Batteries not Included

One of our local exhibitions takes the form of a joint event with the Model Bus Federation and attracts an interesting range of traders. One of my fellow NGRM Online members described them as some of the best rummage boxes around... At the most recent show my eye was drawn to what looked like a large tramcar controller, the sticker said it was Tomytec, needed batteries and better still was just a pound! I've experimented with battery control on the Christmas pizza and I thought it would make a novel controller for the O9 battery railcar on 'odsock Corner.

Opening up the back I was surprised to see it used 4x AA batteries, and a quick test confirmed that was more than enough as the railcar was at an acceptable speed just opening up the controller with top speeds more suited to HS2. A comment on the NGRM online forum confirmed what I thought from a quick look at the inner workings, that you could bypass two of the battery slots and it would work at half-power. The retained batteries are at the base of the unit for better weight distribution.

With a suitable DIN plug added to the wire it has proved successful, the layout currently residing on the lit shelf in the shed that was intended to be home to so much more layout...

Another battery related project is one that provision was made for earlier in the build, adding an LED light to the office building. I'm not a huge fan of overly-lit layouts and feel that light does not scale easily, so the intention here is not over-bright illumination to use in the dark, just enough to see what is inside when scene depicts day time. Before Christmas I found a trader on eBay selling pre-wired LED units and bought a single-LED unit to try.

The two wires pre-soldered to the single  LED were sprayed grey to disguise them within the building, they drop through the hole in the floor and under the board. At present they lead through a hole in the framing that I had to drill by hand, to a switched battery pack for 2x AAA batteries hidden under the baseboard. I found that a unit for 2x AA was just a little oversize to fit. If the 3v provided by these batteries proves not to be enough in the long term I can possibly fit a 9v battery in the space. 

Photographing a very dimly-lit light in daylight is rather tricky, so I resorted to turning the room lights out after all. In reality that street lamp would be lit as well, but the railway at 'odsock Corner probably sleeps at night!

Colin

Three - Finishing Touches

A little light weathering has now been applied to SMR No.3, just enough to be a work-a-day miniature railway machine, especially one that has seen recent workshop attention! 

Most of the focus has been on the underframe area, starting with a wash of black/brown to get into the detail and provide a base for the dry-brushing that followed. The dry-brushing started with various muck shades, gently introduced over the details and also over the vents and grilles on the body. The springs were treated to an application of gunmetal to bring out their details further and give a metallic sheen. The same colour was also used on the footplate under the cab door to represent wear to that area as drivers clamber in and out.

A lighter dry-brush was also applied in places, as a highlight to edges such as the bufferbeam and axleboxes. I also included some much thrown up from the wheels at the base of the bufferbeams, a very subtle but effective trick and representative of a pattern of muck often seen on miniature stock with low clearances at either end.

With that work completed the overhaul is completed and I am very happy with the result. Will there be any further re-workings of older models? There are no firm plans but time will tell...

Colin

'odsock Corner - Flora and Fauna

'odsock Corner is reaching a point where you might say that it is nearly complete (on the basis a model railway layout is never actually complete!) Since it's last appearance here there have been several enhancements to both the natural scenery and the man-made junk. The overall view below shows the current state of work, with the third tree in place back-left and lots of new smaller details.

Seen before they became lost in the undergrowth are some of the "animals of 'odsock Corner". From left to right, we start with a minor celebrity, "the Brookford Pheasant", obtained from the fabled Brookford layout some time ago; two rabbits from Northumbrian Painting Service, bought at the 7mm NGA event at Mickleover along with some pigeons who we will meet later! The cat is an Omen casting, and the duck from Duncan Castings. All apart from the pheasant were painted by myself.

The pheasant is lurking under the new tree, where I also added in some variety to the undergrowth with some Mininatur flowers and a raspberry bush. On the junk pile you can just see a child's trike in the bushes to the right. There are other new additions behind the tarpaulin and they are actually posed in such a away that you really cannot get the camera in to photograph them! I did try, as you will see later... 

Those pesky pigeons have taken up residence on the roof of the office building, and have left their mark using a stippled mixture of green-grey and yellow paints. I've also added a fair bit of moss growing on the lower rear edge of the roof under the tree. Other additions to this area are the bucket and the bin to the left of the hut, both West Hill Wagon Works 3D prints, and in-between these one of the rabbits is minding their own business. The ex-Shifting Sands bench, the cat and the lamp post all add more interest to this scene.

More Mininatur flowers can be seen around the layout and around near the gateway the other rabbit is seen. This area is also the home of the 'lost' duck. There is a puddle there which he has obviously mistaken for a much bigger expanse of water!

And finally... an attempt to see the extra junk in the centre of the scene. I suppose it is quite atmospheric! The carriage door is an Avalon Line left-over from the railcar conversion, but in front of that are some redundant bench ends lying flat on the floor, you'll have to take my word for that...

Colin

Ghost of Three

Missed out from Saturday's post on the rebuild and repaint of No.3 was an image of it in primer prior to painting. Unfortunately I only realised that I hadn't taken one after I had masked up for the white primer coat. However I did remember to take one before re-masking for the yellow, a ghostly image which was a bit awkward to colour-balance without washing out the top of the bonnet...

Weathering is now complete and the results will be seen very soon...

