Well , it’s been far too long since my last blog update; I’d love to show how much I’ve achieved in the last, er... nearly 3 months, and I have found some time to get some modelling done, just not as much as I’d have liked to. I suppose that work and life interspersed with some energy sapping episodes have slowed things down a bit; life tends to be like that. So, this update will lack and definitive progress, but there’s a bit of variety that I found useful to keep the interest going.

A green Heljan Hymek

First of all, a small job for a friend saw me tackling a green Heljan Hymek; it’s a lovely tidy loco but the chassis mouldings are all black; a request to purely paint the bufferbeam red, let me to also paint the surrounds; quite these are supplied black is beyond me. Working out the right colour for these was a little challenging, but a mix of yellow, white and olive green gave me a shade that reasonably well matched the body; 3 coats of this, a few coats of red and some Klear over the top gave a reasonable result.

I really must treat myself to a new mixing pallet.

Some light weathering was also called for, and after treating the bodysides to some Klear, to give the colour some depth. I gave the tanks at the loco ends a coat of white, and the axlebox covers were given a couple of coats of yellow; the fuel tanks gauge and valve were given a little red too.

The usual technique of applying a dirty brown mix with the airbrush and then removing most of this with a white-spirit soaked cotton bud (over and over again), was applied to the bodysides and ends, with a greyer mix to the roof. The underframe was treated to more of the brown mix (mostly frame dirt/sleeper grime) with some rust dusted around a few components; it was only a quick weathering job, but the loco is toned down nicely, and Cliff seemed quite happy with it back on his layout.

A day out for Nimbus: My Nimbus put in a very brief appearance on Diesels in the Dutchy during the Uckfield MRC show back in October. For gauging reasons, both in length but more importantly in track gauge, it didn’t run... but looked quite nice sat on the turntable.

Thanks to Damien for the suggestion/offer although I did think it looked a little out of place.... lovely layout that!

47 Bogie

The first of the bogies finally got finished and I’ve made a start on the second one; the first was quite a job and the prospect of the second is still a little daunting; those springs took quite an effort to fit... but I’ll get there. So far the doner part has been cleaned up with all extraneous mouldings removed; the main springs will be first; that’s something to “look forward to” in the New Year.

The final shot shows the finished bogie protected in its own box whilst the other one sits with assorted bits in another... with a pair of Heljan sideframes for comparison.

Craven,

So with the 47 sapping my enthusiasm, I decided I needed a quick detailing job and decided the conversion of my Bachmann 105 to a Kings Cross Unit would be just that.

This is a lovely model and doesn’t need too much doing to it.... yea yea yea.... and so most of my projects start out. To be honest, this one’s not bad, it’s just that when you start looking, more is there to be found. So, for this one, I just wanted to change the headcode panel from a blank black panel to one that showed the common code B2, ubiquitous to the Kings Cross suburban routes, especially those out to my local stn at the time, Hertford North.

Step 1: This will be easy, just pop out the headcode glazing – ah, it won’t shift.... right, from behind, file off the rear part... that’s the black plastic gone and... oh ‘eck that’s too thick; a thinning down of the material inside the nose gave a “better” depth to the glazing. Filing was followed by sanding and then polishing with Tee cut to smooth the glazing out. Right, find an appropriate headcode (Precision) label for B2 and pop it in; ah that font looks wrong; yes, it’s wrong. Right! Lets try printing one... nope! Can’t find an appropriate font, crikey that “2” is an odd shape. Right! I’ll draw one.... that’ll do.

Not as “black” as the labels, but these faded in service and this will do... it’s closer than the std text I found anyway.

Step2: Below the headcode panel is a moulded grill. It’ll have to go. Don’t recall seeing any of these with this in service. Check photos (the crave images group on flickr is a useful reference http://www.flickr.com/groups/1362082@N24/ ) ... ah, look a blanking panel! Right, file away the moulding and place a rectangle of plastic card over where it had been. The thinnest plastic card was used... and I then thinned this down with some sand paper so that it was so thin it was almost translucent, cut them to shape and stuck them in place with the usual “good old” Zap a gap green.

I tried representing the rivet detail with archers rivet transfers, but these were actually too big... so I gave up... and gave the nose a new panel; the rivets are barely visible in photos anyway.

Step 3: The destination blind was another item to replace, the model arriving with Norwich and Peterborough... I think.... and these had to go. Easier said than done. The panel is a two piece item; the inner piece has to be prized out from inside carefully... and the outer piece has to be carefully pushed from behind; I used a cocktail stick. Placing the nose of the coach on a foam pad faced down, the glazing came out with a push on the stick and a nasty sounding “crack”...but it was just the glue breaking. The printed destination can then be filed off the back of this ... cleaning up with finer paper and then a Tee-cut polishing. Destinations were printed off using successive text sizes once a suitable font was found... the font needs to be small enough to display the name; as the two I chose were different lengths, the fonts were different too; trial and error gets you there eventually. These were cut to about the right size and pushed in from behind once the outer glazing had been interference fit’ted back in place; the inner piece was held in place with some glue and glaze.

