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Recently Oxford Diecast introduced a range of traction engines in their OO gauge range of vehicles. The Fowler steam roller called 'Lord Jellicoe' caught my eye. I thought it would make a nice change on my proposed Teign Valley quarry based layout set in the late 1940's. Here we see John Luscombe of 'Luscombe Contractors Kingsteignton' making his way up the Teign Valley towards Ashton for a spot of road repairs. He's pulled over and talking to the fireman on GWR Pannier 9717 shunting wagons at the nearby quarry close to Trusham. As it comes the model is in full gloss finish and portrayed as an example seen at the Blandford Steam Fair I do believe? Not knowing a great deal about traction engines I might have to wing this a bit . Anyhow, I used my usual trusty weathering techniques which involved a coat of Johnson's Klear as a base coat followed by dry brushing and washes of Vallejo acryilics. Coal was placed in the bunker and John Luscombe is one of the excellent Monty's figures. I resprayed the canopy and finished this with Tamiya colours. A further coat of Klear followed by some Tamiya matt varnish airbrushed on sealed everything together. The plan is to scratch build a caravan for the Fowler to tow so I'm looking at prototypes. As for 9717 she's nearly finished so watch this space. The Fowler steam roller has been a nice little project and something unusual as well-for me anyway. Cheers, Mark

Herein we start to see why this blog is titled "The GC and Met in OO"... ... Because I've started my next loco build, and it's a red (well, chocolate brown) one.... It's a Radley resin kit for a Metrovick Bo-Bo which I am planning to build pretty much straight out of the box. Sorry, no, got mixed up there- I never do that I want to see what can be done with this fairly basic kit to improve it.... I know the panelling is overstated by miles but my efforts at removing panel lines on carriages are poor to very poor, so I' not about to start sanding the body down to correct a fault that personally I have no proble with. No, my efforts are directed more at the 'being able to see right the way through the engine room from fore to aft and port to starboard' issue. I'm going to have a go at building an (admittedly fairly rudimentary) interior for the model. No work on that yet but last night I did manage to wash off and clean up the main parts- which were fairly clean castings anyway.

In light of the discussion caused by the the corbels in part 2, I decided that a bit more thought was required! After a lot of pondering, I've decided that I still like the idea of the building having corbels, but if they are going to stay, then they had better be done properly! As Nick, Ian, N15 and Iain pointed out, they did look as if they had been stuck on as an afterthought and didn't look at all convincing. This wouldn't do at all, so armed with a glass of red wine and wielding a scalpel, surgery commenced! Building before surgery Building after plasticard quoins around the corbels had been removed Once the offending quoins and brickwork had been removed, 30 thou plasticard pieces were cut to inlay in the space created. Plasticard Microstrip was also used to blend the corbels into the quoins. Any joins were filled with Milliput epoxy putty and then allowed to set for 24 hours. After a bit of sanding and a coat of matt white Humbol Enamel as a primer, this is the state of play so far. Building after application of new quoins, sanding and priming. I've added the gutters and scribed the stone work, which is about as far as I can go with the Goods Shed until I build the platforms and get a better idea of the landscape profile around the building. Thanks for the constructive criticism guys, we all need a little prod now and then to improve our modelling standards, lets hope you think what I've done is an improvement! Best wishes Dave

I am starting work on the hidden loops which will lie behind Cowes and the line along the Medina. To do this I had to get a sighting shot on how Cowes would fit, which is what the photo shows. The track templates are generated by the Trax3 software. Behind are some Peco turnouts (the hidden section will be laid using Peco Streamline. Important things here were to see where the turnouts would be in relation to the baseboard frames (I'm using underslung Peco turnout motors on the hidden section) and also in relation to the baseboard joints. Everything good so far. First objective is to get the hidden loops and sidings operational which means making the decision on DCC vs Analogue, and building a control panel. Well, DCC has won the day and I've dug my ZTC511 out of the box it has been in since I bought it in ?2007. And I'll attempt to fit a chip into an O2 in due course. Meanwhile I can test on analogue. But for now the first task is simply to screw down hardwood strips for the baseboards joints (glueing PCB sleepers thereon) and cork sheet for the trackbed. But in the 30 degrees heat, even with an (obviously underpowered) air-con unit, it is hot work. BUT, we are underway on the great project! Chris

Equals another milestone - the last Air Smoothed West Country 34094 Morthoe! Take one donor, in this case a R2282 'Weymouth' and swap the 5,500gl tender for a 4,500gl one. Remove all traces of it identity, carry out repairs (fill holes where crests were), fit details and renumber and fit new nameplates etc. I've also included a close up of the front end work - replacing a lamp bracket that snapped off, adding RT Models drain cocks and removing the fairings in front the cylinders. Masked up and get out the airbrush and add that dirt. Then I hand finished the weathering, sealed with several coats of Matt varnish, before adding the final details and the job is done. 6 left now, but up next is something smaller That's all for now TBG

Afternoon all Sorry for the lack of postings recently, but progress is being made. Don't know if it's the influence of Springwatch or the Chelsea flower show, but things are definitely blooming in Clevedon. Fencing has been completed and the last of the various sheds have been built (finally). Signalling is all built. With all the boards up, I've been planting static grass and am starting on the various trees and bushes. Fibres are a blend of Heki with some Green Scenes straw thrown in. The main task now is building the lighting rig which is under way. I've got the fish tank tubes and want to have the rig finished before I start blending everything in. The only signal I'll need to build. It's a MR lower quadrant with an attached ground signal. It's not exactly as per the prototype but it's pretty damn close. All parts are MSE. There are 2 other ground signals to be planted. The railcar approaches the occupation crossing (which is made from a MSE nickel silver etch). The last of the sheds Railcar departs for Weston There's still a way to go, but I'm quite pleased how this is turning out.

Wanted something to use out doors to take pictures on in proper light so I came up with this. This experiment cost next to nothing. A small piece of 9mm ply found in the garage, some spare Hornby set track, some Pva, ash from BBQ. Spread glue on ply and place in BBQ . Spread ash from BBQ liberally over glue. Remove and leave to dry. the glue has dried and the surplus ash has been knocked off and a wagon run over to check nothing fowls. i dont think it looks too bad for an experiment for next to no cost. with a bit of scatter added and some longer grass and weeds it will be just like the real thing. now we have added some green scatter it looks a whole lot more unloved. just some longer grass and weeds to add to finish I have added some Woodland Scenics ballast in places to see how it looks and to replace patches of ash that did not stick too well. With long grass added now must get the backscene sorted.