Summertime Blues

It's that time of year when I find that railway modelling slows down a little. With little to do other than a couple of tweaks to the ex-Ashover coach, the only other job currently in progress is the revival of  my semi-enclosed conversion of the Roger Chivers O9 coach. Records show it was started in May 2015 and last modified in January 2017, so this has been a long time coming.

Pleased with the result of painting the Ashover coach in LCLR blue and ivory livery I have dug the coach out from storage. This may seem to be an odd link to make but it must be all that vertical planking... Fellow O9 modeller Andrew Blackwell has always said this should be in a two-colour scheme, so here goes...

 

As with the Ashover coach I firstly masked off the areas that would be the darker colour and sprayed white primer on the areas that would be the lighter shade. The colours will be similar, most likely the same shade of ivory but maybe the Vallejo blue I bought as a comparison to the Citadel shade used on the 009 model. However, a lesson learnt from the previous job is to paint the interior first, especially as it is going to be much more visible on this model!

Colin

Relax... Hire a deckchair!

It's been a warm sunny day, the sort of day for sitting on a beach and relaxing in a deckchair.  In fact, this chap has been doing so on Shifting Sands for many years:

A few weeks ago fellow O9 modeller Andrew Blackwell asked me where to get deckchairs suitable for 7mm scale, and apart from the Prieser example above from their Luftwaffe ground crew set, I drew a blank, but a week or so later Andrew emailed me:

"Incidentally I received these 1:48 deckchair kits yesterday from Jane Harrop Miniatures half way down the page here:  http://www.janeharrop.co.uk/48th-beach-hut.html

They are a very fine fabric, & looks like laser cut wood. I've built 1 up in folded position to try & they are very sharp looking. A few might look OK on shifting sands. The beachhuts look nice too"

And so the kiosk on Shifting Sands will be going into the deckchair (and windbreak) hire business:

I bought two pairs of deckchairs and one windbreak, but by cunning use of the spare deckchair frames and an offcut of fabric from the windbreak (there's a reason it's rolled up!) the impression of more chairs is possible.  A little dry brushing is required on the wooden frames of the deckchairs to tone them down a little before they are added to the area in front of the kiosk.

I'll also be taking the opportunity to have a play with the signage on the kiosk, especially as I now need to add deckchair hire to the services on offer.  I have developed a habit of photographing suitable seaside signage, usually of the older variety, with modelling use in mind, and I hope to use this example from Skegness in the revised scene:

Finally, advance notice that Shifting Sands is due to attend the 009 Society, East Midlands Area Group open day in Mansfield on Sunday 29th June, where the above changes can be viewed.  Details here: http://www.009society.com/diary.php

Colin

Finally - really - in case you are wondering where 'Toby' is, he is currently undergoing (several) rethinks, he's not a happy tram engine at the moment....

A right pair of mongrels

There has been some mention on these pages in recent months of various bits of tinkering with Black Dog Mining wagons, starting with the creation of two 3-plank 6-foot wagons on the night of Narrow Gauge North and then some (unseen on the blog) tinkering after the 7mm NGA show.

However, something wasn't right, especially with the two wagons created on re-used underframes after Burton.  These two underframes had seen several bodies, the 6 foot one was the basis of the 'Shifting Sands' chequerplate flat then a box van, the 5 foot one various flat wagons amongst others.  The gained new Black Dog bodies in the form of a replacement chequerplate top and 2-plank open.

However, something wasn't quite right with just adding new bodies.  Mention in an email conversation last week with Andrew Blackwell, present owner of my earlier Black Dog conversions (narrowed down 6 foot 2-plank opens  modelled as 'Tops' wagons with end handles) set me on a train of thought, especially as I started to look through old photos of my work and perhaps actually appreciating what I had done.  This then led to some reconsideration of my fleet of Black Dog wagons and by Thursday morning (I had a day off) I had actually pulled the two apart for reconsideration.  The end result was a 5 foot version of the narrowed (by 2mm) 'Tops' wagons and by narrowing and slightly shortening the body, the reconstruction of the 'Shifting Sands' chequerplate flat wagon - including fishing the original overlaid steel solebars from the bin! 

I think I realised that sticking bits together was easy, it's customising and making them your own that is the fun part...

Colin

An Oceanic Odyssey

Gather a small bunch of O9 modellers together and at some point the conversation will turn to the fact that what they would really like, really, really like, is a model of a 15" gauge Atlantic.

It can be done, Tim Ellis as has demonstrated on the  NGRM Online Forum with his model of 'Count Louis', based upon a Minitrix chassis.  Seeing Tim's model made me even more determined to have a go at this myself and a little asking in the right places produced a Minitrix 'Britannia' chassis in a state of flux, it had been subjected to a half-started attempt to build a Barlow stream-outline loco by Andrew Blackwell (who went on to use a different chassis for his project).

After a thorough examination of the parts to hand, I set to work, reducing the chassis from a Pacific to Atlantic be removing the front  driving axle position, but retaining some metalwork above to hold various new parts such as the cylinders.  A new front bogie came from an N-Brass kit fitted with Parkside wheelsets and various other modifications were made such as reducing the length of the con rods by 3mm.  After an attempt to use some old crossheads from the spares box I eventually made new ones from Nickel Silver scrap and brass rod, these slide in N-Brass GCR 'ROD' slide bars, sitting in temporary cylinders for the time being.

