Ouch!

So there I was having a shower, not playing extreme sports or trimming hedges or anything when my neck went crack and I was in agony... a genuine pain in the neck. So no sleep and all I could do was sit on the sofa staring straight ahead. Bummer.

Anyway after a day and a night of watching the tele I decided that I might be able to tackle a little bit of modelling which has led to two solid days and a bit of an avalanche of project finishing and starting and finishing.

 

First up was to get Pamela running as well as I knew it should be able to. I cheated this by swapping the chassis for the one I have waiting for a future project, it needed the keeper plate swapping over to avoid drilling a hole but apart from that I just used the false frames and cylinders from the MK1 version and there it was running as smoothly as you could want. Now I can investigate the errant chassis and sort that out at leisure. The coach sitting with Pammy in the picture is a 3D printed body which was delivered from Shapeways just in time to not quite get it right in time for the exhibition, however it is now sitting square on its wheels and I've ordered another one to go with it. It is vaguely based on the 3ft gauge Ratty coaches and is a nice size, I've added the duckets from a VoR brake van to this one but the next I'll just make up as nature (or 2A Rail) intended.

In using the chassis and duckets from the VoR kit I was left with the remains of the kit so decided to use what I could to make something else; while scratching my head I realised that if I used the chassis from another one I had lurking in the big box of unmade kits I would have another spare body.

You can see above the general thrust of what happened next. I cut and shut the two kits together to form a van with a guard's door in the middle and two sets of double doors at either end to make a full brake. I have been waiting for an excuse to use a pair of the newly available PECO coach bogies and this was the perfect job for them. I cut a piece of thickish styrene for the floor and then all you have to do is make a pair of holes and clip the bogies in.

Inspired by Ted Polet's full brake van and having a liking for SECR birdcage stock I then bodged a roof thing. I still need to give it some windows as at the moment its solid all round but the shape looks quite nice. I'll add some brass door handles too once the painting is finished.

Next on the TV dinner table I decided that Island my Fiji alike deserved to be sorted out. I had done most of the bodywork and painted it black with the idea of painting the cab and boiler a red colour but the more I looked at it the more I liked the semi matt black. I painted the smokebox and below the footplate matt black and picked out the safety valves and whistles in brass.

As you can see by the end of my sojourn on the sofa I had also sprayed the tender black and finished off the details like coal on that too. I really like the look of this beastie, it is by far and away my biggest loco but it sort of reminds of Donald and Dougal from another island railway network.

 

These printed Corris slab wagons have also had some attention in that I've added the wheels. I didn't try to make them work so they are just glued in place, all they need now are some chain to tension the two uprights and some paint. Nice looking, I just need a slate quarry now... hmm?

 

One other exciting modelling thing has been confirmed today and that is that Great and Small III is definitely on for next September 9th to 11th. Put it in your diary now as it once again promises to be a cracker. And yes, I'll get a grown up to do the measuring.

Great and Small II... blimey

Well thank goodness that is over. Much as I enjoyed the show once it was up and running the build and setting up was very stressful. Thankfully all the modellers and railway staff and volunteers were very helpful and lovely so it all went off very well... so much so that I've been told by the General manager that we have to do it all again next year.

From behind Underhill it all went off reasonably well but the uneven floor in the goods shed and the awful join between boards contributed to much swearing and stuffing bits of cardboard box under the legs to try to keep things running. I'd just got it perfect by the time to pack up.

I managed to fail to measure the two smaller rooms and so not be able to fit what I'd hoped into those rooms but thanks to a bit of jiggling and the supreme unflappability of Stan and Roger who just turned their one layout into two, everything fitted and looked like it was planned to the un-trained eye.

 

The smiling faces behind the layouts tell a story. Either mass hysteria or happy bunnies, I think the latter.

 

 

There were also some larger beasties out in the 'real' world including the GMs Dad's 5 inch gauge Sgt Murphy. I never did get round having a ride on it.

Anyway, put this weekend in your diaries for next year as it is destined to be bigger and even better measured up next year. Mean time I can get back to doing some modelling. Now where did I put that coach...



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...