Childhood models: Collett Goods...

I've been tidying up some of my old models, checking it's condition and whether things still work, and thinning out broken and less precious models to free up some space. I came across this Collett goods that I detailed and weathered in my teens...

This was one of the first models I produced that I was genuinely happy with - learning my craft on older Lima and Hornby models. I never had an airbrush as a teenager, so I began with washes, dry brushing and powders. Learning both the power of observation, i.e. modelling from photos, and the power of restraint, i.e. not going over the top with the processes was a slow but steady progression. This model combined the weathering practice with some attempts at a finer standard. The glazing and extra handrails are neat, and still pass muster (from a distance) today. The coal and weather sheet are things modelled from photographs, there was a crew, but they're long gone. I didn't ever fit a BR smokebox number, back in the old days these reliveried GWR models of mine just had the buffer beam number painted over. 

Does is still pass muster? I'm not sure it's quite up to my more recent standards, I'm not sure I'd expect it to be, but it runs smoothly and looks the part, and if I had a branchline layout it would definitely still see use - probably improved with some lamp irons and a crew at the very least. However I'm sharing this for two reasons... first, we shouldn't be ashamed of the models we've produced in the past, we all start somewhere, I might have picked a pretty good example here, but there were some real clangers in my childhood! The worst was a NSE Class 47 inspired by the Class 50 in MRJ 50! That was weathering overload, every possible process thrown at a model to extreme. It wasn't pretty, or realistic, but I had fun, and learned a lot from the experience. Secondly, that the pursuit of a consistent standard is more important than striving for perfection. This model would not need a great deal of effort to sit comfortably with my more recent GWR Panniers, a lifetime of modelling will see improvement but a consistent standard that is good fun to achieve and refine is more rewarding, and cost effective perhaps, than striving for perfection with every model, or settling for items out of the box. I'll share more of my childhood models from time to time. More soon...