Lining trauma

Blimey, that is a fiddly process! I've just added the Modelmaster waterslide transfer lining to Staithes. It looks loads better than the hand drawn previous effort but I have simplified the scheme quite a bit as it is so tricky to do. Just waiting for my name and works plates from Narrow Planet to finish her off. Some varnish will hold onto all the paint and transfers.

Before

After

And here she is with the new tea van and open coach.

Green engines

I recently got out a loco which had been languishing in the 'kits I buggered up' dept and spent some time unbuggering it and it has come out pretty well. It was a Chivers Sittingbourne and Kemsley 0-6-2 Bagnall, I gave up on it when I first built it some years ago because I mashed the cab and it was so much bigger than my other locos at the time, however now I have a big hill and longer trains so it would be ideal. It sits on an 0-8-0 chassis which I think is a Fleischmann so it isn't a direct model of the prototype but it looks well on it.

I had to de mangle the cab and square it all up and finish the body off to my recent better standards, with some filler and some filing it all came together pretty well. I added pipes from the sand pots and a whistle and some bits and bobs and it looked fine. In sorting out the cab I removed the doors so that the empty cab could be seen but then it looked too vacant so I added a backhead with a few details. The chassis has LEDs which are directional one of which is in the cab so I covered it in a thick layer of orange paint, when running backwards the cab is lit by a satisfying flickering light as if the firehole was open.

I wondered about loco colour and ended up going for 'Snot Green' which is quite similar to the S&KLR locos. I'm pretty happy with this beast but it means that I have too many locos again so I'm going to have a sell off of some surplus rolling stock including my green double Fairlie. I prefer my Hull red open cab version so the green one must go. I also have a rake of MK3 FR quarrymans coaches which I will never run so they can go too. Will put them on evil bay later, I'll see if there is anything else that can go too.

I've also finished painting my new tea van from Neil Rushby. Nice.

December looms

I had a peek at the 009 society forum this week and saw a post about the Porthmadog Exhibition in December and I read that I had a new layout... blimey. I better get on and finish it then. So with that in mind I've been putting in some hours making some progress on the second board of Underhill. I had a vague idea what I was going do when I made the baseboard but I hadn't really got any further with a track plan or scenery. With some head scratching and looking to see what I already had I decided that the fiddle yard will be hidden by an area of town with a footbridge down to the main board area. In front of the fiddle yard will be the already constructed Nursery. It has a 6mm gauge line of its own with a transfer shed for a 009 siding.

Anyway, I've sorted out buildings and started construction, I built the footbridge from Ratio parts mainly and it looks great. I am going to use the road over bridge which I built for the main layout with some expanded polystyrene rudimentary scenery also fitted.

The other side of the board is where it connects to the other board and this is giving me some headaches so I'm ignoring it at the moment. Scenically I'm going for a plainer area with a couple of sidings being used by the preservation society, it will work as an excuse for parking a silly number of locos in view!

An area of town known as Three Bridges

I feel a bit happier that I'm on the way now so watch this space for progress reports. I need to sort out the track and electrics next... just like the main layout. So, I'll build some more locos probably. I also have some lining to do and some painting and a couple of locos to finish off and a tea van to paint...

Finishing things... nearly

I finally got a couple of evenings with nothing important to do and on which I did not go to bed at 8.30. I decided that I should finish off some part done projects, the recently built holiday loco Staithes was top of my list and the 0-8-0 Hunsletish thing and also the Percy bash.

Staithes was ready for the spoiling by paint time but I wanted to give it a colour different to the rest of my locos. I popped down to Porthmadog Models, which is a cracking shop, and purchased a new shade of blue. Once painted I decided that I'd have a go at lining... it looks OKish from a distance but I know and you will agree that it is not square or straight or good enough, however I like the overall effect so it will stay for now.

The 0-8-0 and the Percy bash only needed some more paint and details adding so were finished off quickly in the standard livery of Hull Red. I can't persuade Percy to run very well which is a shame as I like the look of it.

I'm awaiting name and works plates from Narrow Planet to add the final touch.

Three little maids from skool

I also finished off a bogie coach but forgot to take a picture of that so it will have to wait.

Back from me hols

I've been away on family holidays to Yorkshire this last week and we had a very nice time, staying self catering in Staithes on the coast just north of Whitby. It is a small fishing village which is built round the tiny harbour and up a steeply sided valley away towards the moors, very picturesque. What stuck me about it was that it needed a narrow gauge railway terminating on a quayside just to complete the picture.

So this has become the plan for the terminus at Port Lucy. The idea was pretty much along these lines anyway but Staithes has provided a wealth of lovely buildings and a believable geological setting.

Red Scribble gives an idea of where the station would be with a station building where the blue windowed warehouse is with steps down to the platform.

Mostly we had lovely weather but one day was foul so out came my touring modelling box and I made the most of the time I had to start a Varikit bash... it ended up only using the footplate/bufferbeam casting with bits and bobs from that magnificent box of bits donating the rest. I've ended up with a sort of Hunslet/Manning Wardel 0-4-0 which I rather like. It sits on a Fleischmann 0-4-0 chassis which although second hand runs rather sweetly; even after my butchery with razor saw and files etc.

Still a few bits and bobs to finish it off, thank god for filler, but mostly there. Will be named 'Staithes' in honour of its birthplace.

Write it down

I haven't done any modelling today and I'm off on hols tomorrow so I don't suppose I'll get much done in the next week but I have spent some time today writing an article for the 009 news. Its all about the railcar sets on the Isle of Stoner which currently number six. Now I need to take some decent pictures and send it off. Will have to wait a while I go to Yorkshire and drink gin and read books. Laters.

Woodwork and so on...

I haven't had a lot of modelling time recently what with one thing and another but I have done a few bits and pieces. Most importantly I've made the baseboard for the second part of Underhill. With my stunning carpentry skills I've ended up with a very complicated way of connecting the boards but after much swearing and starting again I made it work.

This shows the L shape created by the joined boards. The funny gap at the front will end up with a small scenic attachment of some sort. The line runs behind the cheese factory on the right to the junction and then disappears to the fiddle yard via a road over bridge. In front of the fiddle yard is the nursery mini layout which has its own 6mm rail network (non working). It will have a control panel built in at the back in much the same way as the other board and will also have a connection to the PSU as I forgot to make provision for a jumper cable from the first board... Doh!

I've also been making rolling stock first of all I've added to the railcar count with a cheap and cheerful Oxford Diecast/Bachmann 0-6-0 Plymouth bash. This was inspired by the similar unit done by Neil Rushby in the 009 news (more of him in a tick), thanks to him. His version was single ended but I've added a second van back to back for ease of branchline use. It needs some bits and bobs doing but works well and looks nice.

Having a motor and gearbox in both vans solves the reversing problem.

The other item I've made is a new resin kit from Rushby's Resins which is a splendidly silly four wheel coach or Fowler Trolley. Went together very nicely and is the first resin kit I've made. It still needs the painting finishing but here it is.

It sits on a Parkside Dundas skip chassis which I happened to have ready made. The new coach will sit very nicely with the train of skip chassis coaches I already have although it is twice the size of most of them!