Aberdeen Kirkhill T&RSD

[Bob Reid]

That was the depots excuse Graham    - there should have been a label on it with the right way round (and there was me thinking I was the only (ex-BR coachbuilder) carriage anorak daft enough to notice things like that!

 

Your work certainly shows there's still a lot of life in those Airfix 2d's in the right hands.

[Dunedin]

That was the depots excuse Graham    - there should have been a label on it with the right way round (and there was me thinking I was the only (ex-BR coachbuilder) carriage anorak daft enough to notice things like that!

 

Your work certainly shows there's still a lot of life in those Airfix 2d's in the right hands.

 

Graham????

 

In truth, as reported earlier (much earlier) in this blog, they were a joint effort: Graham did the body-bashing a few years ago and they've been waiting ever since for me to get around to painting them. At Christmas, I decided I couldn't put it off any longer.

 

As I remember at Craigentinny, the CBMs used to remove all the stickers before they mounted the glazing unit so then the poka-yoke was lost. I also remember the inward inspection snagging at Litchurch Lane on HST trailers (when they still had main works visits) identifying reversed bodylights and them having to be corrected as part of a C4 or C3 repair. No wonder coded repairs at works were expensive!

 

There is another little anorak feature that you may like: having looked at photos to get the livery demarcation lines as accurate as possible, I also noticed that the Mark 2E onwards didn't have the bumpstops on the doors, so I removed those too. Unfortunately I only noticed that after I had finished applying the livery, but I think the touch-up job worked well enough.

 

 

 

After I drew Graham's attention to this, he then checked and discovered that bumpstops were omitted part way through the Mark 2D build, but so far I've refused to take them off the ScotRail coaches I've already painted.

 

As you say Bob, the Airfix/Mainline/Dapol Mark 2Ds are excellent models and they may be 30-odd years old (I think my first ones were bought in 1977), but sorting out the paint works wonders for them. I need to add white lining to the blue-grey FOs we use on the overnight rake at some point. It isn't particularly difficult to do, but it would improve them no end.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Dunedin

[Flood]

Hard luck Glenn. You carry on doing all the hard work and I'll just sit back and take all the credit, lol.

[Bob Reid]

Opps, sorry Glenn. It was 7.45am - I have an excuse for not noting the author!

 

Those reversed bodylights could play havoc with Air Cond which was never that great on Mk2's anyway! 

 

I only really remember because at that time when we fitted them they still had the Pilkington Solaglaze? guarantee label on them......  When you had nothing that difficult to do on the nightshift it did cross my mind whether BR would ever make a claim on the 5? year guarantee....

[JBM37404]

Where have you got your depot staff from? My layout is set in similar era but I only seem able to find figures with hard hats on which I feel is to modern for the era I model just before the railway went H and S mad.

 

Think the layout is great by the way and hope to see it for real some time soon!

[Flood]

Where have you got your depot staff from? My layout is set in similar era but I only seem able to find figures with hard hats on which I feel is to modern for the era I model just before the railway went H and S mad.

I'm glad you like the layout. The figures are a mixture of Dapol (Driver and Depot Supervisor chatting by the Portakabin), Bachmann (all those with hard hats), Montys Models (all the carriage cleaners, both male and female) and S & D Models (the Driver and the Guard). Check out this thread as well:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69215-1980s-model-people-in-00/

 

Some of the clothes have been slightly altered but most of the difference is how they are painted (fake hi-viz vests go a long way).

[leavesontheline]

Really pleased to have seen this 'for real' at Trainwest today. Superb modelling and operating. Particularly liked your 37's and snowploughs! I felt cold just looking at the great snow and frost effects you've achieved! You should always try to get a stand near a door or window at exhibitions to add to the effect!

[Flood]

Thanks very much for all your praise.

 

We had problems all weekend with locos spinning their wheels when normally we have perfect running. After having a major check on the levels of the boards at about 11.30 this morning we found the layout rose dramatically towards the centre and then dropped away so dividers from one of the stock boxes were hastily inserted under a number of boards which greatly improved the situation.

