Pride of Gwent: Weathered and finished...

The first project I started during the Covid-19 shutdown was a repaint of a Bachmann 03 to represent Gwent Coal's 'Pride of Gwent', last seen in it's own blog post at the end of March...

 It has sat on my workbench, finished bar weathering, until I had a few other items to do at the same time. This is the first of a few posts this week that show the models completed in this batch of work...

The original model was stripped down and repainted (documented previously) and the custom transfers I designed were applied and sealed with dull-cote. It's funny, I think the red I chose, Humbrol 132, actually has proven to be too orange compared with the prototype, but it's still a nice model to look at and runs as one would expect of a Barwell product these days, like clock work.

To bring it to life I applied a wash of Matt 98 (chocolate) and Matt 33 (black) mixed to a dirty dark brown, on the under frame, footplate and then allowed to bleed up panel lines. The roof was also treated to some, and this was carefully wiped to represent rain streaking. I used Met 53 (gunmetal) to dry brush the edges of the steps, the handrails and footplate, and stippled some on to the buffer heads.

Finally a mix of Metalcote 27004, Matt 62 (leather) and Matt 245 (the closest to the old Tarmac) was airbrushed on the chassis and from above to blend the finish together. This subtle effect, especially around the lip of the exhaust, would be difficult to replicate any other way. Now she is ready for action on Pont-y-dulais, but that is on hold whilst I focus on Mollington Road. If you've got a model you'd like to transform into a particular prototype, whatever the scale or gauge, I can offer a custom re-finishing service that includes transfer design and sourcing as well as weathering, a true 'one stop shop', get in touch for your own personal proposal using the form on the website, Facebook or one of the forums messaging services. More soon...