The projects from the previous blog have now been completed, painted varnished couplings added etc:

The transfers for the Trout are assembled from various bits of a Model Master sheet, hence the wobblyness, although the number is accurate. The Cambrian Dogfish and Chivers Tunny have been painted using one of the the lifecolor black weathering paints, I believe it was 'Dirty Black', I wasn't sure about it at first, but in these pictures it looks quite effective.

I'm also almost done on re-numbering this Flangeway Mermaid:

I actually had a fairly easy time getting this apart, I found it unnecessary to slice the rollers away from the body as they seem to just clip unclip from the chassis. The weight also came free without a fight. I have to admit that on a technical level it is a nice model, but there are some real inaccuracies. Namely the W-irons and brake gear position, as far as I can tell the model represents a GWR example that was converted to vac brakes by BR.

I had thought about modifying it to represent a diagram 1/575 like the Cambrian kit, but upon closer inspection this would be trickier than I thought. I do have a couple of Cambrian ones that look like a much more accurate model, although no doubt they are a tricky built. Incidentally the end chains will be replaced with the closer to scale chain that Cambrian use on their kit and supply as a standalone detailing component.

Last but not least is this Hornby Shark, originally in olive Green, for some bizarre reason Hornby refuse to produce it in black (the most common livery carried), instead opting to realise shadow franchise and EWS models. Presumably these are good sellers:

Anywho, this thing has turned into a bigger project than expected. Originally this was going to be a straight forward mask up and repaint, but I wasn't confident about merely painting over the existing paint work. As can be seen from the pictures the handrails etc have been taken off and the whole body has been stripped, apart from the ends which slide out. The lookouts are cleverly made from clear plastic to ensure flush glazing, I have glued them in using Humbrol Clearfix and will be masking them up again. The leaning guard is going to be added to one of the verandas for a bit of extra detail.

Obviously are fairly large amount of masking and painting will be needed, although nothing too fiddly. I did manage to damage the door handles and side lamp irons when removing them. Replacement irons will need fabricating, I will probably replace the door handles with some (inaccurate) turned Markits ones. Hopefully the end result will be worth the effort, after this I still have plenty of kits that need building, the main problem is choosing what to build next!.

DW