HR56 The Dornoch Tank...Painted

HR56 Drummond II livery 1902-1912

I considered how I was going to overcome the problem of the name "Dornoch" on the tank sides before I even started this project and discovered that the series of names for Highland Railway engines produced by Guilplates included "Gordon Castle", which contains all the letters I needed except the final "H". The missing letter was located on Guilplates' transfer sheet for HR locomotives, which included the wording "Highland Railway" in several different sizes, one of which provided a suitable "H".

The gold lettering of the Highland is shaded in two tones of green and outlined with both black and white, so is not easy to reproduce in miniature. Guilplates design of these letters is somewhat wayward when examined closely, however it is the only option in this case and I think the result is reasonably convincing.

The HR lettering produced by Fox Transfers is not compatible with that of Guilplates, though the Fox transfers are crisply printed they omit the darker green shading which is printed black.





HR56

Cab interior with real coal spilling from the coal hole.

Phoenix Precision paints' P727 Dark Green (1885-1912) was used to represent the Drummond II livery. Floorboards are made from wood strip from a model ship kit. The buff colour of the upper cab sides is Revell matt 82, a useful brown, mixed with white.

The "Archer Surface Details" rivets on the boiler fairing in front of the cab are in evidence in this photo and are I think most effective.

The front spectacle plate can be removed which much simplified painting. The backhead fittings have been left as buffed brass which contrasts with the black backhead plate. 

More resin transfer rivets can just be made out above the rear windows. Builder's plate from Guilplates though barely legible.

Loco lamps from Laurie Griffin, rather undersize, drilled and fitted with a brilliant.

The red loco lamps along with the brightwork and transfers alleviate the austerity of the Drummond II livery.