LNWR, Observation car project, 4mm

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Hi Stephen yes it took a while to decide I read descriptions consulted the Bluebell had a few images... But gold for me didn't look right, and on the actual carriage it was more tanned so I went with that in the end.

Pleased you approve

[Jol Wilkinson]

"Gold" was only used for lining by the LNWR on prestige carriages, such as the 2PM stock, AFAIK. Most carriages were lined with an ochre paint, intended to simulate gold. Other, earlier, photos of the lining on the preserved Observation Saloon show the lining to be white which is inaccurate. Only the single horizontal line at bottom edge of the body side was white.

[Compound2632]

"Gold" was only used for lining by the LNWR on prestige carriages, such as the 2PM stock, AFAIK. Most carriages were lined with an ochre paint, intended to simulate gold. Other, earlier, photos of the lining on the preserved Observation Saloon show the lining to be white which is inaccurate. Only the single horizontal line at bottom edge of the body side was white.

 

Larry Goddard, in a post on a thread deleted in one of his fits of pique but which fortunately I had archived, recommended a 50/50 mix of neat Humbrol gloss Nos. 7 and 69 to represent the lining colour on Midland and LMS carriages. I bought a tin of each but with characteristic procrastination that's as far as I got...

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Good thing I still went the right way... as I model preserved stock lol

[Bluebell Model Railway]

With transfers applied and lining complete the carriage can be vanished, after various coats of varnish and leaving it to dry thoroughly the next area of attention was the interior, the inside walls of the carriage was painted in a mahogany acrylic paint from Vallejo, and various details picked out with a small brush.
 Next work on the interior fitting out, and clear acetate sheet cut in to strips for the windows. These were fixed in place using Glue and Glaze, which is a tacky glue which dries clear, so any over flow doesn't' matter too much.
 

(Left: Internals painted, plus small details, carriage then varnished, Middle: Testing end glazing before fitting. Right: All glazing installed)

 

The seats are all cut and removed from their runners, and with bluetack held on for priming and painting. After  the seats all 34 of them were detailed and painted, the main colour was black with the seat base and back painted blue, the handles on the ends of the seats were picked out with a brass paint colour. Here comes the fun part, adding the seats to the inside, there are slots in bottom of the carriage where the locater slots in on the bottom of the seat... not an easy task taking an hour to do half of the ones side, but with a bit of practice I sped up, and managed to fit all the seats in just over 2 hours...


(Left: Seats primed ready for painting, Right: First row of seats in, just another row to go....)

 

Next week I will post up some photo's of the complete model in time for the competition closing date.

 

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Happy New year, here is the carriage now attached to it's chassis, still requires some people, which will be fitted in due course





 

[Irish Padre]

Great work and persistent effort has paid off! Looks absolutely brilliant

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Great work and persistent effort has paid off! Looks absolutely brilliant

Thank You

[SR71]

Wow. That's excellent. I've been a life member at the bluebell for many years and you've really captured the coach well.