All tooled up with no place to go...

Last seen a few weeks ago, the rebuilt tool wagon is now completed, varnished and weathered. The project suffered a setback midway through painting and had to be stripped, re-primed and a fresh start made. As a change from the original grey the new colour is Vallejo blue-grey with strapping and underframe in black-grey and the roof in a slightly lighter mix of the same.

Sadly the lighter colour and photos seem to over-emphasise that the roof section of the wagon does not fit as well as it should do and there are a few gaps, especially along the edges of the lifting sections. This is acceptable as they are meant to be separate parts but also annoying as I should have spotted the fit issue before painting, especially after the strip down! Here I've posed the tool wagon with the open wagon that shares the same underframe design, showing how the rebuilt wagon now fits in with the new builds.

Sneaking through the paintshop and the last of the post-New Year wagon projects is an additional plank added to a Black Dog style 'Tops' wagon in the style of an improvised local modification. In common with the drop-side wagons the strapping joining old and new is made from cut-down Grandt Line fishplate mouldings. The extra plank and corner supports were constructed as a separate unit, painted and then added to an existing wagon built last year. The timber shade is deliberately different to the original wagon to emphasise the "add-on" nature.

With the completion of these two the paintshop is now strangely empty, but rumour has it that the engineers are looking for some more wagons to tinker with...

Colin