Friday Update: Eleven Two Twenty-two...

As half term creeps upon us I'm busy finishing off smaller scale commissions to make space for the batch of Ruston LB after the holidays. I've been lucky that a number of things have come along that can be finished in parallel...

The pair of Austerities are now painted and decals applied. These were hand drawn from prototype photos including the lining, and these are then carefully applied over a gloss paintwork. The black edge to each transfer makes it easier to then touch up the black edging with paint before sealing with a dull lacquer, currently favouring Humbrol 'Clear' Matt, which is a self levelling water based airbrush ready product that seems to work well and go on nice and thin. Following that will be some suitable weathering for a pair of engines that have seen better days and were literally, sadly, run into the ground.

I've been finishing off these 8 PXA wagons as well, its taken three goes to get the right yellow but we got there in the end, and now I have hand painted the sole bars black and added the Rail-tec decals over a gloss paintwork. Shortly to be sealed in lacquer as well, these will be very lightly weathered to just bring some of the detail to life. Expect to see them in a finished post next week. Working on such a large batch has advantages to the customer, as it saves a bit on my time, but they're hard work mentally, repeating the same task 8+ times begins to wear a little thin. However, that said, when they approach completion, decals really bringing them to life, it's very rewarding seeing the rake together. 

I share a photo of the new EuroNG kit prototype in primer recently, well alongside the Austerities this has been painted. I chose Humbrol 20 (crimson) and lined it by hand with a bow pen loaded with Humbrol 174  (signal red). The custom decals were applied and then the model sealed with the last of my supply of dull-cote, before glazing the windows with glue-n-glaze. Mini-me stands on the footplate, giving you an idea of scale. In 1:76 I work out to be 22mm in height! I need to add some coal in the tended and a light weathering before this can be considered 'finished' and then I need to sit down and update the etch artwork a little before she is ready for production.

A Shapeways order arrived this week re-stocking some kits in the Minimum Gauge and components in the Narrow Planet ranges. As well as these 'standard' items were a few one offs - this is a custom designed chassis using components from the new/old (there is a new one I believe, which we'll need to check over at some point, with DCC and sound built in) Grafar 08, allowing you to model a different wheelbase. In this case I've flipped the gearbox 180 degrees in the frame as well, to give my customer the arrangement they need. This is printed in Smooth Fine Detail plastic, a UV cured adative acrylic material which can be a little brittle but is easy to work with and dimensionally pretty accurate for work like this... if you have an outside framed prototype you'd like in 009, and want me to design you a custom chassis to use the Grafar 08 drive and wheels, then get in touch!

Finally this week, also in the Shapeways order, are some replacement trucks for my next H0 scale project, well, not next as such, but 'on the list'. This aging Bachmann GE70t switcher will be made over as the San Luis Central example. I have always thought the truck frames seems a little under nourished and poorly detailed so have modified the design I drew up for the Canadian National trucks, to match the standard design. Now I know they print ok, these are available on my Shapeways store for anyone else interested.

I'm hoping to get a little work done on Creech Barn this weekend, what are you looking forward to? In the meantime, I hope you've had a good week, thank you for reads, feel free to comment and get involved, or share with your friends. I've still got capacity for more commission work this year so if you've got a model you'd like me to work on for you then please do get in touch. In the meantime, more soon...