CURTAINS?

Experimental soft furnishings.

Ever wondered how you could improve on those printed curtains that feature on most modern ready-to-run coaching stock? They look OK at first glance, from a distance at least, but the lack of relief is all too obvious once you get a bit closer. The uniform shape can appear over-regimented too. And, of course, plenty of coach models don't have any curtains at all, when they really ought to.

There are a few sources of cast whitemetal curtains that, once painted, can look much better (such as MJT). However, I decided to try making some of my own from coloured paper. I didn't have any of the correct dark blue shade - to match the maroon BR Mk1 - to hand, so they're a bit bright. But, the point was to see how they'd look and if I could be bothered to fit an entire carriage in this way.

The results are much better than I expected, with the tie-backs setting them off nicely. After a few false starts, I've managed to work out a quick folding and shaping method, so it shouldn't be too much of a chore. Just need to brave the weather and get some more appropriately coloured card. I could try painting them, but I'd rather not...

Oh, and how do you remove the printed curtains from the clear glazing? A bit of T-Cut will do the trick.

Hornby's printed curtains on its Stanier stock. Not bad, but could be so much better.