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jonas

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  1. jonas
    I have been asked how I lower my Farish 37s; I hope this helps explain it. Descriptions are in each photos caption. It's not that hard to do but worth it in my opinion. I've never had any issues with running but I don't use settrack curves, and obviously anyone following this does so at their own risk!
     

     
    Comparison between modified and unmodified Farish Class 37s. I also painted the visible brass bits of the pickup strips black whilst the loco is disassembled.
     

     
    Body off and cab interiors removed - these just pull out. If anyone needs any I have about 12 in my bits box now!
     

     
    The contact board slides up and out of the chassis: careful not to break any solder joints. I have painted 2 white dots onto mine above - file this away. It's about 2mm, about half way up the brass circles under the lighting contacts. You're basically extending the cut out. It's important that both sides (and ends) have the same amount filed so the body sits level. They then just slot back in.
     

     
    Chop the lugs off the battery box; this will no longer clip onto the bottom of the chassis block. I fix mine back on the chassis with blue tack, but you could use double sided tape if you prefer.
     

     
    Reassembled, it'll look something like this! I hope this helps anyone looking to do a similar mod.
  2. jonas
    This is what has rolled off the workbench this week...
     
    I have been keeping my eyes peeled for a Farish plain BR blue 47 for a while; whilst selling on some other stock I got the chance to grab 47403 ' The Geordie' as part of a trade. 47403 was named in 1982, slightly after my rough time period for my blue stock so out came the T-cut! Very gentle rubbing removed the nameplates and also the logos above the numbers. My model didn't come with the detail pack, so I raided the spares box for a representation of the bufferbeam detail and added it to one end. The red buffer beam was repainted in black, and the whole model given a gentle wash of thinned oil paints. When semi dry these were pulled down the side of the loco with a large flat brush. A squirt of Citadel Purity Seal flattened the finish before I added powders to the rood, underframe and sides.
     
    .
     
    Overall, I'm really pleased with how this one has come out - a completely unremarkable and anonymous duff. Of course, later in life 47403 would have a Herefordshire connection - it was based at Moreton-on-Lugg and used as a training aid for the SAS for a few years...
  3. jonas
    Continuing on a modern theme...
     
    These 3 JNA Falcon infrastructure wagons are from Dapol, picked up last week to go with my EWS 66. Weathered as usual using oil paint washes and powders. Burnt umber was liberally applied inside the wagons, and left to try for a bit - then dragged around with a large flat brush dampened with a touch of thinners to give a streaky rusted effect. I then added Mig 'light dust' powder inside. I was going to add a load, but I'm not so sure whether I will or not now.
     

     
     
    I found one of them wouldn't run without derailing - a look underneath showed some plastic flash on one of the bogies. Sliced off with a sharp knife and all was well again! There was also some flash present on the buffers, again worth looking out for if you've any waiting for some time on the workbench.
     

     
    Also of note, I'm giving the Dapol magnetic couplers another try on my modern stock. The non-NEM Farish 66 was an easy conversion - pop off the bogie and superglue into the Rapido slot!
  5. jonas
    Progress on the shelf layout has stalled; mainly due to the lack of suitable storage causing a bit of damage and the restrictive track layout. It doesn't mean it hasn't had a lot of use though; our 5 year old loves driving the Legobiffoman equipped 37, and even Thomas has been chipped. I'm happy to play shunter and couple up the 3 links and change points whilst he drives!
     
    So I thought it was time to go back to a proven design, one that has plenty of play value; the classic inglenook! A delivery this morning has produced a flurry of activity, leaving what you see in the picture above. It's designed to fit my air braked Railfreight stock, so the siding lengths are 5 / 3 / 3 and a bit. We can use the card system to give our shunting a bit of purpose and I can throw in the occasional Cargowaggon to cause a bit of chaos.
     
    Hopefully it will hold our interest long enough for me to actually get somewhere with the scenic this time out. We shall see!
  6. jonas
    This week I have been lucky enough to get hold of a second-hand Bachmann 37671 'Tre Pol and Pen' in Railfreight Distribution triple grey livery. It's an earlier release without any tail lights but I've wanted a centre headcode 37 in triple grey for a while, so this ticked the boxes. I soon set about to attacking it with the paints and powders!
     

     
    Given my usual oil paint wash of grubby black, a mix of black and burnt umber washed into the recesses and then streaked using a large flat brush dipped in thinners.Then I masked the clear parts using Vallejo's liquid mask, and gave it a quick pass of Citadel Purity Seal aerosol satin varnish. Lastly I got the powders out, plenty of Forge World Black Soot on the roof and then Humbrol's Dark Earth, with a spot of soot mixed in, around the underframe, lower bodyside and grills.
     