 

We can only apologise to anyone who did not experience our usual perfect running and in future we will bring a selection of packing pieces and a large spirit level to ensure that this problem does not happen again. Just because we had not experienced changes in the level of floors before is not an excuse, we should have realised that this could arise at any time.

 

Aside from the above we did receive many positive comments and the whole weekend was thoroughly enjoyable. Long may this continue.

[Satan's Goldfish]

I think this is either the second or third show i've been to and Kirkhill has also been there, but there's always so many punters viewing i can never get a good position to watch!

 

However, Sunday being quieter my son managed to slip to the front with a camera (sorry about the quality) and get a couple of snaps. I always find it interesting stumbling over his pictures after a show as he has a much lower view of all the layouts and pictures things that he notices and i don't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flood]

Your son has managed to get a photo of Alex actually working and not sitting down! Also the camera has managed to remove the gloss finish from the bus and produce exactly the effect I'm looking for when we tone it down and give it some weathering.

 

You are quite correct. The different view point of the photos does give an alternative slant to the layout.

 

I must add that the layout has also received some very positive feedback on the Trainwest topic so once again a big thank you to everyone who came to the exhibition and spent some time looking at the layout.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Flood

[themadmutley]

Well Done fantastic job 5*****

Believe it or not we've actually managed to not only 1) finish something on the layout but also 2) take some photos!

Below are the three fuel points nearest to the depot exit, two for locos and one for HSTs. Two more fuel points are situated at the battery end (one each for locos and HSTs). All of these are lit by imitation flourescent lights from Kytes. In addition I've finished the battery chargers this last weekend and these will be fixed on the layout, along with the water taps, once the last two lighting gantries have been finished this week.

So more photos on the way soon but in the meantime enjoy the following:

First off, an overall view of the three fuel points
Overall fuel points at night.JPG


HST fuel point
HST fuel point at night.JPG


Loco fuel point
Loco fuel point at night.JPG


Loco fuel point in close up
Loco fuel point close up.JPG


View of loco ready for fuelling
Fuel Points at night.JPG

[Flood]

Those photos are going back in time a bit!

 

Thanks for the compliment. You've got me thinking about any improvements we can make before the next exhibition in July and I've just remembered that I've not bought a large spirit level yet....

 

...that'll be this afternoon's job then.

[Geoff Endacott]

So that's where Trainwest Ted got to.

 

Geoff Endacott

[Temeraire]

The dark grey and light grey used for executive (InterCity) livery and ScotRail livery were the same. I know that when the swallow livery came out the locos started to be painted falcon grey (for the dark colour) instead but I'm pretty sure that the light grey colour never changed.

 

01. 47716 Glasgow QS 6 July 1985.jpg

 

Glenn/Graham

 

I'm after a bit of advice fellas and hope you can help?

 

I've got a Heljan 47715 here ready to turn into 47706 in it's NSE days but it is one of the batch where Heljan painted the upper bodysides black, therefore I need to respray this colour before renumbering/weathering etc. I know the ScotRail livery was the same Exec Dark Grey colour as the I/C Exec livery as your post above states but when I look at pics of the loco it doesn't look as 'brown' as another loco I have already sprayed with the Railmatch Exec Grey. From your combined experience, do you know if the ScotRail locos were painted with the later Falcon Grey before they moved South and/or what have you painted your locos with?

[Flood]

Hi Ian

 

We've certainly painted all our ScotRail 47s with Exec Dark Grey and I'm pretty sure that 47706 didn't receive a repaint after a main generator repair in September 1987.

 

Looking at this photo: http://class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1108051078211 you can see where a new patch of exec dark grey has covered the ScotRail on the bodyside. The rest of the loco has just got darker over time, a bit like maroon coaching stock did. You can also see the Haymarket castle near the westie so it shows that the last repaint is definitely wearing off. As it was five years since the previous repaint then this is hardly surprising.

 

Seeing as it has been a while since my last post I'll add the latest updates:

 

Most of the cars have been sprayed in satin varnish and will have a bit of weathering soon. The two vans have been sprayed in matt varnish and will also be weathered and the bus now has a coat of matt varnish, a driver, passengers and a liberal covering of snow slush/salt from the front wheels back to the rear (the windows are now so dirty that the passengers can barely be seen!).

