Squirrel Rail

WCR set are now ready for light weathering after final paint on these three last week, with a What If N gauge 60 sneaking in.. and decals on another Until Squirrel Rail looks like Carnforth… Staying with maroon I’ve been doing this 37 which needed new gold bands:-before and after:- and I’ve now got it numbered and ready for more weathering; First of the new Bachmann 47s arrived for a fade and weather so started off, and now having finishing touches lastly 2 sheds, 769 and 794- I’m trying to get some later style cab side windows for this one if anybody knows of some, I’m also going to see if I can do a resin horn box mod as well in a spare minute!

Sorry for lack of updates but Squirrel Rail has been on the back burner. I have been progressing the WCR rake. Mick from Newbryford ( see earlier post) had pointed out the buffet window so after discussion with the owner now all done, here it is at the bottom of these three and then back together, The MK 2 is nearly done, detail painting and detail parts still to go, mods have been going on on some of the others, doors and window filling, and lastly three more coaches painted ready for decals and assembly:

I did one back in 2020…

Hi Mick, agree but Then we can get into roof ventilators, underframe fittings etc. I would love to do everything on each coach but I would only manage a couple a year and to reflect the time to do everything the bill would look like it came from The gas and electric companies🥴 I have spoken to the owner and he’s happy to go ahead with the mods on these two so I will post update pics when I’ve done them, cheers Jerry

Good points and I will ask my customer what he wants me to do- I work of his list for each coach- we try to be as accurate as possible but have to work to budgets, cheers Jerry

Turbots finished and starting on a WCR rake, together with a support coach and the rescue HST power cars: first up Turbot time! really pleased with these Then from tatty to a bit more cared for. Bachmann Mk1s being broken down for respray, Then clipped together after decals Then a coat of satin before They are reassembled The support coach is an ex Hornby Mk1 in intercity- not as easy to break down as the Bachmann versions so lots of masking so first up prepped for primer Then primed:- Followed by the roof:- Then the red:- Ends need painting next then decals so they’ll be on my next update. Last up are the Virgin HSTs, these have had all the Virgin grey repainted, yellow cab roofs, one has been repaired after being split in half - literally - then new numbers ,names, XC logos and a weathering today. I’ll get these back together over the next few days and post some finished pics

Longtime no update so here we go - here is the general chaos of putting everything back together…. The Kato Eurostar into GNER and the SWR 159 have been around too long but have both gone home this week - I didn’t get a pic of the full Eurostar as it was 12 coaches but here’s the 159, Behind those two the Heljan 86 from RES to EWS is also done as is a Pride 66773 New projects underway are these power cars getting yellow roofs and a shed into primer and some real fun with these Dapol turbots getting a battering…. and with a bit more….

More 86’s finished! And again and again…,,

DRS finished now with the 66s and 57s ready to go home; And the 57s Last up Heljan red plastic is no more!!

Workbench time has been limited so a few things moved along. The O Gauge castle roof lost its rivets in the filling and sanding down stages so marked out and 3D printed ones added.. over the weekend a coat of black and the finished item:- and again and with the boiler scratches sorted too ready to go home, Next up Bachmann 66 being weathered - one thing on these that really annoys me is they never paint the small handrails below the main ones, before… after…. Whilst moaning had my first Heljan red 86 arrive in the week, very disappointing- plain red plastic and as for the colour of the RES logo, just not acceptable- anyway won’t be like this for long…., last up Mk1 brake, figures added, axle boxes and can’t rail too

Heljan racing green 86s now finished… and individually - 609 608

Class 20s, 66 and MPV completed today, the DRS pair; and again The railfreight grey pair 60099, and the MPV Back to the DRS 57s and 66s which are for later in the week!

Hi, the decals are from a Railtec sheet for MPVs - there’s a load of numbers available on there- The safety decals are ones I printed myself, hope that helps, cheers Jerry

MPVs are now finished- I haven’t secured the modules fully as they need to unclip to sit on the packaging; A what if 47 for a mate named after his granddaughter- respray from DRS just needing buffers and bogies weathered DRS 20s next, one renumber weathering well underway; Sticking with 20s a renumber and light weathering, and last of the renumbered 66421, plates and numbers from Steve at Railtec, @railtec-modelslook great thanks Last up bit of O gauge metal bashing taking the dents out of the roof on this Castle - will reinstate the rivets when it’s straight! Here’s how I got it: After a few rounds of flattening and filling:- then a coat of primer to show high/low spots so filled again ready for next lot of rubbing down! Have a great weekend, cheers Jerry

More progress over the weekend and today with the GWR tank being finished- and from the other side- Realised I’d missed the blue spot above the number so that was added, yesterday was weathering with the racing green 86s getting some muck…. and it’s mate… 60099 was also in the queue- I found a great pic of it looking filthy so went somewhere in between dirty and the pic last up I’ve reassembled the MPV after it’s respray and decals so this will be next up for weathering,

Large logo 47 gets its grey roof today after the blue and yellow so masked up; and unmasked, BR blue always looks a weird colour on photos…. More masking with the 159 finally getting SWR blue. I have had this too long so time to get this finished. The centre car has been masked and painted too but isn’t in the pics so here it is masked up: then on with the blue…. and off with the mask. Bit of overspray onto the roof but easily sorted- annoying when that happens- grrrrrrr!!!! I’ll get some more pics when it’s all unmasked.

I use a mix of Freightliner green and light grey applied in dots and then blended together with thinner to make a wash . You can add shades of dirt into the process and add more colour or wipe down the whole lot as you go if you don’t like it. I think the trendy term for this according to military modelling is now called filtering but to me it’s just using washes!!

More 86 work today with fading and weathering, airbrush work still to come…. and before and after pics starting on a pair of 66 exhausts

Started on the washes on the 86 roofs, I’ve also masked out the Freightliner logos to create an illusion of these being vinyls( once painted) instead of just having the letters! creeping in between the cans is TaTa clean 60, just starting some washes on this one too…

Back from a quick break but still getting my jaw sorted so not doing too much train work but here’s what’s going on, workbench looking like Gresty Lane…. Change of identity for one of the DRS choppers so denumbered and silver window frames back to blue- Racing green 86s sees one having a new number,608, and then moving the front numbers on both, both of which are in different positions. I will touch in the TDM cables later as there’s some yellow patches to paint to replicate repairs on the original loco. With the decals done painting in the insulators on the roof and the cabling, will get some more updates over the next few days.

Not much modelling time recently but I did finish the 153 and have done a little bit of detail painting on the tank. The 153 was fun to do especially getting the fade at the top sprayed and trying to get the decals settled over all those rivets ! Here’s a few pics; and from the other side and above Not a lot to work with on the tank but here’s a bit of painting which is a big improvement when the cab is fitted…

Hi Will, sorry for delayed reply- they are a pair of Hornby class 56 buffers off the old Romanian model, cheers Jerry

Thanks, I think these are for the new tooling (please excuse me ifI’m wrong) so the old one will do after its repairs! Cheers Jerry

Couple of completions done with the Pendalino coaches in the previous post all finished Next up very long term resident is this 159 which was wrecked by a not to be named “professional resprayer”. I have sourced replacement driving cars but have had to work as best as I can with the broken centre car- I’ve got it back together so now for some primer to show what needs filling- and all 3… Two resprays completed were a Colas 70 from the old Freightliner model; and the other side.. And the other respray was this RES 90 which I had started before the Bachmann announcement- be glad when theirs arrives as it’s less work for me! This one has quite a few fades and paintwork tweeks as well as the replacement buffers as per the original.

John at Precision Decals has done these for me- thanks to everyone for their help…..