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Hi all, i thought i would add my small account of building my Chattenden and Upnor Railway Baguley Drewry built from the RT Models kit in 4mm scale, 009 gauge. I decided that i would build one for myself to go on my layout. Deciding which version was to prove hard. After looking at photos of new builds and in service of them abroad i decided that i would build it as near to original condition as possible to the Chattenden and Upnor Railway. There was no diviations from the instructions. The cab was soldered up and the rest was assembled with superglue. The coupling rod holes i found needed opening up slightly to 1.5mm as it was a little tight compared to the first chasssis i used. The Jackshaft drive was added to the Graham Farish Outside framed 08 chassis as well. The model was cleaned with cream clener then left to dry. the whole model was brush painted. I start with a undercoat of matt black, the body was then painted with Humbrol Brunswick green with some areas including the chassis sides painted matt black over the course of several days. Bufferbeams was railmatch bufferbeam red. Once all this had dried, i varnished the model with Railmatch saturn Varnish. After several days, I masked and painted the top of the exhuast with Humbrol Metalcote Aluminium as well as the light lenses. Weathering was done with firstly a wash of Matt Black, then a wash of Humbrol leather to the bufferbeams and chassis with some dry brushing which was carried out to the top of the exhuast. Glazing was done by carefully flooding the outside with varnish, inside the cab. This is the second time i had to fix glazing as i found the Evergreen glazing doesn't seem to like the varnish or thinners and made it go white when i did the wash so the originals had to be removed. Lastly, with a sharp scalpel, the paint was scraped off the window frames to reveal them. After a few hours running in, the model runs really smoothly and am very pleased with it. Regards Mr T RT Models

Sorry for the lack of updates but I've been busy continuing with the programme of modifications to Wheal Elizabeth which will eventually result in passenger running. First came the removal of the loading dock and platform almost immediately after Trainwest. Next came the attachment of the new fiddleyard board and painting. Next the start of an overbridge based on Bugle. The stone work is from Kibri styrene sheets. Very good and not as pronounced as the usual Wills offerings. Then the addition of concrete platform edges and bridge painting. The trains will just poke out when stopped at the station, which as yet doesn't have a name, though Demelza Lane is my present favourite. Finally some detail shots of the effect so far. The fiddle yard board has now been removed and once the platform surfaces are set in place, then the layout will revert to a single ended operation for Railex in a couple of weeks time. I've already bought bits of styrene to make a set of steps down from the overbridge. The next outing after Railex is in October so I'm hoping to have made more progress by then.

As I'm still waiting (end of next week at the earliest) the frosted ultra detail print of Leeds 301 http://www.shapeways.../frosted_detail apparently demand on this material is massive at the moment, to the point of Shapeways buying extra machines! I thought I'd smooth out the bumpy WSF model, if the FUD doesn't work at least I'll have this one done. Quite simply done with filler primer and wet and dry down to 2000 grade finally finishing off with Farecla G4 rubbing compound, think I've got it down to a good smooth surface relatively easily. One thing about WSF is just how strong it is, I've been messing about bouncing these models on a hard surface and they're tough! My plans to model the Grimsby and Immingham tramway and the Grimsby district light railway are beginning to take shape.......yep you've guessed it more CAD in development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8TI503k9VA A little film I made today about backdrop painting and some landscape painting . Source: Backdrop painting video

I decided to give the loco some buffers the other day, which was not as straightforward as you'd think, something to do with one hole in the bufferbeam being .6mm lower than the other... I needed to open the holes out to 3mm to suit the Gibson buffers that I'm using so whilst one hole was simply opened out with a broach and tapered reamer the offending hole was moved upwards using a round file and broach alternately. Here's how it looked before I started, the low hole is on the right; How on earth did that got past the design stage? Then I decided to add the exhaust, not provided in the kit or mentioned in the instructions. I measured the size (3.5" dia.) and position on the Heritage Shunters Trust 05 and, after marking the position and drilling an appropiate sized hole, soldered in a length of 1mm thin wall tube. The tube was cut after soldering and the cut end cleaned up with file and wet and dry board. (I have a couple of small pieces of wood with wet and dry glued to them - very usefull). A pic; And so onto the steps. The steps are in 3 pieces, two tread plates and a backing plate. The backing plate is etched to length which is all very well but means that you have a butt joint where it meets the footplate. Here's the etch; Now I'm fairly good at soldering but I coudn't see the point of struggling with butt jointed steps. So I bought some 5mm x .3mm brass strip to make up new backing plates, the strip is above the etch in the above photo. I marked out the length of the backing plate, then used a scrawker and square file to make a half-etched fold line, folded up the step and the cut it off the strip with a 3mm long section left on to attach under the footplate. A fillet of 188 degree solder behind the bend adds strength. The treadplates don't have etched fold lines, the part that attaches to the backing plate is already half etched. So I again used a scrawker to generate a fold line and a Hold'n'Fold to bend them to shape. Like this; To solder the tread plates to the backing plate I tinned the tread plates with 188 degree solder and used my RSU to solder them in place. The RSU is perfect for this type of work as the probe can be used to hold the part in place whilst generating heat to make the joint. All good so far; As you've possibly noticed (assuming your still awake...) I've been using 188 degree solder so far. This is because I wanted to use 145 degree solder to attach the steps to the footplate, the theory being that using less heat means that the step assemblies are less likely to come un-soldered. Which I'm happy to say worked just fine! Again the RSU came in very handy. Here's a pic of the build so far; Still much to do, I reckon its time to get the chassis running.

