Herring wagon progres and lights on in the quay masters cottage

Modelling activity has continued to be sporadic recently, with only the odd hour here and there being found. Painting has also slowed down, with further coats of varnish required before I can add he transfers to severeal projects. However, something that has witnessed some incremental progress has been he Herring ballast wagon. This was a 3D printed kit from Skog and was the first 3D kit I had assembled. The basic elements of the livery are now in place, with a weathered black and rust finish being aimed here. 

I am going to try to get rid of some of the remaining 3D printed lines with a bit more varnish painted by hand to act as a filler. When viewing the digital image close up some of the print lines are still obvious - despite an awful lot of filing during the build. I am planning to build another, but next time, I will use a primer as a guide to further sanding before painting. Overall, I am not convinced by the quality of the 3D prints at present, although the potential is there to produce a huge range of wagon kits in O gauge, which is something that has not been previously possible. I think give it 10 years and the printing quality will be so high that these print lines will not be an issue. However, for now, a bit more work to do, before I can get transfers on this one.

Herring wagon, with the basic livery added.

Another project that has seen a little progress is the Quay Masters cottage, which has had its internal lights added, alongside the some interior details. There is a little more tidying up to do on the exterior, with a couple of the window/door frames have a little light bleed; so these need to be filled in and repainted. I might also add a curtain/blind to the window in the office - the window seems a little bare without it in place. The roof tiles are slowly being added and I hope to get the roof painted and guttering/downpipes added before the end of June.

On window in the cottage is illuminated as well as the office.

The office extension to the cottage, with the light on. I really wish I had fitted a blind now to the far window!

In June I am planning to take a week off work to work on the layout. The main tasks are to finish off the quay front, add in the backscene and glue some of these buildings down (and of course run some trains). I have also nearly finished the fiddle yard/turntable, so I am hoping I will have a fully operational layout. If I really get a move on, I might also finish the class 33 in time for this running session too. 

More O gauge progress - Quay masters cottage and some wagons

Over the last couple of weeks I have continued to make slow but steady progress on a number of projects. The biggest task has been building and wiring up the fiddle yard turn table, which is getting close to being finished. In the meantime, other projects have continued to tick over, including getting the airbrush running over the weekends. There are numerous wagons languishing around in the paint boxes and are a couple are on the final lap heading towards transfers. The first up is an GWR open wagon, which was built from the Parkside kit. With this wagon I tried to create a faded wood worn finish, as the wagon would have been at the end of its service life in the 1970s. There is a little more detail to pick out and blend in on the underframe, before varnishing and adding transfers.

Parkside 12T open wagon nearing the transfers stage.

Another wagon nearing completion is a Slaters 12T standard van. I have a little more fading of the body paintwork to do, alongside picking out a bit of detail on the underframe, before varnishing and transfers.

Slaters 12t standard van nearing completion. A bit more blending in and fading of the bodywork is required on this one.

Alongside a bit of painting of rolling stock, I have spent a bit of time modelling the quay masters cottage. The office at the end of the building has had some interior details fitted, including a desk with a telephone, chair, filing cabinet and a map hung on the wall. The tasks today are to fit the working lights into the office and the main building, before making a start on the roof and adding on the roof tiles. There are a few more blinds and curtains to be added to the interior, but all in all it is shaping up. I have modelled the office with an open door and plan to include a scene outside of the office when I add it to the layout.

 

Quay masters cottage and office, ready for the lights and roof to be added.

The door for the office is open, allowing the interior detail to be visible. My partners only comment was, the window needs a curtain rail!

The modelled interiors. The other windows will have blinds/curtains added.

The bigger overall itinerary is too finish the quay masters cottage, before setting up the layout in the lounge for a week or so Once the layout is set up, I will pour the resin for the quay front water and add the backscene, before gluing some buildings into place. Once this is all done, I am optimistic it will look like a model railway and the big bonus will be, with the fiddle yard finished, it will be fully operational and I can start to run some trains!

O gauge Layout scenery - Kimmington Quay phase I

Alongside ticking over with the building of rolling stock, I have had the end two boards of the layout set up in the lounge over the past two weeks and have made a decent start on the scenery. These two end boards form the 'countryside' element of the layout, with the track progressing from these boards into the platform and the quay front. The scenery has been built up using an initial gluing down of soil scatter, before layering in about four mixes of static grass. The mixes of static grass start off with a basal layer of 2mm spring grass, before adding progressively taller static grass blends. I have attempted to blend the grass tones with the underlying topography, providing some subtly in the overall grass finish - avoiding blocks of homogeneous grass cover. I have had little previous experience of modelling with static grass, so I treated myself to a new static grass applicator and did some testing before tackling the layout. Overall I am very happy with the outcome so far, although there are more bushes, weeds, ferns and hedges, etc to add to complete the scene. However, with these basic detailing elements done, the installation of the back scene can progress (at least once I have done the quay front water - the last of the messy jobs to do).

