Finally got around to getting some paint, then finally got around to spraying it!
Looks a dam sight better now, and it works as a motivator in itself, as it looks better it inspires you to do a bit more...
Next job, wire up the marker lanterns and some interior lights. Which will mean I'll need to build an interior...
So progress on the caboose.
The old chassis has been shortened, the floor bolted on, the verandas stuck on and a coat of primer slapped on. I wasn't too sure about the proportions, but once the cupola was added, it looks a lot better in my eyes.
I think I'll add some sort of underframe equipment between the bogies still, then a rudimentary interior, lights for the lamps, couplers, then paint it, the list goes on!
Well it's only been two months since the last wittering! But, I've actually done stuff!! Shock horror!
My coaches have been disassembled, painted, and reassembled. The colour? BR Maroon...
Which I don't think look too bad behind a black 4-6-0, especially in the sun
Surprised no one has had that livery idea before!
The line has been named though, it is now the Melbreck Valley Railroad. Just need to decide on the lettering for the livery.
That's all for now
It sounds impressive doesn't it, until you realise it's in G scale, so is actually pretty easy.
In the garage/workshop/man cave/dumping ground, the line from the garden enters, then splits into two sidings, with a docking area for yet to be built loco cradles on a kickback off one of them. The points form a basic crossover, so I wanted to link them together to operate as one. Mainly because I can.
My original plan was to use Meccano. But, after knocking up a test piece with two cranks, I
Well, it has been a while!
But progress has been made!!!
So clear up from the last entry, yes, the hole in the wall was too small, the whistle (the highest point on my Bachmann Annie) was fouling it. So I trimmed a bit from the top. Then I found the tender handrails were too wide. So I enlarged the sides. Then everything finally fitted!
Some more Metposts were sunk, a few uprights fitted in, then decking boards laid on top covered with some roofing felt offcut, kindly donated by Dad
So we had a little bit of decent weather, and I had a day off work, mainly to look after the kids, but the wife came home early. So I set to work with the angle grinder and the diamond tipped blade.
5 minutes work and a scrap of marine ply and a rough cover was made.
What next then? Well the line from the garage to the garden is elevated, so I knocked in the first met post that will support the line.
Lets hope the weather holds next week! And the kids are good, or
So I have a caboose, from the original Bachmann Big Haulers set that I started out from, but it's a "bobber caboose". Or a 4 wheel one in English. Which I'm not particularly keen on.
So I acquired another bodyshell, and spliced them together, to make a more eye-pleasing (well, to my eyes at least) off-center caboose.
In this scale, I didn't think that a plastic sheet floor would be up to the job. So after a quick search around the garage, I found an old metal drawer divider. So
So the weather is warming up! Spent some time out in the garden with the kids yesterday, had to keep them warm so we did some civil engineering. Basically controlled digging. We dug a cutting in the top left corner, it involved moving part of a rhubarb plant, but it needed dividing anyway!
I finished it off while they found their slide!
I've wired up the "fiddle yard" too, and acquired a Playmobil articulated DMU. The kids love it! It's radio controlled so they can play with it with
So after some advice on my original thread, I planned a "fiddle yard" of sorts for the garage.
Nothing too classy, just a couple of sidings running down one side under the shelves. The storage utilises some modular shelving that came from a office clearout via my Dad, and an old desk, also from the same. the line will enter from the outside world on the white shelves at the back against the wall. A spare shelf connects the white and grey units and houses the crossover, the kickback of whi
Last summer I received permission to construct a railway outdoors.
The garden is about 17m long by 8m wide. The veg patch at the rear is elevated by 1ft. The orange area is a "forest" of raspberry canes. The rough plan is for some sort of station somewhere in the border with a return loop to the south around the edge of the patio near the kitchen. Heading up the garden the line climbs, does a circle of the veg patch then descends back to the "station" area. We've got a fair few rhubarb
I'm Phil.
This "blog" is the result of constant whining from a certain Paul, of Foster Street fame. I may be associated with Foster Street by the way. Is that guilty by association? Who knows.
Anyway.
After attempting to model the Southern Region in 4mm for a few years, the wife appeared with 2 kids. A 4mm layout in a 3 bed semi was never really going to be feasible, so someone who shall remain nameless (it was Paul) suggested going outdoors in G.
So I did!
But what about the
