13t wagon for the engineers department

Some good progress has been made this week on the modelling front, with a few wagons being finished off in the paint shop.  These wagons have been built for some time (I think in 2014) and have been lying around in a box unpainted - it is funny how quickly time flies by!  So this week I made a concerted effort to finish at least some of them.  So first up is one of a pair of 13t open wagons with corrugated ends, built from the Parkside kit.  Normal metal buffers and 3 link couplings have been added, with transfers from modelmaster.  This one has been finished in engineers olive and has been seconded to the engineers department.

On the layout front with Pottington Quay still in storage the new baseboards have been ordered and are due to arrive this Wednesday.  So exciting times ahead this week for starting a new layout.

Back again and a LMS CCT in BR blue

The long silence has ended and I am back in the world of blogging and modelling.  We have moved again but this time we should stay put for a bit longer.  The modelling room has been part way set up and the air brush is working again.  I unpacked some boxes and found a set of half finished projects. The first off the mark was this LMS CCT finished in BR Blue, another wagon to add to the ever growing parcels stock.  This just needed a blast of varnish to seal the transfers in.  All in all I am pretty happy with this one.

Finished LMS CCT reading for running in the parcels train.

As for the layout, Pottington Quay was making significant progress towards completion, when it was placed back into storage, and unfortunately it is still there.  Whilst that was a great project and I learnt a lot from doing it, there were several issues with the layout.  The principle issue was the size of the scenic board, which was 5ft by 2.5ft.  This was quite heavy to move around and really a two person move.  I was also not happy with wiring for the points and this all needed replacing/tidying up.  So after some thought I decided to leave it in storage for the time being.  Also as the storage depot is 250 miles from where we now live it is a one trip job to collect it.  

Consequently, I have ordered some much better baseboards from Tim Horn for a smaller micro project.  The idea with this is to complete a small layout before xmas (we shall see), but have this as a layout that can link up to Pottington Quay further down the line.  The other key aspect of this layout is to be small and portable, allowing me to take it so some exhibitions.  So from now till xmas I hope to be able to finish this layout and get some trains running.....well that is the idea anyhow!

Adventures in superstrip

A long time since my last post and not much has happened in the way of modelling.  This seems to be a common way to start a lot of my posts.  Modelling is firmly on the back burner, following a house move (again).  Pottington Quay has headed back into storage and for the time being there is little opportunity to play trains or do much modelling, with the air brush also put away.  A lot of work and travel in the next few months means there is little chance of any modelling.  I am hoping to be able to pick up modelling again later in summer/autumn.

Paint brush finish on the Walrus, the overall thickness of paint is too thick.  

Before we moved I placed some of my first attempts at painting into a bath of superstrip.  A salmon wagon, lamprey wagon and walrus wagon were some of my first attempts at painting, using brushes, rather than an air brush.  The paint finish on all of these wagons was far too thick and I decided that it was high time to give these wagon builds a better paint job.  The walrus wagon was a real pig to do, with a lot of detail hidden away in the build.  Getting all of the pain out meant a lot of the plastic detail snapped and this wagon ended up in the bin.  So two of the next builds will be walrus wagons, to replace this lost one and provide a further example for a three wagon rake along with the Bachmann sealion wagons.  The lamprey wagon and salmon wagon were much easier to clean up and are ready for a blast of primer when I get the air brush up and running.

My first attempt at a locomotive repaint - on my old Pottington Quay micro layout

Another model to be added to the superstrip was my first attempt at repainting a full locomotive; a Bachmann class 25.  This first attempt I was happy with at the time, although the weathering job was very heavy handed.  However, as I have got more experienced in painting I have been meaning to replace this model.  So this is currently being tidied up on the odd evening I have some free time for modelling.  Some of the paint was not removed by the superstrip, so some careful tidying up is being undertaken with files and sand papers.  I am not sure why the odd blob of paint has hung on to the body so well, whilst the rest has been removed.  Anyhow, this will be one the of first jobs in the paint shop when everything is up and running again.....

The same locomotive now in the process of paint stripping.

13t open wagon and layout electrofrog points

Not a lot has happened in the last few weeks - the layout has been static and I have been busy.  Unfortunately, we are having to move house again (don't ask!!) - which is not a bad thing overall but it means the layout has to head back into storage for a period of time.  This is frustrating, as much of the boring work has been completed, with the track painted and wired up. Since painting the track the layout has been live again, but there are a few gremlins in the wiring to sort out.  Two of the elctrofrogs need to have their bridging contacts resoldered, which whilst not the end of the world is a pain, as the track is now pinned down.  One of the Seep point motors has given up (faulting passing switch), but this just involves an underboard switch.  Lastly, one section of rail needs some new dropper wires soldered.  These are of course all minor points and easily resolved, I just need a free evening with the soldering iron, but it does also mean 3 of the four points are no longer operational.

I have also finished another wagon, this time a 13t goods open wagon, the steel bodied Parkside kit. This has been finished in a generic bauxite colour with some light weathering and I am pretty happy with how this one turned out.   So a few pictures of this on the layout, in a engineers train with a warus, whale and shark wagon, behind a class 25.  

A bit more layout progress

So a busy January period has put pay to most modelling this month.  The layout progress is creeping along, but it does feel like it is creeping.  The track has painted, which was a laborious job.  The platform has been glued in place, but there is work to do with the final painting of this, it is still not quite right.

The developing scene from the mudflats showing the platform behind.

Wider view of the mudflats/quay wall looking to the platform.

Plan view.

I have drilled the holes for some yard lamps and also added some scatter to the mudflats to represent sediment.  This now needs to hold some scenic water, although I have so far poured on quite a lot of scenic water and it just seems to have been absorbed by the scatter!!  I also need to visit the beach to pick up some sand, this will be used to attempt toe recreate an area by the quayside similar to a rough road/yard.

View down the platform.

View from the other edge of the mudflats.

So all in all some progress, but it seems a very slow project at the moment. I am hoping the pace will pick up once I get the track ballasted.

Finished VEA van - 1 of 3!! and of course merry xmas

Sorry about the lack of updates recently - there is always too much to do.  Recently I managed to get around to finishing the first of 3 VEA wagons.  All of the wagons are built and they are in various states of painting, but this one is the first out of the paintshop.  The transfers are railtec applied over a lightly weathered bauxite body.

Another little wagon finished for the layout.  The layout itself has moved forwards, although not as quickly as I had hoped it might. However, the quay front is now very close to being finished and I will post a couple of images of this before too much longer.  There are a couple of details to finish off on it, but it is starting to come together, after several false starts.

On another note - A HAPPY XMAS TO ALL

Bachmann Blue CCT

Over the last month or so there has been sporadic evenings of painting on various wagons.  The Bachmann blue CCT has been treated to a pair of 3 link couplings and had some weathering applied via a wash of frame dirt/weathered black mix over the body and then various applications of weathering colours via the air brush.  This is the finished result, another wagon into parcels service for Pottington Quay.

The landscape of Pottington Quay has also seen some serious progress.  I spent ages wondering how to blend the quay walls into the layout.  So after a lot of not doing anything very much, I bit the bullet and glued the walls down and started adding DAS clay for the cobbled key front.  There is still a lot of work to do on this, but as ever, just biting the bullet has meant that some progress has been made. There is a lot of scribing to do for the cobbles and I have decided I would like the quay front a different colour, but I will cross this bridge when everything is dry and ready for painting.  Further updates to follow.....