The inevitable: modern N, at least it’s small…

Friday’s blog shared a photo of some ‘modern N’ that has arrived here and yesterday I shared a scheme based upon AV Dawson in Middlesbrough. Hopefully the connection is obvious, but what have I bought and why, and how good is it?

We have discussed the quality and character of the Farish 08 before, and this ‘Network Rail’ unbranded example is another of the manufacturers latest batch with coreless motor and Next18 socket. It runs superbly and I’m looking forward to rebranding it before dulling down the finish a little.

Inspired by the ex-Potter Group yellow 08 at Dawson’s I’ve tweaked the model a little already. Farish seem to have three toolings for this model 1) outside hinged bonnet doors, radiator ladders and wooden cab doors 2) smooth bonnet doors, radiator ladders and wooden cab doors and 3) smooth bonnet doors, metal cab doors and extra cabinet on body side. This does mean some compromise around their livery choices sometimes, and in this instance the Network Rail model sported the front ladders. Simple to remove with a sharp knife though, as were the spurious upper marker lights. I touched in the paint with yellow (64) and black (33). The prototype had the lower part of the fuel tanks in front of the cab either black or yellow, which was recreated on this model too. This was a simple job, touched in the missing black on one side with a fine brush, and using a sharp blade to scrape off the black revealing the yellow underneath on the other.

The Revolution cargo wagons are lovely things with real presence, they run well and feature great detail. These will just be weathered up lightly in time, however the EFE Rail JIA hopper wagons needed more work. Whilst equally well detailed, especially the fine metal handrails, I needed to remove the China Clay markings. Fine wet and dry paper (1200) used wet made fairly short work of this and preserved much of the blue paintwork. I custom mixed a blue as a close match and applied that to blend the body side slightly and paint the white roof hatch. Once dry I used a thinned off white (28) to fade the blue ready for weathering. 

It will be good fun working on these models, no longer any need for excuses for wagons that don’t fit on the other layouts, short rakes only to satisfy the micro cameo and somewhere to enjoy these new models. My rake of PiChem PCA wagons could find a use here, and in time the newly announced Revolution curtain covered steel wagons too… in the meantime a chance to home my skills on smaller items which really sharpens things up, improving my work in larger scales. 

If you have a model you’d like me to breathe some life into, re-number or repaint get in touch for a no obligation personal proposal. In the meantime though, until next time more soon…

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