GSV...

HI All,

Last week I decided to weather an Austrains GSV. 

I have already added P87 wheels and Sergent Couplers.

Check out Model Design Studio for Wheels.

This is going to be an interesting task as there is one tricky aspect, and that is the wood grain. This is a big downside to this model, in my opinion the wood grain would be next to invisible in HO scale. The grain itself is horrible to say the least, and spoils the model completely as it does with the BSV by Eureka which I believe was made in conjunction with the GSV. So how to remove it?

My plan is to hit it with the sand blaster. I picked up one of these after I saw Ray Pilgrims blog on the cheap version available at supercheap.

So first step is to pull it all apart, an easy thing to do and did make me think if these could be sold as kits rather then RTR. It would make things easier for me as the sides and ends are on small sprues that holds it all together, you will break some when you pull it all apart.

The grain gets blasted away pretty well but not completely, the rest I removed with a scalpel by dragging the blade over it. Below is the before and after pic. I am much happier with the result, and I continued on the sides, just to knock the shine off  to help the paint stick.

The grain isn't completely gone but its much better I think.

Now I don't recommend pulling the model right down as it is rather painful to put back together, so the next one I will try to leave it together less the roof and bottom floor and see how it goes. So into the paint booth and a coat of Floquil Grimy Black (Should have got more of this), and some more weathering to do but you get where I am going.

Now if I can just get John Easie to return my emails for the correct roof, I can complete the model.

Cheers

Andrew