Another Od-Job

Another day, another od-job. The old Black Dog Mining tub now has it's load of garden waste. Baking paper was again used to line the inside of the wagon and it was filled with offcuts of rubberised horsehair (from a hedge that never made it onto the layout), plus some leftover bits of sea foam that had previously been painted a darker brown. The baking paper liner was removed from the wagon before lots of hairspray was used to fix it together and left to set overnight propped up to retain the shape. 

Once set the bottom had stuck to the paper so I used this to my advantage, cutting away the sides and applying PVA to any gaps around the edge and adding scatter to complete the effect of material thrown into the wagon.

Colin

Odsock Wagons - The Black Dogs

Modellers setting out in O9 today may not appreciate the influence that the Black Dog Mining and Avalon Line ranges had on the scale over 20 years ago (double-checks calendar...). Of these last two wagons from the 'odsock Corner batch, the mine tub actually incorporates one of the first Black Dog chassis I bought and the 6ft 2-plank is to the same design as another of my other early purchases. 

The mine tub was originally completed 9 years ago (checks calendar again...) and whilst the body was new the chassis had been around the block a few times and the openings I had previously cut for MicroTrains couplers were filled back in. This view from 2017 shows it with Black Dog coupler blocks fitted to add further character. They have now been removed as part of the most recent rebuild. Always a bit of an outsider in the fleet, it was designated a "display" vehicle and even had it's own little diorama for a time.

The 6ft 2-plank is intended to run with the passenger coach and was intended as a luggage trolley similar to that pulled by my railcar. However, wanting to be different this time the load is just accumulated "stuff" at this stage and at present is only placed loosely. The bucket is a West Hill Wagon Works example and the bag of rubbish is a carefully sculpted Milliput artwork...

Both wagons are pretty similar underneath, lead window strip is used for weight with clearance for 7mm metal wheels in place of the Peco originals. As I have pointed out before these really lift the look of the Black Dog chassis. They also make it really easy to fit Greenwich couplers as they only require a small slot in the buffer beam level with the inner frame.

For the first time I now feel that I have a coherent fleet of non-miniature railway rolling stock in O9. For now they are assigned to 'odscock Corner but who knows where they may end up in the future?

Colin

The Colours of 2026

Just a quick post to welcome readers of O9 Modeller into 2026. Sorry for the lack of updates recently, there has been progress in the paintshop and my usual policy is no updates between primer and varnish...

Good job then that I took advantage of a dry (but cold) New Years Eve afternoon and gave this little lot  a coat of varnish!

The new year will see these weathered, couplings added and wheeled up. More soon...

Colin

Odsock's Odd Wagons

I have previously made reference to a plan to have a handful of 'wider' O9 stock to run on Odsock Corner with the FK3D 'Druid' and Avalon Line locomotives. The recent 4w coach was the first of these and I can now reveal the next three builds. I say builds, "assemblies" would be more too the point as they all have commercial kit origins...

First up is a Unit Models 1-plank wagon on a Peco 10ft chassis. The primer coat has highlighted a few blow-outs in the casting but these have been filled prior to further painting. As I have a "thing" about not seeing N gauge axleboxes on O9 wagons I have created a set of Black Dog look-alikes to hide them. The Peco N gauge buffer heads form the round section in the centre - sticking them in blu-tac whilst cutting the buffers off saves losing them to the carpet monster!

Next is a 2-plank drop side wagon built from 422 Modelmaking components. You may recall I built one of these before and then sold it on - this new example incorporates learning from that model, largely involving changes to the underframe. I had picked up an alternate underframe casting with no axleboxes and not restricted to using the Peco 10ft chassis (20mm wheelbase), The first action was to narrow it by 3mm in width to move the solebars further in. I then squeezed a 15ft chassis cut down to give a 24mm wheelbase, and I find that the extra 4mm actually makes a big difference to the visual balance of the wagon. Chivers 4mm scale roller bearing axleboxes have been added to hide the Peco originals and Grandt Line nut-bolt-washer mouldings add some extra detail to the bufferbeams.

The two wagons above will run with a Black Dog Mining mine tub as an estate maintenance train, I have a lawnmower kit that I must make up to go in the 1-plank wagon...  A second train will be formed from the open coach with a wagon for luggage (or daring riders). This is a Black Dog style 6 foot 2-plank with added handles on the ends to make it a 'Tops' wagon.

