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Not much else to add really. First side done and satin varnished. Just got to repeat for the other side....

I have been making slow but steady progress. When I started I knew that it would take most of the summer, so I’m happy just pottering on with it all, learning as I go along. A few details. This is the luggage rack assembly, with the mirrored compartment wall. The brackets were a very fancy design, I have simplified them as they are less than 4 mm long. Not difficult in itself, but I have 64 of them to make. Seating is provided in the kit but it is basic and needs a bit of extra work. These are the first class seats. The silhouette cut the armrests and the wings, both trimmed in lace. How many antimacassers? Well, 78 of them. An internal view. The D96 is a nine compartment third. This photo was taken in dark conditions, I wanted to see how the level of lighting looked in practice. As I have mentioned in the past painting and lining is not my strong point. I gave a couple of sides a coat of rattle can, then left them for a few days to really dry. It is “Vauxhall Burgundy Red”. Now experts would tell me that I should be using an airbrush to spray a more accurate shade but there are limitations to what I can do in a flat. I really wasn’t happy about the idea of painting all those panels. Hmm, so I decided to have a go at making lined transfers on white transfer paper. Design was not difficult, but repetitive. I had some “Crafty” brand paper, first print, awful. Ink smeared all over. Second print, worse. So I learned that transfer paper degrades over time. New white transfer paper ordered, “Mister decal paper” brand. Printed well, transfers made and applied to a paint test card. Not bad but I still felt that the white part had too much of a pink tinge from the coach purple underneath. The answer would be to paint the panel white before applying the transfer, but that was what I was trying to avoid. I sat and had a think, what if I just put an identical transfer over the first? I tried it and it worked perfectly, nice white panel with the line round it showing up well. So here is a D 94 composite side as a first example. I am quite pleased with that. I wouldn’t claim that it is as fine as that produced by an expert painter with considerable skill with a lining pen. However I am not one and this method looks the part from normal viewing distances. It is also very fault tolerant. Make a mistake cutting round the transfer, bin it, next one. Realise that a panel is a bit squint, drop of water, adjust it. Having got the techniques sorted out I can push on and do the rest, still a fair amount to do though.

A delivery from Brassmasters today with the remaining parts for the Dean Goods, I have replaced the oil pipe cover with the Finney part (which has a little more meat to it than the Oxford one). A pair of Finney lamp irons were added to the footplate (I think these were missing on the base model), I am debating replacing the end lamp irons as well. Finally on the engine the Finney smokebox door dart was glued in place. Moving onto the tender, a pair of Springside break / water scoop handles were glued in place. Another lamp iron was glued into position on the rear of the tender. The biggest change was to the tender top, gluing in place the Finney dome and filler. The dome needed filing down to size to get it to fit, (part being hidden under the coal). If the the weather is dry tomorrow it will get primed (and hopefully sprayed into wartime black)