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Firecracker

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Everything posted by Firecracker

  1. I rediscovered Warhammer paints (background - in my teens I built a bit of Warhammer, mostly imperium of man. I never really got into the gaming, I mostly made dioramas with the figures. University and someone offering (what I felt at the time) was a decent amount of money for them took care of that). Anyway, I rediscovered the paints and am really taken with the technical paints. Typhus corrosion and Ryza rust are brilliant for heavy corrosion, also a rust wash over a coat of Typhus can produce interesting results. The dry brushing colours are also worth exploring, Verminlord Hide produces a good worn effect on BR maroon and the blues (names escape me) do similar on BR blue. The textured mud colours are brilliant on tracks and chewed up ground, plus there’s one which cracks as it dries, which is brilliant for dried mud. The washes - Nuln oil over humbrol 121 is a brilliant quick and easy way of getting something that to my eyes looks like clean but aged wood, Arthonian Camoshade is good for algae and moss buildup. The tool they sell are also worth looking at, I’m very taken with their sprue cutters and their scenic products (particularly the weed ‘tufts’ are worth a go. I’d also rate their shops (or at least the ones I’ve been into) as among the most welcoming I’ve been into. Some of the results Mud around the figures is GW, also the track to LH. shading on the roof of the cl. 37. Also used in wheel marks to LH in ballast yard. Rust effects on skip are entirely GW. Also rust on 21t mineral behind. The bed of the conflat behind the yellow Ruston is Nuln oil over humbrol 121. Owain
  2. A few more, making sure it still all works when the bin-bag covers are removed. I’ve also got an experiment coming up, which features the combination of a wireless inspection camera and a bogie bolster wagon (probably the bobol-c visible in the first photo) to (hopefully) give a genuine drivers eye view. Just got to deal with a customer or three first…. Owain
  3. My ‘local’ before self employment lead to modelmaking time and money becoming scarce (plus spending most of my time on the other side of the country). Superb shop, spent a few quid in there over the years. Owain
  4. And a few more, the Ruston ventures into the yard to rearrange the vans and retrieve the seldom seen iron ore tippler wagon. Then the goods rake returns from its charter and as the DMU runs in is returned to the yard. Owain
  5. A few more, with the DMU and the standard mogul out on the goods rake. Spot the two ex-works vans. Also think the bright yellow presflow’s a very ‘preserved railway’ thing. A couple of vans have been left in the yard (mainly because the goods rake won’t fit in the northbound fiddleyard with them). Owain
  6. A couple more from today with the aftermath of a rather extensive shunting session The sentinel scuttles Cowan Bridge-wards with the shark. The bubble car runs in from Low Gill Owain
  7. And a few more. First up, found in the bargain bin of my local. My first Rapido model. It’s verra noice.. Progress on the bobol E, washes and careful use of a cotton wool bud. A lovely model, let down by the NEM pockets sticking so far out of the bogies. Owain
  8. Another update. First up, attacking this Hornby tank wagon. Now I know its the old ex Airfix, ex Dapol model, but there’s worse out there and when a PO wagon in a local livery is released, I tend to pick one up. My logic is it’s the sort of thing a preserved railway would do, repainting newer wagons in older, local (ish) liveries. So the couplers have been removed ready for Kaydees and with the aid of various Mig washes it’s been made to look a bit more weatherbeaten. Also the Dapol bogie bolster starts to loose the chocolate brown deck for something that looks a bit more like weathered wood (base coat of humbrol 121, washes to follow). Next up, the DMU’s go for another trundle whilst various small diesels do their stuff. Owain
  9. It’s now the turn of the 101 DMU (mainly because this and the bubble can run in and out without having to do anything in the fiddle yards. You can see why BR liked them). The sentinel also goes for a trundle, having picked up a dogfish from somewhere. Also got my eye back in, breathing on an ancient weathering job. Not there yet, but getting better. Owain
  10. And a few more… The Janus returns with the tree bashing train The rarely seen sentinel diesel makes several appearances 75024 appears with the ‘C’ set, consisting of the spare mk1’s, the suburban Mk1 and the LMS first normally seen in the diner rake, passing the bubble car And departs northwards Finally in the forlorn hope of a dry summer, the water tanker and pump van take up position in the yard headshunt. Owain
  11. Just to prove, it’s been a while, but it still lives. First up, one of the recent distractions, a repair to a hydraulic ram off a JCB quick hitch. The 20mmx1.5 thread in that socket had stripped, so machine it out and fit a new socket. Anway, back in the 4mm:1’ version of Sedbergh… A log and tree bashing train lurks in the PWay siding CCE Rick Davies and two of his lads have a natter with one of the station group, whilst Wally Davies shuts down the Ruston, having returned from a ‘bin run’ to Middleton. The attention of several spotters is grabbed by a visitor from the KWVR. Owain