These three wagons are now making progress in the paint shop alongside the coach. It is a while since I've actually painted anything so I am taking it steady to get the best finish. I've also been making up a batch of Greenwich couplers for this micro-fleet which has actually been a lot easier than expected thanks to the new bending/assembly jig available from Light Railway Stores.

Colin

Alternative Coupling Analysis

Regular readers of the blog will be familiar with my use of MicroTrains couplers on my O9 locomotives and rolling stock and how this choice was decided upon more than 20 years ago when I wanted to have a single bogie/coupler arrangement for miniature railway outline carriages. I have often wondered how I might cope with an alternative, with the Greenwich couplers I have used on some of my 009 stock in mind. There are even some half-started experiments tucked away somewhere...

Looking around for something to occupy me over the last week, I started another experiment, this time using a familiar wagon in the shape of a Black Dog Mining style open wagon. Previously fitted with MicroTrains couplers I filled in the 5 x 2.5mm openings in the buffer beams with Evergreen styrene and made good the joins. Opting to fit the Greenwich couplers at the standard 009 height a small recess was removed to accommodate the 5.5mm mounting height. A tiny screw from a batch I bought on eBay holds the coupler in place.

The angle of the photo above doesn't really do it justice, but overall the look of the coupler doesn't look too bad. I did additionally try an angled shaft for the coupler to meet the alternative height of 8mm for the face plate but this looked a little more clumsy. I had ruled out directly mounting the coupler higher as it would require a larger cut-out in the buffer beam or a difficult to cut slot.

Underneath there is another change...

As a further experiment 7mm diameter Matheson wheelsets have been fitted, requiring only a little cut-away in the adhesive lead strip underneath to accommodate the flanges. These wheelsets fit nicely and really improve the appearance of the wagon, this is something I will certainly be looking at changing for other wagons using this chassis.

I have to confess that the coupler used here (and the one I bent the shank on) were "borrowed" from an 009 wagon and just fiddling with an alternative loop with a longer dropper reminded me of the one thing I am not 100% sure of with these couplers, assembling them! Yes, there are jigs available now but I find that they are as fiddly as the MicroTrains ones but in a different way. 

So will anything come of this? We shall see, it may just prompt some other wagon tinkering, again regular readers will understand the significance of that statement...

Colin

Buffers and Baggage

For a while I really couldn't be motivated to get anything going on the workbench, however the weather was really telling me to stay indoors and do something so I came up with a couple of schemes to get started on. 

The first was a reworking a Black Dog Mining (style) wagon as a luggage trailer for the O9 railcar, filling the cutouts for MicroTrains couplers and fitting pre-painted Black Dog coupler/buffer blocks in their place to accommodate a link-and-pin coupler to the railcar. A careful touch-up of the paintwork has made a pretty neat job of the changes.

Of course a luggage trailer needs some luggage, so a root around found a Preiser backpack, suitcase and bag, all pre-painted some time ago. To this I added an older style case using a modified ammo case from a ground crew set, and a bike from a rather basic 3D print I had acquired, possibly from Avalon Line. This filament print required a fair bit of fettling to look anything (and you have to ignore it's square frames!), and I had to add my own pedals from a bent staple and 5 thou styrene. The other side is very poor, but you'll not see that...

Bringing it all together, this is the result with the load fixed in place using 'Tacky Wax', I hope the bike was placed in carefully on top of that luggage! I need to fashion a 'U' shaped wire coupler to engage with the loop on the railcar ends.

The other task I set myself was to add buffers and nameplates to the light green A1 Models "Albert" diesel. I had always planned to have buffers, as per the Littlehampton prototype, but had failed to  scratchbuild any buffer shanks to my satisfaction. At the Doncaster show in February I bought some cast oval Dundas 009 ones, and prepared these in red primer before opting in the end to replace the oval heads with turned 4mm round ones, which in this use really make a difference.

I have also finally named the loco, it begins with 'A' but it is 'Amelia' rather than Albert. These are Narrow Planet plates that had previously done a temporary stint on an 009 Gmeinder. With all of these smaller parts for both projects painted and fitted on the dreary days, finally a nicer day appeared when I was able to give everything a waft of matt varnish over the changed bufferbeams on both projects.

In other news, I'm also having (yet) another try at a mini photo diorama to fit in the light box, but simplifying things compared to previous attempts and mock-ups. I'm even working on some ideas for the project after that... 

