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paulprice

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  1. paulprice

    Sad news

    By paulprice,

    This is Tim, the Domestic Overlord. Paul died last Wednesday. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to come on and post this before. We were together for a long time, and I know just how much he loved modelling and loved being able to get things just as he wanted them. I'd like this blog to stay up here if that's okay by the administrators.
  2. paulprice
    Before the Domestic Overlord and I went off to spend a few days deep in SR/GWR teritory, I had a little look on Evilbay. Lately I have noticed in model shops that Farish Stanier coaches have been selling for over £30 each, which as excellent as the coaches are is getting a bit dear (especially if you are as tight as me).
     
    By luck though I managed to find two auctions on the old Evilbay for packs of two coaches each with a starting price of £30 dabs, I thought they would go for a lot more but I made a bid on each and to my surprise I won both auctions and so had four more coaches in my grubbby hands.

    So the question was how long would the two 1st/3rd Composites and the two 3rd brakes stay factory fresh and untouched by my dirty paint brushes, the answer was not very long.
     
    When weathering my stock I dont use an airbrush for my carnage, just simple old paint brushes, with me the simpler the process the better. The first area I like to work on is the roofs as from usual viewing positions this is the first area you tend to notice. What I like to do is to try and get away from the uniformed look of out of box stock, plus if you look at prototype photograps they only appear like this when first built.
     
    The first stage of the process I use, I think is called pre-shading by our Aeroplane modelling chums, its probably not how they would do it but it works for me. Taking a black or very dark grey paint I roughly paint the panel lines on the roof of each coach and paint a few of the ventilators. It helps that you paint the lines rough and ready as for me it works better than if you try a uniformed look.

    Once you have created the Zebra look its time to let the paint dry and worry if you have ruined the coaches, but it is not too late if your nerves fail to just repaint the roofs with a unformed grey colour, as for me as I always say what could possibly go wrong so I continued.
     
    The next stage was to mix some suitable grey paints and after they have been thined down a little so they are nice and thin I start to paint over the Zebra stripes so that they very subtly show through (anyone who knows me knows I struggle with anything subtle :)).
     
    After a little work the 1st/3rd Composites looked like this.

    The Brake 3rd's looked like this hopefully all with a slightly different shade to their roofs?

    If you do it right, or I should say if you do it like me the Zebra stripes should just be visible on the roofs along the panel lines giving the effect of a rood stained by a life in revenue earning service.

    Once the four coaches had been completed they were put side by side to see if the variations in the roofs had been different enough between each coach (I have some on the fleet that are almost black). As I had set out to portray some stock that is relatively clean and not long out of the works the more lightly coloured roofs are okay for this project.
     
    What I need to do now is apply some weathering to their underframes, sides and roof's but that can wait for another installment, now there is a threat ANOTHER installment
     
    Appolgies if I am just showing old techniques that maybe shold have been left in the past (people say that about me) and if I have offended any Aeroplane modellers with my rip off of their techniques I am truly sorry.
     
    As ever until the next time as ever Happy Modelling
     
     
     
     

  3. paulprice
    Well a few days away last week witht he Domestic Overlord and our two dogs meant that progress on the Workbench of Doom came to a hault, but getting up to North Yorkshire is always a good thing in my view. Even better though because naturally I am always a good boy the Domestic Overlord decicded to treat me and I now have a an additional coaches to the my passenger stock.
     
    Anyway I digress, before we went away on our little trip I managed to do a little more lining to the splashers on my last two Jubilee's and add this to the other one that has been clogging up the Workbench of Doom.
     
    So impressed was I with the progress I decided to get a move on and actually give the locomotives their identities, thats where I hit a wall as I could not decide which of the many options to portray (I think this is the modelling Gods way of saying get more Jubilee's :)) This is where the Domestic Overlord stepped in, remarkably not to shout at me for having too many locomotives but to actually select the names for the actual locomotives.

    So now No's 5641 Sandwhich, 5702 Colossus and 5730 Ocean have or will soon be added to the fleet, all too apparent in the photograhs are a few areas that need to be touched up, its strange how they appear obvious in photo's but not to the naked eye so much. I tend as projects are progressing of taking pictures just to see of there are areas that are not so good, its a tip I was taught years ago.

    So whats next to do? the first job is to get the nameplates sorted and then I think they will all receive a little or even a lot of weathering to not onlly hide the ropey lining but also represent typical LMS loco's in the 30's-40's some of them appeared very very grimy, oh and they need a crew.
     
    I only have the lining for a Princess to finish then all my attention will be on future "plain black" locomotives, so it will be simple freight locomotives for me, well maybe I should consider some plain black Jubilee's.
     
    So the good news is there should not be many more posts on these Jubilee's which must be a relief for anyone who has read the previous ones. Hang on I think I have been had, if the Domestic Overlord helped me select the names for these three, when we went through the list of Jubilee names, I may have said "already got that one" for the nine examples in the fleet. DOES THIS MEAN THE DOMESTIC OVERLORD HAS WORKED OUT HOW MANY I HAVE HELP
     
    Until the next time, if I will ever see a next time, Happy Modelling
     
     
     
     
  4. paulprice
    Well I must be mad, I have the proof even though I admit it myself, the Domestic Overlord was right I am as nutty as a Squirrels tummy, how have I reached this conclusion? I tried to  line the splasher's on two of the Jubilee's clogging up my WORKBENCH of DOOM
     
    I had tried a couple of times to line the splasher's before but it was not really a success so I put off the process, well today as the Domestic Overlords ban on me using superglue is still active I got my trusty bow pen out, gave my left hand a stern talking to add a little more lining to the locomotives. I thought what could really go wrong, if the worst thing happens I make a complete mess of it and ruin two locomotives or if Im lucky actually take a step closer to finishing the loco's I will let you decide which outcome I have achieved.

