RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted June 19, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted June 19, 2020 Let's get down to business! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The colourful duo joining us this week is 37510 in the iconic Intercity Swallow scheme and 37516 in stylish unbranded Loadhaul livery. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I've long had plans to model both of these but the circumstances of exactly how and when were unknown until fairly recently..! Now from experience, Intercity is a challenging livery to paint, so when Bachmann released their 37685 already in these colours last year, it was going straight in my basket! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37685 of course is a centre-headcode box loco so to represent 37510 it needed some new ends and some playing about on the roof, but not to worry as the all-important livery was there! The plot twists further when it came to the donor locos, late last year my mate Mark offered me a lovely 37032 Mirage loco at a knockdown price I couldn't refuse...however as no Railfreight Red Stripe 37s made it to my 1998 period in working condition, and as it was the Christmas holidays, I decided I fancied doing something a bit silly! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I always like 37516 due to it's unusual twist on a well-loved livery, so in-between festive Toblerone consumption, Mirage became a refurbished Class 37/5! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The bodyside hatches and grilles were sanded down, filled and changed, Shawplan etched parts added where required and a good deal of styrene strip to fill in gaps! New refurbished nose ends came courtesy of spares bought from Rainbow Railways, a nice plug-in fit. Out came the airbrush and paints and soon I had a plain black and orange body ready to go! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The masking was a bit special on this one, the first time I've sprayed a Loadhaul and the curved top of the yellow warning panel was interesting to do - it also took a lot of filling and sanding to hide the Bachmann plug-in nose, the gap would now be noticeable because the yellow panel is different to almost every other Class 37 livery! Meanwhile, over on 37510, this had roof changes, airhorns removed and new ends installed before being branded into '510. The old numbers came off super easy with Humbrol thinners, the body was gloss varnished before new decals were added, with a layer of Railmatch Matt Varnish to seal everything in. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Weathering soon started in earnest with the usual paint on/wipe off wash layers building up, a variety of browns and greys working from light to dark. Cotton buds and kitchen towel laced with thinners is used to wipe off the paint in vertical motion from top to bottom to simulate rain bringing any dirt down the side of the body leaving dirt only in the panel gaps and sheltered areas. Useful colours from the Humbrol range included No's 1, 32, 62, 186, 133, 251, plus Phoenix's Rail Grey or Cement Rendering shades for some super light grey useful for fading and specific streaking. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr A generous slice of Xenomania-produced golden pop-cheese from the St Trinians film soundtrack is prescribed here for any work on Class 37/5s. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr After the washes are applied, the fun can start with the detail painting, poring over dozens of photos from Flickr of every angle of the loco in a set time period to capture any notable weathering, paint chip and character to add to each model. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Despite being devoid of the classic logo and therefore plainer than most Loadhaul locos, this was a weathering favourite as there were a number of huge chunks of paint missing from the bodysides for years! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr With the black base, a lot of the weathering was centred on lightening the appearance and replicating the slight fade in the colours seen by 1998, and highlighting raised detail using Gunmetal greys, drybrushed to make the raised detail 'pop' out from the otherwise unrelieved black bodysides. 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The paint chips are a variety of greys applied to build up the effect of undercoat showing through, the patches themselves weathered through years of being exposed, the loco was certainly fun to look at! Noticeable in this view is the attractive set of Oleo buffers fitted at the No.2 end, and paired with the snowploughs, what a looker! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Later in it's career did the loco get extra Sandite filler points added in the bodysides but it's just a little later than my modelling period, otherwise would make for some exciting relief to those plain sides. IMG_9937510 and 37516 by James Makin19 by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr And what's better than an Intercity 37! Now I'd love to have a late '80 - early '90s Scottish Highland Line layout to run loads of these around but modelling Didcot in 1998 you have to take what you can get, and if it's just one of a pair of Intercity Swallow 37s left running on the network then I'll happily settle for 37510! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr One of the main attractions was modelling a loco that's kind of fallen from grace, the days of it's role atop prestigious Intercity Land Cruise trains with long rakes of First Class white-roofed Intercity Swallow Mk1 dining trains firmly behind it, and now to be found covered in winter grime rostered for freight work under EWS, irresistible! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr There's a number of subtle paint differences between 37510 and the donor model 37685, especially around the grilles and once done, really take the Bachmann base model from looking overly toy-like into something very much more meaty and down to Earth! