Commission: Royal Arsenal wagon in 7/8ths...

I've been lucky enough to work on this lovely model of a Royal Arsenal workshop tool wagon in 7/8ths scale for a friend and customer of 'James Hilton Custom Model Railways' in the past few weeks... 

To see the model before I started check out the last photo... the above shows the finished wagon outside on my Dyfrdwy Tramway before heading back to it's owner. The model is scratchbuilt largely in wood, using various metal fixings and details (some from Talisman castings) and custom turned wheels. The axle boxes and wheel inserts were laser cut in layers and glued together. Truly lovely model making. It came to be pristine, and I wanted to preserve a little of the finish and quality of the build whilst breathing some life into it...

I started by using a craft knife to carve away at the sides and inside ends of the wagon body to give the impression they had been rounded smooth though wear and life. Once this was done I smoothed with very fine wet and dry before painting started. The first step was a wash of Humbrol oil paint, kept quite thin, and rubbed off on the deck and edges. Once dry, I used a dirty black to pick out the metalwork. The wagon was then given a dirty brown wash, rubbed off quickly to leave a build up around bolt heads in in some of the grain.

The lettering was added using a Uni-ball POSCA paint pen, and a knife used to 'cut' the rounded ends of the letters back, before being toned down a touch with a light oil based wash. The load was also detailed, the gear has grease within the teeth, a mix of gunmetal, leather and gloss varnish. The shaft end shows signs of wear, picked out with a greasy wash. The Brasso tin has the typical spillage (gone yellow) around the rim and down the side.

I chained it all back up and sealed with dull-cote. Looking forward now to seeing it re-united with it's sister (more on that later) and hopefully visit my line again in the near future.

Final shot here shows a before and after... if you're interested in commissioning your own model, please get in touch using the contact form on this website. More soon...