Drywater Interlude 2

     "See what I mean?" asked Lefty, "it's a nice little engine if you don't mind the rust coming off on your britches."
     Minnesota Pete grumbled. "Pile of junk,you ask me. And that lady,  one I see poking around on it, what's her story?"
     Meat Lonnigan lifted his head enough to see out from under his hat. "Aw, she's kinda nice. She works for the Panamint Locomotive Works, doing some kinda research on this old can. She says they're gonna get it running and put it into revenue service either on the Drywater line or over to Soda Lake."
     "Huh! That what she told you?  I heard she owns both the Soda Lake railroad and the Delirium Route. She just pretends about that historical preservation stuff. She just likes fixing up old engines and laying track. Revenue service, huh! That'll be the day."
     Meat took a swig from the jug and settled back down. "Well anyway, she don't seem to take no never-mind to the likes of us. In fact, I kinda think she likes us hanging around the yard."
     "What makes you think a damn fool thing like that?" asked Pete.
     "Well, she seems to like the state of advanced dilapidation that this here engine so perfectly personifies"
     The other men exchanged looks and scratched their chins.
     "I mean think about it. If she's worried about someone taking a paintbrush to this old can, then she's got nothing to fear from us."

Rusting Away

     I finally got up the nerve to start painting my little Mantua engine, and so far I'm really pleased with the results. After thinking long and hard, I decided a mixed media approach was in order.

     First, I painted Floquil reefer white everywhere I wanted rust. Second, I mixed Testors flat sea blue with flat black and used it for the primary color. The subtle blue in the black will make the rust really pop. Third, I went overthe white with Tamiya clear orange. the result you see here.

     Once I finish the orange, I plan to blend it in and tone it down with Testors rust. The bright orange should show through and give a great luminescence. The smoke box will be testors silver. Once it's done, clear coat and weathering to finish it off.