Commission: Weathered Hattons P-class...

It's always a surprise when you open the box of a model you've not seen before, and the Hattons P class took my breath away. It's a very cute little engine and the detail is very crisp and fine. This Bowaters liveried example arrived with me for renaming and weathering...

My customer had commissioned Narrow Planet to produce the plates, although I can offer a complete service and do this for you if you wish. These were cut from their fret, straightened and the edges smoothed and polished to remove any trace of paint as this can easily spoil a finished model. They were attached over the printed names using a line of small dots of gel superglue.

Once dry I set about the weathering - this example uses my standard 3 stage approach (rather than the deluxe 4 stage) but still produces wonderfully layered and believable results. The first step is a wash applied in various locations and mixed as I go from Humbrol 98 and 33. I also added a few patches of neat paint and tiny streaks around rivet and bolt heads - in a deluxe 4 stage process this 'detail painting' is repeated later as well.

The second stage is to apply a coat of dirt from the airbrush - this tones the wash down and blends the edges, and I use the Martyn Welsh mix of Humbrol metalcote gunmetal and leather.

Leaving this to dry overnight the final stage is using Humbrol 53 to dry brush burnished edges and wear to the metal parts such as handrails, buffers and footsteps.

This particular model was then finished with a load of real Welsh steam coal in the bunker. If you'd like me to bring your 'out of the box' model to life, contact me for a no obligation personalised proposal matched to your requirements. More soon...