A Cunning Plan - Part 1 - The Heywood Flat

"I have a cunning plan..." or words to that effect, muttered only to myself but possibly broadcast on the NGRM Online forum a couple of months ago. The plan directly affects both 'Odsock Corner' and 'To The End' but starts in the acquired box of Owen Ryder O9 bits with a wagon floor casting.

I didn't need an operational wagon but one that would look good hidden behind a fence (more about where in another instalment), so not having the correct axleboxes wouldn't be an issue. The top of the casting had the plank lines re-scribed using a Olfa-style cutter which made for a very neat finish once painted. Owen's coupling castings add some much needed detail. However, what lies underneath is a very different story...

A scrap Farish brakevan chassis was hacked into bits to provide some running gear. Too much hacking in fact as one W-iron actually fell off and had to be surgically reattached. This prompted me to add Heywood style suspension, much modified 3D prints from the same friend as those on the brake van. These actually had no axlebox so the original was covered with styrene strip. The original W-irons hang below the cosmetic ones, but the fence will hide a lot!

Painting was the usual black-grey wash, followed by weathered wood effects on the planking and Vallejo 'Leather Brown' as the main colour, with metalwork in black-grey. Enough weathering has been applied to give a work-a-day look ready to be placed in it's new home. It is sitting on a set of Matheson 7mm diameter wheels that had developed a bit of a wobble, ideal for a non-runner!

More soon.

Colin

Heywood Brake Van - The Paintshop

I'm pleased to report that the Heywood brake van is now complete, painted and ready for service...

Now you may be thinking that we have missed a stage somewhere as last time it appeared on the blog it was still in raw materials, and you would be right, This is the missing photo of the primed model, as always the coat of primer has brought the various elements of the build together as one, I was very happy with the finish and the way the parts sit together, my careful attention to any gaps seeming to have paid off. 

Painting started with a wash of black-grey to get in all the plank lines and corners, an under-shade so to speak. Vallejo 'Flat Earth' was used as the main colour for all the woodwork, dry-brushed as far as possible to leave the shading in the recesses. The shade of the 'Flat Earth' was varied for a light second coat, lighter on the interior and darker on the exterior, just to add variety. Metalwork was finished in black-grey with a dry-brushing of gunmetal grey and the roof in a mid grey. The plate on the bodyside was painted black with the lettering dry-brushed off-white, using an improvised mask made using a hole punch and a post-it note!

After a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, the painting stage was complete and I am pleased that the joins in the roof have all-but disappeared, only visible if the light hits at the wrong angle! Couplings are Greenwich for use on 'Odsock Corner' and to save building a new set, these were <ahem> "borrowed" from my recently built 8-seat coach, as was the passenger. A decision will be made about that vehicle soon...

More Heywood soon...

Colin

Another Od-Job

Another day, another od-job. The old Black Dog Mining tub now has it's load of garden waste. Baking paper was again used to line the inside of the wagon and it was filled with offcuts of rubberised horsehair (from a hedge that never made it onto the layout), plus some leftover bits of sea foam that had previously been painted a darker brown. The baking paper liner was removed from the wagon before lots of hairspray was used to fix it together and left to set overnight propped up to retain the shape. 

Once set the bottom had stuck to the paper so I used this to my advantage, cutting away the sides and applying PVA to any gaps around the edge and adding scatter to complete the effect of material thrown into the wagon.

Colin

Odsock Od-Jobs

Whilst dithering in the workshop with all the "what next?" ideas I opted to get 'odsock Corner out of the box for a play and ended up doing a few odd-jobs. Firstly the Lister having a stretch on the circuit. This needs a little odd job of it's own when I have the patience, the pedal beneath the driver's right foot is absent, at least it is still in the box! 

Apologies for the iPhone photos by the way, they seem to have come out rather oddly in the background. My proper camera wasn't really playing either... 

The first job on the layout was to upgrade the light circuit for the office building to use a 9v battery and have a proper on/off switch added to the back of the layout, having previously relied on 2x AA batteries with a switch on the battery compartment, under the layout...

The light is now a little brighter with the more powerful battery, hopefully it will last a while in practice... You can now clearly see the Titfield Thunderbolt poster on the rear wall if you look closely.

