Atso

I wish I did Tony! I do have a secret weapon though.

Thank you Tony, I really don't know about the more accomplished models such as Tim, Jerry, Nigel and Ian, but I cheat wherever possible! One area I can't cheat on though is the painting of the corners on the tender. I made my own decals for the straight triple lining (as per Tim's methods) but corners have to be done using a brush. I'm not good at putting neat lines onto a model using a brush so I'm always grateful that enamel paints can be manipulated and cleaned up using a brush moistened with white spirit. Below is one of the two tenders I'm working on, having just received the outer 'white' lines. In reality these are a light grey created by mixing Humbrol gloss white with a few drops of gloss black, as recommended by Mr Rathbone and Mr Haynes. I'll add the centre black line tomorrow, once the existing layer has dried.

What a stunning locomotive Tony and far superior to the current Bachmann offering. I see that Mr Trice has set a high bar for when I get around to doing an N gauge version to replace my rather dated Farish offerings. I've been busy with my C1s finishing offer the lining on 3286 and 4435 (wobby boiler lining behind the dome of 4436 has be replaced now) as well as starting to finally add the last details to 4452. It is nice to see a few of these locomotives taking shape now although Hadley Wood will eventually require six of seven representatives to work the various services planned.

A line up of N gauge C1s. 4452 (middle) is receiving its final detailing while 4436 (front) has had all its boiler bands and one side of the cab numbers applied - the wobby band behind the dome has since been replaced. 3286 (back) will shortly undergo the same treatment as 4436 but is shown to demonstrate the detail differences between these three members of the class.

Lovely stuff there! Interesting to read that your order of painting is the complete reverse of how I tackle locos. The first colour that I apply is the red buffer beams and then mask these off for the green and finally the black. That said, I always leave fitting buffers, couling hooks and vac pipes until after I've done the painting and lining, but guess that might not be as practical in 4mm scale. My last airbrushing session was this Sam Fay. The C1s haven't been forgotten either (still got some boiler bands to add though!). Looking forward to seeing the next stage on your current batch.

It is gapped the same way as the first scissor, so hopefully it will work just as well... I'm not sure that the angle of the photo helps in seeing things.

With lockdown in force, I haven't been able to get to the layout for some time now. However, my father has taken over track laying (in addition to the electrics) and I have been periodically supplying new track pieces. Here are a couple of phone snaps I was sent of progress to date. The tracklaying of the fiddleyard is now around two thirds complete. The center two loop lines are 6'7" long which should provide space for a couple of 40+ wagon goods trains. The other four loops will accommodate two twelve and two ten coach expresses, with the outermost loops servicing the kickback sidings. Everything seen closest to the camera in the second photo needs to be mirrored on the furthest board so I've still got plenty more track to make yet. By comparison, the scenic side will be easy!

No predictive text at all! The Bussard collectors at the clear domes with the red inserts on the front of the two nacelles (warp engines). The grills are the darker grey bands just behind them.

Ok, with Silver Link temporarily parked while I wait for some spare bits to arrive, I've returned to the C1s and done some more lining. It's late and flash photography of a glossy surface doesn't show things to their best. Speaking of things not being shown at their best, I've finally gotten around to painting Sam Fay. Unfortunately, I suffered some airbrush issues and managed to flood the surface with black paint. Not too bad, let's look at the other side... Oh dear! I'll do a little bit of rubbing back and do some localised respraying of the green to make the job good. Proof I hope that things to do always go to plan. Rather than tackle that job this afternoon, I went back to The Enterprise and sprayed the lower circular panel lines on the saucer and painted the deflector area and grills behind the Bussard collectors on the nacelles. I'm really enjoying playing with various shading techniques to break up what would otherwise be smooth surfaces.

Thanks Ross, just keep practicing and things will improve - not that your efforts aren't looking very good already!

Good morning Tony, I have to admit, I never thought I'd see these sentences written by you! I too am very much impressed by Mike's V2, not just in terms of the incredibly well observed detail, but by his ability to print such a large 4mm scale model on his printer. As you know my own attempts at this resulted in failures and so I returned to only printing N gauge models on my printer (the same type as Mike's). Well done to Mike for resolving some technical issues that I gave up with and an advanced well done to yourself as I know this will end up being another stunning model!

Thanks Andy, that is most appreciated. A final photo of 2509 in almost completed condition, basking in the sunlight during a brief visit to my parent's back garden yesterday. I added some more soot to the top of the boiler to better replicate Andy's grandfather's photo. Apologies about the derailed Cartazzi truck!

Thanks Simon, I'm please that people think that I've achieved the effect I was after; I had many moments when I thought I'd overdone things. The wheels were initially painted with Precision Silver Grey to cover the red and then got a light dry brushing of the weathering mix (Railmatch Roof Dirty and Humbrol Polished Steel Metalcote - Gunmetal would be better but I couldn't find my tin at the time). Any significant buildups were removed and allowed to fully dry before using thinned out Humbrol Brown Wash on the wheels and removing the excess after a few minutes to get a slightly metallic/oily sheen. Hope this helps.

Somebody on another forum suggested that the top of the boiler should have heavier deposits of soot by the time the loco reached Hadley Wood. Out with some Humbrol Decalfix and 'soot' weathering powder and some stippling with an old brush produced this effect. Finally another comparison with Dapol's 'Flying Fox' product. I think it really shows just how toy like a RTR locomotive looks when compared to a weathered loco.

