CCTs and parcels trains progress

Well just as the Bachmann CCT's hit the shelves, I have almost finished a couple of the Parkside kits for my parcels trains.  The first one was started by son before he lost interest in trains.  It is not a perfect build - but I quite like that, as it was a model we built together.  The second is the CCT with the plywood sides and I have also been working on the first of the 12t fish vans.

CCT with plywood sides showing the faded finish

I described in an earlier post how I had pre-shaded the wagons before painting.  Over this I have applied various coats of BR faded blue, and BR blue.  The two CCTs are ready, but the 12T wagons has had a further coat of faded blue on top.  I have put a couple of coats of varnish on these already so hopefully application of the transfers is not too far away, although I do have to pick out some of the details like handrails in white and also properly paint the underframes.  I also need to find somewhere with decent lighting to take the photos - sorry these are a bit dark.  I think that i will have to buy a Bachmann blue CCT just to see how it compares...

CCT ready for some transfers

Express parcels 12T van, showing the preshading under the coats of BR blue

A bit of 0 gauge progress

My paint workshop is currently pretty busy, with a lot of wagons ready to be painted and weathered. Ticking over in the back ground has been the build of a 12t fish van, which is to enter service in a faded BR blue livery.  This wagon is the 0 gauge Parkside Kit.  As I was modelling an 00 gauge parcels train I thought I would turn my hand to building a couple of these wagons is 0 gauge.  The kit went together seamlessly and is now ready for a wash and lick of paint.

12t van ready for a coat of faded BR blue

My 0 gauge grampus is also progressing and has been the subject of a couple of coats of paint from the air brush.  I have made a start on the bodywork, mixing in some coats of weathered black, light rust and dark rust.  The body work is almost there now and a start has been made on the underframe.  Hopefully this wagon will be finished in a couple of weeks, all dependent on how much free time I am allowed over the weekends.  I am thoroughly enjoying this little venture into 0 gauge and just having one or two items of rolling stock to work in the background will quickly allow enough wagons for a small shunting micro layout to be built.....now how long until that Dapol 08 hits the shelves??...

Grampus wagon part way through painting

Heljan western - taking a deep breath!

Sometime ago I put up a post of a second Heljan Western I purchased on ebay.   This model recently came out of the box.  As work was progressing well on painting the parcels wagons and the sturgeon wagon is complete save for the handrails, I though I needed a new challenge.

As the model is secondhand I am just having a go trying out some techniques for weathering/painting on it.  If it all goes wrong, I can just strip it down and repaint it.  So I un-clipped the body.  The detailing on the chassis has yet to be undertaken, and I put this to one side.

With the body un-clipped I splatted some white paint all over the paint job with a brush and then tried to take some of it back off with a cotton wool bud.  Once reasonably happy with this, I sprayed some faded blue in stripes over this.

Lastly, I made a mix of weathered black and frame dirt and applied this over the body, before wiping most of it away with cotton wool buds.  This is the first of several paint layers which will attempt to make a suitably distressed western down in Devon in the mid/late 1970s.  It did take a bit of deep breath to start this one - but now it is started I am keen just to try whatever I fancy.  Hopefully more progress on this one soon.....