Nicholas

[Michael S.]

Today the castings for the Warrior steam engine arrived.
Lots of bronze parts and an aluminum base. The gears are intended for the feed pump. The parts must be a bit older if you can believe the enclosed newspaper.

Michael

[Jo]

By looks of the date on the paper they have been nicely aged ... but the colour of the gunmetal 

Jo

[Michael S.]

You can't say for sure.
The seller said it was found in a basement and the box smelled like it.

Michael

[Michael S.]

A weekend is always too short!
But the new crankshaft is ready. Now with a little less stroke.
The crosshead has its bearing shells made of bronze. It really is a very small steam engine and all too small for my fingers. In this size but a lot of detail.
Before I paint the castings I fixed a few gaps in the casting with epoxy glue.
I think this machine gets color. It's better than no color. Or?

Michael

[crueby]

Coming along nicely!  The decision of whether to paint or not is difficult. If not painted, the parts will age to a nice deep color unless polished and clear coated or waxed. With paint you can get a nice bright finish, smoothed out with filler if you want. Sometimes a mix of the two is good, paint the main base and frame parts, some pin stripes to set off the frames, with varnished wood on the cylinder cladding can look good. Most of the original engines were painted, though for a lot like locomotives they were just black in many cases. Many factory engines were done in a nice deep or bright red or green with pinstripes to set them off, making a showpiece of the engine. The showmans traction engines used in travelling fairs were really done up with bright colors, polished brass, fancy trim.

[Michael S.]

Thank you Chris for your help.
It's a showman's machine. So paint and polished brass.
First the parts are primed.
Maybe then a dark red will come.

Michael

[crueby]

Deep colors look good with yellow or gold pinstripes. An easy way to do them is to paint the parts first the color of the stripes, let the paint cure up, then use narrow pinstripe tape like they make for model airplanes to mask off the stripes, one length of tape for each stripe, before painting the main color. When the tape is peeled up it shows the stripe color underneath, with no need to tape down both sides of each stripe.

[Roger B]

Looks good    I would think a mixture of paint and polished metal.

[Kim]

You're making good progress, Michael!   

I think paint and polish will look lovely!   

Kim

[vtsteam]

Same here. 

(I like the pin striping method, Chris. Hadn't ever done it that way. Makes sense  )

[crueby]

Same here. 

(I like the pin striping method, Chris. Hadn't ever done it that way. Makes sense  )

It works well for light color stripes especially, where covering a darker color is tougher.  There's an example of it over on my Mann Steam Wagon build in the Vehicles subforum.

[Michael S.]

Hello,
I colored the main parts of the steam engine.
first twice with a primer and then twice with enamel paint.
I agree with Keith Appleton, painting is pure inspiration 😊.

Michael

[crueby]

Hreat color combination.   

[Michael S.]

Spent a lot of time in the workshop over the weekend. The connecting rod rod was made. Made of stainless steel. First shaped on the lathe and then it went to the milling machine. I tried to process all sides and only then to separate the connecting rod from the round material.

[Jo]

You are doing well on the connecting rod. All the parts on Nicolas are designed to be small and fiddly so good move keeping it on the main bar as long as possible .

Jo