Norton Wood

Since "finishing" the board, I began to become less and less happy with the board so began editing the model. Scenic's Having completed the coal merchant area, I began working on the area next to the track, this had been planned to be just black ballast but it was recommended that I cover the area in green foliage, with the intent of covering it with some static grass work. The end result was sort of gone the way it was recommended, but I have to say I'm a lot happier about it now. Then when I first did this a few months ago. With that, I finally set about weathering and re-applying the figures to the model. I managed to find a figure which I've had for a long time. With his bowler hat, I thought, that's a manager. So I set about fitting him just outside of the building so he'd stand out and look important. Point Lever The next minor piece was to add a pull bar on the point, to allow the fireman or shunter to pull the point over when the loco is either collecting or dropping off wagons for or from the coal merchant. This was fairly simple in cutting out, undercoating and painting then fitting, I took some of the sleepers from the track which I had cut away previously on the rail to get the accurate sleeper spacings, to form an extension of the sleepers from the point then I glued the pull bar onto the model. Horse & Cart Another little job, using an old white metal kit which I cleaned then super glued together I was able to get this into the primer and paint fairly quickly as shown this was done at the same time as the point leaver. to paint the horse I cheated using similar wood paint but mixed in some varnish, as horse coats tend to be shiny when properly looked after. The cart I painted a set of different coloured woods to show that the cart has been repaired a number of times with a good number of different types of wood around the frame. Finally** So here we have it completed again, it's taken me a few more weeks but I think I've cracked it and it looks 10x better than it did a few months ago. As I said, a layout is never finished. But I'm looking to do another board in the future but this will be finished off with the J70's finally getting onto the layout. In addition Board 5 has progressed well and this has been the progress so far, the layout is planned to be at an exhibition within the next few months so time is ticking for N&SBLR to be completed with the latest board, hopefully, the LNER J70's will arrive in time to operate the layout. Thanks for reading Cheers

The quality can be poor sometimes, however, things have been improving 3D Print wise. This was something a friend of mine bought from Smallbrook Studio's and it's turned out quite well - But as you say, Phil, you've got a lot of things to be doing, as you have the DVD, modelling and then writing articles visiting shows and home layouts. You all do a lot for the model railway community

It's quite the waiting game, but what's funny is that I may well get Oxford Rails LNER N7 & The Model Rail LNER 7137 J70 at roughly the same time. So I might well end up with two models to play with for the year.

I was looking into coaching stock for the N7, as has been mentioned that it's quite hard to get your hands on a quint set. Interestingly a friend of mine just brought up this 3D Printed website, fantastically a full Quint set is for sale - Modellers will have to make it and it's a tad expensive but I might give it ago. I've linked all three coach bodies which you need, something that I think should be highlighted in railway magazines more, as there's a lot of skilled CAD people out there who have produced these coaches, wagons, and modifications which will help modelers out massively. https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZUHEBXPNX/o-76-lner-quint-d85-brake-3rd-coach-5?optionId=64818876&li=marketplace - 1st coach Composite/Break https://www.shapeways.com/product/CYMJV965U/o-76-lner-quad-d74-third-coach-3?optionId=64818895&li=marketplace - 2nd - 3rd & 4th coaches https://www.shapeways.com/product/SUTALPPAX/o-76-lner-quad-d71-comp-coach-4?optionId=64818929&li=marketplace - 5th and final coach

I've not but I spoke to my local model shop on Tuesday and they are expecting the BR or LNER version (They are not sure which) in the next few weeks and then the same again in March. So I assume that Oxford was spreading the model's release over a few months. Why OR didn't put all three on sale at the same time, I will never know. I may like the LNER & GER liveries more I recognize the BR version is currently the most popular model, with the LNER & GER liveries tailing behind.

Ah that's a great shame, well maybe my colleagues were a little off with there information. Is "R.J. Essery & D. Jenkinson, An Illustrated Review of Midland Locomotives, Vol. 3 (Wild Swan, 1988)" where you got your information from?

