Amberleigh Halt - a little more progress

Well originally I hoped to get the little Amberleigh Halt finished by xmas, but this has now gone overtime. Modelling has been limited over the last week, with xmas, seeing friends and family and of course, copious amounts of alcohol.

Anyway, tonight my son and I made a little more progress on Amberleigh. We badly assembled a backscene. This is my first time of putting a back scene up and it is creased all over the shop. A good learning experience, but not a perfect finish. We finished the concrete fence, painted the posts and added the grounded wagon body. Tomorrow we hope to finish adding the trees and hedges and finish the landscaping. This just leaves a sign or two to add by the station and hey presto, a finished micro layout!!



I aim to have this running as a full test bed/photo area by the end of January, with many other projects on the go at the moment. I know that I am going to have to buy some more trees to cover the dodgy backscene, but that's life.

We are heading to the train shop tomorrow, to get some more hedging and just maybe, I might buy a hornby class 50 in the January sales.....

Merry christmas

Just a quick post to wish one and all a merry christmas and happy new year.

I hope to get up a post or two next week on my current projects.

weathering wagons and a class 20

Well as promised here are a selection of shots of the first wagons and locomotive off the weathering production line using my new air brush. In short, I am really happy with them. They have been a good learning exercise, not least in using thinners and varnish, but overall I a pleased. The fertiliser wagon was the very first thing I sprayed and although the weathering might be considered by some to be a little heavy, I like it. Not least because it is my first attempt at airbrush weathering.


The van fit I purchased on friday morning at the the Exeter model railway shop. It is great that by sunday it has been converted and weathered. Using acyclic paints really helps speeds up the process. Also, I much prefer using acrylic varnish as compared to enamel varnish. It seems much easier to mix and spray.


Lastly, my class 20 has had a light weathering. This was the third weekend project and by this point I had gained a little confidence with the airbrush. There are a couple of heavy touches on this, but by and large I think it resembles a work stained locomotive. Using hand brushes would have meant painting the whole locomotive, whilst using and airbrush you can direct your weathering with much greater accuracy and effect.


Anyway, those are my experiences, I hope that you enjoy looking at these wagons and loco as much as I have enjoyed making it. I have nearly finished my grampus wagon today and am about to get a sealion and a class 33/1 onto the workbench. Will put posts up of these as they progress. Also the 50ft parcels wagon is nearing completion, so hopefully some posts of these projects next week.

Cambrian walrus and a new air brush

My first attempt at an airbrushed finish. Not perfect, but a big step forwards!

Following on from my last post, things have been busy, getting ready for xmas and with work. However, the biggest reason I have not put up a new post for little over a week is due to my new airbrush arriving. My only comment to anyone thinking of getting an airbrush is to do it - you will never look back!

I opted for an IWATA CR revolution brush, following from the airbrush test in Model Rail. I couldn't be happier with it, and the quality of finish of my models has improved no end. I am still finding my feet with it a little, trying to get rid of occasional spluttering, but I am already close to finishing several projects for my Amberleigh layout using it. I have a vanfit, the class 20, the 50ft parcels van, a lamprey, fertiliser wagon and the second walrus in the paint shop at the moment. I am using the lifecolour acrylics to weather them and they are a joy to use. The roof dirt shade in particular is great for weathering, generally spraying over some fame dirt.

Anyway, the second cambrian walrus is being painted with the air brush at the moment. After the paint finish on the first wagon, the quality of the finish in this second wagon is much higher. I am definitely thinking of building a third walrus, but have two whales, a LMS CCT, and a SR PMV and SR CCT to build, so it will probably slip down the list.

Building the walrus there are some pointers that I hope will be of use to anyone building one of these wagons. I replaced the buffers with some brass A1 buffers, using the shawplan buffer plates. These are a great improvement over the Cambrian plastic ones, but require some cutting of the ends. When mounting the bogies, they need to be set as close to the middle of the wagon as possible, so they do not foul the end detail. Lastly, I found it easiest to construct the main elements of the body first, then install the ends and floorplates. Once the body is set square the wagon simply falls together and is a joy to build.


Tomorrow I will finish my fertiliser wagon and put up some posts of this. This is my first attempt at weathering with an airbush. Whilst not perfect, I am pleased with the overall result, not least because it is my first steps into a better world of modelling.

Cambrian walrus wagon

Well finally i got the first walrus wagon finished. This is a blog about my experiences of modelling and hence not only perfect projects will be put up!! This description fits this wagon perfectly, as it has been a fun project, but ultimately I am not entirely satisfied with the output.



