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  • SouthernRegionSteam

    Coastguard Creek - 15 months of planning!

    By SouthernRegionSteam

    Hold on to your socks - this is going to be a lengthy one! (In fact it's so long, I've now split it into 2 separate posts - the next will be up soon...)   I think it's fair to say that you are all long overdue an update on Coastguard Creek. Due to other commitments, no real progress has been made since the last post way back in March 2021; almost 15 months ago! If anything, things went backwards for quite a while, as I kept finding more and more inspiring locations that I really wanted
    • 8 comments
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Structure Kits - Plastic

1. Faller 130594 Old Gate House Restaurant

Introduction to the Blog When I was growing up, Continental modelling seemed to me to be something best left to the experts, super-skilled modellers and those with extensive experience of rail travel across Europe, or with much bigger budgets than mine.  But I've been discovering over the last couple of years that it's far easier to get started than I realised.  I've been missing out!  So the aim of this blog is simply to share what I'm learning.  A lot of it won't be new, but if I can do i
GWR

A K1 telephone kiosk

At RailWells last summer I did the usual thing of buying various detailing bits which then languished in a brown paper bag until rediscovery last week. One of these was a nice pair of Shire Scenes etched brass kits for a K1 and K6 telephone kiosk. i decided to have a go at them over the last few evenings.   The K1 (as I've since learned) was an early 1920s design and the first real mass produced public telephone box. Although most have now gone, there are still one or two dotted around
Barry Ten

Barry Ten in GWR

2
The 1/50 scale project

The 1/50 project, a second loco part 3

It has been a bit chilly for modelling but I have pushed on with the details and bodywork to the point that I reckon that is fit for service. Same livery as the first loco with a bit of light weathering. At some point it will need a number and stuff, but I still haven’t decided on that. Seems to be a solid if slow runner, I see it as a heavy shunter and perhaps short trip duties.   Removal of the body for battery changes is straightforward, the cab can just slide back a bit on its magn
Kitbuilding

Astray Turn Red

Been a minutes since I updated this.   Workbench has been almost exclusively Gundams for almost two years.  I picked up too many too fast.   That, and the fact that I don't paint them means I can rattle them off fairly quick.   Current one is called the Gundam Astray Turn Red;   From here, it's arms and two frankly ridiculous swords.   Should finish in the next couple of days.   No work last night, as I had to check my new Booster.
AlfaZagato

AlfaZagato in Kitbuilding

0
Wagons

Battered Wagons

I've put some more wagons in the yard after some basic shunting and rewiring of the layout, which isn't completed yet. During the past couple of years I have built a few of the 'Peco/Parkside' wagon 16 tonner jobbies just to practice variations in weathering etc. I thought this one along with the others I made had a bit more realism, as I had attacked the internal sides of the kit/s with a centre punch to produce a bulging effect on the exterior sides, which worked quite well, but hasn't really
CJM

CJM in Wagons

0
GWR

When is good enough good enough? Improving the Bachmann 93xx

Recent developments in the hobby have thrown several factors into relief, including the relative cost of new models versus spending power, and the general demographic of modellers as we all age. I've certainly been spending less on my UK outline in the last year or so, although it took a conversation in a model shop - talking about the relative merits and price points of the Accurascale and Bachmann Class 37s  - to finally pin-point, to me, the reason why I'm spending less, at least on engines.
Barry Ten

Barry Ten in GWR

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Structures

Dirty fingers: Trial and error with bricks and mortar

Here are some illustrated notes from experiments with brick- and mortar-colouring for my 4mm scale station building. Please note that these are just my own bumbling exercises. There are no silver bullets here.   Method 1: Flood & Wait     So far, my standard method has been the well-known "flooding" method. I paint the brick sheets dark red (Vallejo 70.814 Burnt Red)…       … then when dry flood the sheet with a milky white wash (Vallejo
Mikkel

Mikkel in Structures

21
Rolling Stock

Sandy Shores - My first proper go at painting/detailing a locomotive!

It's been a while since I've posted. To be fair, I mainly post my narrow gauge projects on my external blog (https://jamsmodelrailways.blogspot.com/) and on NGRM-online. However, I thought that this particular update would be worthy of a blog entry; as it describes the full process from start to finish, using 33 photos along the way... so let's begin!   Before the madness of the festive season drew to a close, there was something I wanted to finish off whilst I still had some time to do p
Johnson Street IEMD

Making Tracks Three Christmas at Blakemere Craft Centre - 7th January 2024

MT3 @ Blakemere - 7th January 2024   Having joined the volunteer team at Making Tracks Three in the summer, a further opportunity was extended to me to do so again at Blakemere and I had signed up to do four days there, over the exhibition, culminating in four Sundays, the last of which was 7th January.   It was a great day, really busy and a pleasure to work with the other volunteers and the Railnuts gang to entertain the folks of Cheshire.   For this event, I took
Rolling Stock - Kit Making

Starting out again in modelling

I'm fairly new here (at least at time of writing...!), and very much a beginner compared to the quality of the work here, though when I was a kid (several decades ago) I used to make model aircraft and the like. I started doing a bit of modelling again as my son got his first train set, and my father retired and finally got round to getting a permanent layout setup (about 40 years after he planned to! I am chief electrical officer on that one...).    Anyhow, I decided to have a go at s
16mm photo-plank

Crowsnest inspired Weighbridge

Inspired by Roy Link's model documented in The Crowsnest Chronicles and at the request of a user on 'another well known Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling Online forum' I modeled up the weighing equipment to go into a weighbridge hut. I'm quite pleased with the result and it captures the prototype pretty well. I was amused that the drawing in Roy's book didn't actually match the model he'd built and I opted to cheat with a design for the scroll-work found for me by Google.   First a couple
Preservation

Keeping 26043 alive....you do remember where those wires go....don't you...

