B&M 1223 - Life Like Model

With some color change to the body this Life Like switcher is put back to work.

Back in 2019 I purchased this Like Like SW-9 at the Woodstock train show from a friend of mine. I did not need another B&M switcher but for $40 with DCC no sound installed I though what the heck. Mark is a great electronics guy and I knew it would run great. What bothered me was the factory B&M maroon is more of a dark brown tone.

A bit of history...a quick look in my B&M books has this engine built in 1952-53 in the number series 1220-1231.  

There is still a lot of brown in the tone from the original coloring but with the Proto Paint fading and PanPastel it sure looks a lot better. I might try some reddish calk or hold off and get some red or maroon PanPastels to bring it more into the red tone.

When I got it home I painted the engineman and removed the side windows so one could see inside at the crew. I gave the model two coats of Proto Paint flat haze (Rapido paint that is not made anymore) hoping this would help with the coloring. It did not help but did fade the shade well, so I just gave it some weathering using PanPastels and called it a day.

Yesterday I brought it back to my workbench as I had a few pieces that I was going to airbrush flat haze. I thought I would give the switcher another coat to seal the weathering and try some of my reddish browns on the engine. 

Using a small brush I applied PanPastel red iron oxide extra dark on the B&M maroon. I was surprised it was making a difference bringing the tone closer to how my other engines look. I was not concerned if some of the powders got on the gold as it just looked like weathering and grime. The roof and walk ways are then coated with PanPastel Paynes grey extra dark which is a black tone. I then used my Bragdon soot which has some rust mixed in from a tumble of the container as highlights on the roof, running boards and underbody details. I think it looks a lot better now but could use some more red in the tone. For now it is back in service. It normally hangs around WRJ on its own for switching but now that the color matches better to my other engines it might be combined in a consist...George Dutka

The three tones used to finish off the coloring of this B&M switcher. The brownish red looking tone in the foreground actually helped bring the color to what I though a B&M maroon should look like. It could still use a bit of red in the mix but it is way better than it looked before I started.