 

The next exhibition will be Hornby Live at Hartlepool on July 13th/14th and in conjunction with this we will be featured in the August Hornby Magazine (due mid July). A new batch of photos was taken by Mike Wild today and the article is based more on the operation and stock on the layout as opposed to overall layout construction.

 

This will be a new area of the country for us so we are looking forward to showing the layout to a different host of modellers.

[Temeraire]

Thanks for the advice Graham I thought I knew the answer but decided to consult the 'experts' before making a mistake!  I'll use the Exec dark Grey and take it from there but not sure how I'm going to simulate the effects in that photo, trial and error I guess.

 

Did I see you're coming down South later this year as it would be good to see the layout again?

 

Thanks again.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Temeraire

[Flood]

The four exhibitions this year are at Hartlepool, North Shields, Mickleover (Derby) and Warley.

 

You'll be pleased to know that we should be at both Folkestone and the Isle of Wight next year.

[Graham_Muz]

Graham

 

I look forward to seeing you and the layout again at Hartlepool as I am also there with Fisherton Sarum.

[Flood]

Time for a blatant plug for the layout and the Hornby LIVE! Exhibition which is this coming weekend at Hartlepool. This will be the first time that we have been invited to the North East so we hope to see lots of new faces. For all of you who can't make it this weekend we will also be at North Shields in August this year.

 

In addition we are featured in the August edition of Hornby Magazine (due out 11 July) although there is no mention of our layout on the front cover. Please see the link below for more details:

 

http://www.hornbymagazine.com/view_issue.asp?ID=4915

 

Please come along and say hello this weekend if you are in the area (or even if you're not!). As stated by Graham above he will also be there with Fisherton Sarum - a very different kind of depot layout to ours but made to an excellent standard and well worth viewing.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Flood

[griffgriff]

Strange seeing Fisherton Sarum and Aberdeen Kirkhill in the same post as I went to Fisherton (as in Sarum) Manor middle school as a kid and I now work in Mickleover.

 

Both excellent layouts but I believe Kirkhill needs to smell more of fish and it should feature some suicidal diving seagulls.

[Flood]

....but I believe Kirkhill needs to smell more of fish and it should feature some suicidal diving seagulls.

 

Does that mean it already smells of fish???

 

I do keep threatening to have an occasional sound effect loop of Great Black Backed Gulls running in the background to the layout, so far I've been vetoed by Glenn regarding this. We've got seven gulls on the layout, I think that's enough.

[griffgriff]

Does that mean it already smells of fish???

 

 

only when someones been eating them with chips

[45156]

Saw the piece in HM and well impressed.

 

Nice to know that it's yet another where we saw it here first!

 

Hope the exhibition went well for you

[Flood]

Saw the piece in HM and well impressed.

 

Nice to know that it's yet another where we saw it here first!

 

Hope the exhibition went well for you

Thanks very much for the comments. The photos by Mike Wild in this months Hornby Magazine are superb and we are both very pleased with the article.

 

The exhibition was a total success. All the locos ran impeccably, we had a considerable amount of interest from the visitors and probably far too much praise for our own good!

 

All in all the whole weekend was an absolute pleasure.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Flood

[Flood]

Well it's 2 and a half months later and not a fat lot has happened.

 

We were invited to the Bombardier Family and Friends Open Day a couple of weeks ago which gave us a really good shake down on the layout. We've had to sort out a few little niggles (dry joints, a switch breaking, wires touching that shouldn't) but after 4 years now on the road it's not surprising that a some wear and tear will occur.

 

The rolling stock and locomotive front hasn't changed at all. The next arrival which is in works is another 08. The other two run nearly constant for 2 days at an exhibition so as Aberdeen had three shunters (08680, 08855 and 08882) Glenn is currently painting up 08882 so we can have a spare if needed and also reduce the workload on the models overall.

 

The Mickleover Club Open Day is in a couple of weeks time so if you are in the area why not pop in and say hello. It's quite a small affair but that makes it all the more personal.

 

Otherwise we'll be at Warley in November for the last outing this year.