Friday Update: Twenty-five Three Twenty-two…

With the worst of Covid behind me, and just a lingering tiredness, head cold and ear ache, it’s been busy here this week on the bench…

The initial pair of Ruston LB are in the paint shop. The low cab will be finished in Ruston green, much like my prototype, but the full cab is in plant yellow and my customer requested wasp striping on the bonnet and cab rear. Masking is no easier even in larger scales, where mis alignment of tape can lead to wonky lines! The beauty of painting these, is the soft subtle shade of black you achieve with the airbrush.

A pair of OO commissions are also working their way through the workshop. The 74xx conversion uses a Bachmann 64xx and is nearly there now. Nettie is a Hattons Barclay that has been renamed and both models are weathered with a three stage approach, washes, airbrush and dry brushing, really bringing these otherwise mundane prototypes to life. Where my large scale or layout commissions have a relatively long wait, the smaller scale items like this are easy to slot in around them, so if you’ve got a project with a specific deadline do get in touch as I might be able to help, despite my workload.

I’ve managed to get out for a few walks since quarantine ended on Wednesday morning and we’ve been blessed with the weather. Unfortunately all it seems to do is really tire me out, but the warm sunshine on my tired skin at lunchtime yesterday was a real tonic never the less, and the few days trapped in made me re-evaluate the importance of a daily walk.

The BC Rail CRS20 is marching forwards, as seen here, and actually as I type this the model is much further on, I just haven’t had a chance to take some photos. This model has been a long time in the works, it is so exciting to see it come to life in colour. I’ll try and get some progress shots at the weekend.

EDIT - more progress…

A few ‘extra’ photos snapped quickly to show more progress…

The Ruston has had the wasp stripes painted and with the masking removed is looking really crisp…

The CRS20 is actually now decal’d and sealed with dull cote (on to my last can) and ready for weathering…

…and wrapping things up I picked this up cheap! What seems to be a genuine manual, it’s a fascinating read and I’m enjoying digging into some of the detail which adds a real depth to my understanding of the prototype. This weekend will see my much cherished Audi S3 move on to a new home, and me hide from a house of pre teen as my daughter has a sleep over! I hope to distract myself with various Beaverbrook related projects, until next time more soon…