Work continues above the windscreens and the scabby metal has now been cut away and the metal below cleaned up to see what can remain and what needs to be removed, right to the base of the small section of angled steel above the centre windscreen, the screen itself covered to protect it from metal fragments during the cutting. The dome is pretty beaten up from years of pigeon and bird strikes but also previous repairs, you are looking at the original surface of the dome as evidenced by the br gr
pheaton

pheaton in Preservation

3
Low relief buildings

New Building Progress on Interior

Getting near to final completion of the interior of the take away, with the commercial area largely assembled and glued in place, with the exception of 'Mrs Noch' and a pot plant. I may add some papers and a couple of posters around the interior, but I appear to be short of them at the minute, so I will decide shortly...
Updates from Devizes

To make or not to make...

While much progress has been made on the layout, there is little to say about it. Baseboard construction, track laying, and wiring, are all using well-established techniques which have been executed and written up far better elsewhere. As a result, I have decided to write a little about rolling stock, and specifically the question of how to choose what to buy and what to build yourself. Everybody's views on this will of course be different, but I will try to set out my approach.   The
The 1/50 scale project

The 1/50 project, experiments with magnetic feet.

The whole point of the 1/50 project is to mess about with ideas.   Magnets have always fascinated me. When I was very young I had a home made toy,  a fishing rod with a horseshoe magnet on a bit of string and some cardboard fish with a paper clip on the nose which could be caught in a bucket of shredded paper. These days I suspect 4 year olds would consider that a bit naff, but it kept me quiet for hours.   So, as suggested by Mikkel this is a bit of an experiment to see whet
16mm photo-plank

A scale set of scales

I was reminded of the rather nice drawing of a set of coal scales in Roy Link's superb Crowsnest Chronicles book and while I can't match his version with lots of beautifully panto-graph milled pieces I thought I'd have a go at modelling it up in CAD to 3D print. As this model is in 16mm:1ft scale it took a while to print (a little over 5 hours) at .03mm layer height on my Phrozen Sonic mini 4K. I printed double of some of the smaller pieces just in case there were issues.    
2024

Episode V: A New Year

Happy New Year!  Well, I hope so.  As we enter 2024, I've been thinking about setting some modelling objectives.  Some find them helpful, whether it is the hard and definite deadline of a committed exhibition or show date, or practical steps to maintain progress on a larger project, or simply aspirational targets to aim at - in order to maintain some degree of modelling focus.  Some might be looking forwards to retirement, and want to structure their time in order to make best use of it, for oth
The 1/50 scale project

The 1/50 project, a second loco loco part 2

Some progress over the last couple of weeks.   That is all the electrical equipment installed oh the frames. A bit tight but it can be got at and maintained if anything breaks. The connector on the right is for the lights at the cab end, the hood end will be hard wired. Power is switched from a small push button above the uncoupling servo positioned so that it is just under the exhaust pipe and can be controlled with a cocktail stick.         The main bod
Low relief buildings

Building progress continues

The last post of 2023 continues with a bit more progress on the shop take-away interior. 'Mrs Noch' has not yet been stuck in yet, as a decision will have to be made whether to fit her with plastic or superglue.. The walls for the back of the shop will need a bit more painting, along with the doorway, and a few finer details (pot plants) will need adding in order to complete the look.  Best wishes to you all!
CJM

CJM in Low relief buildings

2
DCC

Saturday 30th December 2023 - 4mm DCC “fun”

Started the day fiddling with my Bachmann Class 37 254 in a BR blue. Did a brief test on a DC test track to find it rather sluggish and then failing. Weird part was the centre of the roof was hot. Took the body off to find it has a Bachmann (ESU) 21pin DCC decoder. Hmmm. Faffed about and fitted a blank plug and it worked sluggishly. So stripped the bogie frames off to find one bogie was full of grease. Cleaned that out and cleaned the wheelset faces and treads, plus the pick ups. Some light lubr
richierich

richierich in DCC

0
Johnson Street IEMD - 90s on tour

Making Tracks Three Christmas at Blakemere Craft Centre

16th December to 7th January 2024   As one of the volunteers at Making Tracks Three at Chester Cathedral, i was asked if I would like to take part over the Christmas period and when someone asks would I like to take my locos out for a run out through an electrified landscape, that could only lead to one answer ... hell yes ... so ... my DB90s took to the Making Tracks landscape, this time, at Blakemere, which is near to Northwich, Cheshire (CW8) ... I have been twice so far ... and had
Buildings

Last Track Down

I have finally - after nearly five years, laid the last piece of track, an exit track from the now installed turntable. I still need to finish all the connecting up of the bus wires and a few DCC point controllers but that should not take long now. I am already setting myself some challenges for 2024, most notably the completion of the landscape surface so that all trains can be run safely.  I said a few years ago that I hated track laying, well I still do and that is the main reason for fe
Northumberton

Northumberton in Buildings

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