EWS60065

Nice wagons, particularly like the SPA - I have done this exact one myself a few years ago! Will yours be for engineering or steel traffic may I ask?

@sb67 Thanks very much! 

@Departmental203

Yeah I can appreciate that frustration of finding out a wagon was fitted with new doors before the desired modelling period! My first OAA was 100098 (I purposely saved 100023 for when the Rapido ones came out) however 098 was fitted with mesh sides early on so it doesn't sit quite right with me now.

Amazing to see you back with a project here, looking foward to seeing more. Nice idea with the smaller WRD setup and trying to close up your era to a smaller period! Always helps get a good atmosphere. Sad to hear the sea urchins have been sold as I would have thought you could squeeze them in somewhere even if just rotting away in a siding 😆

@Departmental203 Unfortunately 100048 received mesh sides and while it was the last one running, it had been running without wooden doors for a while I think.

@WCML100 Thanks very much, unfortunately I'm not aware of any others - even this one is a bit tenuous for the mid 2010s as it was mostly stored. There may have a been a few around 2011 in the Mendip stone trains though. You could either go for it and have a wooden OAA even if not prototypical or have a try at the mesh. But be warned, working with mesh sided wagons will quite likely drive you insane from my experience 😅

Rapido OAA 100023

I was planning on doing a larger update but workbench progress has been slow so thought I'd share this on its own.

This is the Rapido OAA wagon I purchased back in December and I've got round to giving it a full weathering treatment. Representing number 100023, the wagon has been captured in all it's filth and grime which brings out the incredible detailing on the model. The real 100023 was one of the few OAAs not to receive mesh doors and was eventually scrapped in 2016.

As per usual, the interior has not been ignored - various pieces of straps, timber, and ballast can be seen discarded in the wagon.

Other things I'm working on include a pair of Bachmann MXAs and some more Accurascale MHAs.

Nice work, interesting OBA example there. Love the interior. I was thinking that if all the bass wagons modelled by us and others on RMWeb were put together we would probably have a model of most of them!

OCA Wagons 112259 + 112181

I've got some more stuff to come for my March update but in the meantime I've been weathering this pair of Bachmann OCA wagons. These started off in Railfreight flame red and have been heavily weathered to the point that I'm not sure if any of the original paint shows through! These will be my last red OCAs for a while as I now have 5 in this livery and only 2 in grey/yellow and 2 in EWS. It's nice to return to familiar territory every now and then and as I've said you can never have enough OCAs.

112181 is at the front here and has been finished to a faded orange in comparison to 112259 which is darker and redder. This demonstrates the huge variation in weathering that can be seen on these wagons. You'll notice the replacement/repainted doors on number 181 too.

It's now standard practice to add some old rubbish inside these wagons even if modelled empty!

These are quite possibly my favourite bass wagons to date and will look right at home with my others. To give a little fleet update, this brings the OCA wagons to 9, OBA wagons are at 6, and OAAs at 2 meaning in total there are 17 'bass' wagons.

Nice work on the road layout, I like all the details you plan to add along the side of it. Will look fantastic when finished with trains running along the top of the embankment!

@Bearwood West Yard If you did want to do it you could make it into a 159 since they did carry that livery into the SWR period...you'd need an extra coach though 😆

@Bearwood West Yard Nice thought, although depending how fussed you are be aware that the SWT livery Bachmann produced is not exactly the same one that SWR took over. The door colour and stripe position is the main difference. As I said though, as long as you're happy with the compromise cause I probably would be too!

@Bearwood West Yard I'll probably mix my own up as it's such a small area (plus it'll be weathered down there anyway). Yeah it's nice to have the body shells available separately, would be good to see some of the SWT ones appear.

@dj_crisp Thank you, all the actual LEDs are part of the chassis so the body clips on without any electrical attachment. Given both bodies are identical in shape/layout the LEDs should shine through in the correct places. The only slight concern is that the RR lights are a warmer yellow rather than cool white but a bit of thinned paint or coloured tape may be able to tone down the yellow. 

@Bearwood West Yard Cheers, £46 each. Didn't think that was too crazy given the detail and finishing on them. Especially given the sound fitted GWR units are rare and very expensive on their own! I also got some of the correct air dams to go on but they are Scotrail blue so will need repainting. 

@Shaun66 Thank you, let us know how you get on with the RRAs, I'd be happy to provide any assistance or photos too if you need it. 

February Update

Long time since the last update, haven't done too much modelling but a few things are gradually being worked through as well as a new non wagon project!

Firstly, I've finished my improvements on the four Hornby MHA Coalfish shown last time - this includes redoing the interior, adding extra weathering/markings, and painting the wheelfaces and buffer shanks. Really happy with the results on these given the simplicity of the work done. I definitely recommend carrying out such improvements to your Hornby and Accurascale MHA wagons.

