Mundane modified and lived in...

My first Farish 08 was a modified Network South East 'IVOR' example. Whilst including the more modern 'pressed' doors (without the hinge strapping) it featured the wooden cab door and window frame...

This is a limitation in the Bachmann tooling. If you want an 08 without tool boxes infront of the radiator screens on each side you have to have ladders on the nose, and if you want a wooden cab door you have to have a wooden side window too! Until now, I've just put up with this - and will probably continue to do so on my Hilton Mears and RSS examples - BUT - this blue machine, it's a custom job. I've repainted it - so I have the right paint shade to touch up any damage... I wondered, how hard would it be to modify?

The answer - very easy. When I repainted it I had lopped off the clips on the cab so it could be pushed up and off for any future work - so this was the first job. Once removed from the body I pushed out the glazing and clipped off the old side window. A craft knife was then used, very carefully, to open the window out to the edge of the wooden frame. The edges were touched in with the same rail blue, and then once dry, a small rectangle of clear acetate glued in place - but to save having to get this accurate on width and height, I cheated and made it open, secured with glue-n-glaze.

These diminutive models are quite obviously toys, but they exude character. The open window and weathered, lived in finish hint at life, a model life perhaps, but as if they're being used by those miniature figures - both real (thanks Modelu!) and imagined. Until next time, more soon...

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