A pure act of whimsey has seen the station cat part-repainted to try and match our 8-month old kitten Pebbles, who is a mix of black/white/ginger. Doing this in-situ was an interesting exercise but I think I've got it about as right as I can for now.

Finally the Black Dog Mining open wagon has received it's long intended log load, using dried garden cuttings. These were carefully superglued together to fit inside, having lined the body with baking paper first as a precaution to avoid sticking them in permanently. As it happens they are a tight enough fit to not need gluing in place.

The mine tub still needs a load of garden/forestry waste, that's a job for another day...

Colin

Sitting Comfortably?

The driver of the Lister was not alone in his journey through the paintshop. For company he had the passenger and baggage for the 4w coach for 'odsock Corner. He's a 3D printed figure from 3D Printing for Charity (Facebook) raising money for the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.

He looks very relaxed in his shorts and cap! I could see a hint of a beard in the print so painted this in accordingly. The bag is from a set of Prieser unpainted figures bought in Shifting Sands days, both were finished in a similar way to other items in the recent batch, dry-brushing colours over a black-grey wash.

Colin

Odsock Wagons - The Black Dogs

Modellers setting out in O9 today may not appreciate the influence that the Black Dog Mining and Avalon Line ranges had on the scale over 20 years ago (double-checks calendar...). Of these last two wagons from the 'odsock Corner batch, the mine tub actually incorporates one of the first Black Dog chassis I bought and the 6ft 2-plank is to the same design as another of my other early purchases. 

The mine tub was originally completed 9 years ago (checks calendar again...) and whilst the body was new the chassis had been around the block a few times and the openings I had previously cut for MicroTrains couplers were filled back in. This view from 2017 shows it with Black Dog coupler blocks fitted to add further character. They have now been removed as part of the most recent rebuild. Always a bit of an outsider in the fleet, it was designated a "display" vehicle and even had it's own little diorama for a time.

The 6ft 2-plank is intended to run with the passenger coach and was intended as a luggage trolley similar to that pulled by my railcar. However, wanting to be different this time the load is just accumulated "stuff" at this stage and at present is only placed loosely. The bucket is a West Hill Wagon Works example and the bag of rubbish is a carefully sculpted Milliput artwork...

Both wagons are pretty similar underneath, lead window strip is used for weight with clearance for 7mm metal wheels in place of the Peco originals. As I have pointed out before these really lift the look of the Black Dog chassis. They also make it really easy to fit Greenwich couplers as they only require a small slot in the buffer beam level with the inner frame.

For the first time I now feel that I have a coherent fleet of non-miniature railway rolling stock in O9. For now they are assigned to 'odscock Corner but who knows where they may end up in the future?

Colin

Odsock Wagons - 422 Modelmaking Drop-Side

Next on the conveyor of wagons is the 422 Modelmaking 2-plank drop-side. As with the 1-plank wagon this had a little refinement during painting as I realised that if the axleboxes were retained by some sort of W-iron behind the wooden frames, there should be a representation of a method of securing them in place. After a few trials I found that square sections looked best, applied at a 45 degree angle.

For the load I created something I had been wanting to try for a while, a load of round fencing poles and wire. The poles are cocktail sticks and I soon discovered that my cunning plan to just cut them in half was doomed as the point of a cocktail stick is far, er, pointier, than that of a fencing pole. Cue some whittling down and sanding! The bottom layer were superglued to a thin cardboard base and the other layers added on top. a wash of black-grey toned down the colour a little. Thin wire was coiled to add another element and the tool box is a Black Dog Mining casting that I painted some time ago.

Underneath the extent of my narrowing of the 422 chassis casting can be seen. In fact I probably went a little too narrow as I had to remove the top flange of the Peco chassis solebar to get everything to fit. The extent of the chassis shortening can also be seen, removing a section equivalent to that marked 'Mk2' to bring the wheelbase down to 24mm. Incidentally this figure was arrived at after I stood the body on a Black Dog Mining 16.5mm gauge chassis with that dimension and it just "looked right". As with the coach, clearance has been created for Mathieson 7mm wheelsets, I don't begrudge replacing the wheels on Peco chassis acquired cheaply as an eBay haul.