The wagon is finished in a heavily weathered state, a combination of framedirt washes, weathering powders and real ballast dust!! I think it looks ok, and the dim light it is photographed in does not help do it justice. However, although this is a great kit to build, the quality of the hand wheels is poor and lets the whole model down a little. For such prominent features they really compromise the look of the wagon. I plan to replace these in due course.



The other issue is the paint finish. It is too thick in places and bad mixing on the final coat, led to staining along the bottom edge of some of the body. The whole wagon is hand painted and this is the straw that broke the camels back! I have finally bitten the bullet and ordered an airbrush today. I just want to be able to produce a higher quality finish on these models I spend months building!! I will put up a further post of the build later this week or early next week. Anyway, I have the second of these on my desk currently and a couple of whales left to build. These will form a series of ballast trains running out of meldon quarry on my layout, coupled with some turbots, sealions and seacows.

Amberleigh Halt

Well a full weekend of modelling was planned, but coming down with the flu on wednesday has meant that very little modelling has taken place again!!! I managed to finish the ballasting on the Amberleigh scenic board. I dragged the station into the sunlight into the lounge and took a few photographs of it.

Whilst being ill I have been mulling a few issues around in my head, regards modelling and layouts. Decisions made are that I am going to buy a new airbrush, compressor and spray booth, although heaven knows how I am going to pay for it. I have got to the point where I am no longer satisfied with hand brush painted models and although I will be a novice with an airbrush, I am sure the finishes will be far superior. The other thing I am considering is making the baseboards for Amberleigh halt and Watergate Halt inter-connectable, to form one larger layout. I am not quite sure how I am going to manage this at the moment and Amberleigh must work on its own, but it has given the project an extra dimension.

Riverside freight and wagons, wagons, wagons

I have been doing a little bit of web research recently regards the Riverside freight. This freight ran from Exeter to Barnstaple, only stopping in 1987. It was only 1 of 2 scheduled mixed freights on British Rail and according to one website consisted of an SK, BCK, 3 or 4 ex GWR Fruit D vans, 1 or 2 BGs and about 5 empty vans. Barnstaple is curious in this respect, as still had a relatively high freight volume even in the 1980s, with wood carried in OTAs from Lapford, cement and resin carried in PCA tankers, fertiliser wagons, and also china clay from the Torrington line until 1982. In addition the early morning passenger train was locomotive hauled (normally class 33 or 31) and had c. 4 or 5 mk1s and a newspaper/parcel van.

All of this makes for some great modelling potential, as many of these trains were short, say only 3 or 4 OTAs and 3 or 4 PCAs. I have been building up a fleet of Cambrian OTAs over the years, but with the release of this wagon type from both Bachmann and Hornby I am going to purchase the rest. Yesterday I brought a Hornby fertiliser wagon, which has some awful mouldings/couplings on. This is going to form the basis of a super detailing job. I also purchased a Bachmann 50ft parcel wagon which is going to be heavily weathered, just like the prototypical stock on the Tarka line in the 1980's, which was extremely dirty. I need to purchase 2 or 3 GW Fruit D vans from Parkside Dundas and then the modelling of this freight will be possible on my little layout.

In addition to these projects detailing of my class 20 is coming on really well, although adding the couplings to this loco was a complete nightmare. The first walrus is almost finished, the second walrus and lamprey are in the paintshop and scenery of Amberleigh is continuing full speed ahead. I intend to build my kit of the Cambrian whale wagon on Sunday morning and start the detailing of the fertiliser wagon and parcels van. I will hopefully finish my walrus wagon this weekend and will put up some pictures of it and progress on the class 20.

Amberleigh Scenery

Well a steady days modelling on Saturday. We managed to finish most of the scenery and get some of the track ballasted. The platelayers hut was glued down and the little Amberleigh Halt was added. During gluing the halt sown I knocked off the shelter, so am going to have to re-glue this!!

This was my first 'serious' attempt at building a little test-track or diorama. Some things went really well, others not so. The biggest let down was using some cheap PVA glue, which in places has dried white. This is a little bit of a nightmare and needs addressing, especially on the ballasted track. I also used some ballast that was a little bit whiter than I had anticipated. So the track certainly needs toning down a bit. My son also beautifully decorated a hillside and I managed to scrape some of it with the lead from a lamp we were using! I also used some static grass applied from a puffer bottle. This has not really worked properly but still looks ok.

