On to the second step of the conversion of 37403, as a result of a combination of the temperature, the lack or a paint handle to move the workpiece and very old paint, I did have a few issues with the painting.  Notably it was very difficult to get paint to stay in corners / edges of detail.  So minor repairs were completed with a brush, (while the wreathing will be focused around these areas so any remaining damaged paint will be obscured by the weathering.)  Using some thinners on a fine brush the overspray of green onto the yellow warning panel was removed.   With that done, the ETH sockets were glued back into position  (while the lamp irons will follow this evening.)   The emergency cut off switches on each end were picked out with red edges and a pale grey centre, before the model was given a coat of gloss varnish once it was fully dry.

The large bodyside grills were given a coat of paint on the coloured areas (replacing anything that was blue with green), before refitting onto the model.  I have learned from the mistakes with my DRS 37612 and left the doors in situ, there is no chance of loosing any doors this time!  Speaking of which I really should draw up a class 37 door in CAD and run through the silhouette to replace the missing doors on 612.....

Attention then turned to the chassis, the fuel tanks are probably the weakest part of the Bachmann Class 37 model, but for the time being will be left as the come.  Its one of those jobs which really need to be done across a fleet rather than just on a single model....  Instead they were treated to a weathering mix of Vallejo paints (Grey Black, Black, Leather and German Cam Brown).  The same mix was applied to the bogies and remaining plastic chassis parts, while the bufferbeams were given a coat of red paint. Air and vacuum pipes were added along with a slot for a Dingham and a Heljan Class 47 snowplough.  More pipes are still needed however...

next up was the ends, adding Vi Trains parts for the 4 lamp irons per end (painting two of them green) before reassembling the lighting units.  
 

I had a crack at scribing the panel lines around the windscreens, but it doesn’t look very noticeable.

next up was the OHLE cantrail stripe, adding the bonnet  sections and fixing a couple of areas on the roof.  Once done I gave another coat of varnish, which is there the problems started.  As it was raining I sprayed on the utility room, I think I ended up spraying one end a bit too close as the varnish reacted ( it did the same on rear of a tender i varnished afterwards).   Thankfully it only impacted one bonnet top (and the are due fairly heavy weathering anyway).  After gently sanding down it was repainted by hand before rejoining the ends.

The final job of the evening was to fit the Extreme Etchings roof grill, using an old etch that had got crumpled up in storage.  As a result I glued it in place with ‘gorilla’ superglue as I wanted a quicker bond to hold the shape.  The etched part will follow before painting.

So all that remains is to add the etched ring to the roof grill, then paint it grey.  And see what Railtec come back with on the transfers.

Lots of work so far, but its been an enjoyable project.  Certainly a lot more rewarding than the alternative approach of selling 37412 and using the proceeds (and some more no doubt) to buy a Bachmann collectors club Caerphilly Castle as a base.  Im sure its going to be just as rewarding on the next one.  However first I need to do some selling to provide the funds for a transfer order...

There is still a need for one final 37 to be added to the fleet, but its all dependent on finding a Bachmann 37114 in EWS at the right price.  I want a model of 37054 Viking in EW&S (replacing one of my first diesel locos, a Hornby release).  But finding a suitable base model (at the right price) is proving tricky.  I suspect it will end up being a respray job on whatever cheap split box 37/0 I can find, maybe even a case of grafting a pair of Split Box ends onto my scrap 37/0 shell if I can get a pair.....