Staff Show & Tell
George Dent had so much fun customising a couple of Class 11s that a third example has found its way onto his colliery layout – and gained a name.
The practical aspect of last month’s Masterclass, featuring two of our exclusive new Class 11 models, was the most enjoyable bit of modelling I’ve done for a while, even if it was done in something of a hurry.
Now that I have a pair of post-BR industrial ‘11s’ at work on my layout, including a National Coal Board orange example (ex-12099), I’m a very happy bunny. More recently, while clearing away some boxes, I came across several early decorated samples, including more of the orange Class 11s, albeit with a few livery errors and several missing parts. Having been bumped around for months, handled by countless pairs of hands and not assembled to ‘production spec’ in the first place, the samples were a bit rough and ready. After all, they were created to prove the accuracy of colour shades and demarcations more than anything.
While we prefer to keep an archive of prototypes and samples of everything we’ve produced under the Model Rail Exclusives banner, there was little point in retaining duplicates, so I cobbled together some spare detail fittings and set about creating a serviceable orange ‘11’.
I also resolved to give it an identity, digging out some custom etched numberplates I commissioned from PH Designs some years ago, originally for one of our earliest Sentinel 4wVBT locomotives. A set of etched names surfaced too, from a different PH Designs etched metal kit… and lo, NCB 18 Doreen was born!
A heavily weathered finish was applied to Doreen, which seems appropriate given that some elements of the ‘11’ are a little ragged compared to the precision of the producti