However, these things aside I think it is starting to shape up. I will give the track a clean and get rid of that white staining on the scenery and also finish the ballast etc. The biggest joy has been the learning through doing. It is not perfect, but I am learning how to get things to look better, which will hopefully stand me in good stead. Am looking forward to getting this nearly finished this week. The photographs do not look great, mainly due to bad light, but will post some better ones later in the week.

Some Amberleigh Progress

Another week passes and it has been too busy. Little modelling has been achieved. A few transfers added to the Walrus and the first coats of paint on the second walrus and the lamprey. These will be definitely finished next week, so photographs of these will go up on my blog.

The one thing that did get a little bit of attention was the scenery on Amberleigh. Some of the grass was finished behind the station and the first couple of trees were added. The rest of the plaster bandage was painted brown and it is all set for a big day of modelling with my son tomorrow. We aim to get the ballast done, finish the scenery at the front of the layout and drill all the holes for the fences, trees and signs. We might even get the little Amberleigh Halt glued into place. I can't wait to get stuck into this project tomorrow......will put up some photographs of the results at the end of the weekend

Chivers lamprey

Well very little modelling going on at the moment. I have nearly finished building another lamprey from chivers, only some handrails to add. These really are great little kits and easy to build. I have a growing rake of grampus, crab and lamprey wagons. Other than this work on my little layout 'Amberleigh' has been very slow. A little bit of painting, some slightly wonky station steps and point rodding added. But thats all. Hopefully the pace will pick up a little soon. Life is very busy and stressful at the moment, so it is difficult to find motivation to get modelling done in the evenings.

On the plus side it is also my birthday this weekend, so I am hoping for a nice present or two!!

A lamprey and a salmon wagon

It has definitely been a funny week this one. I have spent a lot of it up in York with work, however I am unfortunately facing the dole queue at xmas, what a nightmare. The upside of this is, I have plenty of old kits to build, and plenty of new stock to detail, some I am ashamed to say, have never come out of their box!! Anyway, it looks like I will have plenty of time on my hands soon.

Work has been slow to non-existent on Amberleigh recently, but a little scenery has come on. I also took delivery of some static grass and a puffer bottle last week. I have painted most of the plaster bandage, so soon the scenery will get finished. My son and I are planning a big landscaping weekend. I have to finish up fixing the electrics first and get the light for the station and buffer stop done. Once we get the platform in and point rodding we can ballast the track, do the landscape then hey presto, ready for xmas.

Playing around the other night I found one of my lamprey wagons I had long since forgotten about and a salmon wagon with cranes. I coupled these up to my class 25 to have a quick look at them on the developing Amberleigh layout. They are giving me a taste for what the finished layout will look like.

Odds and bobs

A whole week at home and many modelling projects on the go. Amberleigh is coming along, with some of the track glued into place at the weekend. I am powering the rails from dropper wires attached to the powerbus that runs underneath the layout. We also tried a little bit of scenery modelling at the weekend, with not great results! I must not have mixed the earth undercoat properly, as it seemed very faint and the end result is a little white. The whole thing needs a little painting and sorting out!! hey ho, it is all learning. I am very tempted to get some static grass on top of this, but the price is so expensive. I might use the puffer bottle from gaugemaster in order to save some money.


The intercity mark 1s were coupled up to my class 47 and I think that they look great!!! I am looking forward to getting the layout up and running (layout?, it is really the operational scenic plinth for my blog!!) It is nearing that point of critical mass, where things will start to take shape really quickly. Seeing some mk1s behind class 33s, 31s and the odd 47, modelled in my beloved devon countryside.


I have ordered the decals for the walrus wagon, but the exact decals for a walrus in the 1980s do not really exist. Some walruses were renamed YGV, which is avaliale on the cambrian decal sheet, but the walrus name is not avaliable as a transfer. So I am waiting on the latest modelmaster releases to see if the new transfer range includes decals for walruses, and also crabs, lampreys and whales, all of which I am building at the moment or plan to in the near future. So finishing the walrus has stalled a little while I wait on these decals.

Weathering mk 1 coaches

Did not manage another post over the weekend, due to a rather nasty computer virus. However, that is now dealt with, and I have managed to finish the weathering of my BSK Mk 1, in intercity livery. The photographs also show an earlier attempt at weathering an intercity rbr mk1, as a comparison (RBR on right, BSK on left). At the time I was happy with the rbr weathering, but the lack of weathering of the door frames now makes it really stick out to me. Problem is, now I can see it, I see it on every model. My recently finished NSE 108 might have to go back into the workshop......as well as every other Mk1 I own!!

