On Sunday our group visited W & R Railway Gala. The Gala was primarily to say hello to their newly re-built ‘Agecroft No. 3’ and to say goodbye to ‘Victory’ that now retires for a couple of years for refurbishment. We were asked to do a Demo and a Display to help with the Gala atmosphere. I have split this into two sections, the Gala itself and separately our Demo and Display. All Photos by my Wife.
Here are two Dapol VEA’s that were recently purchased by Group Member Graham. I had heard quite a bit about them before they were brought to me to weather. A lot of people were concerned that the Red/Grey Railfreight livery was a bit ‘plasticy’ and needed to be repainted! Anyway this is how I finished both a Red/Grey and a Bauxite one. Firstly I varnished the sides to ensure that the tampo printed lettering was stable, when using harsh thinners of some tampo lettering it can become soft and move and/or distort.
After leaving the varnish to dry for three days I did a wash and wipe with dilute Matt Black paint. This left the paint in all crevices after wiping. I then airbrushed Frame Dirt, Brake Dust and a little Matt Black to the underframe, cleaning the hand brake handles before drying, these are usually wiped regularly for safety reasons. Lastly I dry brushed the chassis springs, brake pads, buffers and couplings with various rust colours. I also stippled the roofs with a little dilute Matt Black and Mid Grey, just to take the fresh look away.
Please see the below results, I must say these are excellent wagons and weathering does take the ‘plasticy’ look away.
I purchased this Loco as an addition to my Industrial Fleet, however it did not turn out that way. While I was reading the information and history included in the box I saw that the GWR had a few of these Locos for Dock Shunting. That was it, I changed my plans and it became a BR(W) Loco. I have now converted the Loco with the extra parts within the box and given it a light weathering.
This is the last of my Scottish Tank Engines that I have recently refurbished and repainted, detailed and weathered.
I have six Loco’s ready now and waiting for completion of my Station Layout that I started over four years ago. These will form my Scottish based era of 1952-55.
The full list is:-
D40 – K1/1 – J83 – N17 – Caly Pug – Jinty.
Here is another Scottish Tank I purchased about five years ago. It needed quite a lot of work which I have only just got around to. This was another partial repaint, added detail and weathering. I am becoming used to this type of project and I love doing them, but must hasten to add they must be originally purchased at the lowest possible price.
This is my latest reconditioning job, I purchased this Loco over five years ago in a bit of a state paint wise, although it was a good runner with a good motor and multistage gearbox.
I stripped all the blistered and runny paintwork and did a partial repaint, I then put new BR logos and numbers on. Finally I gave it a medium weathering to blend all the reconditioned work.
Note this loco had a lengthened Cab bottom footstep and an extra handrail so that shunters could ride on the loco, I believe this was quite common on Scottish shunting Locos.
Here are four Tank Wagons that I have recently weathered. I love doing these Tanks Wagons as they really come out very well. They look good in a small rake or in a mixed goods train. I used a mixture of Railmatch Roof Dirt and Frame Dirt to do the initial misting, followed by Matt Black for spillage down the side and tank tops, this was followed by Gloss Varnish to highlight the spillage. Then I tackled the underframe using Frame Dirt, Brake Dust and Matt Black on the axle boxes. After the spraying I mixed up some Dark Rust and dry brushed the springs, buffers and brake linkage.
This is a Loco purchased by my friend Colin for his latest O Gauge Micro Layout ‘Dunwich Tramway’. I have weathered it to a moderate standard as requested, using four airbrushed enamels and a little dry brushing. I am so impressed with the Minerva model that I feel I would like to purchase one soon.
Getting towards the end of my Blue Xmas updates now – only a couple to go now. This is 45036 that has moved from Pre-tops to Tops and then weathered. Sadly this is my only Class 45, I really hope that Heljan do another with a different nose headcode..
This is another of the Locos I took from my Pre-tops Era and moved it to approx 1976 condition. It used to be a Eastern Region Loco in the early 60’s but had moved on by the time it went into Blue Tops. I have not changed the top nose hand handholds as there could be move to another number later..