Thanks Andy, that's a great photograph! You've also helped me decide on which K3 I'm going to model after I've done no. 91. There are several photographs credited to your grandfather in 'Goods Traffic of the LNER', including one of no. 91 with NE style cab and GNR tender (the inspiration for my eventual model). I'd be most interested in seeing more, if you're willing/able to share. Again, many thanks.

A reasonably quick (although not quite finished) project from me. I received a Garter Blue A4 for my birthday a week or so back, this was from DCC Supplies' 'Outlet' (returned items) shop and had some minor issues with it. As I already have 'Sea Eagle' I decided to rework it into a loco I really wanted, Silver Link. A few days after I received it, I stripped it down and removed the original identity. For speed, I repainted the loco using Tamiya acrylics, mixing the paints to approximate the correct colours before gloss varnishing and adding the decals. I then sealed everything using some Ronseal gloss varnish and proceeded to weather it using some of the techniques described in Martyn Welch's book. My aim is to try and represent the loco towards the end of a run to King's Cross from Newcastle, so dirty but not filthy. I've still got the vac pipes, screw coupling and crew to add but I'm rather pleased with how this has turned out for a five day project. Now I need to get back to lining out those two Atlantics!

Thank you Tony, Not quite complete, but very close now.

Other than adding some vac pipes and a screw coupling, Silver Link is just about complete. Here's a couple of photos of the loco having worked hard non-stop from Newcastle and a reminder of what the loco looked like a few days back.

Good evening all, I can offer nothing further on the accuracy of GCR tenders, but do offer the beginnings of weathering my inaccurate portrayal of Silver Link. The idea is to eventually give the impression of a reasonably clean but hard worked loco. My apologies for the phone flash photography, I'll try and get some better snaps tomorrow in the sun. The model was airbrushed with a heavily thinned coat of Railmatch roof dirt with a couple of drops of Humbrol Metalcote polished steel add. This was allowed to go touch dry before attacking it with an old brush and white spirit as described in Martyn Welch's book. It's far from finished but it does have that lovely oily metallic look to it in reality.

I decided to start weathering the body bits for Silver Link today. I followed a similar method to that described in Martyn Welch's 'The Art of Weathering'. I mixed a drop of Humbrol polished steel into some Railmatch roof dirty and thinned it quite a bit with white spirit. I then gave the model a dusting of this mix with my airbrush and allowed it to go touch dry. I then took an old brush that have become quite stubby and wetted it with white spirit and proceeded to take most of the weathering layer off the model. I then went back over with the brush being almost dry and created the streaking effects. The photos have been taken using a flash and I hope to take some more photos in natural sunlight tomorrow. I've not finished the weathering yet as there are some other techniques I want to try. Note that I have not matted down the loco, the gloss was knocked back by the weathering.

Thanks Tony, Since getting my depression and anxiety issues more or less under control, I’ve found that I worry less about trying to get absolute perfection – especially when dealing with N gauge RTR models. My Dapol A1 and A3 conversions still have various inaccuracies (such as BR era sliding access covers to the linkage) and all sport high sided cabs, despite my modelled period being 1932-39. However, they will all be on express services and not stopping at Hadley Wood. On the other hand, all the locos that will stop, or be on slower services, will be (or have been) designed and made by myself. On these I try to get things right as they will likely fall under far more scrutiny than those ‘fash in the pan’ big locos. Annoyingly, I think you are right about the name being a bit too high. I plotted this from photographs which means either, the proportions of the model are off or, I made a mistake in my calculations (never!!!!). Regardless, I’ll have to live with that too now…

Despite it being the loco with the most discrepancies to the basic Dapol offering, I've decided to give the A4 Silver Link's identity. All I can say is that the loco wouldn't have been accurate for any of the Silver A4s really so I can live with the inaccuracies. Here are the body bits with Dapol's interpretation of Silver Fox behind it as a comparison.

I've decided on the A4's identity. Partly to wind up Tony, but mainly because it is a loco I always wanted (and my effort isn't strictly accurate for any member of the class, so I can live with the discrepancies), I chose to stay with Silver Link. Here are the body bits with Dapol's interpretation of Silver Fox for comparison. Silver Fox didn't come with a detailing pack but I will eventually knock up replacements. Note that Dapol decided to use a 1928 tender with Silver Fox.

I only hate a smart@rse when they're right! I think I should clarify my imprecise statement. I was considering 'initial service condition' as being Silver Grey livery and assumed that, given the other inaccuracies, that it would be a given that I wasn't going to hack the front of the body to represent the recess and short buffers. This Silver A4 will share the UP Silver Jubilee turns with C1 4452 so will represent the second half of 1936 so I think I can get away with the later front end mods. The returning DOWN service (representing the period just before the eighth coach was added)will be handled by Silver Fox, which is a Dapol product that I restored from a wreck given to me with the instructions 'have this and see what you can do with it'.

It was my birthday last week and I was luck enough to receive a Dapol A4 (DCC Supplies returned item) in the guise of 'Sea Eagle'. I already have this loco in my collection of A4s so an identity change was in order. Below is the loco body parts after being stripped down and having the identity removed. The result after some airbrushing and careful masking up. There are numerous inaccuracies in this representation of one of the first A4s in initial service condition (as outlined in Wright writes). Other than removing the tender beading, I'm content to leave these be and call this a quick and dirty repaint of a 'layout loco'. If I was designing my own version from scratch, I'd be more inclined to represent the detail differences. Each to their own.