Colin

 

The Humble Van

One O9 wagon that has ducked the limelight is my very simple 4w van, built back in 2012 and never really used that much. At the time it was built I described it as a "quickie build using a spare Black Dog Mining under frame and some Parkside Dundas 4mm scale van doors. The pointed roof is just to be different!". The Black Dog chassis was swapped out for a Peco chassis and Black Dog chassis adaptor not long after being built, which actually had the effect of lowering the whole wagon down, as I omitted to leave the Peco weight above the chassis. As the N gauge axleboxes were largely hidden I did nothing about hiding them. 

Whilst creating the wagon fleet for the project I wanted to include the van but also wanted to add a little more height - it is to large 15" gauge dimensions so not as big as commercially available O9 vans. By popping out the Peco chassis I was able to reinstate the weight, and add a little extra above the chassis as well. Overall I have only added 1mm to the height but it does make a visual difference, of course the knock-on effect of this was to require a change to the coupler position. With the axle boxes now exposed I have repurposed what was left of some RCL Hudson boxes used on a previous Peco conversion.

Paintwork has been matched with the original and the whole van given a fresh coat of matt varnish - apart from the roof where I had created a pleasing worn metal finish in places that I wanted to preserve the gleam of! 

In other news the more recent of the 5ft wagons was running awfully on test and after investigation has had its fake Black Dog style axleboxes removed and replaced by Wizzard/51L HRC001 Highland Railway grease axlebox castings - I had made the previous joint between axlebox and chassis frame too solid to get the wheels in freely, the new ones are only fixed to chassis so can move to allow the wheels in/out. The new fittings were painted and weathered to match the existing paintwork.

The Chivers R&ER Theakston wagon has now received MicroTrains 1023 couplers which look a lot better balanced than the 1015s fitted originally. I opted to retain the 7mm Bemo wheelsets rather than replace with smaller Peco examples.

Colin

 

Imposters on the Bench

Unfortunately I haven't done much modelling of late, lots of reasons, but the result was that I did find myself analysing my current project (the O9 micro roundy-roundy) and whether I had the time to continue with it, do something different or... who knows...?!

The last few weeks have seen a glimmer of hope and a couple of weekends ago I found I had time to sit at the workbench and actually build something. I opted to build another 3-plank wagon based on the one I had completed in January, a nominal 5ft (scale) long wagon with Grandt Line hinges on 3-plank sides. Of course I then decided one wasn't enough so started a second, and to give some variety this is a little bit longer. Detailing is still in progress with the end stanchions yet to be cut back and shaped.

One of the things that test running the new project had revealed was that trains formed of multiple Black Dog Mining based wagons tended to wobble a bit, especially if propelled. Some might say this is ultra realistic but to me it is a bit distracting (remembering that I abandoned using KB scale Hudson chassis for a similar reason). With that in mind for the first wagon I cut up a Peco N gauge 10ft chassis to a 14mm wheelbase and disguised it with Black Dog-style axleboxes, modifying the set I had made last year to try and add to a damaged Hudson frame. Hence this is the first imposter! The second wagon retains the 20mm wheelbase and has steel channel solebars, where there was space to add genuine Black Dog axlebox castings recovered from a broken chassis. An imposter in the sense they are not functioning... Both have weight added in the void between Peco chassis and floor.

The eagle-eyed might spot that there are no cut-outs for MicroTrains couplings on these builds. This is again in reaction to test running, as in order to avoid any accidental uncoupling events, I have opted to use MT couplers at the outer ends of rakes only, within rakes simple loop and pin couplers will suffice. Both new wagons will therefore be loop and pin only.

This leaves a few modifications to do to existing vehicles. I might have over-thought this, but in order to maintain consistency between vehicle ends I wanted couplers that bore a passing resemblance to the MicroTrains box at the other end, which luckily, if you squint, do look a bit like link and pin coupler blocks on real 15" gauge wagons. So out came the styrene and I had a play, having no 5mm x 3mm section wasn't as big an issue as I thought as I fudged up my own from 5mm x 5mm that had already been cut in half lengthwise... More imposters were born!

From left to right:

• Initial experiments based on MicroTrains 1015 (L) and 1023 (R) coupler boxes. These were actually OK, but the 1015 style one then went on for a bit of further development.
• Refined 1015 and 1023 boxes. The 1015 (L) now has some 3.2mm channel as the coupler face and whilst maybe not as close as the initial version, I concluded that this could be replicated on the new-build wagons easily. The 1023 (R) has some additional section down either side to reflect the additions I had already made to disguise the actual coupler boxes on some stock.
• A stand-alone coupler for new-build stock fashioned from 3.2mm channel, one of 5 made for the new wagons. Externally this and the 1015 substitute will look consistent. 

