Duff red diamonds (part 2)…

Sometimes the unplanned projects are the best, an impulse purchase fuelled by creative energy that carries the model and the feeling forwards with pace and a self refuelling urgency…

Part 1 introduced that this 47 was the result of a bargain purchase - and really I should have been working on the similarly liveried Class 37! However, this project had fuel for two, and as I write this both models now sit complete on the fiddle yard area of the Paxton Road shelf. Complete and rather lovely… today though is just the 47s story.

Taking photos of these tiny models is challenging - a skill I continue to practice (not such a hardship hey). The subtle weathered finish achieved here is even harder to capture but I’ve done my best.

In Part 1 we left the model almost finished, she had the initial wash applied and just finishing touches left - but it is these that really do lift the overall model and increase the finesse of the result. 

The wash, no matter how subtle, can leave traces that need adjusting or removing once touch dry. This can be achieved with a little enamel thinners on a small brush. The airbrush then is used to add a built up of dirt that is so subtle that it’s almost imperceptible on the lower body side, but heavier on the roofs, dulling the satin finish further and building realism, this is what we observe but perhaps haven’t noted before. The last touch with the airbrush is a build up of exhaust on the roof, not too heavy, just enough to be noticed.

The finishing touches are dry brushed gun metal 53 on the cab steps and lower doors and some black Posca paint pen on the buffer heads (works a treat in N and OO) - the textured packaged materials are too noisy for me in the smaller scale. Finally, a bristle from and old toothbrush forms the radio aerial - these are incredibly prone to pinging off, I must drill a deeper hole in this orientation for them to push into - the Farish ones are he same thickness as the door handrails and formed from bent wire… you can’t reliably bend a bristle!

So she sits on Paxton Road looking purposeful and her modified form (front handrails, buffer beam pipework and all) reminds me of my humble beginnings with those early Lima experiments. Models should be exciting; that might just be opening the box for you (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that) but for me, modifying each and making them my own creates fuel for further work - almost like a strange creative perpetual motion machine… 

For you dear reader, that means as always, more soon…

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