After many long hours trying to get the extension to Grime St ready for it's first exhibition, it was reasonably close to being finished, not fully done but 'good enough' although at twenty to one on Friday morning I was close to retiring from the exhibition circuit.....
Then disaster, I managed to catch half the overhead wires on one board and snag them whilst loading the van Friday lunchtime and if the toys weren't out of the pram then, they certainly were when I managed to damage the poin
Just a quick update on the Blackpool Coronation CAD, nearly done now, one minor amendment to attend to but pretty much there........
Huge amounts going on with Grime St, including sawing it in half, I'll update it with a load of pics just prior to the Beamish exhibition early April.....
Or messing with the Magnorail cyclist.
Having assembled the Magnorail cyclist, which is fiddly but not hard (legs clip together and go on to pegs retained by the upper body, feet onto the clear wheel which clips into the bike) and tried out a card road surface with a thin wash of plaster (to paint consistency) here's a quick video of a test, the jerky motion is because I'm pulling the chain rather than using the motor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve2I_6YRVTg
Well it works!
Will
As per the last entry, I purchased a Magnorail starter kit (new cliche warning, every layout needs a working cyclist or two!). Not having had that much spare time recently I've eventually made a start.
On opening the box it quickly became apparent that a retro fit might not be the easiest, the Magnorail track being approx 6.8mm deep. So I decided to make a sub board to get the track all up an running before hacking into the boards were it will end up being fitted.
In the box there is
I'm sure loads have been impressed with the working cyclists on the Dutch layout De Hezelpoort 1927, I've just got back from the Wakefield Exhibition where it's about 4 deep most of the time, next door they have a little display layout of the system and I've just bought a starter kit!
5ft of track, a cyclist and motor unit, now where to install it? I quite fancy a scooter and a motorbike on it too............
More details on the system here http://www.magnorail.com/index_en.html
In othe
Work continues on the extension board, I'd not been happy with a couple of bits but I think I've finally got the 'plan' right now. The mill complex has been growing, a couple of Bachmann Northlight factory extensions have been hacked about to fit and have had doors added.
I was never happy with either of the extreme ends of the railway embankment section that forms part of the backdrop, it just didn't look right dissapearing into the sky backscene. The left hand end has now been hidden from
Hot on the heels of the Pilcher CAD comes the latest one, I can't see me painting one purple and Ivory and numbering in Leeds 603, and I very much doubt it would clear the corners on Grime Street being a massive beast of a tram (50ftx8ft), but it should appeal to those who like to model a certain costal tramway in the county palatine, very much work in progress. but most varients are/will be covered (different fronts/roof windows/beadings etc).
Interior is to be altered but might well do som
Finally got the Ex Manchester Pilcher Pullman Car CAD looking something like, this is version 3.5, it has been a struggle, the Pilchers being built 1930-32 where somewhat ahead of their time, but stil had many traditional features, such as rocker panel sides and seperate dashes, I understand that this was to utilise Std Manchester compononents so whilst looking fairly different to their bogie standard predecessors there is still a family resemblance.
Version 1 of the Pilcher looked like Dart
Had half a day of to take my daughter out for the afternoon today, went to Sheffield, got conned out of £60 for a pair of Converse baseball boots (can't understand why anyone wouldn't want a decent pair of classic Adidas, but that's me showing my age),
Then it got worse, called in at Olivias and came home with this.........
Looks quite happy on the overbridge, one weathered EM1, god knows how this fits in with anything at the moment.......... MSW mini diorama coming
As mentioned in the last entry, it really was decision time as to take a saw to Grime Street or build New Grime Street, well decision made 'New Grime Street' is underway.
This is going to be a rework of the original GS, perhaps using some of the buildings, but then again seeing as I have loads of assorted buildings either underway or on order, perhaps not!
What it will have is junction at the right hand end with a view to any future expansion, probably along the lines of a previously aba
I'm back! Decided to have a bit of time out from blogging so it's been a while since the last entry. There's been some
progress on various fronts, the major work being on the extension to Grime Street, a few pics
As can be seen from the pics, the railway coal yard has been replaced with a large mill complex, I was never happy with the coal yard area so after several different attempts the Mill buildings were chosen, the basis for these being 2 Atlas Middle
A distinct lack of modelling time at the moment as 'real' work seems to have taken over all my spare time!
One thing that has moved forward though is the 3d Middleton bogie, the first revised models have arrived from Belgium and they are far superior in detail to the original.