And finally... this wagon could have turned out very differently. Initially I scratchbuilt a steel-channel chassis frame and then modified it when I realised it resembled this wagon at Lightwater Valley theme park. It didn't quite look right due to a few compromises I made, but I do have another body casting so who knows, I may have another go one day...

Coming soon, the final part of this saga will look at the two Black Dog Mining wagons.

Colin

Odsock Wagons - Unit Models 1-Plank Open

Perhaps the most distinctive of the new wagons is the Unit Models 1-plank painted in green and lettered for the 'Estates Dept'. Green might not be the most obvious wagon colour but I think this works well and is a good contrast to the similar grey wagon in the 'Shifting Sands' fleet. The estates department obviously have had issues in the past with their wagon being "borrowed" for other uses so have neatly lettered it up. In reality this uses Modelmaster decals, the word 'ESTATES' being made up largely from letter groups in the words 'WEST' and 'EASTERN', the 'Dept.' is a pre-made word on the sheet.

The load is based around an whitemetal kit for a lawnmower that I picked up from an exhibition junk box, I think it was of US-origin. There is a little irony here as the last model of a lawn mower that I owned was a 4mm scale one from... Unit Models! The tools are S&D castings and the oil can Duncan Models. All were carefully painted an weathered before fixing in place. I really need to add some more muck and odd bits of grass cuttings next time the scenic materials are out.

Underneath the modified Peco 10ft N gauge chassis can be seen, all brake gear is removed and the axlebox and spring detail pared back. The axleboxes are overlaid with Black Dog -style ones fixed to the Peco chassis, these had previously been fixed to the resin chassis frame but were refined during painting as I was not happy with their original appearance. Bachmann spoked wheelsets are fitted, which were a little tight at first but after a little fettling now roll smoothly. Greenwich couplers are again fitted with two tiny screws.

That's all for this one, the next wagon will be along soon!

Colin

Odsock Wagons - The Junkbox Coach

After a short delay I have managed to get all the planned 'odsock Corner rolling stock equipped with wheels, couplings and final weathering. The time delay means that we really do have them all, as the mine tub has now been brought up to the same specification as the newer builds.

In order to show off each model I plan to post a number of posts illustrating each model in turn. We'll start with the one that isn't actually a wagon, the simple 4-wheeled coach. It does have wagon DNA in that the floor and seats were originally intended for a wagon projects... I chose to use Vallejo Grey-Blue as the colour as this has a very nice neutral tone and is almost self-fading.

Underneath the Peco chassis still shows traces of primer and even bare plastic where it was blu-tac'ed to the spray stand. Clearances have been increased to fit Mathieson 7mm diameter wheels and Greenwich couplers are mounted on blocks behinds the bufferbeams with tiny screws bought on eBay. Two might be overkill but do stop the couplers swinging about...

That's all for this one, work is underway to provide it with an occupant and the next wagon will be along shortly!

Colin

Further Echoes

About a month ago I posted some mock-ups based on concepts for my 23.5" x 15.5" cork board baseboard. I was rather pleased that I could cram in a two-coach length loop in the space and felt that this could be the path to an interesting project.

Further thoughts about practicality (bah!) have now made this version of the scheme less likely. These are partially borne from the desire to have something that can be operated from the front at home, using slide-switch control of the points. The issue is the point on the right, I've sketched in the switch in red and it is close to the edge of the board. So close in fact that having any scenery to hide a notional 'hole in the sky' from the front view is almost impossible...

The point can be moved in a couple of inches but of course that shortens the loop down and my two coaches don't fit. Well, those two don't, a couple of 4-wheelers would but that wasn't the idea... The board could be extended but (to me) that defeats the idea of a cork board layout a little (I was only just warming to having a run-off).  A new board would be better but then things just start to grow!

Talking of taking extending boards too far, I shared this idea on NGRM Online recently for an extended 'Odsock Corner'. Now I do have a little regret that I made this square (ish) and that perhaps the 13" x 19" of my 009 layout is a better size. It is of course too late to change it, taking up half the circuit and scenery and adding an extension to the rather odd woodwork would probably cause instant loss of enthusiasm if nothing else.

Again, probably easier to start again - but for now 'Odsock Corner' is going to have a "big" O9 phase, using the Avalon Line and FK3D locos, the 28mm wide 4w coach, three new wagons and an old favourite. If the phase outgrows the layout I can then look at other options...