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Shawplan roof grilles really make a great difference to the roof of the locos, they don't tend to feature too much in my normal low-angle shots, but as we spend most of the time looking at the roof, they are lovely to see! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr When it comes to tracking the recent history of each locomotive normally there's a sad story but by a freak coincidence both of these locomotives are alive and well and still out there being used on the mainline! 37510 had a trip to France in 1999 before later being given a new life with DRS following sale by EWS, inheriting a coat of dark blue before eventual sale to EuroPhoenix and outshopping in the super smart grey & red dragon livery, now under the banner of Rail Operations Group. Meanwhile, 37516 kept plodding on and became a dirty-stop-out in the Sandite reserve pool for EWS until late in the day, finally ending up in the custody of West Coast Railway Company, trading the jazzy Loadhaul colours for a more reserved maroon! 37510 and 37516 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr As always it's been so much fun bringing some spotting favourites back to life, and I can't wait to get using them on some freight workings soon! Cheers, James 22 19 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 What can I say ? Fantastic detail as ever and a lot of work involved. I got as far as priming a body for 37516 then lost interest, I’m too lazy ! Cant wait to see these trundling around “ didcot “, 516 would look super on some Dapol silver bullets as per the quidhampton tanks it worked at least once . 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Fatadder Posted June 19, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2020 Very nice, I was very close to doing 510 before choosing to do 607 in DRS youve made a fantastic job of it! You are now making me want to do more class 37 projects, something I really must resist! My last spare EWS 37 body is getting dangerously close to a dunk in some paint stripper.... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Andy7 Posted June 20, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2020 Absolutely superb job James as per usual. Really loving 510, the Intercity livery sitting so well on a 37, especially one so grimy. Keep them coming. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 They look superb James! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBM37404 Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 Great work! Many memories of 37510 on the Sleepers north of Edinburgh. Also once on a daytime service up the Highland Mainline. John 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHC Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 They look great....... Your thread is a go-to just to see what I probably could not do but I live in hope. Is there a chance that you could show a comparison picture of one of you fleet. So model and the real life photo it has been weathered from. Keith 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railfreight1998 Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 Magnificent as always. I was wavering over having a go at 516 but after seeing this it may just have to be done! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted June 20, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 20, 2020 Thanks so much for the kind comments guys! 23 hours ago, rob D2 said: What can I say ? Fantastic detail as ever and a lot of work involved. I got as far as priming a body for 37516 then lost interest, I’m too lazy ! Cant wait to see these trundling around “ didcot “, 516 would look super on some Dapol silver bullets as per the quidhampton tanks it worked at least once . Cheers Rob you gotta dig the loco out again and finish off someday! Either that or outshop it in earlier Railfreight grey guise for your older layout! I've got some silver bullets so that would be ideal, either that or perfect fodder for some humble ballast workings! 12 hours ago, KeithHC said: They look great....... Your thread is a go-to just to see what I probably could not do but I live in hope. Is there a chance that you could show a comparison picture of one of you fleet. So model and the real life photo it has been weathered from. Keith Thanks very much Keith! I'm probably not allowed to post other's pics but the photos I use to weather from are ones I'll dig out from Flickr, I'll search say, "37516 1998" and then screenshot all the pics I can find and use those, from as many different angles as possible all round the loco! I always wish I'd taken more photos of my own at the time but film used to be rationed by my parents, you had to make the 24 or 36 pics on the film roll last what seemed a whole Summer haha! Cheers, James 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysb Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Incredible work James. Already an inspiration on my last 37 work and when I’m done with the 47’s I have a few more Blazey 37’s to do! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Wow lovely 37s and those 47s too!!!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackB95 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 I never get bored of looking at your stuff James. Your skills on layouts and rolling stocks is just amazing. I remember drooling over my keyboard as a kid looking at your Wells Green TMD website. And here I am, years down the line, drooling over my keyboard again over your stuff. That FGW HST looks absolutely fantastic. A beautiful piece of art. Fantastic mate. Really is. