Jump to content
 

TheCuckoo

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    137

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by TheCuckoo

  1. TheCuckoo

    Raven

    By TheCuckoo,

    This is a picture of Raven that I found here: http://www.broadgauge.co.uk/locomotives/d52_raven_class.shtml
     


    Lovely.
     
    What struck me was how much like it was to these:
     


     
    Now I don't have a drawing of the Raven class, but they do look awfully similar. So similar, in fact, that I'm starting to wonder why Horny have never produced one of these as a 'fictitious' livery for the Caley - after all, they seem to have done everything else.
     
    So anyway, I picked up a couple of pugs this morning from the toy fair (who doesn't love a bargain?) I bought two because the L&Y livery version looks so cute that I will probably keep it 'as is'. The LMS red one (which the previous owner has already had a go at with a brush) is for the chop.
     
    It's quite tempting just to leave it as it is and re-livery it... but the changing the boiler fittings, chimney etc would make such a big difference I think it would be worth the effort. The cab needs extends backwards by the look of it too - not sure how, but hey-ho I'll have a think.
     
    Any ideas where I can get name and number plates from ?
  2. TheCuckoo

    Toy Fair Tomorrow

    By TheCuckoo,

    The Toy Fair at Chester Northgate Arena has been brought forward to tomorrow. I'll be going. Will you?
     
    I'm sure I need something... I wonder if the sell "a kick up the backside" ?
  3. TheCuckoo

    Payday again...

    By TheCuckoo,

    Payday is upon us once again, and the postman has been kind enough to drop this one through my letterbox. Lovely. Stupid box, stupid tender wiring connector, but lovely, lovely model. Hornby 28xx NRM special edition.
     


  5. TheCuckoo

    Beautiful Dioramas

    By TheCuckoo,

    I was using Stumble Upon tonight and it threw up this site with some beautiful pictures. Not railways, but a really good example of scenic modelling nonetheless.
     
    Enjoy.
     
    http://www.viralnova.com/takes-pictures-of-model-town/?_nospa=true
  7. TheCuckoo

    Payday Presents

    By TheCuckoo,

    It was payday weekend, and I fancied a run out in the car... and, well, I hadn't been to that shop in Liverpool for what? 40 years? Anyway, came home with this utter delight.


  8. TheCuckoo

    Buffalo

    By TheCuckoo,

    Finally recovered from 10+ years of storage, this is a GWR Buffalo, built from the Alan Gibson kit. It has Romford wheels and a Mashima motor, but has never been run 'in anger'. Back in 2002 when I built her I had nowhere to run locos so I'm sure she'll need lots of fettling to run smoothly. I'll also need to convert her to DCC. She seems to have sustained some damage too, chipped paint, bent coal rails etc, but not too bad. (Crocodile / No. 36 will need lots of TLC before that see's the light of day)
     


  9. TheCuckoo

    Radleigh

    By TheCuckoo,

    Welcome to Radleigh!
     
    This is my first go at a 'proper' layout since I was a lad, and I need to keep things realistic. I have little to no space for a permanent layout, so I didn't want to go bonkers - this is 1 foot wide by 5 and a half feet long. There will be a cassette fiddle yard at some point.
     
    Track is Hornby, though I have used only Y-points and Express points to keep things looking smooth. Everything seems happy enough with the points btw - these are the newer kind with finer crossing V's and better check rails - as long as the back-to-back measurement of the wheels is correct even my hamfisted attempt at a ratio 4 wheeled coach will run happily through them. Derailments will not be tolerated
     
    It is set up for DCC running and points will be motorised too - not because they need to be on such a small layout but because I want to make it work and learn from the experience.
     
    Rule Number One is very important for me. If I'm not having fun, I'm not interested - so I'll always run what I want. Having said that, If I had to locate Radleigh in space and time it would be South Devon, 1907, so that's what I'm aiming for.
     
    So there we are - that's the plan in a nutshell.
     
     


     
    btw that photo was taken about a month ago - so now I have almost finished getting the ballast down. Happy days!
  10. TheCuckoo
    I was reading someone else's blog on rmweb and it inspired me to have a go at a little RTR-modification. This is the result:
     
    Modified Hornby 4 Wheel Coach (Large Picture 1.2Mb)
     
     
    The underframe is untouched, but the body has been reduced in height at the sides by about 1mm, the ends have been drastically cut down to a single arc, low roof style. The new roof is plastic card with rain strips from microstrip and oil lamps from brass washers and plastic tube. Ends were sanded smooth and then panelling reinstated with electrical masking tape cut into strips. Reglazing was using some plastic packaging I had lying around. "Clarabel" (the donor vehicle) was repainted into GWR colours using Humbrol and Games Workshop acrylics. It still doesn't represent any particular prototype but I think it looks a lot nicer now than before. I like to think of it as a piece of old broad gauge stock thats been inherited by the company and been converted to run on standard gauge. Well, thats my story
  11. TheCuckoo
    Spent pretty much all of yesterday afternoon converting a Bachmann 43xx to DCC - what a horrible fiddly job. To make matters worse one of the decoder wires decided to part company with the chip (Hornby) - and those soldering pads are tiny! The split chassis meant that it wasn't an easy thing to do, and I had to be reasonably 'creative' with the solution but I got there in the end.
  12. TheCuckoo

    GWR Indian Red

    By TheCuckoo,

    I'm sure this has already been done to death, but anyway...
     
    This is a picture of a Dapol City of Truro used as a test bed for paint colours before I embark on an upgrade/improvement to a Hornby Dean Single.
     
    City of Truro (Large Picture 1.3Mb)
     
     
    The thing thats bothering me is the colour of the Indian Red frames. Having Red/Green rod/cone confusion (aka colour blindness) means that judging shades of red and green are not my strong point. However, one of my strong points is working with brushed acrylics far more than working with enamels or air brushes.
     
    The colour of the frames is the important point. Please don't choke on your cornflakes about the *quality* of the paintwork - I know its terrible - just concentrate on the colour.
     
    That is Games Workshop "Dark Flesh" and is the closest thing I have come across from Vellejo, Humbrol or Games Workshop that matches what I think Indian Red looks like. Far brownier and warmer than the red on the Bachmann City which looks very maroon (and therefore odd) to me.
     
    I know this is all very subjective, but does anyone care to share an opinion?
  13. TheCuckoo

    Trackwork for Radleigh

    By TheCuckoo,

    Here are the results of this afternoon's experimentation with the airbrush. The picture is perhaps a little harsh as to my eye it looks 'browner' in the flesh. Still all up in the air, still all very much experimental, but I'm reasonably happy so far. Lots of bits where the masking got in the way and protected the ballast rather than the rail, but hey-ho I'll have to do something about that.
     


×
×
  • Create New...