Pannier progress...

My brace of GWR Panniers for Ruabon Brook, and later the Bala Branch are moving forwards between commission work and things are a touch quieter this week so I've managed to weather my BR livered pair...

The etched number and smokebox plates are from Narrow Planet. These all come in brass, great of the cab side, not so good for the number. To get around this I paint them black, once dry I paint a thin layer of white paint onto a small clear plastic bag - styrene would probably work as well. This must be VERY thin and well spread out. Press the etch into the white paint and only the raised surfaces will be coated with white.

7442 has been weathered based on a photo in 'Great Western Branch Lines - 2 Rural Wales' by Michael Welch, published by Runpast Publishing. This is a neat little book with lots of inspiration if you're keen on Wales and steam in the 1950s and 60s, and all in colour, a rare resource. I painted the chassis following the techniques outlined by Martyn Welch in 'The Art of Weathering' by Wild Swan. The flat surfaces were then washed over with Humbrol 98, avoiding the vertical surfaces. I washed over the BR logo a touch with Matt 33 to tone it down before a mix of Humbrol 112, 62 and 27004 was then airbrushed over the model.

The front tank supports and front smokebox step look great now they've blended into the finish.

My model of 5774 is also based on a photo in the same book from 1955 when it still had a top feed - so this meant almost obliterating the late BR marking as I suspect it would have had early at this time. The Panniers at Croes Newydd were famed for their down at heel appearance in the mid-late 1950s and I've tried to capture the neglect in this model. I used a cocktail stick to 'wear' some foot prints on the top of the smokebox (on both models actually) and stippled gun-metal 53 onto the buffer faces.

These three now need fire irons, bucket, lamps and the BR pair need their crew fitting. I've also been working on a Bachmann Pressflo and Hornby AA15 brake, more on those soon.

It's been fun working on standard gauge models again. Although these are my own personal models I am happy to take on commissions, please get in touch if you'd like me to detail and weather, renumber or repaint your own ready to run collection. More soon...