The humble train set. I'm sure many, if not all of us started in some way with such a thing. Recent offerings from the big players have left me cold - but Bachmann's announcements for this Christmas seemed not just great value but really varied in period and content - as well as keenly priced...
"I'm not doing steam in N" says I, until the Western Rambler set landed on my mat. But what to do with such a thing? I didn't want to leave it as is - rather show that even the lowly set can become a detailed and treasured model.
The GWR green on this Pannier was lovely though reminding me of my first Hornby 8750 model in OO 40 odd years ago - but this period of modelling hasn't really appealed for most of my adult life, rather I prefer BR black, dirty and end of steam. The Farish 64xx brought to mind
my OO gauge 74xx conversion, and the book that inspired Pont Dulas showed the class in use on the Aberaeron branch and milk trains in the area. Deciding to try something a little difficult, digging out the head magnifier and a sharp blade I modified the tiny Pannier's cab and buffer beams.
I felt the markings would show through the proposed black finish so a touch of IPA (not the beer variety) and rubbing off with the cocktail stick made short work of these. I didn't want to move too far from it's humble origins so the conversion work stopped here - although the tooling would reward further refinement if you felt so inclined.
Finishing was simple - popping the cab windows out meant I could spray the body without masking - a coat of Humbrol 85 (satin black) covers well from the airbrush. I used Humbrol 73 (matt wine) on the buffer beams, and 98 (matt chocolate) to suggest a cabside plate has been removed - it really must be the end of steam. White pencil crayon illegible, sadly, was hoped to depict chalked on number! Real coal (what else) and a Modelu crew complete matters, and the finished result would probably pass muster in OO - the only give away really being the Rapido couplings.
So have I done this Pannier justice? This model (and it's accompanying wagons and brake van) all still sport their Rapido couplings and will show just what is possible in this small scale - how we can move from train set to more serious modelling, to show our hand through the artful improvement of something mass produced, a personal ode to our humble beginnings. Until next time, more soon...
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Nice conversion. Though, if you wanted to have a GWR green one, 7428 survived until withdrawal in 1962 in GWR green. First discovered this in Green’s Coast Lines of the Cambrian Vol 1 where there’s a photo of a very work stained 7428 shunting at Aberystwyth in 1962. Previous to that, 7428 had spells working out of Croes Newydd and spells on the Bala to Blaenau branch. Google and Flickr will help unearth more photos.
ReplyDeleteI was aware of 7428 from my earlier days of planning the Bala Branch in OO gauge! However, it’s too much of an outlier for me on this project! The GWR was actually chalked on I believe at the end, as the paint had well and truly worn off!
DeleteNo problem. There are photos of the GWR chalked on after withdrawal. Before withdrawal it was there but covered in a fair amount of grime. Still like your black one, certainly looks the part.
DeleteI'd been having a go with modifying the cab back myself for one of the second series of 64xx tanks and tried similar with filing the corner though I've not tried microstrip for the bunker beading yet!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
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