B2 Peckett: Weathered...

I've been waiting on some etched works plates for Bronwen before I could add some weathering, well this week a big package of etches arrived from Narrow Planet so I could crack now with a few projects...

The plates were painted matt black, and then polished on wet and dry when this was hard to leave paint in the etched lettering and border, these were fixed with small dabs of gel superglue which takes longer to go off giving you time to adjust the position. I also had some Railway Executive plates (those that gave private engines permission to use the mainline) to fit, I tried one above the works plate but it just looked too busy, so I pinged it off with a blade and it took off the paint!

Oh dear! Then I thought, perhaps Bronwen had been repainted, and later a plate removed... so I used two small dabs of black paint on the end of a piece of wire to represent holes in the cab.

Weathering wasn't overly complicated... a wash of Humbrol 98 and 33 in varying quantities on the chassis and footplate. A similar but thinner mix on the tank top and buffer beams, wiped off with a small piece of foam to leave streaks before airbrushing over Humbrol 133,  245 and 27004 mix... It's perhaps a bit monotone at present, I will add some dry brushed 53 on exposed edge when the weathering spray has hardened. It's been a fun little model, and Hornby have done a great job on capturing the chunky powerful look of the prototype. One thing though, I must flush glaze the windows properly as the Hornby glazing lets it down a little. If you've an out of the box model you'd like me to bring to life with a custom weathering job suited to your prototype and budget, then get in touch. More soon...