OO Gauge Fruit D in BR Blue

Modelling time has increased a little bit in the last couple of weeks and a few projects in the modelling boxes are moving towards completion.  I always find it a relief when I finally start adding on the transfers to a model and I know it can be used on the layout.  Recently, I finished off a Fruit D wagon in BR blue - to add into the ever growing parcels stock.  The wagon is sat on the Pottington Quay layout, which I am hopeful I will get some time to play with over this summer.

Finished Fruit D on Pottington Quay.

Fruit D in the sidings on the layout.

The Fruit D is the standard Parkside kit, finished with 3 link couplings.  It is painted via the airbrush, using Railmatch enamels and ModelMaster decals.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out in the end, although it must have been in the paint boxes for about 2 years!!  

My OO gauge modelling has taken a back seat recently as I dabble in O gauge; however, I do have a lot of OO gauge stock, so I am hopeful to get the Pottington Quay layout rolling quickly - in order to allow me to just play trains some evenings.  I am aiming to turn this layout into a continuous loop - it will probably end up being 7ft by 4f - or something like that, if I manage to make any progress with it.  I think there are a lot of advantages to a continuous loop layout- especially if exhibiting - it would really take the pressure off on the operation side to stop turning stock around in the fiddle yards. So a vague plan, although lets see how the summer progresses!

Detailing an O Gauge class 25 and a modelling itinerary

Recent modelling work has been a bit restricted to a little painting, a little wagon building and a little layout detailing.  However, I am close to having a wonderful summer of beaches and modelling to hand, with a little academic writing thrown in for good measure; all glorious things to occupy my time! After what can only be described as a horrific couple of years in academia due to COVID, I finally have the luxury of some time to really get my teeth stuck into some modelling.  I have written a list of modelling projects I want to complete over summer.  These are principally to weather and sound chip a class 25 and class 03 diesel locomotive (O gauge), finish building 4 O gauge wagons and get the O gauge and OO gauge layouts to a completely operation state, with backscenes installed and ballasting finished.  I will be able to take off at least two weeks dedicated modelling time, so I am feeling optimistic I can achieve some of this and start updating my blog regularly again.

So with these grand plans mentioned, I have made a start on the Heljan Class 25.  When this model came out I paid £500 for it; quite honestly the price tag has made me feel a tad nervous about attacking it (or at least dismantling it), but I needed to just get on with it.  I took a dep break and made a start.  Taking this locomotive apart was quite difficult, there are so many moving parts.  I managed to snap one piece of window frame, which came away with the glazing.  I quickly glued this back in (it is barely noticeable) and resolved to not removing any of the side windows during weathering (they will have to be masked with maskol). I also managed to snap one of the central cab windows, totally destroy the supplied printed headcodes and lose one of the lights.  It felt like a bit of a disaster to start with, but now I am quite relieved.  I hope I have the modelling skills to make a good job of this and the locomotive is no longer a shelf queen, but now it is a model that I can grub up and experiment with in O gauge.

The body shell finally disconnected.

The class 25 bogies removed.

The class 25 body shell ready for washing and weathering.

Other projects tick away in the background.  I have ordered all the point motors for the OO gauge layout and will set a day aside to get this layout running again.  I also am extending the O gauge layout by another 3ft, alongside finishing some buildings and building some O gauge wagon kits.  I have also ordered a new O gauge class 03 after seeing some pictures of them on the Hemyock branch. So hopefully more updates to quickly follow.

Rescuing an old project - Pottington Quay

It has been a long time since I posted on my blog - time has a habitat of running away with itself.  I have been modelling, although mainly in O gauge, but this has been in fits in starts.  This is primarily dues to us having finally moved home to North Devon, delayed for just over 2 years by covid, best laid plans and all that. It has been a hectic time for us both, with endless packing, unpacking, driving and the like, but finally it is all done and dusted, we are home, the long term storage unit has been emptied and life is good and happy again. This brings me to the subject of this blog post, my old layout that has been in storage. About 5 years ago I was posting on my blog about building Pottington Quay, the next step in my 00 gauge modelling. Since that point I have built, what I would call my first proper working layout (Charlton - now sold on) and had moved onto my next project - the O gauge layout. In all aspects of modelling, but especially layout construction, my skills have really developed and improved, to the point where I am now quite confident about to build a durable, working model railway.

The old layout Pottington Quay, now out of storage and sat in the new modelling room.

So taking out this older layout, my initial intention was to throw it away, after breaking it up.  However, after some reflection and some suggestions by 'the other half', I decided that maybe I might have a go at resurrecting it.  A lot of the hard work has been done, putting down the track, building and painting thet the platform (which is quite good), scribing of clay for the quay walls and cobbling, etc etc.  In fact, whilst the quality of the modelling can be improved in all areas, I think it will be a fun challenge to sit down and start upgrading this layout.  My other half said she might help to do some of the scenery, which would be a wonderful thing to do together.

Platform above the quay wall.

Part of the older quay wall, reminiscent of the quay side at Bideford.

The first job will be checking the electrics are all sound.  The soldering on this is not great, so I do need to double check it.  After this, the point motors need replacing and microswitches for the electro frogs need adding. I can remember when using the layout the old switches on the SEEP motors were not working correctly.  In a a pique of enthusiasm (and pay day), I ordered the micro switches and point motors, CDU power supply, etc.  I also need to add a lighting pelmet across the front of the layout. After sorting out the electrics, I am going to add a little more bracing to the baseboards, before giving the layout a jolly good clean, maybe tidying/trimming some of the track, before adding in buildings, repainting the quay wall, etc. I think I have most of the buildings for the layout, although I might construct a few.  I am sure the addition of a backscene will also be transformative.  So I am hopefully this will be a relatively quick project to get going with over summer. The size of the board means it is relatively easy to move into the lounge, so I can work on this whilst my other half watches TV! I am going to work on both this and my O gauge layout together, so I should have somewhere to run my OO gauge stock reasonably soon.

