richard w

Been busy continuing with the shed. I've now built the sides and have started on the roof. I'll get some pictures sorted out soon. Cheers

I've spent the last few days working on the biggest scratchbuilding project I've ever attempted. I wanted to have a large carriage shed on the new section. Couldn't find anything suitable ready to run or in kit form so started to build my own from scratch. So far I've managed to complete the frame which is made from brass I beam and box section. It's all soldered together and got very repetitive and boring very quickly!. The shed is about 160mm wide and 1450mm long. Next I'll start working on the plasticard sides & roof. I've also filmed to process from start to finish. Cheers

Had a running session today and dusted off the Camtruck. Quite a bit has changed since it last went around the layout. Being based in a 4 wheeled wagon it gets quite a harsh ride and finds every lump and bump in the track.

Its been ages since I posted anything on here! Sorry about that. I'm very busy at work at the moment so only have a couple of hours a week to work on the layout. Things are progressing, just not as fast as I would like. Recently I've built some hills and weathered all the track in the new yard. Thanks

I've moved onto the fuel point now. Plenty left to do, but I've managed to get the effect I was after.

Thanks Guys. The signal box is the one that I used to have over by the station. Really happy with how things are coming along. I've made some more progress with ballast, point rodding and have started on some buffer stops. .

Now the weather has cooled down a bit I've been busy on the new sidings again. All the electrics are complete and I've started the first bit of scenery. I've made a start on the track detail and have just finished the first bit of ballasting. Had a go at adding some point rodding using the wills kit. Very fiddly but it certainly looks the part. Plenty more detail to add after the ballast has dried.

Very close, its a '59 El Camino (Impala pickup truck). We've finished restoring it now. Fantastic to drive, really puts a smile on your face.

Probably a shed of some sort (scratchbuilt) and some refueling points, signal box, coach washers and offices. Still in the planning stage at the moment, might change some it.

Thanks Terry. Yes it will be fully scenic, Aberdeen Kirkhill is my source of inspiration. Love that layout.

I've been very busy over the last few weeks. I've constructed and new board which will house a coach depot/storage area. The plan is to replicate some station pilot movements and shunt rakes between the sidings and the station. So far things are going well. All the track is laid and wired up. I've also wired up about 50% of the point motors. Track on the layout has been changed slightly. I've removed the crossover that connected the outer track to centre track and moved it further up to connect the branch to the centre track. This gives the station pilot access to every platform in the station. A set points to link the outer track to the station is being laid elsewhere. Uncoupling will be done using magnets and I'm fitting more points at the end of the sidings to release the station pilot after it's parked up a rake. More pics are on the way as I make more progress. A full video series for this is in progress and the first 4 parts can be found on my YouTube channel. Cheers

Excellent work Terry. Wish I could make progress that quickly!

Thanks Terry. Glad your new job is working out for you. A career change was just what I needed, haven't looked back since and am much happier these days.

Best tip for getting NSE right is to find and print out as many photos as possible of the actual class 50 you want to paint. There are subtle differences in both the original and revised livery on the 50s so get as many pictures as you can. Then I use parts of the model and real thing to work out angles and where colours should change. Things like door handles, rivets, window frames, grills and hand rails can really help with gauging the position of certain parts of the livery. The biggest thing to get right is the straightness of the masking tape. The slightest curve along the model will give the appearance of a warped bodyshell. When masking make sure you hold the body up with a cab facing you and look very closely down the length from a cab end. Any issues should jump out. Hope that helps. Good luck with the resprays and take your time. It took me 1 month to respray 12 coaches and a 50. Tiger on its own took 1 week to paint. NSE makes BR blue resprays look like a walk in the park.

Thanks guys. The new job is going very well. I ditched my IT career for classic car restoration. So glad I made the change, had been very unhappy with work for over a year. Now instead of computers I'm working on this

I've finished Tiger now and have it running again on the layout. It represents the loco as it was in 1989 with a light weathering. Looks great parked with Furious in the station and shows the contrast between the two NSE liveries. Furious is also a complete repaint and represents that loco as it was in 1988 with some light fading to the paintwork. This was the last item of stock that needed painting into NSE. Glad to finally see the back of it after all the coaches and both locos. Its a hard livery to get right.

Its been quiet on the layout recently. I started a new job last month so didn't spent very much time on the layout. I have been working on one of my 50s though. It will become 50028 and is nearing the end of it's respray. NSE is quite a challenge to paint due to all the lines and colours but I'm very happy with how its looking. I've just gloss coated it and once dry the transfers will go on. NSE white goes on first. Then the yellow ends. NSE light blue next. Red stripe and grey band. Black for the roof. Finally the cantrail stripe. I paint these on as I usually mess up cantrail transfers.

Excellent job Terry. It's great to get a big project off the bench and onto the layout. The weathering sets it off very well, you should be very proud of your work there. Cheers

The Mk3s are an interesting one. The real thing is rather sleek and doesn't have a great deal going on. Personally I think they look quite good once weathered, but they do need improvement in some areas. The couplings are the biggest issue for me. A close coupling system similar to Bachmann mk1s and 2s would transform the look of a rake. Factory applied brake disks would be nice too.

I've been painting again. Got the new Hornby HST last week and discovered the Intercity 125 lettering was in silver and not white. The dummy car was also the incorrect running number. Got the transfers sorted and weathered it only to discover the rear bogie on the power car wasn't getting any drive. Opened it up and found that some of the gears didn't line up. Fixed it by pushing the two sides of the gearbox casing into the correct position. Its now running well and looks much better with the correct transfers. I've also weathered my swallow version and all the coaches.

There is two screws under them but I wouldn't take them apart as putting them back together is a pain. Instead I left mine assembled and just masked them up for painting.

Tamper is looking great. Good luck with the HAAs.

I've started giving the same treatment to my HEAs. More painting this time as I had far too many of them in BR Bauxite. The complete rake will be 20 wagons, 13 are now in railfreight and the other 7 remain in bauxite which seems about right for 1989. I've completed 12 and added real coal. Just waiting on some transfers to finish the repainted wagons.

Yep, got the hoppers and real coal from hattons. The rest of the stuff I got direct from the makers.

I've finished working on the hoppers, took about 5 days off and on them to complete all 20. First thing I did was remove the rather under scale buffers using a dremel with a cutting disk. Then I drilled holes and glued in new buffers from Lanarkshire Models & Supplies. Then I cut away any excess plastic and fitted a Kadee to the lead wagon with nem pocket at the correct height. The rest of the wagons will be in a fixed rake so there is no need for them to uncouple. I decided to make my own couplings out of paper clips. Its a simple hoop and hook setup. The hoop is nice and small to stop the wagon moving about too much within the rake on gradients. Then its out to the shed for weathering. I've already repainted the frames railfreight red at this point. I removed the EW&S lettering with a fiberglass pencil. The hoppers were then dry brushed with weathering powder to give a dusty coal look. The underframes were painted with some sleeper grime mixed with black to create a dirty grey. At this point I put them back together and airbrushed each wagon with matt varnish mixed with a small amount of the dirty grey. The wagons were then left to dry. After this I added some extra bits of painted detail to the buffers and also painted the wheels. The coal loads are from Parkside Dundas with some peco fine grade coal glued on top. The end result is a much better looking wagon that close couples and goes round 2nd radius curves. I've left the 'steering' axles in at this point but will probably change that as some wagons try to go diagonally down straight track. I've also filmed the whole thing step by step which you can find below. Cheers