    I'm not naturally left handed so I have found this process to be quite exhausting and very slow but its getting there, I have to admit to a bit of a cheat though. The splasher's should have a black line outside the yellow line, I had previously tried to paint the black line but I could not get it fine enough so I think the loco's will just have to do without it. If you look at previous posts on the painting of these Jubilees you will see where I have managed to paint the correct black/yellow lines you will probably agree I have made the right decision.
     
    I still have to apply the yellow lines at the bottom of the slasher's but after managing to line the cylinders and boiler my hands were shaking beyond control so I gave up, still two of the three locomotives are getting there.

    There is still a lot of lining needing to be completed (on the footsteps and tender under frame) though I may just leave these areas unlined and hide them under a decent coat of grime, which may extend to several other areas on the locomotives.
     
    Going forward I think if I ever decide to add anymore passenger locomotives to the fleet they will definitely be painted un wartime unlined black, if not I think I may have to retire my old trusty bow pen and try and get a more modern finer one, who would have thought N gauge modelling would be so much fun
     
    I still have no idea on what identities to apply to these loco's but I must admit it gives me a very good excuse to do some research, well just reading some more railway books.
     
    Anyway I think I need a lie down in a nice dark room, so until the next time as ever Happy Modelling
  5. paulprice
    Before I started my rehab I use to fine lining N gauge locomotives a challenge, but armed with my trusty old bow pen I sort of just got on with it. I have now realised I was wrong, lining locomotives in N gauge is easy, that is if you compare it to the challenge of using your non dominant hand to do it.
     
    It has taken a massive amount of effort to use my finest paint brushes with my left hand to aid in the lining process, but trying to use my bow pen has nearly sent me completely over the edge. The Domestic Overlord apparently is use to me muttering away to myself in the past as he has checked on my modelling progress but over the last few weeks apparently I have even been having arguments with myself and using some new "industrial" language to boot.

    Its taken a huge amount of time compared to my usual pre Hospital speed, but I have managed to get some of the lining completed on my LAST two Jubilees but there is a huge amount still waiting to be applied. I have attempted to apply lining on the splasher's a couple of times but it beyond me at the moment as its a near impossible task (for the moment I think the challenge may be fun) its amazing how much lining these LMS locomotives had, I may have to consider how much I can hide with a spot of weathering.

    Progress on the tenders seemed to progress more easily, and I have even managed to apply the LMS branding again and fan of the only true railway company will realise that there is a huge amount of lining that I really should apply to the tender frames, and the camera certainly shows the areas where my shaky hands have messed up the yellow lines. These locomotives will definitely not be finished in pristine ex-works condition, but will have some degree of weathering and should when completed be good background locomotives for the fleet.

    The third Jubilee in the picture is one that has sat on the workbench since before I went into hospital but was requiring LMS branding, which se has finally received, its getting near to the stage when I will have to think about which identities to apply to these locomotives, and find where I safely stored the nameplates for some of the other Jubilees in the collection (I definitely put them somewhere safe so they would not get lost, I've just forgotten where that is for the moment).
     
    So that that's the current state of play with the locomotives at the moment, I think one of them may become 5581 but its not decided yet, please someone out there help.
     
    I think that is about it for the latest blog entry, so I think this is a good point to end it, I mean if you think about it I cant really have been doing any serious modelling as in the past few weeks I have not glued my fingers together, of spray painted my hand, or had some form of electrical incident so I must try harder and see if I can rectify the situation. As ever until the next time Happy Modelling
     
     
     
     
  6. paulprice
    Well to try and keep my sanity while trying to line the 2 crimson Jubilees clogging up the workbench, I thought I would turn my attention to a couple of more mundane locomotives clogging up the bench.
     
    A few months back I managed to get my hands on a Union Mills G2, but the poor was in a terrible BR livery, so the first thing I did was to remove all traces of this livery, as I thought it would be a easy task to re number and rebrand her as a decent LMS loco. Then my health kicked me in the plums and all progress on her stopped, well as part of my rehab I thought I would see if I could put my useless right arm to task and finish the project.

    I have managed to renumber her as a locally based loco, and applied a little "dirty black" to the relevant areas, what I still have to do is shorten the wire between the loco and tender and put a crew in the cab, fit some lamps and then I may add some real coal to the tender. As this is a bit of a pet loco, I may not weather her but a little grime below the footplate may be in order. Since this photo has been taken the dirty back areas have been tidied up and the coupling rods painted a more suitable dirty steel colour (I have problems uploading the newer pics :()
     
    Now I don't know why, but I like one of the other LMS 7F's the ones that looked like a stretched 4F and I managed to construct 2 already for the fleet, but I had a modified 8 coupled chassis knocking about, and again a few months ago I sort of started building a 3rd example. My research showed that the LMS had a water heating variant, and they looked very, very ugly. What more could I want so I set about trying to create a model of one, like most of my modelling it looks a lot better if you close your eyes.

    I still have a little more work to do, like adding steps, and coal and sorting out the buffer beams, and maybe a lot more weathering but she is getting there. I must admit I have not seen another example of this variant in N gauge, and looking at my version I can see why. Still its good to add another freight loco to the fleet, though I may have to slow future additions down a little and there is yet another 4F and a 3F to bolster the collection (I have no idea how the Domestic Overlord has not killed me yet).

    So that is about it, all I need to do no is give them a decent run, that is if I am ever allowed to get my layout out of storage, or if I can manage getting along to the Railway club.
     
    If I ever get them completed before the DO kills me I may post completed pictures on here, now if that threat does not scare you nothing will
     
    As ever Happy Modelling
  7. paulprice
    Well not long before my 2.5 months in Hospital over the Christmas period (a good excuse for me not to buy any presents BAR HUMBUG) I managed to secure another bargain Jubilee. As usual this poor loco was in a terrible BR Green livery, I have no idea why the manufactures keep doing this, I mean they cannot be popular can they?
     