  12. And a few more. The tree pruning train had been out and the pilchard had been shunted into the yard headshunt and it’s cargo of logs offloaded (according to a passing volunteer, the pilchard was used because being unbraked, it wasn’t likely to ‘disappear’ to Cowan bridge along with its cargo on a PWay ballast working..) The Ruston returned from the MPD with the tool van and ran in to the yard. Then the 56xx appeared with the crimson/cream rake and the DMU ran in from Low Gill. Owain
  13. And a few more, to tide you over until the weekend. The 37 delivers a woodchipper for a spot of tree pruning and the 4F comes out to play. Also got a bit further with the chassis of the 21t hopper (even if I did trim the wrong V hanger off and have to replace it with micro strip). Owain
  14. And a few more, with the end of a quiet day at Sedbergh. The 56xx propels it’s stock to Jackdaw siding to stable. Then the class 15 runs in with the last train, runs round and with the dolly released, runs to shed. The 37 rumbles into life, pulls the empties forward so they can be loaded, then rearranges it’s train and departs. Finally, the Ruston extracts the station group wagons and the turbot from the yard and pops them back into the ballast siding. I mean, you don’t want something like this on public display… Then reappears with two brake vans, which are also put where they belong. Owain
  15. Right. From little Hunslets (with which precisely nothing, apart from a test run on some scraps of N gauge track has been achieved) to Sedbergh, where rumour of the demise have been highly exaggerated. The north end fiddle yard board has been refitted and with some track realignment (I have a feeling the fiddle yard board has never been fitted to the north crossover board, only the station board) and a bit of track cleaning, test trains were run. So, a further testing and development session occurred, with the 56xx and the class 15, plus seldom seen 37308. Must do this more often. Owain
  16. About 2 bug boxes and loco at the station end, pretty much up to the end of the repair shed so the whole caboodle could stable clear of the footpath at the MPD end. Here’s a photo I took at the shed end. And another taken at the station end. The loco is stood on the last panel of the running track, the three penny bit curve in the foreground was made of panels that were handballed past the stock, to enable it to be pushed close enough to the running lines for the crane to reach it. Another of the funny bits I remember was the Ffestiniog crew raided the NYMR headboard stash and borrowed all sorts (certainly the Moorlander headboard and the Santa specials went for a ride). This was reciprocated with the FR headboard seen in your photo going for a trip or two on an NYMR train, which some of the great and good (at least in their own minds) weren’t terribly amused at, especially when they were waiting with their cameras when it appeared. Owain
  17. Correct (and as a none boasting aside, Douglas is another loco I got to drive, briefly, whilst running round at Nant Gwernol). Yes, that’s the date (although I’m struggling to believe it was that long ago!). I was involved in the tracklaying up the tunnel and the following day was lucky enough to have a go on the happy handle (myself and another bloke also ended up briefly serving as ‘platform staff’ at the MPD end, we ended up greeting the train with increasingly ridiculous shouts “Grosmont North, All change for the treacle mines!”. It was a fantastic weekend (and also gave an excellent insight into the size of the original W&P rolling stock). Owain
  18. Saw this in Monk Bar yesterday and couldn’t resist. A layout based loosely on part of the Dinorwic system is in the planning stages, so for the moment, this is all I can do. First impressions? Ran smooth as silk with no juddering at slow speeds on the test track, incredible amounts of detail, didn’t expect the etched plates that are included and never thought I’d see something like this RTR. Just waiting on a suitable crew from the likes of ModelU now. Owain
  19. Once again, it’s time for something completely different. I’ve got a couple of days off and feeling slightly flush, wandered into Monk Bar Models. Martin was only too happy to empty my wallet in exchange for one of these lovely little beasts. It’s absolutely fricking gorgeous! This deserve (IMHO) to sell out! Bachman, you’re forgiven for all the nonsense with your NEM pockets I’ve had to deal with over the years! Now, one of my interests is the slate industry of N. Wales, so when these were announced, I fancied one. I since was lucky enough to drive Britomart briefly during her visit to the NYMR a couple of years ago, so I wanted one even more. Eventually, a planned micro layout, based very loosely on the steam mills level, around the junction of the village tramway and the ‘A’ series of inclines in the Dinorwic quarries is in the very vague planning stages (before anyone says it, yes, I know this is as preserved, she’s got vacuum brakes fitted and the blue livery was applied in preservation (according to my bible of Cliff Thomas’ ‘Quarry hunslets of North Wales’ she was originally supplied by Hunslets in ‘Midland Rly livery’) but I really don’t care). I want one of the open cabbed versions anyway…. Anyway, I couldn’t resist and so in the fiction ‘might yet be’ she visits the LS&I, with the following photos showing some of her arrival, plus the crane being set up to unload her onto a warwell (which, incidentally, is a far easier lift than the saga of unloading her for her NYMR visit, which involved two lifts, one at New Bridge onto a weltrol and the second at Grosmont, from the welltrol onto temporary track) Owain