Anyway, back to the BSK Mk1, running in weathered black into the door frames then a vertical streaking of very thin frame dirt on the sides was combined with painting then weathering the underframe. I think this has worked wonders (maybe I am biased!!), but I am very happy with how this model turned out.

On other matters I am hunting down some transfers for the walrus wagons to finish this little project. Then I will move onto building the whale wagons and detailing the class 08 and 20. Has anyone out there built a cambrian whale yet??..Also have my son for half term, so except for the time when I am working, I hope Amberleigh will progress.........

Walruses and sealions

(Top = second cambrian walrus, not painted: Middle = first cambrian walrus painted; Bottom = Bachmann sealion, suitably dirtied up)

A great days modelling yesterday. The mk1 is nearly finished, save for some roof weathering, will put up a post of this later today. However, yesterday I finished the building of the second walrus (about time) and the first walrus is ready for transfers, with glossed varnish applied for the transfers to be put on today. There is a little bit of painting left to do, such as handrails, etc, but should be finished within a week. BTW if anyone reading knows where to get transfers from to finish this model off please get in touch.....

The photographs show the second walrus built, the first walrus kit nearly painted, and an earlier painted sealion. This is going to make a great engineers train when it is finished. There are two more sealions to weather and I hope to build two whale wagons between now and xmas. I have some kit built mermaids, dogfish, and catfish already built to add to this train, as well some heljan dogfish about to enter my workshop. I definitely enjoy modelling engineering wagons!

Anyhow, modelling is cracking on at a pace this weekend....will put up a post of the finished BSK and also the little halt for Amberleigh soon.

BSK MK 1 weathering

Am enjoying a lovely weekend with my girlfriend, and after some shopping and decorating, I am going to get a whole afternoon of modelling. I will definitely finish my second walrus wagon build and also the lamprey off. Many projects are nearing fruition now, and the little halt for Amberleigh is nearly done, as is a concrete pillbox.

One project that is receiving a little attention is the weathering of a Mk 1 BSK at the moment. I weathered the RBR, which I put in an earlier post, and whilst happy at the time, the gaps in the door stand out like a sore thumb. I am blacking out the door gaps on this model and practising streaking some rain washed dirt down the sides. The photo shows the work in progress, more to do but coming on well (sorry about the poor quality of the photograph).

I recently have discovered a beautiful website of 1980's diesels in my beloved Devon (http://freepages.nostalgia.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cyberheritage/). The website has some fantastic photographs of class 33's and 31's, pulling short freight and passenger services on the tarka line. The photographs show some pretty mucky blue grey mk1's. The collection also shows a 33/2 and numerous class 25's in Devon on rural branchline workings. I think the modelling potential from these scenes is great and has certainly inspired me. I will put up some further posts this weeks to show my progress over the next few days.

Weathering a shark brakevan

(photographs: top = cambrian shark; below top = hornby weathered shark (factory finish) with pipework addded; below bottom = hornby shark after further weathering; bottom = hornby shark after further weathering)


I had the delights of working in Dicot this week and another wedding on saturday, has again meant little time for modelling this week. I seem to begin all my blog posts like this!!! However, hangover aside, I have spent this afternoon modelling. This gave me enough time to finish the weathering of my Hornby shark brakevan.

Before I started to weather it I took a photograph of the Hornby factory finish weathered shark and also had a photograph to hand of a previously built shark brakevan, built from the excellent Cambrian kit. I think it makes an interesting comparison. Weathering is a personal thing, and one of the most important aspects when weathering is to know when to stop. The original Hornby weathering, is no more than a quick airbrushing of light brown frame dirt. It really leaves a lot to be desired.

Using this as a basis the model has been changed into a heavily weathered finish, with some grafetti decals added. One of the decals did not take properly, so I had to disguise this with some additional weasthering, with moderate success. Overall though I am pretty happy with the result. When weathering stock, I try to produce a blend of different finishes on different models, some nearly spotless, some heavily weathered and everything in between. I think in modelling terms it is important to represent a range of prototypical finishes. Everything is weathered to varying degrees. For example, with the two walrus wagons, one is being finished heavily weathered and the second one is being lightly weathered.

