Sean the Bob

Thanks for the comments guys I definitely agree Graeme, loco hauled trains are just that bit more interesting! Particularly as they really are quite a rarity, certainly up north now as most trains are EMUs or DMUs. Loco hauled trains are proper trains. Great work on your own set of Scotrail Mk2s Scott, they're a good reference for my own. Good work on the Caley Sleeper coaches too. Those interior photos of Mk2s are a good help, I've never actually been inside a Mk2 to my knowledge so the interior is a bit of a mystery to me! I know those aren't the Scotrail ones but I only intend my interior to be a rough approximation. Progress on the coaches has stalled a bit both due to me being busy and also due to the fact that I didn't have the satin varnish I thought I had. Fortunately some arrived in the post yesterday so I'll be giving that a go when I get the chance and that should be the coach bodywork completed, with just the interior and chassis/bogies to finish touching up.

It's been a few days but there has been some good progress. I brushed on Humbrol Clear to give the decals a smooth gloss coat to adhere to. There was nearly a disaster with this as it looked like some of it was going to go milky, but it dried okay in the end. I was going to airbrush it but from experience it does brush very well and I've seen some comments saying that even with several coats spraying it doesn't give as smooth a coat as brush painting. Either way, it felt nice and smooth and tonight I applied most of the decals to one side of the carriage. The Rainbow Railways transfers are nice to work with, quite a bit thinner and more delicate than I was expecting, but strong enough that there were no breakages. I did have to remove a small bit of detail at each end (for hanging a lamp on, I think?) to allow the carriage info plate to fit. I'm not sure if the decal was overscale or the detail was in the wrong place, but I'll make a replacement and reposition it. I also sprayed the interior seating grey, I'm not sure if this will be slightly too dark or if will be close enough? Any opinions would be appreciated, I haven't seen the interior of the real Mk2s.

Thanks all. Andy, thanks for the info on the Laserglazing. I assume the sets for the Hornby Mk2Ds would fit? The only obvious difference I see between the D and the E is the position of the blanked out white toilet window (both on one side on the D, alternating sides on the E). Funny that glazing should come up actually, as I had devised a plan for the current glazing. As it is all one section and I intend to light the coach and fit passengers, I thought that it would be as well painting the interior of the coach whilst I was doing everything else. as the glazing is made up of one big panel, I planned to paint this part an appropriate grey (masking the windows of course!). If I go for the Shawplan windows then of course I'll need to look at painting the actual interior walls of the coach, but in the meantime I'll see how this looks. This is it all masked off to give an idea of what will be painted.

Some more progress tonight, all the little details such as hand rails and door handles painted up, along with some touching up done. A little more required then it'll be ready for some gloss coat before the decals.

Certainly if you're looking for decals for modern rolling stock then Railtec is the place to look. The 68 looks good in the DRS livery, it would suit pulling either Scotrail or DRS liveried Mk2s. It's been a bit of a case of one step forward, two steps backwards over the past couple of days. I tried brush painting the orange cantrail stripe as the part on the coach is raised and I figured this would be easy enough to paint... I was wrong! After being unhappy with the result, I decided to mask it off and repaint the black for another go... and ended up pulling up some of the blue with masking tape! After some choice words and a couple of days trying to rectifiy this, I masked it all off again and decided to try and spray the orange line instead. It was a lot of masking work and the Humbrol acrylic orange paint was absolutely terrible to spray (the gun clogged after a few minutes), but the end result looks none too bad!

Yet more progress tonight, got the doors masked off and sprayed Tamiya Sky Grey with a bit of white thrown in to lighten, it looks not too bad to my eye and fortunately it seems to have gone on over the enamel okay... And a quick comparison next to the Dapol Class 68. The colour looks pretty close! Should look better with all decals on and given a tone down with a satin/matt coat. A bit more masking later and the roof and ends were painted up. I initially tried to use Tamiya black for this but for some reason it really wasn't happy, so I reluctantly went for the Halford's black rattle can... it looks to have paid off though! Very happy with how it looks now. Some work has been done to the bogies too so a bit more touching up and they should be ready soon.

Really intereted to see how this one turns out! Will be watching with interest...

Wee bit of progress tonight, although it was a messy business!! Got the Saltire Blue painted on, my first time spraying with enamel (this colour was only available in enamel) and first time using the airbrush in quite a few months. Needless to say it got a bit fraught, but it hasn't come out too bad in the end. The finish is a little spotted looking, although I think that may be in part to do with how course the Halford's primer is. It's great for providing a base layer, but it can be a bit gritty, perhaps I should have gave it a rub with some fine wet and dry before putting on the blue... no matter, we'll see how it goes from here. A few coats of gloss varnish should hopefully smooth it all out before I get onto the decals. The blue itself is very dark, and has quite a purple tinge to it. However, comparing it to photos of the real thing, the Dapol Class 68 and the little Oxford Rail Scotrail Transit van, I can confirm that it's pretty much spot on. The Light blue and white spots do quite a job of hiding how dark the base colour really is. I did however forget to spray the doors first, which are supposed to be some form of silver. However, again looking at photos and the same colour scheme on the EMUs I regularly travel on, it's more a light grey than a silver. I have some Tamiya Sky grey which I used on the underside of a later mark Spitfire, I'll give that a test and see how it goes although I feel it will probably need lightened a bit. (Apologies for the terrible quality picture!!)

