Happy Christmas one and all

 A happy Christmas to everyone!

Superstrip 2 - revisiting some old wagons

With Christmas looming, I finally have some time to indulge in modelling. I have been craving some dedicated modelling time and it feels great to finally be able to get stuck into some projects. The current main task is to finish building the baseboards for the continuous OO gauge loop. I have built one of the five boards I need, so later today I hope to get another 1 or 2 finished off. The aim is to be track laying and soldering by Wednesday and to be operational by Thursday - but lets see. In the meantime I have got the airbrush up and running again and have put a little bit of paint on a couple of wagons and the class 25. My other big task at the moment is to paint strip some wagons. The first of these is an O gauge Parkside SPV. I managed to make a real mess of the transfers when I did this wagon originally and tried to hide the poor transfers with some weathering. The wagon never ran that well anyhow, so it has been stripped and washed, and I will start to clean it up later today and sort out the running issues.

Original paint finish on the SPV, which I then tested out some weathering pencils on.....

Now stripped and ready for repainting.

The next two wagons are both OO gauge; a Parkside CCT and PMV, which I built and painted years ago. These were amongst the first wagons I finished when I had my first airbrush. I was delighted with them at the time, but on reflection they could be significantly improved, so after at least 12 years or so, they are in the paint stripper. 

The CCT and PMV in the paint stripper.

Lastly, I recently purchased an O gauge Dapol milk tanker. The factory finish paint job on this wagon was very thick, with a noticeable seam on the body side.  I tried to file this away and then blend it in with some weathering, but I am not happy with it. So instead I am going to go for a full repaint - this will head into the Superstrip bath this evening.

Dapol O gauge milk tanker out of the box - notice those seams!

The paint seams filed away.

First attempt at weathering - this is no ready for stripping.

Currently, I have loads of kits to build and lots of locomotives to sound chip and detail. Therefore, I am at a point with my modelling, where I am trying not to buy anything else, but finish what I already have! It is great to be able to recycle some old wagons and I am looking forward to painting these over the coming weeks. I have a modelling desk full of kits to build over xmas, so I am hopeful that I can get the OO gauge continuous run operational and get some wagon kits built/tidy up these older wagons.

A continuous run in OO gauge - Pottington Quay refurb!

I have not had much time for modelling recently and had a spell of a few weeks away from home.  During this time I was mulling over various modelling projects. I have been a bit frustrated with the lack of train running recently as the O gauge layout develops, and I have a lot of very good OO gauge rolling stock just sitting around in boxes.  Putting all these things together - I made the decision to make a continuous run OO gauge, using the Pottington Quay baseboard as the scenic section as soon as I got home.  My logic for this was:

1.  I already had the baseboards necessary to complete a continuous run.

2.  I did not need to finish detailing the layout - I just needed a continuous run - to stop the rolling stock (especially the sound chipped) locomotives from seizing up.

3. Having a working OO gauge layout will hopefully inspire me to get the Pottington layout finished - although this can be done at a meandering pace.

4. I have gathered a lot of the materials to get this layout operational over the year - so it is probably time to make a start. 

The layout pre-dismantling.

So Pottington Quay needs a complete rewire, all the trackwork replaced and all the point motors replaced.  My layout building skills have come a long way from this earlier attempt - and there is nothing for it but to rip it all up and start again. So yesterday I ordered all the track I need to make at least one continuous loop with the points needed for further extension.  The original track on Pottington Quay was taken up - and this will be recycled into the fiddle yard and the cork underlay was arduously scraped up. 

Pottington Quay in the post Beeching era - track removed!

The jobs for this week are to build the curved baseboards (Tim Horn) and construct the straight fiddle yard to finish the continuous run circuit. I reckon with a bit of imaginative point laying I can accommodate a western or warship with 6 mk1 coaches in the 'offscene' run around - which will be far too long for the layout - but it will definitely be fun to sit down and watch with a beer in hand

Removed extension of the platform for repainting.

Whilst dismantling the track work I took a scalpel to the original station - I was not happy with the paint job, especially on the extension.  It came off with a little bit of damage done - but this is now on modelling desk to fix up this weekend and get back into the paint boxes asap.  The plan is to get the continuous loop run operational before the start of xmas - I think this is doable - once the main loop is complete - I can add the rest of the track and point motors at a more leisurely pace over the coming year. I am not completely decided on the new track plan - so having a bit of time to mull it over will be beneficial.