Colin 

Parking up the Mini

Perusing Phil Parker's blog I spotted that he had recently completed a 7mm scale Mini from the Airfix/Heller kit. It is a later model than my Mk1 but interesting to see an alternative approach to modelling one. It did prompt me to carry out one more job on my model, to secure it in place on 'Odsock Corner. But before that I did a little extra painting and scenic work to add a moss effect to the top of the wall, having realised it still looked far too clean! 

So last weekend Saturday morning started with the Mini on it's roof with 1mm brass wire poking out of two of it's tyres... Before going any further, you may notice that I have added some body colour paint to the chassis piece under the front and rear bumpers. This was a result of a review of some more prototype photos and by Phil's model. It looks a different shade here under the light but in place on the layout it is not noticeably different.

I had been wondering for some time how to fix the Mini in place without actually sticking it down. For the Vauxhall Astra on 'Shifting Sands' I used the screw hole that previously held it into the packaging and a suitable bolt through the baseboard. No such luck here... and my original idea to use long 12 BA bolts into the tyres failed when I realised I had nothing long enough. I calculated the thickness of the baseboard and other layers to be getting for 20mm! Using a template I drilled into the tyres and fixed the rod with epoxy resin. It is seen below checking all is well prior to the next stage.

The template was then used to locate and drill the holes in the layout, initially at 1mm but then to 1.5mm to allow a little leeway and for the differences in materials (the wires tended to get stuck having gone on a wander through the foamcore layer over the main ply baseboard top). Here I have held the template using a cocktail stick in the first hole and I am drilling the second hole.

With the holes drilled I positioned the car and then undertook one of those jobs that needs three hands... I held the board on it's side, pushed the car down to the road surface and underneath, slid the inside of a small chocolate block connector over the wire and screwed it on tightly. Did I say three hands? make that four... This actually the system used on 'Shifting Sands' to hold the lamp-posts in place and allows for the Mini to be removed if required at a later date.

Whilst carrying out this work I decided that at some point soon I'll paint up my two remaining Pigeon castings to add to the wall ready to take aim at the car having no doubt added more mess to the wall!

Colin

Sign of the Time

The office at 'odsock Corner now has a sign to indicate to all lost souls where they have ended up. However, it may not assist their confusion...

Whilst I could have created this sign and the ghost letter effect entirely on the computer I actually went down a more convoluted, yet practical route by starting with an actual sign. This uses a wooden sign blank purchased from The Works (cut-down to three planks from four) and self-adhesive cardboard letters from Boyes. 

The sign blank was sprayed with grey primer and sanded to a weathered effect, whilst the letters were temporarily fixed to a scrap of cardboard and sprayed black. The letters were then stuck to the sign and because the adhesive wasn't that great, the whole thing was then sealed with diluted matt medium. The letters were then dry-brushed with grey emulsion from a match-pot to give them a worn effect.

The intention is that the bottom plank will eventually have some extra info added such as scale/gauge info. However I needed to leave it blank to create the model sign... 

The next stage was to photograph the sign square-on on the back step of the house in daylight (but not bright sunlight), adding in an unpainted 'H' on the bottom plank in order to create the ghost letter on the final sign. This photo was then manipulated in my editing software to create the signs for the model, moving the ghost letter to join the top plank and carefully blending the join.

Three sizes of sign were printed on glossy photo paper, which was given a coat of spray matt varnish and left to dry overnight. The middle size was chosen and cut out with the raw edges touched in with a pencil. The resultant signs were then fixed in position and matt varnish run around the edges to kill the shine from the pencil.

As part of the same exercise I also created some small 'Private Keep Out' signs for the gateway, these were created entirely in my image software but treated in the same way as the nameboards.

I'm not sure if the rabbit will pay any attention... 

Colin

Tyred

I realised that a feature of the Mini was not really apparent in the pictures posted recently. As a fairly cheap model the tyres left a little to be desired, moulded in hard plastic with no representation of tread around the circumference. Realising I could not easily and reliably scribe this detail on to the model I opted to create the effect by weathering.  

