Bluemonkey presents....

Very nice, look forward to seeing that develop. Flying monk?

Very nice Ade, when are you going to make a start on the abbey?

I do have a couple of Crocodile H kits to build and a number of Rectanks may come in useful

In a massive attempt to avoid the chain ganging of the warflats (Still!) and the even older sleeper wagon loads I decided to make a little storage box for Dobbin and Geoff. Made out of scrap and off cuts it doesn't look professional but does exactly what is required, two fold. First safe place to store any individual figures and more importantly the second I have successfully avoided the chain gang for another day.

Thank you @Compound2632 those video clicks are really interesting. Some fabulous footage and eye watering manoeuvres.

Time for the staging then, Geoff was a little stressed this morning. Not with Dobbin, her work was exemplary as usual but he could see what was behind and not a 57XX insight! Just how is he going to get that shifted?!

Whilst waiting for the one planker to dry after varnishing. Dobbin got her final coat as did Geoff. I am very happy with the finish and appearance of both but under whelmed with the pictures they both look a lot better to the naked eye. I guess it is down to the lighting and close up focus. Anyway here's a couple of pictures before they get 'staged' later.

Mean while felt a little brave annoyed so gave this a hit up with some washes. I think weathering powders will add extra detail and realism as previously suggested by @Bogusman, with thanks. Will be acquiring some in due course. As with a lot of very close up pictures it does look better and particularly darker to the naked eye.

After further research and forums etc I think I may require some flow improver for airbrushing. Although the painted was thinned using the appropriate thinners. My understanding is flow improver is slightly different and can be used in conjunction with thinners anyway. Oh well there goes getting them completed this week!

I could be moving to the dark side!

Because of my frustrations I decided to punich myself and have a blast at this; So as I have a day off from my crappy job I gave it a whirl. Here it is. At least it doesn't need painting! I find it incredible the skills and vision of some people to design such an intricate kit. Everything fits first time without glues, solder or filler. As you can see from the paint pots and wheels sets in the background it is not very big.

Just spent three hours trying to spray the wagons, arghhhhhhhhhh, spend more time cleaning/clearing on two airbrushes (2mm and 4mm) than any actual painting. Must be me but what/where? The paint is almost too thin, pressure at 2bar. The paint is Vallejo colour so not rubbish and suitable to spray. I think it is drying to quickly in the airbrush thus blocking. Maybe a inhibitor or retarder? I just dunno!

Looking great, love the different minks.

Primed and ready for colour! I am pleased that I decided to hack the wagon ends to give a symmetrical appearance of the cross brace. The planking has worked nicely and changed lever brake and grease box representation works for me. Once primed the detail really stands out and anything that needs to be filled or changed. I appreciate this is more of an 'if' rather than 'real' but I think it will fit in nicely. @MrWolf has also highlighted a potential W3 version for a small Mex could end up with the three bears on the cattle run.

Here's the two builds side by side for comparison prior to priming. Both are Cooper Craft cattle Wagon kits, one bash bodged and the other as per instructions with the exception of the brass tie and retaining bars.

Yes please could be very useful. I am working from this picture; My wagon is more of a representation rather than prototypical.

It is a tube of Revell Plasto filler. It does have a short use time before it starts to go off but decent enough for small jobs. I have got a tube of the Deluxe filler as a reserve once this one is finished but I am yet to open it so can not feedback on that one.

Having looked at the source picture again I do not need to the rivet lengths but I can use them for the top angle as I am sure there would be an iron right angle bracket and a rivets either side. Just a little filler and sanding then ready for the solebars, buffers wheels etc. Then a little colour, hmmmmmmm

Excellent. Your scenic work is lovely and is really bringing the whole scene to life.

Thank you for the tips. No, I dont think I have read the MRJ articles about cattle wagons. I have only have a subscription for a year or so so not read many issues.

Spent an hour yesterday removing the cattle wagon parts from the sprues and cleaning up. Not that there is not much flash to clean the Cooper craft mouldings are superb and to think they are not newly moulded! This morning I got the chopping board out. Here's a little sequence of the progression; The idea is to reduce the height of the ends but to keep the cross brace centred. It would have been straight for to just cut the appropriate amount from the end but would produce a off centre cross brace that would eventually grate. At this stage I had forgotten my initial intention was to keep the full vertical supports!!! Not distracted, the buffer beam is fixed to the floor using the pips as per kit design the larger piece of the wagon end is then fixed. As the cuts have been made on the plank join with careful welding the joining is hidden. Up rights carefully welded back in place. I have a tendency when batch building or chopping things to keep all the associate parts together even if building 6 wagons the same each one would be grouped. The inner planks for the wagon are scribed deeper as the kit has positive lines to represent plank joins rather than negative. It is also clear the planks do not correspond outer to inner or inner side to inner end which is a little annoying. Something I would change if I was to made another by by rubbing down and completely rescribbing and aligning. The original intention was use some brass strip as the wrap around top but this proved too thin so I will have to use some some styrene to form this but I have used the intended brass as the top ledge of the wagon opening. So this is the basic wagon body. Vertical supports are required in the corners and midpoint between the doors and corners. I have the left over mink bodies available for this in an attempt to preserve a similar rivet appearance. Every other rivet needs to be carefully removed with removing one's fingers tips. This will hopefully be completed this evening so everything can fully cure overnight before a little filler to finish.

Thank you @Bogusman appreciate the help. I think I will wait and use powders when I have some rather than rushing. I think they look more realistic than I fear my wash would look. Any suggestions to colour/mixes etc please? Do you fix the powders, if at all. This could be the difference for me though as my wagons will be in storage often and may have the powders rubbed off or marks made.

@Mikkel We'll see what you think with the next two cattle wagons to join the small special on the bench. These will be the last group to be built before starting some loco builds.

Thank you @Bogusman that is exactly the sort of finish I will be attempting. Thank you for sharing, something to use as a reference. Very nice and love the fact each wagon has it subtle diagram differences. is the weather one to the right N6?

@57xx This is the effects so far from two washes with Citadel Nuln Oil. I am happy with it for internal but for me this is too much for external. the pictures of wagons I have seen generally appear to be clean in service until 1930s+. My aim on the N13/20 is 20s so a little cleaner I think. A single wash and wipe should cover the areas that are poor and also collected in areas to draw out details like the rivets and panel joins. At least this is my hope and aim, just a smidge. I will post pictures for full critique once finished, all comments are welcome.