A long time ago (over a year in fact) I reported progress on a - mostly - scratchbuilt Shochood B which stalled pending thonghts on how to tackle the hood. In the end, I took a look at what the military modellers do - since tarpaulins turn up on softskins all the time - and used Miliput for the ends and tissue over a former for the remainder. The tarp's on these vehicles were tailored to fit neatly over the top and were always with the wagon which carried branding to that effect so using tissue for the whole thing, while possible, is somethign I could make work. Still not 100% happy with it but here it is, painted and partly lettered. I'll have to see what dad's old Woodhead sheets have on them to finish the job: the HMRS sheets I have being utterly useless in this regard being without even a suitable selection of tare weights. Another ongoing project is this Bachmann monobloc tanker liveried for ESSO and rented from BRT. As you can see, there's been a fair amount of work put into the underframe detail based on this photo from Paul Bartlett from the same batch built by Pickering of Wishaw. The Bachmann brake levers are fairly awful and were replaced with bits adapted from a Dave Bradwell etch intended for plate wagons with other brake detail from scrap etch, nickel wire and ABS brakeshoes. All this is now hidden under a coat of Humbrol matt Chocolate as a basis for weathering. The tank needs dressing with S Kits ladders and catwalks (hopefully to be had at Expo EM at the weekend) and maybe, just maybe, I can get it finished, or at least heading in that direction, by the end of the month... Adam Source: News from the Wagon Works

Yes, I'm back with more of my adventures with wagons and paint to try and acheive an realistic and artistic outcome for me and my hobby! Also you'll get to see bits of the new layout at my club as well as the last few pics I took with the old one sad times. First off, I've some a few more Bachmann vans, and had a crack with some Bauxite. The techniques I've used have been previously explained in previous blogs. Next up is the bogie bolsters. so far I've simply weathered two, with hopes to modify two more as BR variants. The deckings were a humbrol 187/147 & 64/87 mix respectively. Washed over once or twice with a humbrol 33/98 mix. Dragging the brush along the planking to represent a grainy weathered wood effect. The same mix was used to the body then wiped away and metal work was picked out with humbrol 160... I may need to give the body work another wash to tone down the rust... not too convinced about how I've done it on the sanctions. The chassis was humbrol 33/98 followed by a wash of tamyia XF-10 then dry bushing humbrol 160 to give texture. Finally the oilly bits were humbrol 27004 (gunmetal) burnished when dry. I've also added some individuality to the wagons through the bolsters as you can see I am working on a coal train, for this I have bought/found some Bachmann 7 plankers. First off was to rub at the bodywork and paint with a fibreglass pen (a real genuine pain in the a***) then a wash of humbrol 33/98 planking was done using a variation of humbrol begies/browns/greys and whites. the chassis was tret the same way as before. The metal work was 33/98 (not a wash) followed by 160 which was dabbed and rubbed away The unpainted wagons was oringially bright red and was apart of the brightly coloured digital train set.... until I got hold of it. the lettering was completely rubbed away and was primered white. Once this was done transfers were added before a second wash of 33/98. I plan to run these loaded but I have described wagon interior previously. I have unfortunatly rubbed some of the rivet work away! and dont worry if they looks crap before finished... they look great afterwards Finally the well wagons. Generally the same as the bolsters but with more empahsis on the humbrol 160 rather than the 33/98 mix. I picked out the rivet on the base as well, which wa s apain in the hole... they were then lightly wiped along the lengh of the wagon to represent weather beaten rust. Oh and before I go... I've added lamps to my brake van! they were unpainted Spriangside white metal ones, sprayed with halfords white primer (humbrol was way too thinned) the lenses were humbrol 60 with a tiny dab of 33. secured with some UHU and given a light wash of 98/33. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

I always knew that the second hand Sagami motor that I had installed in the 2-8-2 was, well, a bit weak. It ran hot even just connected to the gearbox. Now that I'm in the final assembly stage when it came to running in the assembled chassis following painting it was clear that it was just not up to the job. Thanks to artisan100 - Geoff at Comet Models a Mashima 1628 together with a new matching steel worm gear was supplied in doble quick time. I took the liberty of also ordering a 14mm flywheel which still fits inside the body. This was an expensive purchase (£27 including postage) but it really was a ha'poth of tar moment. I could not have a loco built and finished to the level that I have achieved then not have it run well. The Sagami will be used elsewhere no doubt. An extended running in session will follow, then it's refit the decoder and brakes - job done.

Quick photo of the 2-8-2 before fitting of the brakes and rigging. Tender needs coal and a coupling, but that's about it really. Went a bit mad with the Brit detailing pack I got off eBay, fitted the screw link coupling and backing plate (if that's the word?) plus the steam heat pipe as well as the cylinder drains that I bought it for. The rest will go to the Duke of Gloucester that is to come B) Wonder if it still works? UPDATE: Couldn't resist taking this pic of the crew at work as it sat on my desk

Final assembly tonight. I'm quite pleased with this. A few details to add, crew, coal, route discs and a few spots of paint required, then I can call it done. May have to tweak the chassis a bit when I get it out on the layout for a good run in (the crossover on Wheal Elizabeth's always the killer). Something to haul coaches when I get round to converting the Hornby Maunsells.