A4 Pacific Sir Nigel Gresley, O-scale

[Mike1158]

This keeps getting better and better, muddy marvelous, Sir.

[Erik Zwaan]

Thanks Ricardo and Mike1158 (is that your year of birth? ). I like the expression “Muddy Marvelous”!

As mentioned last time, I still wasn’t fully satisfied with the loc-tender connection. Actual pictures, as well as my greatest guide in the building process, the GA drawing, clearly indicate that the doors installed at both loc and tender are overlapping (obviously for safety reasons) and that the size of the footstep is smaller than provided in the model. At the point where I left last time the doors were more like the saloon door type.

So I changed the buffer block at the loc side, in fact I made it flatter, to save about 1 millimeter and obtaining a smaller gap between the loc and tender. Also cut off approximately half a cm of the footstep. Now things look as they should.

The only thing missing is the bracket (or latch – I’m not so sure of the right word here) between both doors to keep them closed and in place during operation. This is a detail that should be installed at the tender. And speaking of the tender, you learn as you go, and I’m considering a few other final modifications but that’s for next time.

The final parts to be mounted on the locomotive were the wind breakers at the cab, which are in place now and the final paint/marker touch-ups. This is still ongoing but the boiler body has been fully “checked” now and I have applied a final coat of varnish.

The varnish I’m using has a matt tone, but if you apply it with a (flat) brush rather than spraying, the effect is a kind of silk gloss and that’s exactly what I want to achieve. The museum Gresley looks as shiny as a new car at the dealer but in reality must have looked like far from that considering rain, dust, mud, steam, water and smoke surrounding the machine during daily service.
Operation Varnish is still ongoing. Next will the cab and then the chassis.

In the meantime, please be informed that I have changed jobs. I’ve become a train engineer. Just kidding but I put a 1:48 mini-me (3.8 cm) next to the train to give you an impression of the in fact huge size of this impressive machine.

Alright, to be continued I guess one more time before reaching the true finish line.

Erik

[ricleite]

Platform levelling worked perfectly. Good idea to put “you” next to the model. The real size is often surprising!

[Tino]

Very good job! Your picture in the same scale its a plus in the model.

[Erik Zwaan]

Thanks Ricardo and Tino. Yes, a mini-me put things in the right perspective .

The magic moment has finally arrived. The model is finished! The locomotive has been fully varnished, with a slight shine to the boiler body and cab.

The last bits and pieces were saved for the tender. I wasn’t satisfied with the appearance of the coal. I had used grinded active coal for this (used in aquarium filters), but the result was still too coarse. At the time it was done in a bit of a hurry to get the tender ready in time for a model exhibition.

Eventually I used sand which is normally used in filling up joints between garden tiles (the Dutch word for it is “voegzand”), and filtered through a sieve. Then I glued a thin layer of the bigger irregularly shaped particles over the original coal layer. After drying and shaking out, I applied Tamiya rubber black (which is anthracite in fact) and dry-brushed it with neutral grey. At last a realistic coal look. The transition is shown in the first picture.
Furthermore I changed the handrailing at the tender by increasing its length. This is more like the real situation as shown in the second picture. The last detail I added were the brackets/safety latches at the loc-tender doors. Made of thin plastic rod (dia 0.2mm) and painted brass.

To give the tender the same bit of shiny appearance I applied one final brushed varnish coat to its royal blue body.

Lastly, a final brown edge color to the base plate of the rails, also protected by varnish, and that’s it. Started in August 2016, finished in November 2017. A long stretch, albeit with a few “outings” to prevent loosing focus at times.

There are a few parts which I didn’t use: Firstly, the (tarpaulin) cover between the roof of the locomotive and tender, used to shield the crew from weather elements. This would hide too many details in the cab, which is a bit of a waste. I keep it as a loose item. Secondly, the “spoons” between the locomotive and tender coupling blocks: They are invisible when loc and tender are coupled.

Before closing the book and preparing a separate picture gallery (ok, just a quick sneak preview...), a few concluding words. The model isn’t flawless (neither is my build) and the biggest error, the misfit of the boiler body due to a scaling issue, has been resolved in the meantime by the publisher www.zeistbouwplaten.nl/. Other smaller errors can be solved during the build. Use your imagination to add details; it will certainly enhance the model. Check out http://www.sirnigelgresley.org.uk/ and be amazed by all the pictures available of the Gresley in service and during the recent major overhaul. They provide a wealth of details and knowledge of this mighty machine.

I am not really into trains but this has been an exciting journey and designing and publishing such a model deserves all praise. Don’t save on the laser cut set, it’s really worth the investment otherwise the wheels and a lot of other details become a mission impossible.

Although he didn’t live to follow the making of this model, I’d like to dedicate it to my “technical uncle”, who for several years showed great interest in this fascinating hobby and who provided me with small but very useful tools. He lived in a small and tranquil village deeply tucked away in the forests and valleys of the German Eifel region. At 83, he still had so many plans to travel around in his camper, but on August 3rd, 2016, he lost a short and unexpected battle against cancer. Life can be unfair.

Thank you all very much for following, I hope you enjoyed it !

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

Originally Posted by Erik Zwaan

The magic moment has finally arrived. The model is finished!

Most of the times, when a model is finished, it is a good day. In this case, after devoting so much effort to a very complex kit, it is surely a great day
Congratulations! I'm looking forward to see the other pictures in the Gallery. The b&w one is so real

[Seascape]

Congratulations, Erik! Great model!

Agree with Ricleite, that B & W looks like it is heading down the track.

Fred

[enrico63]

This is a nice model, and your achievement is very clean and accurate.
Compliments!!

[elliott]

One of the best build threads I've seen in a while and an absolutely exquisite model. You, sir, are in a rare group of modelers!

[Marcin Jakubiec]

As I said before: great job. Especially I like your narration – will be helpful for your followers!