A Bachmann 03 enters service

Finished 03, showing off the weathering on the locomotive

This weekend I finally managed to finished off one of my long standing projects - not that this was a particularly difficult project, but the Bachmann class 03 has finally entered service. The biggest catalyst for getting this finished is the ongoing construction of my micro-shunting layout. The embryonic layout has seen little progress, but at least now there is one shunter to pootle about on the layout!


The 03 earning its keep shunting 12t vans at Amberleigh Halt

In my humble opinion, the Bachmann model is an absolute belter, except for two minor issues. The first and by far the most obvious, is the big hole in the buffer beam for the coupling. This is a nightmare and the plug in replacement does little to improve things. I had a long hard think about filling this gap. However, the rivet detail is very close to the hole and also with much time away from home coming up I was keen to get something finished. So I opted for the replacement buffer beam parts which come with the model. I am now wondering if this compromise is going to get to the point of complete annoyance, so I will have to start again. At the moment I can live with it, but it is less than perfect for an otherwise great model.


To weather the locomotive I took the body off the chassis and separated the cab. Not snapping the various pipework attached between the body and chassis was tricky

The second issue with the model is the chassis block is solid metal, right up to the plastic body. This means that fitting couplings is a little bit of a nightmare. Personally I use 3 link couplings, not too everyones taste I know, but they work for me. However, fitting 3 link couplings to this model is a real headache, due to having to cut away some of the metal chassis if the full coupling hook is to be accepted. In this case it would of meant cutting away the holes for the screws that attach the body to the chassis. In the end I had to cut the coupling right down and glue it with araldite to the body. The coupling had to be filed right down and the hole in the metal body considerablyopened out. As a consequence I decided to do this only on the rear of the locomotive, so it only has one functional coupling.


The shunter with its cab light on

Bar these minor niggles, I took the loco apart, painted the cab interior, then masked off various portions of the body. I weathered the cab, body and chassis separately, before reassembly for a final coat and some varnish. The chassis was all hand painted, including the wheels and the coupling rods, brakes etc. The roof was weathered in matt black. The body sides, grills, etc,had various sprays of sleeper grime, frame dirt and weathered black. All in all I am reasonably happy with the result, and am glad it is now a working model in my small, but growing, locomotive fleet.


Running light at Amberleigh

The construction of the micro layout has all but ground to a halt, due to friends and work taking up all the time. The next month sees me working everyday except 2 weekends, so it is doubtful any progress will be made on anything. However, to compensate for this,I am taking two days off later this week. The aim is some modelling indulgence, so hopefully I can make some headway in getting the shunting layout up and running. And then there is the issue of a shunters match truck to go with the 03....


A slightly elevated view, showing the weathered roof and bonnet

Bachmann VBA wagon

Weathered VBA wagon


I have spent a lot of this week in York, and although a very enjoyable visit, left little time for modelling. I think I must start every post saying how little time I have!! I must not grumble though, we are in the midst of a bad economic down turn, so I am very lucky to have work.





Anyway, back in the real world of railway modelling, one little project that was recently completed was a light weathering of a Bachmann VBA wagon. The wagon was taken apart, the coupling removed, 3 links added, and then put back together, with some light mistings of weathered black, frame dirt, sleeper grime and roof dirt sprayed across the underframe and lower body. Like all things practice makes perfect, and I am getting quicker at weathering these items of rolling stock and hopefully the results are getting better!


Note the grease blobs on the buffers

Although I am super busy with work, one of the main delays at the moment is getting the transfers to finish off projects. I am waiting on some class 25 transfer packs and whale/tunny packs for a series of projects on the work bench. Also my son and I had a play with the shunting layout at the weekend, and he decided we needed an extra siding on the layout. This has duly been added and I am hopeful on making some progress on this layout over the weekend, not least adding a bandy back scene and getting the track pinned down and wired up. I will hopefully put a post up of my progress later in the weekend.

A micro layout design

The new micro layout track plan, now what to call the layout...

Another week and work flies by. This weekend I mainly spent relaxing with my girlfriend. Over the weekend I brought the model rail mag, and found myself drawn to the micro layouts. The ideas festered overnight, and by saturday I decided I was going to build one. I decided on a 5ft running length, a 2ft simple fiddle yard and by saturday afternoon the baseboard was built!!

I am supposedly detailing a class 08 at the moment (this project has been going on for a while now!!) and also an 03 is slowly being weathered. So I decided a wagon repair facility near Barnstaple junction, at the end of the tarka trail would be a good idea and give me somewhere to run these shunters. As it is set in Barny, it can have a little waterfront feature - hopefully something in the vain of Brewhouse Quay, but we shall see if it gets anywhere near that standard.

The photographs show the track plan I have settled on. One of the smaller sidings is going to have a wagon repair works, with a siding to hold wagons and one to split trains that have come in. The headshunt will be part of the fiddle yard for the siding on the right, but I think I can get away with that! Looking foward to getting this up and running, but need some time and money.....