    My plan was to repaint the poor Jube into a decent LMS livery, and jut before I could do this I ended up staying with the fantastic NHS, since I have been home my rehabilitation has been going ok but I still have limited control over my right arm, so instead of filling my time catching up on things that I could actually do, I spent some time on EvilBay and guess what I rescued another Jubilee.
     
    So what to do with them, should I have packed them away until my full abilities return, or should I try something different? While I was contemplating this I noticed that I actually had a left arm that was not really doing anything so I thought it was time it earned a living.
     
    With a little effort I managed to remove all the terrible BR lining and emblems and got the Jubilee bodies ready for some undercoat, so impressed with my progress I even managed to get them both in a crimson coat, and a few of their black bits painted.

    As you can see there is a lot of areas that need a touch up, and then I can start to consider the lining, now can I use my bow pen with my left hand? Still it will give me plenty of time to work out which identities to assign to the pair, any ideas?
     
    One thing is for certain is that these are my last two Jubilee's as if I get any more the DO might do me an injury? Perhaps I should start to concentrate on simple black engines?
     
    So until the next time as ever Happy Modelling
     
     
  8. paulprice
    Well after nearly a two and a half month stay in Hospital, thanks to the fantastic and severely under appreciated NHS I have survived and live to write more blogs.
     
    I really cant find the words to thank all the staff who looked after me and went above and beyond to provide me with the care and treatment I needed.
     
    I have a long period of rehab ahead of me, in learning to walk again, regain control of my right arm, and build up my muscle mass again but this is a small price to pay,
     
    So the bad news is as a type this with a very shaky left hand is that I wont be able to do any modelling for a long time to come, the good news for many of the people who read my blogs is that I wont be doing any modelling for a long while to come
     
    So before I nod off again (this rehab is exhausting) a massive thanks to anyone involved with the fantastic NHS, we are truly very lucky and should be very grateful that we have such and organisation to look after us. I literally owe them my life
  9. paulprice
    Well a couple of weeks ago, with the full permission of the fantastic Domestic Overlord I managed to add another crimson jubilee to the fleet, by rescuing her from Evil Bay at a very reasonable cost.
     
    She sat at the back of the workbench of doom for a couple of weeks while I got on with a few other jobs and decided on which identity to allocate to her, well the waiting is over, her identity has been chosen and her numbers applied.

    Now this should have been the last Jubilee to enter the fleet, and at this point I should have been thinking about maybe applying a little weathering, a crew etc. Surely nine is enough Jubilee's for anyone, but I have sort of slipped up, to be fair though I was acting on a mission of mercy. I don't know why people keep doing it, as its seems totally wrong to me, but they keep turning up in terrible BR liveries.

    So purely for humanitarian reasons I found this poor lady on Evil Bay and for a mere £40 I just has to save her, by adding her to my fleet, a couple of minutes work on her chassis saw her running as sweet as a nut, so they just left her terrible Green coat.

    I good application of grey undercoat, to my eyes was already a vast improvement to the Brunswick green I found her in and provides a good foundation to the final finishing coat. A little work with my trusty rattle can, and this time all the paint actually covered the loco and not my hand, or the wall, or the work bench and she is ready to have her black bits applied, and then lining that is if my hand spasms will stop long enough to let me, this could be a long wait.

    One thing though this is definitely my last jubilee, and I mean it, no matter how cheap they are I don't need anymore, that would just be silly and greedy, so until the next time as ever Happy Modelling
  10. paulprice
    I don't know how I managed to do it, but from out of the blue I found some modelling time today, so I decided to see if I could make a little more progress on the locomotives clogging up the WORKBENCH of DOOM.
     
    Previously I had got the Princess to the stage, were I thought a coat of primer was needed to give her a little dignity at least. Today I got a little further, in the process of getting her ready to enter the fleet.
     
    I managed to spray a nice coat of crimson onto her today and she is now at the stage where I can consider painting all her black bits, and she has a lot of them and that's before I even look t her tender. One I have done this I will mix up some of my favourite dirty black and apply it to her smokebox and cab roof, then I will be at the stage where I will consider starting to line her.

    I also spent a little time on her chassis, I am happy with the front bogie, all I have to do is finish its mounting, and the mounting for the chassis to the body, and then the trailing truck, and then the tender, this list is endless.
     
    Flushed with my success of applying a coat of crimson and not getting any on me, my next two victims where lined up to get a coat of black, the first was the Duchess I have been working on. I was considering finishing her off in works grey, attached to a streamlined tender, but being more practical I thought I would paint her in wartime unlined black, this has nothing to do with avoiding lining her honest

    The problem is I'm now thinking that maybe I really need another crimson locomotive so she may be re-sprayed but maybe I will change my mind again. The other loco to get a black coat was the 7F water heater variant I have been working on (I know she has a wonky handrail I will fix that).

    When I finally get time to finish her, that will make three Fowler 7F's in the collection, which I think is more than enough, plus there are other LMS 7F's to build so at least it will take my attention away from top link locomotives (if you consider a Princess to be one?).
     
    So there you have it, three locomotives at the painting stage, there is still a lot of work to complete on them, but they are getting there, if it is a very slow process. Not quite at the stage of applying a top coat, a little more time was spent on my Prince of Wales tank, I have done a little work on the chassis, and lowered the body to a suitable level, and sort of finalised a method I'm happy with for her leading wheels, the trailing wheels are still to be worked on.

    This is where the problems start, this loco will be finished in red lined black livery, but the more I work on her the more I like the locomotive, which has got me thinking, what if I build another, but finish her in LNWR condition, what if I start a little pre-grouping collection, I know I said in the past I did not want to line another loco, but LNWR and MR locomotives I mean there cant be much lining on them can there?
     
    So there you have the current state of play, if I ever get any more modelling time I may even make some more progress but for the moment this is how the WORKBENCH of DOOM looks.

    What could possibly go wrong, as ever until the next time Happy Modelling
  11. paulprice
    Well while the industrial accident investigators are still to allow the Price locomotive works to re-open, I have been doing some thinking. In the collection I have a total of 6 Duchess locomotives.
     
