Doncaster Delights

With slightly more advanced planning than last year (I had decided to go weeks before, not on the day) I headed up the road to Doncaster on Sunday for the BRM 'Festival of Railway Modelling'. With a similar plan to last year I intended to concentrate on the layouts and those traders I had identified as having items of interest...

The most recent issue of British Railway Modelling had a strapline on the cover about building a model of a miniature railway. The resultant static model, using parts from West Hill Wagon Works and commercial kits, really captures the spirit of a miniature railway and I had a good chat with Phil Parker about its creation.

Continuing the theme of the smallest exhibits at a large show, it was a pleasure to see the display of layouts by James Hilton, including 'Canal Street Wharf' in OO-6.5, representing 18" gauge. Seeing this has made me start to consider how I could adapt and simplify my stalled 'Avalon Brickworks' style layout to a similar format...

James' double-stacked micro layouts were a joy to see, proving that something so simple but focussed can actually have a lot more impact than some of the larger layouts on show. These smaller layouts really are 3D picture frames and their seeming lightness in construction fascinated me. After a long chat with James many more thoughts were in progress...

Almost directly opposite James' display was the other layout that really grabbed me, the7mm scale 'Harlyn Pier', which has a beautiful seaside setting, with the sea on the backscene and provision for the same of ice cream, rather like my own 'Shifting Sands'!

As there were traders present that I am unlikely to catch at any other show this year I partook in a little shopping, nothing too grand but items that should come in handy over the next few months...

Colin

The Green Machine

We last saw the A1 Models 'Albert' in a sneak-peek in between painting and varnishing. Following application of a coat of Halfords matt lacquer I've now added the finishing touches, working slowly through a post-it note of jobs. Firstly the windows were glazed using 10 thou clear styrene behind the openings, secured with Johnson's 'Kleer' (old-school formula), and the headlights filled using Araldite. Doing this before the cab and bonnet were glued together meant I only had to make up one mix to do both ends, whereas on 'The White Rose' I had to do each end in turn as the light has to sit facing upwards to set without sagging. 

The headlights squeezed the last from my Araldite so I bought an alternative epoxy product in the local motor spares shop to join the two assemblies together, which seems to have worked OK. On the cab front a turned brass A1 Models air horn was added - this one a version designed with cab front mounting in mind. Deft deployment of the epoxy and careful propping allowed this to be secured in place whilst the cab and bonnet were glued together. 

Despite the matt lacquer the underframe looked a little too shiny so the opportunity was taken to overspray a coat of Humbrol matt varnish to this part, followed by some light weathering in the form of dry brushing. This side-on view shows how the Kato chassis is convincigly hidden by the air tanks and the deep solebar.

Inside the cab I added a driver figure, one of the "rubbery" Prieser clones sprayed in grey primer, washed over in black-grey and then the skin and shirt picked out in appropriate colours. Subtle but effective enough when viewed through the cab windows. The 'L' section pieces provided with the kit have been used to locate the cab and bonnet in place, they are easily adjusted to get a secure grip and good location.

Underneath the chassis can be seen the mounts for the MicroTrains couplers, and the strips of lead window flashing added either side of the chassis to add some extra weight. There is scope to add more here or above the footplate if it proves necessary after testing.

With this model completed and in the display cabinet there are currently no O9 models on my workbench... There is a bit of reasoning behind this, I had a bit of a surprise when I went to put 'The White Rose' away after the recent modifications as I realised I hadn't actually allocated a storage box for it! A suitable box was located in the form of a Peco 009 example, but there is a shortage of space in the stock boxes so I need to have a careful think about what goes where in a limited space...

Colin

January Jumble

January has turned out to be a month of finishing off and tinkering. I've already shown the completed tramcar, and sneak preview of the A1 Models 'Albert' can be seen later in this post.

When I swapped it's place in the display case for the tramcar, I re-evaluated how I finished off the bufferbeams and couplers on 'The White Rose'. I was never quite satisfied with awkward L-sections either side of the couplers, so these areas have been carefully reworked with a deeper bufferbeam and sweep-downs at the ends of the side frames, taking cues from Trevor Guest's Dudley Zoo Bo-Bo, now at Windmill Farm. 

This work was carefully completed around the existing paintwork and the new paintwork varnished and blended into the existing finish and a touch of weathering to complete. Couplers were refitted and I am happy with the overall result, still very much a 1960s machine in the latter stages of life!

Having found myself struggling to find anything I wanted to "build" whilst the paintwork on other projects was being completed, I eventually found myself making some changes to a wagon last seen a year ago. At first glance not a lot has actually changed... but I'll give you a clue, the main noticeable difference is the longer wheelbase...

This model was originally built on a Black Dog Mining 6ft chassis frame, however I had noticed that it had a bit of a wobble, more so than usual for these chassis. Separately I had been coming to the conclusion that for layout use where shunting and uncoupling were required, especially with MicroTrains couplers, my wagons with Peco chassis were actually the better performers. So this wagon has received a Peco underframe disguised with a scratchbuilt styrene underframe 'surround' with Black Dog style axleboxes hiding the N-gauge ones. Built and painted away from the body, I was able to get a close-enough colour match of the timber shades. 

Although the official line is that I still don't "do" paintshop progress pictures, at this point it was only really short of a coat of varnish/lacquer so I thought I might as well share it...

The green (Citadel 'Moot Green', brush-applied) is of course based on 'Rachel' at Cleethorpes as pictured in an earlier post, although the shade is perhaps a little darker. The model is now varnished and finished and will be seen in more detail in a future post.

Colin