Back from me hols

I sneaked a box with some tools and a couple of bibs and bobs in it into the luggage for the family holiday in sunny Scotland. Apart from having a nice time walking on the beautiful Scottish coast and eating and drinking rather too much I managed to complete a Chris Ward double Fairlie which I had previously sprayed the main body. Most of what I did was finishing off jobs, some black and red paint, some metallic panic pen work and a few details in the cab.

Liquid gravity packed everywhere and the Bandai chassis

Finished loco

Somehow I'd lost the cab roof which came with the loco so I made a replacement from styrene sheet. For now it has David Lloyd George name plates as I wanted it to look finished for the show next weekend.

I also did a slightly more traditional loco build from a Chivers kit. I almost built it as intended but I didn't have the right chassis so I've used a good old Minitrix dock tank which worked just fine before I attacked it... as is traditional it now doesn't. Since I got home I've taken it apart completely and wasted a whole afternoon and it still doesn't work. The motor works out of the chassis and the chassis runs without the motor in it; combine the two and it just sits there shorting out the controller and sparking a bit. Bugger.

Anyway, being in Scotland it seemed appropriate that I build an Andrew Barclay loco. It is supposed to be an 0-4-2 so I moved the driven wheels to the middle set and used some Langley Fairlie cylinders. Its all a bit shorter than ideal which is why I've put a big cover over the motion in the style of L&B locos.

I've added various bits from other kits and a safety valve cover from an N gauge pannier tank. I really like the look of it so far and all it needs now is some filler and it will be ready for painting. The chassis is another thing, I will beat it. It will be named Burnmouth after the location of the holiday cottage.

I didn't see any railways while away (except the East Coast main line which was just on the top of the cliffs we were at the bottom off.) but on the journey back we stopped off at Haverthwaite on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway which OK but a bit standard gauge for me, however in the yard was a short bit of ng track with 2 closed wagons on it.

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Anyway, back home and back to work in the morning. I've a few finishing touches to add to the layout before next week, one of which is to add to the varnish on the canal as the last layer I put on got some dust in it as it set so came out a little lumpier than I would have hoped. I've also added a third boat which i hope isn't overkill.

Both Fairlies and the alarming wet varnish... bloody better set clear.