Dapol class 122 woes and an xmas running session

I hope everyone had a fantastic xmas and is continuing to enjoy some festive cheer.  The new raft of covid measures meant our xmas was even less social than we planned it to be.  Luckily, I have a fantastic partner, so we still had an amazing time.  On the regulatory 3 hrs on xmas day, my parents popped over for lunch.  My dad has started to build an 0 gauge layout and wanted to have a go with a DCC controller, so I set up Charlton ready to have a beer and run some trains.  I got some trains ready to go and put my Dapol class 122 on the track, turned on the sound chip and pressed the throttle.  The motor turned away but the unit would only crawl.  This was very strange, as I have only run the class 122 at a few exhibitions, so I was surprised it had given up the ghost.  Some googling found out that the Dapol class 121/122 have a raft of well known motor problems.  I managed to take the unit apart, damaged a few detailing pieces and eventually I sorted out the issues.

The Dapol class 122 chassis with one drive shaft removed (left).

The small drive head (top - black), had come loose from the drive shaft.  I super glued the head to both ends of the drive shaft before reassembly.

Both of the motor drive shafts have a head that had come loose, meaning the drive shaft turned but it would not turn the gears.  A lot of people on RMweb removed one of the drive shafts, so the motor only drives one set of wheels.  I followed this fix, removing one drive shaft completely, whilst super gluing the drive head onto both ends of the other drive shaft, before refitting it.  It is a very fiddly job to do, as the drive shafts are beneath the PCB board.  After this experience and seeing that many other modellers have suffered the same issue, I am not buying a Dapol locomotive again.  This is a personal blog and it is only my opinion, but I am really furious that a train that has seen very little running suddenly gives up, due to poor production quality.  The (upcoming) story of the Hornby class 50 is a similar tale.  These trains are not cheap, especially when sound fitting the locomotives and it is infuriating after all that detailing, for the train to be not able to run due to design faults.

Class 37 c. 1975 on an evening passenger service.

Anyhow, having sorted out the problems on the class 122 (it was spread over 2 days, which included a lot of blaspheming!) I spent some time running some trains this evening.  It was great fun and I caught some evening videos of trains running with the lights on.  Other project continue to make good progress, with the class 45 just needing putting back together (a job for tomorrow) with the sound chip added and the python wagon only needs one more coat of varnish.  All in all plenty of progress and all of the new baseboards for a roundy roundy layout are ordered!  Bring on the spring!!

Class 122 on an evening passenger turn.

A class 37 bringing in the last train of the day....

.....before setting back off to Barnstaple junction.

A merry xmas one and all

I am signing off the blog until xmas.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas and has some time off over the festive break.  I have made a lot of progress on a number of projects this week and hope to finish some of these off over the next few weeks, so hopefully some updates soon.  All the baseboards have been ordered for the new layout - so I am excited to start a new layout in the new year.  Until then...Happy Christmas one and all!

Engineering Van - GWR Mink in Olive Green

This weekend I have finally managed to get some time to do some modelling!  All of Sunday has so far been spent at the modelling desk, building some wagon kits and doing some painting.  After a few hours a lot of projects feel like they are finally moving forwards - great stuff!  The class 45 is in the process of receiving its final varnish coats and I also finished the rebuilding of a salmon wagon I stripped the paint from in 2016!  Today, I also dropped the wheel sets into the GWR Mink wagon, which has been re-purposed into the engineers fleet.  I have no idea what this wagon would do in real life but it is going to form part of a train, with a motley collection of older wagon stock (a python, PMV, CCT, BY and Mk1 coach) all finished in olive green to add a bit of variety to the trains running on my layouts.

Finished GWR Mink wagon in 1970s olive green.