Four of these lovely little 0-4-4T were transferred onto the Midland & Great Northern Joint for a time. So we are very much looking forward to them

Also, announced on there Facebook Page Oxford Rail will have some announcements to make at 09:00am today

Interesting that you've asked that because I asked Sanky Scenic's if he had produced any, which sadly he hadn't, but I've asked him to produce some for the N7 having given him the measurements from the model. Once I've got them I'll let you know how they have turned out. Maybe if he gets enough orders he might put them on the main range?

Certainly does, I'm mainly asking as my colleagues at my model club who own the GER version were wondering about what needs altering. As I'm ordering the LNER version the only thing I'll need to remove will be that extra whistle and then renumber the locomotive to match the N7 type that Oxford has modeled. As has been said the 7990-9 series of loco's, OR have modeled so 7993, will cover that nicely for me. Thanks to those who have put up all the correctional information on this threat you've been very helpful.

So we need to remove the whistle on the right-hand side of the locomotive - you mean the fireman's side of the locomotive? - Not correcting, just double checking.

Really would not want to see one of these, in an Ambush, with only Comets or Cromwell's in support. I'll be getting it into primer & Sand base coat in the next few days.

Having Spent a good long time looking at the actual photo's then looking at two modelers who have carried out this project prior to me starting this (I'll link below to his YouTube Video, who has also linked the other chap) It is clear to me. That to do King Tiger 105 there is a lot of speculation/ artistic license as per the camo it carried, the marking type it carried and whether it carried the German Cross and 501 Flash on the front & rear of the tank. With that in mind, I have spent a long time thinking about doing King Tiger 105. Which has led me to move away from doing 105 and going freelance with this whole project, I've set upon doing my own King Tiger as part of the 501 near towards the end of 1944 early 1945 in which I will do doing the Number 312, if this was a real tank, please do not say "Oh but this is not to how the real 312 was" I am merely doing this for my own enthusiasm, most of my tanks that I have built have not been based on a real thing BAR my WW1 Mk IV & Medium A which have been painted and detailed as real vehicles. In the days waiting for the kit to arrive, I was able to go to a model show and pick up the Tamiya Paints (Which I find are very accurate bring out the model when worked on correctly. which I needed for this project, so in this case, I bought, XF - 64 Red Brown, XF- 61 Dark Green and already in my store, XF- 60 Dark Yellow. Accompanied by the use of an airbrush these should turn out quite nicely onto the armored behemoth. With that all being said, the kit arrived a few days ago ( I wrote the first blog without the kit at the time) and I thought I'd get stuck in as there are plenty of reviews of this kit showing the Ins and Outs of this kit. The photo's below are a selection of photos I took during the build, so please enjoy the build progress. So yeah, lots of photo's but it's turned out well. I plan to get it into a primer and look into paint the model into the Sand base coat then look at the Green & Brown Coats for the main camouflage.

The LNER version sadly hasn't turned up yet, but a friend of mine brought his GER 1002 N7 with him and I have to say that the locomotive is very very impressive, so much so that I've taken a few photos of it on my layout Mile End Park. It stands out a bit among the LNER loco's but it does look very impressive, hat's off to Oxford Rail, certainly 3rd time is a charm.

Thanks to Oxford Rail's Facebook page: "Product Update: OR76N7001 has just arrived in the warehouse. These will be distributed to suppliers in the next couple of days." To be more specific the GER Liveried N7 has arrived, not long now people!!

