Leaderboard

The D38 glass well wagon has given me a challenge but I’m reasonably happy with the overall result. The support frame has a slight lean, but it is only really noticeable in closeup and square on photos. As specials I think the wagon would be in good condition for the Edwardian era, it is in its first decade in service. I therefore just gave it some very light weathering. If someone has any transfers a scale 1” high that say “OIL” then I’ll buy some. those 3 dots above the axleboxes will have to do for now. I don’t usually go in for helicopter shots, but this shows the interior detail and the size of the well in context. The screw jacks holding the crate are peco trackpins, which I have found over the years to be very useful for everything apart from pinning track down. I have improvised the tie down rings, I assume something like that was fitted. Those interested in Caley wagons will note the mysterious mark on the rh end of the solebar. Clearly seen on the original so I aded one. We might find out what it means one day.

This weekend was a chance to finish off painting the asphalt and to make a start on getting all the road lining and decals down. Ferry terminals seem to be covered with white yellow and red lining of different sorts so out with the acrylic pens and bendy ruler to start marking it all on. (marking on the top road lines first using the bendy ruler for the corners.) (I then marked out a chevron where the two routes split before marking the lines down the ramp.) The ramp road crosses the railway at the bottom. Due to the dockside industrial nature I decided to make this an open crossing with give way decals rather than full barriers. The first thing to do was to mark on the box junction. I decided to go with a hybrid design using the diamond pattern courtesy of my daughters set square but spread over the whole box as when vehicles are running they use both lanes in one direction on the ramp. Not quite to DfT diagram standard but as this is a private road I didn't think that mattered. (box junction marked on) I really like these acrylic pens. They make line painting really easy. I then lined the rest of the junction Having completed this it was out with the scale model scenery self-adhesive decals again to put the finishing touches to the road markings. The tiny writing proved quite tricky to get off the sheet, but everything else came off and onto the layout relatively painlessly. (arrows where the traffic flows meet) (decals applied to Junction) Having completed the approach roads I turned my attention to the dockside. Having looked at images of Dover the mooring points are marked with red paint and a yellow border whilst on the train ferry Dock there were numbers marked on the dockside I assume as a count down for the ships crew to know when they were about to butt up to the Linkspan. I wanted to mark out the area of the tramway in a similar way to how it was done at Weymouth with a single 45 degree line and dashed outer edge. Unfortunately my yellow pen started running out when I got to that part. Here is the state of play when I finished this evening. (marking the mooring points) (additional parking bays marked in with yellow lining progressed. Lots of no parking paint slapped down) (scaled count down to Linkspan in metres along Dock edge) I need to order a new yellow pen to finish off the yellow lining. Thanks for reading

It's high time I posted an update on the scrap tank, which is approaching completion. Painting started with a coat of grey Halfords primer from a rattle can. I then used the airbrush to spray the basic green colour all over. I find that Tamiya acrylics spray quite nicely, so I used a mixture of olive green and white, thinned about 50:50 with Tamiya's own thinner. This works for me spraying at about 15 psi (although I don't really trust the gauge on my cheap and cheerful compressor). After painting the basic green colour I used a brush to paint the black smokebox, cream cab interior, and various other details. I used enamels for the metallic colours. I carefully scraped the paint of the handrails to leave the bare steel colour. Here are a couple of views of the body shell after both painting and decals. The latter are the waterslide transfers printed by Railtec from my design and now available from the 2mm Association. Before applying them, I (brush) painted the body with gloss Humbrol Clear, which I am told is similar to the old Johnsons Klear. After a couple of coats I thought I had ruined it with some ugly streaks etc. But I persevered and applied the transfers. I sealed them on with more Clear and finally a spray coat of matt varnish (aerosol of "anti-shine" from the Army Painter range). At this point, the ugly streaks miraculously disappeared, along with any visible transfer carrier film. So I was quite chuffed. Next I turned to the chassis. The cylinder block was sprayed at the same time as the body, and below you can see it temporarily attached to the chassis for testing. Something you can see at the rear (to the right in the photo below) are the extra pick-up "skids", which I don't think I mentioned before. The design of the chassis didn't allow for the fitting of "Simpson springs", and I found that the current collection was dubious. Thus I fitted some phosphor-bronze wires with flattened ends that rest on the rail. I tried to disguise them to look like sandpipes from normal viewing distance. (Not as well disguised as the invisible brakes, however!) The skids substantially improved the current collection, and the loco now creeps along quite reliably on my test track. Time will tell how it performs "in the wild". Once satisfied that all was running (i.e. after interminable fettling of slide bars, realising that one of the wheels was wonky in its muff so fitting a new muff, etc.), I soldered on the crank pin washers (from the 2mm Association etch) and cut off the excess length of the crankpins with the piercing saw. To solder on the washers, I used layers of Rizla paper soaked in oil underneath them to avoid gumming up the motion. Two or three layers seemed about right. It's important on this loco that the coupling rods don't have too much sideplay, as there is no washer on the leading crankpin and hence it would be liable to come loose otherwise. With hindsight I cut these front crankpins down a bit too much. You can see the different in the following (poor) view. Here's a rear view. The cab windows (front and rear) were glazed with Micro Kristal Klear, a small bottle of which I have had for years. It's actually similar to PVA glue. What you can't see in the photo is that the loco is still missing any coal in the bunker, in which you can see the motor from above. You can also see the motor through the side of the cab, so I will probably cover it with black paper and fit a crew to further mask it. And I haven't yet fitted any couplings (functional or cosmetic!). The coupling hooks themselves were spare ones from a previous etch. I'll try to take some better photos at some point...

Who hangs on to old tins of paint, wherein gloopy remains stick to the bottom? I have an old tin of Humbrol 27004 Metalcote Gunmetal, most of which was used for airbrushing onto wheels and smokeboxes in a black/gunmetal mixture. During a search for suitable buffer head grease I found that the otherwise unusable pigment that remained in the bottom of an improperly closed tinlet had an interesting property. A lump of this goo was attached to a buffer head, smeared about a bit and left to dry. Once dry, it was gently buffed to bring out the metallic sheen. On 1444 I have used this simple process for the buffers, after treating them to a layer of Dullcote and some MIG Dark Mud. These two final photographs show the end result. Now I'm off to work on the Golden Arrow.

A Euston bound Express passes Linslade. A diverted Midland service for Sheffield crosses from the Down Slow to Down Fast Line at the north end at Watford, after providing a connection into the St. Albans Abbey branch. Harrow. Looking south. The southern approaches, outside the Box at Watford. Waiting to leave the Reversing Sidings at Harrow after the southbound Bakerloo service has vacated Platform 2. The first glimmer of light on an overcast November Sunday morning. Passengers await the arrival of the first northbound service at Platform 5 Harrow.

The cab roof comes off! Heart in mouth moment when I removed the engine from its wheel-spraying cradle - something fell on the floor. Only the roof, though, not being held in place by the two small magnets any more. This gave me the idea of adding some grime to the easily accessible cab interior, so out came the MIG Dark Wash again and some was applied to the brightly coloured pipework. Not covering the whole assembly with grime, but just hinting that there had been some work going on in that area. Nothing more than a white spirit dampened rigger brush being dipped into the wash and then applied to pipe joins from the tip of the bristles.

Out of the box this locomotive has a rather shiny smokebox, much more so than I would have expected. Before going any further I decided to apply a layer of Testor's Dullcote to that area so that pigments could be applied at a later date and that I could be sure that they would stick. Dullcote dries very quickly into a usable state. These photographs were taken only two minutes apart. My masking wasn't very good, so the Dullcote has landed on part of the leading wheels. I'll need to load up the airbrush to cover that small patch with another layer of Sleeper Grime. This was a good example of the change in appearance a layer of varnish will make to a carefully planned and coloured area of rolling stock, whether it has been done with paint or pigment.

It's the turn of the airbrush now. The inderframe will be discoloured using Railmatch Sleeper Grime, applied with an Iwata Eclipse SBS. The driven wheels are turned while the paint is sprayed, to prevent there being a patchy finish to the rims. With N Gauge and OO/HO Gauge engines this can be done with a PP9 battery, but this doesn't work with O Gauge. I use two pieces of scrap OO Gauge rail screwed into place through a piece of wiring terminal block set at the width of the wheel treads and bent to the width of the battery terminals on the other side. The wheels are airbrushed first and then the rest of the underparts, not forgetting the buffer beams. The wheels on the trailing axle are turned by hand. After I thought I had finished I saw from the photographs that I was wrong. I had to return to the spray booth and finish off the patchy bits I thought I had avoided!

The chassis of this model includes a representation of the inside motion, visible in the gap 'twixt boiler and running plate. It's bright red! I didn't want to hide this completely, so decided to add a layer of wash to the parts that were visible. The rigger brush was ideal for this task, enabling just enough wash to be deposited.

Buffer beams get dirty. They're not alone in that, obviously, but this aspect of weathering doesn't always get the attention it deserves, and I include myself there. There is much opportunity for detail weathering in O Gauge, so I decided to put a little more effort into this subject by applying a wash to the varied protruberances on the buffer beams. A straightforward process, involving a rigger brush, white spirit and MIG Dark Wash. The brush bristles are first loaded with white spirit and then dipped into the bottle of wash. The tip of the brush is applied to the edge of a detail (bolt head in this case) and capillary action will take the fliud as far as the consistency permits. The thinner the wash the further it will travel. You should be able to see just where it has been applied by studying the photographs. Note that the colouring will be lighter once the wash has dried, as is always the case with the paints we apply to our models.

When you start to look at running in boards you soon realise that they are as individual as the stations they adorn, even within the same region. It's quite fascinating when you start studying their various designs. This site has some useful pictures of various Southern running in boards and may be of some interest to anyone modelling the Southern areas: http://www.semgonline.com/infrastr/ribs_01.html Some aspects of the Hawkhurst branch differed from station to station, the platform construction being one. But many other elements were exactly the same across the board, including, by all appearances, the running in boards. This gave me less flexibility in terms of design as I wanted to be as true to the prototype as possible. They appear to have been constructed from a pair of metal beams attached to a central board, an enamelled sign was affixed therein. A simple bracket supported both elements either side. The rounded tops and bolt detail is simple but striking. Older photos seem to suggest the outer frame of the name board would have been painted paler, possibly white. I'm not certain when enamelled signage would have come into use. Most photos I can find that clearly show running in boards were taken in the 50's and after - I'd be interested to learn what might have been used before if anything. The image above is the only one I have of this particularly curious setup on Goudhurst's second platform. The board looks to be identical to the others but the (enamelled?) sign is almost comically smaller! I suspect this was a spare that was placed here in lieu of something designed for the purpose. Or else the board itself is significantly bigger, it's hard to say for sure. Many of the plastic kits and parts that feature running in boards are rather generic and I couldn't find anything that matched the design exactly. So I decided to build my own. I happened to have a sheet of rivets from Slater's Plastikard... yes, for the first time ever, my modelling takes me into literal "rivet counting" territory! I selected rivets that looked about the right size for the bolts featured on the posts. I cut two strips, one for each leg. I aimed to keep them the same width a some plastic strip I already had. Then came the tricky task of removing some of those pesky rivets as the spacing and amount wasn't right. I used the flat of a sharp craft knife and removed the remainder with some very fine sand paper. The result wasn't perfect and there were some scars from some dodgy blade wielding, but overall the effect was satisfactory to my eye. The strips were glued to plain strips of plastikard for strength and thickness. The tops were rounded off by cutting the corners and using a sanding stick to even out the shape. Then another piece of identical strip was bent and wrapped across the top as shown below. I tried heating the strip in boiling water to aid bending, but actually found that caused the plastic to break instead of being more flexible. I also found adding too much liquid cement caused the plastic to weaken and split too, so this part took some patience. I had a name board lying around from another kit - likely Peco/Wills/Ratio - which rather conveniently suited the size of the printed element I would be attaching later on. I backed this with another piece of Plastikard for the sake of width and stability and then glued between the posts. Next, some small strips for the brackets underneath the name board. These were half the width of the strip used so far, bent and glued in place. I got a bit excited and sprayed with primer before attaching the brackets, hence the images below! I followed this up with a coat of primer (again!) and then, once dry, a coat of Phoenix Precision Paints Southern Middle Chrome Green. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect and the bolt head details on the side were well worth the (slightly) extra effort. Finally, a custom made name board courtesy of Sankey Scenics. Even the miss-matched greens at work here seem to be prototypical! All for now, Jonathan

It's been a while since my last entry. Things have been busy. The layout has now appeared in last October's edition of Model Rail, and the two-parter in the N Gauge Journal has just finished. However, the layout looks set to be appearing in Hornby magazine later next year. In the meantime the layout has been up and running, and I have some more photos to share for those that are interested. So here we go. Harrow & Wealdstone. two 304s pass on the Slow Lines, while a Cravens 105 DMU sits in platform 7 with the signal cleared for another trip to Stanmore Village. An unusual view as this is looking from the back of the layout to the front. Harrow Shunting Frame can't be seen normally as it is hidden by the Goods Shed. This view is looking north. At the south end of Harrow. The Liverpool Pullman heads south on the last lap to Euston. 1A20 0812 Manchester to Euston slows to a stop at Watford to 'Set Down Only'. Empty Cement working heading north for Tring Cutting. A southbound Express passes while a 1959 and 1972 Tube set pass in the background. Previous picture from a different viewpoint. A Derby Lightweight Single car DMU is on the Stanmore Branch working, having been borrowed from Bletchley. 1A88 'Bletchley Mails' hurries through Watford on the Up Slow Line. A Cravens 105 DMU sits in platform 10 waiting to leave with a St. Albans Abbey working. The North Wembley 'BOC' Tankers pass the depot at Watford. A class 40 on some loaded Hoppers near Linslade fails to disturb the swans on the Canal. A Halewood - Dagenham working heads south through Watford as the Manchester Pullman heads northwards. The Manchester Pullman overtakes a 310 at Harrow. Rush Hour at Harrow. Two 310s pass on the Slow Lines, as two 1938 Tube sets pass on the DC Lines. A northbound Express passes through the middle. The St. Albans Abbey DMU waits to set off from platform 10 while a southbound Freightliner passes two 25s on a lengthy empty wagon working. A class 115 DMU makes an unexpected appearance at the Junction, almost as unexpected as the Cravens DPU in platform 11. Southbound 'Flasks' on the Up Slow Line at Harrow. Southbound Class 8 Freight overtaken by a Euston bound Express. 1Z16 passing Watford. 1M16 (from Inverness and Fort William) sometimes ran in two portions if one was running late. The late running section ran as 1Z16, and sometimes was worked through to Euston with a class 47. Another rare sight (I only ever saw this once in five years) Double-headed 50s pass south through Watford. Southbound Cement passing through Harrow on the Up Slow Line. Mid-summer's evening. A northbound Sleeper service hurries through Harrow. Green liveried 47 with full yellow ends speeds through Watford with a northbound Excursion. Hope you enjoyed ? Andy.