The Overdue, a tale of a long-winded project

Modellers in Australia have got used to RTR items taking a long time from inception to delivery. Some recent examples include the Eureka R-class and TrainOrama GM-class locomotives which took the best part of 8 years to be delivered. Things are somewhat different when you have more control over when a model is completed.

That has been the case with the latest model I have completed. The model was originally a prize at a social night swindle for the local model railway club Easter exhibition back in 2006. It was in black black plastic as it was obviously a sample for the importer who later went on to sell the same carriages in silver and only requiring decals. I decided plain black was not how it was going to stay and after comparing various other cars I decided to turn it into a Overland sleeper car. The paint went on pretty quick and at least one side received its decals and then the project stopped. Why? Well I put it down to a few things; in the time between when I last worked on it to now I have moved house twice and other projects took my interest so I was more into building items.

Last week I decided that it was time to get this car finished. The decals for the other side were fitted and finally sealed in with dullcote, and here is the result:

The model is a Frateschi sleeping car, painted and decaled with BGB Overland decals to make a near-enough sleeping car as they operated from the 1950s till 2000 when the livery changed to plain stainless steel. It now joins the carriage fleet as a fully finished item of rollingstock.

You rang for a U van? The sequel

With Easter coming up in a few weeks and the need to have some projects finished in time to run at the local model railway exhibition I have been pushing some easy jobs through. Painting the U van was one of these and it has now been completed:

As you can see the use of the Humbrol #100 red/brown is pretty close to VR wagon red. Funnily enough I got the tip from the SEM instructions for the FQX container flats, although at the time those instructions were printed it was actually Humbrol #110. It lends itself better to brush painting than other paints so it will probably be my paint of choice from now on now I have a colour that represents VR wagon red nicely. Focus will now turn to finishing the FQX containers flats and maybe a surprise carriage project.