You can’t do that!

The title might be the (light hearted) reaction in some quarters to the project I hinted at over a month ago... yes, the mystery scale was 009!

As every idea to build another O9 layout has fallen flat on its face, especially anything away from my usual miniature railway themes, it makes sense for a small project to evolve that doesn’t have the pressure of expectation placed on it. By developing this in 009 I will hopefully be able to use up some items of 4mm scale material held in stock, plus be able to purchase some of the items that as a 7mm scale modeller are largely unavailable to me, such as the Wills ‘Scenic Series’ kits.

As can be seen a baseboard has been constructed, the trackwork laid, painted and ballasted, and there is good progress on the foundations of the scenery. I've never been a fan of polystyrene (and I'm still not) and this is really the first time I have used it like this. It has proved quick and relatively easy, I don't think I could have made these landforms using formers and infill in the limited time I have had available. 

Speaking of which, along the line I have to admit that there have been doubts about progressing this scheme. Although good progress was made thanks to planned time off work, outside of that time has been hard to find. On top of that I have wavered on the 009 vs O9 debate a few times (a certain person regularly asks if it is O9 yet) but I plan to complete the project as planned, if only to justify the Peco skips I received as a gift! As ‘Shifting Sands’ will need to be brought into action within the next month progress may not really make it that far too quickly…

Colin

(no) O9

January rolled on in to February, February rolled on into March... the workbench refused to stir.

Yes, it has been a quiet couple of months where various other things have gotten in the way of railway modelling. However this has given chance for reflection and absorption of various ideas through visits to exhibitions in February, contrasting the overwhelming but often mediocre show at Doncaster and the excellent event arranged at Newark by the Lincoln club.

March brought Narrow Gauge North, where 7mm scale was in the minority but the trade support gave access to the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association sales stand and it was good to catch up with Minimum Gauge Models. Allen had a few new products on show, the one that caught my eye (and snared my wallet) was this etch of grilles, louvres, hinges etc:

I've spent some time in the last week or two on the concept and practicalities of a new project, which will be a new direction but one I've given some consideration to recently for various reasons. I will go into a little more detail in due course but here is some 'concept' artwork:

Of course, what isn't apparent from the sketch is what scale or gauge this will be in... there might be a clue on the heading of this post...

Colin