Finally finished after 30 years!

120826_coopercraft-gwr_DSC_5156, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

It's taken me 30 years to complete this kit; Cooper Craft GWR van. 1003W Dia. V5 Wooden Mink Van 7' 0 1/2" High.

I started it back in '82 shortly before my interest in toy chuffers waned for 15 or so years, it then ending up in my parents loft and more recently my loft with other half-complete projects. A chance find the other week whilst going through old stock found it in a semi-complete state, building and basic painting being as far as it got all those years ago. Time forgotten fragile items like this tend to get broken, but I was pleased to find this one in a complete state.

Yesterday was a nice afternoon so I took it into the garden with weathering paints, powders and brushes to finally finish it off. The weathering here is the usual mix of watery acrylic paint washes applied adn then wiped off along with some Carrs powders rubbed into the wet weathering wash. I tend to use powders this way, they adhere better and are less likely to be rubbed off with handling.

The wagon had some 'scale' sized 3 links, and whilst they look good are almost impossible to use, so the loops were replaced with the popular slightly over sized ones favoured by loonies like me who shun other coupling types.

The black panel for the numbers were painted on 30 years ago but never had any numbering applied, but because my modelling is more about effect than number crunching I simply scratched the black paint off alittle to reveal the grey paint underneath to suggest some kind of numbering. Once weathered over they work OK but without the head ache. I'm thrilled to read that fellow modeller Phil Parker has a similar philosophy with regards to numbers on wagons.

This wagon kit all these years later is still made by Cooper Craft and can be seen here in their current online catalogue.