The layering of the static grass in progress. On the right hand side of the image is the initial base application of short grass, whilst on the left hand side, more layers have been added to increase differentiation of the vegetation, with some bushes plonked on top!

I temporarily placed the pub on the layout to see how it would  look. I think the tones of the tunnel and the pub bled together well.

The other side of the pub (with the wires for the internal lights visible!). the lighting for the layout creates a pleasing shadow on the side if the building.

The other area I have tacked recently was the road leading down to the platform. I initially put some plaster down and smoothed this using my finger, whilst driving a model vehicle over it to provide some tyre ruts. I then painted the surface using some light enamels, with a base coat of light grey overlain by dry brushed lighter colours. Some fine sand was added, to fill in some of the potholes and then some static grass was added down the middle of the road. I am really pleased with how this bit is looking and it just needs a fence and some gates to finish this section off. 

The road looking towards the pub - that mini is far too shiny!

The road looking towards the platform.

There is a bit more to go with the scenery before I can take these two boards down and start the water in the quay. Hopefully, that can happen in a week or two. Then it is full steam ahead with the fitting of the back scene. I am really looking forward (and also dreading) the installation of the back scene, as once this is added I hope it will transform the look of the layout.  So plenty of progress and I feel the layout is heading in the right direction again, after the hiatus of the house move and all the redecorating. Hopefully, more to follow soon.

Slaters O Gauge Lowfit Wagon finished and in service

So a few projects continue to tick over in the paint boxes and on the layout detailing. I am making a concerted effort to complete various projects that are half or nearly finished, such as various wagons and the class 33 in the paint boxes. The lowfit wagon has recently been completed. This is the slaters O gauge kit that has been finished in BR bauxite. As per normal it was painted with an air brush using Railmatch enamels and had Railtec transfers applied. I feel pretty pleased with how this one turned out.

Finished lowfit wagon placed on the layout.

The wood effect on the wagon floor and rusted rings in the interior. I might put a load in this wagon in due course.

The wagon was pictured on the two end boards of Kimmington Quay, where I have applied some static grass and laid down some of the basic scenic elements. There is a lot of tidying up to go, but I am close to being able to add the backscene in. These two end boards from the layout have been set up in the lounge over the last week and I have been doing a bit of the scenery each evening. It feels great to finally get this element of the layout moving after a very long time! I will produce a full update on the layout later this week, when these scenery elements are done. But for now a picture of the pub wall and the road leading to the platform/quay front. I am really pleased with how this is developing - it is starting to look like a Devonian road!!

The pub wall and rock face with some very basic scenery elements applied - this all needs tidying up and some bushes added.

The typical Devon road down to the platform and quay front.

O Gauge Class 33 Repaint Ongoing and a little more layout progress

Modelling progress continues to tick over, with lots of items in the paint boxes and one of the baseboards set up up downstairs so some scenery can be competed. The class 33 repaint continues to make slow but steady progress. The BR blue has been sealed with a satin varnish coat, after some details were picked out with weathered black. The bodyshell will get some weathering washes applied over it next, before the addition of transfers.  All in all, this is shaping up nicely, but there is plenty more painting to go on this project.

Some basic weathering of the Class 33 body shell has been completed, this will now have some weathering washes applied over it.

The end baseboard of the layout has also seen some basic scenery work. The retaining wall for the pub has been built, alongside some paving stones added to the garden. I need to finish off the painting of the retaining wall this weekend, before adding in some grass and bushes, before gluing down the pub. A rock face has also been painted behind the pub, representing an old quarry. Most of this rock face will be hidden by vegetation, although I have made an attempt to model the bedding planes of bedrock, typical of the North Devon geology. The scenic detailing will stop for a couple of weeks now, but I am hoping to take some time off work later in March and spend some dedicated days attacking the detailing at this end of the layout.

The pub retaining wall, now scribed and in the process of being painted. The rock face of the quarry behind the pub is also visible.

