You know what it's like; you wait ages for a loco to build and then three come along together. In this case four but I made myself leave one in the boxes for later.
A Dave Malton special 'Lyn' type loco but smaller and an 0-4-0 on the new Bachmann Percy chassis. I've made a few changes such as a non stove pipe chimney and added handrails on the cab. As you can see on this side I drilled the holes in the wrong place, grrr.
The joker in the pack was this Hunslet style tram loco which Dave sent as a present, very nice it is too. As ever I've removed the moulded on handrails and changed the printed couplers for RT models brass PQR ones which are very at home on a Hunslet. It had a very nice printed smokebox door dart which I snapped so that got replaced too.
The third of the trio is 'Upnor Castle' from Stan and the Merseyside gang. A very good CAD and very well printed, probably the best 3D print I've ever had. A fitting tribute to the late Roger Christian whose favourite engine this was.
Work on the layout has stalled a bit as I've been busy with other things, not least loco building. However, I bought some plaster dry stone walling from eBay which I've used before. It is ripped off Hornby but costs about a quarter of the price and seeing as I chop it up, stick it back together with hot glue and plaster it really is just the job.
A bit more paint and it will be time to start on the greenery which is a bit of construction which I really enjoy.
Another thing that arrived in the post were the plates for the ex GWR, Paul Windle loco. It is now called 'Lord Stoner' and proudly carries the name. I'm looking forward to running some trains with this in charge.
As an 0-4-0 the Baldwin was looking as though it needed a rear pony truck but I couldn't be bothered to construct one and go through all the faff of trying to get it to work properly, so I cheated. It is a trick I've used before, namely to file the tyre flat on one edge and just glue the pony wheels onto the frame giving the illusion of a trailing axle. This one is a solid PECO wagon wheel so even if it rotated propely the odds of anyone ever seeing it do so are minimal. It took a few minutes and completely looks the part.
Final detailing and painting were the next tasks and all three locos came together at the same time, in some ways it is easier to batch paint things even when they are in different liveries.
The Baldwin acquired the nameplates and headlamps from the Heljan MW of which I sold the chassis. This means the loco is named 'Song' after one of the rivers on the island. I like the look of this loco and am glad I didn't go for Southern green as I had originally intended. I may add lining to the tanks in the fullness of time if I can summon up the courage.
'Uproar' has been finished in IoSR passenger diesel livery and named 'Roger'. I hope he wouldn't have minded the livery too much.
This wasn't the livery I intended for the Hunslet but actually I rather like it. It has been named 'Smallerfield' which is the name of the station on my stalled n gauge layout. The nameplates are signal box plates but look the part on this loco. In Hunslet terms it is bigger than a quarry class but not as big as 'the ladies' so I guess probably around the size of 'Lilla', it certainly looks feasible and will be very happy with tramway carriages back and forth to Underhill.
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