James Hilton

7mm is very tempting - especially when you see Brian's lovely blue diesels! Your prototype location is fairly close to me too!! It's also nice to know I'm not the only one who has un-productive evenings sometimes too... However a PNA or two needs finishing tonight so must crack on

I took a trip down to Paxton Road today as I heard that an EWS 37/4 was on the MOD job - a rarity these days. Mid morning saw the feeder service from the hub at Didcot arrive behind a battered 37411 'Keith David Hilton'. I managed to grab a few snaps during my lunch break but had to head back to work so didn't see so much of local shunter 08543 shunting the depot. As I left 37411 was stabled in the layback siding and the place was deserted. I guess there isn't too much urgency about things on a cold winters lunchtime. Hope you enjoy the snaps. 37411 is a modified and weathered Bachmann model (based on 37411) with custom name plate transfers from Precision Labels. 08543 is another modified and weathered Bachmann model (08648) with a repainted roof, rebuilt front steps plus some nice subtle weathering. All stock is modified Bachmann with weathering and detailing. The VAAs await a further trip through the workbench to sort dropping coupler and fit disc brake calipers and disc brake etchings to the wheel sets. Questions and comments welcome - I'll keep an eye on comments on this blog. 37411 arriving at Paxton Road: It was then uncoupled, ran forward and into the loop awaiting the shunter: Todays resident shunter at Paxton Road is Eastleigh based 08543. A shunter is outbased here during the week - unless an 09 is rostered, in which case this trips up with the MOD working from the second hub at Eastleigh as required. Just as I was leaving I grabbed a shot of 37411 stabled: 08543 shunts the newly arrived vans into the headshunt for the MOD sidings:

Mark - can you post them up as a new entry on here?

That's commitment!! 22 identical kits I look forward to seeing the weathering!

Peter - consider spraying the model in satin varnish, and then a little exhaust weathering - with just a touch of dust on the brake pads I'd suggest would make the world of difference

Great to see Llanbourne on the new forum Peter! A lovely layout - and nicely observed. The 37 could do with toning down a touch to my eye - shiny models just don't look right to me! Narrowing the 37 bogies is quite straight forward. You'll need a little bottle and a slitting disc fitted to a mini drill. Basically you cut off the frame (flush with the back side of the frames) very carefully. I left the wheelsets in and went slowly but I guess best practice would be to strip the frame off the bogie to do this modification! The amount of material the disc removes is about 1mm - perfect! Just clean up with a knife or file and re-attach - I just used a quick setting household superglue. Job done. I also moved the frames marginally up to make the gap between body and bogie slightly less. I hope you do come over to the blog format - it's a really nice way of documenting a layout or modelling workbench progress - keeping comments in line with original posts, and to new readers just showing the authors ramblings. Posting is no different to creating a thread - and I wouldn't worry about blog etiquette or anything - creating blog posts like this thread is more than acceptable. I try and keep new blog topics to new subject matters but you could add a blog entry for each new update - just as you do with a thread. Job done. Worth a play for an hour to see what you think!

These MTAs look great! Lovely observation of the prototype - good work. Before you start on the PNAs it might be worth looking into swapping the springs (carving off the moulded ones and replacing with cast or plastic replacements) as they are fitted with Brunninghaus springs, not the parabolic ones modelled by Bachmann. Check my workbench blog for more details - I've a post on them

Hi Jerry. I remember roughly when Dutch livery (named after the Dutch railways livery to which it bore a striking resemblance) was introduced either late 1990 or 1991. I have the Platform 5 spotter books for those years and it doesn't appear in the 1990 book. Basically the livery was the application of a yellow stripe to the BR General livery which was introduced at the back end of the sector liveries (Railfreight triple grey with all the different logos, Intercity, NSE etc - and then there was Mainline (which was like Intercity) for mixed traffic, and general for anything else). So... in short - yes you can - just - as blue stretched well into the 1990s on most classes anyway! Just the 25s and 45s disappeared.

Nice start - I always find the best place to get inspiration is the prototype. Here are some photos of the prototype wagons... http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/c358950.html Observe the patterns of rust, where it forms, where it doesn't. Look at how dirt collects on the chassis and bodyside, where it's rubbed off and where it sticks. Look at the colours, browns, greys, blacks. If you follow a photo with the techniques described in Railway Modeller you will get an ultimately more realistic result. To me that was the only thing missing for the beginner in the article, a photo of the real thing to work from!

Welcome to the blogs - I personally love the extra control you get by seperating comments out from your own updates! The HAAs are looking lovely and lets hope for some dry weather as we'd all love to see IKB!

