Bluemonkey presents....

Great job. Think it looks fantastic, love it. Good to see you have more orders in as well.

Double loan and re-mortgaged!

Thank you, I am very pleased with the weathering. As you say it has just finished it off. Only dry brushing for the weathering.

The bogied mess coach is finely finished, details added and a light weathering and ready to be put away. Not perfect but scratch built with a little held from Comet chassis and bogies and @chuffinghell replacement skylights. Transfers are from @railtec-models allocation boards are 3-D waterslide with your own text.

Nice job on the weathering. Looking very smart.

I second that. Yes looking Fab Chris.

Success (Dont often get chance to say that with this one! Bizarre bodging overcomes (finally) Not perfect by any imagination but it is on and secured. The picture angle is making it look bowed although it does appear to have a little dip but it's on who cares?! Weathering will reduce this appearance further I expect/hope. Got the ugly twins still awaiting in the side wings as well, forgot about those two. What with a wagon in Warren Branch's design workshop coming along nicely things are getting a little hectic around here, especially for the 'off season'.

Failing that I'll just sit a cry in the corner all day. 😭

Got some seriously high tech clamping going on! We''ll see what happens when I unwrap the presents! Hopefully the roof be attached and the detailing can be added prior to light weathering, then final it can be put to bed.

I think things have turned out nicely. Unfortunately I do not have any gloss so went with very light and double spray distance. Think it's ok, happy with the end result. The Mites got the same treatment.

I have to confess that is a happy accident, I can not take any credit of intent or knowledge. It will most likely disappear once the varnish is applied as well.

Bachmann tanker stripped and re-painted

Weathered and rusted. Finished off the WWII Sulphuric Acid tanker as well. Plenty of dry brushing and washes. A little shiny with after the final wash but that will be flattened (hopefully) with the varnish coat, then to put it back together again. Dry rub transfers from PowSides with a few very small detail water slides from the spares box.

Permanent Way Brake before finished. Before; and after 'weathering' and washes applied; 1 Planker done; and the bolster wagons with bolsters added, weight added and the method of attaching the pair chosen. I have decided to use the kit's close coupling as designed. It works well so why redesign the wheel? Oh I did exchange the plastic bolster for metal replacements to ensure they are robust. Love the common paper staple it is so useful. These will now receive a similar weathering dry brush and dirty wash before adding rust to the working part of the bolster.

Thanks @Mikkel, me too should be quite nice to see something completely finished. I am easily distracted onto another project. Chippenham as a layout is ok I have just about enough space but it is in the loft and the access when the ladder is down blocks the main thoroughfare of the hallway and I feel guilty about making this difficult to pass as it is in much use throughout the day. I was hoping to have a loft conversation so the roof space would become a nice place to sit and relax watching the trains run by, or model and even a home office but the men that know better than myself say stairs positioned where this would make all my wishes happen is not possible. So once more the project is on hold whist I try to find another solution or shift my mindset to having a layout not often visited/run. Been a day of transfers! And a little surgery prior. I decided to remove some plate detail that does not appear on western solebars and also makes life a little easier for applying tiny transfers. The permanent way brake, 1 planker and the Mites have been dressed. These are to dry overnight before a wash and dry brush to match the rest. The close ups seem to make some of the number look uneven but whether this is an optical illusion or not to the naked eye they seem fine, so phew.

Thanks Chris. I am sure it will grow on me just not exactly what I had in mind although when put with the Signal opens fits in nicely. Thank you again for the model, I may just have to make another purchase of one for the Swindon Branch, they appear to be getting jealous of all the attention Reading are getting! 😂

The Mite twins received the wood texture effect. This takes a long time but is very easy and offers a decent finish I think. Base colours applied using Ammo Old Wood as the base and then picking out a few planks with Ammo Light Wood and Ammo Faded Sinai Grey. This is followed with a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthsade and a tidy up of the freight grey parts This is followed by a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil and dry brushed with Ammo Faded Sinai Grey and Ammo Gun Metal Finished off with a few more coats and puddles of Citadel Nuln Oil. Takes a few hours as each stage of painting needs to dry quite well before applying the next unless you run the risk of dragging the previous coat, being acrylics. The later stages can be added to as much as you like to get the desired effect. Normally I dry brush a further coat of Faded Sinai Grey and sometimes (as with the Signal Dept opens) add some highlights with various browns and further wash coats applied to blend.

