Known by the steam engines as The Messangers of Doom, Arry and Bert work at the Sodor Ironworks, taking scrap to be melted down at the Smelter's Shed and made into new metal parts, learking in the shadows and around the lonely Scrap Yards ready to scare any steam engine they find! These goons are favorite diesel characters of mine from the Thomas and Friends show, and I'm delighted to share how I detailed and customized my Bachmann models to make them realistic and fully weathered.
1) Fixing the Body Shell
When I first got them in 2017, this is how they looked with their manufactured faces intact, each locomotive given a spray of Krylon Matte Finish for a flat look. This is when I also started using craft acrylics to dry-brush on some rust and grime colors that look natural and help make the model look better. Much later I would add more detail and heavier weathering to make them look more realistic. But the very first thing I did was cut out all the molded windows from plastic!
I use my hand-drill pin-vise with bits of different sizes to begin drilling into the plastic, first in the corners of each window and door opening, then a row of three bigger ones along the center, which I use as a starting point to begin cutting out with my hobby knife. Make sure you have new blades in case the cutting along to the edges makes them more dull as you go along. Once you break the extra pieces off you can clean the edges using your hobby knife and a strip of fine-grit sanding paper.
To install clear styrene for the glass, I can also unscrew the cab and take it off. You just have to make sure you look carefully at the boxes on the front of the cab from the inside, because they have slits that need to be pressed with a mini-flathead screwdriver to pop the cab freely off the body shell. Now I can cut clear styrene I have from the hobby store and glue them in place with Crazy Glue. You need to be careful not to glue your fingers and make sure you allow the glue to cure the styrene to the plastic of the cab securely before moving on to the next one.
Before installing the styrene, I like giving it a spray of matte medium to flatten the gloss of the plastic, so it looks older and less shiny. Once you glue them on and screw the cab back on the body, it's perfect to have weathering powder applied with a brush for a dusty grimy look for that extra bit of realism for heavy use. Now with the cab with added glass, it looks so much better and less like a toy! I've been trying out Tamiya's TS-80 Clear matte finish and I highly recommend it for the best results.
I also like adding tail lamps to my locos, so the ones I use are from Bachmann Branchline, dummy ones I can glue to the cab.
- Tamyia - TS-80 Clear Flat Spray
- Tamiya - Modelers Putty
- Micro Mesh - Sanding Files
- FitGrip Hobby Knife - Set of 2
- Tweezer Set - 8-Piece
- Slim Line Precision - Pin Vise
- The Rogers - Drill Bit Set
- Bachmann Branchline Dummy Lamps
- Crazy Glue
2) 3D printed faces
My good friend Jake @Jje09 on Twitter designs amazing Thomas themed rolling stock and faces to run on 3D train simulators, and having designed Arry and Bert for Sodor Workshops we were excited to try testing these faces out to be used for replicas and Bachmann HO/OO conversions. So I agreed to test them out for his Shapeways store! You can now get them here:
Here's how I painted them:
The very first thing I do when I get faces for the Class 08 diesel characters like Arry and Bert is unscrew the body so I can unscrew the eye mechanism Bachmann makes to have their eyes move from side to side. This will help the Airsoft eyeballs we'll be using later the proper clearance so the faces fit snugly inside, without the eye mec rubbing against the back of the eyeballs. That would hurt!
Once they arrive, I check and make sure the prints are clean from any
printing residue or resin flakes, so I might go over them with a used,
clean toothbrush and if needed, dunk them in soap and water, then dry
them with a paper towel. Once the faces are completely dry, I put on the
eyeballs and test how they fit. They are made from 6mm Airsoft paint
pellets, and the pupils are cut pieces of glossy black vinyl from a
friend. Fixed on with Blue Tak putty, they really help bring the face to
life, and can be repositioned for the character to look at any
direction.
Once test fitting everything, I make sure I clean the faces if they have any dust or residue left from the printing process, using water and dish soap and giving them a scrub with a used, clean toothbrush. Then I dry them with a paper towel, making sure they're dried for spraying!
