Equipment for Lister

When modelling I often try to personalize a kit. If I don't rebuild or change the kit I like to at least add some other special feature to it. I like the manufacturers' support, but if we all build the same kits the same way we may end up with very little variety. Adding a bucket, a bracket with extra coupling chains or fitting a spare can for petrol avoids models that look the same, even if they are otherwise built right out of the box and painted the same colour.

A 1:35 scale Billard T 75 fitted with a detailed jack. I had two Billards and adding small differences to them made it a lot more fun having to identical locos on the layout. The two Billards have been sold to a modeller in Luxembourg. 

With the Lister running and painted I looked around for a small addition that would set my Lister apart from others and make a realistic impression. On eBay I found a few manufacturers selling detail parts for car modellers in 1/18 scale. Many of them useful for my purpose.

Detailing parts to be fitted to my version of the I. P. Engineering Lister. The jack may be slightly oversized for the Lister?

My white metal parts came from Dioramaparts in Germany through eBay. Their range of parts is large and one could easily spend a considerable sum of money on parts from their selection. The jack is a very fine casting and I only removed the cast on handle with a file. No mould lines were present and an extra, extended handle was supplied. I added both lower and upper handle on the jack from brass wire. The oil can had some mould lines which I removed with a few strokes of file and sand paper.

Nystrup Gravel probably bought the jack on an auction over German military equipment left on a nearby air base after the war. The gravel company didn't bother covering the late war German standard paint for armoured vehicles, but took the jack into use immediately. I painted the jack a 40/60 mix of Vallejo Air 71.078 Gold Yellow and 71.028 Sand Yellow. Once dry I washed the jack in heavily thinned brown oil paint and added scratches in the yellow paint with a fine brush and dark grey oil paint. The oil can was painted gun metal. It had been my intetntion to fit a canvas cover on the open rear end of the bonnet, but it really isn't easy to view under the bonnet and see the electric components fitted there, so I decided to spare me the trouble fitting the canvas cover.

Well, the jack is definately oversize for the Lister. I'll have to build another locomotive for the jack.

Having decided what to fit and what to leave out, the Lister is now ready for weathering. In addition I will have to design a charging method via the socket mounted under the bonnet. I have an idea utilizing a cheap battery charger.