As per normal this wagon was finished using Railmatch enamel paints applied from an air brush.  The transfers are Modelmaster and it is fitted with metal buffers and three link couplings.  I mixed the olive green to have a faded colour, adding a little drop of white into the green paint, trying to replicate a wagon recently rebuilt, but having lived outdoors for a year or two.  I am very happy with this wagon and have the GWR python wagon ready for transfers, close on its heels.  A Mk1 coach (Bachmann) in olive green is also in the paintshop, so I am hopeful I can finish this rake of rolling pre-xmas.  Otherwise, I hope everyone is well and finding time to model.  

Another milk wagon

Progress has remained painfully slow on the modelling desk, with virtually no time for modelling again this week. This is a shame, but the world is in a strange place at the moment and there is little spare time in my daily life.  Anyhow, I did manage to finish another milk tanker for the layout a couple of weeks ago.  This is another Dapol model; these are not the best, but they all there is on the market.  I take these wagons apart and weather the different components separately before reassembly.  This model was finished with a livery that pre-dates the era I model.  So I painted and weathered over this, after sanding it down.  The idea was for a faded older livery to be poking through the grime.  Anyhow another wagon finished for the rake, only a couple more to do.

Finished milk tanker, with the older livery clearly peeking through.

Although actual modelling has been slow this week and the past couple, I have been thinking a lot about the next layout.  I do not have room to store to Charlton, so I am going to see if I can sell it.  This is quite a painful thing to do, but it is definitely time to move onto the next project and free up some space.  I now have a clear plan what I will do for the next layout, so it is just a question of ordering the baseboards this week.  I already have some of these, so it is a question of joining the dots - hopefully more to follow on this....

Some comings and goings and Charlton station

The last few weeks have been just as time consuming as the rest of this year, meaning modelling continues to take a back seat.  A few models are nearing completion, namely the class 45 and a couple more vans for the engineers department.  This is great, but I am still yet to make a start on the new baseboard for the next micro layout, alongside fairly infrequent starting up of the air brush.  However, a couple of weekends ago I did manage to get the layout set up for an hour or two on Sunday afternoon and run a couple of trains.  So here is a class 25 on an engineers strain, with the recently finished sturgeon wagon, alongside some other kit built stock (dance hall brake van, salmon wagon, CCT, BY and 20t brake van).  Then the same class 25 on parcels train with more kit built stock (CCTs and SPVs).  Just running these trains does give me a great amount of pleasure knowing the time and effort I put into building these different models.  Fingers crossed for some more progress later this month, although time is very limited between now and mid December....

Class 25 on an engineers train.

Same locomotive on the same day on a parcels turn.

A big fish: Sturgeon wagon finished (finally)

This week I managed to find a couple of spare evenings for finishing off the sturgeon wagon.  The wagon is built from the Cambrian kit and I started building it some time in 2016.  Since then, it has sat around in various boxes awaiting painting and I am delighted it is now finally finished.  I put the primer on this wagon about 8 months ago (I think) and have slowly been painting it over the last few months.

Finished sturgeon wagon in Charlton station.

View from the other side.

The wagon was built as per the instructions and painted using an airbrush with Railmatch enamels.  Transfers come from the CCT range, with a few additions from Modelmaster, such as the data panel. Overall, I am delighted with this wagon.  It looks the part and was certainly worth the effort.  There are a few areas where I think the finish could have been better, but I overall I think it looks pretty good.  I currently have another Sturgeon to build, with the doors removed, and I will look to start this kit as soon as I have finished off the multitude of half finished wagon kits I have.  

Some more shots of the finished wagon.

Next weekend I plan to set the layout up on Saturday and spend a little time running some trains.  I will see how this wagon performs on the layout and I am looking forward to seeing it running.  I also have a few other wagons very near completion and the detailing of the class 50 and 45 is progressing well.  All in all, very satisfying to see some progress.

Some buildings for the new micro layout

I have continued to make a little progress on a few models.  Time sometimes seems to run away and a week will pass with absolutely nothing having been achieved.  I think the change of routines due to lockdown and covid has hampered my modelling a little this year, but I am making a concerted effort to find dedicated modelling time and push some projects to completion.  I have a 3ft * 1.5ft baseboard to build for a new microlayout.  It will have a very basic track plan and will be connected to a series of other layouts (well that is the plan!).  So over summer I managed to make a start on two buildings for this first micro  layout, being a goods shed and a platform shelter.

