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Saturday 13 July 2019

Pottering about

Since the exhibition I have been pretty busy and have only made a bit of progress here and there with tasks.  The class 45 seems knackered.  After considering what to do I think I am going to send it back to Bachmann to get fixed.  I replaced the bogie and the broken gear tower, but there is something else seriously wrong with the chassis.  Maybe bent drive shafts or a knackered motor, I am not sure.  The locomotive does have some sentimental value to me - it was one of the first things I ever managed to finish properly.  Whilst I am not overly happy with the finish on it now, it was a very reliable locomotive.  So hence I think I am going to cough up the money and be done with it!!! 

A new project is to fit lights to this CK in order to finish a 3 coach rake for the layout.

So with the class 45 out of the roster I ordered a Howes DCC sound decoder for a class 33.  I finished a Heljan class 33/2 years ago and never got around to fitting in the sound chip. So I have taken this locomotive apart and it is currently sat in the modelling boxes waiting for some time tomorrow to fit the chip in. I think the speaker might need to go in the fuel tank so it is a bigger job than I was expecting - but hey these jobs often drag out don't they!  Recently, I have been weathering a class 37 in railfrieght livery.  This locomotive does not really suit the time period I am currently modelling, but it was the first sound locomotive I ever purchased, coming prefitted with Bachmann sounds.  I have sent the decoder off for a reblow and the weathering is finished, so I will piece this back together tomorrow - ready for next weekend.

The layout at the Blubell exhibition.

The new fronts being placed on the baseboards.

Other than this I am tidying up the railway ready for its next exhibition in a weeks time at Pevensey.  I am fitting some new fronts to the baseboards.  These come with the Tim Horn baseboard kits, but I never got around to fitting them.  However, these will tidy up the appearance of the layout no end.  I have also ordered a couple of posters to fit over the fiddle yard boards, with the name and details of the layout on them.  I have also started work on detailing a class 47.  I have just stripped down a mk1 CK coach ready to fit some lights into it.  Alongside this I have nearly finished another SPV parcels wagon and a milk tanker.  So lots of small bits of progress.  

The class 47 during the initial stages of weathering with an all over body wash done.

The class 47 chassis stripped down ready for weathering.

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