Commission: GVT stock in 16mm…

Perhaps one of the largest commissions, in terms of the space it has taken here in the workshop. This rake of GVT stock is happily on its way to a new home this week…

An involved project, taking the rather good but basic Binnie wagons and lifting them with a mix of replacement parts and modifications to their structure and detail. In addition a Perfect World brake van was assembled and detailed as part of the rake.

This side on gives an idea of the work involved… Slaters wheels, my own design of custom etched brake levers (two designs) pinned with rivets for strength, re-worked Binnie wagon body with smoothed and rounded corners to the top plank and new rivet heads to replace the bolts moulded on the corners, carved wood grain on the top plank edges, damaged wood in places by carving the styrene, Talisman castings for the couplings and finished with custom designed decals.

Some of the GVT decals are from Dickies or Endon - the former are awful to work with, and I wouldn’t recommend them at all. I designed a sheet to cover the extra I needed as well as the brake van, some of these are available from my store at LRS. Whilst the results look consistent and almost run of the mill, the neatness and detail involved took time and effort. I’m really pleased with what we’ve achieved here!

Painting in enamels the interiors have a worn worn finish with a panel line wash, but no ‘load’ weathering as my customer was keen to not hide the effect. The exteriors are lightly washed and dry brushed, to add a shadow and hilight, slightly artificial but it works well in the garden as I learnt a few years ago with my own 7/8ths wagons.

The brake van was a kit of flat parts, in real and ply wood and assembled pretty much as intended. The axle boxes and underframe are pretty ‘lo-fi’but I lightly modified these to disguise the shortcomings. Custom decals of my design and Talisman couplings finish it off.

As a rake they represent many many hours work but seen together the effort has been worth it. I can’t wait to see a photo with my customers tram locomotive in the garden!

I’ve really enjoyed this project. If you have a commission, a project or idea, any scale, any gauge then get in touch and let’s discuss how we can turn it into reality. Until next time, more soon…

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