hi all! and choo-choo! almost forgot to post this up here! heres my next loco,brush painted and weathered to give it a patchy faded look. what i did was to spray on a thin coat of light grey in all the areas that dirt might collect, then a coat of black in the coal bunker with no masking, so the overspray looks like coal dust. i might have overdone it in parts, but i intend to spray on more green in a kind of pre shading type way. also in the first pic you can see the roof just before i cut open the "sunroof" and in the second pic its there fitted

before

after

heres a bit more progress on this kit, and a question - i bought a couple of wagons and a brake van (all kits, not hornby style stuff), but i was wondering would this loco need to use a brake van? you can see where i replaced the handrails with fine plastic rod, the kit had them moulded on as a big solid bar

The replaced hand bars are a fantastic touch. They really enhance the build. Nice job.
The paint is nicely done too. What are the plans for the pistons paint job?

As far as a break van...if you only add two cars to it I think it would be able to go without. However, I have seen a short train with a caboose so there is a real world justification if you want to include it.

hi scott! to answer your question about the pistons-heres another pic!
as for the brake van thats what i was wondering, if only two wagons could justify one, but the thing is i need to think about space (as it is, it will end up about two feet long!) and i think the brake van looks kind of cool!

That's very nice - I really like it.

I know that sometimes a brake van is added simply to move it from yard to yard and/or to keep it with a locomotive in case they do get a long train going at the next pickup.
So, if you have a cool brake van and room to display it I'd say add it.

yeah thats a good point! now theres just the small matter of actually finding time to build it!

Your making good progress on your locomotive. The paintjob looks really good. The replaced handrails look great as well.

Hi Almonkey,

I asked my Brit RR expert about the brake vans:

These were usually passenger engines but, if they were hauling
'goods' (freight) trains that's a 100% certainty. UK goods trains
didn't in general have any continuous brakes until the early 1960s
(!) by which time these locos had reached the end of their careers.

Non-continuously braked freight trains lasted until the early/mid 70s
- amazing.

Plenty of these Praries are preserved. The moulds for this kit passed
to Airfix, who have just gone bust. There's a chance that Hornby
(biggest name in UK model railways) will buy them.

you might already have seen my reply to your pm by now fred, (thanks for the heads up) just to recap, i saw coal trains in the early/mid 70's that were pulled by a pair of shunting diesels (can't remember the type though, but they were possibly type 09's) with a brake van on the end.
anyhoo.... i've been busy this last couple of days actually getting my brake van builtin this pic i just have it temporarily tacked together cos i'll paint the wheels and flat bed separately from the "hut" which will be hopefully finished to look like varnished wood (albeit dirtied up)

Phil, looks great.
I'm happy to announce it impressed me so much, I saw one on Extortion Bay, and bid on it, and just found out I won.
So I guess I'll have a few railroad subject for when the campaign kicks off. And then decision as to which one to make.

nice one dave!
this is all part of an on-going project that should end up as an edwardian station diorama. i have got kits of platforms and buildings and a piece of board to use as a base, so watch this space!