Back to the brake van, the comparison between the before and after pictures speaks volumes. I think it is commendable that model manufacturers are trying to model 'real life' railways, but te execution in this instance is poor. However, the less than perfect finish givs modellers like me something to do and personalise mass produced models. With the brakevan finished, work is ongoing on Chivers Lamprey and finishing the second walrus. I might even get the track laid on Amberleigh this evening!!

More progress on Amberleigh

Last weekend my son and I managed to get some of the landscaping started on Amberleigh. Using some brown tape and newspaper we got the basics of the landscape laid down, ready for some plaster bandage. We also modified the track plan changing it to a single track branchline, due to space limitations. This branchline miraculously survived Dr Beeching's axe!! This, as the idea develops, is due to the local ECC quarry, which really was the case for the Torrinton brach into the 1980s. It is really sad that this railway has since been lifted, if it had survived a few years longer passenger trains would have started running again.

Today we added the plaster bandage to the layout and also the tunnel entrances. We put in the powerbus underneath the layout as well. Tomorrow we will finish the plaster bandage and even lay some of the track. Unfortunately, I am away with work all the coming week, and another weekend wedding will mean progress will again grind to a halt.

A shark and a walrus

Another week passes, been working at home this week, but again modelling time has been less than I would like. However, the shark brake van is nearing completion, with some graffetti decals added and general weathering. It needs a little more to finish it, such as buffers and roof weathering, and a little dry brushing of weathering powders on the body sides. But it is coming along nicely and I am happy with the result. One of the transfers did not take properly so more weathering was undertaken to disguise this. I will see if that worked properly tomorrow.

Another project that is nearing completion is the first of the two walrus wagons I am building. This has been a really interesting paint job, using many coats suitably thinned from a variety of colours including olive green, dark rust, light rust, sleepr grime and underframe dirt. One final coat of weathering frame dirt was applied to the exterior of the body. This just leaves the final details to pick out, such as finishing the bogies, hand rails, etc. This is the first of two walrus wagons and two whale wagons that will be used with the sealions/seacows on my layout, combined with some dogfish, catfish, mermaids, etc.

I also took apart an intercity Mk1 BSK this evening. This is also going to be given a light weathering job, again using some of George Dent's weathering tips. I might even try to the tee cut trick, see how that goes. The doorframes on the rbr stand out, so I am going to weather these as well. The class 08 lighting kit, class 20 weathering job and building the class 119 as ever rest on the sidleines, so I hope to get these moving before xmas!

I am also planning to build an LMS CCT, southern CCT and southern PMV in BR blue, combined with a ratio coach B, to be used as a little engineers train/tool store. These will be the main projects combined with building the scenary on Amberleigh. I ordered some plaster bandage and woodlands scenics materials from MG sharp models to start building the scenic section of Amberleigh, only to find out after ordering that they are on back order. I find this very frustrating as they are registered as in stock. I planned to do this with my son over the weekend, but this will now have to wait. My son is building a cambrian OTA A wagon at the moment so I think we will push on with that instead.

Platerlayer Hut

Another week passes of working away and so no modelling again!! Last week I finished this little platelayers hut ready for my scenic plinth. The weathering is a combination of paints and brush on powders, but I think it looks great!!

I have a whole weekend at home now, so I hope to finish the little halt for Amberleigh and also start getting the first of the walrus wagons finished. As ever I have high hopes of getting a lot done, but am sure the weekend will fly by. I also need to purchase the goods shed, signals, etc for Amberleigh, but heaven only knows when I will get time to build them. I also need to get some tunnel entrances, some plaster bandage and some scenic kits. Hopefully with some time at home now it will all start to take shape.

Concrete PLatelayers Huts

Well another wedding, this time I was best man(!) and working away in London all week has again meant that there has been no modelling time. However, last week I did manage to finish one small modelling project, being a small ratio platelayers hut for my Amberleigh scenic plinth. I took a photograph of the finished model, and sods law, my camera died! I heavily weathered the model with paints and powders and am very peased with the result. Whilst out walking on the real railway at Woolacombe, there is a lovely dilapidated platelayers hut that I photographed to model. I am going to try to model this for my Watergate Halt layout, after I have finished Amberleigh.

As well as increasing my rolling stock I am trying to finish all the buildings for Amberleigh. Amberleigh will have a small goods shed on it, (the shed at Torrington was used into the 1980's by ICI), the platelayers hut, the small halt, plus a pillbox and maybe a house. I want to keep the layout as simple as possible, it is only meant to be a scenic plinth!! If it is simple, there is a chance I might actually finish it.

