ChrisS

Out in lovely weather on the mountain bike yesterday and in the garage today painting some West hill wagon works bits. I wish all weekends were like this. I had another birthday last weekend but this was taken up with two days at Alton Towers. My lovely wife got me a few bits including a couple of dummy point motors and the workshop tug which she thought looked cute. My Hydrovane compressor is looking a bit ex works, but pleased with how it looks - I was even able to pick out the logo with some careful dry brushing. Till next time

Thanks for the kind comments Steve. Good to see another small space layout on the forum. Whilst at times I dream of having mainline passenger trains whizzing round a continuous layout, the reality is it would cost a lot in time, money and space. As it is, there is an element of dithering and back to the future with Swindelton but I enjoy the process, improving and learning new skills, and actually having somewhere to display and photograph my models. I'd rather have something than nothing at all, and have learnt to appreciate what i have. However, O gauge is addictive - I do have to be strict in what i buy, but the reality is i do have more rolling stock than I actually need!

Swindelton does not allow my collection to stretch their legs. I don't belong to any clubs but stumbled across a local club that has occasional running sessions, so thought I'd give it a go. There is something therapeutic about trains going round and round, even on a plain test track. Assuming it works, the following short clips are not going to win any Oscars but show a few things I had running. Till next time

The ambient temperature in the garage was quite pleasant, so today was a 'doing' day, mainly spent re-ballasting some of the track work following previous modifications. I installed a few catch pits and the Eagle eyed might spot that some tarmac has been laid near the sea container in the yard. Now just got to wait for the glue to dry before tidying up.

Randomly I aquired something completely out of era, and out of character for me. Ordered Saturday morning for a bargin price and it arrived unexpectedly today - a Sunday. Very good service from Rails and DPD. Although a bit of an odd ball, it's a nice model and I think I have a plan for it in the future - another project! Seen filling up for a running-in session. I probably should have done this earlier in the remodelling of the shed, but I finally bit the bullet and cut out a section to create a service pit. The pit was built with scrap foam board, plastic strip and brick sheet. I painted and lightly aged the brickwork before fitting. Quite pleased with it. The new visitor sits outside the shed, waiting for its next duty. Seen light engine later in the day. Till next time.

Well 2024 has already started with a surprise. My wife kept saying i was going deaf and i've had some annoying tinnitus in my left ear. Turns out i have unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear. Interestingly at the frequency that includes female voices - lol. Next step is an MRI to try and find out if there is an underlying cause. Annoyingly they said try not to worry or do any Google searches, but then could not give a timescale for the MRI appointment. They did say if I had private health insurance it would be beneficial to get it done sooner. Needless to say I don't and I've not heard anything yet - excuse the pun! So, to keep my mind occupied, I've been working on the replacement Swindelton shed. Following on from the last post I fitted the internal and external embossed brickwork, and weathered it a little too. I was hoping to reuse the corrugated sheets from the original shed, but in the end it was easier to start again. I cut out all that I needed, painted and lightly weathered the sheets. it took a while to align and attach the panels but its looking quite good. I'm also experimenting with a different approach to the backscene. I used a grey and white to create a stormy sky. I need to resolve this, not least to get rid of the creases in the backscene at the bridge end of Swindelton. The inside view looks good too. The next job is to do the glazing. Till next time.

It was a bit cold in the garage today - a tropical 6 degrees! Got it to 10 with the fan heater. Made some further progress on the replacement MK2 Swindelton shed. All the framework was finished ready for primer. I really enjoyed constructing this and it's definately better than my first attempt. This view will look good when it's complete. I had to warm up the primer before giving the framework a coat of paint. Next job to reinstate the cladding and brick walls. Till next time.

Since I lengthened Swindelton, as indicated by the gap in the backscene below, I decided to re-do the maintenance shed. I've learnt some lessons from the previous build so this one will be slightly larger but better. I've salvaged bits from the first go, mainly the corrugated roof and wall panels. In theory I should now be able to have several locos on shed/ display. The previous shorter version of Swindelton only really allowed one loco. As before the shed is scratch built using evergreen plastic strip. Improvements to the new shed include more sturdier columns. Also i'm using plasticard for the floor this time, as previously i'd used modelling clay which was a messy faff. I've painted the fueling point though still need to work on the hardstanding. Another Christmas present from my lovely wife were drainage catch pit kits. They look pretty good after painting. Seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment - my 2024 New years resolution was to try and get Swindelton finished/ up to a good standard. let's see how this progresses. I will definately have to re-visit the backscene. Till next time.

One of my other Christmas presents from my lovely wife was a lining pen. I'm off on annual leave and the weather is poor, so thought I'd give it a go today, though not necessarily for its intended purpose. This was my first go on my repurposed Dapol milk tanker. I used the smallest nib and some Humbrol enamel paint and it was not too bad. The font is a little large so I've wiped it off for another go. Might have to practice writing smaller though. Mentioned elsewhere in RM Web, I've also been improving my TTAs by removing duplicate detail and vacuum pipes, painting buffer shanks, steps, axle boxes on the BP wagon, fitting spare Heljan air pipes, and swapping brake levers so both these examples have one of each type and not two of the same lever per wagon. will have to try and do some weathering. Happy new year.

