I bought the ready to run GWR 4575 2-6-2T from Tower Models for £450 a number of years ago in the basic brass finish version. The model was also available with the chassis painted black or fully finished. The model is supplied in a stout box with about 1 inch of protective foam packaging cushioning a smaller cardboard box which contains the actual model. The model came with an A4 sheet which gave instructions on how to take the model apart for painting.

Having run the model on the Covgog test track it then got put away in a cupboard for a number of years. With the hot sunny weather back in June 2016 I thought it was an ideal opportunity to spray paint the model as a quick summer project. Consequently, I unearthed the box from the back of the cupboard and started to follow the instructions to take it apart.

The two pony trucks were first removed and the body and chassis were easily separated taking out screws under the smokebox and cab. I then separated the cab roof from the body (two screws in front and back spectacle plates), the bunker from the footplate (four screws) and the boiler and side tanks from the footplate (eight screws). This gave me the footplate and cab roof to be painted black and the side tanks/boiler/cab front and the cab back/bunker assemblies to be painted predominately green.

Taking apart the chassis was more involved. The brake pull rodding underneath is removed by unscrewing a plate under the firebox and then unsoldering at the bottom of the six brake shoes. The pump driven from the cross head needs unsoldering at the leading edge of the cylinders and a screw removed at the motion bracket.

Turning to the electrics, the instructions tell you not to unsolder the leads at the motor but at the plunger pickups. Instead I cut the leads midway and soldered in a micro connector at the mid point. The leading and centre pairs of driving wheels drop out downwards by unscrewing keeper plates at the bottom of the horn block guides, whilst the motor/gearbox and rear driving wheels lift out from the top of the chassis by taking out four screws holding the motor mount to the chassis. The instructions then say slide the chassis out from between coupling rods. However, I found the rear sand boxes prevented this. Unsoldering the rear sand boxes revealed that these are not castings but soldered up from shaped brass sheet which, of course, fell apart into their component parts when heated with the blow torch. Before painting I reassembled the two sand boxes adding 10BA screws on the back and drilling matching holes in the chassis to allow reattachment without soldering.

All the pictures I found of the rear of 4575 class engines in Great Western days did not have the coal shield around the rear lamp bracket on the top of the bunker, suggesting to me that this was a later feature. After studying the model construction I realised the coal shield was a separate piece which could easily be unsoldered. I then added a lamp bracket to the rear of the bunker instead. Other features of the model, which I left unaltered but may be later additions to the class, are the cab side shutters (if removed this would require hand rails to be relocated higher as well) and the hand rail on the top of the boiler.

After scrubbing with a shiny sink cleaner, I used an etching car primer from an aerosol to paint the model light grey. A couple of days later I masked off the boiler/tank/cab/bunker with tape and newspaper and used a satin black car aerosol to spray all the chassis, footplate, smokebox and cab roof, Again after a further couple of days I masked off the black smokebox and sprayed the rest of the body with a Railmatch post-1928 GWR Green from an aerosol. I thought it would be easier to repair any damage to the black paint from removal of the masking tape rather than the green. Buffer beams were brush painted with a Humbrol scarlet colour.

Once the paint had hardened I re-assembled the body and footplate components and applied the Great Western to the side tanks, numbers to the buffer beams and route availability disks to the cab side shutters using HMRS Pressfix transfers. Etched number plates from Precision Paints were glued on with two-part epoxy.

I then set about weathering the chassis and wheels etc. with a grey/brown paint mix and talcum power as described in Martyn Welch’s book. This included the horn blocks still on the axles behind the driving wheels. All the chassis components were then screwed back together as a reverse of the strip down sequence. The fiddly bits were getting the horn blocks (complete with axles, wheels and coupling rods) back into their slots. The plunger pick ups have to be depressed to get the wheelsets back in.

The body was weathered using my Badger air brush to mist a brown/grey coating across the model concentrating on the horizontal surfaces. As an engineer rather than an artist I struggle to create the desired appearance. My advice would always be to stop spraying before you think the model is weathered enough!

To finish, I cut and shaped a small lump of packaging foam to fit in the bunker top. Off the loco, I coated this with PVA, sprinkled on lumps of real coal and dripped on more diluted PVA. After a little poking to get all the lumps of coal sitting within the plan of the foam I left it in the shed to set. Once dry this was an easy push fit into the bunker.

The re-assembled engine has been run on the Covgog test track a couple of times now and is back to the performance prior to my intervention. Visually I am pleased with the results achieved although I will have to work harder to perfect my weathering technique