Whilst I've been having fun these last few weeks rebuilding some clerestory carriages using a silhouette cutter, I've also been addressing the fact that at the present I don't have a suitable suburban engine to haul them. A fair few express passenger types, but nothing really appropriate for slower stopping trains.

Now I have no shortage of the breed ready to go through the works; a Pollitt 2-4-2 and an atlantic tank amongst them, but my choice for a first backdated tank engine was an LNER A5/ GCR 9N 4-6-2. I think the main reason why I chose this one over the others was that it hadn't really responded well to my previous efforts at a repaint (which was into 1924 LNER black, the first time around).

The model itself is one I bought off of Ebay, a few years ago, and in my ownership has now been in three liveries; firstly LNER green (I don't think any A5s actually wore this colour at all....), then LNER black and now GCR green. It is a whitemetal kit, I don't know by whom, and weighs an absolute ton.

Alterations to the bodywork were minor, amounting to new cab side sheets in plastic card, removing the snifting valve, and fitting Kadee couplers fore and aft.

The repaint was performed by my usual method of grey undercoat in enamel paint, two coats of gloss brunswick green enamel, and a top coat of matt brunswick green acrylic. Lining was my usual odd mix of HMRS LNER lining for the tanks and bunker and homebrew boilerbands, with the added fun this time of homebrew bunker back lining and cab sheet lining- cut out from paper.

Well, enough of my waffling on; here are a few photos. I think that for a large lumbering beast it looks very graceful in a 'proper' livery, rather than plain black.