Whilst looking through my spares box, here in Liberia, I found a Hornby loco crew figure.  Given that Phill mentioned that he was considering painting his Hornby figures, I thought I would give it a go and report back on the results.  I only have the fireman figure with me so that is the subject I will tackle. Here he is, with an initial coat of dark blue over his jacket and trousers and the flesh areas blocked in:



Bob(K)

I have finished blocking in the main colours, using a medium grey for areas which will be black:



The next stage is to wash the flesh areas with a thin dark brown:



After this I will add a black wash to the shoes, hat and shovel, which should give the effect of black without masking all the detail.

Bob(K)

that looks good Bob i,ve got the Hornby crew aswell so will have to have ago at painting them

Looking good Bob, when you use the black for the hat and shoes, will you mix a lighter color with it? I assume you use the grey under the black as a base coat to allow the black to cover better. Is that why?

Wayne

Great Bob. I have exactly this figure (and the driver) so I will follow this one closely and when I have a moment I'll do it as per your advice.  :D  :D  :D

Les

What a difference the brown wash makes to the flesh areas Bob.  Amazing what a lick of paint can do !!

Petermac

Wayne Williams said

Looking good Bob, when you use the black for the hat and shoes, will you mix a lighter color with it? I assume you use the grey under the black as a base coat to allow the black to cover better. Is that why?

Wayne

Wayne

No, I will just thin the black paint down with water and wash it over the grey.  The grey actually provides  the highlight needed to give depth. The black wash will accumulate in all the crevices and when dry will give an effect of shade.  If I was to use just plain black, in this scale, objects like the hat would look just like a black blob.  The trick is to allow some of the grey to show through giving the effect of worn, dirty items catching the light and the thin black wash does just this - hope I have explained it clearly enough.

Bob(K)

I was wondering the same thing. Very well explained Bob :D

Thanks for the explanation Bob, I won't tell you that I thought you were actually going to paint the hat and shoes "Black"!  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:
So don't tell anyone! :roll:  

I does make sense now! :shock:

Wayne    

So the next stage is to apply a wash of black, over the areas previously painted grey, which are the hat, shovel  and shoes.  I also added a thinner wash over the white shirt:



The next task is to pick out the highlights on the clothes.  Using the same blue as the base colour, add some white and a little of the black wash, just to take the shine off it, and then dry brush over the trousers and jacket.  keep doing this until all the raised areas are covered.  This should leave the folds nicely dark blue:



Once dry take some flesh colour, add a little white and dry brush this over the hands and face.  Next dry brush a tiny amount of white over the shirt to pick up any highlights and then, when dry, pick out the tie with a little black.  Finally a bit of brown finishes off the shovel handle and tidy up the base of the figure with a bit of black.  And there we have it one hornby loco crew man ready to be fitted into the loco cab:



Bob(K)

And very nice, too  :!:  :!:   Terrific step-by-step Bob, with a splendid result.  I like the matt finish as well.

 Mike

Finally followed you instructions Bob and I've had a go.

Please don't be too harsh and I did enjoy doing it. :D



Les

les
thats a superb job you have made of them i would be proud to have them in any one of my loco`s

If this is your first attempt you are an instant expert.

cheers Brian.W

I agree with HP, I consider that an outstanding job for a first attempt, Les.
Very well done :!:

They're excellent, Les  :!:  Very impressive. It'd be a shame to hide them in a cab.

 Mike

Nicely done Les, they should show up well in the cab of a loco.
It would be nice to see a photo of them "at work".
cheers

What a astounding superb job for a first attempt mate, well done.
Phill

Good job Les. The main thing is that you enjoyed it.

Excellent Les - I love the necktie around the firemans neck!

Les
any tips on painting combats? i will need to do this for the May project. 8)