Progress

Well I finally retrieved 47035 back from Taw Valley trains, who had done an excellent job on fixing a burnt out decoder and circuit board. All returned to normal service. I realised this week that I had accidently purchased two intercity Mk1 RBRs, so I have decided to give one a heavy weathering job, whilst leaving the other in a clean condition. This is the first bachmann Mk1 coach I have taken apart and I think these carriages are excellent, well built and well put together. I am looking forward to getting stuck into this project.

Progress on detailing the Flangeways mermaid has progressed well, with the underframe now painted. I hope to reassemble the wagon tomorrow night. I have also just about finished the Cambrian Walrus wagon. Whilst a lovely kit to build, after having built one, I would recommend a few tweaks to get a better result from it. More on this in a later post. I hope to finish building the walrus tonight and prime it ready for painting tomorrow. The NSE108 has one car nearly finished and ready to go, I am hoping to have it ready tomorrow night. The other car is still a long way from completion though, maybe in a week or so. I have also just installed an 8 pin decoder into the Heljan class 33/2. I think this is an excellent locomotive and am about to start detailing it, once I have finished the class 108. I have many projects on the go at the moment, hopefully some will be finished in the next week or two!!

OCA and NSE108

Well a busy week or so. Sisters wedding and all. I am progressing well with detailing the class 108, with the sockets hacked off the original buffer beam and new craftsman whitemetal ones added. Some hoses are being added tonight. The multimedia construction of the bachmann model can make it very difficult to add details, especially as the original sockets etc are metallic. It took quite an effort to get that off last night. I will put up a pic of the new buffer beam when detailed and then when painted. An OCA has also had graffeti added and been weathered, although i think one decal too many here, I got carried away!! Other than this the mermaid is progressing smoothly as is the walrus. I hope to finish off the class 108 and mermaid next week. Hopefully over the next week or two I will have more time for modelling!!

A little mermaid progress

A really busy couple of weeks with weddings, stag weekends and a lot of work pressure means my modelling time has been non existant. I recieved my new Heljan class 33/2 in the post, along with four dogfish in dutch livery and a GUV, very exciting. I plan to put a Express Models lighting kit in the class 33/2 if they do a suitable one, after I have finished the 08 and the various other projects I have on the go!! Anyway I have made a little bit of progress on the mermaid. I have strengthened the body with plasticard, after cutting some bits of the sub frame away. I have reglued most of the rollers and fitted one of the three link couplings with a little modification, after shortening it. Hopefully next week will be less hectic and have some more modelling time. As it is, I am off to my sisters wedding for the weekend!!

Mermaid and walrus

Well the walrus is progressing nicely, with the body built. The detail has to be added to both ends, but am happy with how the build is progressing. The detailing of the flangeways mermaid hit another stumbling block, with part of the underframe/floor having to be cut away to accommodate the 3 link coupling. The underframe sits too low compared to the solebars anyway, so I have replaced the cut away bit with a peice of spare plasticard. All in all this is becoming a right job and I think the conversion of te next one might be a damm sight simplier, with leaving the solid metal body in!!! Either way it is a diffiult conversion and really should not be. To be honest it has put me off buying anymore of these wagons and instead I am going to build a couple more of the cambrian wagons which are cheaper and to my eye look better. Which on a happier note means I decided to invest in some heljan dogfish this morning and a class 33. The dogfish will form the basis of a future detailing project and I am looking forward to running the class 33, my first heljan diesel.

Flangeways Mermaid

Getting the body apart for detailing is a nightmare on the flangeways mermaid. The construction involves gluing the weight, which is the solid floor, to the underframe. The body is then glued to the rollers. So getting the thing apart is pretty brutal. It involves removal of the chains and then prising the body of the rollers, then prising the rollers off the underframe and snapping out the weight/floor. The photograph shows it unassembled. Removal of the solid floor improves the appearance of the wagon no end, as per the prototype. The top of the cylinder has been added from scaps from another sprue. I will add a three link coupling to each end, and glue back on the rollers, which I damaged slightly, and give the underframe a good weathering. Some ballast will have to be added to the body for some necessary weight.

NSE class 108 detailing and a bridge

After finishing the wearthering job on my class 47035(!), I have moved onto the detailing of a NSE class 108. Picked up at bargain prices, this has now had decoders and passengers fitted, and the roof is being suitably weathered. The application of some roof dirt is doing wonders for this model. After this, I will add some pipes to the bufferbeam, for a gentle weathering of the undercarriage, leaving the sides generally clear and clean. The other photo is the constuction of a Wills bridge for my layout. This is slowly getting painted, with a heavy degree of weathering to yet occur.
I also managed to get the first of my Flangeways mermaid apart last night. It was quite an effort and yes I did damage it. However, the removal of the floor improves the look of the wagon no end. I have mainly fixed the damage(!) and will progress to detailing and weathering of this. I am fairly certain I can get the next one apart with no problems(!!). I will put some photos up of how i managed it later, together with the build of Cambrian Walrus.

Engineering wagons

A very busy weekend followed by a severe computer virus has limited my ability to model recently, so no progression and no blogging. A call to my local shop has revealed 47035 requires a new circuit board and decoder, oops! I also suspect that will not be the end of it either, so the repair is ongoing. My cambrian walrus wagon has not progressed since last week, but a few posts of this maybe later tonight or tomorrow night, as I hope to pick this up today and tomorrow.

My engineering stock is increasing with two new Mermaids purchased from Flangeways to run with my cambrian examples I have built. I want to take the Flangeways mermaid apart to get rid of that floor and add some couplings, but I cannot work out how to do it. Does anybody out there know? It does baffle me how a company can take the time and effort to produce a lovely wagon like the Flangeways mermaid, but put a solid floor on a wagon with an open underframe. Otherwise this is a supurb wagon and worth the £16 price tag. Anyway, I will out up some images of how I manage it. At least it gives me yet another project to be getting on with!! I have put up a picture of a Parkside Grampus and a Chivers Crab other examples of some wagon kits I have built.