The rear truck is a Farish 'V2' spare that Andrew had fitted as part of his Barlow build, it certainly looks the part here.  There is one slight problem with the chassis as built, and that is my fault due to my scratchbuilt crossheads... it is a little too wide.

Although the whole thing it too big anyway (think of it as a 7.5 mm scale loco), the extra width could cause a few issues as and when a body is built, although I may be able to loose some of the excess in due course with some cunning new cylinder covers.  As to what the cylinders look like will depend on what the final outline is, there is an equal chance of Basset-Lowke Class 30, 'Sutton' outline or a slimmer chance of a Barnes style loco from Rhyl (with a new rear axle of course).

Watch this space....

In Triplicate

At the Wakefield exhibition last weekend I grew weak at the knees at their legendary club second-hand stall and came away with an N gauge Bachmann Spectrum F-Unit for the agreeable sum of £15.00.  Thinking back to last year's show I seem to recall doing something similar, indeed I may have chosen not to buy two on that occasion...

This style of F-Unit chassis formed the basis of my first O9 loco back in 2003, when I purchased one very cheaply at a Toyfair as the basis of my first steps in O9 motive power.  With a stylish body formed from Dapol railbus and drewery shunter parts I felt that the resultant loco captured the spirit of 1950s and 60s 15" gauge design and wouldn't have looked out of place at Dudley Zoo or Fairbourne.

These were early, perhaps pioneering days for me and much procrastination followed as to what the layout that would inevitably follow would be.  At one stage the whole project hung in the balance but despite a half-hearted plan to sell up and return to 'OO', the blue diesel was not going to be sold.  What eventually emerged was of course 'Shifting Sands', but by the time the layout was complete, the blue diesel had started to look a little on the small side next to 'Cumbria', my Ratty inspired steam tram locomotive.

A rebuild saw 3mm added to the height of the loco with a new frame below the body, and at this stage an Atlas mechanism was installed.  The main reason for this change was that at this time I was using a set-up of old H&M control equipment and the setting required to get the best from the Atlas mechanism matched those used for the Kato 4w chassis found under many of my other locomotives.  The original Bachmann chassis ended up under a 'twin' built for Andrew Blackwell.

Last years chassis purchase ended up under my 'Christmas Project' of a third locomotive. The long term intention for this was to actually replace the original locomotive in the 'Shifting Sands' fleet and allow the original bodyshell to be restored to it's original appearance for display with my older coaching stock.  With the purchase of a further chassis, and another railbus and drewery shunter kit to hand to build another loco, the story is unlikely to end here!

The ones that got away... No. 3: Class 30 Atlantic

So we've had an abandoned 'Badger' and half-baked 'Pioneer', but the third loco in this series is different in a number of ways.  Firstly, I actually still have the bits (although finding them proved fun), and secondly should it ever get finished in this form, it will be a static model.

It is perhaps the holy grail of miniature railway modelling to achieve a model of a Bassett-Lowke 'Atlantic', certainly the person who produces an early style 'Little Giant' of Class 10 outline, to scale, will be worthy of much more than a shrubbery. There are design features across all three of the Bassett-Lowke Atlantic designs that make locating a ready-to-run chassis a potential problem, that is before you consider the issue of there being no ready to run N gauge Atlantics!  The driving wheelbase is very tight, and perhaps almost impossible to scale.

So my attempt was to be a static model in the style of Kitmaster, based around the undergubbins of a Del-Prado 'Flying Scotsman' model:

As can be seen, several years ago I got as far as rebuilding the chassis as an Atlantic and shaping up a running plate. Andrew Blackwell had suggested using parts from Dapol Drewery Shunter wheels as splashers which I duly did, before giving up on the model as other priorities took over.  The shape is certainly there...

The Del-Prado tender chassis was re-shaped to look like two bogies rather than the 4 fixed axles of the A3, and at this stage things faltered as I couldn't decide which way to go next, did I go for a fictitious name, or model 'Synolda' or 'Count Louis'?  Then I hankered after 'Count Louis' with the later, longer tender and things ground to a halt, not before I had wondered about one of the Sutton Miniature Railway locos, then couldn't decide between them either!

One person who has proved more decisive is Tim Ellis, a member of the NGRM Online forum.  Tim has taken on the completion of a loco started some years ago by another member of the forum based around a Minitrix pacific chassis.  I seem to recall that I had some correspondence with the original builder over the choice of chassis and even which N-Brass fittings to use for the chimney, dome, buffers etc based on my experience.  Tim has finished the loco off as 'Count Louis' and it has won much praise for it's appearance (as has all of Tim's work):

(C) Tim Ellis

Tim's entire workbench thread can be found here, with the Atlantic build starting on page 11 (my apologies for non-forum members, but trust me, it is an incentive to join!).  Tim has promised me an extra special picture of the loco on his O9 micro layout but he is a busy chap...

So what hope is there for the rest of us?  Well, I do have a Minitrix chassis courtesy of Andrew Blackwell, and one day an Atlantic may be built on it following Tim's lead.  However, like a bolt out of the blue, there is a remote possibility of a commercial model of a Class 30.  Roger Chivers, of Chivers Finelines fame, has recently posed the possibility of a kit to build one of these delightful machines here.  If you would be interested in the model, please do respond to the forum thread and make yourself known - with no commitment to buy at this stage.

Us O9 modellers live in interesting times!