Claremont and Concord 44t: Clean and ready...

I’ve managed to finish off another project over the weekend, the Claremont and Concord 44t built from a lightly breathed on Bachmann 44t...

The work just involved stripping the ATSF paint, smoothing and filling mould marks, replacing moulded door handles with 0.4mm brass wire and a full repaint. I shared the model in gloss red on Friday, well Chris kindly let me have a set of his decals bought a number of years ago, and these went on well, despite my concerns at their age and the risk of silvering or tearing off the carrier film.

After sealing the paint with dullcote I’ve reassembled, adding Kadee air hoses and the original EZmate knuckle couplers (easier than replacing as they are a direct fit). The glazing was reusable but I didn’t want to risk damaging the paint by removing the cab, so plumped for flusher but slighly miniscus compromised glue and glaze, not helped by the thickness of the shell.

It looks the part, although interestingly it’s height red bodywork doesn’t look great on Kinross, which features a more bleached colour: I suspect it would look good on Pont-y-Dulais if that didn’t feature chaired track, with its richer palette. To finish, a Modelu engineer driver figure has been ordered for the open window, and a gentle subtle weathering will finish things off nicely.

EDIT: I’ve removed the glazing, it just tears out with tweezers, I couldn’t live with it and will be investigating other options for now.

I’ve now got the stock ready for the Claremont Paper cameo, perhaps this leap frogs the Corkickle scheme? Or perhaps I should focus on the ‘big one’ next... more on that in another post soon. Although these American projects are a personal passion, the skills and techniques used are the same for whatever prototype and if you look at my commission work, I can offer simple new numbers through to complete repaints, including weathering to your requirements. If you’ve a stalled project perhaps a one off unique commission may be just the thing to give you the impetus to finish it, get in touch for a personal proposal. In the meantime, more soon...