     
    A grubby workhorse than will look just the job shunting VAA vans on my inglenook. I need to find some replacement lamp brackets on the noses but I suspect an order to Shawplan will sort than out. The model as I received it didn't have any detail pack, so I have raided the spares box.The nose aerials are thin brass rod cut to size. I'm going to try and use some modern Bachmann dummy screw links with my 3 link equipped stock; if it plays up I'll order some Smiths screw links, but I had them spare so it's worth a go!
  7. jonas
    It's time I turned my attention to some rolling stock that isn't 16 ton mineral wagons. I started to think what else would look good hung behind a grubby blue diesel, give me a bit of variety yet not have a long fixed formation? A bit of searching helped me decide a mail rake would be useful - I could expand it later with some weird and wonderful additions, but for now enjoy weathering some of Farish's excellent coaching stock and still run it in a realistically short rake.
     

     
    I ordered a blue / grey BG, which seem to almost ever present in these type of trains, and an all-blue GUV van (with motorail branding, but small enough to ignore!). Then the fun bit - wash of black and burnt umber oil paints, Purity Seal varnish spray, then attention with some weathering powders. I tried not to go too overboard, even though photographs I've seen show these vehicles in some shocking external condition - presumably mostly running at night meant a wash wasn't the priority?! - although I found I needed to bring out the door detail with an additional wash of Citadel nuln oil (black ink to us mortals) carefully painted into the crevices. I was worried this wouldn't key to the surface (it really doesn't like glossy surfaces) but the varnish coat had prepared it.
     

     
    I couldn't resist trying this photo whilst the camera was out too, it really shows how far N gauge has come. These items are pretty much out of the box, with the only modification to the Class 24 is the cutting off the NEM coupling pocket and adding a Dapol dummy screw link. The rest are the details supplied in the box. I'm very happy with these, and itching to add a few more vehicles as I see them. I feel like there is a constant standard across my fleet, and I'm trying to make sure my latest purchases maintain this. I've moved on some of my modern stock to try and help me to focus on this era.
  9. jonas
    Latest victim to receive the weathering brush is this Farish Class 31. Renumbered Using Railtec transfers and weathered using my usual enamel washes and powders. Any more dirt on this and it would look overdone, I think this is as far as I can go in n gauge without it looking daft!
  10. jonas
    Happy new year everybody!
     
    Here's something a little more up-to-date! I've been trying very hard to keep everything BR blue, stick to the period, keep focussed...but I've wanted one of these for a while. Memories of riding them around the Valleys whilst at uni in South Wales, maybe. I placed an ad on one of the N gauge Facebook groups to see if anyone happened to have one they were looking to move on...and low and behold, it was in my hands the next day
     

     
    Now it wouldn't be fun if I couldn't do a bit of weathering, even if they are kept relatively clean. So the underframe and snow ploughs got a wash of gunky black brown, mixed up from oil paints. This was also applied thinly around the door frames and other areas dirt tends to collect on these units, using a block of sponge and a cotton bud to try and replicate the cleaning process on a real unit. Powders were then applied where needed, especially on the roof area. I also used some ground up pencil lead applied with a finger to simulate the warn metal you see on one half of the corridor connector on the nose - although this isn't particularity obvious on the photos. I also changed the couplings between the carriages to one short and one long of the Dapol solid buckeyes, which has brought them closer together and caused no issues on my Kato test loop.
     

     
    The photos show up where I'd gone a bit overboard on one of the doors - now rectified! Overall I'm happy - it was a different challenge to the other stuff I've done recently, and one that I enjoyed.
  11. jonas
    Dapol Class 58 in Mainline triple grey livery - N gauge. Weathered using enamel washes made with Humbrol paints, a coat of dullcote from a rattle can and powdered from Humbrol and Forge World. A few details to touch in but pretty much there now!
  12. jonas
    I’ve recently picked up the old limited edition Class 08 produced for ModelZone a few years back by Farish, 97800 Ivor in its unique RTC livery. It’s a loco that only existed in this livery for a very specific time but it looks smart and I’ve kept my eyes peeled for one at the right price for a while! I’ve given it my usual weathering treatment of enamel washes and powders, although I went for a satin finish rather than my usual matt finish for more well weathered locos. It’ll need a decoder at some point which will be fun!
  13. jonas
    Happy new year to you all!
     

    3x Farish Class 37s - detailed, weathered and lowered by me.
     
    It’s been a good year for me - bought a house and welcomed a baby (and a puppy!) to the world. I’ve also got a fair bit of modelling done considering, although they layout I’ve been threatening I’ve still to make any significant progress on. But I have been lucky enough to start working on other people’s models for them as well as my own which is very rewarding. So thanks to anyone who’s allowed me to slap paint on their precious models and for all the likes and comments on my work over the last 12 months. Cheers!
  14. jonas
    37506 in Railfreight Red Stripe livery. Graham Farish model lowered on its bogies and given a dose of weathering. Would love to add some etched plates but it doesn’t seem like anyone does them! So finished for now.
     

