West_riding

My first attempt at 3d printing- an MDO 21T mineral wagon from Iron Mink's free STL files- massive learning curve with this, but pleased with progress so far for my first attempt. Some things I have learnt- 1- print extra buffers and brake gear as you will break some! 2- check the files to make sure you print the right thing- the brake gear should have v-hangers, but I printed the wrong file and didn't notice until it was glued in place (will find something in the spares box to correct this) 3- orientate the print differently so there are less sprues on the fine detail- had to replace the bottom rails with brass as they broke off when I was removing the sprue. (I am aware the wheels are rubbish, they were in my spares box and will do until some metal ones arrive)

Today's little project is this free Kingsway kit of a low relief Wilkinson store- very simple little kit and I printed multiple copies and layered them to try and give a little depth. Nothing sophisticated but it makes a nice little model.

Today's project. Based off a free kit from Kingsway Models, I have adapted their toilet block kit by shrinking it front to back and I lowered the roof and fitted brickwork to the back of each wall to better represent a flat roof. Lots of working painting in cut edges. Not as sophisticated as a Scalescenes kit, but still makes up a nice model.

Numbered, painted and weathered

Last month a friend gave me a lot of model railway stock including a Virgin Trains HST set. I already had one power car, so the duplicate has been sat in the box waiting a use ever since. Today I decided to convert it into one of the buffer equipped cars used as DVTs in the late 80s and then by Virgin Cross Country in the late 90s, the era I model. My aim was to leave the livery as intact as possible to make this as simple and cheap a conversion as possible. I removed the name and number using a fibreglass pencil and cut off the valance off with the razor saw before building up a bufferbeam with plasticard. The buffers are from the spares box. Next job is to paint the new pieces, add some new number transfers and then weather. Hornby currently charge £89 for an unpowered HST model with buffers- mine was completely free!

Fun little weathering project for the weekend- a Hornby MHA 'Coalfish' wagon and a Bachmann PNA wagon. The PNA had a little factory weathering, but not enough for my tastes and both had very unrealistic interiors (see before photo). The interiors have been painted in shades of rust as these soon lost their paint in service, the underframe have been weathered and the body sides had a wash to leave grime in the corners. These wagons look very rough today, but as I model the early 2000s, I wanted mine to still look fairly new. Finally added a load of ballast to the MHA, the real wagons are filled by JCB and often have two piles of ballast rather than a level load where to scoops have been dumped so I tried to copy that. The PNA has a load of used ballast spoil, old rails and oil drums where the permanent way team have dumped their rubbish. Very pleased with how this pair have come out.

Last weekend a friend very generously gave me a large box of model railway stock. Included were three 1970s Hornby Gresley coaches. They looked very 'train set' like, so over the weekend I had some fun improving them. A couple of coats of wash darkened the sides down, followed by varnish to give a mild sheen like polished wood. The solebars were painted teak to match the real things and the interiors and seats were painted. Its something completely different to my normal era and rolling stock, but its been a fun little project and they look good behind an A4. Just need a couple more now to bring the rake up to a respectable five coaches. Nothing earth shattering as this seems quite a common modification, but I am happy with the results.

I have finished the class 56- frame dirt on the underframe, followed by dry brushing oily steel on the buffer heads and cab steps. A tiny amount of Vallejo 'oil stains' on the tanks and a small amount of 'engine grime' on the axleboxes and springs. I am very happy with how this has turned out and to my eyes it looks a lot more realistic now- not bad for a 40+ year old mould!

I have weathered a few steam engines over the years, but this is my first attempt at a modern loco. It's a little scary attacking a loco with the paint and air brush, but this was a £35 loco, not a £300 one so I didn't feel too bad. I have tried to go for heavy use, but still in good condition. I painted the sides with a watered down grey/brown acrylic mix, then took it straight off with downward strokes of kitchen roll and then vertical strokes of acrylic thinner with cotton buds. Then I airbrushed the roof with roof grime and a little black around the exhausts. The next job is to detail the buffer beam and weather the chassis, before putting it all back together. I have surprised myself with this as, to my eyes, it has the level of subtlety I was after and a grimy, but not clapped out look.

I find with Scalescenes the thickness of the cardboard is the issue- it always seems too thick or too thin- even if I have used exactly what they recommend- so some trimming is required to get things to fit together properly. Some things are more critical than others. The stairs in this case are 1mm short at the top because the card stock I used is a fraction thinner than required- I need to make an additional top step to make it all line up properly.

I am a great fan of the Scalescenes kits, like many others on here and find building them (usually) very relaxing. This is my latest project taken from a Hornby magazine a few years back, the ARP signal box. I fitted some great interior details from the Ratio kit, but sadly once the roof was on, you can barely see any of it! Oh well...

