Ffesty-ish in 009...

Alongside my recent 009 locomotives I've added a few items of rolling stock to my latest narrow gauge adventure. The first of these was the 'Van 11' which was quite a close match to a real carriage. This next pair take more of a caricature approach...

Based upon the excellent Dundas models kits these are marketed as 'Ffestiniog style' and are about 4/7 the length of a typical vehicle - so not quite half, but not far off! What is interesting, is that despite this MASSIVE short coming (excuse the pun) they're still full of character and don't feel too unrealistic to my artistic eye.

The first is a wood planked example that I built without balconies and painted based upon the 1950s period when a WHR coach without door windows was painted in this style. The carriage is as per the kit, I added the window bars and door handles in brass wire - the brake hoses are from spares in FourDees barn kits, which I suspect may be a little closer to scale than the white metal ones provided. I took the time to cut each piece of glazing to fit the recess, which isn't as hard as it sounds and adds to the finesse of the completed model.

The second example is a panelled carriage and I added the end balconies to represent a sort of mini bow-sider in the same late 1950s period. You'll notice each carriage is a different shade - a deliberate choice and reflective of the period. When viewed 'cold' on the blog they're obvious caricatures but I decided to focus on finesse in the finish, taking time to drill holes for the door handrails, cutting the window bars to equal lengths, ensuring there was no flash on the end handrails and that the ends fitted well - in painting I used fine masking tape to get a neat finish on the panel edges - all of this means that despite their size I still find them acceptable behind a locomotive - and certainly as a rake they feel at least slightly believable and don't jar too much. In fact, of course if we modelled these carriages to scale we'd need a lot more space!

Pictured here with Linda, posed on a layout I'm building on commission.

Until next time, more soon...

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