    Four of which I am pretty happy with, they still need a few little tweaks but they represent locomotives in the following conditions.
     
    1 x In original build condition pre-smoke deflectors (crimson).
    1 x Smoke deflector fitted (crimson).
    2 x Semi-condition (post war lines black)
     
    That leaves me with 2 examples that have been pretty much untouched apart from their mechanisms having a good service and clean.

    So the question is what to do with the remaining two? One is in crimson just needs a little finishing if I can decide on her identity, the other is in the original terrible Farish lined black (the one with the yellow/greenish lining) so really is overdue for a repaint.
     
    Without creating a Streamlined example (its on my to-do list but not for a good while yet) how do I add a little interest to the fleet, obviously being an LMS modeller they will never see a drop of that terrible green paint applied to them, but what to do?
     
    Should I go down the wartime plain black livery, with a good application of grime? do I paint one in works grey? or do I try and represent an example pulling an ex-stream liner tender?
     
    For the stream lined tender option I can remember seeing relevant photo's in some of my reference books, but I cannot remember which ones, but the good news is it gives me an excuse to read my books again, if you have any suggestions I would be grateful to hear them.
     
    In the meantime as ever Happy Modelling
  12. paulprice
    Well despite the reputation of the Work Bench of DOOM, I ignored the many, many warnings issued especially by the Domestic Overlord and ploughed into a production shift.
     
    The Princess I'm trying to build is getting to the stage I should start to maybe consider giving her a coat of primer, that is if you ignore all the filler I will have to apply to various places to try and improve some of the more ropey areas (quite a lot of them). Anyway I thought it was a good idea to see if she would fit onto her intended chassis, and how much alteration work I had ahead of me.

    I'm still not too sure how I feel about the Princess locomotives, but while I decide if I actually like them or not, which could take a while when she is completed (whenever that may be) she will fill a gap in my collection.
     
    Now I have to admit, as much as I like LMS express passenger locomotives, so may say I have an obsession with them (Jubilee's) I kind of have a thing for havy freight locomotives, I thought I would do a little bit more on my water heater 7F (does this mean its a kettle with a kettle?). I needs a lot of filler applying to fix a few issues, well a lot of issues, but the major adaptions have been fitted.

     
    So the Beast and the Beast saw a fair bit of progress, but the real modelling will have to start on the two of them soon, at least with the 7F I can hide the bad modelling under a lot of weathering, but for the Princess........

     
    The fact that I seemed to make a little progress, rather than acting as a warning spurred me onto to look at the other locomotives in the production queue and the Work Bench of DOOM waited for the ideal moment to strike. While I did a little work on the Prince of Wales tank the Work Bench sat there watching and waiting.

     
    Sensing the ideal moment the Work Bench pounced, one of the little effect from my condition is that I often get cramps/spasms/tremors in various parts of my body but more annoyingly in my hands, and today it happened as I was moving a craft knife.

    It could have been a lot worst, but after applying intentionally this time a large amount of superglue to my fingers to stem the jets of blood, and having picked up my 12 severed fingers, I noticed two things. One is my blood is remarkably similar to LMS crimson, which is handy being an LMS modeller and two it has better coverage than some of the paints I have in stock

    Still the Flatiron has seen its construction advance a little, pity I already have a fully lined crimson in the collection, and this one is supposed to be in black. So before I reattached my fingers I thought I would tidy up the Work Bench of DOOM, and clean the blood splatters up from the carpet before the DO found out, and because I was a little bored.

    So before I lose any more body parts I think I will put off any modelling for a while, at least until my fingers grow back, they will grow back won't they? As ever Happy Modelling
  13. paulprice
    Well my stock taking continues, and the number of locomotives I forgot I had is slowly increasing, which is good news I think?
     
    Before the stock count I thought I had 5 Duchess locomotives, but it turns out that I actually have 6, I had a very vague memory of finding a bargain Duchess in the old Farish lined black livery (you know the one with the yellow/green lining). I honestly thought though that I had converted this into a "Semi" and painted it into Post War lined black but apparently I didn't.

    So this means I have two original built examples, two "Semi" locomotives, one in the process of being finished in lined crimson and the extra black one, the question is what to do with this one? I could take the easy route and just paint her in overall plain war time black, but where would be the fun in that.
     
    So just to even up the fleet a little, despite them not being my favourite LMS locomotive (they look a little too GWRish to me) I can feel a princess build coming on. The problem is for such a small class they had quite a lot of variation in their motion brackets, but I think if I look at maybe using a Std 4 motion the brackets sort of look to my eyes at least like the GW-ish ones one a couple of prototypes.
     
    If this idea takes a more physical form I may post some updates on here, now if that is not a treat, sorry I mean THREAT I don't know what is?
     
    Oh before I go off to the world of domestic servitude, to keep the Domestic Overlord happy, thanks to the influence of some of the chaps on here, my latest Jubilee has arrived.

    Despite what lots of people say, its still possible to find a bargain on EvilBay, as this example appears never to have been run, and was in mint boxed condition, until the Girls helped open the parcel for me

    The big thing not is do I leave here in Crimson, or do I repaint her into Post war LMS black, oh and what example to turn her into?
     
    Until next time as ever Happy Modelling
  14. paulprice
    Well thanks to a little coercion from various people on here (you know who you are) I have secured another Jubilee from EvilBay for the fleet. Being a very very good Boy I told the Domestic Overlord what I had done, and I was told that it does not matter as I could have as many trains as I wanted, HOW Lucky am I?
     
    Anyway before I go on a mad Jubilee shopping spree (don't worry it wont happen, as I like having money I have not used yet too much) I thought I would start a proper stock count of the collection, and so I started with the box that had my Jubes in. Maybe I's going mad but I thought I only had 7, as it happens I have 8 plus the one soon to be delivered (lets hope its not a dog).

