Off to the Paintshop

The MLV's are done now so they'll be off to the painters over the next week or so to get a coat of gunmetal grey and muck. I'm reasonably happy with them except for the wagon code panel on the side. For the '30's, it should be on the louvres closest to the corner pillar but unfortunately, it's too difficult to remedy so I'll just have to live with it.

One of the MLV's

Here's all 11 of them

I've been contemplating how to scratch build the earlier 28 ton cantilever framed MLV's but haven't come up with a solution yet to replicate the louvres. I've got some spare LV van sides left over from converting some Lima vans to the short LV's so I might get some plans soon and see if I can use them instead. If that fails, then it's scratch build for sure. If anyone has some ideas or techniques, I'm all ears as I've been looking around for methods but nothing has turned up. Also, there's the Andian Models BLV coming plus I've got a couple of the Redfern Models BCV's.....shudder. I love what James McInerney did with his, turning a sows ear into a silk purse as he describes it, but the louvre panels are wrong for my era so it may be better to scratch build some of these as well.

Since building the layout, I had to get rid of the cardboard spray booth as it wouldn't fit under the bench work. So I splashed out on a proper spray booth from Runway 13 that vents outside the train cave.

I reckon it might get a work out soon.

More on the MLV's

Still working on the MLV's with some progress being made during the week. I've added the air tanks to all of them and have started fabricating the truss rods with 2 wagons completed so far. Here's how they look

It's slow progress that's for sure but worth it in the end I think. Well that's what I keep telling myself as each post for the truss rods, has 3 parts which equals 240 pieces for all 10 wagons. Also, I See that Andian models will have the BLV's ready for the Epping exhibition so it looks like I'll have to make tracks to Epping this year. Just in time for my birthday as well!
I also managed to add some fascia to the layout as well as plug some of the holes in the back drops and build some shelves....not very interesting but necessary all the same.
More work to do this week on the MLV's and we have a long weekend next weekend so who knows how much will get done.
Hopefully, lots!