The good shed is an LCUT small goods shed, laser cut, wooden kit.  It is an interesting model to construct and it is my first laser cut kit.  In the building stages it seems a little basic, although I plan to add some guttering and down pipes to flesh out the detail a little.  I am hoping to get it finished over the next week.  Until its painted I will reserve judgement on the kit, but the parts fit together nicely and it seems pretty study.

Goods shed during construction.

Close up showing the detail on the kit.

The second building undergoing construction is the platform and shelter.  I have scratchbuilt the platform shelter from plasticard and rectangular plastic struts.  It is a simple building, but the dimensions look about right.  The platform is also going to be built from plasticard and Dart castings SR platform legs.  The platform itself is an ongoing construction (i.e. I am thinking about it!!!).

Platform shelter after construction.

However, it is pleasing to see the models progressing a little and I might even get around to building the baseboard kit this week!  In addition, a few models are nearing completion in the paint shop, so hopefully a few finished models to post on here in the next couple of weeks.

Some more wagon progress - GWR MInk and Python wagons for the engineers train

Well time has passed over summer and there has been some episodic modelling.  We have been so busy, with work deadlines and trips eating up time, meaning modelling has been very stop start.  However, I have managed to progress a few projects in the paintshop.  A few months ago I put a post of the GWR Mink and Python wagon after building. These wagons are destined for the engineers stock in the 1970s and are loosely based on prototypes with a hefty degree of modellers licence applied.  I have managed to get the basic liveries on these wagons, being rather faded, but clean(ish) olive green and these now require a little more detailed weathering, alongside transfers.  However, it is nice to see some progress.

Mink wagon starting to shape up.

Python truck with faded olive green applied.

I have also started the detailing on the class 45 and 50 body shells alongisde painting these wagons and also have the transfers to apply to the sturgeon wagon, so all in all a little progress.  I have also started the construction of a new station for the next layout, although the baseboard remains unbuilt (still!).  However, with winter drawing in there will be more time in the evenings to make some headway with these projects.  In these strange COVID times it will be nice to hunker down a little in winter and have some modelling time, as well as getting back to updating the blog on a regular basis.

13T Open Wagon

Finished 13T open wagon.

Not an awful lot of modelling has transpired in the last week, although I have got the air brush running this morning and I am going to spend the day building some wagons.  Over the week I did manage to get the last coats of varnish on this 13T steel open wagon.  It the Parkside kit and is finished with a mixture of bauxite and rust.  It is painted with Railmatch enamels and has Modelmaster transfers applied.  As per normal it has 3 link couplings.  Other projects are plodding along and I hope to finish off some more models next week.  I have a few days off work next week and I am hoping to build a new baseboard to start the new layout.

Bachmann Class 37 in BR Blue

This week I managed to put the finishing touches to a Bachmann Class 37 in BR blue.  I started this model about four months ago, so a fairly speedy project by my standards.  The model has the 21 pin DCC chassis and is supplied with a set of frost shields, to model the locomotive in pre-1976 condition. 

Finished class 37 running at Charlton.

View further down the platform.

As per normal I removed the bogies, chassis and body and weathered them all separately, before reassembly.  I started off by putting a weathering wash over the body and chassis using a brush, wiping most of this away.  Then the various parts of the locomotive were detailed using the airbrush and Railmatch enamel paints.  I attempted to make a blend of faded BR blue and some weathering streaks on the body side, to create a work a day look, but not overly weathered.  The roof was treated to some roof dirt and weathered black, whilst the chassis and bogies had a mixture of weathered black, frame dirt, sleeper grime and matt white applied.  I used a Howes sound chip in this locomotive, the unrefurbished variant, with a Road and Rails speaker (a 25x7x7mm speaker).  The speaker plus chip work really well together and it sounds fantastic in my opinion.

Running light out of the station.

