O Gauge Class 33 Repaint Ongoing and a little more layout progress

Modelling progress continues to tick over, with lots of items in the paint boxes and one of the baseboards set up up downstairs so some scenery can be competed. The class 33 repaint continues to make slow but steady progress. The BR blue has been sealed with a satin varnish coat, after some details were picked out with weathered black. The bodyshell will get some weathering washes applied over it next, before the addition of transfers.  All in all, this is shaping up nicely, but there is plenty more painting to go on this project.

Some basic weathering of the Class 33 body shell has been completed, this will now have some weathering washes applied over it.

The end baseboard of the layout has also seen some basic scenery work. The retaining wall for the pub has been built, alongside some paving stones added to the garden. I need to finish off the painting of the retaining wall this weekend, before adding in some grass and bushes, before gluing down the pub. A rock face has also been painted behind the pub, representing an old quarry. Most of this rock face will be hidden by vegetation, although I have made an attempt to model the bedding planes of bedrock, typical of the North Devon geology. The scenic detailing will stop for a couple of weeks now, but I am hoping to take some time off work later in March and spend some dedicated days attacking the detailing at this end of the layout.

The pub retaining wall, now scribed and in the process of being painted. The rock face of the quarry behind the pub is also visible.

O Gauge class 33 repaint and some layout scenery

So this weekend I finally got around to removing the lining/masking on the O gauge class 33 repaint. Removing the masking is always a slightly nervous affair, as you are never quite sure how successful the lining will have been. The body sides had slightly different shades of BR blue built up over it, providing some tonal variation.Once removed, overall it looks pretty good. There are a few areas where the masking was not quite tight enough and the BR blue has got through a little. This was caused by me putting this project down for severeal weeks in-between painting; over severeal weeks the masking often pulls away a little. Fortunately, the lining was good, so whilst there is a little touching up to do, there is nothing too onerous. The plan this week is to finish off the base coats and apply some varnish, ready for a light weathering and transfers. I have the DCC chip and speaker ready to go, so it is just a question of getting the body shell finished and getting the sound chip installed.

The class 33 before the masking/lining was removed, showing the layering of the BR faded blue.

With the lining/masking removed, the faded yellow ends do not look too bad!

Over the weekend I also found a little time to do some layout detailing. I am currently trying to get some of the bigger scenery tasks finished, so I can get the backscene and some buildings installed. The rock face behind the pub has been started, alongside the pub retaining wall. Both were made from some DAS modelling clay. When dry the pub wall had the blocks scribed in with a file and I have started the painting process this evening. There is some more dry brushing to do, although a lot of the wall will be hidden under vegetation. There is a little more scenery work to do before I can plonk the pub down, but it is getting close to being installed. 

Pub retaining wall and rock face behind the pub - it is a tight squeeze with the pub sitting between the two.

So overall some good progress and fingers crossed I can the momentum up with both the layout and the class 33. It would be great to get the layout close to finished this year, but lets see!