Heljan Class 33, 33025 "Sultan"

[ba14eagle]

I have had this loco quite a while, but have only just got round to this post. I have no issue with the looks of the Heljan 33/0 (unlike the model press) and so was really pleased to pick up this loco - and it was already weathered, to boot. The weathering is a bit heavy and I'm not entirely sold on the way the roof has been done, but I still really love this loco. I have put the sound decoder from 33211 in the loco. The ends had been detailed before I purchased the loco, so all that remains for me to do is to find some etched nameplates and crests. Just a "bagpipe" needed now to complete the set

[traingeekboy]

Wow nice looking beast you have there. First thing that caught my eye was the roof slope just past the vents; to me it looked almost real because of the weathering. Maybe your weathering looks bad in person but in a photo it looks really good.

[ba14eagle]

Agreed, the lower section behind the vents is the best bit of the roof and looks really convincing. Im not so impressed with the 2 "clean" bits at the nearest corner and just behind - looks like a bit of sloppy brushwork - picky, maybe! Anyway, I'm getting more confident doing my own weathering now, so unless its a really special job I want (eg where some major renumbering is involved) then Im gonna do my own in future

[mhickers]

Your photo of the class 33 reminds me of when I used to go on the train with my mum shopping as a lad back in the 80's from

Hamworthy to Poole.

Brill photo.

[ba14eagle]

After being unhappy with the heavy weathering applied to the roof of this loco, I took the brave decision to try and reverse the process, a little. Using a fibre glass pencil, I carefully removed nearly all of the weathering from the roof, so it now looks more like the white of the real thing. I then reapplied weathering around the exhaust ports and re-varnished the body / roof.

Whilst the body was off the chassis, I also painted the cab interiors, added a driver & secondman and changed the headcode to "99" (Cardiff / Bristol to Brighton service).