Bassettblowke

A then and then and now not quite sure what Norman would make of the new use for his old emporium.

Ah the joy of a proper model shop, if it was in range I would hop on the old three speed and hurtle off down there. Sadly Hatton’s which was once a treasure trove of items that had been traded in is now predominantly a stack it high and flog it cheap internet retailer, situated on an out of town industrial estate at the end of the M57 highway to hell.

Well I struck lucky today either that or my wife gave me another clout with the cricket bat and jarred my memory, which lead to an inspired guess and I turned up half of the missing card overlay. Just need to find the other half now.

When I first started researching it I had the same thought, it was a query on the Classic O forum that came up with information about Domascelles from a far more knowledgeable contributor than myself. I have another different unused one stashed somewhere safe, sadly so safe I can’t find it, I am sure one day when I am looking for something else it will turn up.

Scratchbuilding for the hamfisted sounds right up my street, having reached an age where shaking hands, dodgy eyesight and sausage fingers are the norm I need all the help I can get. Off on a tangent looking at the images that I posted the white line at the end of the overlay is glaringly obvious much less so when you have it actually in your hand. It’s easily rectified with a fine line of black ink or a wash of dirty thinners but I think in future an inspection by photographic imagery might become the order of the day.

Always on the lookout for an oddball bargain I found this wooden wagon body for £4, eventually I found the embossed card overlay was by a maker by the name of Domascelles. Produced in the postwar years in the dying days of popular O gauge. fitted with modern ACE/Darstaed couplings, Brass buffers of unknown make, Bonds Brass axle boxes and Hornby axles and plastic wheels, it runs nicely and makes a nice alternative to the more often seen LMC overlay stock.

Also just off the work bench ( kitchen table) is a Hornby Series Tinplate signal box, when it was acquired it was bearing the signs of poor storage with spidery rust taking hold and not a few dents in the structure, the staircase was also loose and was way out of kilter. It was cheap to buy and didn’t really meet the standards for display, the idea behind the purchase was to try and make something of a substandard item. The roof was taken off and an attempt was made at removing the crease in the Tinplate, the staircase tabs were bent over more tightly securing the staircase. The window frames were distorted and an attempt was made at straightening. While the roof was off a Peco signal box interior was fitted along with glazing for the windows. The chimney was drilled through enabling a Seuthe smoke unit to be installed and an internal light and an external one above the staircase fitted. A Hornby figure was fitted and the roof refitted. A large rusted scratch was partially obscured by fitting a WINDSOR Station nameplate to the front. To keep things simple the lights are battery powered LED’s with the battery boxes concealed in the base of the box. The smoke unit works best off a variable power source in this case an old H&M Clipper, the smoke unit happily responds to the controller going from whisps of smoke to a regular stream of smoke, it will even blow smoke rings. in conclusion this wasn’t the cheap exercise I envisaged at the outset, The signal box itself was the cheapest buy at £10 the Peco interior Kit was £20 and the smoke unit another £20 and probably another £10 worth of leftover items from other projects. In the background is the part completed terrace mentioned in my previous post. All in all a fun exercisefrom other projects.

Fair-price-Models well worth a look

My first post here, for some time I’ve been looking for some affordable housing and came across this simple laser cut MDF/Cardboard kit of three terraced house’s. I wanted something that would blend with the Hornby Tinplate and Bassett Lowke buildings of the 1930’s. To cut to the chase I came across this row of three low relief terraced houses on eBay, priced at £11 and P&P at £1.50 they seemed to fit the bill. Below are a couple of pictures of the completed model with a few extras such as curtains, down pipes and chimney pot flaunching chucked in. I resisted the urge to use brick papers and settled for a red oxide primer as the main brick colour. In attendance are three Hornby station staff to give some idea of comparative scales. i am pleased with the finished job and will shortly embark on extending the row, sturdily built from MDF with a card roof and card doors and window frames it’s easily built and lends itself to further embellishment.