Hello Mol, The underside of all the examples i have is the same i.e appear to have air tanks? I have an esso one with the earlier suspension (photo below) which in theory should be vacuum braked I think? - the intention was to have a go at modifying this one to suite and make it a bit grotty for mid 80s. HTH Chris

I was looking forward to these being released. I'm no expert but they do seem to be a bit generic though, which does not help my OCD, but which i guess is inevitable given all the various original builds and the liveries offered by Dapol. I have a few examples of the TTAs or perhaps TTVs given they come with a vacuum pipe - maybe they are suffering from an identity crisis. I've looked at too many photos trying to work out what Dapol have done - it could drive you mad. So I decided to do some modelling and make them my own. First I painted lamp irons and bottom steps white, and buffer shanks silver. I painted over the yellow axle boxes on my BP example- not the correct shade but it will get weathered later. I found some spare Heljan air pipes supplied with my past class 25 purchase so fitted these too. The vacuum pipe easily came out - I've not bothered filling the hole and just touched up with some black paint. Then there was the issue with the break levers....... (a subtle difference corrected in photo below). What I really could not get my head around was the brake levers. On the BP example it had two levers with the crank bits, where as the lubricant producer had two plain levers without the cranks (see photos below). The other models also appear to have issues with their levers. After studying many photos it generally appears to be the case there should be one of each and specific to each side of the wagon- I can only assume this is a production line issue? I have visions of someone thinking that will do, no one will notice! Luckily the glue is not strong, so I was able to swap an example over so each wagon has been improved - you just need to make sure you fit the correct lever for the side being modelled - hope this makes sense. I have another TTA to modify so will have to source or fabricate another lever - don't fancy buying another wagon for the purpose of swapping levers. Another modification I've done is to remove the duplicate load sensing valve (?) and lever from the side without the additional break rigging. Again the glue was not strong and I kept the cylinder, and fitted it from within to fill the hole in the frame- see photo below. I then painted and touched up as required. Looking at prototype photos it looks like there should be some additional detail here on this side of the wagon, perhaps why there is some empty fixing lugs in the frame? As mentioned at the start I'm no expert. I've done some modelling to improve my TTAs. I'm aware there are still detail issues with the model if comparing to a specific prototype. Please do your own research if you have any doubts. However, they are better than anything I could have built in the time I have available. Looking forward to weathering. Hope this was of interest/ use.

So my wonderful wife got me a few bits for Christmas. With the small modification to Swindelton I now have space to accommodate a fueling point, which allows a couple of locos to be out on display. She kindly got me the skytrex kit and it's a work in progress- it's just been primed ready for painting, but fits quite nicely in the overall scheme of things. I also got some other detailing bits from West hill wagon works which i've primed. The compressor is quite a nice print. Till next time.

Im not good at buying stuff for others - instead I got distracted and got a couple of early Christmas presents for myself. For some variety i fancied a bit of colour so these arrived. I certainly have a few projects for the future. I fancy modelling a really grotty TTA - something for next year maybe. I'm beginning to think the Dapol TTA is a modern equivalent of the 6 wheeled milk tankers. For the purists there are several detail errors if comparing with the actual specific prototype. They seem to have created a generic TTA in different liveries. There would probably be a market for some alternative detailing parts. On another note the detail feels more fragile on the TTA compared to the Heljan PCA. The suspension/ compensated chassis is better on the PCA too. For fun I put the image in a negative filter and the liveries are reversed. Till next time.

Life, work and mountain biking have got in the way recently. A re-boot visiting a couple of local model railway shows and Warley, has got me working on Swindelton. I made a difficult decision to rip up part of the track work and re-work it. The scenic section was only 6 feet and had some compromises. I've extended it by just under two feet by utilising some of the hidden storage incorporated on the left side. It's still a work in progress. It has meant moving a couple of points and having to rewire bits aswell. Whilst at Warley I made an impulse buy on a Cargo Wagon- it was practically brand new and for a good price. I ddn't realise how big these are. Other additions include some nice shiny new PCAs. These are really nice. Till next time.

Hello Steve, i had re-painted my tank wagon and used satin varnish. From watching various videos, there seems to be differing opinions on what finish works best when doing oil dot weathering/ fading or filtering. What I have learnt is to try and remove excess linseed oil from the oil paint before use, by putting a blob on some scrap cardboard - It soaks it up. This seems to help with adhesion and drying times. If the brush you use for blending or streaking is too wet with Sansodor or white spirit, it will just remove what you've done. With the tank wagon I applied the sansodor to the tank and added oil dots and streaked with a dry brush, and tried to keep the brush as dry as possible. Others seem to add the oil dots to a dry finish surface and wet the brush to blend and streak. Like you I've practised a few times and had a bit of trial and error. At least if it goes wrong it's possible to remove with white spirit etc and start again. My VEA looked like it had measles when I tried this technique on it! I also used the technique to age my conflat container to create an engineers store. Once applied you need to ensure adequate drying time to stop you inadvertently rubbing it off too. HTH