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted June 25, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 25, 2020 On 24/06/2020 at 10:47, JackB95 said: I never get bored of looking at your stuff James. Your skills on layouts and rolling stocks is just amazing. I remember drooling over my keyboard as a kid looking at your Wells Green TMD website. And here I am, years down the line, drooling over my keyboard again over your stuff. That FGW HST looks absolutely fantastic. A beautiful piece of art. Fantastic mate. Really is. Thanks very much Jack! I'm still here and bodging away haha! I've spent a good decade or so doing scenic bits for our club's extended Loftus Road layout so as that nears the final completion it's been a refreshing past couple of years fulfilling what started as my 2018 New Years Resolution, to get on with some good old fashioned loco detailing projects, all the stock I've been hoarding and gathering too much dust! The FGW HST was fun but with lots of tedious bits too! Though what with a half a decade passing since then I think I'm mentally ready to tackle another one now! The next one to be worked on will be in the classic 'Merlin' livery of Great Western Trains...it'll be great fun, except the daunting part of painting 300-odd passengers in the coaches..! Cheers, James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted June 25, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted June 25, 2020 Time for some former top-link Duffs! 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Joining the fleet today is 47787 Victim Support and 47788 Captain Peter Manisty RN. Up until ousting by the new EWS Class 67s, the Res fleet of refurbished Class 47/7s were the daddies, a smart new vision of postal services fit for the 1990s and beyond, powering exciting new Railnet services to key Royal Mail hubs around the country. At least until EWS came along and had other ideas...! I've long admired the livery and have over time modelled quite a few of the fleet across the '47' incarnations of Heljan and Bachmann, these are the latest two to join the fleet today. The starting point of each was Bachmann's 2013-produced 47/7 model, stripped down ready for some fun! 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Unlike the previous Res versions I've done (47722, 47736, 47781 & 47790) these two were interesting as they had flush-headcode panel ends which makes for a nice bit of variety! The Bachmann handrails were first removed from each bodyshell, Humbrol model filler added, and the surface rubbed back smooth. Brass 'O' tubing was then used to mark back in the holes for the marker lights, before re-adding the Bachmann light guides and reinstating the handrails, or fabricating brass replacements. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Roof details were modified to match the prototypes, using a mixture of leftover Shawplan etches and plasticard to infill! The usual fun was then had renumbering the models, the old numbers and names being removed with Humbrol thinners, before a gloss varnishing, application of the new decals and nameplates, before a final coating of Railmatch matt varnish. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Then after giving it time for the surfaces to harden, in comes the familiar weathering stage! 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Lady Gaga's superb Chromatica album comes recommended as the ideal accompaniment to life-extended Class 47s. Given the weathering on the prototypes, the shades favoured here were largely around just dirt gathering in the recesses, both bodies having reasonably intact liveries with them not long being repainted into the iconic Roundel-designed red & grey livery. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr With most of the 'dirt' wiped off with a kitchen towel, next, cotton buds dipped in thinners were used to take the last off the side, saving for a few choice streaks of roof dirt matched to prototype photos. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Quite by accident were they consecutively numbered! 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47787 Victim Support always seemed an appealing one, and the double flush end makes it stand out from the other fleet members slightly. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47787 has an interesting history, the double-flush end being the result of extensive accident repairs after being involved in the Kensal Green collision of 1977. Back then, it was in its former guise as celebrity 47163 in the BR Blue 'Silver Jubilee' livery with giant Union Jack flag on the sides. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47788 also had a flush end, albeit one end only. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I like 47788 as it just seemed to turn up in a lot of places for me! This had an interesting history, being the former Intercity 47833, once painted in a dubious heritage version of original BR two-tone green, which it later lost to the corporate red livery once converted for the Res fleet. 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr As is often the case, the two locos have a mixed history! 47788 continued to slog away working for EWS, sadly succumbing to withdrawal and scrapping in 2000, like many others, at Wigan CRDC. Meanwhile, 47787 had a renaissance, being picked as one of the few 47s that EWS decided to refurbish and repaint into full maroon & gold in the early 2000s. Renamed Windsor Castle, the loco was drafted in as third-in-command on the Royal Train - what a change in fortunes! The rollercoaster would continue - the loco again sidelined in favour of (Claret) Class 67s, laying in storage until sale to West Coast Railway Company, who reactivated it for mainline use, however it now appears to be stored again with a number of components robbed - is this really the end for this fighter or does another miracle await? 47787 and 47788 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr A great fun project to recreate the pairing, and a life of top link Res services awaits! Cheers, James 18 14 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted June 26, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 26, 2020 Hi James, Great work as ever ! I always thought the square buffers made a 47 look a bit weird, which is another great reason to model one ! Cheers, Phil. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 (edited) Lovely job ! Always thought “ victim support “ was the most fantastically awful name to grace a diesel ! Edited June 26, 2020 by rob D2 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysb Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 James, Simply stunning work! Amazing level of detail. thanks Rhys 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack374 Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 Excellent work as ever James...I’ve got a soft spot for Duffs despite them being a shadow of their former fleet size at present. Your weathering on these (and all your other stock) is very tasty indeed. Regarding 787, I remember hearing that it was due to return to the mainline with WCR at some point as another had donated parts. On an organised visit earlier this year it was indeed in the shed and not stored outside as it had been for years. I look forward to more grubby beasts Jack. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted June 27, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 27, 2020 21 hours ago, Jack374 said: Excellent work as ever James...I’ve got a soft spot for Duffs despite them being a shadow of their former fleet size at present. Your weathering on these (and all your other stock) is very tasty indeed. Regarding 787, I remember hearing that it was due to return to the mainline with WCR at some point as another had donated parts. On an organised visit earlier this year it was indeed in the shed and not stored outside as it had been for years. I look forward to more grubby beasts Jack. Thanks very much Jack! Really interesting to hear about the next steps for 787, it’s gone through so many changes of fortune over the years, amazing it’s still in the frame for potentially coming back! I know what you mean about the shadow of the former 47 fleet size - I still buy the legendary Platform 5 stock books each year and am stunned that the entire active fleet can fit on about a page compared to years gone by with page after page for what seemed like most of the front section..! Cheers, James 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted July 1, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted July 1, 2020 Time for the latest update of 'Duff' Weekly..! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I've got previous form here and long time readers may remember my previous ramblings on the topic of modelling the much-missed ILRA pool of Virgin Cross-Country Class 47s! I'm somewhere approaching double figures with these and there's many more in the grand plan for the future! Newest additions to the fleet are 47807 The Lion of Vienna and 47845 County of Kent, recalling the great days of the last true widespread loco-hauled services on the UK network before Virgin's well-intentioned but ill-fated Operation Princess would change the game forever. Unlike the other Virgin repaints completed a few years back, we are now fortunate enough to have a ready to run Bachmann version available! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr However, all is not as it first seems! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Bachmann chose to model 47814, one of the earliest to go into the iconic red scheme, and as a result it had larger-than-standard yellow warning panels. So a simple renumber is not so easy unless you cut back on the yellow! I masked off the yellow to be retained, and set about scratching the excess yellow away with a sharp curve-blade scalpel, because it's applied over the top of the dark grey, it comes off a treat! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Next came the individual machine modifications, few 47s were quite the same and roof mods needed doing on each of these before repainting. The number and name branding came off super quickly with Humbrol enamel thinners. As with the other locos previously, a coat of gloss varnish was applied to the model prior to new decals and nameplates being added, and then topped off with a coat of Railmatch matt varnish. Glazing is covered in Humbrol Maskol to save removing the windows, on some models such as these it's sometimes so well-glued that it's just easier to leave it in place! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr A classic slice of Pet Shop Boys is the recommended background noise for life-extended Class 47 projects, accompanying the light weathering taking place on the roof and upper bodysides. The Virgin '47' fleet was generally kept pretty clean, often only picking up occasional oil streaks and grime in the places where the carriage washers wouldn't reach, barring the worst winter conditions, when they probably broke down anyway! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47845 County of Kent was modelled with some minor streaking at the No.2 end, oily exhaust deposits brought down from the roof, with an otherwise-clean exterior. 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Little details were picked out such as the wear on the steps, I forgot to do the buffer greasing before the photoshoot but that was done as well, a little bit of gunmetal grey on a cotton bud to finish off! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Of course I couldn't just stop at doing one more ILRA beast! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 47807 The Lion of Vienna was a long-time favourite, having modelled it several times across Lima, Heljan and now Bachmann permutations! I just really liked the mysteriously exotic-sounding name as a kid and only later in life learnt about Nat Lofthouse and the Bolton Wanderers football connection - funny the incidental stuff that railway modelling teaches you! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Virgin famously had numerous reliability problems with their Class 47 fleet, so it seemed appropriate to make another dummy model to be towed around as a dead-in-train failure, often rescued by an EWS no-heat dump, much to the joy of bashers and photographers alike! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Bringing the story up to date, the locos have had interesting careers since their Virgin glory days. With their evocative Sulzer engines ripped out, both these locos were re-born as the second wave of GM Class 57s - the Virgin Thunderbirds! 