O Gauge Dairy Warehouse finished and other layout detailing bits

Next weekend I am planning to put the layout up for a week and start working my way through multiple modelling tasks across the various layout boards. There are a few larger jobs to undertake, such as replacing a bit of curved track where the transition is too sharp out of the station (I wish I had noticed before I started ballasting), cutting back a bit of the pub wall where it is too close the track and taking out a small bulge in the edge of the dairy platform where it is catching on the class 08. I wish I had noticed all of these things at the time, which of course I did not and they all require remedy, otherwise the operation of the layout will be frustrating when I put it up to play trains. Hey ho - time to just bite the bullet and get these bits finished, then it really is onto the home straight with the layout.

The dairy warehouse finished and ready to install on the layout.

After doing these bigger messier jobs (which will require some hoovering up), I will then put into place some of the buildings on the layout. The pub and the quamasters cottage are already glued into place and I can now add in the dairy office and warehouse to the end board. The diary office roof has been toned down a little with dry brushing and I have finished the main dairy warehouse that will be located next to it on the diary platform. The dairy warehouse has a centre office into which I have fitted some interior details and lights, such as a desk with papers, a phone and typewriter, a dairy manager and a picture and clock on the wall. All good fun to model, although the close up is a bit cruel! All of these buildings need to be wired up once in place to a battery source with a switch to allow the lights to be individually  switched on.

Dairy office manager Roger Caries is hard at work at his desk!

Picture hanging om the office wall, because the dairy manager, Roger Caries (of Caries Dairies) is a civil war fanatic in his spare time.....

Clock on the opposing office wall, with telephone on the desk.

There are various other little detailing projects I am currently painting / weathering, which include:

Rubbish bins - to be fitted outside the pub and at the quaymaster cottage;

Metal drums - to dot around the place as general detritus;

A post box and telephone box - to be fitted outside the quay masters cottage;

A platform sign;

A pub bench;

Some lineside speed signs (which I thought I had cleaned up with sand paper - but the close up photographs show I need another go at this!!

Post box, after a bit of toning down.

Dustbins - these are the old steel dustbins I can remember from the 1970s!

Phone box, also after a bit of toning down.

Some metal drums - these will painted in some lurid colour and then have the obligatory rust patches added.

Pub bench - ready for the pub garden.

Lineside speed signs - these require some more sanding down and cleaning up!

So there is plenty to keep me busy at the moment and of course relatively little time to push on with these projects. Anyhow, the layout will go up next weekend, so I will get the bigger jobs done and some of the buildings glued in and see how far I progress with the rest of it. Mostly though, I am really looking forward to running some trains!!

O Gauge Dogfish wagon - plus a bit of building progress

Another wagon that has recently rolled out of the paint boxes is a weathered Dogfish wagon, which is the Heljan rtr early olive green model. The weathering was initially applied using my airbrush and Railmatch enamels. After applying most of the base coats, I gave the wagon a coat of varnish and then applied some weathering effects by hand using washes from the AK interactive range, including rust patches and some streaking grime. After this, the finishing touches were applied using the airbrush, before sealing it all together with 3 coats of matt varnish.

Finished dogfish wagon ready for the layout.

So another wagon finished off and ready for the layout - I am looking forward to seeing this wagon running with the herring and catfish wagons. I have a couple more  Heljan dogfish wagons to weather, alongside a walrus and a sturgeon wagon to build. Other wagons I plan to add to the engineers fleet include a whale, sealion, shark and trout. On this note, it was really disappointing to see that Ellis Clark  have cancelled their sealion and shark wagons - I am no expert on the economics of O gauge 'rtr' but I would have certainly purchased a few of these! Ahh well - it is back to building kits instead!

Time for modelling has been pretty limited recently, however, today I have a chance to make some progress on the dairy warehouse for the layout. The roof is now on, so it is a question of fitting the windows, guttering, etc and the interior detail. I have found the buildings on the layout are bit of drag - as it takes so long to finish one of them! Anyhow, I have about 3 left to go - so slowly getting there. Other bits of detailing are also being prepared for when I next set up my layout, including a phone box, post office box and various lights. I plan to then add these all in one go as a phase of layout detailing.

The dairy office for the platform, with a light fitted in the central office. This is now all wired in, so it is just a case of fitting windows and guttering, whilst adding in small details. I am hopeful I can finish this project off in the next week or so.

Beyond this, there are various  modelling projects that are slowly being worked through, including a class 122 DMU, olive green CCT, a warship and the grampus and tunny wagons, so there is plenty to keep me occupied. I am hopeful of getting the layout set up in the near future, so it is full steam ahead in the meantime to get everything ready for the next bout of layout detailing. I am also very much looking forward to actually running some trains as well!