I have finally just about to managed to finish off the Western detailing project I have been working on for a while (2 years or so!!). It has been a really fun project and overall I am pretty happy with how it has turned out. However, the longevity of the project and the stop/start nature of it meant that I lost some of the parts along the way, as well as a bit of momentum.
The finished locomotive running around the microlayout.
The locomotive is for use on the my Devon based withered arm layouts, that are struggling through the 1970s. The model is the Heljan version, which I think is an excellent model by and large. I replaced the original wheels with Ultrascale versions which has improved the running characteristics of the locomotive no end. All painting and weathering was done with railmatch enamels via the air brush. Faded blue was spayed on the body, as well as matt white from a paintbrush to replicate paint chips.The model has been fitted with a loksound decoder, with the Howes sound files. I really like the Howe sound recordings on this one - I think it sounds it great, although I will turn the volume down a bit to about 75% of its current level when I have the track operational on the new Charlton micro layout. I attempted to model the locomotive towards the end of its working life and it is therefore pretty grimy.
The finished locomotive posed on the micro layout.
Jobs that have been finished off this week are the adding of windscreen wipers, some detailing of the windscreens and a bit of wheel painting and then cleaning. Small jobs that do make a big difference. So below are some finished photographs of the Western. I have also included some photographs of the locomotive in its various stages of painting and detailing.
The cab showing the weathered front.
With the lights working.
Body side, showing faded paint and open windows.
Detail of the bodywork a bit closer up.
The body shell during painting and weathering from the airbrush.
Reassembled locomotive, before final detailing.
The first stage of weathering involved splashing white paint over the body work and then hand brushing some grime over the body, before wiping some of it off with cotton buds.
As it looked from the box, a second hand model.
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