On the 4" engines, this isnt such an issue but on a 2" engine, which is built to a finer tolerence, paint does make a difference. I do have the advantage of having a completed engine in bits and rebuilding, but I'm having fun with paint thickness around the hornplates and spectacle plates. This is an important area to get right and you dont need paint getting in the way.

Also you may want to consider extending the oilers on the axle shaft and 2nd shaft to be level with the top of the hornplates,when you get them. I have seen a few 4" owners do this, and believe me on this it will make life easier. I've extended mine using 3/16 Kuniper brake pipe which will take a 4mm thread being run up inside it, just.

I think I should start a seperate thread on my rebuild,but let me get the paint on first and a few photos, then I'll do it.

Tony