"4492, Dominion of New Zealand"

Some real trains for a bit! 4492 Dominion of New Zealand (in reality 60019, Bittern, masquerading as her long scrapped sister) pulls out of King's Cross station this morning, in her freshly applied LNER Garter Blue livery. Note the "Coronation" livery touches - stainless steel numbers and letters, chroming lining along the valances, silver letters on the front bufferbeam.

Until next time - more coaching stock to finish painting up!

"Midland Region Suburbans, Part 1"

From this, a very dark liveried London Midland & Scottish Railway suburban...

...to this, a British Railways Carmine liveried example:


The coach was disassembled into its constituent parts: roof, glazing, seating, coach body and frames.

The lining and lettering on the coach body was removed using careful application of nail varnish remover, on a cotton bud. Wet'n'dry paper was used to clear up the residue.

The coach was undercoated with a layer of white acrylic (Skull White), followed by cream (Bleached Bone), and a layer of my own Carmine mix on top, to match the GCR Clerestories.

This was then sealed with Gamesworkshops' Purity Seal spray.

The roof was painted separately, once again undercoated with a layer of Skull White, and finished off with Railmatch's BR Roof Grey enamel, after the acrylic had dried thoroughly after six hours. In retrospect, it hasn't actually changed the colour that much, and I am considering leaving this stage out for the other coaches.

On the frames, the original plastic wheels were removed in favour of Hornby's standard metal disc coach wheels. Cheap, and simple to fit. I checked the back to backs and found one set that was out. This was carefully change with a pair of calipers and some pliers.


The coach was then snapped back together. It is currently awaiting transfers - I now have another two to finish off in a similar manner.

Until next time - where I hope to have all the suburbans in both the ex-LMS and ex-GCR rakes finished, complete with transfers and couplings.

"Project Allen"

Today marks the determined continuation of a new project - codenamed Project Allen. This has been worked on, on and off, for the last three years, and with today's events, is finally getting somewhere.

These are the stories we tell, after all...

Until next time!

"Talented People"

Just been browsing some drawings I've been sent, and suffice to say, the quality of their detail, perspective and overall look are just incredible.

The artist in question managed to leave me speechless for the first time in a while about a week ago, with a drawing in a certain thread on the Sodor Island Forums. The quality of the artwork is of such a high standard, I've started talking to the artist in question with some interesting prospects, such as a new print for a charity event, in the future, amongst other possible collaborations.

To that end, some things are going to pick up on the front of a certain The British Railway Series. After all, these are the stories...

...until next time!

"Hornby Clerestory Conversions - Part 6"

The Clerestory project continues apace, with the painting and finishing of one more coach, and a third into the carmine livery. I still have the roof to do on the third one, whilst the second has had its roof (with seven, not eight vents!) fitted, and I am awaiting the necessary transfers to finish the first two off before weathering.


A little change I made to the second coach (but not the third), was the implementation of a light coloured undercoat - in this case, a standard Gamesworkshops cream paint, namely Bleached Bone, on the advice of a friend. He was absolutely spot on in his assessment of the first coach, the carmine paint came out much brighter on the cream undercoat of the second coach (the first had two undercoats of black followed by brown.


The third coach was painted as per the first coach, however. Why? The fourth coach will be painted the same way as the second. I want to weather and rub them all down a little, and variation in shades is more prototypical from that I have observed of the books and photographs I have seen recently. The lighter colour is more correct, certainly, but the variation adds to the look, and hopefully makes these pseudo GCR coaches look a little more "real" as opposed nicely repainted old Triang Toys!

Until next time, when I'll be tacking a set of Triang "Thompson" coaches (or Mk1s with coach sides, as I should have known previously...!!!)