    I have to say personally the Jubilees are one of the most beautiful loco's ever built and that the only livery that suited these machines was Crimson, but having repainted two of them into Post War lined black I think this livery really suites them.
     
    So two questions remain to be answered, do I repaint the latest addition to the fleet into post war black? and how do I tell the Domestic Overlord I found a Black 5 and Royal Scott I sort of forgot I had
     
    If there is one thing I have learnt though today is that stock counting your collection may not be a good idea, and I've only counted one box.
     
    As ever until the next time Happy Modelling
  15. paulprice
    I probably won't have long to type this post before the Domestic Overlord, or as he will be known from now as the Prison Guvnor confiscates my laptop as well as everything else
     
    I am normally too sensible to believe in all these conspiracy theories that keep going around and around and usually put them down to cranks with nothing better to do, BUT now I see them as the work of true visionaries who want nothing more than to help humanity and people like me
     
    I never thought I would find a conspiracy so close to home though, and one it appears masterminded by the Domestic Overlord, I may be wrong and over reacting, but if you read what follows I'm sure you will agree with me (which opens up a whole new can of worms).
     
    Saturday Morning - It begins.
     
    After walking into the local town centre with the DO, on the way back seeing as it was still relatively early it was suggested we had a spot of breakfast as a treat (it does not matter who suggested it, I mean it could have been me but that is not the issue ) as the DO agreed we went into a nearby purveyor of fried products and I was soon confronted by this.

    As I happily munched through my breakfast the DO and I spoke about many things, one of the topics being House Hunting, and storage, then the penny started to drop. I was being manipulated with the help of some fried chuckie eggs down a very dark path. I asked myself how can you actually House Hunt, Houses are everywhere and they don't move, you can literally leave your house, turn to the neighbours house and there you go its a House hunt over.
     
    Anyway being a good boy, despite it nearly being a sausage too far, I cleared my plate, and being fully fuelled with backed beans (should be called fart fuel) I waddled off home with the DO, not long before we reached Price mansions, the DO asked if Foster Street would fit in 50 square feet, to which I replied of course with room to spare.
     
    Saturday Early Afternoon - the plan evolves.
     
    On Friday the DO very kindly bought me two new plastic storage boxes for my trains, so I thought I would spend a little time putting the old ones into order, and adding a couple of recent stock additions to the relevant trays. Whilst I was doing this the DO appeared, and quite helpfully asked if the boards for Lugsdale road would fit into the car as he thought maybe it was a little too large.
     
    Now as I know my planning skills and legendary, and I never make stupid mistakes, I said I knew they would fit without even trying, but if it meant the DO would be happy I would test fit them. Just to prove my planning and design was dare I say perfect, I decided to illustrate how easily they were to more around, within a short period I had them both sitting in the old JamJar.
     
    Being the sweet and innocent little Angel that I am, I never saw anything suspicious in what came next, the DO suggested that seeing as we were already near the car, we might as well just nip out to sort out a few things before we took the boards out of the car again. Knowing that the DO has nothing more than my well being at heart, and being very supportive and loving I thought nothing more of it, fired up the JamJar and off we went.
     
    Saturday Early Afternoon - the trap is sprung.
     
    Following the directions from the DO I happily drove to our destination, to a place called "You Store" or something, when I went inside with the DO there was a very nice lady inside who said she wanted a layout like Lugsdale road for herself, but was not sure if it would fit in her train room, so she asked if I could see if it would fit. Of course being nice I soon had the boards out of the car and inside her train room to see if they would fit.

     
    Now call me slow, but this is when I started to smell like Captain Birdseye something fishy, the train room did not have any carpet strange I thought but who am I to judge. It was then I looked up and it all fell into place, the train room had now ceiling, in fact it was not a room at all it was a prison, for Trains, and worst still MY TRAINS.

    Panic overtook me and I frantically looked for the door, and then I realised there was no door handle on the inside, thankfully the door opened and I got out, and found the DO waiting outside ready to calm me down. When I was asked what all the fuss was about and I said I could have been locked inside for ever, I was told that was silly, as sooner or later someone would let me out (how lucky am I being looked after like that )
     
    Even better to stop accidentally being locked in there, the DO would keep padlock and only key safe so I would not have to worry about losing it .
     
    Sunday Morning - I cant handle the truth.
     
    Last night while I pretended to be asleep I reviewed the events of the day, and I may be wrong but my trains have been sent to Train prison, will I be next?, who can I trust to help me?, will they or me ever see the light of the train room again?
     
    Im not stupid though, I can dig an escape tunnel, the fact that the Train Prison is on the second floor, will just mean the Prison Guvnor will never suspect my cunning plan...........
     
    Until the next time............
  16. paulprice
    Apparently its a Bank Holiday weekend, and we all know what that means........yes your right having to take your better half round IKEA, well I'm sure there are people out there who actually like visiting Ikea, but I bet they also think the world is flat, or even flat packed. I on the other hand do not count myself amongst the fruitcakes so have a healthy aversion to the place.
     
    The Domestic Overlord thinks its a good place (I'm not saying he's a fruitcake...honest), so we are planned to visit the place tomorrow, and because I'm a little angel I will go along without any form of external protest (but in inside I will be plotting ).
     
    This has meant that I managed to get a little modelling time in today, well when I say modelling time I really mean destruction and near accident time. I thought I would maybe lay some cork for the track bed fir Lugsdale Road but when I looked at the layout my attention was drawn to my workbench of DOOM which is looking more like a scrapyard.
     
    Scrap Metal 1 Trams
    If you have been following my updates on Lugsdale Road (you poor fools) you will know that I am aiming to have working trams on the layout, I mean how hard could it be? Taking what I thought would be the easy route, I managed to get 3 of the old Typhoo promotional trams from evil bay for next to nothing thinking this would save me a lot of time and effort, I was wrong .

