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.

Resin and resign

Finally got down to some modelling and rather than getting on with the layout or finishing the loco to be known as Island I settled down to make a couple of new ones... I have made a little progress, some forwards and some backwards. The loco is now sprayed black, my original idea being to now mask off the black bits and have at it with a maroon colour spray but I actually rather like it in black. The backwards progress was to try to fit a Dapol chassis which has more valve gear but inside frames. Despite measuring both the space available and the donor loco it doesn't fit and now I've chopped up the frames from Island so they will need remaking to move forward. Doh!

 

The two new vehicles under construction are a Eurong NS3 diesel which I have bodged onto a farish 04 chassis as I couldn't afford another Minitrains F&C chassis and the one I have is destined to go under the new Narrow Planet Pamela when it arrives (soon I believe). This is a mixed media kit, having a 3D printed body with etched nickle silver overlays. It went together easily and then I fiddled about getting the chassis inside and secure. It looks ok to me and with plenty of added weight I think it will make a useful addition to the mainline diesel fleet. I've added the cab steps from a Harlech Castle kit but they were slightly too long and almost dragged on the floor so I reduced them to one step.

The other vehicle is one of that nice Mr Rushby's railcars which I am building as a omnidenominational multi-faith porta-church. This means that that it will have stained glass windows, hopefully illuminated from the inside, and will be available to help with any spiritual crisis of a lineside nature. It's a resin kit and with a small amount of fettling it went together very easily. It sits on the ubiquitous KATO 11-104 chassis.

 

Here they are down at the canal in primer

 

 

This is the Finished NS2 with the unfinished NS3 for comparison

 

 

This is it with one coat of Humbrol spray acrylic maroon on

 

 

 

Island life

The last couple of weeks have been very busy away from The isle of Stoner so not much got done, however things have settled down a bit and I've found some time to get the lap tray out and to make some progress on my Fiji kit which will be known as Island as I didn't want to make an identical loco.

 

The first thing to go was the balloon stack to be replaced with something less colonial.

 

I started work cleaning up the 3D print lines which were quite pronounced on the boiler barrel and fittings, in the end I decided that it would be easier to replace the whole thing with a new scratch built part. I had a rummage in the box of bits and found a smokebox of almost exactly the correct size which I think is from a Parkside Dundas Hunslet kit. The steam dome is a Hudswell Clarke casting from RT models, again almost perfect size and the sand dome I suspect is a Langley WD Hunslet one. The boiler barrel itself is a section of plastic radiator pipe cover from B&Q.

 

This all went together pretty well, the flat surfaces of the print are much better and easier to clean up.

 

I added boiler bands from styrene strip and then gave it a good squirt of Halfords plastic filler primer which helped show what looked ok and where further work was needed.

Once I'd done a bit more filling and sanding I started adding details to it. I've used one of Mr Ts couplings for the front because with such a large over hang I suspect that my curves might be an issue. Other than that I've used bits of fuse wire, styrene and brass wire to add pipework and so on. The whistle is from a Minitrains F&C body which I used the chassis from and is perfect for the job.

 

This was the state of play this morning after adding a whitemetal cab roof last thing yesterday. Normally I replace these with styrene but the weight helps to balance the smokebox casting. The tender is also in evidence which I've built pretty much as intended. (First time for everything.) The other Hudswell Clarke is stting in front of Island as I've just fitted a lovely lost wax casting of a reversing lever instead of the rather unsubtle Wills signal box lever previously there.

 

Some more primer next and I can't put off doing the chassis mods next...

Stationary progress

I'm on leave this week and apart from trying to get some domestic stuff done I've found a few minutes to finish the new loco, Lucy and to do some scenery work on the big layout.

Not so sure about the main colour but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Its a Halfords car spray which makes it a bit glossy but while I was in Halfords I noticed that they sell a matt lacquer so I duly bought a can. Being a cautious soul I decided to try it out on some thing which wasn't so crucial if it spoiled;  knew it would be ok on the spray paint but the acrylics were an unknown quantity. Lucky I did as the paint on the roof of the van I sprayed reacted and bubbled up.

Interestingly, the main green colour was fine but the roof was not. I can't remember the makes of bthe respective paints but I'm pretty sure they are different. Anyway another varnish not to be used.

I've finished off the plaster work between the old layout and the new and put the balsa platform former down. It's coming together and I'm quite pleased with the overall look of the thing. The only bit of plaster left to do is the 'ballast' between the platform and 'Collie Bridge' down the hill. really I should do the wiring and make sure it all works but I'll probably find a way to put that off for a while longer.

Hudswell Clarkes all over the place

I had a day off today and so got down to some modelling. Over the last few evenings I've been painting and adding the finishing details to Herman the railcar. I glued the roof on today which was the last thing to do for now. Name plates are on their way and once they are on I will add some moderate weathering too.

Herman with the first paying customers at Underhill

Once this was finished and some testing had been undertaken my attention turned to the little Japanese chassis that arrived the other week. I've already used the body which arrived with it as the explosives van so it just stood there on the work tray all naked.

I had thought of a little diesel but I already have a fair selection and have one more in mind thanks to EuroNG! I did borrow a Five79 Hudson Hunslet kit to see if this would fit but it stands too tall so even if I'd wanted to it would have been a butchery job. So what else could I do? I had a rummage in the flat kits drawer and came upon a Five79 Culverin kit. I had a bit of a squint at the parts and it looked like it should be able to be bashed together into some sort of tram loco.

With an afternoon of Time Team and tea and filling and bodging behind me I ended up with something I was rather pleased with the look of.

By tea time it was nearly complete above the footplate and another walk on the remaining stretch of the PQR beckoned. Very nice and atmospheric and we picked up a curry (The Sopna at Pont Rug - highly recommended)  on the way back so all in all a pretty successful day off.

After the curry and some satisfied groaning I set about adding skirts etc. Fortunately I had some styrene of right size so only had to cut it to length. I glued on the steps and made some mock cylinders and inspection flaps and all looked as it stays for tonight at least. It needs a couple more inspection flaps and some way of ashing out but its practically there.

It runs OK if a little lumpily but as I usually mange to bugger chassis completely during he construction phase I'm happy. A small amount of fettling and all will be well.