0 Gauge sand Wagon

Over the last few weeks I have been been building yet more kits.  I have got a bit stuck with the SR brake van and my enthusiasm for dabbling in 0 gauge ebbed a little.  Instead I cracked on with more 00 gauge wagon kits.  However, the part finished Parkside 13t sand wagon got finished one evening this week.  This project just needed a dedicated few hours to see it through, and only having the odd hour here or there I did not want to spoil it by rushing.  Last weekend saw a dedicated evening of modelling and building this model is now finished and gets added to a growing number of projects awaiting the paint shop.  

With this wagon finished it has certainly rekindled by enthusiasm for building some more 0 gauge kits.  The Dapol class 08 is on order and I am very tempted to put an advance order in for a Heljan 0 gauge class 25 - but I need to check first whether it comes with a factory fitted DCC socket - the previous releases have not and this has stopped me parting with hard earned dosh.   The idea of having to hard wire lights and decoder into an expensive 0 gauge locomotive I find a little daunting.

Anyhow coupled up with the  grampus wagon I am starting to wonder about building two layouts consecutively in the future.  A small 0 gauge shunting plank and actually getting around too finishing the larger 00 gauge Pottington Quay.  All layout building/wagon painting is on hold until we move into our new place, which has been put back again from this summer.  However, when we do move I am definitely keen to build a little 0 gauge plank layout and run some of these wagons - a small engineering siding me thinks.  Until then, I guess I will keep building away and dreaming of future layouts.

more wagon progress

I can't believe a month has passed since my last post.  Time flies when you are having fun - or at least really busy.  However, modelling has not been at a complete standstill.  I have been continuing to quietly build away at my wagon kits - the odd evening of progress here and there.  I am currently finishing off the second Vanwide airbrake wagon and have built the second of my blue spot fish vans for use in parcel service. The engineering fleet has also seen the construction of a 13t open wagon with corrugated ends.  Small progress in 4mm scale - but enjoyable.

Workbench at the moment - more wagons for the paintshop

 Another project that is progressing is a 7mm wagon kit - this time a 13t open sand wagon.  I have a free afternoon today - and hope to finish off this kit.  As ever it has gone together perfectly.  Another little project for today is building a 4mm scale Parkside 12t pipe wagon.  I plan to build about 3 of these over the coming weeks - of which two will be engineering wagons and one will be finished in bauxite.  I am going to get a couple of the Bachmann 12t pipe wagons as well.  By all accounts it is a fantastic model - although very expensive at around £17 - but it will be good to compare it with the Parkside kit.

A second hand model on ebay.  I always feels more confident about playing around with an older/second model rather than a shiny new one.

I managed to sell a few bit and pieces on ebay recently and have picked up a couple of second hand locomotives at very reasonable prices.  One of which is this lovely Heljan Western.  In my opinion Heljan locomotives have the bet performance of all 00 gauge locomotives.  I am planning a very faded blue version of this locomotive - which in my mind will be at the end its career shunting some engineering/goods wagons around my shunting yard.  With that and my Class 37 locomotive rebuild about to start (honestly!) - I have plenty to keep me occupied.  I must really get some form of layout on the go....

SR 25t brakevan, Grampus and VEA airbrake

Finally I have got around to doing some bits of modelling.  It is still snatches of time but the enthusiasm for modelling has certainly come back.  Life has involved less travelling recently - except for a pre-xmas Africa trip, although it is still quite transient.  However, although I am still not somewhere permanent and most of my modelling gear is still in storage, I have gotten around to building a few kits recently.  I have ordered myself a few kits over the last month or so, both 7mm and 4mm, and have been quietly building away in the evenings.

Grampus - ready for the paintshop

First up is the grampus wagon a 7mm Parkside kit - complete with wheels and couplings.  Great little kit and when all tidied up in the paintshop I think that this will look fine.  To go with the grampus I purchased a SR 25t brake van.  This is definitely a more fiddly construction and at the moment the body is not quite snug to the chassis - a product of me rushing a little in bad light to try to get the body built one evening.  As it stands it has had some filler added and some filling and filing should sort it out.  I should know better than to try to rush these things!  I intend to finish this one in bauxite and build another for an engineering olive paints scheme.

SR 25t Brakevan

Last up, I got back into the swing of some 00 gauge with a 4mm VEA air braked wagon.  This is currently having some new hand rails added and needs some buffers (any suggestions who does these?)  Anyhow it is going together smoothly and I plan to finish it in a late bauxite livery. I also have a 12t open wagon on the bench - and yes as you probably guessed it is to be finished in some form of grubby engineering livery!  A couple of BR spot vans and another VEA airbrake are waiting on the workbench too.  I plan to squirrel myself away on Sunday and watch the rugby whilst building some models - sounds like heaven!

VEA airbraked van nearing completion ready for painting.

