halfwit

Hi James, The varnish is Phoenix Precision PAV82 Matt Varnish (ready thinned for airbrushing). As I said excellent stuff, just make sure that its thoroughly mixed (2 minutes with a Badger battery powered paint stirrer does the job). The only problem that I've had with it was when I put rather a thick coat on my Hudswell Clarke which made the varnish turn white, but that would happen with any varnish. They also make ready thinned gloss (PAV62) and satin (PAV72). The container is great for experimenting as it doesn't really matter if I mess up. I might even get a couple more... One day the Steelman will be finished! Paul.

Still slowly progressing through the paint shop is my Judith Edge Steelman Royale. The black areas of the frame have been sprayed and the whole frame gloss varnished. The bufferbeams have been wasp-stiped, using Fox transfers, and another coat of varnish applied. The loco will be have a gloss finish as these locos were kept extremely clean. A pic; I still have to start on the bodywork. My JPG Models dumper truck is finished; Before weathering I sprayed the model with matt varnish witha little white mixed in to fade the yellow paint before dry-brushing with rust and dirt. Another coat of varnish with a little grey mixed in to suggest dust was applied. The inside of the bucket was painted with a mixture of dark rust and dirt. I used a copy of 'Classic Plant and Machinery' for reference photos. Quite pleased with it. The blue Knightwing container seen on here previously has been used for varnishing experiments, adding grey and white to try and fade the blue. Its getting there; The narrow gauge 48DS is a step nearer finishing with the addition of some sandbox lids from Judith Edge, bought from their stand at the Manchester show; Next up some pre-grouping wagons that have been sitting in a box awaiting varnishing, which i did this week with Precision airbrush matt (excellent stuff); The LNWR coal wagon still needs weathering and I'm not happy with the interior. At least now the transfers are protected. One day I'll build a pre-grouping layout.... Paul.

Are they the same as the handrail knobs that your using on the rest of the body? If not the mis-match could jar.... Gibson make different lenght handrail knobs. Apologies if I appear picky! Paul.

Nice work, the boats look great. Paul.

This build is now finally, as far as I'm concerned, finished. Its had a light coat of etch primer, final painting will be done by the owner, who will also fit the buffer heads (I always fit them last). I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out, I just hope the owner is as well! I had to make the cab steps and axlebox gaurds from brass strip as they were missing. A couple of pics; And one from underneath; As you can see I've tried to sqeeze a lot of lead into a small space! This one is actually heavier than my original standard gauge Ruston. Whilst building this I used the unused frames from my narrow gauge 48DS to build a trolley. Some of these locos ended their days having their bodywork and mechanicals removed to be used as wagons or weedkiller trolleys. At least one 'preservation' group did this. I built up the frames as usual and used some Mainly Trains etched checker plate as a floor. The chassis is compensated in the same style as my powered Rustons. This will be finished with a lot of rust..... A pic; The coupling hooks by the way are Exactoscale, really nice. I left a bit of tail on to try to represent the spring behind the bufferbeam. I went to Model Rail Live today, a thoroughly enjoyable experience. For some reason I came home with this; A lovely model, these run quite local to me. Now I've got to work out what I'm going to do with it!

Nicely done. Shiny cars don't look quite right on a layout. Perhaps a coat of satin varnish for newer cars and matt for older vehicles? Paul.

My idea of heaven!

I've just been catching up on this thread. If your going to get a set of etches made for this I wouldn't mind a set! I went to have a look at this last year, shame its in such a run a run down condition.