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railroadbill's Blog

Vintage Mainline Scot restoration

More lockdown, here we go again!     Back in June I dug out 2 old Mainline Royal Scot locos that I'd acquired years ago as part of a barter of various bits and pieces with a friend. He had a lot of equipment from his wife's late uncle who had a shed layout, and had the remains of my n gauge bits in exchange.  Both locos were in bad condition, one had valve gear damage one side, the other didn't run at all.  In my attempt at getting at least one to run again, last June I stri
Colin's Blog

Stones and Blocks from Air Drying Clay

Nothing particularly novel in all this but I've designed a jig which suited my purpose of mass producing blocks of varying width and constant height. The original technique came from Physicsman as used for his Fell walls on Kirkby Luneside 1/2.   The materials used were: The base - a piece of laminated chipboard with a high quality relatively smooth finish. This is important because then the clay in the template mold doesn't stick and can be easily lifted out once cast but still w
BWsTrains

BWsTrains in Workbench

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Soddingham-under-Piddle

Weathering The Ballast...

After the last post, back to more mundane reality. Much as the nice clean shiny ballast, grey and black, looks good, it's somewhat unlikely a fair chunk of Soddingham would have been re-ballasted all in one go. Yesterday. With all the other projectlets stalled due to waiting for stuff I manned up and faced the one task I've been dreading - weathering the ballast. The effect I'm looking for is oldish, but cared for. At the Long Siding headshunt I've brushed on Railmatch Sleeper Grime with some ve
Miserable

Miserable in Ballasting

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Seahaven

A quick update...

Just a quick update tonight as I didn't have much time. The shrubbery has grown dramatically today with the rest of the embankment covered up. I've left a small amount of embankment clear for a small diorama depicting a landslip.    (embankment fully vegetated)    There are two structures that will adorn the top of the cliff. The first was an abandoned WW2 observation bunker. These were always very crude bits of architecture so thankfully quite easy to model. Digging th
Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson in Blog

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Mick Bonwick's Blog

It's Another Peckett

Just can't resist them. Can you?   This one started off with a layer or three of water mixable oil paint (black) that was left to dry for three weeks. Not because it needed that long, but because I was doing other things. Each of the three layers was disrupted slightly by rubbing gently to remove that area of paint between edges of panels.     The next step was to use an airbrush to apply a layer of AMMO by MIG Rust Wash, thinned with white spirit, across the upper
The Wednesford Chronicles

The Sky is Falling In...a.k.a. never ask a Planner to Plan ahead.

If things have gone quiet on the Wednesford and Wombourne front since the video was uploaded, there is a reason. I'm rebuilding the station. Let me explain.  Having had a few running sessions, it became clear that despite my efforts to design in access for track cleaning, by mounting the scenery on removable boards, actually getting my banana fingers under the OHLE without demolishing the station in the process was going to be difficult.  The presence of the island platform severely re
wombatofludham

wombatofludham in Blog

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pheaton's Blog

Keeping 26043 Alive.......staying a HEAD of the curve

A bit of a boring one really, as it concentrates more on a single part of the engine but ill try and bed it out a bit more with some more slightly interesting bits.....     A view of 26043s 6LDA with both side covers removed (reason why will be explained in a bit)   In this view you can see where the block is bolted to the crankcase, and you have a good view of the camshaft, there are 3 cam lobes per cylinder, the outer 2 of the lobes operate the pushrods and the
pheaton

pheaton in Preservation

4
Seahaven

The landscaping continues...

So having left the plaster to dry overnight today was a painting day.  Firstly I painted the soil a lightish soil colour having seen some photos showing how the underlying chalk affected the upper soil colour   (pic of light brown soils on the white cliffs)    (soils painted-its lighter than it looks)    Having painted the soils I then painted the cliffs some very light shades of grey and white. Initially my son asked me why I was painting my cliffs
Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson in Blog

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Colin's Blog

WC&PR - Goods Stock part 1 - ex-MR Wagons - 3 Plank

WC&PR started out with a few ancient pre-1870s wagons of unknown origins but under the management of Col. Stephens they acquired a significant number of later better quality stock, mostly 3 and 5 plank wagons and one ex-GER covered van. Most of the later WC&PR plank wagons were old MR stock which became surplus when in newer production series they updated the initial designs with several improvements and changes. Peter Strange in his book lists 24 numbered Open plank Wagons (WC&PR #2
Seahaven

There'll be bluebirds over...

