Glad to see the site is up and running again. I'm slowly adding back the lost images to my blogs so if there's anything anyone has a query on please ask.

During the site down time I finished off the engine and it's now released for traffic.

First up was a coat of Halfords etch primer, then Phoenix olive green through an airbrush.

I'm quite pleased with the paint job. I haven't tackled Southern livery before and I was a bit apprehensive about it but it seems to have turned out ok.

The lining is a mixture of HMRS LNER lining, boiler bands are home made using black transfer sheet and white lining added with a bowpen.

I've also used the bowpen for the valances and steps. I used Vallejo acrylic, thinned with their own thinner and it's worked well. The black edge banding has been brush applied with glossy black acrylic, again Vallejo.

The engine was then given a very light waft of weathering. In my world this engine would only just have been painted so I wanted to keep it fairly new.

At this point I plonked the engine on the layout and noticed the front end was a little low. This was quickly remedied.

Coal, crew all added. Just some couplings and route disks and it'll be ready to go. It should be making at appearance at Expo EM.

I have the 0-6-0T AS Harris to do at some point, but for my next project I'm turning to something altogether larger...