Finished class 37 running in the evening passenger service from Barnstaple, with parcels traffic.

Class 37 on the milk train!

Overall, I am pretty happy with how this one turned out, its looks pretty good in the station I think.  I did not chip the bodywork, like I have been experimenting with some other locomotives and rolling stock.  The diesel hydraulics I am modelling tend to be in a pretty grubby state, as they are nearing the end of their working lives during the 1970s, in comparison to classes 50, 47 and 37, 33 and 31, which are taking over what remains of their duties in the west of England.  With this locomotive finished, I have a class 50 that I am just starting to detail, alongside the resurrection of my class 45 and a class 108.  These are the next projects before tacking a hymek, a warship (class 43) and another western.  

Up and running again - some comings and goings at Charlton station

The next move has been completed and we are all settled in.  A hectic few months, although overall for us it has been a good time.  I know many people have had a far worse experiences over the last few months, so I am counting my blessings in life.  So with the majority of the stuff moved in I have had some time to set up the 'office', aka the modelling room.  One of the first things I did was to set up Charlton and have a good old running session or two.  It was great to finally have some time and space to do this.

Class 25 bringing in the milk train.

Class 22 on an engineers train.

An early morning parcels train.

Another view of the class 22 on the engineers train.

I also took the opportunity to take some pictures of the some of the recently finished rolling stock to see how it looked 'for real', placed on the layout.  In short, I am pretty happy with it all.  The LNER CCT and Ling wagon, both had badly applied transfers, but some with some weathering, at normal viewing distances they look passable.  The SR CCT and milk tanker look the part in my opinion and the post office van looks just right sat at the end of the platform!  The layout as always has performed faultlessly and it has been very enjoyable to run some trains.  

Class 47 bring in the evening passenger turn.

A view looking up the platform.

Engineers train shunted to the siding.

Recently finished sealion wagon.

The recently finished Royal Mail van ready for loading with parcels.

SR passenger C in the parcels rake.

Recently finished LNER CCT.

However, the limitations of the layout have also resurfaced when playing trains.  The terminus to fiddle yard has limited operation possibilities.  So, to cut a long story short, I am embarking on a much more ambitious project.  The plan is to build two stations on separate scenic boards, with a middle scenic section.  I am going to build this in discrete sections, to save being overwhelmed by the project!  So what to do with the Charlton layout in the meantime?  I am going to put it up for sale I think.  If no one wants it, then it might just have to storage for a while.  It would be a shame to break it all up and it has been a great learning project, but it is time to move onto a bigger project.  However, this said, it is still great to play trains!

Class 25 bringing in the evening parcels train, to collect the mail.

Class 25 collecting the milk tankers and a CCT from further down the line.

Class 47 on the early evening passenger turn.

Class 22 pulling in the engineers train.

Ling engineering wagon

Since the last update there has been virtually no progress on the modelling front, in fact the modelling desk/room has been tided up and put into storage.  This is due to another house move about to happen next week (fingers crossed!) which will mean I can get the Charlton layout out of storage and make a start on another couple of micro layouts I have got baseboards for.  This is all very exciting, but over the last few weeks I have not had the time, space or energy to do any modelling.  However, earlier on during lockdown I managed to finish off a few projects.  One of these was a ling wagon.  This is the Chivers finelines kit and is a cracking model to build.  It is finished as per the kit instructions and painted using the airbrush with Railmatch enamels paints.  Everything was going swimmingly well as I added the CCT transfers.  I did this at the same time as the LNER CCT and these transfers also suffered badly from silvering; I think I had a bad evening in the model room that day!

Finished Ling wagon. 

I have subsequently weathered the wagon to try to disguise the silvering, but it is still visible in places.  Ahh well - it will do for now and maybe in the future I will revisit it.  If not, it is not too visible at normal viewing distance.  So until I am set up in a few weeks time - I hope everyone stays safe and well. 

