Commission: Narrow gauge 1930s coaches…

I love the sheer variety of work that crosses my bench. So many scales and gauges, so many prototypes, so many different ‘types’ of work. Today I’m sharing another narrow gauge commission, construction and finishing of a pair of brake coaches in 009…

Traditional and modern kits, we have the aging but excellent Dundas FR van 10 and a Robex WHR Pickering 3D printed by Shapeways. A few extra details to bring both to life, but they share the same shade of green and custom decals to finish things off.

The Robex print is well designed and prints cleanly, after a soak in white spirit I set about adding handrails and door handles as well as fabricating them in 0.4mm brass wire. The vacuum brake was added using white metal hoses and some brass rod for the pipe along the solebar.

Painting followed usual practice, window frames on the opening windows picked out in a wood shade. Decals designed, sourced and applied specific for this job really set things off. After sealing with lacquer it’s time to add the glazing, the only slight tricky point in construction as the recesses allow a slight glue seepage around the glazing. The roof is a sheet of thin 20 thou styrene glued to the roof formers and hand painted dark grey.

In contrast the Dundas brake has been finished as per the instructions, with grab handles seperately added for a little finesse. The same approach to paint but this time glazing cut into individual panes to ensure a flush glazed effect. 

Turning them over the work doesn’t stop up top, with the various details of the kit included, and slight modification to ensure train set curves are still possible. Note too the JH badge, standard issue these days on kit or scratch builds, assuming I can squeeze it in! 

If you have a prototype you’d like to recreate but feel it’s beyond your experience or skill level then I’d love to help, get in touch and we can discuss your exact requirements and I will prepare a personal proposal. In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed these photographs, until next time more soon…

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