Well the CC7 has received it's final wash. Not sure I am completely happy with what I have done and somehow feel it lets the model down. I was aiming for a very light coat of 'weathered' paint work but seem to have found a grubby tone. Anyway too late now. flat varnish to be applied tomorrow.

Thank you, very pleased with everything. Outstanding job on both the CC2 and CC7 by you both, thank you.

@chuffinghell and @MrWolf I'll blink first. Transfers applied and ready for a light dirty wash and a little dry brush weathering. Gone with the Reading Division to match the open T series. The permanent way brake will also receive this allocation. The breakdown train will be allocated to Swindon Factory and there could be room for an engineering train to! Mean while the Cambrian bolsters are in the making. The intention are to run these as Great western mites. I have replaced the moulded buffers to GWR patterned buffers but that's about it from the kit. Not one for the purists but once fully painted, loaded and in situ probably will not really notice. There is a under slung board and peg type attachment coupling so run as a joined pair, still deciding on using this or to rig it so the load maintains coupling or even to hollow out the block coupling to add magnets. The debate is still raging in my head. This kit went together really nicely, thoroughly enjoyed knocking this one up.

First class and very tempting. The modified version really does stand out against the initial prototype.

Whilst trying to find various things on the interweb I have come across a number of modellers talking about pre-shading using an airbrush. Mainly on military models but I have seen a few on American railway stock. So I though I would have a go whilst I had the tanker in pieces. Here we are; Simple palette; First off a little white/highlight shading for any 'over spill'. It seems you need to be very careful not to use too much colour and trigger control for paint and air is essential. Best to practice off model prior to blasting. Next up is the shading. I chose black rather than a dark green or a grey. Finally another all over coat of the base colour, green. This is very lightly applied to soften the shading colours and to reaffirm the actual tank colour. Once the transfers are applied and the tanker is put back together dry brushing weather to blend the transfers with the tank colour and to soften shading further. Fingers crossed it will turn out alright.

Thanks Ric, I have not yet done mine still have to research these but currently my stock is HMRS transfers and hoping i can find something in there that will work with what ever I find after chain the loads. I have to finish chaining the rectank Bofors guns for starting on those but probably will set to them all in a oner.

Having finally trimmed Billy the pufferfish's teeth/beak and with the imminent arrival of the CC7 transfers set from @railtec-models I thought I better get things finished up and ready. It struck me that the CC2 (from @chuffinghell and @MrWolf 'ChuffingWolf Design and Build Team) had been completely weathered and finished and I had the same planned for the CC7 so the engineering wagons and brakes should also see the same treatment to ensure a little consistency at least. My usual practice is to complete wagons with the planned weathering to take place some time in the future. certain wagons though require this as part of the build. Last night, after closing the door on the bench I had it in the back of my mind I had over done the weathering but refrained to look or do anything more until the morning. I think they are OK. First up, one of the 'single bolster' wagon (the other is still awaiting it's number allocation and may be part of general stock) now a 1 planker, carrying an early number so happy with the beaten well used appearance Next the T Diagram engineer wagons again from the same brass kit range. I could ot find an exact diagram to fit these as they seem to be a mix of the T3, T9 and T10 but the strapping suggest T5, lets just call them the Falcon Engineering Jumble. I altered the brake rigging of one to represent the Thomas Brake pictured in GWR Goods Wagons - Tourret and Co. this is a T3 wagon numbers 14438 and 144328 are from the same source but T9 and T10, respectively. Finally number 14425 is a number chosen from the number range as I could not find another pictorial example at the time. The transfers are from HMRS, these are certainly not as fine or sharp as Railtech transfers and you can see how they subtlety differ in clarity, depending on the print run I guess. these are allocated to Reading as these were the only pictorial examples I could find. I also have read that signal engineering 2 planker wagons had return to reading the text suggesting this was the only allocation, again from Tourret. The CC7 is up next, patiently waiting it's numbering turn. This I kind of progressed a little too far. I forgot about varnishing and have applied the glazing so I have a little faffing to do at a later time. Roof lightly weather and finish, not attached. At least I did not forget that bit. Wagon finished in base awaiting dressing and weather on top. And finally the brakes. First is the ballast plough. This had already been finished but I had not (as normal practice) applied any weathering so thought best max the group especially whilst I have the paints out. And the permanent way brake. Again this is mid finishing process. The roof is not attached but is finished. The wagon body is waiting a set of details to be researched and applied then weathered in the same vain as above. Of course the long awaited sleep wagons still need finishing off my chaining the loads and applying transfers, then I suppose a light whizz with weather.

Tortoise and Hare.