On with the train details!

I got the barrel of the train coated and sanded, as well as managed to get the black strips around the front glued and riveted. That was clearly a 2 person job, and Jody stepped up nicely! A self proclaimed "Good holder of things"! That Jody.............

The last major pieces were the 2 pipes that come off the main barrel, into the lower pistons. This was 1.5" abs pipe, carefully, and frustratingly, cut around all the parts that were in it's way. This took forever..................really. Cut a bit here, cut a bit there, repeat, repeat..........................and once more!
Once they were as close as my patience would allow, I used Apoxie Sculpt, a 2 part epoxy putty, to fill in the rest! Including my miscalculated mounting hole!

Jody used 3/16 brass upholstery tacks to simulate the rivet heads on the body of the train. The color isn't a factor, as it will all be going black! We're keeping the rivets to a minimum on this. I want just enough to suggest that the whole thing is riveted together, old school, without junking it up too much.

Once the last bits that were going black were all mounted, I sprayed it up, and then clear coated it with a water based urethane clear. I find the water based clear is a very versatile product, I've even used it as a glue in a pinch! Plus, the sheen eventually all evens out in the end, unlike some, non automotive, products I've used in the past.

Jody was also able to get the track sections sprayed with rockerguard, to give it a bit of texture. Almost everything we are building will get this "miracle in a can" treatment!

Once dry, she speckle coated the tracks with a red oxide primer, strictly for the color, then did a washed glaze, to tone down the brightness of the red.

The last step on the tracks was for her to get the bright silver paint onto the top edge of the rail tracks. We went with the Rustoleum water based metallic silver for this part. Normally I don't use water based paint directly over plastic, but because we had used a flexible clear primer on the top side, the bond will be VERY good!
8)
JWO