Very interesting, I didn't know about the blue! But it would make sense, I'm stuck between a rock & a hard place, with the dots, either following the normal German Ambush camouflage or follow the painting instructions in which it shows the white. Sadly there is a lot of that knowledge about this that is lost to time, it could entirely depend on what the crews had pain wise as of December 1944. As it was during the Battle of the bulge, Winter 1944, so I'm probably going with the white dots but with the same number scheme as per what the King Tigers Carried in Normandy - Which the Bovington 104 carries. Thank you for your comment Tom

Interesting...so other information I've read, could also be incorrect? I'm wanting to get this as accurate as possible so this being very helpful So the Dots are not in white? - Quite the contrast to what is shown in the image from the painting instructions? - It's quite hard to tell using black & white images, but to me, it looks white. From what I've read the number 105 would be similar to those used in Normandy so looking at Bovington's KT they have the white outline with Green on the inside, and as this Tank didn't have any Wehmact Crosses, I think I'll with white and Green. As for the comment about the personalized tanks, I did get that information from a video which the Tank Museum produced with David Willy which talked about how tanks were painted. But if 105 was painted in the factory I assume that was because the paint was getting short and crews didn't have the time to paint them in the field? Thank you for the information you've been very helpful, feel free to follow the project I could do with more tips as I go forwards

I think it was yes, sadly the German Elefant Tank has gone back to America, it was a shame that the Tank Museum couldn't get Sturm Tiger from the Panzer Museum. But it certainly was a unique event to go, I went on my birthday, really enjoyed going. Need to think about going to Tiger Day or Tankfest. Thank you for the confidence at this stage of the kit, I've built the hull and I'm going to use a bit of artistic license when adding the German 501 Panzer Battalion flashes on the front and back of the Tank.

King Tiger 104 at Bovington in 2017 during the Tiger Collection Display The King Tiger, Germany's Final major Tank Development, combining the Tiger I and Panther, this combined the very best, using this Tiger's Armour with the Panther's Sloped Armour. This tank made all Allied tanks in the field look like toys and the King Tiger almost In penetrable from the front. These are a few selected Tanks Fielded by the nations fighting the war in France & Belgium) British Forces: Comet - Late 1944 Only - Medium Tank Cromwell - Medium Tank Centaur - Medium Tank with Cromwell with Howitzer fitted Churchill Mk VII - Heavy Tank Sherman - Medium Tank Sherman Firefly- Medium Tank fitted with British 17pdr Gun the only gun that could take on German Tanks from range. Achilles (Wolverine) - Tank Destroyer US Forces: Sherman - Medium Tank Wolverine - Tank Destroyer Hellcat - Tank Destroyer & Recon Tank Jackson - Tank Destroyer Chaffee - Recon German Forces King Tiger/Tiger II - Heavy Tank Panther - Medium Tank (Heavy Tank by Allied standards) Tiger I - Heavy Tank Panzer IV - Medium Tank Jagd Panther - Heavy Tank Destroyer/ Assult Gun The Germans out gunned everything even the Firefly... So because of my interest building Tanks from the past and so far I've built 3 WW1 Tanks (Two British 1 German) - 2 Cold War Tanks (Centurion & Chieftain) and the Sherman FURY (American ww2) from the film Fury, I thought I'd build a tank from WW2 from the German side of the conflict: So at Christmas, I was kindly given this Kit of the German King Tiger Tank by MENG in 1/35 Scale. This kit is nothing short but amazing, the quality of the molding is astounding, the kit has had molded into the plastic as if it was properly cast, showing the pitting and rough edges that metal would gain when going through the casting process. Furthermore, the kit has been gas cut out of the steel and the welding marks where it has been put together by the men in the factories (Yes Men not Women - It was deemed un-womenly if the women went into the factories so German Men built and fought in their tanks). The Modeling News - Photograph How is it going to look? History for King Tiger 105 The Tank I intend to do is the King Tiger No.105 as part of the Kompanie SS - Pz, Abt 501 K-G Peiper which was commanded by Obersturmführer Jürgen Wessel, on the 18th of November 1944 (Two Day's into the Battle of the bulge) A formation of King Tigers were moving towards Stavelot in Belgium roughly 107 Miles from Antwerp (The German's Target of the whole operation) The town at the time was held by the American's. A Wolverine Tank knocked out the lead tank (No. 105) 88mm gun, the commander Wessel moved the column along another road which was parallel to the main road, at which point it is believed something spooked the German commander, forcing the tank to retreat, the tank smashed into a house and the gearbox of the tank was destroyed. Following this Commander Wessel jumped onto the second tank King Tiger No. 132 in the column and directed the Tank to the threat, which is believed was destroyed. The Tank Column moved forwards to Antwerp leaving King Tiger 105. After the battle, the tank was found by the American's when these photos were taken. These photos have been so reliable I've been able to work out what camouflage pattern & style that Tiger 105 carried, in addition to this I've been able to work out the German RAL Colour Schemes. Thankfully German Tanks in 1944 tended to carry only 3 different colours as part of the Camo they carried and German Tanks Tended to be quite personalized as the Sand Coat was applied in the factory & the crews themselves applied the rest of the camouflage as it depended on the area in which they were fighting. In this case, Tiger 105 was in a form of the German Ambush Camouflage but having white dots, dotted around the tank to act as snow. To aid the camouflaging of the tank when trying to avoid Allied Recon or Ground Attack Aircraft. German Camouflage Numbering Scheme: RAL 7028 - Sand Basecoat RAL 6003 - Dark Green RAL 8017 - Red Brown So using the photo's I've managed to come up with these photos for the Camo scheme that the tank will carry, further to that I bought some Decals from Star Military Decals via Hannnetts which they have various types of Tanks which modelers can do. In this case, I had the choice of doing 3 King Tigers 2 with the Zimmerit Armour plating and 1 without this being King Tiger 105 and the reason why the whole journey began. So after all that in the next part I'm going to cover the Sprews & the beginning of the kit build, so until next time happy modeling.

