46444's Ivatts have been visiting Diddington recently,so here are some photographs I took. I wasn't happy enough with them to put them in my gallery, which is why they are here,as I thought the event was worth recording
46444 is a Bachmann Ivatt fitted with sound
46495 is a detailed Bachmann Ivatt by 46444. More details can be found in his blog. I built 46496 from the Comet kit before the Bachmann model was available.
In 1959 46495 0n a typicalKettering-Cambridge passenger rake appr
Work on D6723 continues. As construction of the body proceeded, I repeatedly offered it up to the Bachmann chassis to make sure everything fitted. I removed the moulded ends from the Bachmann chassis,and also the circuit board from the top of the chassis. I had discarded the lights, and I don't use DCC so the circuit board was superfluous, and its removal gave me more space at the top of the chassis for fitting the body.
The trial fits of the body with modified tumblehomes empasised the fact
I started making models of the green diesel era about 12 months ago. Having done classes 24, 31 and 15 my friend Mark kept telling me I needed a class 37. Initially I resisted, on the grounds that a 37 was a bit big for the current layout. Then two things happened; I found a picture of a class 37 from the appropriate area and time which I really liked and I decided to build a layout based on a through station for which the class 37 would be entirely appropriate. Finally, James started a threa
I've given some thought to how the finished layout will look and what buildings I need to acheive this. As I'm going to refer to where the buildings are placed on the layout I'm putting up the track plan again to save the need to refer to a previous blog entry to see where the buildings go on the plan.
My aim is that a person looking at the layout will be able to get an idea of location and period without a single item of stock being present. An indication of the area modelled can come from two
I said a couple of months ago that I would put up a track plan of the proposed new layout, Fen Drayton. I've finally sorted out the technology to do this, so here it is. The idea is to have a through station with a cassette fiddle yard at the Cambridge end, and a sector plate at the March.StIves end.
I've invested in Templot, so when I can manage it I'll create a better plan in that and put it up.
Mark (46444) asked if I could weather his Hornby Staniers for him
The coaches made up a 3 coach set in BR maroon.
The Hornby finish is slightly matt. I used T-cut to impart more of a a gloss finish to the sides. I renumbered one of the Brakes as M5599M as both brakes in the set had the same number. I then masked off the sides, and sprayed the roofs with a very thin mix of Tamiya IJN grey with a little dark earth in it. I lightly sprayed the underframes and bogies with a mix made up from
The new layout has a working name "Fen Drayton". The real Fen Drayton is a few miles East of St Ives; there was never actually a station there, though I think there was a proposal.
The proposed layout is a double track through station. It uses the 'bitsa" station approach, so that the bulk of the platforms at the St Ives end of the station are offstage, and part of the lay-bys and the entrance to the goods yard at the Cambridge end are also off stage. I propose using a cassette fiddle yard a
Morning all
It seems a bit odd that the first entry in this blog for my layout "Diddington" is about planning its successor!
I've learned a lot from Diddington, both in terms of what ideas I would use again, and what I would change. I was finally prompted to start working on a new layout design because of pressure on space; Diddington has shared its home with a band's rehearsal room; plans are afoot to convert the room in to a full blown recording studio, which isn't compatible with a model ra