Returning to the hobby after, errrm, 25+ years, a rummage through old boxes revealed a few unmade kits. "What a great way to spend those dark winter evenings", I thought.

I chose the MTK Derby Lightweight Single M79901 because I'd not attempted a DMU before and it would be summat small to fit into a simple end-to-end layout. Some construction progress was made, but nothing fits, the parts are poorly made, the air was often blue , and then the days lengthened - everything slowed to a halt (short platform, trains stop by request). Just very difficult to stay motivated...

But that was last year! So this year, maybe a blog would provide a focus - a driver (5ft? please, no more silly puns) - to continue and actually get something built and working. Or not, and you can all have a good laugh . So first a little background...

Back in the early 1980s, I had a 10x8 ft insulated shed and a never-finished roundy layout in OO. Whatever I build now will re-use some of the old track and rolling stock - primarily because of cost. But that nice shed was 5 house moves ago, so now very little room for track or wiring. DCC seems to be the way to go, and early trials are very promising for realistic slow running in confined spaces. Anyway, back to M79901...

Last season, the shell was painted, the driving ends were glued and painted, and the seats were cut, stuck and painted. A start was made on the motor bogie, but that was a disaster (more about this in a future post). So a major rethink was needed on bogies and motor arrangements.

I realised early on that the finished article wasn't going to be an accurate model, because there are too many issues, e.g. the engine castings are wrong, the cab panels are for a different unit, the motor bogie is a joke, but the overall 'feel' is reasonable. So this will be a valuable learning exercise - maybe tackle something newer and better later?

So this is where we are at the moment:

The body shell:

The seats and partitions:

One side underframe:

Next step is to decide how it'll all fit together in a way that enables maintenance, since the instructions have some funny ideas about how to fasten things .