The latest loco project for Brent is to make a Modified Hall, to that end I have picked up one of the recent Bachmann model at a bargain price to use as a basis.

The first question is which loco to model, for this I am rather torn. As it comes the model is in BR green (weathered) with a Hawksworth tender. The first Modified Hall to be recorded with a Hawksworth tender is 6971 which was built in October 47. (As an aside if I can find the October carriage working / working timetable my intention is to shift the operating period to October 47, which both captures the Mod Hall build and better justifies the number of Hawksworth coaches)

So the work required:

• Re brand the tender to GWR - I am tempted to give a spare Hornby Hawksworth tender a coat of Klear to darken the green and use this given the Bachmann tooling is rather crude.
• Rebuild the front end with the Brassmasters parts (so it actually looks like a Modified Hall)
• Rewire the loco to get the decoder into the tender.
• Renumber / Name.
• Add GWR lining to the cab and firebox
  

The alternative approach is to go for a wartime build loco, in black with plated cabside window and no name. This will need a full respray in black, and require the purchase of a Collett Tender to complete the job.

So far I have made an attempt at removing the lining from the cabsides and replacing with HMRS transfers. The hardest part being the area above the cab window which was barely wide enough to fit the transfer (in fact I cheated and cut off the lower orange line.) This was my first attempt at lining a loco and I am actually quite happy with the result (which will look at lot better with a dusting of weathering to blend it into the cabside. The only problem is that the Bachmann lining is a lot more red (not sure if that is the BR colour, but its similar to the lining on my GWR hall from Bachmann). So the rest of the boiler will need lining as well.

I need to work out how to get the Hornby tender to attach to the Bachmann loco, and get the required bits from Brassmasters to convert the front end.