Test Build 3 - Primed

My build of the MG Models 'Classic' diesel has now had a good scrub up and a coat of etch primer, covering many sins and allowing the filled joins etc to be examined to see if more work is required.

I'm happy to see that the joins around the top of the bonnet have come up well, the attention to this area with the Milliput was worth the effort. Just to note the cab roof is still a separate part and isn't fitted correctly in the pictures.

Overall the finish is a little less smooth than I would like, but that might just be the atmospheric conditions at the time of the spray. It needs a rub over with wet 1500 grit wet and dry paper but that can wait until a top coat is required. As a test build for an as yet undecided project that step can wait until a clearer direction is known.

Colin

Another Inspirational Estate

A sequel to my visit to Belton House in An Inspirational Estate...

What better way to spend a damp and breezy February Saturday than a stroll around a country estate. Despite being very local and literally passing it on my way to work most days, I had never really stepped foot on the Thoresby estate, but there was good reason to over the weekend on 22nd/23rd February, and it wasn't just for the 'Fairy Trail' for the kids. But I'll come back to that point later...

As with Belton there were a few things that caught my eye from a modelling point of view. I quite liked this view down the back of the Hall (now a hotel), I'm not sure if the rollercoaster floor levels are original but imagine it flat with a Heywood locomotive coming towards you.

We've seen Skaledale cricket pavilions being used on narrow gauge layouts as station buildings. Here, the cricket pavilion is doing its best impression of being a long abandoned narrow gauge station.

If you've ever seen the Iain Rice sketch of the Wills tea kiosk used as the scorer's hut, here it is, in reality!

A couple of decades ago there was a railway here, literally yards away from the pavilion was the 10 1/4" gauge Thoresby Miniature Railway, operated by Bill Kirkland using his model of 'Sir Nigel Gresley, which I remember from its period operating on the Stapleford Miniature Railway prior to Bill's passing.

(Authors Collection) 

Amazingly, it is possible to trace most of the course of the railway, there are many sleepers still embedded in the grass along it's gently curving route. It must be at least 30 years ago that it closed but here is some genuine miniature railway archaeology.

As much as finding these remains made my day, the real reason for visiting was to see a welcome return of steam to Thoresby. I had missed this visiting before Christmas but made a note of the return dates, as the 'There & Back Light Railway' was set up and running on a 7 1/4" portable line for the weekend using the Bagnall saddle tank 'Nomi'. The proprietor tells me that they are booked for all sorts of events in all sorts of places over the coming year so do keep an eye out for them!

I've sometimes wondered if a portable line could be a subject for a model, I suppose it is a case of making it look convincing without it looking as if you just couldn't be bothered to ballast!

Colin

Test Build 2 - Seeing Double

At the Pontefract Exhibition a couple of weeks ago, just before becoming acquainted with 'Derwent Road', I was handed a 3D print of an O9 loco cab by John Flower of A1 Models. Having examined it I was told it fitted to an existing 009 kit of a double-bonnet loco. An etch was passed over and a polite request made to build it up and paint it to see if it was practical, or whether the 009 bonnets were a touch too low for O9. This is the result, perched on the Kato chassis borrowed from the MG Models build...

The bonnets were both soldered together and then soldered to the main frame etch. I’ve only added buffer beams and some rudimentary coupler details to the contents of the kit, and a bench seat in the cab, which doesn’t show up in the pictures!

The cab print looked to be in a material akin to Shapeways "white strong and flexible" and cleaned up well, having been sanded/primed several times including some yellow filler primer.

I struggle to think of anything truly centre-cab on 15" gauge, other than perhaps the ex-Dudley Zoo machine that was at Blenheim Palace (but that was a much bigger, 6w-Bo beast rather than a 4-wheeler). Despite this I actually think it works fairly well, and whilst a few extra mm in the bonnet height is desirable, it isn’t as essential as I first thought it would be.

Whilst outwardly not really the sort of loco I'm in need of right now, I had a slightly futuristic thought that it could be a 15" hybrid locomotive, a small petrol engine at one end and batteries at the other...

Colin

Test Build 1 - Laying down the gauntlet

I'm still in the debating and designing phase for future micro layout projects and as part of that process I challenged myself to think about how an O9 layout might look if I was to create something that didn't use my existing fleet of locomotives and stock from 'Shifting Sands', maybe pushing far further into the minimum gauge ethos rather than miniature railway.

Anything new also had to be easier and quicker to build than previous models too, so it isn't a surprise that I started with a kit, the Minimum Gauge Models 'Classic Diesel'. It's only been in the stash four years... Whilst it has a whiff of the RH&DR's 'Redgauntlet' it is reproduced slightly over-scale with several detail differences.

Construction is largely soldered, I've never been convinced that superglue will give longevity on bonds like those holding the bonnet top in place, even if reinforced with Araldite. The cab roof and bonnet have been left as separate units for now to aid painting in the future, and I will get around to adding an exhaust pipe and front grille.

I chose to not use the layered bufferbeams the kit provided and instead used 30 thou styrene to create new overlays, making it easier to add suitable mounting points for MicroTrains couplers and also to alter the shape to sit closer to rail level.

Thoughts also turned to rolling stock. Whilst some existing wagons could be used, more would be required if I went down a light industrial or agricultural route. My usual way of wagon building had three points of time consumption:

• Scribing plank lines on styrene sheet
• Creating wood grain effects
• Adding bolt detail individually

The chance purchase of a Slaters sheet of rivet details on 20 thou styrene sheet prompted some experimentation. Using this and planking sheet the wagon body on the left was built, eliminating all three points of contention.

However, it looked more like a wagon built from old shed timber than planks, so the version on the right was created, returning to scribed planks on the sides (but retaining the Slaters sheet on the floor). The rivet strips were cut finer this time and the end result looks quite acceptable. On the end Evergreen channel section adds further relief.

So the ideas and options are there for the stock, I just need to work out what the layout might be...

Colin