A Card model of a drop centre in "O" scale part 3

This model has been painted now with acrylic paint. I probably should have experimented a bit longer before committing myself to a model as I am not entirely happy with the results. I seemed to get better as I went along. It looked reasonable until I sprayed the model with Testors Gloss Coat to get it ready for the decals. The so called gloss finish has come out rather blotchy. This may improve with more coats of the gloss as the acrylic is very flat and either it or the gloss coat may be uneven. Only time will tell. No going back as you can't strip paint of a card model.

It seems that there are as many recipes for acrylic thinners as there are people on the net. Putting all the different ideas together and with a bit of experimenting I ended up using a spraying thinner made up of 75% isopropyl alcohol and 25% distilled water. I then diluted the paint 2 parts paint to 1 part thinner. This mix seems to suit my airbrush and compressor combination.

Fortunately the museum has a number of droppies that are still carrying their original paint from the 1960s. They have been tucked away in the gloom in the back of sheds collecting dust and grime but at least the paintwork is as it was when they stopped running in the streets. Number 277 was the easiest to get to and I already had an exterior photo of it when we had it out a few years ago. As can be seen in the photos the exterior and inside up to the tops of the seats was light grey. From the seat tops to the roof was a pale yellow and the roof itself was green. This colour scheme was very popular in the 1960s and was commonly known as egg and lettuce. Many people had their kitchen done in this colour scheme.

As far as the model itself goes, it is a very complex model with lots of edges and this shows up with the cardboard. I need two more of these and will seriously look at using polystyrene for these. Especially if I can find some way to print the patterns on to the styrene.

The next stage is to fit all the arm rests and other fittings followed by the window glazing and the decals so plenty to do yet.