A start in 0 gauge...plus a blue parcels van

The last few months have involved a lot of travelling for work - needless to say that this has left little time for modelling.  However, good news is on the horizon as we are finally looking to buy a new house somewhere in the southwest....so this will at least provide some space for my new layout!  For a while now I have been musing about construction of a small shunting plank in 7mm.  This project would of course run alongside construction of my other layout - Pottington Quay in 4mm, which is now unfortunately in storage.

 

A start on 0 gauge - Parkside Grampus wagon

So in little snatches of time in-between the hottish Mediterranean sun and the even hotter African sun, I have ordered a couple of 7mm Parskide Kits. Last week I made a start on a Grampus wagon.  The kit is going together smoothly - although a couple of bits were bent these have been straightened out and construction has been straightforward so far, providing a lovely free running wagon.  I have the underframe detail left to finish but all in all it is going together well.  I intend to build this and few other engineering and freight wagons and build a handful of JLTRT diesels...we shall see how that turns out!  However, I am very much enjoying working in a larger scale and it is possible I might just become converted to 7mm....a GWR toad for the engineering department is to be ordered over xmas...

Blue parcels van - ready for the paint shop

On other fronts I have built a parcels wagon from the blue spot fish van Parkside kit in OO gauge.  As per normal for Parkside kits it went together smoothly and is another wagon to go alongside the CCTs and PMVs in a parcel train for Pottington Quay.  This wagon will run next to the Hornby offering of the same van - I will be interested to see how these compare.  The air brush is still not up and running...so I am building a series of kits and leaving them in a box ready for painting next year.  I am very much missing having a dedicated modelling space and am hoping that buying a new house will allow the space (and time!) to start building the new 7mm shunting plank and get Pottington Quay finally running.

Comparison in scale between my normal 4mm and 7mm