On my workbench - Raven A2 Pacific

[mick b]

Hi
I think it was about £275 bizarre as a built version only reached £266 no idea on a original price.

Mick

[45609]

Hi Mick,

Yes that was a strange result. IMHO the built Raven looked very nice and deserved to fetch far more than £266. I once sold a built and painted DJH std 5 4-6-0 on Ebay and that only went for a similar price (pic below). Disappointing really when you appreciate how much work goes into making and painting a loco kit. It was this that made me decide that there was no future in kit building as a full time pursuit.

Cheers....Morgan

[richard]

Morgan: Back to the Raven A2: It sounds like you painted all that black & white lining?

My Y7 is reaching the point where I should consider how I'm going to paint it (you know, always thinking two steps ahead!). I'd really like to go for NER Green - it is appropriate but there also far too many black locos around

However I don't think I'm up to doing the lining 'by hand'. I wondered if there were any lining decals available for 7mm?

Richard

[mick b]

Hi
Try the HMRS site they do a variety of lining sheets. My A2 is lined with their sheets

Mick

[45609]

Hi Richard,

My Raven A2 was done with a mixture of hand lining (wheels, running plate, tender framing and curved parts of the loco superstructure) and modelmaster waterslide transfers (boiler bands and straight edging on loco superstructure).

I don't think Modelmaster do 7mm scale decals, however, Fox Transfers do. I've had a quick look at their website and found various 7mm LNER lining packs (should be ok for NER) code prefix FRH7350/.... and some NER loco crests (code FRH7376). Numbering may have to come from another source and as Mick points out the HMRS sheets are probably the best bet. Personally I have never been able to get on with the "Pressfix" HMRS lning sheets. They are far too sticky and you only seem to get one chance at placing them. IMO waterslide transfers are much better for applying lining.

Cheers....Morgan

[richard]

Thanks. I'm going to have another look at the Fox site. I have a load of their printed catalogues but they're all for 2mm!

I'm also going to order Martyn Welch's weathering book. Jim McGeown recommeds it for general painting advice. I'm not going to weather the Y7, but the weathering tips will be useful for things like the chaldron(s).


Richard

[45609]

Hi again Richard,

You'll find the Martyn Welch book a fascinating read. The techniques he describes are all very straight forward and achieve great results. One of the interesting points he makes is that even a "clean" locomtive needs some form of weathering to make it look really convincing.

Best of luck....Morgan

[mick b]

Hi
The problem I had with Fox transfers are the white section is very wide (in 4mm) compared to the HMRS version , the red shaped sections for the undeframe drove me "nuts " they were so fragile I couldnt get them off the backing paper without them wrapping into a ball !!
I agree re the HMRS version as to being sticky but it can be done with care also cut them as close as possible to decal , I have had a sticky residue on models either side of the decal if the covering paper is left too wide. You can move them slightly once on the model before water is applied.

Cheers Mick