Another Milk Tanker Finished

Lockdown continues to rumble on and it is a strange time for everyone.  For me it involved having to move 3 weeks ago with a change in circumstances, to look after some people.  This was not a problem, but it meant I had to temporarily abandon my modelling area.  Modelling has been pretty much zilch since then for the the past 3-4 weeks, which is a shame as I was making a little progress on a few projects.  However, of course, the well being of loved ones is far, far more important.  To be honest, in some strange way, the last 3 weeks have been some of the most enjoyable I have had in recent years, although lockdown makes doing even the most simple of tasks very difficult.

The finished milk tanker: these wagons were pretty filthy by the 1970s.

However, before I left I managed to finish off another milk tanker for layout.  As per previous post, this is the Dapol offering that is pretty crude.  So in common with the other milk tankers I just tried to highlight some details and create a passable representation of a milk tanker from a poor starting point.  The wagon was taken apart and the worst offending mould lines were sanded off.  Details on the underframe were picked out and highlighted using rust, weathered black and white.  The tanker body was streaked with various weathering shades, before reassembling and a good dose of satin varnish.

A passable representation I think....

Before leaving I did manage to pack a few kits to build.  I have been working my way through a series of Cambrian kits recent, having finished a Herring wagon and two Walrus wagons.  I have a partly constructed SR 40T hopper with me, so fingers crossed I will be able to find a little time this week to finish this off.  In case I suddenly end up with masses of time (which I will not!) I also have a Whale wagon and another Herring wagon with me to build.  In the meantime I hope everyone stays safe and that we can all find away to adapt to this situation and make the best of it.

Lockdown (BR) Blues: A Hornby Passenger C Brake Van C

This week has seen more progress with clearing out the paint boxes and finishing off some languishing projects.  Over the course of the week I have managed to do a few hours of modelling each day.  This is great, as I have started finishing off some half built kits and also moving painting projects forwards.  I am pretty determined to use this time (lockdown) to finish off a lot of projects before spending money on any new models - I have boxes of unfinished kits/rtr stock!  Anyhow, recently I took apart a Hornby Passenger C Brake Van, in the BR blue livery.  After removing the glazing I weathered the van in two parts, the body shell plus roof and the underframe.  On this van I wanted to produce a much better effort of faded and chipped body work and I feel that I have got part way there again with this one - not perfect but it is heading in the right direction.

Finished Passenger C brake van, with some faded and chipped paintwork.

So after washing the wagon and underframe I applied an all over body wash of weathered black/frame dirt.  Most of this was wiped off, before spraying various shaded of faded BR blue of the planks.  I then sealed this up with a blast of satin varnish, before dabbing on some matt white and wiping away the excess with a cotton wool bud dipped in white spirit.  A bit more faded blue was sprayed over the top of this, before weathering with frame dirt, sleeper grime and weathered black.  The underframe was weathered with light rust, matt white, weathered black, frame dirt and sleeper grime.  Both parts of the van were then treated to three coats of satin varnish.  The glazing had a light mix of satin varnish and sleeper grime sprayed over them, before being glued back in place using 'glue n glaze' and the wagon reassembled. 

Side view of the finished van.

So another wagon finished for the parcels train (my goodness it is never ending!).  I might just have to purchase the Hornby LNER extra long CCT in BR blue - it looks a cracking model and I was not very happy with the one I made.....what was I saying about not buying anymore stuff.....

Stay safe everyone and stay safely locked down!

Another sealion wagon for the ballast train

Over the years I have been meaning to build a ballast train composed of some sealion, walrus and whale ballast wagons.  I am currently building another walrus (which will bring the total to 3) and one of the next kits will be another whale wagon - I was never entirely satisfied with the canopies on the first version I built.  Anyhow, I finally got around to finishing off the third sealion wagon I have.  This is the Bachmann model that I must have purchased about 10 years ago - it is frightening how time seems to just to slip away! 

Finished sealion wagon ready for the layout.

