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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Layout planning on the kitchen table

 Yeah, I'm on  a roll now.

Despite all the up to date tech tools for planning, this is still often the best way forward. The joke is that the afternoon was meant to be for thrashing out some new approaches to a new Hopwood. However that done, the box of buildings that I'd brought got emptied out and things went a little feral. The concentration on the compact urban 1960s style  trainset suddenly became an 009 micro using the opposing sidings plan with a generous hat tip to the 7mm ng Morton Stanley. Not quite what I was expecting and not at the front of the queue. This got worse...'Brent'.

Build your own shake the box kit

As a side project - which means it just sits on the bench for several weeks - I'm building a Parkside 4mm Southern CCT. I knocked one of these up for the book to your right. It's not a highly detailed kit, but will take as much polishing as you want, i.e. you can add a little extra peripheral brake rigging or you could go the whole hog with all the push rods. This time I've altered the build sequence. Beforehand the standard build-paint-decals routine was employed. This time I've taken the same idea as American shake-the-box kits do and I'm working the sides up with glazing and adding the decals on first before the body goes together. Whether this will be an improvement is yet to be seen.

Hornby H class

Hornby H classs
I've had my eye on one of these for a while. There was a problem, then they vanished, now they are back on sale.

It took me a while to get used to the quality of new RTR when I came back to a little OO modelling a couple of years back. Like most I now take this super-fine finish and detail for granted. The above is posed on Dury's Gap straight out of the box, but there are of course extra bits to add and even without these, it's frighteningly good. One detail that I noticed, and the photos of the real thing confirm, is that the rear buffers are larger than the front. I can't remember coming across this before. More to the point I don't know why this is the case. Something to do with pull-push working? Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could enlighten me.

It will of course need some weathering. The Brooksbank photo below shows this particular engine in a pretty filthy condition - which is tricky to replicate well.

All this means that with the C, the P and now an H, I now have the nucleus of a small Eastern section layout. It will be a while coming, probably two or three projects into the future, but it is a little closer now. I have idea brewing.

Southern branch

There's not been a lot of modelling going on here in recent weeks, more writing up what I'd already done for the GWR book.

However there has been a little playing with bits. The old Morton Stanley board newly stripped bare and now semi-boxed gave an almost clean slate for a one board wonder (see RM this month for my take on this). Physically it's a mix of yellow code 75 and the new bullhead - i.e. some new points and some scraps, coupled with the newly acquired P and the engine shed built for the narrow gauge book which is still unpainted.

The prototype base for all this is an SR beach branch. I've long been interested in the Newhaven West Quay line and some photos of the P at Kingston Wharf sealed it.  Plus the information that 03s and 04s were used at Kingston giving a possible four loco types to play with and still be prototypical.

A further trip to Rye Harbour a couple of weeks back formed some more visual research (see COD's blog to your right for lots more on this particular area) and some internet digging threw up all sorts of maps and inspiring stuff.

There are questions of course. The feel will be my usual 'light hand on the scenic tiller' with plenty of open space, but I'm undecided abut what to do to block the exit. A water tower seems logical, but is it likely? What I need is something about 3.5" high by about 1.5-2" wide where the box is, but what would be next to the track? The area south of the ruler would gently drop down into estuary mud.

Southern lineside huts

Now that the large scale buildings are done I can potter about with the smaller stuff for a while. First up was a couple of iconic pieces of SR kit. The fogman's hut came from Stig, is a Roxey w/m kit, and just needed a tidy and paint. The platelayer's hut is the Ratio plastic version and is lovely to put together bar one thing. I read the MRJ review from a few years back and agree with the criticism in that the end panels are a bit narrow. This means that the roof (which is OK) doesn't sit quite right. The pedantic could remove the central panel and replace with a wider bit of plain sheet to bring it out a bit.  I reckoned I could live with this so just tinkered with the roof by notching the bolt holes that were use for the lifting eyes. Few of these seem to exist without some modification, intended or otherwise, so I plated over three of the four windows. The example a mile from here (below) has ripped window frames, covered bolt notches and has been 'tagged' in blue aerosol so there is the opportunity to personalise which few modellers seem to do.

There are two huts in the pack and I'm tempted to have the other rail-mounted for delivery. This was done either with 15' SR flat wagons taking a hut and a tool hut, or ex LNER and LMS minerals with the bodies removed for a single hut.
I'm warming to all this SR stuff.