So, 24rs later than advertised, I've tried the Railmatch acrylic thought the spray pot. It didn't go well, the sprayer kept blocking. This might have been caused by the enamel paint trial, but it might have been not liking acrylic paint, who knows. It's certainly a lot easier to use, as in it washes off hands easily... As it turns out, the acrylic diluted 3:1 works very well when stippled on, the paint doesn't stick to the ballast like enamel so there was a lot less grief with inadvertently pulling up looser bits. So the great experiment was interesting but ultimately showed that stippling with acrylics is far, far easier - and more controllable too as there's no over-spray.

As to the colour. I've sat here now for some time literally watching paint dry and come to he following conclusion : The Precision Sleeper Grime, with it's red-ish tint, kind of makes it look like the track is old and isn't used much, whereas the Railmatch one looks somehow more lived in, more recent perhaps. It's purely subjective of course. I'm going with the Railmatch.

As ever, some photos. The double slip is the Railmatch paint job obviously, still quite wet when it took the snap (call me Mr. Patience) and the others are an example of why I need to hide my credit card when visiting the Wizard Models site.

What I actually needed was the signal wire pullies.

What I actually wanted was the signal kit.

What would be great but not essential would be the manhole covers.

What I really didn't need was the tail lamps. But they are so cute :-) They will be nesting round a set of buffers as tail lamps do. A shame to do it, but all but one will be weathered as even in the breeding season they were mostly bereft of their finer plumage.