Anyhow, I converted this to 3 link  couplings, which involves a bit of filing and drilling into the buffer beam and cut off the mounts for the tension lock couplings.  I gave the wagon a good wash and then an all over body wash applied with a paint brush that was mostly wiped away again.  After this, various shades of light rust, weathered black, sleeper grime and frame dirt were airbrushed over the body.  This was all sealed off with a good blast of satin varnish.  I always treat the bogies separately to the body on a wagon like this, in an attempt to highlight some detail on the bogies.  Anyhow, another project finished off.  I must finish this second walrus wagon build and get the two completed kits into the paintshop for this rake.  Again apologies for the poor pictures - I am struggling to find decent light in the modelling room at the moment and with the layout firmly locked down and inaccessible with storage, this is the best I could manage.

A Royal Mail van and the parcels train

Over the last few years I have built a good number of parcels wagons, so it was high time I got around to finishing a few Royal Mail vans for the layout, to ship the parcels away!  So over the last week or so I put a little weathering over a Ford 400E Royal Van van.  A simple little project, which just required dismantling and then a bit of airbrushing.

Finished Royal Mail Ford 400E van.  At last something to get rid of these parcels! 

These models have a very good gloss finish on them, so I started with a bit of satin varnish, to give the paint something to adhere to.  Then it was a question of some light airbrushing, with a few different shades of grime.  Some varnish sealed it all up before reassembly.  A simple little project and now I have something to sit in the station car park ready to ship the parcels away.  I need a few more of these done for the layout, given the amount of parcels stock I now have!  Speaking of which, at the recent show in East Grinstead, I took a couple of pics of the Class 25 on the parcels train.  

Class 25 bringing the parcels and papers.  Barnstaple still had a very healthy parcels traffic into the 1980s.

The other end of the train, on the short parcels turn that day.

A 12T fruit van ready to roll

Week 3 of lockdown starts and I sincerely hope everyone is bearing up OK.  These are trying times and modelling is a good way of light relief to occupy some hours and take away the current stress.  Recently, I have managed to finish off the detailing of a few RTR wagons.  The Charlton layout already has far too much rolling stock, but doesn't everybodies layout?  So first up is a Bachmann 12T fruit van.  I need a series of 12T vans for the delivery of fertiliser to the provender store and currently have an operating rake of 3.  This will increase over the next couple of weeks as I finish off more wagons.

12T fruit van finished and ready to roll on the layout.

As per normal I fitted three link couplings to the wagon and then proceeded to give the wagon a good wash. First the wagon was treated to an all over bodywash of sleeper grime and weathered black heavily thinned, taking care to remove the majority of this wash after application.  The wagon was then detailed using an Iwata airbrush, applying Railmatch enamels.  Various shades of rust, weathered black, sleeper grime, frame dirt and white were applied to the underframe.  The body was predominately detailed with weathered black, on the upstanding ribs, door hinges, etc, and sleeper grime more generally across the body.  This was all sealed up with 3 coats of satin varnish.

I realised that I had far to many projects on the go at once in the painting boxes and it was taking far too long to finish anything.  Effort was being divided between multiple models, meaning nothing was getting finished. So over the next few weeks I am concentrating on a few specific models to get them finished off, before tackling some more complex projects, not least an earlish BR blue class 37, which the DCC sound decoder arrived for today.  At least, for once, I have plenty of time on my hands.

LNER CCT in BR Blue

I hope everyone is safe in well, in what can only be described as trying times.  Personally, this first week of lockdown has been difficult for me, being separated from loved ones since last week.  However, in amongst all the doom and the endless days of being locked in, I have finally found some time to do some modelling.  I guess it is important to always find a positive, although the situation is clearly very serious.

So this week I finished off a LNER extra long CCT, in classic BR blue parcels livery.  This project can only be described as a complete and utter nightmare!  The building and painting stages were relatively straight forward and I was feeling very smug with the progress.  However, I managed to completely and utterly wreck the application of transfers (I thought I was beyond this!!).  After this, I had to spend a lot of time sorting out the silvering, trying to disguise it with more weathering.  This lead to a large number of varnish coats being applied with various shades of sleeper grime or frame dirt added.  Anyhow, I currently live in a very dusty house, so the more coats you apply, the more dust you trap, which is of course exactly what happened.  Then when it was finished and I was putting the wheels in I dropped it and scratched the roof!