    After the use of one of my favourite tools of mass destruction, I managed to cut the die cast chassis away and thin the sides and do all this with my fingers still attached as they should be, well that was just on the first Tram. Happy I sprayed a coat of primer over the body and my hand to see if there were any blemishes and it highlighted at least the need for a manicure. As for the Trams thought I decided to open out the solidly cast upper deck windows at each end and thin the insides more to make glazing easier, so all three have had this treatment though I'm still working on opening the widows out.
     
    Oh and I have no idea what colours to paint them in??????????
     
    Scrap Metal 2 Midland Flat Iron
     
    I already have a Flatiron in the fleet, and managed to finish her in fully lined crimson, which was a bit of a task, but once complete I swore no more Flatirons, but a bargain Evil bay purchase saw another one come into my hands. It was in a pretty ropey state and had been constructed with gallons of superglue, blue-tak and some weird yellow glue. Then the previous owner covered it in a strange rubber like paint, which was used also to fill the many gaps in the loco body, so I thought I would remove the paint and see what could be done, a few hours in my favourite stripper and this is what I was left with.

    Still its a start, and it will give me something to do, and if you think that's bad the chassis it came with needs a little attention to say the least, to make things worst I think she might end up in lined black (I must be mad).
     
    Scrap Metal 3 LMS 7F
     
    You may begin to notice a bit of a pattern here, but in the search for an eight coupled chassis for another project (LNWR G2) I stumbled across on Evil Bay someone's attempt to make a Fowler 7F from a Gem kit, the body was terrible and missing several parts but the chassis looked ok. A very cheeky offer was made and it was mine, when it arrived the body was a ruff and as a Badgers supply of sand paper, but the chassis ran as sweet as a nut. The problem was though the pole pieces where riveted so not easy to thin and shape without the risk of metal swarf getting into the motor, so it was put to one side.

    The body was thrown into the pot of stripper with the Flatiron and as can be seen from the results I have a lot to do, as I already have two 7Fs in the fleet, just to be different it may end up as the water pre-heat variant, certainly a distinctive looking modification.
     
    Scrap Metal 4 LNWR Prince of Wales 4-6-2T
     
    The final bit of scrap metal, is in the form of an old Langley Prince of Wales tank kit, that's been hanging around for a while, I even have a couple of chassis options for it. Compared to the other two piles of metal, this one does not seem too bad, famous last words, and again I don't know why I decided this, but even though they were found in plain black, this one will end up in fully lined black.

     

    So there you have it, the update from the work bench of DOOM, I mean its not that bad really is it, nice simple jobs, not a problem, they wont take long to finish, I mean how hard can it be? I mean I could just melt them all down and make a nice paperweight of something?

    Only one thing to say BRING ON IKEA I cant wait Until the next time as ever Happy Modelling
  17. paulprice
    Well this could be my last ever blog update, (I can hear the cheers from here already), because if the Domestic Overlord ever reads this I'm DEAD.
     
    Did you read that Mikkel my tragic demise may be imminent and I blame you for all of this, thanks to the encouragement I have managed to get a little modelling time, and I spent it playing with my cobbels.

    progress has not exactly been rapid, but I have managed to use up my supply of cobbles, I'm still not 100% happy with how it looks, but if I decide to keep them a lot of weathering may improve things.

    The problem with this meant I had to do some work on the tram that will run up and down the street, which meant I could get some of my weapon of mass destruction out from the DO's hiding place see what mischief I could get up to. The starting point was the old typhoo promotional tram from more years back that I care to remember.

    A little paint stripper, soon got the paint off the tram, which mean I could load my mini-drill up with a new cutting disc and I set to work.

    after a bit of cutting, I managed to keep all my fingers and got to the stage where I could drill out some of the blocked in upper widows and do a little clean up work with some small files. Progress was a little better than I thought it would be (its been weeks in the process so far) and I managed to get a little primer on the body and a test fit on the chassis and ITS ALIVE, IT ACTAULLY WORKS (Insert evil laugh here). The problem is I now have another two to work on

    The problem is I now have another two to work on

    This is not the reason the DO may kill me, well I don't think it is, but you can only be killed once? Anyway the reason I may be killed is that a recent Evil bay expedition has resulted in two Standard 4 tanks finding their way into my grubby little mitts. Now I only bought these for the chassis, but it got me thinking what use could I make of the bodies being an LMS only modeller?

    We wont mention the Midland Flatiron, LNWR G2 and the brace of Stanier coaches I have been secretly working on, well its been nice knowing you all, until the next time if there will be one Happy Modelling
  18. paulprice
    Well I managed to get some paint out today, and not the stuff you put on house walls but the stuff you put on models, if the Domestic Overlord finds out I will be in for it, but for the moment I am a painting God.
     
    I thought if I was lucky I might get the first coat of cream applied to the station buildings, if nothing else, and I actually achieved this and a little more besides. The process was helped by using acrylics, which still amaze me with how quick they dry.

    At this rate I will be able to consider applying a coat of maroon as some point soon, and then I can start on producing the LNWR pattern windows and doors, which will take an age because there are quite a few needed. Getting ahead of myself I even managed to cut a little track for the actual railway, which is a shock as I may end up with a model railway that actually has a railway on it

    While the paint was out I, the bank got a little attention, as I was not too happy with the original finish, I'm still not happy with it but its slowly getting there, and I suppose if worst comes to worst I can always cover it in a good coating of grot, is only to tone it down a little.

    The biggest progress made though was the actual laying of some more of the Tram track along the street, and the test fitting of some cobbles for the road surface.

    This has only been temporarily fitted as I'm still not sure if I want a coble finish or if I should go for an far easier tarmac/concrete finish. What is obvious though is the fact I have an awful lot to do, and this is just the first board. HELP
     
    Until next time as ever Happy Modelling
  19. paulprice
    Well despite MetrOLands very generous help on my last post, I am still having problems thinking about how I will wire the layout, I knew that Electro-frogs would be a little harder than my usual Insul-frog points but who would have thought it would be this hard?
     
