For a long time I have had a non runner Bachmann 57 in virgin livery sat in the to sell pile, last weekend I decided to do something about it. Stuck the virgin body on eBay and bought a shell in railfreight distribution which is much more useful for Wheal Imogen.

Getting back from Sevilla today I’ve made a start on renunbering it to 47338 circa 1998. I started by removing the names and numbers, giving it a soak in microsol before scraping off with a flat screwdriver. New transfers were added from Fox, I had hoped to have the right depot plate but after finding unneeded plates for several other depots I gave up and will order one tomorrow

Next the 57 chassis had the fuel tanks replaced, before fitting P4 wheels. To do this I removed the moulding between the middle two brake shoes and reduced the thickness of the outer ones. The wheels themselves were borrowed from 57601’alonf with its decoder, with that model ending up in the display case (along with a modified FGW brake)

Removal of the name had left a shiny patch and a couple of marks, not a problem as it needed a rusty mark where it’s old plates had been removed. I followed James Makins approach detailed on his workbench. It needs more shades adding still.

More weathering was added brushing on acrylics and then wiping off. This loco had very clean cabs and a dirty body between them (along with a few extra rust patches which I’ve tried to replicate.

The roof definitely needs more work, would welcome further advice (it’s been a long time since I last weathered something built after 1947! I’m thinking I need to get the airbrush out with some underframe dirt

I also need to source a pair of lighting units as these are not present and are different to the 57 part on the original model