47845 was to become Thunderbird 1, 57301 Scott Tracy and 47807 being transformed into 57304 Gordon Tracy! (though for the record, my favourite Thunderbird was always Thunderbird 3!) It was very much mixed feelings, while I was in the midst of peak Thunderbirds-fever making my homemade Blue Peter 'Tracy Island' in the early '90s I never imagined that one day my favourite railway locos would be ripped apart and come back with bold Thunderbirds branding! They did look superbly stylish when however. 57301 even had a spell in bright Network Rail yellow, and today both locos are still out there roaming, these days in more subdued DRS Blue - classy, but not a patch on 1990s Virgin red! 47807 and 47845 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr It's been great fun nostalgia bringing these two to life, and what with easy availability of Virgin 47's now, I can't imagine they will be the last! Cheers, James 21 9 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Super as ever ! I think you should make all your projects into a “ bookazine” , for traction or suchlike. I’m sure they’d be a few quid in it for you . 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Fatadder Posted July 1, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 1, 2020 Very nice, always good to see some more Virgin 47s. I live in hope of finding the Bachmann Totness Castle as a bargain spares / repairs type purchase. I don’t really need another one given my planes one loco per rake approach (and already having 47817 in Virgin and a Fraggonset 47/7 to run with the Virgin set.). But Totness Castle in its earlier Virgin XC branding is just so tempting... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 1, 2020 Tempfix Share Posted July 1, 2020 Fantastic as ever James, but not sure how 'Kings Cross' on that album goes with the VXC theme! Thanks for sharing. Rich 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 You have a real flair for capturing the mundane James - proper modelling! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted July 8, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 Time for something big, grey and maybe slightly boring! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Joining the fleet this week is 37417 Highland Region in plain triple grey livery, modelled in Summer 1998 condition. Although it'd be amazing to create endless models of jazzy sector-flash locos, in trying to recreate a prototypical scene it means modelling the locos you actually saw, even if the reality was normally something more average! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The starting point was a Bachmann 37428 model, with the base grey colours but with a nameplate and attractive Petroleum sector flash to remove. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr It's sometimes hit-and-miss with removing printed detail depending on the age of the model, I have reworked two models of '428 in recent times and both have been a pig to work on! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr The sector flash wouldn't budge with thinners or T-Cut, and the nameplate removal started to eat into the base grey, so the entire area was stripped back fully and a new uniform lower coat of Rail Grey was sprayed on to the model. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr I use Tamiya masking tapes on the models as they apply and remove well without being too tacky, and the pic shows the classic kitchen roll tube used as a cheap substitute for a paint handle! This then gets impaled upon an empty wine bottle neck for safe storage while the new paint layer dried. Dashing forward, the newly-painted model was then gloss varnished and Fox decals & plates applied over the new finish, before being matt varnished ready for weathering. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Ladytron's superb self-titled sixth album is the recommended background listening for any triple-grey 'Tractor' projects. The weathering layers were applied in the usual paint-on/wipe-off style - using shades of Humbrol 186, 251 and 32 to give the prototypical dark-weathered appearance of 37417 in 1998 before it lost its greys for a splash of Wisconsin maroon at the Toton Open Day later that summer. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr Rust patches, scars and peeling paint layers were matched to photos of the time, the rust being built up from 6 layers of browns applied light to dark. The nose end grilles had a big build up of rust deposits, whilst some pretty big chunks of undercoat were visible and crying out to be modelled! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37417 was another loco fitted with the cast bogie frames, these being replicated using my usual bodge of grinding off the raised detail with a knife - proper modellers may wish to use Class 50 bogies! 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr On the verge of losing its tatty BR greys, the loco would soon become centre of attention at the EWS Toton Open Day - swapping the Highland Region nameplates for some bling bling brass RAIL Magazine plates & beasties under the watch of Ed Burkhardt himself. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr 37417 would prove to be luckier than some of its sister locos, receiving a further fresh coat of red and re-plated to Richard Trevithick for the final stage of its career, soldiering on in frontline service until 2008 when inevitable withdrawal came. The beast would later be sold to DRS prior to eventual stripping and scrapping in 2013, meeting its end alongside some other notable locos lost at Booth's of Rotherham. 37417 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 2, on Flickr It's been quite satisfying recreating the loco and recalling a more mundane period in it's career, the peeling drab greys being sandwiched between the previous Intercity Mainline livery that epitomised it's famous Scottish years and prior to reinvention as a red RAIL celebrity, there's plenty more where that came from! Cheers, James 36 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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