    So any ideas, I have managed to scribble down the track plan, unless it changes again, it does not look that complicated does it? I think this weekend I may have to engaged my brain and work out this wiring mumbo jumbo.

    I must admit I'm quite keen to get track laying as it means I can get my soldering iron out, that is if the Domestic Overlord will give it back to me, I mean one little accident and its confiscated from me........... I mean if I get it back what could possibly go wrong?
     
    Until the next time, as ever Happy Modelling
  20. paulprice
    Well in one of my more recent posts, a regular contributor on here who will remain nameless, oh what they hell it was MIKKEL, said that my station canopy was curvy, how rude

    To be fair, he was right (I cant believe I have committed that to writing), but on the other hand he was just stating the obvious.....so I thought I better do something obvious to try and fix it.

    As luck would have it the Domestic Overlord was a little poorly today (not that the DO being sick is lucky for me), so Price towers was renamed Emergency Ward 10 and I went in to the full dutiful other half mode. Anyway I digress, each time I got ready to do a little modelling, the DO managed like a little Trojan to find the energy to ring the "Im sick" bell, so I had to down tools and see what the "love of my life" wanted, if it was only to say things like "I don't feel well" .
     
    Filled with concern, and because I am such a genuinely nice person, in fact positively saintly, I did some research to see if I could find a way of improving the DO's life threatening condition, and I found the solution. On my last visit the bio hazard area (our bedroom) I performed an emergency "Clapper-ectomy" and peace was restored to Price Towers (God help me when the DO recovers).

    So I got out my supply of card (well the bits I could actually find) and got to work in an attempt to get the basic canopy and station building roof formers completed. Progress went a little better than I thought and I managed to get the majority of the basic canopy completed. I even managed to get the building roofs ready for covering with roof slates, using my graph paper method.

    The problem is I am at that stage now, where the more I seem to do the more jobs I seem to have to finish, so at some point I will have to start to look at producing windows and doors, but at least its starting to look like a station?


    Which leads me on to the next problem, or maybe problem is not a strong enough word? I am supposed to be building a model railway, and railways need track to run the little Choo Chooos on and that is where I am a model railway maverick, I have not laid any track (well not counting just under a yard for the trams).
     
    I have sort of settled on the final track plan for the layout, I thought I would put myself at the cutting edge of model railway technology and use these new things called "Electro Frogs". So I made a list checked it twice, winced at the cost of all the track I needed and bought half of it.
     
    Apparently though these Electric Froggy things need to be wired differently (people who have seen my wiring have described it as different) to the usual "insul Frogs" I use, and this is where I need HELP
     
    How do you wire these things up to stop short circuits, and does it mean I will have to get my favourite tool of mass destruction or Soldering Iron out. Any advice will be gratefully received.
     
    Until the next time as Ever Happy Modelling
  21. paulprice
    I really don't know how I did it, but I managed to find a little time to spend on the layout over the weekend (well I suppose its not really a layout yet if ever), and typical of me rather than spend it on something useful I used it all up working on a little redevelopment.
     
    My intention for Lugsdale road was to depict a little LMS station on the outskirts of a typical Northwest industrial town surrounded by terraced houses and typical industrial buildings. On the far side of the station I had envisaged that the towns industrial area would start and I set about producing some grotty factories.
    BEFORE

    The problem I had was that I was not too happy with the factory I had started building so it sort of just sat there without any progress being made. That was until this weekend, and I got my hands on my stash of card.
    AFTER
    What I thought would be a bit of a quick project, after all, I jut needed to build a roof really, its just eaten up hour after hour of precious modelling time .

    Lots of work remains to be done on this alternative building, in fact it probably needs more work now that it did before I even started.
     
    The problem is now, I have run out of modelling time and I have no idea when or where I will get some more from, the other problem is I'm not sure which building I prefer, I think the new one is better as its adds a little more interest and does not hide too much of the buildings behind?
     
    What do you think?
     
    As ever Happy Modelling
  22. paulprice
    Well it seems to me that it has been a very long time since my last update, but I can hear people screaming from here that it has not been long enough, still I will ignore the screams of complaint and carry on.
     
    So what had been the reason for such a long period since updates, its not because I was abducted by Aliens and taken back to my home planet for a little holiday, because as the Domestic Overlord remarked, they went through all the effort to dump me here in the first place, why would they even consider taking me back
     
    Part of the reason is we had a week in Cornwall (actually thinking about it, is it that different from being on an alien planet? Only joking Cornwall). Despite being in the land of inferior railways, I thought if I visited some local model shops I might have been able to add an addition to the locomotive fleet by repatriating some poor lost LMS loco to its true home up north, or at least a little addition to the rolling stock collection.
     
    This is where my plan went wrong, on a couple of points, firstly it was nearly impossible to find any model shops, but when I eventually did they had hardly any n gauge, and what they did have was VASTLY overpriced (£18 for a peco Cattle van is just crazy). All was not lost though, as on a trip to the Bodmin railway I looked on the bookstall and found these two little gems for a total of £8.

    All I need to do now Is either build some new locomotives, or find some bargains to repaint, and I can put the books to good use, now where could I find some bargain Jubilees??
     
    Once we got back from our little holiday I thought I might get little modelling done, and even have a little time to possibly visit the Warrington Model club, as I cant remember the last club night I attended, but alas work got in the way again. However I managed to get a little modelling done, and my attempts to replicate modular LNWR station buildings has moved on a little.

    In my last update I had the basic shells ready to accept my attempt of producing wooden planking, so to move things on a little I cut some planks from my trusted good quality graph paper and tried to ply them in straight lines.

    Despite my best efforts I managed to get a few straight planks on the buildings but I think true to form I managed to apply more wonky ones. I even managed to use a really sharp scalpel to tidy things up and still have all my 12 fingers.

