The GC and Met in OO

That looks bloody beautiful well done you've got a loco to be proud of there. I've very much enjoyed following the build blog and its given me a lot of inspiration for some of my projects.

Thank you.  It's been quite an enjoyable build (if fraught in places!) and I'm rather looking forward to getting it finished and moving on to those carriages. 

 

One thing I didn't realise until I bought the LNWR lining is that there are some corners on the sheet with the red on the outside.... which maybe suggests a way to achieving the GCR freight & mixed traffic red-black-white lining.  I might try it out on one of my next locos- and it if works I foresee a couple of finished models being relined.  Good, better, best and all that. 

I see you have the same issue as me, when I paint a loco with black in hiding the brush marks

The trick, in so far as there is one so far as I have found, is to use as large a brush as practical, preferably a soft-bristled type, and apply long brush strokes.

 

It minimises the appearance of brush strokes but there always tends to be the places where the paint drags.