nimrod54

Good recovery with the windscreen Ray, and despite that little problem it is still a great looking model. A really nice build, well done.

Thanks a lot H, I finished adding the Fox Decals today so I will leave those overnight before starting on the final assembly work.

Another incredible looking diorama Stix. Beautifully constructed and laid out, with lots happening in the mini-scenes within the overall picture.

I have spent the past couple of days completing some final details, painting the pipework and a few other touch ups, and this was followed by a couple of gloss coat in readiness for applying the decals. I should complete the decaling phase over the weekend and I am hoping to have this finished shortly after that.

Looking very nice in that Manx livery Julian. A lovely build all round.

I've made a start on painting the cab interiors but have reached a standstill. I found a reference from The National Science and Industry Museum on RMWeb which lists the colour for the Front Bulkhead as Grey, but looking at photos this looks to be more of a beige-brown colour when compared to the cream walls. I am hoping that someone out there may be able to help to clear this up. On a more positive note, the Fox decals that I ordered a couple of days ago arrived this morning. I also selected the pack that included the manufacturers plates. The photos look fuzzy because of the film used to protect the decals from being damaged.

Following on from my blunder of removing the brakes from the rear of a side frame yesterday, I set about reinstating them this morning using some strip plastic and both bogies were then assembled The primed cab floors and rear bulkheads were then added to the base in readiness for painting.

Blimey Ray, that has come on a lot since I my last visit. Looking really good matey, keep up the excellent work.

A beautiful looking Vulcan Mark, and good to see this older kit given a modern looking revamp. Great work all round and I particularly like the subtlety of the weathering, something that I don't do for fear of going too far. After struggling to get the kit ladder to fit properly on a recent 1/200 build I will definitely be adapting your ladder building technique on my future Blue Steel build.

I suspect that we are not the only closet railway fans on here Mike.

You're quite right Aeronut, I had completely forgotten about the brakes. Fortunately I had only removed them from one side, but I will have to reinstate those details.

I have finally made a start on this and, as highlighted by Dave in a previous post, one of the areas that needs to be addressed is the fit of the wheels between the frames. I punched out some circles of plastic using a hole punch and drilled out the centres. These were then glued between the axle centres taking care that the wheel space remained within gauge. I then made a start on cleaning up the bogie frames by removing some of the larger lumps of plastic from the reverse side and sanding them flat, circled in the photos below with the original kit part at the top. In view of the time left before the group build ends I think that this will probably be a straight from the bag build with the exception of some Fox Decals and manufacturers plates.

Thanks a lot H, I am pleased with the way this has gone I think that the trick has been to add enough extra detail to improve the look and not overdo it.

Thanks very much gents. I am overwhelmed by the attention that this build has attracted. It's a nice kit and with a bit of effort makes up into a pretty little model, I used some basic modelling techniques plus a few changes/additions which would add that extra bit of detail and were easy to make.

That's a lovely looking build Ced and I also remember building this many years ago. I sang in our church choir and we were paid for weddings, this was one of the kits that I purchased from a local cycle shop with my choral earnings.