OO Gauge Fruit D in BR Blue

Modelling time has increased a little bit in the last couple of weeks and a few projects in the modelling boxes are moving towards completion.  I always find it a relief when I finally start adding on the transfers to a model and I know it can be used on the layout.  Recently, I finished off a Fruit D wagon in BR blue - to add into the ever growing parcels stock.  The wagon is sat on the Pottington Quay layout, which I am hopeful I will get some time to play with over this summer.

Finished Fruit D on Pottington Quay.

Fruit D in the sidings on the layout.

The Fruit D is the standard Parkside kit, finished with 3 link couplings.  It is painted via the airbrush, using Railmatch enamels and ModelMaster decals.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out in the end, although it must have been in the paint boxes for about 2 years!!  

My OO gauge modelling has taken a back seat recently as I dabble in O gauge; however, I do have a lot of OO gauge stock, so I am hopeful to get the Pottington Quay layout rolling quickly - in order to allow me to just play trains some evenings.  I am aiming to turn this layout into a continuous loop - it will probably end up being 7ft by 4f - or something like that, if I manage to make any progress with it.  I think there are a lot of advantages to a continuous loop layout- especially if exhibiting - it would really take the pressure off on the operation side to stop turning stock around in the fiddle yards. So a vague plan, although lets see how the summer progresses!

Detailing an O Gauge class 25 and a modelling itinerary

Recent modelling work has been a bit restricted to a little painting, a little wagon building and a little layout detailing.  However, I am close to having a wonderful summer of beaches and modelling to hand, with a little academic writing thrown in for good measure; all glorious things to occupy my time! After what can only be described as a horrific couple of years in academia due to COVID, I finally have the luxury of some time to really get my teeth stuck into some modelling.  I have written a list of modelling projects I want to complete over summer.  These are principally to weather and sound chip a class 25 and class 03 diesel locomotive (O gauge), finish building 4 O gauge wagons and get the O gauge and OO gauge layouts to a completely operation state, with backscenes installed and ballasting finished.  I will be able to take off at least two weeks dedicated modelling time, so I am feeling optimistic I can achieve some of this and start updating my blog regularly again.

So with these grand plans mentioned, I have made a start on the Heljan Class 25.  When this model came out I paid £500 for it; quite honestly the price tag has made me feel a tad nervous about attacking it (or at least dismantling it), but I needed to just get on with it.  I took a dep break and made a start.  Taking this locomotive apart was quite difficult, there are so many moving parts.  I managed to snap one piece of window frame, which came away with the glazing.  I quickly glued this back in (it is barely noticeable) and resolved to not removing any of the side windows during weathering (they will have to be masked with maskol). I also managed to snap one of the central cab windows, totally destroy the supplied printed headcodes and lose one of the lights.  It felt like a bit of a disaster to start with, but now I am quite relieved.  I hope I have the modelling skills to make a good job of this and the locomotive is no longer a shelf queen, but now it is a model that I can grub up and experiment with in O gauge.

The body shell finally disconnected.

The class 25 bogies removed.

The class 25 body shell ready for washing and weathering.

Other projects tick away in the background.  I have ordered all the point motors for the OO gauge layout and will set a day aside to get this layout running again.  I also am extending the O gauge layout by another 3ft, alongside finishing some buildings and building some O gauge wagon kits.  I have also ordered a new O gauge class 03 after seeing some pictures of them on the Hemyock branch. So hopefully more updates to quickly follow.