I still do not have my painting gear set up.  This is going to have too wait a while until we buy our new house (an ongoing saga).  So until then I am lining up the wagons and hopefully that class 37 ready for the paintshop in a few months time.  I am also very tempted to buy an 0 gauge heljan class 33 in BR green (cheap and the only version left in the shops) and strip it down ready for painting into BR blue - that would definitely keep me occupied for a while.....I am going to need something to push these wagons around....

0 gauge grampus ready for the paintshop

A few days back in Devon before xmas allowed me some time to finish off adding the detail to my 0 gauge grampus wagon.  I found the footstep support to be a nightmare to fold over from the etched brass fret- and sure enough wrecked it.  I managed too bodge something else together from some spare plastic - but it did highlight to me the need to get the right tools for the job - a hold and fold tool is surely required!

 Finished Grampus with detail added

The wagon went together easily - all imperfections are a product of my modelling.  There are a couple of small areas to give a quick touch up to, then it is straight into the paintshop with this. I hope to get my airbrush properly set up again within a month or too - so hopefully it will not be too long until I can get this little project finished.

Folded door springs

After the Grampus, I started building a SR25t pillbox brakevan in 0 gauge now.  This one is to be finished in departmental olive green. I think I might have been stung by the 0 gauge bug - a string of 0 gauge wagons have been ordered to build a little shunting layout.  I am desperately trying to resist the urge to buy a Heljan class 33 or 31, and a Dapol 08 has been ordered.  I like the idea of building a small layout where I have a limited amount of rolling stock, but pretty much everything is hand built. We shall see, butt I am very much enjoying building in this larger scale and thinking about what  would like to buy/build next!

In 00 gauge there has been no progress recently, except for starting an odd Parkside kit - everything else is on hold.   I am tempted to consider selling off a large proportion of my un-detailed 00 gauge fleet...but I am only tempted at this moment in time......

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year!

A start in 0 gauge...plus a blue parcels van

The last few months have involved a lot of travelling for work - needless to say that this has left little time for modelling.  However, good news is on the horizon as we are finally looking to buy a new house somewhere in the southwest....so this will at least provide some space for my new layout!  For a while now I have been musing about construction of a small shunting plank in 7mm.  This project would of course run alongside construction of my other layout - Pottington Quay in 4mm, which is now unfortunately in storage.

 

A start on 0 gauge - Parkside Grampus wagon

So in little snatches of time in-between the hottish Mediterranean sun and the even hotter African sun, I have ordered a couple of 7mm Parskide Kits. Last week I made a start on a Grampus wagon.  The kit is going together smoothly - although a couple of bits were bent these have been straightened out and construction has been straightforward so far, providing a lovely free running wagon.  I have the underframe detail left to finish but all in all it is going together well.  I intend to build this and few other engineering and freight wagons and build a handful of JLTRT diesels...we shall see how that turns out!  However, I am very much enjoying working in a larger scale and it is possible I might just become converted to 7mm....a GWR toad for the engineering department is to be ordered over xmas...

Blue parcels van - ready for the paint shop

On other fronts I have built a parcels wagon from the blue spot fish van Parkside kit in OO gauge.  As per normal for Parkside kits it went together smoothly and is another wagon to go alongside the CCTs and PMVs in a parcel train for Pottington Quay.  This wagon will run next to the Hornby offering of the same van - I will be interested to see how these compare.  The air brush is still not up and running...so I am building a series of kits and leaving them in a box ready for painting next year.  I am very much missing having a dedicated modelling space and am hoping that buying a new house will allow the space (and time!) to start building the new 7mm shunting plank and get Pottington Quay finally running.

Comparison in scale between my normal 4mm and 7mm

CCT and sturgeon progress

I am slowly getting back into the swing of modelling and have made a little progress on a couple of wagon kits.  The first of these is a the Parkside CCT parcels van, which will eventually be used on a short parcels train, together with a couple of yet unbuilt kits.  Other than swapping the buffers for some Lanarkshire Models CCT ones and adding some wire handrails this wagon is built as per the instructions.  The wagon needs some 3 link couplings (I forgot to do this when building it)  and then it is ready for the paint shop....although painting it will realistically be a post xmas activity.

CCT nearing the paintshop.  This one will definitely be in grubby, faded BR blue.

The second wagon is a Cambrian sturgeon wagon kit.  The majority of the kit is built but I just need a few hours to sit down with the instructions and work out where all the fiddly little bits go.  Again I am hoping to get this one built before xmas and ready for a post xmas batch of painting.

The sturgeon wagon build slowly plods on

Although I have retrieved my air brush, all the paints, thinners, etc are still in storage.  Rather than rebuying everything, I hope to recover some of this equipment in the not too distant future and then set about batch painting a group of kits.  My 0 gauge grampus kit should be delivered tomorrow and after finishing building these kits I intend to build the Grampus kit  I also hope to finally getting around to detailing a lima class 37, which I have a replacement Vitrains chassis for.  Grand plans, but not much time.  However, I am glad to be back in the swing of things and the modelling bug has ceryainly bitten again.