SPV finished for parcels traffic

Several years ago I committed to building a rake of parcels wagons for use on my layouts.  Since that time I have built far too many wagons to cram into the small layouts that I operate.  During a phase of kit building I constructed three SPV wagons, sometime in 2015, and I have finally got around to finishing off the last of these three!  The SPV wagons are ex fish wagons and are built from the Parkside kits.  These kits are really simple to build and produce a great looking wagon. I constructed them as per the instructions except white metal buffers from Lanarkshire and 3 link couplings.

Another SPV on a parcels train at Charlton.

A short parcels trains, consisting of: A Bachmann CCT, Prrkside LMS CCT, Parkside SPV, Hornby SPV.

The kit was finished as per normal using an airbrush and Railmatch enamels paints.  I took time to blend in various shades of weathered BR blue.  The weathering is relatively light on the wagon, providing a contrast to other parcels stock I have finished. The transfers are Model Master, sourced from whatever odds and ends I had lying around.  This was all sealed up with some satin varnish.

The Hornby SPV and Parkside SPV at the end of the train.

So the summer jaunts of travelling around are coming to an end and I'm settling down to consider what I want to model this winter.  I have decided to have a go at another small layout - it is probably best not to describe this as a micro layout.  I am ordering the baseboards this week and hope to complete it in around 6 months.  In the mean time I am going to keep weathering some milk tankers, as the layout is set around a small station with a milk loading facility, in North Devon.  I will have this to build as well as plenty of other projects to keep me busy over the coming months.

Here comes a (small!) milk train!

After finishing the detailing of the first Dapol milk wagon, I realised that the non-factory weathered wagons were a better bet for detailing than the weathered ones.  I know the Dapol tank contains a multitude of sins, but unless I am willing to pay £30+ for a brass kit, which I am not sure I have the skills to complete, I am stuck with them!  However, I think that with a bit of painting the wagon is a passable generic representation of a milk wagon.

The recently finished tanker on the right and the first attempt on the left.

So for this one I started off with a non-weathered version.  I dismantled the wagon, fitted three link couplings and gave it a wash ready for painting.  On the underframe I tried to pick out some details using rust, weathered black and white, blended in with some frame dirt and sleeper grime.  On the wagon body I tried to run vertical streaks down the body, to give an impression of water running down the tank.  This was all sealed up with a few coats of satin varnish before reassembly.  I think this wagon looks much better than the first one, although a bit of variation in a rake is always a good thing.  I have about 3 more to go, to enable a decent length milk train to be run - hopefully in time for the layouts next exhibition in November.

A class 25 on the mixed freight with the milk wagons at Charlton.