Leaderboard

At last the Southern Pride Class 304 has been finished. The layout would have been incomplete without it, but building it has tried my patience and I'd think twice before having a go as such a large kit again. The instructions were clear and the kit itself is very well made, but you really need prior experience and I rather think I jumped into the deep end with this. The lead driving vehicle was the last car built and it has turned out much neater than the driving brake car (see below). I learnt an awful lot between each build! It's been a hard slog as these kits are not for the faint hearted. It arrived at the end of March, but progress has been interrupted by some house decorating - I was only supposed to paint one room, but ended up doing three plus the hallway! Then my boss had a bit of a windfall and some badly needed maintenance work was carried out at the holiday cottage complex where I work part time. All this took about 5 weeks so I couldn't devote the time I wanted to on the model. When the kit first arrived I was dumbfounded by the amount of stuff inside and was convinced that I wouldn't be able to complete it having never built a kit like this before. I decided to make the driving brake vehicle first - it was a near disaster and I ended up making rather a hash of it. However, I learnt a lot from those initial mistakes and the each car got a little easier thereafter. How not to do it! The first vehicle of the 4 car set was a right hash up and it was pulled back from absolute disaster several times. I really hate Humbrol warning yellow - it comes out lumpy even when spraying. The trouble is that I can't get quality paints over here and have to make do with what is available. On the other driving vehicle I used an acrylic car spray - it's not quite warning yellow, but it looks a hell of lot better than the Humbrol! The lead driving vehicle - much better work this time. Out of the box - the 4 car set at several stages of construction. The hinges being soldered onto the brass sides. There was a fret that contained the handles but I had no idea how you would go about soldering these on without making a real mess (seems like you need three pairs of hands or some sort of tool that I don't have). Therefore, I decided to make my own out of wire and solder these from the back. A finished side. It looks rather neat when first complete - that's when the real fun starts when you have to rebend it to shape afterward and glue it onto to base. You really have to go at the solder blobs at the back of the brass side with a sanding drum. This makes the brass flaten out and you have to really try and bring it back to the original shape afterwards. There was a load of fettling getting everything to fit correctly, but it has turned out fairly okay. The only modification I made was the full running board on each car. I distinctly remember these as a kid and they are a reminder of an earlier age regarding coaching stock. I also chose to use acetate for the windows which was glued on with some PVA to the inside face as, try as I might, I couldn't get the roof to fit using the clear resin window bars that came with the kit. The model isn't motorised yet. I might try and persuade Southern Pride to sell me the Driving Brake again - I'll make a better job of it next time around and also fit some Black Beetle units at the same time.

After a brief interlude (okay a month), due to GWR Loco's - I finally resumed work on the Bf 109... Before I masked up the underside, I painted the wheel wells and radiators. I masked up the underside and parts of the cockpit canopy - which had I pre-painted prior to fitting and masking up (next three photo's show that sequence) Once the topside of the fuselage had been given a few coats of BS Dark Earth and allowed to dry. I used the blu-tak & masking tape (or MORPH) method to layout the camouflage. Once painted the masking was removed and too my surprise it had worked very well, with only a small amount of touching up needed. Touching up done and the guns & exhausts added. Today I busied myself painting and assembling the undercarriage, along with a few more parts. However to my dismay I discovered a short on the sprue and a missing part, so I've got to scratch build a Pitot tube assembly. That's all for now TBG

Here's a first attempt to visualize "The depot", drawn with the Sketchup programme. As mentioned earlier, it will be constructed within an Ikea "Snackbox". The scenic part will be raised to allow ample room for electrics etc in the space underneath. I've used the same principle as on "The bay", where the viewing side is opposite of what you'd normally do. The idea is to increase the sense of being "inside" the scene, rather than viewing it from a distance. So we're standing inside the shed and looking at the last couple of platforms ("decks"), with an opening to the cartage platform and yard in the background. Hopefully the wagons moving back and forth on the reception siding in the yard will help add to the sense of depth. Sadly there won't be any horseboxes on the real thing - these are just to give an impression as I couldn't find any vans and wagons. Thanks to ngauge kid and wild goose for posting some GWR stock on the Sketchup site. It will be important to ensure that plenty of light enters the depot, or it may appear a bit dark and dull. These skylights are just an example, I'll want to look closer at prototype examples. If things work out I'm hoping for some interesting play of light, with light coming in from above but also from the opening to the yard. The windows in the side are wishful thinking at this point, but I might cut a hole in the side of the Snackbox to allow light to enter this way also. A view of the small section of the yard at the back, with reception siding and horse drawn carriages etc. This could become cramped if I don't take care - but a light ground cover and the "less is more" approach can hopefully help avoid that. A view from the yard side with the backscene removed. The backscene can easily be dismantled, so I'm considering making the layout viewable from this side also on occasion. That would require an alternative backscene which shows the rest of the depot behind the viewable platforms. Perhaps a photo of a depot scene, or even the old mirror trick (although how to do away with the duplication when shunting stock?).

After she made a cameo in my last build and with loco's out of the way it was time to make a start on the 1/48th Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3. Being a Collectors Club Model it gives two very different schemes to do one is the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Evaluation version (Bf 109E-7) and the other is a captured RAF version (Bf 109E-3) - I chose the latter. Compared to my last build, this one has gone together very quickly.. so far. Cockpit and aircraft interior painted and detailed. Fuselage button up. Wings assembled. Fuselage cleaned up & wings fitted. Flaps and tail planes added (some filling is required). Ailerons fitted, along with other bits. Rudder, elevator and cannon fairings fitted - plus a lot of filler and rubbing down! Underside painted and yes it is yellow! That's all for now TBG

Moving swiftly towards completion.. Test fit of the wings.. For a bit of fun - a size comparison between the Wyvern & Sea Fury.. Decals being added.. Final assembly - Fuselage & center wing section complete.. Outer wing sections fitted.. A cameo.. Posing in the early evening air.. Till the next build TBG..

About the age of 12 a piece of hard board became available to me on which a Hornby single platform station halt and crossing where mounted. Some simple scenery built up etc and for added interest the gates where operated with cotton thread, ever since I have wanted working crossing gates. One of the ideas bouncing around in the old grey cells for years was this simple system of mounting the gates on L shaped wires to be swung by the back and forth movement of a plate below the base board with grooves in it. One of the requirements on Dunster was to have the gates animated. When our DVD player broke the dreaded light bulb came on and I set about dismantling it. After about an hour the DVD drawer mechanism was up and running but much slower! The gates at Dunster are off set and move one at a time. To accomplish this, the groves in my plate would be “S” shaped with a straight and the other straight with an “S” shape. A drawing was then quickly made of angles, posts and swing from which I could work out the shape of these grooves ¼” MDF was used for the plate; the grooves being cut with a jig saw and sanded perfect (Five attempts before getting this just right). Two micro switches cut power which stops the DVD drawer. An on/off switch operates a relay which is wired as a DPDT current reverser to the drawer motor. For added realism another on/off switch is mounted in the Gaugemaster hand held unit used on the Layout. The relay is a plug in type and mounted under the signal box. Easy to replace if anything ever goes wrong with it. Dunster has attended the Rouge Valley Model Railroad Show on four occasions at which the crossing performed rather well.