Class 25 update

Today I got some time to paint a few of my models which are in the queue for the air brush. The class 25 repaint is nearing completion and I have to say, I am hopeful of how this one might turn out!! The photographs show the model before the first bout of weathering, after application of a faded BR blue livery and transfers.

It is all coming together quite nicely. The model was separated, with the body and the bogies removed from the chassis. The bogies and chassis were merely weathered over the top of the factory finish, whilst the body was stripped and repainted.

The application of weathering on this project is going to be quite light. The pre-shading underneath the BR blue provides some perspective for the weathered finish, and I only intend to apply some frame dirt and weathered black to the body sides to portray a little bit of grime for a locomotive in service.

Sorry the photographs are not the best quality in the world, but hopefully they do provide an impression of what the locomotive will look like when finished. I will try to finish this project off next weekend, so hopefully a further update then of the final version.

Other projects are also progressing well, so hopefully it will not be too long before there is a finished BR blue class 08 on here too. This is being weathered at the same time and is only a couple of coast away from completion and there are a range of wagons nearly completed as well. Now I really must get on with some track laying and soldering so I have somewhere to run this stock!

Class 08 update

Recently I have been working away at a few modelling project simultaneously. This means that no projects have been finished recently, with each one inching along slowly. I have slowly been detailing a class 08 in BR blue and this project is now close to getting a proper weathering over the factory-finish weathering.

Front end detailing

The model is the the Bachmann and 08 and I have spent sometime time adding details, as shown in the Model Rail issue a couple of years ago. All the pipes have been painted up, some underframe detailing parts and added the cab interior painted. The model has also had the Express Models lighting kit added.....more on this in a later post.......The glue and glaze is currently drying on the cab glazing and then it will be assembled for weathering.

Front/side view

Normally I remove the body from the underframe for weathering and remove the wheels. However, in the case of this model it is quite problematic to remove the wheels, so this time I am going to mask off the wheels and then weather the whole model in one hit. Maybe I will get this finished this week....

Back end detailing and cab interior

GWR tunny wagon

Some beautiful good North Atlantic weather has meant that work has been very wet and tiring and this has limited the amount of modelling I have done. Projects are progressing, but nothing has been finished. However, in between detailing a class 50, building a 16t mineral wagon, repainting the class 25 and detailing a class 08, I have been painting a GWR tunny wagon, available from Chivers Finelines.

This wagon is very similar to a grampus wagon and the kit literally falls together. The livery this will be finished in is a very weathered engineering olive green. So far three coats of paint have been applied to the body and two to the chassis. Hopefully an update soon of the finished wagon.

GWR tunny

Bachman 20t Engineering Brake Van

Another engineering wagon is ready to join the southern engineering department. this one is the pre-weathered Bachmann 20t brake van, finished with an engineering code. This is an older Bachmann product and although a good model, has some dated features. the most obvious of which are the moulded handrails, rather then separately fitted wire ones.

Weathered brake van, now in the engineering fleet

The original Bachmann weathering is the best I have seen on a wagon, it is multi-tonal and fairly realistic. Rather than stripping it off, I decided just to weather over the top of this finish. I think that this is just about as much fun as you can have with an airbrush. I used railmach enamels, using a mixture of weathered black, sleeper grime and framedirt, and sealed with railmatch satin varnish. Overall, I think it is now a more realistic finish, although, with hindsight I wish I had replaced the handrails and the buffers. The only cosmetic surgery was the adding of the three link coupling.

Original factory weathered finish, not too bad...

But I prefer this finish

Other projects are waiting for a bit of attention. The class 25 repaint is waiting for decals, as is the southern tunny. A GWR tunny is in the paintshop and a 16t mineral wagon and sturgeon are in the process of construction. The class 08 detailing is ongoing and is currently at the point of having its cab detailed. So there is plenty going on, but absolutely no time. Work is flat out again, which is a good thing when you run your own business, but this will leave no time for modelling at all the next few weeks.

13t Engineering wagon and a class 08 with working lights

A long time has passed since my last post. Although I have managed to get around to doing a little bit of modelling here and there, modelling has certainly been second to pretty much everything else. However, this weekend I managed to finish a couple of projects and further some others.

Another 13t wagon in the southern engineering fleet

Firstly, I finished my second 13t mineral wagon, now being used within the engineers fleet on the southern region. This is the Parkside Dundas wagon kit, which I have finished with a mixture of weathered black, rust, sleeper grime and frame dirt. The transfers are model master decal ones. I notice that the sheet with the 'E' has probably seen better days,with the decal not properly adhering - however, I can live with that for the moment! I am pretty happy with this one and it is another one to add to the growing engineering stock.

The second project I have furthered is the detailing of the class 08. This has involved attempting to add to the Express Models lighting kit. This has been a slightly frustrating project, however, after many attempts, I am nearing the body detailing stage. I decided to add the lighting kit first, as previous experience has taught me that a lot of handling of the locomotive/fiddling around is required to get these kits working. I am now ready to add the buffer beam pipes and add further detailing components.

Hooray working lights!!

Lastly, all these photographs have been taken on the the next layout we are building - Pottington Quay. It now has some track glued down and is partly operational. So progress on all fronts. I have almost finished another couple of projects, so hopefully it will not be so long before my next update......

More on Georgeham Halt

Very little modelling got done toward the back end of last week, although I did manage to get a couple of trees glued onto Georgeham, from the Hornby skale scenics range.. A bit of height and greenery to back of the scene helps give the layout a little more depth....with a class 45 running light along the line.

Georgeham platform at night with light working

A couple of new trees make all the difference

Georgeham passenger service

A day off today has resulted in a bit of modelling and taking some photographs of some trains running on Georgeham Halt. Just a bit of fun, but..... a failed DMU has resulted in a passenger service being run between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe by a class 45 and a solitary Mk 2 BFK. Just a couple of shots of the service running into Georgeham halt, representing a 'plausible what if' scenario c. 1983.