richard i

Found the paints. The combination of these as primer and top coat worked well together. Three smoothly coated coaches. If it is of any help. Richard

i was thinking you mean trains and lanes up in Easton on the NJ boarder. It has paints but i would not say its selection was extensive for colours suitable to model trains.

I am near philly and have found decent paint that goes on well in micheals. If you have one near you. I will have to look up the brands when back at home as they go on nicely. One is an outdoor paint for furniture, it went on as BR maroon very nicely on three coaches. It is lner Doncaster green I can not find a match for for love nor money. Richard

Just noticed he has painted the inside back of his cab cream and i had started to paint mine green . Looks like a repaint is in order.

for inspiration. John Quick's supurb 12am. taken when i was lucky enough to visit back in 2014 If i get anywhere near close to this, i will be a very happy person. Richard

Here is John quicks barnum for colour match grist to the mill for the colour debate Oops noticed it is not a Barnum, but the similar mainline stock. Match board sides still apply.

Can we ever be comprehensive for an era non of us are likely to remember and only have black and white images for? I took it from chats I have had with john quick. What he has not Researched on the GC is probably not worth knowing. He had done his barnum in a darker shade. I should dig out a photo I have of it. Have to find it first. I can not claim to have delved deeper than that and am happy to be proved wrong. ........before I build and paint mine! Richard

This looks great. Slight care needs taking as they were a darker colour than the varnished teak of Gresley stock. Perhaps mike's method of teaking will need a slight tweak. I was going to start with dull teak then a wash of black.

I colour it in as it is relaxing, but also helps with the build as i notice detail which i miss just looking at a black and white photo. It is a poor colouring in and does not look too realistic, but it gives a sense of where i am hoping to head it is an unbalenced photo too. But you get the idea. Richard

Thank you for your explaination. There are many who follow others because they can buy nice train sets, i follow your thread because i find it inspirational and it pushes me to develop my self-reliance. Your work on cutting and shuttting coaches, casting wagons, loco scratch building and this really gets me thinking. I wish you well in your endevour to make this work as i use it as a how it might work for me.......oh and i too like Barnums/ need them to run in GCR era trains. Any thought to doing the brake version if this one works?

You seem to have backdated the sides from your original plastic one you made. Was this to do with a change of material or a modeling era?

Or until I know any better it looks right to me.

Thanks for the info, as a historian I always enjoy those little vignettes that are found which bring the characters we read about to life. I am starting to turn my mind to the painting of the outside as more of the build is finished. For the motor working I can only see the addition on the cab roof of the rod. Have I missed other obvious external embellishments? Richard

I too have been collecting what I can. And as for books that have been written with limited audience, there is a joke in the club I intermittently attend that there is the "book of left handed GWR fire buckets." If that can have a market then Gcr tank engines has got to.

Sell the idea to the modern day gcr as an idea for a pack of cards to sell in their gift shop. Got to be better than half the stuff normally found in gift shops like fudge with the places name on or rubbers vaguely shaped like an engine.

Finding info on these is certainly sparse. Most books if they go earlier than Robinson just do the 4-4-0 and the singles as a way of saying " and this is where the 11b came from (d9 for later incarnations) There is certainly a niche in the market for a book there but is there enough of a market in the niche to make it worth it? Also does anyone know enough to make it? Richard

Thanks I will show a better internal shot when I complete it. Richard

Cab now painted, well the front half of it. Again chimney and dome placed for effect. I may paint the cab and glaze it before sticking the roof on. It will make the edge lining easier to do if I do that before fitting the safety valves on. Will the patch paining work? The handrail on the cab is a good dividing point . I would like to say this has all been planned out in advance, but the order the detail is put on is being made up as we go along. Richard

The fences make it look quite natural. They have been nicely done. Perhaps you have missed your true calling! Richard

More market for the midland! More lost souls who need saving. But they can be unlike the GWR followers for whom there is no hope.

Worked on the cab and back end. No backhead detail yet, will just be impressionistic as it is an enclosed cab. Found two pictures of the rear, thought it had one long box, turned out it was two small ones. Some lamp irons to fit and it looks like a handrail. But they are grainy photos. Handrails already fitted to cab sides. I think I might paint the cab interior and then mask it before painting the outside. I should be able to find a rattle can of green, but is it small enough areas to get away with hand painting which would need less masking? How do others get round the conundrum? Richard

The big jobs are done. That means onto making all the handrails, pipe runs, brakes etc. that can take a while. What level of detail do I really go to? Every rivet? Actually rivets seam to appear and disappear of the same loco fairly regularly. Care must be taken. (Chimney dome and cab roof measly placed for the shot. Richard

Tony, You asked for updates. This has got to the stage of 90% complete in 10% of the time. The chimney, cab roof and dome are just placed on for the moment, there may be a long gap as I make/ add all the little details before a painting shot Thanks again for helping get this little engine started. We wish you and all your family the best for 2018. Richard

How's this for drawing in the back scene with forced perspective. Didn't Bucks hill do it too? Richard

The driver arrived today For those who know, you may notice a likeness to someone. It is one of the excellently rendered modelu figures. This one is a pregrouping driver based on yours truly. Vanity perhaps but I will now be able to drive a loco or two of mine.