Thanks Fred and Glenn.
No progress to report on A 300 is taking up most of the time, but she's almost up to the painting stage. Then I will have more time to do the last jobs on the BR 23

Thanks Dimi

Finally there is some progress to report on the BR 23 front.
There were a few spots where the red didn't completely cover, but that was quickly solved with a paintbrush. The insides of the rear lights were then given a coat of white. The other things to be painted white were the running numbers.
Plan A was to carefully paint the numbers by hand. I very quickly realised that it was not going to work. Off to plan B then. this involved first painting the whole numberplate white. I left it overnight to completely cure the paint ready for the next step. The next day I painted the whole numberplate, including numbers black. While the paint was still wet, I stretched a bit of clean cloth over my finger, and lightly brushed the paint off the raised surfaces.
If you work carefully, you get this:


With the touch ups done, the loco is ready for a coat of varnish. As soon as that is ready, I can reassemble the loco

Thanks for watching

Rick

Glad to be of assistance John.
I got the idea from my brass loco, where I sanded the numberplates to reveal the raised text. As sanding wouldn't work I tried wiping instead

Good one Rickety !!,
Often brand new Marklin Loks are hand touched up too, as seen on Marklin TV, so your doing as Mother M does anyway Keep up the good work,

Thanks Glen and Elukka.
I had tried drybrushing, but it didn't want to do what I wanted to.

I have not had much time in th elast few weeks for modelling, but this weekend I finally got around to it; varnishing the loco. The varnish protects the paint coat underneath, and gives everything an even finish. I used Humbrol Satin, thinned more than I usually do to ensure a perfectly smooth finish. The result lived up to it's expectations.

The loco could then be reassembled. To begin with, the leading and trailing wheels were pushed back onto their frames. The axles got a drop of oil before being carefully pressed home in a vice. A bit of wood between the jaws of the vice and the wheelset prevented paint damage. The gears were also pressed back in place, using the back of a broken drill bit to push the axles into their holes. Before the axles went in, I used a smaller drill bit to scrape the inside of the holes free of paint. The next time around I will put something in those holes when I paint, because no paint is better than hardly any.
Then came the most critical part of the reassembly; The drivers. Steamers can be very touchy about their quartering, although older Marklin locos have large holes in their rods and a gear drive, so the rods aare purely cosmetic. To begin with, all the gears and axles were inserted, and everything checked for smoothness. Fortunately, no problems were found. The loose wheels were then lightly pressed onto their axles, making sure the wheelset with the traction tyres was at the rear. The crank pins on the gear side were then aligned, making use of the fact that when properly aligned, the same pair of spokes on each wheel form a straight line fore to aft. When this was done the first wheel on the other side was then turned so that it lagged approximately 90degrees. The exact angle does not matter as long as it's the same on every driver. Once I was happy with the result, I pressed the wheel fully in place with the vice, only applying pressure in the raised middle part to keep the wheel straight on it's axle. The procss was then repeated for the other two pairs.
Be warned! I would only do this with older gear drive locos. Newer locos have rod drive, where accuracy is the key to smooth running. I would only reassemble such wheels with the correct tools!

Some soldering and a few screws later, it was back in one piece

And from the front

The guts are in place as well

After chasing a electrical gremlin(the new paint insulates really well), she has run her first few metres under own power. The mechanism runs well, and should improve with running in.
I still have some things planned for it, but the end is in sight.

Cheers,

Rick

Thanks Svein.

Some of the little jobs have been done on the loco. To start with, cab windows. To make it look good, I have made the windows almost flush with the frames. This can be tricky, but the rsults speak for themselves. The trick to making nice windows is to get a very good fit. I start with a bit of clear styrene that's a little bit oversize, and progressively test and adjust the shape until it fits. I glue the windows with Krystal Klear, from Microscale. This stuff dries clear and doesn't attack plastic, making it ideal for gluing windows. A thin bead around the inside of the frame is all you need. You can carefully scrub away any excess glue later on.

The front and rear windows have also been done, but the middle window on the side will stay open so the driver and fireman can see the track better.

The tender has also recieved some coal. The coal is just that, real coal smashed to bits with a hammer. The coal is not just thrown on, but is piled so that it looks like coal has gone down at the front, where the fireman uses it. The coal is secured in the same way as ballast, with diluted PVA glue.

The rear lights were also given some attention. The small hole in the light housing was filled completely with Krystal klear. I hope that this will work in the same way as a light diffuser, giving an even light. A bit of clear plastic was glued into the light housing as the window, with a space between the light diffuser and the clear plastic. To get a perfect circle, I punch the lens out of a sheet of clear plastic using a sharpened bit of brass tube.

Wow excellent project, and a great end result.

Best Regards

Glenn

excellent job, and thanks for documenting the whole story....

Thanks everyone

Not much has happened on the loco, except a few small things. I have obtained a set of valvegear as well hat will be butchered to provide the missing bits of the current set.
Last monday the loco got a good run at the club, and it's starting to run very nicely. It should improve even more as the last bits of masking tape glue wear off. The punters were impressed too
Hopefully I can post a more detailed report soon.

Cheers,
Rick

Here's Rick's little wonder on the staging yard at the club last Monday

Wow, fantastic job! You have given me the inspiration to attempt an overhaul on some of my well played with pieces.

Thanks again for the great posting!

Robert.

Excellent, Well done.

Rick,
It looks great for what I can see and you've done a terrific job, thanks for sharing it with us.

John

David

Welcome to the forum !
You have started a great project with your BR23 loco.
Looks good already !

Regards,
John

Thank you

The paint I'm using is regular synthetic enamel solvent based from a Spanish manufacturer called Titanlux.

Had been reported in different modeling forums that their primer is very good for airbrushing, and a 50 ml can is just 3 Euros. After that I decided to give it a try not only to the primer, also to the enamels. At the moment I'm quite happy with the result.

As you can see at the picture From left to right I placed the satin black, the gloss white and the primer which is white too. At the center is the locomotive body airbrushed in red and the black parts are freehand brushed using a double zero size brush.



The black paint is still fresh. I just finished brushing about half an hour ago.

I thought that was easier to brush rather than airbrush because there is a lot of different edges and corners in the front side of the body. And because the two front platforms are completely flat, it shouldn't be noticed a lot that had been brushed.

Welcome to the forum thiesedenys !

Tres beau travail, on attends la suite ...
Mais, faut le faire en anglais stp ... ^^ Merci.

Translation:
Very nice work, we'll be waiting for the rest ...
But, you'll have to do it in English plz ... ^^ Thanks.

Yum

Great work. Thanks for sharing.
I am hoping to get my act together to do such an overhaul.

Wonder if anyone paints on with brush instead of airbrush??
I am thinking of investing in an airbrush system at some point, but lots to do before then.