Commission: 1930s Welsh Highland train in 009…

Last year I created a pair of 1930s Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland period coaches for a customer. This year I was asked to go further…

The coaches returned with a box fresh Peco bowsider and a Bachmann Baldwin. They also needed a work over and then all four items were to be sympathetically weathered.

The Baldwin was Bachmann’s first locomotive in 009, and has perhaps been forgotten, somewhat, with the plethora of North Wales models. It is still rather lovely, and I enjoyed this mild makeover. A wooden cab rear screen was scratch-built and I added some extra pipework, carefully painted to match before my usual weathering approach. Using photos as a guide a 4 stage process transformed the plastic model to a heartfelt recreation of the prototypes character. A Modelu crew, sourced, painted and fitted as part of the commission finish things off nicely.

The pair of green coaches has lasted well in use for a year, some minor repairs and a roof repaint - before a weathering was all that was required…

…the same goes for this second Ffestiniog brake too - a window bar had broken so was replaced but otherwise just a roof repaint and weathering.

The Peco bowsider was green - and has seen quite the transformation. Stripping it down to its component parts allowed me to paint it more easily but there is no shortcut for that panelling! Yellow is also one of the worst colours to weather too - but I hope the overall effect feels right, and that as a quartet they feel coherent. I certainly enjoyed working on a complete train - if you’d like me to undertake something similar, I can combine different jobs to give a single proposal.

All this 009 work has me itching to do some more narrow gauge for myself, we will see what transpires. In the meantime, I’d better get the week started in the workshop, so until next time, more soon…

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