Just thought I would put up a photo of my Roundhouse Silver Lady with her modifications. I have painted the smokebox, front parts and cab roof matt black. The cylinder fronts are now matt black. The cab is half cream. I took the spectacle plates out, reshaped the glazing and refitted them (so there isn't a big oversized oval of plastic on the cab wall now). I painted a line along the botton of the tanks and painted the steps. That has, IMHO, made a huge difference out of proportion to the effort it took. The tank tops are painted matt black and the fake coal replaced with the real thing. The boiler bands are Roundhouse. The reversing lever is red (in real life its not that bright red). And I filled in the space between the buffer beam and the cylinder block, which had always looked a bit odd to my eye. That is made from thin steel bent and bolted with the bolt that holds the chassis spacer in place. Finally I added a driver. Luckily with work quiet in the winter I have had plenty of time to do all this. I like the finished results, overall they cost about £15, as I had some bits and pieces in the paints box etc.
