Sometime ago I bought myself a sound fitted two-tone green sound fitted class 24, with the intention of modelling D5038 in the condition seen here on the excellent Derby Sulzers site. D5038 was out-shopped from Derby works following overhaul in 1965 wearing the two-tone green livery applied to later class 25s. By 1971 (the start point of the era I model on Foundry Lane and the year in which I intend to set my new layout) she was in shabby external condition but retained many of her as built features, making it a reasonable match for the Bachmann model.

A to do list was quickly identified as follows:

• EM gauge conversion

• Paint full yellow ends on cab fronts

• Swap factory fitted speaker for a bass enhanced speaker

• Change position of fuel tank gauge

• Replace roof fan/grille with Extreme Etchings parts

• Correct roof panel errors

• Detail bufferbeams

• Weather as in photos

The EM conversion and replacement speaker were simple 5 minute jobs and the loco runs well and sounds better too. The speaker fitted neatly in place of the original and is currently held in place with a couple of strips of masking tape!

A bit of filler took care of the existing fuel tank gauge – I have a Brassmasters resin casting to replace this with.

In my haste to re-paint the yellow ends, I decided it would be good idea to brush paint the yellow paint directly on to the existing paint work. At the time I did not have any replacement glazing and thought I might break it if I tried to remove it, so carefully painted up to the glazing. Several coats of warning panel yellow later the green top half of the cab front was still showing through – I should have known better and undercoated first! Disappointed by my painting error the loco went back in its box and stayed there until last night.

Having invested in a set of laserglaze from Shawplan; removing the glazing was no longer a concern and it popped out with no trouble at all. Last night I settled down with a glass of vodka and coke (remember please model responsibly) and began removing the yellow paint with some Precision Super Strip. A little further cleaning up this afternoon and the ends were ready for a coat of grey primer. The photos below show the current state of play – still plenty to do and Foundry Lane’s next exhibition outing less than 2 weeks away!