Shades of Shell Island?

In my recent clear out you will have seen the 24 and some 16t have gone to a new home and perhaps wondered what was happening to the rest of my British OO? The answer is they’re safe for now, collected with the image of the Cambrian 70s pick up goods firmly in mind…

This motley collection actually has some logic - perhaps an MCV might have been better than two MCO, but what’s vacuum braking between friends - the three wagon train is ‘just right’ behind the rather lovely Bachmann 25. 

Of course it is difficult not to compare the aging Bachmann 16t mineral tooling (right) with the new Accurascale effort (left). Whilst finesse is wonderful on the latter, especially things like the thin W irons, the Bachmann model passes muster as a model that captures the character of the prototype. The stand out Accurascale feature for me however is the Code 88 wheels. These look sublime, but be warned, they do drop down in the frog area of the larger radius Peco bullhead turnouts.

 

Taking a look at the finish this was achieved in the same manner (and at the same time) as the previous Accurascale based commissions. 

 

The Bachmann example is a darker base grey - but to be fair, this was a pre-tops wagon that I’ve added MCO decals too during the make over. I had lost the NEM so this has had Kadee ‘number 5’ style but long shank, centre set (I can’t remember the number) examples. This has the benefit of not having a heavy moulding just behind the buffer beam but I suspect will need a discrete pin to restrict the opening swing if using magnets.

The Rapido gunpowder van passed me by upon release but a Google search turned up this British Rail ‘TOPS’ coded example, perfect for me needs. The finish was generally very nice but I airbrushed some lacquer on the shiny roof before weathering. Sadly, this reacted slightly with the subsequent weathering but rather by happy accident the results had a lovely patchy tar patina, that I probably couldn’t have achieved if I’d tried! These worked in and out of the explosives factory at Penrhyndeudraeth before the Barmouth Bridge was closed to locomotives.

Finally the ubiquitous brake van, another Bachmann effort, lightly weathered and the roof stippled with a paler shade using an old bit of sponge this time, washes and stippling then softened with an airbrush. The handrails worked well on this model, painted with the weathering shades and then once they’d gone tacky gently removed with the wide flat brush they have the appearance of wear and rust that can be otherwise difficult to achieve.

The quarter remind me of the little train I had assembled in N for Ynys-Las a few years ago…

…as well as the inspirational ‘Shell Island’ from Neil Rushby (a new photo feature on this wonderful layout forms part of ‘Companion 2’ due in a month or so…) What future for these OO models though? Bought really as stage props for commission layout builds I’m not sure they’ll ever find a home in the forever collection but I’ve enjoyed breathing life into them and through that process day dreaming of the layouts they could inhabit. However, for now they live in the stock box - waiting for photo opportunities! Until next time, more soon…

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