I have also recieved my class 20 DCC soundfrom bachmann, needless to say I am very happy with it. The lighting kit has also arrived for the 08. So I hope to get on with these two projects, giving each some weathering and details for use on my layout.I am away this weekend and next week, but then hopefully a run at home will follow, so I can get stuck into my modelling again.

Amberleigh

Well another week passes and no modelling achieved!!! I am away every weekday and most weekends at the moment researching/consulting, so no time for modelling of any kind. The general madness will stop in October when weekends will free up again and I will have some time to breathe.

When I did take my weeks holiday I managed to build the baseboards for Amberleigh, with the fiddle yard boards inter-changable with Watergate Halt. The photographs show what has been achieved so far. The electrics will be very basic, using an EZ controller. So I am hoping construction will be swift.

On more general things, I am amazed at the quality and quantity of new models being released at the moment. I have my eye on a new DCC sound class 20, plus the long awaited class 105 DMU, the dalpol class 22, an intercity 37/4 and a DCC sound class 50. This is in combination with more Mk1 and Mk2 coaches and some wagons. I do not think 1980's era modellers have ever had it this good, although I am not quite sure how my bank balance is going to survive!!!!

Two weeks away

Well as they say time flies. Two weeks since my last post and those two weeks have literally flown by. I had to travel away with work, which has meant no modelling since my weeks hols. However, in the last few days of my holiday I managed to get the baseboards built for amberleigh and the fiddle yards, with the baseboards for the fiddle yars interchangeable with thoseof the Watergate Halt. I will put a post up soon of the track plan, etc on the new board.

Anyhow I returned from work to find a package from ten commandments with the station detailing kit and express models for the lighting kit for my bachmann class 08. These projects are going to have to wait a while as more weddings and weekend working mean that there is next to no modelling time available at the moment. I am hoping to buy a bachmann class 20 with dcc sound and a dynamis set, but both funds and time are short!!!!! As I do not have time to model at the moment I really can't justify the investment, but I am sorely tempted.......

As I was working away, the site i was working on in Suffolk had a small occupation level crossing, which you have to phone through to the signal box for permission to cross. As I stood there one morning the unmistakable noise of class 37s rumbled down the line and my collague (Martin Bates) took this shot as a double headed class 37 nuclear flask approached. I am sure it is perfect to model for prototypical class 37 operation.

Mk1 finished

I had a full days modelling today and got a bit done! I have finished my Mk1 intercity RU (as photographed). I am pretty pleased with the result, although I might try George Dents tip of using T-cut on the next one. However, I am not sure how suitable this is for a non steam mark 1? The weathering of the Hornby Shark is coming on well, as is the painting of the first walrus wagon. I have spent most of the day building a second walrus wagon, and have built this slightly different to the first one, which I think has improved the build no end. I also recieved four wagons ECC wagons and two mark 1 coaches from hattons this morning, which are now on the end of my very long lists of modelling tasks! Tomorrow I hope to be able to finish the build of this Walrus and also possibly a Lamprey. When I get the build of the walrus finished I will put up a series of photos of this build. The building of the little station for Amberleigh is coming on well and I hope to get the baseboards built for this scenic plinth at the weekend

Walrus

Well time has literally flown by over the last two weeks. We went camping in north Cornwall for the week last week and have had friends over this weekend, meaning modelling time has been non-existant. However, I now have four whole days, non interupted, modelling time. I am going to build the boards for my test track (Amberleigh), which will act as the senic plinth for my blog. The baseboards for the fiddle yards will be inter-changable with the boards for Watergate Halt, so I will be well prepared for winter modelling.

On other things, I have primed the walrus pretty much, although painting it with primer by brush, means that a few bits are unprimed. The kit is a joy to build, although I think there are a few tweaks to the build that I think will improve the appearance of the wagon no end. I have purchased a second walrus kit and I am going to build this over the next few days and post onto my blog the construction of the kit.

The scuffing up of the RU MK1 is finished and I will post a picture of that on here tomorrow. I am also detailing a Hornby Shark Brakevan and will post a before and after on this. I have also purchased an Express Models lighting kit for my class 08, which is another detailing project to start. I am also going to start detailing my Heljan class 33/2 and finish the construction a couple of buildings for my scenic plinth. All in all I have lots on the go but am thoroughly enjoying my modelling, when I get time to do it!!