I can now give the faces a spray of RustOleum's "Chalked" spray paint with the Aged Gray color, sold at most craft and hardware stores or online. This has by far been the best paint in a can I've used that matches the color I want for any Thomas face I paint. I put them all a scrap piece of foam and secure them with Blue Tak, making sure I spray them in thin layers until they are fully colored.
NOTE: Please spray outside or in a well ventilated area, with a mask, and make sure that there is a consistent temperature in the room of choice, not too hot or not too cold, as it will effect the spray application. Having good lighting also helps with drying.
After I give the spray paint 12-24 hrs to completely dry, I use craft acrylics to add white for teeth, and grays for open mouths. I touch up any painting mistakes using a half-and-half mix of Americana "Gray Sky" and "Cobblestone." I use fine-tip brushes applying it, thinning the paint with a bit of water when necessary. For the eyebrows, I use a technical pencil with 0.5 graphite to lightly draw the profile on very lightly to go over it with my Faber Castell ink pens, either XS (extra small) or S (small) sizes so I can make sure it follows the exact design. As ink takes a while to dry, leave it for a while before handling the face if you don't want smudges!
Once finished, they should look like this! Here's a tip; referencing their S5 appearance and merchandise, Arry is clean-shaven, and Bert's the one with stubble! So if you want to you can get a whole separate set of faces, one for each, and the one set with stubble for Bert. I draw stubble on the chin of Bert's faces, which works great to recreate that stubble appearance!
- RustOleum "Chalked" - Aged Gray
- Americana Craft Acrylics - Gray Sky
- Americana Craft Acrylics - Cobblestone
- Americana Craft Acrylics - Titanium White
- Airsoft Pellets - 6mm
- Faber Castell - Ink Pen XS
- Faber Castell - Eraser
- Techical Pencil
- Blue Tak
3) Detailing and Weathering
Now for detailing! Arry and Bert are prime examples of industrial locomotives, used to their full capacity and heavily weathered with soot and grime, so I used a combination of techniques to bring them to live with powders and extra detail.
For the body, I love using Tamyia's model master kits with their included foam Q-tip to rub on dirt and grime onto the body shell, such as the top and along the ventilators for black exhaust, rust, and dust streaks, working my way from the top down to the bottom on the footplate, which give really nice, flat and even streaks of weathering.
I used my soft brushes to carefully add Dave's Decals weathering powders in all the places I wanted to add some rust, soot, and grime. I add them all over the body and between corners with on various detail parts on the model, like ladders, buffers, ventilators, and the roof of the cab.
Now couplings! I use Smiths from gaugemaster.com in the UK. For Arry and Bert, as they are industrial engines, they use LP4 chain link couplings. I first make a slit on the buffer beam to fit the couplings in, so I hand-drill two holes with my pin vise, then simply cut the excess plastic in between with a hobby knife.
Next, I cut excess metal from the coupling itself on the back with my pliers, then use my tweeters to install them in the slit with Crazy Glue to secure them in place.
Something I decided to do was replace Arry and Bert's plastic brake pipes with my own using 20 gauge craft wire! I bend them around a screwdriver to make them curve, and bend them in shape with pliers, using my spews to cut the excess off. I wrap the facets around the bottom where they'll fit on the model using strips of Sticky-Notes of all things, cut with a hobby knife and a steel ruler! I use Crazy Glue to secure the edge of one end and then once it sets, wrap the strip around the wire a few times until it makes a nice nub, then glue the end and cut excess with scissors. Be careful the glue doesn't get on your fingers!
When that's done, I stick them on a scrap piece of blue foam and spray all the parts matte black. Once dry, I take out the plastic ones I want to replace off with my plyers, and double checking the size of the hole I clean the plastic around the opening, and secure the new ones with Crazy glue! They look so much better and more in profile with the TV series prop on screen.
I gotta say, customizing Arry and Bert was a blast! I'm real pleased how well they turned out, and are perfect essential locomotives for any industrial layout. One thing I would like to do is sand off their molded handrails and give them new ones with piano wire or something with equal strength painted yellow. Once I do I'll update this page to include how to do it.
Special thanks to Jake and Louis for helping make it possible to have these amazing faces to use for HO/OO!
Links to the products I used to customize him are linked throughout the post. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions about the process!
As always, happy model railroading!
- Stephen
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