Layout detailing and Dapol paint woes

The layout has continued to make some slow but steady progress, with the fence along the back scene being joined up to the tunnel mouth.  This area has had some details added to it, such as some scrap outside the signal box, having been left from the rationlisation and closing down of the signal box.  The air of the station is intended to be something that is run down post Beaching, but somehow manages to cling on and not be shut down by BR, although it is now the terminus of a truncated branch.

The area of detailing behind the signal box, on the way to the fiddle yard.

More weeds growing along the railway wall.

Slightly elevated view showing the fence and tunnel.  The car park will be to the right of the office block.

Aerial shot showing the detailing at the end of the layout.  There is more to do, but it is coming along.

This area of the layout is now heading towards completion, although there are a couple of jobs to finish, which is the building of an interior for the office block and adding a car park and fence here.  The car park is a sheet of plasticard that is currently in the paintshop, but the office interior and fence are yet to be started.  Some more trees are also needed to sit behind the station and also on top of the tunnel, just to blend these ares a little into the backscene.  The other really important task is to fit lights to the station and glue down the station building with some signage added.  These are all relatively small jobs, but they all take time.

In terms of rolling stock, I intend to run two DMU services on Charlton, one being a BR blue 122 and the other a BR blue 108.  I made a start on detailing the Dapol class 122, with the standard first step in the weathering being an all over body wash of grime, wiping most of this away with a cotton bud dipped in white spirit.  The results of this on the Dapol 122 (and also a class 22 I am doing at the same time) were a disaster.  Either the white spirit or the enamel thinner attacked the Dapol paint finish and I was left with a body shell that is best described as a bit pickled.  I am currently trying to rescue this paint job with an airbrush, blending in some weathered BR blue. The end result will be a DMU that will carry more grime than I was originally intending.  Reading on the web I am surprised that no-one else has mentioned anything similar.

This is how the Dapol paint looked after applying a weathering wash.

I am now desperately trying to fix this with the airbrush, blending in this paint.

So to keep me sane I have also spent a little bit of time running trains recently. Keeping the layout moving and operational helps me to find a little bit of inspiration to finish the layout detailing - when motivation is a little on the low side.  So a class 25 backing onto its train and about to depart on the 18:25 to Barnstaple Jn and on to Exeter, sometime in the late 1970s.

Class 25 backing on its train.

And heading back to Barnstaple Jn, and Exeter.