Real ‘Realtrack’ PCA…

These Realtrack PCA wagons that I shared last week are wonderful models, truly inspiring N gauge examples of today’s ‘art of the possible’ in ready to run…

Box fresh they’re cold and dead though, finely detailed but lacking the subtlety in finish you observe on even a clean example in reality. They need to be weathered and for a gentle hand in this application. A mix of road dirt, cement dust and caricature cement streaking these fine elements need only be slight, and on a model barely 5cm long the use of magnification for the work itself!

I say caricature because how many wagons actually have this sort of cement streaking is very small. It serves a different purpose for us, helping tell the story of what load this vehicle is carrying. From a purely artistic perspective the warm pale grey (Humbrol 28) also provides subtle variation and airbrushed on softens the overall finish.

Of the original 3 wagons I’ve finished one in this manner, to bolster the cement fleet for Paxton Road. The other pair will appear later in the week I’m sure as they’ve been finished in a different manner. I make no apology for the quantity of my own work, and my current N scale muse on the blog - the day job is wonderful but sometimes it feels like all I do is breathe my soul into others models. This is a welcome respite as the commissions I’m working on are slower and larger and allowing more headspace for day dreaming of 1990s Speedlink freights, 148 times smaller than reality. Until next time, more soon…

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