  20. Right. Following a brief exchange of messages with Ruston of this parish, a bit more fictional nonsense about the history of the LS&I, specifically the two Ruston 48DS shunters. Included is a bit of fictional nonsense that may ring bells with you… First up, Queenie/Charlie Strong The first locomotive to arrive at the fledgling LS&I in winter 1969, Ruston number 265618 was originally bought by the Longmorn distillery in 1948 and would pass into the ownership of Thomas Shelby & Co. when they took over the distillery interests of J. McCavern & Son in 1951. With the removal of the rail connection to the distillery in 1956 the locomotive passed into the hire fleet of Shelby Group (Small Heath) and moved south to their Birmingham base. Placed on hire to various local companies, including Metal Box the locomotive was in storage when it was spotted by founder member Tom Truslow whilst inspecting the boiler on an Aveling and Porter steam roller in the same yard. Purchased by Tom at scrap price the locomotive would be the sole motive power at Sedbergh until the arrival of 7739 from London Transport the following year. Initially the little Ruston was a useful machine, handling a lot of the shunting and PWay work, however by 1978 it was laid aside due to engine issues, being placed on static display in the car park at Sedbergh. In the mid 90’s the locomotive was adopted by the Sedbergh station group and with a replacement power unit and gearbox obtained from CS Metals of Small Heath reentered service as the station group’s runabout. Following the relaunch of the locomotive in 2001 the railway was approached by a representative of the Shelby Group which would result in the sponsored repainting into the current ‘Queen Anne Whisky’ livery and renaming ‘Charlie Strong’ by Anna Shelby, MD of Shelby Group and granddaughter of group founder Thomas Shelby the following year. Next up, Alfie. Ruston 48DS 458943 was bought by the London civil engineers Alfred Solomons & Sons and was used on their contracts during the redevelopment of London’s docklands. Sold to CS Metals for scrap upon the completion of the works, it was one of two purchased as a source of spares in 1998 for the repair of 265618. However, the locomotive would be restored in its own right following completion of 265618 and would enter service with the S&T department. Based initially at Sedbergh, it would later transfer to Cowan Bridge and remains in use there as the second yard shunter. Named in 2011 by Soshanna Solomons-Dreyfuss after her great-grandfather. As I said, fictional nonsense. But it’s pissing down here and the garage is freezing. Owain
  21. You’re a true gent. Yes, yes I will and yes please! Because I’m a cheeky git, any chance of the lettering for the yellow Alfie Solomons Ruston as well? I’ll PM you an email. Owain
  22. Thanks! Glad you like it. Apologies for the delay in replying, blasted customers and their broken tractor gearboxes got in the way. The weathering on the mark ones is a mixture of washes(dark and light rust) (Ammo by Mig) and a dark weathering powder (again Mig) gently dusted onto the wet wash on the roofs to give the effect of dirt/cinders. Similar washes (also Mig’s neutral wash, which is brilliant for light dust/dirt/fading) are used on the sides with games workshop drybrush paints for the highlights (their wonderfully named ‘Verminlord hide’ is brilliant for creating a worn effect on BR maroon) and the odd rust patches/streaks added with washes and games workshop’s ‘Typhus Corrosion’ and Ryza Rust’. With the washes, I apply it with a brush and then remove the excess and create streaks with a cotton wool bud. My golden rules in weathering are ‘crap runs downhill and if it’s made of steel, it’ll rust’. Under frames are a mixture of Mig’s track dirt/dark rust washes and oily highlights from their engine grime wash. Something I deliberately did was vary the degree of weathering from coach to coach, to create an impression of some being more ex works than others, with the more worn examples also getting traces of algae added with a green wash (either games workshop or Vallejo). The weathering on the sides of the Pullmans was also dialled down (the white roof, on the other hand…) to suggest their dining train receives more cleaning than the rest of the fleet. Owain
  23. One of the reasons I followed this thread are the constant references to one of my favourite TV series (which I’d highly recommend watching and lead to me being greeted quite a few years ago at King’s Cross by the friend I was visiting with a full on, word and pitch perfect Alfie Solomons imitation “Yew on yer own? Yer a brave lad, aintcha?”) The (frankly) superb modelling was the other (and lead to me following Dave’s other threads). As a tribute, I started to work odd references into my own efforts, which as a fictional preserved railway, maybe acquired locos from Charlie’s yard? Owain
  24. Thanks anyway! I’ve had a manic week and hadn’t looked in here. Yes, I’d regard half price as decent. Such is life… Owain
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