CHINA CLAY FLEET READY

Wagons finished and ready to roll

This pair of Bachmann 13t china clay wagons feature the original chassis (left) and a superior Parkside Dundas underframe kit (right), plus handmade tarpaulins. 

My short rake of china clay wagons is now complete and ready for action - well, ready for posting off to my colleague Peter Marriott for photographing on his new West Country layout. The DIY tarpaulins are looking good - not bad for just a couple of hours' work. I had intended to weather the wagons with dry pigments but ran out of time, opting for a wholly airbrushed finish. Tamiya paints have been used throughout and the light grey (I resisted using white for the dust) has a nice heavy matt finish which is more subtle than what the powders would probably have achieved. In fact, I managed to airbrush the entire fleet, from the primer stage right through to the finished article in an afternoon. No masking was employed, just a steady hand and a fine airbrush.

Due to the tight timescale I was working under, I had to resort to hand-numbering the whole fleet. No time for the traditional decals stages: gloss clear coat - wait a few hours- apply decals - wait a few hours - sealing clear coat - wait a few hours - weathering. It was all done in a trice, as they say.

Look out for the finished results in the latest instalment of Model Rail's How to Build A Model Railway, Volume 3, out soon....