In The Paint Shop

After a long pause there's some progress to report on our project to build a modern day James Spooner from a Backwoods kit.

As you can see above, Himself has started the process of painting the superstructure.

It's had a coat of grey primer and the black has started to be applied.

This model has taken many years to build.

In fact it has been test running on the layouts since before we started the Minffordd project, getting a run on Bron Hebog at the final Warley show at the NEC.

It's also seen some use on Dduallt.

Some of the delay on  finishing the loco can be attributed to the long time it took to obtain some custom lining transfers.

We also spent quite a while wondering how to replicate the bells which sit between the chimneys and the domes, before eventually butchering one of the 3D printed static models (in a slightly smaller scale) which were being sold in the FR shop.

When it will actually get used is an open question.

It's the wrong era for Minffordd  (and dc-only) and there isn't any prospect of either Dduallt or Bron Hebog going out again, so it may have to wait for the Dinas project to get off the ground.