Weathered by Philden Showcase 25

Every now and then I weather a model to the extent where I surprise even myself, such as these Auscision Models NDCH/NDMX Railcorp infrastructure wagons. While Auscision did a great job producing these models, the one colour rust/grime on the inside of the open wagons called for a rust job worthy of the ages. So, over the course of a week using whatever time I could spare, I weathered my set of infrastructure wagons to resemble a late 2000's era works train.

This Auscision Models NDCH spoil wagon is the Rail Services Australia version.

The two different style open wagons were purchased individually on eBay. In the real world however, these infrastructure wagons were all rebuilt from former NSW NOBX open wagons. The NDMX wagon was repainted orange for Railcorp around 2005 along with the NQJX flat wagons, of which a fleet of 20 were made available to be leased to private operators. While the rusty-looking brown NDCH with the ribbed side panels and fresh white painted side-striping was a hold-over from the late 1990's Rail Services Australia era, prior to the formation of Railcrorp.

For my Philden Beach layout, the set of four NQJX container wagons can be swapped in and out of my intermodal service. While two individually weathered pairs of the SB spoil bins will also enable me to fit out a pair of the container flats complete with spoil bins to move across onto my infratructure train, joining the orange NDMX and rusty NDCH open wagon to make a 4 wagon set. This versatality will ensure the set of six wagons stay in constant use on my shelf layout, and now that they are all weathered they look the part.

While this Auscision Models NQJX container wagon has two SB spoil bins positioned on top.

And another example, only with a subtle difference of colour on the axle bearing caps.

The NQJX wagons were weathered separately, so that the spoil bins could be swapped for containers.

The four NQJX wagons can then be moved between my intermodal or infrastructure trains.

Next on my weathering hit list is a small batch of Victorian Railways FX flour wagons I had purchased some time ago with the intention of weathering them up to sell. So I might be able to make a slow start on these between study periods over the next few weeks to keep some new items coming to my eBay store, before I start on my own set of NSW NGGF sugar hoppers for Philden Beach.

I'm particularly pleased with how my set of infrastructure wagons turned out, and if I had the spare money I would probably invest in a couple more sets to make another batch available for sale on my eBay store. Time will tell once I finalise the release date for my next book. More on that to follow.

Click the above banner to view my eBay listings.

All of my weathered models that are still available for sale may be found by clicking on the banner above. As always, each model comes with a signed certificate to ensure that they have been personally weathered by me. It is simply my way of saying thank you for supporting my writing, and this blog, as this is now my main income stream while I undertake a year of full-time study. So thank you to all who have now helped me reach the 200+ models sold milestone. It is very much appreciated!

For my own record...

Models sold 216/249