Colin
 

Take Three

Having managed a very minor refresh on my recent scratchbuilt i/c loco, I was enthused to carry out some rebuild work on another older O9 loco and after some thought the Shifting Sands workhorse, No.3, has emerged from the workshops resplendent in yellow livery for the first time in about 20 years.

I outlined No.3's history (Come in number 3) at the time of her last overhaul 12 years ago (The New Look No 3). When I first completed her in 2004 she was painted yellow and I always felt that at some stage I would restore that colour scheme, despite all the subsequent changes over the years. Back in January I dismantled the locomotive back to component parts and gave everything a bath in Dettol to begin the paint stripping process. 

After nearly 48 hours in the Dettol bath, the majority of the paint was gone. As the 2012 paint job was applied over the 2005 one, from outside in there was a layer of Dullcote, Citadel acrylic, primer, Railmatch varnish, Halfords topcoat and primer - it is hardly a surprise it took so long! One victim at this stage was the Black Dog casting used as a handbrake lever in the cab, an old break that had been reinforced with brass wire. I could have fixed this but...

...my intention was to enclose the cab and you wouldn't really see it, therefore it was removed, fixed, and used where it could be seen in the newer locomotive. The whole of the door-opening cab side was removed from the cab and replaced with a new fabrication. This did not follow the door position of the 2005 cab side but looked "right". At this stage I also shortened the main frames as the long front overhang always had the effect of making the bonnet look thinner than it already was. The cab and bonnet were moved forward and adjustments made within the cab. Where necessary all joints in materials were re-filled and sanding ready for a fresh coat of primer.

A coat of grey primer was followed by masking up for a coat of white primer in the areas to be painted yellow. The yellow was sprayed with Halfords 'Broom Yellow' and touched in with Vallejo Flat Yellow where necessary. The underframe was sprayed matt black and then over-painted with Vallejo Black Grey, the same colour being used on the various grilles on the bonnet. The cab interior is a lighter grey and a new brake lever has been added, created from an Airfix/Dapol mineral wagon handbrake lever.

Painting was concluded with a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, after which the task of adding the smaller detail parts was carried out, including an open sliding window on the cab side, a nod to the original 2004 model. The exhaust, headlights and air horns retain their original finish and the number plates were cleaned up prior to refitting with matt varnish. Lead window strip weights, removed prior to paint stripping, were reinstated to both body and underframe, where the primer from the previous rebuild was still visible as seen above.

I'm really happy that I have made this much progress in just two months. There is a little weathering to do to complete the model, this will largely be around the underframe area and the plan is to be as subtle as possible, although a workhorse it is still a miniature railway locomotive rather than an uncared for industrial machine. 

Colin

Caravan and Cake

I recently had one of those annual occurrences that involves cake and a few beers, and in amongst the presents were a couple of O9 models to build. On the left is a FK3D print of the Motor Rail/Simplex 'Caravan' which is designed to fit the Kato "core" in the same way as their Lister model, which will go a long way to overcome the issues I resolved on the 'Druid' print.

On the right is a self-directed present, a Unit Models 1-plank wagon cast resin kit. Years ago I built a Unit models 2-plank wagon kit but it didn't lead to any more purchases, this one was prompted by seeing Stephen Clulow's 'Apadobe Mine' at the 7mm NGA even to Mickleover in February (or January 32nd if you prefer...) It was a pleasure to meet Stephen for the first time and see the layout in operation, you can read more about his models on his blog Steve's Narrow Gauge Railway Adventure.

Stephen operated using a mixture of Black Dog Mining and Unit Models wagons and this prompted me to have a look again at the kits at the Doncaster exhibition the following week. Having purchased a 3D print Heywood-style wagon at Mickleover I now have a few "out of the box" projects to be getting on with in the coming months.

As for the special day, we had a trip on the Sherwood Forest Railway and Bob Colley treated me to the birthday headboard for the run!

In the next couple of weeks there should be developments to report on both 'odsock Corner and a project that I have been keeping under wraps...

Colin
 

Through the Gateway

Heading through the gateway featured last week finds further scenic finishing in place. In the area between the tracks and trees I added brambles using both coir hanging basket liner and a small offcut of rubberised horsehair as the basis. Both were teased to shape and sprayed with Humbrol matt brown before being glued in place with PVA, sprinkling some fine turf ground foam over any exposed glue.  Once dry hairspray was used to fix Woodland Scenics foliage mat in place with a sprinkling of loose material to complete.

The triangle to the right of the felled log will soon be host to a little extra junk and more growth around it. Across the line I added more hanging basket liner based undergrowth/brambles to the area around the location of the third tree. I had originally intended to add higher hedgerows here using rubberised horsehair but found that it looked out of balance visually and put the pieces to one side for another day. 

When adding further material to the bramble patches, over-spray of the hairspray into the static grass caught some of the loose foliage material and gave a pleasing effect of growth within the grass. Having used similar techniques within hanging basket liner grass before I had intended to experiment on the static grass anyway, so rather than put it off for another day, I opted to add some growth around the tree stump.

Darker green material was used on the longer grass around the stump itself, whilst in front some lighter green and yellow material from Green Scene gives us the look of daisies in the grass. I find that adding effects like this can really enhance the grass areas so I went on to add more in several places around the layout.

More soon...

Colin