Oh the shame!

How long is it since I last updated this thread with news on my own modelling?  I've been busy with work, but not that busy.

There has been an autumn Missenden that came and went.  Very enjoyable it was as well, with excellent company, and some very good modelling to be seen on a range of people's projects.  It's amazing how many variants of High Level Kits appear in the 4mm group at Missenden!

I took along a good couple of boxes worth of ratty wagons.  These are ones that either

- I built a long time ago, and my standards have now improved

- I have carted around with me from house move to house move and have been damaged through being bounced around in boxes

- Built or part-built models that can be picked up cheap on Well Known Auction Sites that are a candidate for finishing or stripping down and rebuilding.

At Missenden I had mostly the latter, and spent quite a bit of time with a set of Xuron cutters, a sharp scalpel, and some files as I reduced a fair quantity of GWR wagons to their bare bones, ready for rebuilding in a fully sprung and cosmetically detailed way.  As the weekend wore on, the pile of plastic shavings around my workbench (these were mostly Coopercraft models) increased substantially.

Part of it was also to work on a set of five LNWR ballast wagons.  One of them was an original of mine, where I wasn't satisfied with the paint job on it, and the other four are updates to secondhand purchases.  I've just finished the lettering of them with the transfers from the original Ratio kits, and these are them sitting on mats whilst the varnish over them dries.  I use Testor's Dullcote, which seems to give a super-thin and properly matt finish when I've previously used it.
 

These seem to be drying nicely, and later in the week I'll be starting on the weathering on them.

However the real reason for the feeling of shame is that I've just gone to put out some materials to build a replacement turnout - and I found that I hadn't unpacked and plugged my soldering iron in since Missenden!

Oh woe is me!  I must do better!
Cheers
Flymo