After that burst of activity there will probably be a bit of a lull until I get any more work done, but we shall see... 

Colin

Homeward Bound

With the passengers long gone for the day, and the light fading fast, a short works train formed of an Alan Keef K12 and one wagon heads back to base over the Beck Bridge...

(in reality I've fitted a new, more appropriately clothed driver to the K12 and re-fitted the original generator load to my 1-plank wagon.)

Colin

 

Wagon-mongering

I've said it before an I'll say it again, when I start tinkering with wagons something is either amiss or afoot...

Seeking a suitable wagon for an extended diorama I'm working on (more on that another time), my initial thoughts were to use my Black Dog Mining mine tub, at that point sat on a KB Scale skip frame. In context that looked a bit wrong so I switched it back onto it's original chassis, however it still didn't look quite right - being too much of a view block. 

Recalling a picture I had seen recently of a skip frame flat wagon where the planks were longitudinal to the frame I opted to make a flat wagon on the KB Scale skip frame. I initially scribed some 60 thou styrene to make a planked top but I found this looked far too neat and instead added basswood planks over the Black Dog adaptor. The planks were finished in a weathered wood effect and representations of nail marks made using a pin.

I had loaded the tub with a couple of Black Dog leaning sacks and a pallet, rather random but it worked in the context of the diorama. The flat has a Black Dog laying sack, all of these parts being from the painted selection I had to hand having been used in other places in the past.

I do rather like the mine tub with the block couplers and it is causing a few thoughts about how to treat wagons if I ever get that un-stalled layout project back into motion...

Colin

A Cacophony of Wagons

O9 wagons have been something of a theme during January. As hinted previously, there were already a couple of wagons in the paint shop before the latest builds were completed, a flat and a 'Tops' wagon.

The 5ft flat is (I think) one of my earliest Black Dog Mining chassis, having been the flat with two oil drums in a previous life, then an open and now a simple flat using a Black Dog body - but not a flat, it is a much cut down open wagon - don't ask! It is finished in a well-worn wooden state.

The open 'Tops' wagon body is the scratchbuilt one that had been transferred to the ex-Shifting Sands generator wagon in that exchange that we don't mention any more... Reunited with it's original Black Dog 6ft chassis, which has been stripped and repainted to match the body.  Internally a repainted floor was required after work to remove the glue marks left by the last load. Finished in worn grey with a weathered wood interior.

On to the new-builds, the single-plank wagon, technically a refresh of the ex-Shifting Sands generator carrier, has emerged in pretty much the original colours of grey body and black solebars, with a weathered wood interior (and rather a lot of sand dust!)

The new two-plank 'Tops' wagon has an overall weathered wood finish, in contrast the to weathered grey of the previous example. I've used different shading underneath colour washes to try and give the effect of different types of wood on the body planks and underframe areas.

The three-plank drop-side wagon is painted in Humbrol red/brown with a weathered wood interior and weathered black hinges/strapping. I painted a wagon converted from a Chivers O-16.5 kit in this colour a few years ago and rather liked it. The eagle-eyed will spot that I have used a brown MicroTrains coupler, which is a very similar shade.

Judging from the short testing session after taking the photos it may be necessary to have a coupler 'Grease-em' and adjustment session, but that can wait for another day!

Colin

Three Wagons Roll

The three new wagons seen in my last post have now received a coat of primer, doing it's usual wonder of making everything look a lot better. It also allows us to look at the wagons in more detail.

Firstly this is hopefully the final incarnation of the (ex) Shifting Sands 1-plank wagon. You may recall that this 6ft Black Dog Mining chassis gained a 2-plank 'Tops' body not many months ago with the original load transferred... we'll pretend that didn't happen... that body is heading back to it's original chassis and the load will go in another of the more miniature railway outline wagons in the fleet. The chassis was stripped of old paint and this new body uses one of the floors from the planned batch of wagons and one plank recovered from intended sides and ends.

Next is a fairly standard (for me) 'Tops' wagon on a 6ft Black Dog chassis. Another floor from the intended batch build and sides cut down to 2-plank (spare planks went to the body above). End handrails are recycled from the similar body that became the 009 Christmas present wagon, which was a shorter body intended for a 5ft chassis so I haven't gone totally mad! 