Nice to hear, I like that a Jig for the Nickle and tracks are provided with the kit, will certainly make things smoother, from the reviews I've seen the tracks are pretty easy to put together.

Very Nice: I always liked seeing these painted up in WDLR Livery - Black with Red Stripes or just black in the end. Very nice work

As a way to finish off a project before I move to work on other projects, I thought I would finish off Board 4. Since the last update, I was quite content with what I carried out, but in the months following, I wasn't happy with what I finished. So I ripped up what was the old road leading to the coal Merchant, taking all the grass away and using rough and waste ballast. I made this new road which I think has had a good effect on the layout and shows the differences between a Road and dirt path. To add to this I added a tarpaulin, to do this I used a Chocolate bar wrapper (It was very nice thank you) painting the opposite side and leaving it to dry before placing it onto the layout. So the End Result!! - It's lacking a J70 but they are not too far away and I'll put an update about there arrival and the different loco's we have available for N&SBLR when running at Exhibition, which I will also update you on. With board 4 now complete, the next board has been started Board 5... Using Inspiration from this photo, this will give you an idea of what our club member is trying to do. So we might well see a J15 doing something similar on this layout as it progresses... Anyway, that's it for 2018 - Hopefully, I'll have some new models in the coming months ie an N7 & J70 to play with and to add to the GE Collection, I'll have to get a new profile photo when they come out. So thank you to all who have read & commented on this thread it's been great to write this up :-)

With you having said that, I thought I'd look through my photo's from previous Warley shows, 2016 MR Mag was gauging interest, 2017 MR had produced this (Image) and now in 2018 we have fully painted versions. It's been great following the progress of this project

Further photo's of the Model at the Peterborough Model Show. Have to say that the first photo of the 'completed' model is simply amazing. Chris Leigh, can I say thank you for the brief conversation we had at the show, you were very very helpful and I look forward to this when it comes out.

I asked at the show when we can expect the models due and the chap I spoke to said that they hope to have it on a boat within the week with it in the UK by Jan/Feb time, he stated further that the company want's it on the shelves before next years toy fair which I can only assume is in February/March time.