O Gauge class 33 repaint and some layout scenery

So this weekend I finally got around to removing the lining/masking on the O gauge class 33 repaint. Removing the masking is always a slightly nervous affair, as you are never quite sure how successful the lining will have been. The body sides had slightly different shades of BR blue built up over it, providing some tonal variation.Once removed, overall it looks pretty good. There are a few areas where the masking was not quite tight enough and the BR blue has got through a little. This was caused by me putting this project down for severeal weeks in-between painting; over severeal weeks the masking often pulls away a little. Fortunately, the lining was good, so whilst there is a little touching up to do, there is nothing too onerous. The plan this week is to finish off the base coats and apply some varnish, ready for a light weathering and transfers. I have the DCC chip and speaker ready to go, so it is just a question of getting the body shell finished and getting the sound chip installed.

The class 33 before the masking/lining was removed, showing the layering of the BR faded blue.

With the lining/masking removed, the faded yellow ends do not look too bad!

Over the weekend I also found a little time to do some layout detailing. I am currently trying to get some of the bigger scenery tasks finished, so I can get the backscene and some buildings installed. The rock face behind the pub has been started, alongside the pub retaining wall. Both were made from some DAS modelling clay. When dry the pub wall had the blocks scribed in with a file and I have started the painting process this evening. There is some more dry brushing to do, although a lot of the wall will be hidden under vegetation. There is a little more scenery work to do before I can plonk the pub down, but it is getting close to being installed. 

Pub retaining wall and rock face behind the pub - it is a tight squeeze with the pub sitting between the two.

So overall some good progress and fingers crossed I can the momentum up with both the layout and the class 33. It would be great to get the layout close to finished this year, but lets see!

O gauge Lowfit Wagon and a platform shelter

So not an awful lot of progress has happened recently on the modelling front. Part of the slow down has been the adding of a new puppy to our household. She is fantastic, but does take up a lot of time! Modelling time has mainly been spent trying to finish off some of the buildings for the layout. I am hopeful I can get the layout set up for a few weekends relatively soon. When this happens I want to be able to add various buildings and get them blended into the scenery quickly. So I recently (finally) finished off the first diary building for the layout. The second main building for the diary is very much still in construction, but I should be able to get this finished off this year. I have also spent a few evenings knocking up a small shelter for the platform. This was made with some off cuts of foam card and plasticard strips, with very much guestimated dimensions. It still needs a little tidying up but should be finished this week.

The dimensions of the platform shelter are a guesstimate, but it looks about right to my eye.

Platform shelter, showing the sloping roof.

I have also finished off a slaters 12T fruit van. This was built as per the instructions and will be used in the enparts engineering train. 

12 Fruit van, which will be used in the engineering enparts train, in olive green livery.

Otherwise, I am not really building any more wagon kits at the moment. I love building wagons, but with limited modelling time I want to finish painting some wagons and locomotives for the layout, not to mention needing some coaches to be detailed and weathered. I have finally treated myself to a new air compressor (an Iwata Sprint Jet) and am going to work my way through a quite long list of detailing/respray/painting projects before starting anything new. I currently have about 6 wagons in the paint boxes,  the class 33 having a respray, a class 122 awaiting detailing, the engineering olive BSK to repaint and a class 42 warship ready for weathering. So quite along list of things models to paint! Currently, a lowfit wagon is the closest to completion, with the weathering nearly finished and getting close to having the transfers added.

So some sporadic progress. Hopefully I can get the layout set up soon and really press on with some of the detailing. In the meantime, I have plenty of projects to keep me going!

O Gauge Class 33 Repaint into BR Blue

So a bit more progress has been made on the class 33 repaint. I have repainted a few body shells in 00 gauge to reasonably good affect, but an O gauge body shell seems like a daunting prospect. Anyhow, I have finally finished applying the initial coats of faded yellow to the class 33 cab ends. Sunday morning was spent with scissors and tweezers applying the lining and trying to make sure it was straight. After putting on the initial lining, the ends were masked off and I started spraying the body shell with BR Blue.

The painted locomotive ends, ready for masking off. The lining and masking tape that were used are in the bottom left of the picture.

The thin white strips are the lining tape, before an area mask off, using thin masking tape.

Even after the first initial coat of BR blue, the impact of the pre-shading is apparent and I am optimistic this will provide some great tonal variation on the body shell when it is completed. There are several more coats of BR blue, faded BR blue and very faded BR blue to go. Great fun to see this shaping up.

First coats of BR blue applied over the primer and pre-shading.

So fingers crossed when the masking pulls away there will not be some terrible join in the lining. I forgot just how much fun it is to respray a locomotive and add in all the tonal variations and weathering detail as it progresses. I have the DCC Loksound V5 sound chip from Howes to install and I have finished weathering the chassis, so this is now ready for reassembly. The transfers from Railtec have also arrived, so maybe this locomotive might get finished in the next couple of months.