Sentinel in OO: The final story...

In my teens my Grandpa gave me all his old Model Railway Journals, including the two first compendiums, and in those pages was a whole world of fine scale modelling to inspire a young mind...

The articles on Inkerman Street really inspired me, and some of my early attempts at more serious models copied the weathering and feel of the stock on the layout and I yearned to see it in the flesh. One model that stuck in mind from that first encounter was the Sentinel, an ugly brute but something I really wanted to model one day, always eying the Impetus kit but never buying one. The example on Inkerman Street was of course 7mm and modelled by Robin Akinsall, the proprietor of Impetus models himself, and lovely as it was itself was inspired by Frank Dyer's example on Borchester...

The photo that started it all, the MRJ layout Inkerman Street featured this wonderful Impetus 7mm model, built by Robin Akinsall.

Frank Dyer's original model, that inspired the MRJ example above, 4mm scale on Borchester

Fast forward 25 odd years and I decided to part with my money and buy myself an RT Models version - and it's turned out to be an enjoyable build and project in it's own right, not just because of the nostalgic influence. I've covered the model in three previous posts (here, here and here) and now she's finished here are some 'studio' shots so I can describe the finish in a little more detail. 

Couplings were added in the end using Smiths fine scale loops and then a standard sized bottom link (to aid coupling!) and the RT Models etched hooks, which despite being nickel silver blackened nicely in my brass blackening solution. Glazing was cut from Slaters 10thou clear styrene and glued in with Deluxe Glue-n-glaze. The crew is a second version of mini-me from Modelu, the roof then  being secured with more glue-n-glaze.

In my previous post I didn't go into a lot of detail on the painting and finishing - there isn't a lot to say really, the Humbrol colours were airbrushed on in my usual manner, 20 (Crimson) for the body, masked before 174 (Signal red) for the buffer beams. The matt black was painted by hand.

The lettering is based upon a modified Gill-sans style, that I drew up in Graphic on my Mac and had printed in yellow, and of course it's the surnames of myself and Steve, the pair of us behind Planet Industrials - a nice nod to this, and I'd seen something similar in Gordon Edgar's books. They were applied using Micro-set and sol, to reduce the risk of silvering of the backing before being sealed with a mist of dull-cote. Once this mist coat was dry I applied a thicker coat to protect the finish. The beauty of this lacquer is it's ability to make matt colours a deeper matt, and turn gloss to lovely soft satin shine - perfect for a well looked after machine in this case.

Weathering is my usual Martyn Welch inspired concoction of Humbrol enamels, 1 part 133, 1 part 245 and 2 parts 27004 airbrushed lightly over the underframe and then more heavily over the roof and bonnet top. Drybrushed 53 gun-metal was then applied to the edges of the chassis, steps, axle boxes etc as well as the cab edges and handrails. 

The finished model is a lovely cute brutish looking thing - and looks equally at home on both Pont-y-dulais and Mollington Road. It's interesting to compare the building of a kit someone else designed with the models I produce - it's been a great fun project, it's given me a few ideas, it would be lovely to compare it with a Impetus version one day, who knows, even build my very own 'joint' layout project for it one day. In the meantime, if you've got a kit you'd like me to bring to life, be it a Sentinel like this or something else, then get in touch and let me help you with a touch of nostalgia from your past. More soon...