And so after a few false starts today was cliff building day. The cliff is the only major landscape feature on the layout and hopefully will really set the tone and feel for the layout and give it the character of the Kent coast.    First thing to do was to remove the polystyrene along the back scene which hadn't really worked and replace it with landscape mesh. To set the right angle I used cardboard from an old cereal packet to create some formers.    (cardboard forme
Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson in Blog

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Colin's Blog

WC&PR - An Introduction

I know of three models of the WC&PR, one each in O and OO gauge feature on here. Both have detailed and excellent representations of Clevedon Station and yards and Ullypug's Weston Ashcombe Road teminus which I know very well was captured with great accuracy. This left me very little incentive to try and capture any part of WC&PR in a layout, the bar having being set so high already.   I decided instead to go in depth with the rolling stock from the last three years 1937 -1940
Soddingham-under-Piddle

Lockdown II - The Extension

So, here we are again! In what is rapidly becoming a habit I got to wondering what I might have planned for Soddingham had it been 'finished'. Extending the standard gauge layout cannot be done as there is nowhere to go. However, the idea of an O-9 (as in 7mm scale on 9mm track) 'feldbahn' supplying some exotic quarry product to the main line appeals (Youtube strikes!). In order to keep the goods shed this would mean another set of points on the Long Siding (at the front, only partly laid to dat
Miserable

Miserable in Scenery

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Kelvinbank, a Caledonian Railway project.

CR D38 Glass wagon part 2

The main assemblies for the wagon are now largely complete.   Frame has been detailed, spring castings should have more leaves but those look ok to my eye.     Body has the sides fitted. and the floor is planked. Note the holes in the body sides. I think these were to enable the screw clamps to be tightened up when used at a lower level, together with a pair of clamps at the bottom of the well.     The fiddly bit was making the support frames.
Dave John

Dave John in General

5
Aussie National

Starfighter! (2)

So a wee update on the F104. Paint and transfers now mostly done. This took a lot longer than expected, but hopefully looks a bit better than the Airfix kits I used to knock together in a couple of hours.  Italian airforce markings have proved difficult to get hold of, the first set from ebay were old stock which fell apart when I tried to apply them. The second set have got lost in the post apparently...  Thanks for all the feedback on my previous post, I was surprised by the level of
D6150

D6150 in F104

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Rhywbeth Fel Pwll Glo or Something Like a Colliery

Wires #2

Another update that got missed during the summer. Following on from the success with the MERG electronics I looked at tidying up the wiring of the pushbuttons with another new PCB. JLCPCB again came up trumps and even managed to produce plated through slots for the switches to solder to. A quick before and after, much better I think     Then I thought about the need for a variable supply for the LED lighting - I'd used Black Cat Technologies dimming units before connected to
RedgateModels

RedgateModels in General

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Fen End Pit's Blog

16mm photo-plank - Pillar Drill and test wall

As I mentioned in my last blog the next bit of workshop machinery I fancied trying to reproduce was a pillar drill. This proved to be quite a tricky bit of modeling just because there were so many features. I'd taken a photograph of this drill in the shed at Thelkeld.     It looked to me as if the drill was originally belt driven with a 'new' electric motor powering the original drive wheel at the bottom. There then seems to be a belt which takes the drive to the top of the
Wenlock's Blog

GWR ex Broad Gauge Passenger Brake Van Dia V9

During the Cardiff model railway show back in October 2019, I treated myself to a couple of six wheel coaches from Dragon Models.  http://www.taffvale.wales/page1.php  Although I thoroughly enjoy building locomotives and wagons, I always find building coaches a bit of a slog and consequently haven't got many to use on Sherton Abbas  My entire passenger stock comprises of three Slater's 4 wheel coaches, a solitary Slater's all 3rd bogie clerestory and an etched brass V2 passenger brake van.  I'm
Rhywbeth Fel Pwll Glo or Something Like a Colliery

Hardstanding Take 2

A bit out of sequence this, back in lockdown #1 I realised that the cardboard Scalescenes hardstanding/inset track was just not going to work in the long term. It was uneven and was already starting to get damaged by track cleaning etc. So there was nothing else to do but rip it up and get the DAS clay out. Chris Nevard eat your heart out LOL     Top surface cut back, I kept most of the surrounding card as it was just the running surfaces that I needed to replace.  
RedgateModels

RedgateModels in General

3
Seahaven

Paving the way...