  15. jonas

    Cider Queen gets dirty

    By jonas,

    Way back in this thread I was asking for details about the working of Hereford good yard for a potential N gauge project. I never did build it, but did start building in some suitable stock in 00. Then Heljan announced they were producing the ex-BR class 05 in Bulmers Cider livery...I knew I'd have to get one when they were released.
     

     
    Well I picked mine up yesterday courtesy of Hereford Model Centre, and once I'd given it a test, fitted a Digitrax DZ126IN decoder and stick on the very delicately moulded plastic(!) nameplates, decided to get the paints and powders out. I've tried to be retrained and given a light muck wash around the panels and inside the cab just to give it the look of a working but cared for loco. I would usually seal any weathering with a spray of purity seal varnish, but with some many clear parts I decided to give this stage a miss for now. Heljan's finish is satin enough for me, and the powders have toned it down.
     
    Running is perfect and there are many fine details...only one was broken during the weathering process! The lights are also a great touch. It's interesting to see the provision for sound designed into the model...I look forward to a suitable chip being made available!
     
    Now then, about that layout...
  16. jonas
    When it's too hot outside to do anything sensible, why not slap some paint on a wagon. This LMS bogie bolster wasn't in my plans, so I hatched an idea to turn it into an internal user wagon for my Sentinel to shuffle about. Pretty pleased with the overall look, even if the prototype fidelity is dubious at best!
  17. jonas

    Finished Farish Forty

    By jonas,

    My 40 finally landed this week and I’ve got to say I’m massively impressed with the model Farish have produced! Currently the pinnacle of UK N gauge diesel models out there? I think so.
     
    Of course, I couldn’t just leave it even if the the factory finish is a lovely matt shade of BR blue! So I’ve been adding my own grime washes, some powders and picking out details here and there. Still some refining to do, but she’s getting there!
     


  18. jonas
    Latest addition to the fleet is this Farish duff in original parcels livery. I’ve always been a fan of this livery (and the later RES version) so have had my eyes peeled for one for a while to pull my growing collection of parcels vans. Given the usual weathering treatment of enamel washes, details picked out in acrylics, a coat of matt varnish and a few powders to add a bit of texture. NEM pocket removed from the leading bogie so it doesn’t foul the bufferbeam gubbins. Happy with this!
  19. jonas
    Received this little beauty in the post today! I’ve given it a little weathering of the underframe and a few washes around the details. I’ve no idea what the real one did or what it ran with, but the SatLink livery is real eye catcher. The real one is in a field not far from me on a private site in Herefordshire, so had to have it really!
  20. jonas

    A grotty bubble car

    By jonas,

    Here's the latest thing to roll across my workbench...a humble Class 121 in grotty BR blue and grey. A celebrity loco it ain't! I'm quite fond of this little Dapol model. I toyed with the idea of adding passengers but decided it wasn't necessary. Could probably do with some bufferbeam detailing but I'm not sure if I'll want to use the couplings or not yet.
  22. jonas

    16 ton blues.

    By jonas,

    Everything I've posted recently has been pretty modern; here's my late 1970s Farish 24 posed with a few 16 tonners. These are a mix of pre-weathered and pristine, given the same weathering treatment of enamel washes, purity seal varnish, powders and real coal dust scraped into the inside of the wagons.
     

     
    The board is a test plank using finetrax code 40 rail that's had a few scenic experiments done on it; not the neatest but looks ok!
  23. jonas
    Hello all,
     
    My name is Steve and I have just started modelling in N gauge. I never quite got anything done in 00 due to a lack of space, and always had my reservations about N gauge (horrible couplings, chunky wheels etc.) until my friend Lee (Lee M22 on here - have a look at his layout thread) brought a Farish 14 amongst other things round one day. Since then I have picked up the odd wagon and an 08 shunter and I'm hooked.
     
    I am currently planning a small shunting layout, although my aim is to somehow represent Hereford yard at some point (please see my help thread here!). In the meantime, I am collecting some late 80s / early 90s stock with that aim vaguely in mind.
     

     
     

     
     
    There are a couple more pictures in my gallery.
     
    Thanks for looking!
  24. jonas
    Managed to find a bit more time for some modelling today, so after fitting the detail bits and giving a this loco a grimy thin wash of enamels (mixed with a touch of weathering powder added) to bring out the details I cracked out the airbrush to give it the appearance of a hard working but not neglected loco. Model is Dapol’s lovely little Class 86 in Railfreight Distribution livery.
     

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