So I found myself cutting very thin strips of masking tape and wrapping them around the wheels, one centred and one either side. In fact I did this twice as during the first attempt I realised the strips were not thin or consistent enough. I then dry-brushed the effect of driving on a dusty roadway onto the treads of the wheels, and once dry removed the masking...

To my surprise the effect, although subtle, works! Not bad for an idea sparked by looking at my car tyres after a trip down the lane to the Sherwood Forest Railway...

Colin

Three Pound Mini

There is a new arrival at 'odsock Corner in the form of a Mk1 Mini tucked to one side of the lane. It's very unlikely anything will be able to get past!

The original sketch from many years ago that was eventually brough to life as 'odsock Corner did indicate a vehicle could fit here, and I teased an ice cream van in the space last year. However to be as practical as possible in the daft space a smaller vehicle was going to give a better balance to the scene so I sought out a Mini. After some research into the various options in 1:43 scale I opted to go with the Lledo Vanguards model as I felt the shape looked about right. A trip to a local toy fair before Christmas found one in the original packaging for just £3.00.

It is quite a basic model, I think later versions were probably improved a little but the basis was there for some modelling work to create something unique. Creating a reasonable "layout" model from a cheap diecast is the sort of thing the late Chris Ellis, editor of Sale Trains and Model Trains International, would have encouraged. The model required old-school dismantling using a power drill to drill out the rivetted joint underneath the bonnet and then unclip the rear registration plate.

I failed to take any work in progress shots but the notable work included:

• Fixing the front wheels with a slight steer to the right and sanding a flat into the base of the tyres so the model sits better on the road,
• T-cutting the paintwork on the body to remove imperfections in the surface (I picked this tip up in one of Gordon Gravett's books) and carefully removing paint from handles and trim reveal the metal surface,
• Spraying the body, chassis and interior with Humbrol matt varnish, subsequently re-coating the body in Halfords matt lacquer as it looked too matt (!),
• Weathering, including the wheels (more about them another time...) and a few bird deposits to hide lumps in the paint on the roof,
• Adding (HO scale) windscreen wipers over the moulded originals and weathering the screen.

Finally everything was re-assembled and the drilled out rivet filled with Araldite and clamped together whilst drying. 

A few other additions of note are the usual Araldite on the headlights and some printed items in the form of a newspaper and crisp packet in the front window and a Tesco carrier bag on the parcel shelf, These came from a Scale Model Scenery print-at-home sheet printed on matte photo paper. The registration plates were created using an online generator for real plates, screenshot and manipulated to size and printed on glossy photo paper. In all these cases I have peeled back the layers at the back of the paper to make it thinner with less of an "edge". The registration plates had the edges touched in with a pencil to hide the whiteness.

All in all this has been a very pleasing project. Whilst the result may not pass really close scrutiny (especially the windscreen wipers) it is really at home on the layout.

Colin 

 

Watching the World

A new addition to 'odsock Corner is a lone figure sat on the bench outside the office watching the world go by... I've decided to be very careful and not over-populate the tiny scene so apart from train drivers and passengers, this is likely to be the only figure actually on the ground, so to speak.

In a new direction for me this is a resin 3D print, sourced very economically from Eddie King's 3D Printing For Charity who attend many shows in Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and surrounding area and raise money for the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance. I've seen the air ambulance land in our village twice in the last year, so this is a very deserving cause.

Whether he is pondering the options for an Ikea Mosslanda shelf or has been distracted by the O9 possibilities of the Peco Rail 200 Competition Baseboard we shall have to see...

What I can say is that he was cleaned up, sprayed with grey plastic primer, washed with a black-wash and then carefully painted with acrylics, using dry-brushing techniques to leave shadows in the creases of the clothing and head/hands. The trousers used an initial darker shade and subsequent lighter shade to further enhance the creases. A waft of matt varnish completed the finish and I think he's turned out rather well.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot VI - One Year On

This popped up in my memories feed this week, a year ago I was playing with the cardboard mock-up for what would become 'odsock Corner'. I suppose I really shouldn't share this as it highlights that it has taken a year to get to the point of a scenically complete scene in a very small space...

I'm not sure I've used this particular shot on the blog before, demonstrating that there was room to park a vehicle between the crossings... Whilst the ice cream van is may be a bit too much, work is underway on a vehicle for that spot. More soon...

Colin

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