Hi all,
Thanks for the warm welcome back - and I'm glad you like Lilla!
My lining's done with an Easi-liner pen, which comes with four nibs, from 0.25 to 1mm.
I've read quite a bit, and tried various ways of doing it, but I think I've arrived at my preferred technique.
Although for simple jobs, straight lines made by following a ruler would be OK, for Lilla I started by making a template for each shape of panel:
- Lining Lilla 1.jpg (569.93 KiB) Viewed 24567 times
The templates are blutacked on, which means there's a little gap between template and loco, to stop the paint bleeding underneath.
Then it was onto the yellow line - I used the 0.5 nib. Once stirred, the yellow paint was fine straight out of the tin, running smoothly through the nib. I always use gloss, having read somewhere that I should - but I've since read elsewhere about someone using matt, partly to bring down the overall glossiness of your average steam loco.
I do as much as possible with one "stroke", but bits get in the way, so it's often not possible. Where lines overlap you can often tell, but mistakes can either be wiped away for another try, or small blemishes scratched off with a cocktail stick. I found that more difficult on the Regner, where I'd painted the base colour myself with a rattle can, not nearly as hardwearing as, say, RH's hardy finish.
As you can see the yellow's far from perfect BUT, because of the edging, any mistakes on the outside of the yellow line will be covered up.
- Lining Lilla 2.jpg (942.42 KiB) Viewed 24567 times
I didn't take a photo of the next bit, but I used a ruler to run a 0.75mm black line along the outside of the straight bits of the yellow lining. For curved edges and corners, I painted freehand with a fine brush, which was surprisingly OK. Again, mistakes can be rectified by wiping and starting over - I'd left it 24 hours to make sure the yellow was fully dry and so wouldn't be lifted. The black was a little thick, so I thinned it with lighter fluid, seemed Ok after that, but I found it's best to do it a panel at a time, rather than draw all the black lines then go back and infill the rest of the edging - that way you're always working with a wet edge.
On this test go, you can see both where the black was a little thick, and where I let bits dry too much before revisiting - visible brush marks/lines:
- Lining Lilla 3.jpg (445.6 KiB) Viewed 24567 times
I
think that's about it... I've got the house to myself tomorrow, so might stick it in the oven on the lowest heat to "bake" the lines on - I'm guessing the servos etc are designed to take heat to should be OK???
Hope that's helpful,
Andrew.
PS I 'm trying to learn the to find a balance between trying again when I know I can do better, and accepting imperfection when I can't. Actually, that could apply to life generally, not just lining little steam engines!
