Lights

Having had this week off we've been having a holiday at home and going out and about North Wales as though we had gone on holiday which has been fun but has also meant not so much modelling time as I'd hoped for.

The roving round Wales lead at one point to the canal basin at Trevor where I found this track. I'm pretty sure it is not real Glyn Valley track but it shows willing. Last time I was there was 25 years or more ago on a gang boating holiday, nothing much had changed there but my life has moved on considerably.

Anyway, nostalgia notwithstanding, I've pretty much finished Pamela and I think she looks very good. I still can't get the chassis perfect but I'm sure she'll get better eventually.

The rear spectacles are open, I had some RT models etched brass bits which by lucky chance just fit in the hole in the casting. I can't work out how to glaze them so for now they can stay un-glazed.

This evening I set about refurbishing the lighting rig which had partly fallen to bits and partly been robbed for other projects. Two new 3 lamp fittings have done the job. I just need to tidy the wiring up a bit and make sure it is all PAT testable and the job is a good one. It has allowed me to take some better lit photos on the Three Bridges end.

The solitary passenger waits for a train to arrive

Blower and its train rolls in from the tunnel

The view from the headshunt of Eigiau simmering outside the cheese factory

3D x 2 = 6D?

No, I haven't been doing algebra, thank goodness but I have pretty much completed two of the three 3D printed locos I was working on. They've been a bit of a rush as I wanted them both to be ready for the Borth y Gest show in a fortnights time. The two beasties in question are Pamela and Blower. I think that Pamela will probably end up with a different name as I've wandered from the prototype a little but as it came with a nice nameplate and I don't have an alternative at the moment, Pamela she is for now. Blower is a name from a previous loco which suffered from enormous bad luck and never made it to finished so I pulled the plates off it and put them to better use on the new little Bagnall wing tank.

 Here they are early on in the build, Pammy is obviously further along the road to completion. The wing tank has been a very simple build as it is such a simple little loco. I added RT PQR couplings and a whistle and gave it a squirt of Halfords red primer which as I suspected made a rather fetching colour for this loco.

 The only tricky bit has been attaching the body to the chassis, and that was only tricky because I got the hole for the nut slightly too far back initially. This meant that the flywheel was jammed against the cab and so nothing ran. After some filing and filling and swearing I've managed to move the nut forward and make a better fit.

Pamela was easier to fit together having a custom printed hole for the nut, thereby reducing my ability to get this wrong. I've added various details like a vague attempt at an injector made from a bit of styrene and some thin wire; the now ubiquitous PQR couplers and an assortment of pipes etc. Somewhere along the way I've managed to give the chassis a bit of a limp, this is easing off having had a bit of a fettle last night, hopefully it will disappear altogether with some running in.

Here they both are down at Underhill posing for the official photographer. There are a couple of little jobs left to do such as glazing the cab windows on Pamela. The prototype didn't have a cab back sheet but I added one to hide the motor a bit more effectively, some loco crew will help with this also. I'd recommend both locos as interesting prototypes and easy to build kits. Come and see them in action along with their stable mates at the ByG show on the 22/23 August.

Long time no see.

Blimey it's been ages since I've got round to doing any modelling, various domestic crises, being busy at work and doing some music instead of playing trains are the main excuses.

So time for a bit of a catch up.

The big Hudswell Clarke has taken a bit of a back seat as I tried to fit a different chassis and buggered it up a bit, not beyond redemption but it's always a bit down heartening redoing something you buggered up yourself.

Island before the chassis butchery

I finished the NS3 and it looks very business like, the chassis is a bit lumpy so I suspect that the pickups need fettling, this seems to be the usual problem with these Farish 04s and 08s. The other two finished locos are Lucy and Titania. I rather pleased with both of them and haven't had the nerve to have at them with the weathering powder yet.

Also finished and rather pleasing is the Rushby's Resins railcar. My one is finished as the IoSRs  the omnidenominational multi faith mobile contemplation room. Additional features I've added to the kit are stained glass windows illuminated from inside, IoSR name boards, a bell, buffer beams and a ladder to reach the boxes of texts on the roof. The windows have etched brass window bars and stained glass printed celluloid from Langley, the etched plates are from those lovely chaps at Narrow Planet and the other bits were lurking in the bottom of the tool box. The LED is switched on and off by pushing the green suitcase down.

Having decided not to make any more locos I've started two more. The first is a Narrow Planet Pamela, as ever I'm not taking the straight road and building as intended. I've added a cab back sheet and just at the stage of adding pipes and handrails etc. Going well so far. Should be ready for the exhibition at the end of August in Borth y Gest.

Here she is down at Underhill with Eigiau.

Next on the lap tray will be a rather nice little Bagnall wing tank which I stumbled accross on Shapeways web site when ordering a couple of Corris slab wagons and slate sawing tables.

Here they are soaking in white spirit, this dissolves the release agent used in the 3D printing process.

This them this evening drying out.

At the end of this week I'm on leave for a couple of weeks so hopefully I'll find some time to get on with all these and get the layout cleaned, tested and packed ready for my weekend of fun.