Finished CCT in BR blue.  It doesn't look too bad I guess.

Close up showing the excellent detail of the Parkside moulding.

Another close up showing the added handrails and detail.

The model is the Parkside kit, build with a few extras added, such as handrails.  I painted the wagon using Railmatch enamels applied from my airbrush.  The transfers are from Cambridge Custom Transfers.  I never seem to get these quite right and my applying of them was poor. So the verdict - I am glad it is finished.  The weathering is now too heavy for my tastes, but at least it is finished and runs.  The overall paint finish has to much dust trapped in it for my liking and the transfers still look a bit iffy.  It is one to re-visit maybe in a few years. However, I find once I have finished a wagon I forget about it, so maybe in a few months I will pick it up, put it in the track and think - this is not too bad!  I took some close images of the sides whilst taking a pick too, which really highlight the quality of wagon moulding by Parkside.  Overall a 6 out of 10 on this project for me, but another wagon finished and ready to go on the layout.

East Grinstead Model Railway Exhibition

This week I have been exhibiting my layout Charlton at the East Grinstead model railway exhibition.  Give the country is in a state of hysteria about Coronvirus, visitor numbers were healthy.  There was a really good range of layouts at the show and I met and chatted with a lot of people.  Charlton performed faultlessly again and I am feeling pretty confident about how I put the layout together.  It is its fifth show with virtually no maintenance and it continues to operate really well, although I need to fix a couple of minor things.  However, Charlton is a fiddle yard to terminus.  This is great fun to operate at home for an hour or two, but in an exhibition hall it is a very tiring layout to operate.  Footfall in the exhibition tailed off in the later afternoons, so I had some time to shoot a few little videos.  One of the things I liked about operating the layout this weekend was I have finished the third passenger coach.  This means the run around loop doesn't work, as the train is too long.  So I now have another locomotive stabled in a siding to run onto the end of the train and pull it away.  Not really prototypical, but much more fun to operate.

I am now keen to be able to finish off a few of the other modelling projects and start planning a much bigger layout.  Fingers crossed that a house move later this year will be the last in a long line and I can start building something that I can keep permanently operational.  Until then, I have no further exhibitions to attend.  I plan to build a small layout (3ft x 1.5ft) just to keep me going and use this micro-layout as part of a bigger plan.....

Class 25 on a short parcels train.

A western bringing in the 3 coach passenger train.

A class 22 running around a branch freight.

Thanks to all at East Grinstead MRC who made this weekend so much fun!

Hornby BR Blue Parcels Passenger Brake C

Sometimes life just gets in the way a little and any shape or form of modelling has ground to a rather unimpressive halt.  I had plans at new year to finish quite a few projects, but little headway has been made!  Fortunately, nothing stressful or negative has happened, it is just life has been too busy over the last couple of months leaving virtually zero time for modelling.  However, today I fired up the airbrush for the first time in an age.  There were a couple of wagons pretty much finished that needed a blast of varnish plus quite a few other wagons are nearing completion which need a bit of tidying up here and there.  I have an exhibition coming up this week at East Grinsted, so I was hoping to get a few things finished for then, but I have run out of time.

Progress so far on the faded and chipped bodywork - taken in awful light!

Anyhow, pictured above is a Hornby BY wagon, called a passenger brake van C by Hornby.  I had forgotten I had purchased this many years ago and found it a few months back whilst looking through the boxes of projects I have not yet got around to. I decided to have a really good go at doing some chipped and faded bodywork on this.  So far this has been treated to some white paint stippled on from a paintbrush, with some removal via a cotton bud with white spirit. The wagon has had an all over wash of grime, before some work with the airbrush using faded BR blue and weathered black.  There is a little weathering to go, but it is starting to shape up.  Hopefully I can get this one finished soon.