The covered wagons are… what can I say… covered. Completing them was a messy process but very enjoyable.

Some false loads were made from scraps of foam board. To introduce a little variety there are two different loads.

The next step was the messy one. I cut small rectangles of ‘colour catcher’ material, soaked them in diluted PVA glue, and laid them over the wagons. Although I tried to drain as much of the diluted PVA off of the material before using it, the glue ran everywhere – great fun!

You’ll see I added some thread the represent the ropes that are used to tie the tarpaulin to the wagon. I have no idea how long this wooden reel of Sylko ‘Leaf Mould’ has been in our sewing box, but I liked the colour so I used it.

When the glue had dried the tarpaulins were painted grey.

The ‘ropes’ securing the tarpaulins were tied and everything was given a wash of diluted brown and two washes of diluted black.

Here’s another photo of the finished wagons. It’s my first attempt at creating covered wagons, I think it’s worked quite well and it has produced something different from my existing rolling stock.