Part of yet another project.

Doubtless many members will feel like myself that Politicians of whatever Party in general nowadays give no reason to respect or 'look-up' to them, but during the early part of my lifetime at least, one man in my estimation stood above them all, and that was Sir Winston Churchill, not everyone's cup of tea maybe, but to me at least, a worthy Politician. Given that, I've been keeping an eye out for the Hornby 'Limited Edition' of either the complete "Winston Churchill's funeral train" or at least one of the equally 'Limited Edition' NRM Battle of Britain loco's of that name. One or two of the sets occasionally appear on Ebay, usually around the £250 mark, loco's anything around £120+, and I've managed to get hold of one of the loco's (delivery due shortly) so that's a start. I bought what I thought was a suitable luggage van kit cheaply at Doncaster Toy & Train Fair, though it turned out that this was not the correct van that carried the coffin, but a few days ago, I won one of the correct one's in Malachite Green on Ebay, so another spray job in the offing soon. As it was 'New/Old stock' it came with the 'orrible plastic wheels, so they've got to go for a start, and I'll need decals too after a repaint into Pullman livery. I already have a good number of Pullman coaches, so there may well be some renaming/renumbering of those in the near future, but here's the 'Van Victim'!

 

The van was specially painted to match the all-Pullman coach Funeral train for the occasion, wether it went back to either Malachite or BR/SR Green in service for a time afterwards I don't know, but like the loco, it was earmarked for preservation, and I was lucky enough to see it and the loco "Winston Churchill"at the Shildon NRM about 18 months ago. I received model loco this morning, and since it was a "Limited Edition" a few years back, it's not "DCC Ready" although it has the 5 pole can motor in the loco so an easy conversion in due course. Fox Transfers do all the Pullman coach names of those used on the train which I understand were in order from the loco "Car No 208", then the "Hearse van" No S2464, "Carina", "Lydia", "Perseus" and finally "Isle of Thanet brake car. Note also that the van is a 'Gangwayed Luggage Van.
I did notice though that there is a difference between the van I have and the "Hearse van" and that is the centre pair of doors have a window in each, whereas my model doesn't, so some modification will be called for to add these in before spraying. So far I've only found the "Pullman Cream" paint in 'Precision Paints' enamel (dull finish) whereas I'm looking for acrylic paint. The "Pullman Brown" looks about the same as "GWR Brown" so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll be making a start on the van shortly.
Keith.

 

Thanks for that Malc, I'm off to the Doncaster show this Sunday so I'll see if any traders have got these paints. Would these be enamel or acrylic then as I prefer not to use enamels as I spray with an airbrush and it's too much hassle (and stink!) using and cleaning up afterwards?
Keith.

Ignore that comment, just checked and it says 'Acrylic'.

 

I've modified the 2 central doors on each side to include a window in each, done by drilling a rectangle of 1mm holes, joining up and filing out, then making 'frames' for each window from microstrip. Not too much difficulty but the fun part will be creating the 'window bars' on the clear glazing material to match the ones on the existing windows. It may be possible to create and print these on a Windows PC, but as I use a Mac.........!
Anyway, here's the modified coach ready for primer.

 

And after a quick waft over with the primer. Now I need the top coat colours, Doncaster show, here I come!

 

Not managed too much progress on this project mainly due to the wet and windy weather which means I'm not able to put the extract hose from my spray booth out of the Velux window due to wind blowback and rain dripping down onto the layout. I have been working on the vans interior, removing all the pegs and ribs which originally held the glazing in place, and making a new flat full length floor to replace the original stepped one. I managed a quick blowover with white primer on the interior and the upper part of the outside, both of which will be finish sprayed with with Humbrol "Pullman Cream" which I managed to get hold of (and the "Pullman Brown!") at the Doncaster show last weekend, but further spraying is on hold until better weather returns. With the lower outside part masked, here's where it's up to now.

 

In between times, I've DCC converted the "Winston Churchill" Battle-of-Britain loco I bought recently, this being one of the earlier 'Pre-DCC Ready' loco's, painted and fixed the crew in position, real coal added and a No 20 Kadee to the tender, so that's the first item in the "Winston Churchill's Funeral Train" I'm attempting to create. This was the easy bit!

 

Having researched the makeup of the train, I know the Pullman coach names and Car No 208 (the first car in the train), but then the fun starts as neither Hornby, Bachmann or to my knowledge anyone else makes or has ever made the exact "K Type all-steel" Pullmans required, so I am now beginning to look around for suitable Pullmans to modify (which will involve some "Cut-& Shut" operations to create the correct window and Guards door profiles), so this project may take some time, money and loss of hair (not that I've a lot left to start with!) . Despite Hornby having made a "Winston Churchill Funeral Train" set, both the hearse van and the supplied coaches are not correct, they've just used existing Pullmans and renamed them, something of an 'Artistic Licence' it seems, cashing in on the event, since the price was over £200 and occasionally one surfaces on Ebay, usually around £250 or more and in fact there is one Ebay seller with the Hearse van currently asking £80+........a sound reason for my modifying my own!
I've decided that If I'm going to model this train, then I'll either do it properly and accurately or not bother, so as the search begins for suitable Pullmans, I've so far sourced two, which will give me something to work with whilst I keep an eye out for the other three.......watch this space!

 

Having spent some time researching the Pullmans, I found on RMWeb some illustrations that a guy in New Zealand had done showing side profiles of all the cars which he had modified on the PC to show the correct window/door setups, so "all"(!) I have to do is look out for and buy the cars with the same basic window layout, then modify as necessary. This involves changing oval toilet windows to more square or rectangular, and windows in the guards doors from oval to rectangular, plus odd roof repaint operations........sounds simple, but we'll see. I already have a number of Pullmans but I've already re-worked these with a full complement of passengers, internal lighting etc, so I'm not intending using these for this project, I'll start from scratch with either new or whatever I can find in 'pre-owned'. I'll need some more passengers in suitable 'Funeral attire' too!

Keith.