GrahamMuz: Fisherton Sarum & Canute Road Quay

The American phenomenon of Black Friday really hit our UK shores in anger this year and not only included retailers cutting prices on the Friday itself but many online retailers making offers for the week before. Traditionally in the USA it was the amount of trading the day after their Thanksgiving, which signified the start of the run up to Christmas, that was when traders got themselves back into the black financially , hence the name. Special offers than started to appear and so on.  Last year a number of mainly US owned stores got in on the act here and its now spread like wildfire across many stores and mediums, all without having to have eaten turkey the day before…

The Hornby Bogie Van B changes from blue to green over the weekend. Now to replace glazing, decal and re-affix chassis

I took advantage of one of the deals and purchased direct from Hornby a BR blue version of the ex SR Bogie Van B, a fine model but one they have not yet produced in malachite so I though it would make a better candidate for repainting than their nicely done olive green version.

Once stripped of removable details and decals the N class changes from green Friday to grey Saturday with a coat of Halfords plastic primer

In addition to the Van B repainting I have also been working this weekend, in parallel,  on the repainting of a Bachmann N class for a friend who is modelling the South Devon GWR line around Brent, whom wanted to recreate a photograph of an N class on one the turns used to ensure SR drivers were familiar with the line for diversion purposes (GWR drivers also did turns on the SR line round the North of Dartmoor too).

The N Class turns into a black Sunday and now awaits Sunshine decals and light weathering

She, as per the photograph, will be become number 1848, and at this post war time, was in fact a Salisbury based engine so it provides a nice link to Fisherton Sarum whilst infiltrating a GWR layout!

Once complete I will pose a photograph on Fisherton Sarum before she heads off to her new home running in GWR metals.

My repainting process for both follows the same basic process with the bodies removed from the chassis:

• Remove the existing decals (with Bachman locos I used good quality enamel thinners on a cotton bud)
• Remove factory fitted such as smoke deflectors, pipework, valve fittings, glazing etc.
• Mask any areas such the buffer beams or roof on the Van B
• Give a dusting of the excellent Halfords plastic primer, this gives a key for the top coat and prevents any reaction between the factory paint and the top coat of Halfords Satin black or Railmatch malachite for the Van B
• Brush paint matt black the smokebox and cab roof and ends of the Van B, repaint the buffer beams if required
• Decal using HMRS Pressfix decals.
• Lightly weather

This is tried and tested method that I have deployed on pretty much all of my repainted R-T-R stock that can be found on Fisherton Sarum