Snailbeach No.4: plates...

A few months ago I began work turning my model of WHR 590 from Bachmann into one of the pair at Snailbeach...

Well I decided to order etched plates from Narrow Planet, but with other work and commissions it's taken until now to get these fitted. They were painted with satin black enamel, and then buffed up with 1200 wet and dry paper to get the finish you see here. They will tarnish naturally with age. The finish achieved so far is solely washes, so next will be a little dry brushing along the edges, and then I will use an airbrush to add the road dirt, and soot.

This will probably wait a few weeks until Russell's custom nameplates have arrived, and I can make a start on weathering the pair together. Their future remains uncertain, they don't really have a home in my 009 collection, and with my focus being more 006.5 these days they may well find their way to new homes.

For now though, it's good fun to work on such a lovely pair of models. Also pictures by the way in the group shot is my Andrew Barclay 'Porthgain', which was out so I could look at the Graham Farish 04 mechanism that is has fitted. More soon...