French vans 2

 Two done. I wasn't aiming for this as such, but got over-enthused after completing the first. The shape of this is now developing and the next may well use the carcass of an Egger 'long van'. I've found some of the single axle bogies to fit and it will break the symmetry as opposed to going for a third white van.

In other news: these have just hit facebook marketplace as the start of the thinning out process. Both mint boxed. Email me if you are interested.

Fiddle yard fun

It being Easter Sunday I did something religious and took some money from someone less fortunate than myself. This taking the form of flogging all my analogue SLR camera gear. Actually he got a bargain. Onward to AI...

The small box-like structure above is the new fiddle yard for the 009/HOe (not sure where it sits yet) project. Fairly straightforward as I had a redundant 10" x 44" baseboard in the loft left over from the Welsh NG book illustrations (still available on your right.. It was partly broken up and reduced to 29" thus making up just over a 6' length when mated to a standard board. This allows the use of a standard Go-pak table and the extra couple of inches gives an overhang for the drape to dangle. Most of the material from the original was used making it a cost free build.

Lastly, do click on the WrightWay Builders link on the right to help boost the Google ratings of the new family business. Ta.

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And then there were two

 Sparked by the completion of No. 28 which took several years, I reached to my right and pulled out another German van and did another. The upper levels are much the same, though I did batch build the vent covers; not that it has improved them dramatically.

The main change was the underframe realignments and the nice slippery and impossible to stick black plastic. This was a nightmare before and I resorted to my almost gone bottle of Daywat Poly, and even this wasn't overly keen. The solution was found hanging on the bathroom wall in the form of a single sheet of bog paper. Cut to size and washed over the part with only boring Plasweld it bonds to the plastic. This means that the attaching plastic part will also bond to it from the other direction. Simple. And my thanks to the Rev Ian for the tip.

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The French direction

  

Yeah, the photo doesn't do it any favours. I started this quite a while back and the root should be obvious to the narrow gaugers out there who will spot the Egger German beer van. Not a quick conversion and one which needs a bit of trickery with the unhelpful plastics. Essentially the brake cabin is lopped off and the end re-detailed, the resulting hole in the roof is plugged and the wheels and couplings moved inward and outward respectively. Lastly the oh-so-French drop-down vent covers are run up from plastic.

Why? The next virgin project will be 009/HOe and French, though not in the expected setting, but my beloved Caribbean where I spent a little time in my teen years. The French-owned bits weren't exactly over-blessed with rail, but there is not reason why they couldn't have been, stocked with a mix of European and American built stock. 

Therefore this, Rhiw, the Svanda refurb and Dury's Gap are therefore the direction now with maybe two other possibles. This means that all the unrelated RTR stock can be disposed of. A  sliding direction of focus beckons. Some of this thinking is down to recent comments from Mr Hill vis -a-vis both modelling and mortality, not to mention background knowledge of the Gravetts and van hire, and a certain gent who now can only manage to lift his high level layouts onto a low table. Smart considerations are what is needed and I've made a start by binning a huge amount of bits and pieces.

 I may put a small list up in due course.

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Big changes afoot

 

I don't come here nearly often enough now. The reasons for this are rich and varied, but mostly due to the need for realignment post Peco. This last six months is the first for what is several years that I've not had my modelling guided by a request from the above in one form or another. The result is a slightly scattergun approach and one which will become even more obvious in the next few posts.

The above is the almost finished ex-SECR wagon sans the round ends. This is completely fictitious in this livery as most were gone by the grouping (i.e 100 years ago) and I haven't found any evidence that they carried anything but the SECR grey. No matter. Note that I'm still getting the silvering in the lettering despite all the usual tricks and a brushful of Transfix. 

Oh, and the big changes? I've have decided to start selling a big chunk of everything off. I'm sure I've opined the reasons for the thinking behind this before, if not, I'll regale you with it in the next post.

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