Looking good - I actually thought it was 4mm at first

John at Precision labels will be able to help with the transfers I'm sure - contact him via the contact page on his website! No affiliation other than a satisfied customer - he made up some custom nameplates for me in the past.

The cab roof (I bet I'm the only one who comments on that!) is spot on! Lovely job.

Martin I've had a look - it's hard to determine... I actually think they may be a fraction to shallow on the model. The fact the I've carved off the handrail leaving that area yellow (when it's black on the prototype) tricks the eye a little, and I think the Hornby light clusters may be a fraction underscale (literally just a smidge). I'll test paint one end when I've fitted the handrail and see how it looks before progressing too far - thanks for the thought. For the chassis - I think I'm going with the Highlines option - I can't find any info on what the Branchlines chassis offers? The Highlines is a replacement etch that allows the fitting of a motor/flywheel, through a reduction work drive to a driven axle - all in the space of the existing motor. It also includes a compensated trailing truck - and they do an 'unpowered' version for the trailer car. I've test run the Pacer last night though, and it's performance might be acceptable for all I require (if a little noisy!)

Excellent - cheers Dave!! They'll be OO though, and aren't chipped! so you'll need a DC siding somewhere on there! I'd love a high spec 73 too Currently working on a 58 in Mainline... progress photos soon

The Hornby Pacer is an aging model with an appalling mechanism. However despite it's age and mechanical inadequacies I think it really captures the look of the prototype really really well, and am interested to see how it will respond to some gentle improvements. Rose Hill is a slow burn project - and I've settled on no specific stock purchases (although if successful I may splash out on a 101 and 150!!) and so my original Pacer was dug out from Mum and Dad's a few weeks ago for evaluation as potential stock for the layout. In summary the model served me well on my first layout, after the two cars were permanently wired together - and it was modified with kadees each end and some weathering. Less successful was the addition of toilet windows and corridor connection. So what's the plan? In brief a phased approach to create a model of contemporary standards! I've split this into distinct stages... First up Bodywork... Replacing all moulded handrails with seperately applied wire examples. Fitting lamp irons to cab fronts. Improving folding doors. Adding radio pod to cab roofs. Improving exhaust representation on inside ends. Modifiy and improve toilet window glazing. Look at flusher glazing cab front windows. Modify front fairing to include automatic coupler. Add Kadee couplers to inside ends and close couple units. Add a corridor connection between the units (to disguise the wire connection). Repaint into Northern livery (with custom transfers from John at Precision Labels). I've gathered all the raw materials together, and have stripped down the model to it's component parts. Here are some photos of where we stand at the minute! This is as far as I intend to take the model at this stage of Rose Hill. Once Rose Hill nears completion I will look to improve the performance of the model. Secondly mechanical... I intend to fit the Highlines motor/gearbox/flywheel chassis improvement to one of the cars (which includes trailing axles too) and fit an unpowered version in the second car. This may need some extra weight adding to the drive car to enable decent performance. Finally DCC and lighting... Finally if the chassis improvements work and performance is improved I would love to take it to another level by adding lighting, both to the head and tail lights and the interiors using a kit available from Express Models. I usually have a few models in progress at any one time, and this along with building structures for Rose Hill and Paxton Road will mean this project moves very slowly. I shall update again once the model is ready for painting.

When Heljan released the Class 58 a year or so ago I swore I wouldn not buy one, until some kind soul posted a video link of one shunting an engineers rake during a weekend possession!! With Hattons selling them off at a bargain price I picked up a two tone grey Mainline branded example. The model runs very nicely and well captures the heavy utilitarian appearance of the prototype, but was put to the back of my modelling cupboard as a number of small niggles bothered me and meant modification was required rather than simple weathering... Out of the box the livery is well applied on the whole, although the spelling mistake in Mainline (spelt out as Mainine - comical) and the incorrect arrangement of cab window black surrounds is quite obvious - it was good to see the tricky painting of the grills in the side doors appear on this model compared tot he initial release. A read of an article in Rail Express Modeller, and a quick look around the model hi-lighted a few areas for improvement. The body side handrails were to be replaced with finer wire representations, the exhaust moulding was to have the ports drilled out, the numbers would be removed and the cab black surround modified, the model would be renumbered and then weathered to represent a locomotive circa 2000. So where are we up to? Well on the old forum I showed a teaser of the bodyside handrails. I've started to fit these as of this week, carefully slicing off the original plastic handrails leaving the holes plugged with the handrail moulding. I then cut down the twisted 5A fusewire eyelets to a shorter neater length, and offered this up to mark the new holes. These were carefully drilled and the handrails fitted with superglue. The long one with 6 eyelets was a pain, and some of them came free from the main handrail causing a few blue words! Photos of progress so far...

