BR86 Locomotive by Greg Davis - FINISHED - Hobby Boss - 1:72 Scale - PLASTIC

[Greg Davis]

Here's everything painted with Vallejo Black Grey RLM66 from the Model Air line of paints:

Next some brush painting - tires, brake pads, etc.; then it will be put together for good!

[SaltyScot]

I love that color, Greg! I will be following along with this one sir if you don't mind. I am enjoying your build log.

[Greg Davis]

1 hour ago, SaltyScot said:

I love that color, Greg! I will be following along with this one sir if you don't mind. I am enjoying your build log.

Mark -

 

Please do!

 

Greg

[wefalck]

Hope you don't mind asking me, why you first put a layer of 'Panzergrau' on and then a layer of lighter grey? What was the purpose?

 

Since the 1920s the colour scheme for German steam locomotives has been black all over with the exception of the frames, buffer-beams, wheels and certain parts of the drive mechanism. During WW2 it may have been different, but I don't know about that. Looking at old works photographs can be misleading, as the locomotives were given a light grey coat to increase the contrast between parts.

[Doreltomin]

The grey scheme is called "photoanstrich" and was basically used to photograph the finished locomotive for presentation purposes before painting the final black and red livery as it was observed the overall black paint doesn't help too much in making a good photograph. So basically all of them were grey in the beginning, and some people like it more this way!

[Canute]

That was pretty common, here in the US. Photos of the first in a series of rolling stock and steam locos were actually whitewashed to show off the underframes and running gear, since these were black and white photos. The practice disappeared with the advent of the post war colorful diesels and color film.

[Greg Davis]

9 hours ago, wefalck said:

Hope you don't mind asking me, why you first put a layer of 'Panzergrau' on and then a layer of lighter grey? What was the purpose?

 

Since the 1920s the colour scheme for German steam locomotives has been black all over with the exception of the frames, buffer-beams, wheels and certain parts of the drive mechanism. During WW2 it may have been different, but I don't know about that. Looking at old works photographs can be misleading, as the locomotives were given a light grey coat to increase the contrast between parts.

I just like priming with the darker color because it seams to have a residual darkening effect on the lighter grey. As far as the color scheme, I had been more or less following the painting guide provided with the kit. There are two schemes shown, this one is more on the grey side (apparently WWII era):

I had followed the alternative scheme, containing more black and red, on the first BR86 model I made:

Apparently 775 locomotives of this class were built between 1928 and 1943 and there was some variation of paint (or is this just wear and tear?).

Several of the engines remain in museums today and offer a different look:

Ultimately, I'd like to set the two engines behind the Hobby Boss Dora in a pseudo-diorama type presentation representing the railgun being completed. I was thinking that the engines would look relatively 'fresh and clean' because they would be associated with an 'important' project and would help give understanding to the enormous size of Dora. But eventually, I'll put a small amount of weathering on to the two engines. At the same time, I didn't want them to be a focal point of the presentation so I didn't plan on going all out for details here. In fact, placing the BR86's by Dora is conjectural - if there were kits of the electric locomotives that positioned the railgun in use, I would have built them instead.

 

When I get to my Trumpeter 1:35 BR86 model, I should look more into the actual paint schemes! In the meantime a big thank you to you, Doreltomin, and Canute for comments and information related to the paint scheme!

 

Greg

 

[wefalck]

As I said, I am not a railway specialist, but was curious and checked a couple of German fora re. livery of German steam locomotives during WW2. It appear that locomotives on civil duty retained their livery, i.e. everything black except frames, buffer-beams, wheels and works red (the second box-art above). Locomotives requisited by the military would be painted grey and carry the official insignia, the eagle and swastika, rather than the wording 'Deutsche Reichsbahn' (first box-art above). The same would apply to locomotives built under the war programme (minus the insignia, when in civil service).

 

Locomotives with white trim on the wheel, second image from the bottom, almost certainly came from the former GDR or other Eastern European railways.

 

The last image is one in 'Photoanstrich'. The smoke-box is black, because the light grey paint wouldn't stand the heat.

 

The apparent variability of the black has less to do with the colour, but rather with the different levels of gloss due to soot, repairs etc. Most steam-engines in service look like that. 

Edited January 30 by wefalck

[Greg Davis]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

As I said, I am not a railway specialist

I’m not a specialist in anything anymore - a couple of times I was as a mathematician, but it was related to some rather obscure material! Now I just try to learn what I can, when I can. Putting my work on MSW and getting thoughtful comments and suggestions from people like you makes my days quite nice.

 

greg 

[SaltyScot]

1 hour ago, Greg Davis said:

Now I just try to learn what I can, when I can. Putting my work on MSW and getting thoughtful comments and suggestions from people like you makes my days quite nice.

 

I like this, Greg. It helps to keep an open mind, doesn't it? As the old adage goes, you are never to old to learn something new.

[realworkingsailor]

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

The last image is one in 'Photoanstrich'. The smoke-box is black, because the light grey paint wouldn't stand the heat.

 

Not sure by how much European practice differed from North American, but typically the smoke box would be “painted” with a graphite coating, rather than any type of paint. Fresh, it would look almost a “gunmetal” colour, but as soot built up it would darken. Late in the stream era, if a locomotive didn’t see regular use, rust was also fairly prevalent. 
 

Andy
 

 

[wefalck]

Well, in Europe as far as I am aware, locomotive smokeboxes were always black. I don't recall having seen anything else. The same for traction engines and the likes.

 

On smokeboxes (and ships' funnels incidentally) you have to use a paint with a heat-resistant pigment, basically soot/carbon-black or graphite. That's why steam-ship funnels are black. If you wanted to have a company logo on it you had to use a sleeve with an airspace in between or a double-walled stack.

 

I remember from my childhood days that there was something called 'stove-paint' with which one painted the smoke pipes between the stove and the wall. It was either black or silvery, so the pigment was either carbon-black, graphite or some metal powder (probably aluminium).

[Greg Davis]

Today I put the BR86 together after painting the 'steel' brake pads and tires. Here is the mostly finished product:

It will get a clear coat, decals, and windows later. The amount of weathering will also be determined later.

 

But for now - done!

[Greg Davis]

Here are the two BR86 locomotives together:

They will both get their clear coat, decals, and any weathering around the time that I build and finish the Dora railway gun. Not sure when I will get to that as I want to get back to some wooden ship model work, I need to get my 1:48 Phantom and my 1:16 Hydroplane models completed. As those make progress, I really want to dive back in to the 1:48 L'Invention scratch build I started quite a while ago. But there may also be some time for a plastic side project as well - the D51 Slag could happen in the not too distant future! 

 

[SaltyScot]

That is definitely something I would not mind having on my shelves sir. Very nicely done!

[Javlin]

Those look great together Greg.