End of Southern Steam

Managed to get a fair bit of modelling in over the Christmas/new year period. Finished off a couple of loco projects, 77014 is done apart from weathering and 34064 is all done with sound and weathering finished although I'm not 100% sure I like it, might be one to come back to in the future. Added a few more details to the layout to, the puddles came up well after the final layer was added.

Got the H16 on its wheels, valve gear to go… I’ll probably do that over Christmas and clear some of the weathering back log I’ve got in the mean time. 77014 is one of the prime candidates to be finished, it only needs some dirt and the pick ups finishing! The Pipework is far from pretty but it’ll do until I’ve got the courage to have another go at it

That's a great idea/solution, I will have a play with that at the weekend. I will go and have a read of your current S15 build, I'd like an original Urie one at some point Cheers Harry

Cheers Richard, it's my first venture into 4mm loco building and it has been dangerously enjoyable so far. I threw the crosshead in to see if the slide bars were about right without worrying about which side it was, rushed is definitely the word... Its a lovely kit, the only problem I've had has been of my own making. The Markits return crank has made the walls around the hole in the coupling rod too fragile so back to the drawing board on that one.

Made some notable progress on the H16 over the past week. The chassis should have its wheels in over the weekend then its the valve gear to do and in theory its done! G16 next....

With a weekend at the GWSR 40th Anniversary gala done and things calming down everywhere else I've finally got some modelling done! I've knocked together a micro layout 600mm x 350mm that I can hide almost anywhere which is entertaining me whilst I'm not at home and able to get in the shed. The B4 and USA tanks are current favorites to shuffle the wagons round. It works as a 3-2-2 inglenook with a sector plate off scene. The whole thing cost me £5.30! The baseboard being made from a scrap bit of plastic at work and everything else bar a yard of track was already scattered in various boxes from previous projects. Back on Five Elms when I had a brief chance to work on it I added some Hardies Hobbies figures and they've improved the scene hugely. I also had a play with the micro fogger usually used on Old Elm Park and got a couple of nice long exposure shots around the shed. The one below of 34051 being a favorite.

Its been a little quiet recently, commitments with the 12 inch to the Foot steam engines have taken over! I've built the Herring and Catfish both going together better than previous attempts with the Cambrian ballast hopper wagons. The Whale is getting close too, I'll paint them once both Whales are done. Some Bournemouth Bulleid stock is up next for the evening projects and hopefully a return to the workbench at home to crack on with the H16 will happen sooner rather than later. Some quick phone shots of some ex-LSWR locos on Five Elms below is about as exciting as things get at the moment in the modelling side of things!

After a pleasant weekend with Old Elm Park at the Great Electric Train show its back to work for a rest I think! A thoroughly enjoyable weekend that felt odd to start with as its been such a long time since the last big show we went to. I managed to pick up a couple of kits I wanted to add to the ballast rakes so another Cambrian Catfish and a Herring are this weeks projects for the evenings, they're destined for the dogfish rake. I also bought another Whale just because I like them, I'll eventually add that to the current Walrus/Seacow rake. A couple of pictures of OEP at GETS I didn't manage any other photos, it was a bit flat out!

Finished 10 or so more vans last night with 3 links and vac pipes... Looking towards coaching stock I've got mostly Bachmann Mk1s but a couple of rakes of Hornby Mk1s what do people use to close couple the most recent Hornby releases? Steam heat and vac pipes could be interesting, if both are opposite poles to eachother it shouldn't end up in one big tangled mess! A selection of Bulleids and Standards ready to eventually haul all these rakes!

Having not been home and back to the shed for a few weeks no progress is being made with the H16... I have however started a little project I've been thinking about for a while. Something that I can do in a spare 10 minutes after work in a small space that can be cleared away quickly. I've not got a designated modelling space when not at home so I've needed one of these simple projects that can be done anywhere. That 'little' project is fitting vac pipes that will connect between wagons/coaches and locos. I started rather bravely with the Bachmann crane and the vehicles I've done to go with it. I'm pretty pleased with the results, some black paint airbrushed over the finished pipes should adequately disguise the shiny magnets. Rather cruel close ups! I've streamlined the method I first started with on the crane and results now are much cleaner and quicker (I'm going to have to go back and redo some of the crane pipes later on). It's very simple, all I've used is 1mm elastic thread and 2mm x 0.5mm neodymium magnets. At this stage I can only pipe fixed sets as wagons will only attached one way round to eachother with the poles on the magnets but ill work on something for mixed sets once the fixed ones are done. Cut the thread to length first and glue to the magnets, then glue that sub assembly to the wagons. Simple! Finished off the crane train and ballast/engineering stock over the past week with the 40+ vans in the van rake to do now, I might regret starting this!! You can see how much tidier the Ballast train has come out! A very cheap and worthwhile project in my eyes though really adds to the realism and hasn't restricted movement in any way, simply pull them apart once uncoupled and the pipes come apart.

Managed to get the sound into 34001 Exeter so it can finally trundle round Five Elms. Eventually the aim is to have a nice roundy roundy and 34001 will end up on the Bournemouth Belle. I've got the stock, got the loco but lacking the important layout bit! One day... Few piccys of 34001 on shed, onto the H16 and the next Bulleid 34004 Yeovil.

A break from burning my fingers on the workbench this weekend! After a morning on the Hall at Toddington on Saturday and an afternoon in the workshop on 3850 its was back to the shed Sunday for a rest (that didn't last) and a push to finish a project or two! I've got far too many projects stacked up in various stages from waiting for a chip to be fitted down too locos where I've just about started modifying and then been distracted by the next project! The prime candidate for finishing was one I had only just started and was going to try my best not to add to the stack of projects. 35011 in Unrebuilt form but with a cut down rebuilt tender. I managed to get a well priced 35017 and already had a spare tender body for the rebuilt tender so what was not to like! No real modifications were needed, half a mm was shaved off one of the clips on the tender body so it fitted the new chassis and the cabside lining was modified from 2 single lines to a box around the numbers as per normal practice with the cut down tenders. I fancied a slightly dirtier one this time as 35028 and 35027 are both pretty clean and so 35011 looks grotty but I think it really suits it. It needs a little more work with powders to take off the usual 'perfect' finish of the airbrush but so far so good and for the time being I'll call it finished. Up next on the list I've made to make sure I don't start any more projects is to sound fit 34001 Exeter and crack on with the H16 now the bearings have arrived for the chassis and cylinders. Lets see how long I can stick to that Plan!!

Managed to make a little more progress on the H16 at the weekend but forgot to take pictures! Here is the current progress though, so far a very good kit that has virtually fallen together!

Definitely doable I would have thought. Similar to the H15 you would need to cut the running plate and drop it down by a few mm and fit a Urie style cab and add the plates at the bottom of the firebox sides to keep the boiler at the correct height. Shouldn't be too challenging all the bottom end bits would be the same apart from the motion bracket which could be filed down.

I used a Standard set of Hornby Black 5 wheels I think i got from Peters Spares... Using another set of Hornby wheels meant I didn't need to change the valve gear. The only other change was Gibson bogie wheels and axles, other than that its all a Standard N15 with a few bits of plasticard and brass added for running plate and cab extensions