Welcome to O9 Modeller in 2014

A Happy New Year to all who read O9 Modeller.  The header image above is to celebrate the completion of the shiftingsands.fotopic.revisited project with the addition of the final pages from 2009. Please take the time to look through the pages and re-live the 'Shifting Sands' experience.  My thanks once again to Mick Thornton for making the project possible through his archiving of the pages.

The completion of the Fotopic project has gone on alongside my dabblings with a new O9 diorama. This has had several rethinks along the way including a complete change of size and setting. Here, for the first time, is the progress so far:

As you can see, the scenario has changed to a platform-end scene. The construction of the platform is another result of my Skegness Miniature Railway researches, being based on the slab colours and pattern of that surviving at the Princess Parade end of the now closed line:

As a comparison, this is the diorama with the parts of the planned shed scene that were removed:

The line at the front would have ended abandoned and buried in the landscape, whilst the rear line would have gone into the shed structure along with the existing line.  All track is Peco with cosmetic changes including some RCL steel sleepers and fishplates.  Fencing is also Peco products.  The slabs on the platform are individual 14mm squares of mounting card, mass produced, treated with button polish to seal them and painted/weathered with acrylic paints.  A bench will occupy the front right hand corner of the scene, this is a modified product purchased in the Crab Pot model shop in Flamborough but identical to those available via eBay.  The modified version is on the left, original on the right:

I've also had the time to put together one of Roger Chivers' O9 open coach kits.  This is a plastic kit based around some existing 009 chassis parts but the body tooling is all-new.  This has gone together very well with only a little bit of work to get the floor and solebars to fit.  I have opted not to use the end-screen fitted end supplied as an option.  The main differences to the build envisaged by it's designer are the alterations to accommodate MicroTrains couplings.  More on that another time...

Colin