That 5ft body had been intended to go on the chassis of the last new wagon, a Sidelines Gnine chassis. This is the same length as a Black Dog 5ft chassis but with a longer wheelbase and taller from rail level. I had acquired this with a mine tub body as it was all Steve had at the time. I reduced the chassis height by about 1mm some time ago and had originally created a 'Tops' body for it. But it never looked balanced right in that form and the chassis seemed to look better with a flat or 3-plank body. As I have another 5ft flat in the works I opted to use a shortened set of 3-plank sides intended for the batch build, with a newly marked up floor. I used modified Grandt Line hinges again but only a pair each side rather than three, which looks a lot better balanced for a shorter wagon in my eyes.

 

They'll now join the queue for the paint shop (there are already be a couple of wagons in there to complete first).

Colin

My Oh-Nine

Last year I tentatively started work on a new O9 project, based on Julian Andrews brickworks plan. More information can be found under the 'Getting Something Moving' tag. I had an aim of using some of the commercial models that have become available since I built 'Shifting Sands'. To this end I completed the MG Models 'classic' diesel, started converting some KB Scale open wagons to O9, as well as reviving a Black Dog Mining wagon larger than my usual stock with an eye on perhaps representing an 18" gauge line. 

It all ground to a halt, it started with problems with the loco build not least painting it twice, followed by my less than successful attempts to re-gauge the KB Scale wagons resulting in wobbly wheels (some would say it was prototypical!). Disheartened I diverted my attention to other projects...

More recently I started scratchbuilding 3-plank drop-side bodies to fit Black Dog Mining chassis, putting together enough parts to build a batch of 2 or 3 identical vehicles beyond the initial prototypes. I eventually hit on the use of Grandt Line door hinges (on the left) rather than using Slaters embossed rivets.

But they still didn't hit the spot, perhaps looking too 'main line' for a 15" gauge line, as I now envisaged the project. The more I thought about it I realised that the issue was simply that I had my own style of O9 modelling that differed a little from the commercial offerings I had initially tried to use. I used to joke with Steve Bennett of Black Dog Mining that commercial O9 models were all made to be as big as possible for the gauge (the mythical scale 4ft wide), whilst Gn15 seemed to be about making things as small as possible for the scale! My O9, on the other hand, is rooted more in the average prototype 15" gauge outline and a width of approx 3ft 6ins.

I also realised that I owned a fleet of O9 wagons that rarely saw the light of day on 'Shifting Sands' that with a couple of additions and changes I could create a fleet to suit a 15" gauge railway built to miniature railway proportions but with some sort of purpose. 

So I've started on a few additions (so much for identical!)...

Now I just need to find that purpose!

Colin

One Man and his Tub

My last post hinted at a micro-diorama featuring a Black Dog Mining mine tub. The body was painted a few years ago using a salt weathering technique to give a patchy rust effect. Originally on a Black Dog chassis it never really looked right, so I had planned to fit it to the KB frame with a mind to using it on the layout project I started at Easter. That has stalled and the use of KB based stock has now largely been ruled out. However, I opted to finish off this build with a diorama project in mind, and here it is, all 85 x 70 mm of it...

 

The chassis was painted with red oxide primer, then given various rust effects by stippling on paint in rust shades, then wetted, salt applied over the rust areas and once dried sprayed with matt brown paint. With the salt removed some dry brushing and weathering powders have enhanced the finish. The wheels have also been weathered, not that you can see them here!

I felt that it needed some sort of context to be displayed in. My original idea had been some sort of mine entrance, with the intention of laying the track using KB Scale components to 14mm gauge, as doodled here.

I wasn't convinced that I could convincingly get the height of the piece to look right, but I liked the look of the slope down on the front left corner, something I had experimented with a couple of years ago on a test piece I had made using polystyrene. Ironically this was also made with the mine tub in mind but never completed and only used for test purposes.

I stripped off as much of the old material as I could (recovering some of the tufts in the process) and started the rebuild, cutting back the polystyrene at the left edge and right rear, and adding 5mm balsa wood cut to shape in it's place to add the height. I added some rocks cast in plaster of Paris some time ago, made in impromptu baking foil moulds to use up something the kids had been working with. The rocks and balsa were blended in with modelling clay with some texturing added.

The rocks were then painted dark grey, followed by lighter shades through to a final dry-brushed light grey/cream shade. The next step was my usual scenic mix (brown-ish paint, filler and PVA) with Woodland Scenics earth sprinkled over whilst wet. Once dried I added hanging basket liner and some recovered Silfor tufts, treating the hanging basket liner with areas of scatter applied over hairspray. A couple of Martin Welberg weed tufts were also added to add extra textures and a couple of bits of sea moss bush that were surplus from previous projects were also used.