Great progress so far, I wish my layout would come together as quickly as this! I like the mix of traction you have there too, will be following this with interest...

Thanks Jules! You need to go and get a look at these things in real life, they are really smart especially when it's one of the 2 Scotrail branded 68s hauling it. I tend to see it around the Falkirk area and it's great to see a loco hauled passenger train when about 99% of Scottish passenger services are EMUs or DMUs! I'll see if I can have a look at Andy's Mk2E conversion, although I don't think I'm brave enough to take a razor saw to anything yet! I think for now I'll settle for getting the paint job right, although I plan to expand my conversion skills as I go along. I'll maybe get some passengers and lighting in it too! Not too much progress, the primer coat has taken nicely though so next stage is the blue.

So after seeing the Class 68s pulling the Fife Circle trains and getting a hold of the beautiful Dapol Class 68, I decided to try my hand at modifying my first RTR coaches. Although I've never modified any of my railway rolling stock before, I have been building model kits for years so I have a fairly good idea of how I'll tackle this! I got a hold of 2 Hornby Railroad Mk2E TSOs and a Hornby Mk2E BSO with lighting from Hatton's, I'll be tackling the Railroad models first, to get a bit of practice before I start trying to repaint a more detailed model! I ordered a 3 pack of Scotrail Mk2 coach decals from Rainbow Railways, however then realised that the pack was for 3 TSOs and I have a BSO to tackle! A quick order from Railtec Transfers soon rectified that. I also sourced paint from Rainbow Railways, who sell their own mix for Scotrail Spotrail blue. I removed the body from the coach and set about removing the windows, they mostly came off OK, the backing section around one of the door windows did crack a bit, but it won't be visible when it's all back together. I gave the body a rub down with fine grade wet and try in preparation for a primer coat, for which I'll be using Halford's rattle can grey primer. More pictures to come once the primer has dried!

Excellent work all round with this, especially on the observation car. That etching looks terrifying to put together! The real train very occasionally passes by my house on the way up to the West Highland Line, hauled by the branded GBRF 66's. Can't wait to see yours all put together when it's finished!

I really like the idea behind this, using the 2 shelves. It's coming along nicely! The ballast and inspection pit both look good.

No progress of note so far, just a little more ballasting. I've been spending too much time and money buying new locos instead of concentrating on the layout! I did plan out the platform tonight though and am hoping to get the materials for it at some point this week, so hopefully there will be a bit more progress to show soon.

This is an excellent layout, I particularly like the method of storage! You've done well to be able to do so much with such size restrictions and as others have said, your modelling skill certainly shows through in the finished piece.

Yes the railway does have a bit of an eclectic mix when it comes to locos and rolling stock, but with the Flying Scotsman the LNER model is an old second hand model I bought many years ago and the new version was just too lovely to pass up! I'm hoping to set the railway up again in the next week or so to start work on it again, so that I can take stock and work out what I'll need to carry on further before Model Rail Scotland at the end of the month.

That's a good idea Julie, thanks! the white corners on the folds of the buildings is the one thing that bothers me about these kits. And as much as I like pool tables, a railway is a far better use of the space in my opinion! Another quick photo of my most recent addition to the loco collection!

For years I have been collecting 00 gauge track, locos and rolling stock and over that time I've set it up on several different floors. Having finally bought my own flat with my partner however, I felt that it was time to make a more permanent setting for my railway. The problem with this however, was that there is limited space in the flat and nowhere really to have a good sized layout. This led me to start investigating the possibility of making a baseboard which could be set up in parts and stored away in a cupboard when not in use. I measured the available space in the second bedroom and decided that I could have a layout slightly larger than a standard Hornby 6' x 4' trackmat. With this in mind, I got to work designing a layout on Hornby Virtual Railway 2. The software is somewhat primitive, but effective all the same. I designed a layout with a double loop running around the edge and a goods yard/engine depot in the middle. The idea was to split the baseboard horizontally, consisting of two boards at 6'4" long and 2'1" wide which could be slotted together and fitted upon a frame which could be dismantled. My grandfather offered to take on the project of building the baseboard as he had plenty of room and tools to make it. The finished result was rather impressive! After a careful move to the flat, I started on the task of laying the track, the next photos show the progress so far. The layout has no specific setting or time period, essentially its a mix of trains that take my fancy! It wouldn't be unusual to see a 1930s locomotive running alongside an HST. All of the buildings are the Metcalfe card kits, which I very much enjoy putting together and I think they look excellent. I may add lights to some of the buildings eventually and I have bought the Ratio interior kit for the signal box. The board has cuts underneath each set of points so that a points motor can be added underneath, however so far the only electrics fitted is the power supply. The layout is currently away over Christmas but hopefully it should be back out early in the new year.