Well this is the start to my D51 build, i have had all of the components for some time now but have only recently made a start. I will be basing the colour scheme on a photograph i have of d51200 with red detailing and the while stripe. I also plan to add a few additional brass fittings to the footplate and the deflectors that dont exist as part of the kit. All coal and track ballast will also be loose laid. I have parked work on my hms hood while I build this as this will be a 70th birthday present for my dad and I will be working to a deadline. As noted throughout the other build logs I cant believe how good the quality of the components are.

Look forward to seeing you get started, it's alway nice to watch different paint schemes and mods being done

Good luck with the build

Hope the build goes well for you.

Great stuff.

Always good to see another D51 started.

Good luck and enjoy.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

The second stage in brass and painted















I will get better photographs of the painted components in daylight after the btcc at knockhill this weekend. Hope to have some more updates towards the end of next week

Morning all,

Apologies I haven't been updating recently. Work pressures and all that, I have been making progress on the d51 and I have to say it's a brilliant kit to be working on.

I have been working on the running gear and out of sequence built the base for me to have something to sit the engine on as it gets built. The paintwork is taking the bulk of the time as I progress but I am taking my time to get the finish I want.





















At this point where i had all of the running gear made up and sat on the rollers I thought it would be the correct time to upgrade something that I hadn't been too keen on from the very start of this model, the track ballast. As I now had the position of the drive wheels I have set the rollers in place and taken the train off the base. I mixed 3 types of javis ballast with some battlefield scatter to get a Moss finish to the gravel and mixed it thoroughly through matt varnish to get as dry a mix as possible but still have enough coverage to bind it all. The test came out as follows



And the actual base ended up looking as follows which I hope improves the look by removing the joints between the premoulded components





I will try to update again soon. Thanks for your time in looking.

Thanks for the comments. I am please with the way that the ballast has come out and the addition of the grassy elements gives it a bit of depth. I think the key was the matt clear varnish though as it darkened the aggregate from its original light grey colour. The black paint for the wheels is a games workshop paint "chaos black" and paints incredibly well on the metalwork. I have a little tidying up of the edges to do but will do this today before working on the main boiler.

Peter

Thanks for the update on the paint.

Very nice work with the paint Peter, it looks flawless

I really love how your ballast has turned out too, a nice customisation

Beautiful work Peter.

Carl