DG2376 - The Grunge Years

DB concludes:

You may recall from our last exciting DG episode, that despite low scores from the judges in a somewhat disastrous painting event, I managed to emerge toward the back of the field but still in the running thanks to a spectacular recovery while narrowly avoiding a potentially career-ending decaling nightmare. Here in the final shot at glory I hope to redeem myself with some intensive weathering - always a safe bet when you are trying to make a shambles look a little less shambolic. This is why builders invented plaster, panelbeaters invented filler, and women invented makeup.

As a preparatory step (distinct from previous preposterous steps) I coated the freshly laid decals with a coat of clear acrylic varnish to protect them before attacking what was left of my etch detail with a thin wash of black to highlight grills and doors.

The next target was the roof, which was ambushed by acrylic washes and random drybrushing in eclectic shades of gray, brown and rust. After all that shock and awe, a coat of Testors Dullcote matt varnish was then gently sprayed over the whole model from the can to protect the whole mess and make things a little less shocking and awful.

Finally, weathering chalks were applied - mainly copious amounts of black around the exhaust/radiator area, because DGs always had a grime not (just) from the exhaust, but also because oil mist from the engine room was piped into the radiator area to be expelled by the fan. A little dark brown chalk was added to the top of the nose and some rusty bits in various shades of brown to the roof.

In and around and hereabouts before or after that, I also added:
- MV lenses for headlights
- tail lights (painted red)
- that little spinny ventilator on the cab behind the front facing horns
- handrails (freestanding nose ones from a BLMA N scale GE handrails set)
- brakehoses (thin black wire from a DCC decoder - not thin enough!)
- side windows and portholes - black paint into the half-etched shapes
- front windows - ended up just painting them freehand - eek!
- the round main radiator roof grill (brass mesh)
- air tanks each side of the fuel tank
- steps under the cab doors (old Ratio UK N scale signal ladder etches)
- that little sticky-out step under the end doors front and rear
- painted the headlight surrounds black
- painted the headstocks a delightful shade of bumblebee by hand - eek!
- painted/washed the bogies/fuel tank/air tanks brown and black
- added some plastic last seen doing a rather shoddy impersonation of a cowcatcher.

Ta da....



One slightly sloppy silk purse as requested, sah. No viewing from less than two feet away please. Them's the rules.

Uninterestingly, 2330 was the second NZ120 loco I built (in 1993 maybe?) and has stood the test of time pretty well with its hand-scribed grill detail, freestanding handrails and paper NZR logos. It is still one of my favourite NZ120 locos.



Yes, all of these pics do look a little awkward (although most of the distortions are my modeling!) having been taken with a wee point and shoot camera.

Its a little shonky from some angles but I'm pretty happy with it overall, especially as its the first real model I've made in a long time. The chassis could be a little longer (or the body shorter), the roof is a little tall, I probably need to have another go at the metal around the fuel tank and of course there are those windows, but it looks 'good enough' to sit behind a recabbed DG or a DJ on a train. Especially so if you are viewing from across the room with all the lights off.