The loco as bought has a black boiler and dark graphite smokebox; I decided after looking at some photos and asking my more knowledgeable friends that the boiler should be the shiny, and polished steel colour that the Americans called &--8216;Russia Iron&--8217;.

For this I used the &--8216;buffable&--8217;, or &--8216;polishable&--8217; paint from Humbrol called &--8216;Metalcote&--8217;: I used the polished steel colour (ref. number 27003). This is most unusual paint, it is very thin, but quite opaque, and dries quite fast. I used a couple of coats buffed up between coats for a good finish. Polish it well and the final result will amaze you. Use a piece of lint free cloth, and to get in the corners a cotton bud is very useful. For extra protection give it a couple of coats of the floor polish by Johnson called Klear in the UK &--8211; (in the USA it is called Future I believe), the shine will be slightly less but it is now protected. I also painted with &--8216;Metalcote&--8217; the upper cylinder of the Westinghouse pump, and the upper & lower bands of the lower cylinder. Add in the sunken area of the pump a small piece of plasticard to represent the maker&--8217;s plate. On the firebox I removed the hydrostatic lubricator that sits above the rear of the firebox; this fitting was a late addition, and my wooden cab is meant to be of an earlier loco. Use some liquid cement on both ends of it ands it should come free. I added some paint to the small gauge face, also a tray above the firebox door, with an oil can made from a scrap of wood for the body and plastic for the feeder and base, use some fine brass rod for the handle. Finally a new water level sight glass is added to the fireman&--8217;s side; paint the various valve wheels in red so they are more easily seen.

I left the domes and the sand pipes black; touch them up where required. The smokebox was then painted flat black, also the front of it and for some contrast the smokebox door is finished off in silver &--8211;I hope the driver had a ready supply of silver paint for replacement as the smokebox door could get rather hot!

Underneath the smokebox, and pointing towards the engineers side is a smokebox char (or ash) removing tube &--8211; I extended this with some scrap tube (and plasticard for a base to it) so it extends to just past the edge of the pilot deck. In this area I also have added a couple of sloped top toolboxes again from plasticard, paint them then add some weathering including some rust and silver (use a Art silver pencil here; mine is a Berol Karismacolor ref. number 494) on the edges to indicate wear & tear, you can also use the pencil on the (metal) cab steps.


Here is a photo of the engineer&--8217;s side of the completed loco.