Did a bit of work around the station this evening. Produced some brick walls to the rear of the viaduct to represent the rear of the structure. I also used some modern platform paper to complete the finish of the platform surfacing.    (paving paper done from scale model scenery. Like the look of the tactile paving)    (brickwork parapets 'laid' along the backscene)    I also have had time to do a bit of bodge wiring. Whilst my father is a retired electr
Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson in Blog

0
Soddingham-under-Piddle

Adventures In Cork. And Clay.

Again it's been a while. Faced with some delays imposed by being the now ex, and brief, owner of a Vauxhall Zafira, things got a tad hectic. Peace and a certain amount harmony now reigns. I ran out of pullies rather quicker than expected so the remaining wires still await fitting, but the barrow crossings and path between are now complete. More ballasting and gluing is done too. More of the construction clutter has moved along making things look a lot more stationy.   The siding, forme
Miserable

Miserable in Scenery

0
Seahaven

Railing against the machine...

A chance to do a bit more detailing this evening. I wanted to get some railings on the ferry. Using the same laser cut scale model scenery key clamp handrail as used on the Linkspan.    (handrails starting to go on)    (and another view)    Once both sides were safely railed up I painted all this white.   (finished railings)    (all painted up)    (rear view)    Not sure how long these will last b
Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson in Blog

0
Colin's Blog

Westown-Heathfield - some background

Westown - Heathfield   Having come back to modelling after a long absence, this has been a learning experience.   I’m not aiming for perfection; I want the layout and individual settings to look plausible at a macro level. “I do enjoy making a miniature world where trains go to and fro”   I wanted to capture the sense of place and settings of my home county Somerset; set in the context of the railways I knew and loved as a child. I wanted to engage my 6 grandch

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  • Blog Comments

    • Joseph_Pestell
      GWR provender wagons

      By Joseph_Pestell · Posted

      Similar FS wagons to those pictured at Pembridge on another recent thread.
    • John Tomlinson
      The Four Ages of Warships – Bachmann Types

      By John Tomlinson · Posted

      Thanks Ray. I guessed that you'd gone for exploration on this when I saw your pictures on Flickr.   It would be great to think of obtuse as lateral thinking, rather than simply awkward/ difficult!   I do like both old and new Warships by Bachmann, the mechanism on the old 42's I prefer as above, but the detail on the later 43 is a defininte step up with its etched grilles and add on twiddly bits. We're lucky indeed to have such fine models of both.   Hope you are bo
    • Miss Prism
      GWR provender wagons

      By Miss Prism · Posted

      T9s were regulars on the DN&S, but what 30120 is doing at that end of the station I'm not sure, unless it is turning itself around on the Didcot triangle (rather complex compared to taking a visit to the shed).   The continental wagons are a mystery.    
    • Compound2632
      GWR provender wagons

      By Compound2632 · Posted

      Continental wagons and a T9 at Didcot?      In this matter, the Midland wasn't quite as centralised as the Great Western. There was a provender store at Oakham as well as at Ashchurch. [Link is to catalogue thumbnail of Midland Railway Study Centre Item 88-2018-0064. Note the mix of sheeted opens and vans. The Midland had no specific provender wagon design; I'm not aware of any company other than the Great Western having such a thing.]  
    • Silver Sidelines
      The Four Ages of Warships – Bachmann Types

      By Silver Sidelines · Posted

      Thank you John.  Obtuse?  Is that the same as lateral thinking?  I like the idea, not all that is new is better.  Perhaps too many bells and whistles and not enough attention to basic details.   Cheers Ray

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