Commission: Dolgoch(s) in 009…

We’re carrying the Talyllyn 009 theme on with commissions again this week. Today, a pair of Dolgoch, from two distinctively different era in this popular scale…

My customer initially approached me about fitting a Bachmann chassis to his beloved Dolgoch, assembled many years ago by himself using the GEM kit. Sadly this wasn’t possible, but I suggested we use a Fourdees body on his Bachmann chassis, and use the dummy chassis supplied by Fourdees under his original model. This was we could preserve the heritage of the GEM model whilst allowing him to run something reliable with his 009 layout. 

The Fourdees model is a neat piece of 3D design. I have finished the model in green, lined with yellow and edged black. You can see I missed touching in the corner behind the cab door - where the straights and curves overlap - these were corrected after the photos were taken but they show the process. I use very fine N gauge lining decals that are yellow and black, and then paint black up to the back, and over the inverted corners. It’s a neat trick and gives great results. Plates are Light Railway Stores, crew from Modelu.

The GEM model was missing a front buffer and had lost its chimney. Paint was chipped and the model was dirty and dusty. Restoration is about preserving what is important to the customer - in this case I repaired the missing parts (chimney is too fat, but I didn’t have anything that was an exact match in the chimney box), touched in the black paint on the chassis edges and gave it all a good clean. 

The results mean my customer gets his treasured model in a condition that can be used on the layout as a display model, that connects him to a period when he was able to build his own models - whilst enjoying Bachmann’s lovely Rheneas chassis under a realistic body hauling trains on his lifelong 009 layout. This commission then as I said at the start, a marriage of old and new, a link through time and modelling. A rather lovely thing to work with… if you have an old model you’d like me to repair or restore, or a new one waiting to be finished, do get in touch to discuss your requirements and if I can help turn dreams into reality. For now, until next time, more soon…

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