Step 4: This is getting complex! Looking at photos I noticed that the wipers had a shroud over the top of them. After some thought, I attempted to reproduce these from plastic card, again thinned to just a few molecules thick, or so it seemed. The actual wiper mechanism needed some thinning too, to allow the shroud to fit over it; the Bachmann ones are a little chunky, but they’ll do. I did try replacing them with some shawplan ones I had to hand (for a 47) but they were too short, so I stuck with these. Here in this before/after image, I’ve painted them with metal coat... but they might need doing again.

Once I'd gone back and done them both ... they look a little better.

Steps 5 and 6: Other jobs were removing the date banner from the windscreen glazing, painting the cab controls, adding a driver (I used the one I’d prepared for my 47... which I’ll now need to do another one for) and painting the interior.... I’m not sure why Bachmann didn’t bother with this, their colours were quite wrong... so a subtle correction has been started with more to do. Oh, and then I declassified the first class section. I really don’t recall the first class section of these later on; I’m sure some had them but photos suggest declassified compartments... so the yellow strip was removed with Tee cut.

Step 7: I really didn’t like the moulding line on the side of the nose, so I cleaned these up... thus leaving an unsightly blue line through the yellow. I tried to touch this up but eventually concluded that the Bachmann colour is just wrong! So, whilst these have been touched up a bit, they will both be treated to a coat (or 3) of the correct yellow (pre-84) from the Railmatch range. I duly masked one end up thinking I’d have time this week to give the airbrush a go... but I wont.

So, the masking has been removed until time/life allows me some time to get this done. Once that's done, I'll have lost the white LW markings... but as these should actually be written on blue squares in this location they'd need to be changed anyway...so a new label or bit of paint will follow.

Apart from adding some passengers, which I’m considering, bufferbeam detailing and inter-coach connections.... and a rewheeling of course (which ones to use and how to tackle this I’m yet to work out)... a light weathering (per Tim Shackleton’s REM article on the weathering a 108) will see this finished. Should I ever get that Passenger Loco depot plan sorted, it’ll be nice to have this trundle past into the suburban platforms.

Dublo 3-rail Bulleid

A friend of mine asked me a favour. He’d picked up a 2 rail Dublo 34042 Dorchester at a Car Boot sale... in reasonable “nick”... but it had clearly been touched-up in the past. He was going to get it converted to 3-rail to run on his layout, but he already had a Dorchester in good nick... so wondered whether I could change its identify? The request was not seeking a precision re-branding (like Toboldlygo’s conversions)... just a simple re-plating would do. We looked around and found that Modelmaster would do a complete set... and we looked at options. My friend has family in Plymouth, so the choice was made and parts ordered. When delivered, we noticed that some of the paint had chipped away and a “touch up” was requested. Geoff likes to simply “run trains” and there is much fun to be had with this... and close scrutiny of finescale work was not going to be on the agenda... so with this brief, I gave it a go. The old plates came off reasonably well... although their backing was too long for the new name. This and the fact that the old cab side numbers were too small... and the lining too small gave me some worries, but I applied the new numbers and yes, whilst the lining is far too small, it’s not too bad... the alternative was to replace the lining, which would then have needed the tender lining to be replaced; how far to go. Geoff seems happy so far so maybe this will be enough. The old crest was removed and the new waterslides added and sealed a few days later with some Klear. The new name and smokebox number plates when on and look ok. I’ll need to try and clean it all up a bit more... and seal the cab side numbers, but hopefully it’ll do. It was a nice little diversion. But streuth... those wheels and flanges make my finescale-prefering eyes water.

So, that’s about it really... apart from one final mention. Last week, my brother rang me to tell me what he’d seen in the new REM... which I’d yet to see. Apart from KOYLI on the front, there was another Deltic inside... “Is that your Nimbus?” he asked. Streuth... so it is, and it’s advertising the Scalefour society! The fact that this was chosen as a suitable subject to advertise the society left me feeling somewhat pleased. Thanks were suitably forwarded to Paul Willis for choosing it; it made my Christmas!

So, what will 2013 bring? I'll still be exhibiting at the local BHMRC show in May, but I'll not have a layout to show. The depot I was working up last year has not faired well: the ballast has started to lift at the edges and attempts to reset it have not gone too well. I've looked at it as a lesson learnt and I'll try to do something more interesting next time. I'd still like to have a small diorama and have been seeking advice from Marc Smith on mirrors... who knows eh!? Long term - there's the "Passenger Loco" plan... whether I get there first, or whether Brian Hanson beats me to it will probably depend on both of our work/life ballances... at least "work" still pays the bills and that's what is important... apparently. I'll try and sort "fun" as/when time permits.

Other musings have been vying for synapse time... and the look of those Farish Class 55s has had me wondering about a 2mm venture... if time and money were less of an issue eh? I will try and make some small plans; I'd like to get that 47 finished, it'll be nice to stable it with the 55. I hope it turns out well. We'll see. After that, I've a backlog of other projects and my eldest wants me to detail his Hornby class 90.. so there's plenty to keep me occupied.

So, I hope you all had a nice Christmas, or Yule, or whatever other festival you choose to celebrate. I'll not be doing any modelling now until the house guests have departed in a week or so... but it'll nice to have a house full at midnight for New Year. So I hope that you all have a nice New Year and here's to 2013... hoping it'll bring whatever we want it to bring; I suppose we've just got to find time to put our mind to it... pick up that "round tuit" and get on with it.

Happy New year everyone.

Thanks for reading....

Jon