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

It will be a few weeks yet before I can leave the house for more than short periods, but that may give you time to prepare for a Steam take over

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

Trying to line with my left hand - Oh dear the results are not good to say the least, this ambidextrous thing is not as easy as I first thought

That and the fact I'm a bit of an idiot

It should have been Bah Humbug, but Im a bit of an idiot, Scrooge use to be a hero of mine until he went soft halfway through the story and started being "nice", I mean being nice what's the point.

You wont say that when you see them lined, today I may try using my bow pen with my left hand for the first time, just think of everything that can go wrong.

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

Looks brilliant, I think I could do with an N gauge version

Well before my 2+ month stay in Hospital I managed to obtain another cheap Jubilee, which was in that terrible BR green livery (why do the manufactures keep doing this?). As I am such a nice person I thought I would repaint her into a decent LMS crimson livery, then my health got in the way and all progress stopped. Since I have been home recuperating I have been a very good boy and managed to find another poor Jubilee that needed rescuing on EvilBay that just happened to happen to fall into my hands. The only problem is that one of the side effects is that I have problems with my right arm, and so have had to try using my left arm, I have managed to get a coat of crimson on both of them and a little black in the right places, but there is a lot of touching up to do. Only God knows when I will be able to line them, perhaps I should stick to black freight locomotives in future

Well after months of trying I have finally managed to get this site to reset my password so that I can gain access. The bad news is that it means I can start to add posts, be afraid be very afraid

Chaps - thank for all your kind words, its good to be back

Trust me I will follow what they have told me, there is no way I want it to happen again

Rob Thanks for the advise, I'm sure my arm will get back to normal eventually, I have some exercises that make me look like a Steps reject but if it helps. Fortunately I have not had a stroke, the damage I have suffered is the result of being in a coma a couple of times and weeks in ICU so my body started stripping my muscle mass. Still its a price I'm happy to pay to be on the mend, I may even buy an Banjo as I have been threatening it for years, I mean how hard can it be to play? As for the NHS they are all Hero's and I will be eternally grateful to them.

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

looking good, especially the Jube

how come I seem to take a step forward but its immediately followed by several steps back??? AAARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH