Hi everyone,
I've been registered on RMWeb for quite a while but haven't done anything about adding any content, other than the odd comment here and there.
I've only been modeling railway stuff for just over a year and my knowledge of railways doesn't add up to much but I'm learning all the time and find the subject very interesting.
Of course I went through the usual phase of 'train spotting' when I was a kid and lived right near Hither Green sidings outh East London where you could hear the trucks being shunted quite clearly throughout the night, it was a familiar sound which I missed considerably once I got married and moved away from home.
My mate's dad was the Foreman down at the engine sheds so we saw quite a bit of the 'workings' of the southern railway, and spent many happy days out in all the Main London stations.
I've developed an interest in re-modelling old RTR stuff into a representation of something else. So far I've turned a Lima 0-4-0 international loco into a USA class shunter, 2 Hornby 0-4-0T body shells into a Double Fairlie, [Merddin Emrys], refurbished an old Gaiety 0-6-0 57xx saddle tank and I'm currently scratch building a 2-4-0T [1308 Lady Margaret].
update
Well it's two and a half years on from my initial introduction and I've learned quite a lot since my first RTR bash, the USA tank, which when I look back at it now seems very toy like.
I don't do much in the way of that sort of work now, largely because the massive increase in postage has made it difficult to buy old models, if you can get them. Ebay has degenerated into one gluttonous delve into the honey pot, and also there just aren't the old spare parts and non runner models you used to see.
You've probably looked through my blog before coming here to read this intro, so you will probably know of the Dubs crane I scratchbuilt.
I quite like scratch building, I find it stretches my imagination, last yearI went through a sort of lazy stage where I just built a few kits, then came an entirely scratch built Mink G wagon, I went through a rolling stock phase and then I read a thread on here posted by JCL about the Silhouette Cameo cutter which I'd never heard of before. After reading through that thread and various others on the same theme I decided that was the new way to go.
I purchased a cutter the smaller Silhouette Portrait, downloaded Inkscape a freeware design program and set about learning how to use it to produce the CAD cutting files for use with the Portrait cutter.
Approximately one year on and I'm currently making a model of a class 50 diesel with the parts cut entirely from card board sheet. My first foray into card modelling was with my Metro Vick, which aroused my interest in that medium.
So if you haven't looked at my blog have a look through it, there's maybe something of interest to you in there
See ya later.