This is the model as received
And this is it after a little work
Work undertaken so far includes smoothing the steps in the roof, I Materialise have pretty much sorted out how these models ar
Yeah I know that I said the next entry would be something else! Anyway I have just about finished spraying Leeds 600, it still needs the fenders painting brown and a bit of fettling here and there but it's not a million miles off......
Advert boards will be added later, as they would be a pain to mask, grey back, ivory front. 600 only had 4 Leeds crests, one on each saloon, so transfers will be pretty easy....
Chassis is a Halling C mech, which I'll fit a false floor to, with half s
Having recently got my hands on a Tramalan Snow sweeper model and having one of the snow ploughs available, thoughts have turned to possibly exhibiting Grime Street in a winter mode, we'll see..........
So if that plan does happen, I fully intend to build one of the weirdest looking trams ever to grace the streets of Leeds (and probably any other UK city)
Snow Blade 7
Picture courtesy of Andy Bailey and used with permission
Snow Blade 7 was Chamberlain Car 83 with one platfo
A large box containing lots of goodies arrived courtesy of UPS this afternoon, amongst them the first of the resin SLA Leeds Pivotal Cars, a few pics
Overall. delighted with this one, I'd say all the detail in the CAD has printed well, so it's fully detailed, the only visible stepping is on the roof, which is dead easy to smooth and sort out, I can honestly say that I think 'traditional' trams are going to 'print' really well in this method using the same orientation.
First model of Leeds 600 arrived from I Materialise arrived this week, overall quite happy, there's some minor stepping on the roof but that should be easily sorted.
Advert boards are on a test etch by Mark Hughes, early impressions are that he's got them absolutely spot on, so hopefully this should be a nice easy model to complete. It goes straight onto a Halling C mech which is pretty much spot on for bogie centres etc.
Meanwhile one of 'the other' Leeds railcoaches gets a bit cl
More CAD stuff completed, this time for the Leeds Chamberlain or Pivotal car, Leeds ordered around 185 of these cars, 75 each from Brush and EE and the balance built in house, this making them the most numerous of all the LCT tram types, so if you model Leeds trams there's a fair chance that you will need a 'piv'
They became known as 'pivotals' due to EMB designed pivotal trucks, the idea being to get a 4 wheel car to perform like a bogie car, unfortunately it only worked well when all the l
All my recent entries seem to be showing yet more CAD, and this one is no different! But as time allows some real modelling is happening. Two early CAD models are progressing along, these being Leeds 301 and the middleton Bogie, both of these were produced in WSF by shapeways, to be honest they may end up not being completed and substitute bodies in Prime Grey may be used, however it seems a shame to not push them on.
301 is at paint stage, usual story here Rover Monza Red for Leeds red, the
Very little modelling time at the moment, so a long time since an update and it's not really that much of one either!
The CAD shown in the previous entry has been worked on and is nearing completion, several tweaks to do yet but here's some more pics.
Mr Pilcher's finest? No it's not Mr Pilcher the forum member, it's R.S. Pilcher who was General Manager of the Manchester Corporation Transport Dept in the 1930s and the tram shown was his 'Pullman' car, which becam
I'm sure everyone's getting bored of these CAD pics by now, but here's a little teaser of work currently in progress,
So can anyone answer everyone's favourite Australian, and a part built model tram CAD doesn't win?
Answers on a postcard to............. !!
I've managed to find time to prep and paint the GC car, as the Prime Grey material is a resin, preparation is vey easy, fronts needed a bit of filling and sanding but very little in comparison with either frosted detail or WSF.
Sides needed priming and a brush over with a fibreglass pencil, then BR totem plates added from 10 thou plasticard, and yess they did bend them over the beading on the real thing, looking pretty rough. Totems and nos by Fox. Inside is sprayed a mid brown, glazing to b
First model from Belgium arrived about an hour ago, thought I'd share it with you.......
Pics
Overall, very very happy, there is some stepping on the curved front section, but that's very easily solved, detail and smoothness, very good, quick turn around, and excellent support over models that might need a bit of attention before printing, I'll be using them a lot in future, admittedly you have to spend 100 euros for free shiping but for me it's worth
First of the GC long car prints arrived today, I've more coming in the next couple of days including some in 'Prime Grey' from I Materialise, anyway I seem to have a few bodies around so, now beginning to wonder if a model of Pyewipe Car Shed might happen at some stage.......
6 Gatesheads and 2 GC long cars!
Some long car pics showing a bit more detail, I think the GC cars will either use a Halling E mech, ( the articulated one) made rigid or perhaps 2 Bachmann Brill drive units in
