The Wakefield Weathering Wizard has weaved her magic again on my sand wagon.

I had read that these wagons sat in sidings and were mostly covered with a tarpaulin sheet to keep out the worst of the weather so I asked Chris if we had anything that we could make one from.

Not only did she come up with the material, she attached the ropes and weathered the sheet before tying it onto the wagon using the etched rope rings that are supplied – a very fiddly job.

Another one that’s ready for weathering is the Connoisseur GER Sand Wagon.

In my world it has been transferred internally to the Leeds District. The lettering has been made up from some old Woodhead transfers that I picked up at Halifax a couple of years ago and some spare bit’s of Parkside that I had left. The Woodhead transfers have been revived/made usable by the application of Microscale liquid decal film and I cannot recommend it enough!

In theory you just apply a coat to the back of the transfer and leave it for 15 minutes then use it like a water slide transfer.

In practice I found that some of my transfers were still a bit fragile so I applied a second coat for strength.

To apply them I mixed a bit of PVA in some luke warm water. Then I painted the back of the transfer with the PVA/water mix to wet it (after removing from the backing paper layer) and applied it like a press fix/meth fix transfer but without the meths solution. Then I held it in place, wet the top and after a few moments the carrier film came away. From there I adjusted the position like a waterslide transfer.

The next one to pass through the paint shop is the Sand Wagon now resplendent in LNER Departmental Oxford Blue.

Next up is another one of Jim’s goodies this one the GER/LNER Sand Wagon. This is the only kit of Jim’s that I have built so far that has compensation built in.

I built it straight from the instructions, the only change being that I only added brake gear on one side. Parts are provided for both sides.

Having looked in volume one of LNER wagons at the couple of photo’s in there, I couldn’t make out a second set of brake gear.

Next on the workbench is a Welcome Wagons BR Pipe wagon.

I am building this to sell – Sadly I didn’t read the description too well when I bought it, homing in on the LMS design rather than when they were built. So it’s a bit late for the period that I model.