 

A few bits of the original ground cover can be seen in places around the track and in the front dropped area. My usual timber surround has been added, but rather than following the lay of the land it is lower in height with the exposed edge of the scene painted a neutral grey. I think it works reasonably well...

Colin

Trigger's Broom

Yesterday I spent some time considering what the rolling stock requirements would be for the 'Getting Something Moving' project. Amongst other options I wondered how I could generate further Black Dog Mining chassis if I went wholly down that route (other options under consideration include KB Scale Hudson chassis).

I opted to free up a chassis from one of my recent 'tops' wagons by adding the 'tops' body to that Shifting Sands classic of the low sided wagon with generator load, seen here when first completed about 15 years ago. I had been considering adding a 'tops' body to this anyway so it isn't as huge a leap as it seems....

It's had a couple of rebuilds over the years, including a failed and subsequently reversed chassis swap. On this occasion I decided it was less destructive to do a chassis swap under the newer body and after drilling dummy bolt holes in the new floor to match those on the original wagon, switched the load and details over, aiming to get everything in the same places. Some grey paint has altered the colour of the new body from brown to weathered grey. Why swap the chassis you ask, well to me it is still the same wagon...

Where's Trigger when you need him?!

Colin

An Estate of Mind - Part 2

Motivated by the successful completion of the 4w works coach I looked at completing another item from the small collection living in grey primer. Next to receive attention are this pair of "estate" wagons last seen in 2017 not long before I embarked on the 009 adventure. 

Whilst they might look like a pair of Black Dog Mining WA04 opens, the bodies were actually scratch built to a slightly narrower width to suit my requirements (I'm just to fussy!). Having previously narrowed down the resin bodies I opted to scratch build as it seemed just as easy. 

Now painted with a weathered wood finish I'm rather proud of how they have turned out. 

The finish uses a coat of Citadel 'Baneblade Brown' over the grey primer as a base, not worrying too much that it covers in one coat. Then a wash of light brown, and whilst still wet a wash of Vallejo 'Black Grey'. A light weathering by dry brushing the base colour back over the top finished the first step.

The metalwork was picked out in mix of more 'Black Grey' with a spot of 'US Olive Drab' added to warm the colour. When dry this was dry brushed with a mix of gunmetal, a rust shade and a spot of grey. A spray of Humbrol matt acrylic varnish sealed the coats of paint, before a last dry brush with a sandy coloured mix and further weathering using powders on the interior.

The pair look ready for estate service, I just need to come up with a suitable scheme...

Colin

A Salted Tub

An oddity on my fleet of stored O9 wagons was a Black Dog Mining WA25 mine tub, a recent purchase from ExpoNG in 2015. It came with the Gnine version of the chassis which looked odd in O9, so an old 5' Black Dog chassis was re-purposed from another wagon and placed underneath.

As it was not really suited to my usual interests I proposed to experiment and use the method of using salt to mask to create a rust effect on this wagon, as described most recently in 'Narrow Lines' (7mm NGA) but previously published elsewhere. This base layer of rust effect is stippled on acrylics over Halfords red oxide primer - Humbrol Red/Brown, Vallejo Hull Red and artists Red oxide, followed by a slightly more orange mix of the latter:

Having left the rust stippled paint to dry overnight I wet the surface of the wagon body and added the salt - a mix of rock and table salt - with hindsight a lot of the rock salt was far too big in size (despite my efforts to crush it). This was then left to dry out (aided by the airing cupboard):

Once dried out I did remove some of the larger particles of salt before spraying over the wagon with Halfords grey primer and again left to dry:

Once the grey paint was dry I rubbed off most of the salt and then washed off the residue. The effect is very pleasing and I think I would struggle to achieve this any other way:

The next stage was be to paint the underframe to enhance the wood effect and also to add some further weathering to the body by adding some texture to selected rust areas using weathering powders. This was applied over dabs of Vallejo Matt Medium to provide some adherence. It does look rather bright but once varnished it toned down:

Before varnishing I did add a little more rust coloured weathering powder to the worst patches, then the next day I sprayed with Humbol aerosol matt varnish which dried satisfyingly matt. Once the varnish was dry I added some light dry brushing around the body edges and wooden chassis frame, and some metallic dry brushing on the coupler blocks and axle boxes.

This has certainly proved to be an interesting diversion during the Christmas and January period where a lot of real life happenings have restricted the modelling time somewhat....

Colin