I have now made a proper start on the 4-car A60 Stock train. Initially, I had sprayed the body shells in a metallic silver, but I really didn't find the effect convincing. The A Stock in original form had actually quite a dull finish, so I have experimented with shades of greys, settling on Humbrol colours #129 for the main body, #126 for the corner castings, driver's doors and communication doors, and #67 for the roofs. I have included some before and after photos of the bodies to show the effects of the different colour schemes. Grey #126 is not perfect; I feel I need a slightly bluer shade, but I really don't want to mix it as that makes touching up later much more difficult. As the photos show, there are a few touch ups still needed to the lighter two greys.

I have also started on the bogie assembly, but the axles are a little too long, and the bearings are already countersunk enough, so work on those has had to be paused pending an order for some steam Era wheels on 25mm axles.

The Tenshodo SPUD motor bogies have been in storage for a long time, so were oiled and tested on DC. They ran fine so I have prepared them for DCC conversion and also added the adapters for the side frames and couplings.

I glued the bogie stretchers to one side frame for each bogie, but the rest of the assembly has to await the correct wheels/axles arriving.

The old Hornby Collectors Club card is now serving as a mixing palette for the Araldite 2-part epoxy glue I am using!