A distinctive feature of these wagons is the patch painted red or black areas on the ribs and around the data panels. I've also gone over the axleboxes in various shades of red and black to imitate a well maintained look. The ballast used is from Attwood aggregates (mendip limestone) and it leaves a nice amount of dust around it when applied to the wagon interiors. Some of this was brushed away while the rest stuck to the slightly sticky paint layer underneath.

Balfour Beatty BDA

This is finally finished! I recently plucked up the courage to cut all 48 chains to length and glue them on the beams. It's a nice unique wagon to tag on to the back of mixed engineering trains, providing a splash of colour.

Class 158s

These are the first every passenger units to feature here and will be seen running past my proposed marshalling yard. To add some context, the planned layout will be set in the east of Somerset and inspired by yards such as Westbury, Eastleigh, Hinksey, Hoo Jn, Bescot etc. (but smaller!). There will be a double track mainline and a small station just past the yard so there will be a need for some passenger trains. I currently have three 158s in the works at the moment, all for different reasons.

No.1 158884 South West Trains

This is a lovely model and is awaiting a light weathering on the underframe and roof. Other than that it is ready to go!

No.2 Soon to be 158885 South West Trains Revised

This is an old tooling 159 that was converted to a 158 before I bought it. I have partially redone the livery to represent the newer SWT livery carried from 2017 and just started the weathering. Transfers will come soon. While not as impressive as the newer tooling, this will still be a welcome member of the fleet. Another thing to note is the addition of BSI couplers meaning this unit can run in multiple.

No.3 .....

Well this is an odd looking 158 😅

So this one was bought in Regional Rail livery (new tooling) however I have removed the body shells and currently waiting on some spare GWR bodies from Bachmann spares! I'm yet to decide whether I will renumber it. The idea of swapping over bodies was inspired by @Bearwood West Yard and his class 159 project.

Both the GWR and SWT liveries fit nicely with the region and time period (2015-2018) however I also wouldn't say no to an XC Voyager for longer distance services. More on these units next time.

Swordfish Wagons

Instead of building up the fleet of Falcon wagons I foolishly decided to start another ballast rake - MOA Swordfish. I've been eyeing these up over the past year and eventually succumbed and got hold of 5x Bachmann MOAs. While these wagons don't often venture down south it's not unheard of and since I really like the appearance of them I couldn't resist. I may also consider adding some MCAs/MDAs from Dapol if I could make some major improvements to them.

Here are some of them - they're all identical at the moment and factory weathered. Look out for some EWS60065 treatment on these soon!

That's all for now, hopefully I'll get another update out a bit sooner.

@Departmental203 Good idea, trouble is I've found a lot of people sell them for the same price as the newer ones as it's not easy for everybody to tell the difference!

@Departmental203

I was under the impression the 67 pack came with new type MHAs but with the old artwork on the box so just be aware of that. Seems like a good option though if you're after both the MHAs and a 67 for a discounted price 

@Departmental203

Can't help with the 37 but the Kadees fit fine on my Hornby 60 if you use the cut out ploughs supplied. In my opinion you don't notice the slot too much and you'd end up cutting something of a similar shape anyway if you modified the full ploughs. 

I still have a Hornby HAA chassis I bought a couple of years ago before the accurascale MHAs came that I intended to scratchbuild on, probably inspired by yours 😂

Maybe I'll do an MAA type on it to justify the scratchbuild 

Great little update, nice to see another kadee user. I've found I can fit more detail on locos too as you say, although I do often have to cut off the bottom half of any pipes or they get in the way of the coupler. Good to see you're still getting on with your scratchbuilt Coalfish, I think I would have given up and got an Accurascale one if I was you so I admire your determination! 

MLA looks awesome! Really hope you will be able to produce them to a price you're happy with. Just to clarify, when you get to the final prints the ribs will be attached to the body won't they?

You may have already but can I recommend adding a face/bevel at the end of the air tank to avoid the conical shape - just something I found helpful when designing stuff myself.

@WCML100

Thanks for the kind words, it's a lovely locomotive and it's amazing how it can breathe new life into a 19 year old model. 

Glad you like the Salmons, I think we all have a load of projects at the moment! 

@The Fatadder

Appreciate it but I've got loads on my workbench at the moment unfortunately and just trying to work through what I've got. Thanks though 

@The Fatadder Thank you, recently I've been trying to get some more uniformity in the coalfish rake to balance out the interesting selection of MTAs 😅

However if I can get one dirt cheap I'd like to have a go at an ex MAA type.