Bluemonkey presents....

Paint test on the existing freight grey wagons and it is not great. The coat of Testers acts like a waterproof coating so some of the paint separates and is too risky to apply to the wagons as it is likely to give a poor finish thus ruining the wagons. Weather later seems to be my only 'get out'.

The side rivets are better than pictured, honest. Will have a look at this one in black. Adding further fuel to the fire. I have a cordon gas 9 tank wagon in black as this is also departmental, same as the twin tanks. Food for thought?!

I can only offer that departmental may have been the difference between grey and black, similar to the grey and red?

Related very muchly; N20 primed and ready for what ever colour. Luckily the picture I have of 9669 does not have offset brakes. I have read that most N20s were offset for what ever reason, probably a plan to mess with the heads of future GWR modellers!

@Mikkel lol adding fuel to the fire, Captain. I get the impression that the paint used was very very dark grey and depending on the person's eye for colour, the day light and how long the wagons had been in service decided what shade of black, dark grey, grey/black or black/grey they saw. Real life does not always help the modeller.

This was my accidental stumble; but since I have found this (all from Russell books)

@Compound2632 here's the sleeve insert;

Ever since accidently stumbling into this minefield it has driven me crazy not to mention SWMBO! As I was researching running numbers for the N13 I accidently saw a quote stating black livery and there it all begins for me and again again again for many others.

@Compound2632 I believe 1929-1945

Thanks Guys I am still a little lost here especially as J H Russell states whilst working for the Great western the Loco coal wagons he saw were definitely black.

Hi Ade, Why not remove the posts and thread the wire on them of scene. Once finished just plant the posts, might be easier than threading in situ.

Unfortunately they should be in black as departmental wagons so out with me brushes! Fingers crossed. Very true they would look very interesting in red, tempting but best not.

Will have rivets added to the sides once primed.

lol name and number plates have been ordered! Meanwhile finished off the N13 loco coal wagons although I think I have the wrong paint colour, oh well. Found another kit whilst looking for some transfers so though I would make up an N20 for some difference. It's subtle (apart from no wheels!) but once I have the transfers on it will look very different as the wagon 9669 carried something a little different to the norm, well at least the picture I have it does.

Thank you it is very tempting to go for the third and final one Steropes No 18 although I think it will be featuring somewhere first to see what interest as I really only need one for a layout

Twins!

And your soul

Carl, thank you for posting these tutorials. they are very helpful and personally I really appreciate them. Again thanks.

Great job Ade. Best thing for those stirrers is to help hold the coal back! Love it.

2B or not 2B there is no question it must be 2B

Not at all it's expected as the structure requires it. Check out Chippenham and The Farthing Chronicles, all buildings will have to be completely scratch built. Buildings such as goods sheds and station canopies and stables require intricate structural detail. Good luck but you'll do great

With Cyclops project drawing to a conclusion I am turning my sights to other things. I have a number of projects/kits in mind, as much of us will. The streamlined King will be taking a back seat for the time being as I have had enough of build bashing at the moment. Having bought a brand new complete brass kit some years ago as a personal present (one of only a few brand new kits I have ever been able to purchase!) I am considering that . It will need to be a single focused build, rather than the usual build a couple at the same time. Or another group of wagon kits to batch build. I am feeling the soldering urge though as I have been dealing with plastic kits for some time now. Here's one option (GWR No1); Name plates are a big of fun on top of the true prototype.

Great work Rich, especially persevering through the difficulties Big thumbs up.

Well the last week or so has been a struggle with motivation. The fact that the simple job of painting the brass strip proved such a pain in the backside really knocked momentum. However after stripping completely back and starting again I got a result that I can live with. So now the question is what are they for?! The answer is some old friends. Here's a little mock up from my research; I have to thank Mark from the Facebook group GWR Modellers for making the transfers for both the livery and the destination boards. The transfers are really good in clarity and detail and they are superb to work with, needing very little 'water time'. We have also researched and developing some suitable transfers for the Siphon Fs. The destination boards and side panels are coincidently the same size. I plan to attempt the earliest livery where the running number and lettering was painted on the louvres meaning visible gaps throughout! Still have the cattle wagons W1/W5 to add transfers to but will put them on a back burner until I get some more specific transfers that I am confident with instead of what I have in stock. Might be more emails to Mark The rectank trains will have to wait I think as again transfers are required and I can not keep bombarding Mark with requests, research and designs.

Well, may be not bought but certainly making!!!! Can not take credit for the picture it is something I found a long time ago on the website, origins now unknown.