A conversion of the Holden 101 into a little industrial shunter I did a few years ago- really need to add some couplings at some point so it can actually pull something! The large buffers are just drawing pins- cheap, simple but very effective for industrial locos. I have always liked wasp stripes on steam engines so they had to be included.

Finished bar some more light weathering. So happy with how this has turned out! Best loco repaint I have done so far. Cost was £5 for the loco, £2 for the other power bogie, £2 for the nameplates and maybe £1 for paint, transfers etc. Out of my existing stocks. All in all £10.

Amazing how it comes to life with the details picked out! The ends were brush painted and needed about 15 coats to cover so are not as smooth as I would like, but overall I am really happy with how it's coming together. Next weekend's project is varnishing and decals. I have never tried airbrushing varnish before so that will be an experience. Got some Vallejo gloss and satin so see how that goes on.

First time I have tried airbrushing a diesel and very pleased with how its going- need a lot of touching up and all the detail painting but definitely going in the right direction. The yellow was a right pain and in hindsight I should have primed the ends in white not grey.

Amazing how good it starts to look when you put some primer on! Need to add another coat and then I can start adding the top coat next weekend

Well this is taxing the old eyesight and manual dexterity! Detailing the front of the class 47- guitar string for the handrails and pipes, offcuts of plasticard for the ETH jumper boxes, high visibility headlight and buffer beam reinforcement and a piece if solder for the ETH cable! The coupling hook is out of the spares box and I will add the chain when it's all painted up.

Some more progress, got the last of the humbrol paint off the body shell using oven cleaner and pleased to discover the previous owner had fitted cast metal plating over the head codes and cast buffers. One buffer was missing its head so I drilled this out and added a plastic head from the spares box. The next task is new handrails from old guitar strings. As I am pretty much broke, this conversion is being done with whatever I have at hand!

Very pleased to have a working chassis for my Franken-duff! I bought this very rough Hornby Class 47 years ago for under £5 as it only had one bogie, I picked up a second motor bogie for £2 last summer. The £2 motor bogie went up in a lot of smoke when being serviced, but by stripping it out and modifying the chassis I have managed to cobble together something that works! Quite proud that despite my complete lack of electrical knowhow I have got something that runs. Next job is to clean up the body, repaint etc. but at least the tricky bit is done! I have a set of etched name plates for 47474 Rowland Hill in the spares box and the Parcels livery looks fairly straight forward so that is my plan- best way to learn is by having a go and far safer on a scrap loco like this than an expensive one with pristine livery!

A friend of mine is building a model railway with his son, so I have built them this semi-detached from Scalescenes as a Christmas present. Hands down this is the most complex Scalescenes kit I have attempted so far, and the finished house is far from perfect, but I have learnt so much making it, including trimming the interior walls to compensate for my thick card being slightly thicker than the card the kit was designed for! Oddly the interior took far longer than the walls did, and the staircases were a pain, but I am pleased with the finished job, just need to add some chimney pots and get it wrapped. Just hope they like it now...

Bogies are now fitted and we have passengers together with some newspapers and laptops on the tables inside. Tomorrow's jobs are repainting the roof, fitting some overhead line warning decals to the ends and some weathering. I am really pleased at how this is coming together.

Fitted windows to both sides now and fitted some plasticard toilet dividers as it was very obvious they were missing when you looked inside. Next job is to get the passengers painted and fitted.

I picked up this old Lima intercity Mk2D off eBay for 99p- it was missing a bogie, the buffers are broken and it's generally showing its age! The livery is not brilliant but experience has taught me to leave this well alone as I am not good at complicated masking jobs. I have some spare Dapol/Hornby mk2 bogies so they will be going under it and I am trying to get it into a useable state without spending any cash! First step has been to repaint the interior (first time the airbrush has been out in 8 years!). I am also going to replace the glazing which has always been the weak point of Lima's models. The new glazing is cut from CD cases and filed to shape. Three hours of work and I have done one side. Still a long way to go, but I am pleased with progress so far.

Sadly a combination of doing up the house, new baby and RNR training has put this onto the back burner, but hopefully the winter will give me chance to make a start, even if only on a few buildings to motivate me to crack on!

Thanks everyone for the comments and the map. I am going to try and build this to the best of my ability, and one thing I want to try is building my own track. There are a couple of three way points so set track was never going to be an option...but I. Might start with some straight bits first! As the space to house the layout isn't available yet, I am going to concentrate on research and making some of the buildings in the first instance, I like the idea of the tall mills in front of part of the layout so you have to look through the urban landscape to see the track and locomotives.