009 trackwork

The demo layout all wired except the siding lower-left which I'm still pondering.  Next the saw comes out for some re-shaping. Yes they are tight - small stock only.

Fitting Peco points

This should be quite quick... A push this week to get all the basic track and wiring down for the Nixnie copy (working title Glan-rhyd). My usual fare of small DPDT slide switches wired to the rails and actuating a piece of wire from the tie-bar - it's close enough not to bother with any tube and is surprisingly firm.
Wrapping the track to the left around a 7.5" curve is slightly trickier. The rail was pre-bent and re-threaded to take some of the spring out of it and has been pinned about 3" intervals; belt and braces.

Talyllyn building for 009

Quite a quick build being that there are no windows to worry about. The gunpowder store which still stands at Towyn Wharf station. As usual there were questions. It seems to have been built around 1900 replacing an older structure. I worked from a 1965 TRPS drawing which includes 'glass slates' as roof lights, though I can't make these out in any of the period photos. Then there is also the question of do you build it as per the original or as now. The door is much wider now and there is a fairly substantial extension. I plumped for a midway point of small door and no extension (though it might get one later) but no 'glass slates'. Would anyone notice these? Just the down pipes to put on and it's done.

Small baseboard

Been away for a few days in the cold Netherlands and now hitting the ground running with leapfrogging projects. The baseboard for the Nixnie rip-off for the book is done. I don't usually do diagonals, but for something this shape it does stop any twisting. Due to the pointwork dropping over the centre of the side, I had an unusual thinking ahead moment And off-set the V slightly to keep it out of the way. Cunning eh? Fractionally deeper frames than I usually use at 80mm, with 75mm deep for the inside stuff all held together with Resin W and some blocks. I'll screw into the blocks when the outside facia boards are done somewhere down the line.

New GWR book

This is fully out now and doing quite nicely on the Amazon ratings.
Looking at it slightly fresh after the publication gap I'm suitably pleased with it. Regulars will appreciate that it comes at the subject from a cheeky angle, much like what is here, with a definite slant toward making things yourself and shying away from the chequebook modelling style. As far as I'm concerned, the real fun is to be had from taking something and a) personalising it somewhat and b) not just paying someone else to do the modelling for you. Each to his own of course, but I do se a rapid drop in quite basic skills (blame who you wish here). I was discussing the layout's lighting on Sunday and said that I'd planed off a piece of battening at angle to get the LED strip in the right place. 'Planed?' Was the response. As though I'd gone to the dark side. Yes, did it in woodwork at school. Do they still do woodwork at school?

So yes it's out now with lots of hole drilling, sticking, and chopping of plastic. With all the bog paper and string modelling that you're used to on here.

MDF baseboard

And as the last couple of touches are added to one project, through a door another one grows. This is a small roundy roundy in 009 which is a demo for the Welsh book. I pottered through several plan options and then decided upon a straight rip off of Ted Polet's Nixnie: loop and one on one side and one on the other, with a possible off on the short edge. Nothing remarkable, but then it doesn't need to be.

Bergen line

An abundance of baking powder. There are questions here. If the NSB can do this...?

Wills coal office rejigged

The first of the structures for the future small 009 demo layout. This was supposed to be the easy one, but there's quite a bit in it. Most will spot the root as a Wills coal office. The doors was sliced of and set at just ajar. New window bars, feathered roof pieces and added bargeboards, Gravett style gutters and a bit of Wills downpipe. And the thing that changes it the most, a proper chimney replacing the stove pipe.

Dury's Gap Bachmann Class 03

Burma Mines

Dury's Gap - The pros'arch

I'd said yes to doing the WGR show (see previous post) with a vague idea that I might get Dury's Gap ready in time. By Christmas this was looking unlikely for one reason or another and I'd mentally substituted Orne - same one-board-wonder format. Last weekend it suddenly seemed possible. This shouldn't be a surprise; let's face it the board was done and it's only four points and some flock. Last night the pros'arch went up: one length of 4" deep MDF and a sandwich of two pieces behind at each end to form a 6mm slot enabling it to drop over the side wings.

The name plate is still under discussion as the usual vinyl sign man that appears at exhibitions seems to have vanished.  The pros'arch is now painted and the rigging of some LEDs along the back is underway - more new things to try. Sunday morning set up now seems more likely.

Dury's Gap

Dury's Gap, first exhibition at Steyning 10th March 19.

Festiniog coach

Quick shot of No23 ex Dundas VoR kit perched on Orne. Basically done, but a few tidy-ups to complete.  

There's been about 3mm taken off the body height and another 1mm lost by moving the floor upward. New grabs and door handles, scribed sides and raised footboards. Other than that it's exactly as the kit came. In other words I've altered every single part. the stepped Bemos to be replaced by higher Greenwich couplings at a later date.

Dapol PO wagon weathering upgrade

I'd been keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced owner wagon to diddle with for a while and found this at the Southampton exhibition - nothing under a fiver these days, and I had to stump up a whopping seven quid including a box which went straight into the recycling.

Pretty standard techniques. First catch your wagon, attack with a fibre brush, colour match the bufferbeams, detail paint all the stripes, new wood, iron work etc. Add transfers from Model Master, wash with a bit of German grey. Voila! Dirty, pooled, end of life 13 ton uprated, but down-trodden BR wagon. No airbrushes were harmed  during this project. I even used one of the BRM/Hornby 'free' brushes - before all the bristles fell out.

I think that if I had a favourite type of modelling work, this would be it.