Sorry to jump on to Martin's post, thought worth encouraging by sharing the underframes are quite straight forward. You need: Matt black, matt tan, matt grey. Regular gun metal Metalcote gun metal (or gloss black) Black weathering powder Basically using a prototype photo as a guide start with the matt black, slightly thinned - then add a slight hint of the tan and grey to add variation. A touch of regular gun metal also adds some hilights but be careful as it can really lighten the effect too much. Observe where things look greasier and gunkier and add some metalcote gun metal (or a touch of gloss black). Then flick over some black weathering powder and work this in, adding a touch of tan or grey if it all becomes too dark. The key is working quickly and without too much accuracy. If you're working to a photo it should turn out pretty well - and is a huge improvement over just weathering the chassis with paint brushes on or an airbrush. Hope this helps provide a secondary kick up the arse - I've done three and they get better every time!

Martin it's looking great... You know my love of 08/09s - and this is a superb example. Hopefully I can show a few more of my model of 09007 in the new year once it's published - I'd be interested in your opinion on that

She's looking great - maybe in 2010 we can get her and my 37411 lined up for a comparison at the members day?

Looks a great piece of modelling Dave!

Are the noses some of Pete Harvey's new ones? They look great... Not sure I like the gloss finish though, it makes the model appear a lot more toy like some how.

Thanks Alex - the Pacer is already in bits, I'm struggling to work out how to get the livery right though - both NorthWestern and Northern liveries are a ###### to mask on the Pacer body!!

Thanks guys! I'm doing this on the cheap - so progress might still be fairly slow - I'll try and keep this up to date until it feels like it needs it's own blog

Paxton Road has been going over 2 years now and after a recent spurt of activity I find myself lagging a little in enthusiasm. Paxton Road is a ficticious location based in 1998-2000, depicting a small MOD depot north of Winchester on the old Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. I really enjoy modelling modern image (well modern-ish) and modifying RTR OO equipment and I also love Class 33s and Mainline freight livery which led me to the Southern location. One thing I miss though is the ability to base my model on the real thing; structures, scenery, setting, trackwork etc. I've been thinking recently about a photo plank style layout (seeing Jon's Brookeshire planks), to practice some scenic techniques. Unlike Paxton Road I would like this to be based on a prototype, a bit like RGR's Mossley Terrace from the old RM web. Living in Macclesfield I have regularly ridden my bike on the Middlewood Way but never all the way to Marple, and a little Googling after seeing a photo of a 101 in 'A Decade of Change' book on the Piccadilly - Rose Hill trip and Rose Hill seemed to be the perfect solution. Rose Hill is a single line terminus. The line comes off the mainline and travels about 2 miles down to Rose Hill. There is no loop or run around, just a single platform and building which houses a waiting room and part time ticket office. What makes it even more perfect is the road bridge (great scenic break). However to scale I'd need 10+ feet, and this amount of space just isn't available. This is supposed to be a quick project to get something finished and keep up motivation so things will be selectively compressed to about a 4' (max) scenic board with small bolt on cassette style fiddle yard. Stock movements are limited. The line is served by 150/1 and 142s (previously the last place to find the 101s) at least these are relatively short units. I'm lucky in that I have a first release Hornby Pacer (in original provincial blue) and a first release Bachmann 158. Both of these will be usable on the layout with a little work (repainting/detailing for the Pacer - possibly some minor mechanical upgrade, and just detailing for the 158). In addition I'll source a First NorthWestern Bachmann 150. Here are some photos of the stock fresh from being picked up from my parents home this weekend? The layout will not use any 'ready to plant' structures - the only off the shelf scenic material are likely to be some fencing with the building, bridge and bike lock up compounds to be fabricated from scratch. The layout will be deep enough to model the cutting so you'll view the station through a few trees and scrub with the cutting sloping down into the layout away from the baseboard edge. I've made a start on the station building. This has been selectively compressed to better fit the shorter platform, but maintains the character of the original. It will be finished to a high specification with signage and posters attached as finishing touches. Here is the work in progress, totally scratchbuilt from various grades and offcuts of plasticard. The last remaining question surrounds the possibility of using DCC and potentially sound - which would make this far from a cheap distraction but certainly a good place to experiment with a limited scope so to avoid massive expense in this area!