The Toybox of Nostalgia

Over Easter I was asked by my parents if I minded them disposing of a couple of boxes of old toy cars from my childhood that they had in storage, and if I would mind having a look through first in case I wanted to keep anything.

I came home with these...

The green Matchbox shunter was always a favourite as we were were aware when I was little that it was rarer than the yellow versions. It has gone into my display case as a bit of nostalgia. I did consider bringing one of the three yellow examples home for future use but decided against it in the end, whilst they do offer some conversion potential I have plenty of other ideas that involve no die-cast butchery!

The skips are Matchbox and I justified stealing them from their skip lorry as it was a little damaged. They are a good moulding and pretty much 7mm scale (and of course the real thing vary in size).  The caravan, well, I had to keep that, it would have been on 'Shifting Sands' if the Cararama one didn't come to my attention at the time.

The forklift did not last the course. I suspected it might be a little bit too small for 7mm use and whilst posing it a Knightwing pallet proved that whilst the forks were OK, the figure dwarfed the seat and had no legroom. I seem to recall reading somewhere it was closer to 1:55 or 1:64 scale - it might have been Chris Ellis writing in 'Scale Model Trains' who identified it as such.

What was interesting to see in the box were a few Siku vehicles that although of a similar vintage to the Matchbox ones were far superior in detail. A childhood favourite was a Mercedes roadsweeper, but despite being close to 7mm scale I couldn't justify keeping it as it is quite big!

Colin

Black and White Daze

As my (whisper it) 009 project 'The Old Quarry Line' draws to a conclusion I thought I would add a couple of picture here to mark the occasion. The project started with the Peco V-skips received as a gift and ironically they are one of the last things to be worked upon.

Using RTR wagons was part of the ethos adopted for this scheme, to use readily available bits and pieces to create the scene, something that is not always possible on O9 (or other 7mm scale combinations) as model shops and trade stands don't always have anything to offer.

I was also able to try 3D printed models for the first time in the shape of the 2A-Rail Ruston Hornsby, which has come out rather well.

I have covered the scenic aspects of the project on this blog as many scenic ideas translate between scales. I do rather like this view down the cutting at the back of the layout.

If you are wondering why these pictures are in black and white it is just because I liked the look of it, rather like an old model railway magazine!

Thought is now being given to what comes next. My dabble with 3D printing has rubbed off on my 7mm scale ideas with a few parts in stock for future projects...

Colin

Only the Slim

What better way to spend an hour or so on a cold snowy day (in March) than slaving over a hot soldering iron? This is the second A1 Models kit which was received at the same time as 'Not DA1'. This uses a different version of the chassis frame with the wheelbase offset in the overall length. The consequence of this is that the cab is rather narrow and only for the slim.

It is worth saying that I have only tack-soldered the bonnet to the cab at this stage, it isn't quite on correctly...

Based on experience with the first kit I initially altered the chassis frame prior to building it. Rather than rely on the over-wide fold lines I cut the footplate and side frames into separate pieces and discarded the end sections completely. The frames were soldered to the foot plate about 1.5mm in from the edge, in my view this improves the look considerably. This will require the Tomytec chassis to be modified and mounted in a similar manner to the Meridian Models chassis adaptor.

The cab has a tiny bench seat, the part for this is too long on the etch but this was soon rectified:

The bufferbeams on the initial version of the chassis were made from 20 thou styrene with holes cut for MicroTrains couplers. These were reinforced behind with 60 x 125 thou styrene section. Further strips of this section can be seen superglued to the chassis inside the bonnet. These are mounted on either side of the opening in the chassis to both hold the upper part of the chassis in place and also help locate the bonnet on the chassis frame.

At this stage I nicknamed the loco 'Tiny' as it just seems so small for O9. However, it isn't really that small, at approx 6 x 3 ish scale feet is is very much Lister sized and I can think of at least a couple of small 15" gauge locos around this size that have been kept well out of the limelight!

I later found that my altered A1 Models underframe was actually a little warped when I tried to sit the bonnet and cab assembly on it (no doubt too much heat during assembly). After some thought I opted to rebuild it in 30 thou styrene with the brass sideframes added cosmetically. A few details were added to the brass body from the oddments box, Dapol Drewery shunter crankpins cut down as filler caps, a Chivers brake lever used as both handbrake and throttle in the cab and a switch from a Dapol railbus oddment. The exhaust is a length of brass tube.

Finally here is a comparison of the two locomotives in primer, the grille on the second loco is from an old A1 etch. Just visible are two holes on the bonnet top in which a plastic air horn locates, to be fitted after final painting.

Colin