As mentioned earlier on this blog, my DJH C2X has been scheduled for a repaint into Southern black for quite some time. It's not that there was anything wrong with it in BR condition, but when I built it I didn't make much allowance for a decoder, and looking at it now, it's hard to see where I could add one. The boiler's full of lead, the motor and gearbox fills the rest, and the tender is a sealed unit. As all my pre-nationalisation models are DC only, the easiest solution was simply to move it back into SR condition.

Along the way, I'd also got hold of more pictures of C2Xs in various conditions and it was clear that the DJH kit lacked an important boiler detail, in the form of the long pipe running along the left hand side above the handrail. What is it? What does it do? I've no idea, but it's present on all C2Xs in "typical" late Southern/BR condition, and seemingly absent from the right hand side.

This weekend I got myself organised and stripped the BR black from the body. Various details came off in the cleaning, so I took the opportunity to refit and/pr improve them, as well as adding the missing pipework and giving the bodywork a general clean-up. I also managed to lower the body on the chassis by about 1.5mm. At some point during the early testing, I'd spaced it off with plastikard pieces but once I got the pickups sorted, it was clear that there was no shorting against the body so I could dispense with the pads. I think this makes a big difference to the loco, giving it a more purposeful look.

Finally, the DJH kit came with white metal brakes but these had suffered damage over the years. Since I already had a fret of Southern brake gear for the S15, I made up a set for the C class and fixed these over the filed-down stubs of the original white metal ones. This goes a bit of the way to filling some of the space under the chassis, which looks very bare as it comes. I've still to add pull rods and sanding gear, but I hope this'll add to the presence and sense of busy-ness which was lacking...

Next up will be primer followed by satin black and Southern numbering/lettering. I do think the black and lined green scheme looks lovely but I don't think I can be bothered, especially as Mr Bachmann already did such a fine job with the Wainwright goods...