Kimmington Quay - buildings and quay wall

This week has seen some good progress on the new layout.  Having got the track painted and working, it feels like a milestone has been reached, allowing my very limited modelling time to be used to construct the buildings and the scenery.  I had put most of the foundation of the quay wall into place using foam packing several weeks ago, glued down with PVA glue.  Last Sunday I covered this with several layers of plaster bandage.  This is now going to be covered with DAS clay, which I will scribe to form the wall.

The quay wall in place, now ready for some DAS clay.

I also managed to get the platform for the dairy built several months ago, but it is only in the last few weeks that I have got around to putting any paint onto this.  This is now being painted and I am hopeful I can get it finished in the next week or so.  I find painting concrete takes a long time, adding in various layers of colour. 

The dairy platform during painting.

On top of the dairy platform there are going to be several buildings, which are in various stages of construction. I am using lasercut mdf shells, onto which I paint PVA glue and apply polyfilla before sanding flat and scribing.  This is copied from Chris Nevard's wizardry, and it has certainly helped me to be able to construct realistic and individual buildings for the first time, like the pub building I have still yet to finish!

Dairy warehouse.

Dairy office during painting.

Main dairy building.

The pub which is still yet to be finished!

So all in all, some cracking progress this week and I am hoping to get the quay wall started today.

Kimmington Quay further progress

So I have made some good progress on the new layout.  All of the DCC side of the layout is operational, with the points all working fine with DCC concepts point motors and levers.  I have now finally finished painting the track and alongside this I have managed to glue the platform into place.  Alongside this I have now managed to make a start on painting the dairy platform.  This is now the rate limiting step; as soon as this is painted then I can make a start on ballasting.  It really feels like I am making some progress now and can finally make a real start on detailing the layout and starting to add in the scenic details.

Platform at Kimmington Quay being glued down.

Track painted!

The view of the platform from the inter tidal muds!

In other modelling, I have managed to crack on with the painting with the 13t open wagon and also the 12t pipe wagon, both in O gauge.  I also managed to sound chip a Dapol class 122 DMU today and chip a Dapol class 08 to use as a run around to check the layout.  

Video showing the extent of the O gauge layout.

So all in all, very satisfying progress.  It really is a new world working in O gauge.  Whilst I am very confident whilst working in OO gauge, the step into O gauge has meant that I am learning again as I go.  However, it is a lot of fun and I currently have a little momentum with pushing on with the layout. Being able to run trains around transforms the perceptions of progress on the layout.  Hopefully, more progress to follow!

Further O Gauge Layout Progress - Kimmington Quay

Over the last year I have not achieved as much modelling as I would have liked, life continually got in the way.  My work life has been very time consuming since August and as a result modelling has firmly taken a back seat.  One of the aims for the new year is really get modelling again and drive the new layout forward.

Track wiring complete and the first trains are running.

Anyway, the new O gauge layout has a name, Kimmington Quay, and of course is set in North Devon.  There has been sporadic progress on the layout over the last few months, but it has been very stop start, a consequence of having to work far too many weekends.  Anyhow, the layout is now all wired up.  It has a control panel, built as an extension for the layout providing enough room for a diesel to run around its train.  It is a compromise on space, but the thing with O gauge, is it is big!  The control panel has a DCC Concepts Alpha Unit to operate the point motors via S lever point switches and Cobalt point motors.  Whilst this is slightly more pricey than a standard point motor fired off a solenoid, the reduction in underboard wiring alone is worth the cost.  Add in the satisfaction of using the point levers and in my book it is a winner.

The control panel unit for the layout with track extension. The DCC Concepts Alpha unit will be mounted - another job to do!

The power to layout is supplied using a NCE Powercab, as per my OO gauge layouts.  However, as I plan to have at least 2 sound chipped locomotives in O gauge, I used a Tam Valley Booster to up the available current to around 3 amps. This is now all wired up and working.  The trackwork is all Peco FB Code 143, with electrofrog points, using Gaugemaster polarity switches.  All the trackwork is now glued and pinned down.  The curves are very tight for O gauge, but it all just about works. The Powerbus is the Express models kit, with 2 droppers soldered to every piece of rail.  

The curve heading towards the fiddle yard, aka Barnstaple Junction.

Kimmington Quay platform halt, viewed from the inter tidal estuary.

View out of the station heading for the control panel run around, aka towards Ilfracombe!

I ordered a Dapol class 122 with a decoder fitted, as I needed something to test the layout with.  This has been pottering around the layout to get a feel for how it will operate.  I think the layout will work well, although ideally it really needed to be 4ft longer, however, I just do not have the space.  The platform building is 4ft long and in O gauge this doesn't even accommodate 2 Mk1 coaches, so this is very much a halt rather than a mainline station.

The layout is finally operational with the class 122 pulling 2 mk1 coaches into the station.

So current tasks are to paint the track and then glue down the platform. At the same time I am going to start building the quay wall at the front of the layout using a combination of plaster bandage and DAS modelling clay.  As for the layout buildings, the pub is 99% finished, I just need to add some guttering and finish this off and I have started building the harbour masters office for the front of the layout.  There is a dairy located at the back of the layout, with the platform built and ready for painting, another job for the coming weeks.  So plenty to do, but hopefully progress will be a bit swifter than it previously has been. 

merry Christmas one and all

 A happy Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone has a fantastic xmas and gets some railway related models!

Next year I will be back to blogging, with the O gauge layout making good progress.  Until then - have a good one!