I’d like to welcome everyone to my new website and blog. This will replace my current one (MD Model works) but I do plan to keep that as an archive of sorts.
This first post details the building of my latest 009 model - Five79 RC6 “Russell” in cut down form.
I first became aware of Russell during a family holiday to Wales in 2000. A rather enthusiastic volunteer at Porthmadog on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway explained the engines history to me and I was instantly hooked on Russell and the orignal WHR. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to get a Roundhouse live steam Russell, but I’ve always wanted a model of it in cut down condition. And last week I was lucky enough to win the kit shown on eBay for less than £20.
This kit was originally built for the now long discontinued Minitrix 2-6-2 chassis, which can still be found on eBay. I have seen this kit modified to fit on the Roco outside framed 0-6-0 chassis and a Farish 08 chassis. Both these chassis are out of my current price range,
I decided to use the chassis from a Bachmann USA 2-6-2 that I bought a few months back for £25. The issue with this chassis and the Minitrix one is that unlike the prototype these are not outside framed. I don’t think this is much of a problem as the Russell body sits quite low on the chassis anyway.
My first job was to sort all the parts of the kit so I could get an idea of how it went together. The kit uses the castings for the full height Russell so you need to cut the cab down to match the lower boiler fittings - just like the orignal!
After the parts were cleaned construction could begin. The kit went together fairly easily and quickly, which was a nice bonus. The following picture shows most of the main body assembled. All that remains now is to fit the boiler fittings, cab roof and to fill and sand some gaps and corners.
It wasn’t long before I could give the finished body a coat of primer, which really helped the process of bringing the model to life.
I thought about keeping the finished model in this colour but in the end I decided to go for a more traditional maroon livery. I’ve kept things simple and decided not to add any lining. I’ve picked out the areas that should be black and painted the dome bronze. I then added some real coal chips to the bunker. I may weather this at some point but for now I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.