    As usual, I'm was not too sure if all the effort was worth it, and considered other ways of obtaining the desired results and maybe to a better standard but until I did I pressed on and managed to complete both buildings. Once the planking was completed, I added the framing and then tried to cover up the mess with a nice coat of grey primer.



    I'm still not 100% sure about these buildings, but I might just press on with them, that is when I get anymore modelling time, I mean they are made from card so they have cost practically nothing apart from a little time (all of a sudden I quite like these cheap, so value for money buildings). If I continue with these buildings I think the majority of them will be hidden under the eventual canopies and roofs so what could possibly go wrong?


    If I do continue I think I may have to build another building to act as a parcels office and maybe an open roof gents, but the question is when will I get some more modelling time?
     
    So until the next time as ever Happy Modelling ....... Now where to find those bargain Jubilees and where to hide them from the Domestic Overlord...
  23. paulprice
    Well I don't know how I managed to do it, but I managed to find some modelling time and managed to spend it productively for once. In my previous post I mentioned that I had decided to that the station buildings should be modelled on those used by the LNWR.
     
    As most people know, they built some of their stations from standardised wooden panels, and as a result they could erect buildings that suited their intended environments quickly and cheaply. I must admit being a prudent (some people say I'm as tight as two coats of paint) the cheap construction really appealed to me so I looked into it a little further.
     
    Basically the I could get away with constructing the station buildings using three different panels, a blank one, a window one and a door one, and following the cheap, sorry cost effective approach they would be constructed from card.

    A little time making out the panels on some card sides, and blunting several knife blades (thank god I use the cheap craft knives from the £ stores) I soon had the basic shells knocked up.

    To make fitting the planks that form the panels easier I then covered each side with some graph paper, and then had to cut out even more window and door apertures. The station entrance will be located at street level on the right side of the bridge so I have used a Metcalfe subway mini-kit to provide the platform access.

    The problem is I'm not sure if I like the way the buildings look on the station so I may leave them on the platform for a few days to see if they grow on me, the benefit of card is if I don't like them I can just bin them and start again at minimal cost

    I think the fact that the building will have a canopy will mean a lot of it will be hidden so that's a bonus, what I have done so far is black the interior walls so that if I do fit lighting to the buildings I wont get any bleeding through the walls. The only problem to adding lighting is that I may have to then fit interiors, so yet again I turn a potentially easy task into a considerably harder one

    One of the other little jobs is to get my Stanier Mogul finished then I maybe able to add it to the stock for the layout, which leads to another problem of which auto-coupler I should add to the stock for the layout, I have some DG's in the tool box but I have never used them before.
     
    Well I guess I will have to end this post now, as I don't want the Domestic Overlord thinking I have any spare time, especially enough to model with, as this is vital to my plan to get enough sympathy that the DO will slate a few model roofs (insert evil laugh here)
     
    Mikkel you may have to get ready to bow in the dust as ever Happy Modelling
  24. paulprice
    Well as I mentioned in my last post, I had managed to pull of the crime of the century and managed to get away with just applying emulsion paint to the backscenes on Lugsdale road.
     
    The good news is that the heat has died down now and the Domestic Overlord is still none the wiser, but not wishing to tempt fate further painting of the backscene will be strategically delayed for a while.

    What I have managed to do while laying low avoiding the fuzz is to work on what seems like the endless supply of buildings that the layout needs and I'm still only working on board 1. My attention has been focused on the buildings that will take up position at the back of the layout, which means they will mostly be hidden, which for some of my work is a good thing.

    Where possible for the industrial buildings, as I'm sometimes a bit of a lazy modeller I have been using severely butchered Metcalfe kits, I will let you work out which ones. Hopefully although there origins will be obvious to most modellers, I hope that I have used them to create something a little less common, as construction of the rear street scene progresses they will of course get a lot of weathering.

    The immediate problem with creating all these buildings is that there is a lot of roofs that will require slates, though for some of the factories that will flank the station area they will be finished with a roof felt type covering (research showed this was quite common in certain areas), plus I kind of like the use of easy options sometimes.
     
    Being a little angel lately, not my words but those of the Domestic Overlord (though I believe Lucifer was an angel once), I may see if the DO may help me by applying some of the required slates, which means I will be able to concentrate on other little jobs.

     
    One of the decisions I have made lately is that the station buildings will be those built by the LNWR, which means they will be of a timber construction (just like those on Foster Street but different). I had considered setting the station in L&Y territory but as I kind of like LNWR locomotives, especially of the eight coupled variety I thought the LNWR was the better option (plus I have a G2 kit to build, and a couple of other locomotive ideas).

     
    So basically that's all I have managed to get up to, as ever so many jobs to do but so little progress, what I need to do next is get some cork sheeting and lay some track, after all it is supposed to be a railway layout.
     
    As ever until next time Happy Modelling
  25. paulprice
    Don't tell anyone especially the Domestic Overlord, but being the sneaky little chap that I am, I managed over the weekend to actually do some emulsion painting.
     
    In my opinion this was massively successful for at least two reasons, the first being that the painting was the actually to the backscenes on Lugsdale Road and not a wall in Price mansions, but far more cunningly without the DO getting even the merest sniff of my exploits.
     
    To be honest I'm not sure how I managed it, as I have the ability to get covered in paint by just walking past a DIY store, but the painting Gods were with me and I have committed the perfect crime and got away with it.
     
    The only problem is that I do not have any pictures to show this mastery of crime, but once the heat has died down I may venture into the spare room and take a couple.
     
    As the layout is supposed to be based somewhere in the grotty North West, being internationally known as a sun trap, the backscene will be painted to portray a typically tropical dank dark grey rain infested sky, brooding over rooftops and distant hills.
     
    Oh and I also got to lay a little track for the trams down the middle of the street at the from of the layout but more on that can wait for another time.
     
    I'm off to plan the next stage in my career as an international crime lord, so as long as the fuzz don't get me, until the next time as ever happy Modelling
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