NSE class 108 finishd

Well another busy week has again left precious little time for modelling! However, I did manage to finished my NSE class 108 last week. I think that this upgrade has really improved the look of the unit and with the decoders added it runs just great. My biggest gripe, is that the bachmann decoders are too big and you can see the wires through the window. However, smaller decoders cost more generally.....
Anyhow, this project turned out nicely and has inspired me to press on with the construction of my DC kits class 119 DMU and to suitably detail the other Bachmann Class 108s I have. I have two weeks off work at the moment, but am off camping this week. So it will be next week that I have some time to get stuck into modellling again, and start building my scenic plinth (Amberleigh Halt) for photographs, as well as finish some of these other projects!!!

Amberleigh Halt

Well another weekend came and went, with much body boarding with my son, and no railway modelling! However, after deciding to make a senic plinth for photography on my blog, this developed into th idea of modelling a small station halt over the weekend. Literally 1 baseboard 2ft long, which can be connected to some pre-existing fiddle yard baseboards (or the ones that will be constructed for Watergate Halt). Building this plinth will give me some much needed experience of landscape modelling. I am currently building the Halt, which I am going to call Amberleigh Halt, from a Wills kit. I am going to add just a few basic senic details, such as pillbox, platelayers hut, and bridge, but it is essentially a small excerise in layout construction. I am really looking forward to developing this micro layout, no doubt with plenty of help from my son and girlfriend!!

Other projects are progressing slowly. The walrus wagon is almost primed (half done!!). I intend to put some photos up of this tomorrow night and write about tweaking the construction of this. I also am planning to build another straight away, whilst the details of the build are still in my head!! The NSE class 108 nears completion and Southern Pride FO plods on as ever, although I must confess I am rapidly losing interest in that project.

I have nearly finished the weathering on the Bachmann Intercity MK1 RBR. I took some photos of it tonight to identify any flaws in it, etc. It is starting to shape up, although a few more subtle pieces of weathering are required to finish. I have posted a couple of pictures of this ongoing project. I hope to finish this and few other projects this week. I am off on holiday next week, but the week after I hope to be able to build the baseboards for Amberleigh Halt and Watergate Halt.

Flangeways mermaid

Well I have finally finished detailing and weathering the first of my two flangeways mermaid wagons. All that work to remove the floor and add the couplings, plus the underframe grime, with a light body dusting of dirt. For a simple wagon conversion it was very hard work, but I have to say I am pleased with the result. It definitely looks the part, but with the amount of work put in I could have just built one of the excellent cambrian kits, which is what I shall do next time!!

With hindsight I am now not so sure it was worth removing the floor, however the whole wagon does look better for it. Problem is, as you can see on these photographs, you can barely tell. The second of these wagons is now on my desk, so I might undertake a conversion for couplings, etc, but leave the floor in place for a comparison.

Other projects are progressing well. The Southern Pride FO had the roof fixed on this evening. Just a few details left to glue on this one and then some painting and it will be finished. The NSE class 108 had cables added tonight, a few other bits need putting on, and the underframe detailing, but this is also going to be completed next week. The bridge and the concrete lineside hut are also part painted, and again I would hope to get these finished soon. I must get that lighting kit ordered for my class 08 shunter from Express Models, so I can start that in the next few weeks.

Lastly, I intend to make a short senic plinth for photographs for my blog, as I realise how awful my partly finished railway/work bench looks!! This is going to be built over the next month, so I can produce some higher quality photographs. Also a week off work in August is going to suffice for the construction of a mini-layout/test track. The first boards of WaterGate Halt will be built, ready for some senic detailing by myself, son and girlfriend over those long winter months!!!

DMu's

Last night I finished the first car of the two car DMU detailing project I am undertaking. With the new Craftsman detailing parts added and the decoder installed this car now looks the part. I have yet to fully tackle the second of the two cars, but this is on my desk for this evening maybe. The roof was painted in roof dirt and then gently weathered with powders. The underframe details were picked in out in various weathering shades and cables were added to the front. All in all I am very pleased with how this car turned out, it is such a pity that you can see the central mountng block for the motor through the windows though. I guess that is the price you pay for smooth running qualities.

I have finally finished detailing the flangeways mermaid, couplings changed and ready to go, all weathered. This has definitely been a long job and I am not sure I can face undertake detailing the second one. I will post some pictures of this tonight on my blog.