Class 119 DMU started......and back to blogging

At last I am back home. After about 5 weeks away working, 6 days a week, on some incredible projects, it is great to be back home. To this end I have started building my DC kits class 119 DMU and have also started building a Chivers Finelines Tunny wagon. The DC kits class 119 is an interesting kit. It cost about £150, not cheap, especially when compared to the standard of ready to run DMU's about. I have put the body shell together and most of the floor components are in place on one of the cars. I still have the second coach to build this weekend. However, conceivably it could be in the paint shop within a week...

Front end of the class 119

Considering the cost of the kit I cannot work out if it represents value for money. The mouldings are excellent. The underframe detail is basic and there is some individual licence on how to actually fit the body to the chassis. This said, with a bit of effort and a few extra parts I am hoping to be able to create a passable rendition of a class 119 DMU, although only time will tell. Ultimately, it is about creating something which is an acceptable representation of the original. It will never be perfect, so my modest aim with this one is to produce a finished working model. This is the first time I have undertaken a model like this so this is all new territory for me.

Back end of the 119

The DMU will be a two car unit, although DC kits sell this as a three car model. I attempted to build the centre buffet car from the floor up, and to be perfectly honest, made a bit of a mess with it. So it will now be a two car DMU, here is hoping that the two car unit will be more successful. The original centre car is currently being canabalised for spare parts for the rest of the model.

The bodyshell during construction

On other projects, the detailing of my class 121 dmu unit has ground to a halt. This has been due to the poor running of the original chassis unit. My solution? Well after being away for so long I thought I should treat myself to a couple of new trains. So a new class 121 and 45 will hopefully be winging their way to me soon. I intend to swap the chassis unit over from the new 121 onto the blue body shell. The new 121 DMU is an absolute steal from Hattons. Once this 121 project is finished I might then take the old chassis apart and see if I can cure the bad running. Other than that I might finish of the PMV wagon this weekend and also get the whale painted (still waiting on the release of transfers from model master for this, and the tunny/lamprey/crab!!).

View of the nearly complete first car of the two car set

My other big task his weekend, is to take down Amberleigh Halt. This is going to be moved to the living room for the weekend, which has much better natural light. I am going to finally finish Amberleigh by adding the platform halt name board. And then, I am not sure - probably give it to my son to play with. Up on the layout stand will be going the boards for the next layout in Watergate Halt. I will hopefully make some headway on this this weekend too......

A break in blogging - Next update Early September 2011

Hi all. Life has been super busy recently. My son has been here for the past week and we have been busy, with a little modelling. The baseboards for Watergate Halt are built. We have discussed what stock we want to run on it and also what type of scenery we might build. Thus the Watergate layout is ready to be started in earnest in Autumn. We also visited Chulmleigh Model Railway Exhibition for a bit of inspiration and decided we would like to Amberleigh Halt to an exhibition one day. I have also got out my DC KITS class 119 DMU to build, it has been in storage for 2 years!! I made a little progress on this, but not a lot. However, I am now determined to finish this model before xmas-watch this space and of course by a class 120 to build!!

However, everything is on hold now for about a month. I am away from home and super-busy for the next four weeks, so I doubt I will even look at my model railway and so I will not update this blog until then. So back in September-apologies for the break - enjoy the rest of summer!!

POA scrap wagon plus a large logo 47

Finished POA wagon, with new transfers and bashed up sides added!

Last weekend was spent blissfully ignorant of the outside world, modelling away in the my own little world! I had several tasks I was keen to complete - specifically, I wanted to finish off the POA wagon and detail the BR blue large logo class 47, which had been kicking around my workbench for a couple of months. The POA wagon has been an act of model vandalism. Overall, I cannot work out if I like the result.


I think the streaking of the rust works well

The real POA wagons were a general mess, with the sides of the wagons heavily battered through loading/unloading of scrap. So this wagon had the top of the sides gently melted with a blow torch. The first side very moderately, the second side slightly more severely. Once the wagon had cooled down I filed down the tops, sanded off the original Bachmann transfers and gave it a wash.


Front end of finished class 47

New transfers were added, before weathering of the wagon commenced, generally using vertical streaks of weathered black, rust and a misting of underframe dirt. The photographs show the more seriously hacked up side of the wagon, the other side being much less bent/distorted. Does it work as a realistic model? - I am not sure. I can't work out whether I like it or not!!


The run-off from the roof was copied from a photograph of the real thing

The other project completed was the Bachmann Class 47. This loco merely had the detail kit added which came with the model, putting some PH designs masks over the windscreens and giving the model a light weathering. Weathering of the underframe used a matt black base coat, with various layers of sleeper grime, framedirt and roof dirt applied. The roof had several layers of roof dirt and weathered black added, and then some dirt streaks running down the side of the body, copied from a photograph of the real thing.


In the twilight at Amberleigh

This model I wanted to have a worn look, but not totally grimy, something befitting an express passenger locomotive in the 1980's. I am relatively pleased how this one turned out, but like with all things, it could have been a better. However, I am a relatively new modeller, so I am finding my way around all these issues - slowly but surely - each model, I hope, is an improvement on the last.....

MK2 FK and QPV tool van

The finished QPV wagon. It is a southern CCT, as a department staff tool van.

Well after my last post on the QPV tool van, I decided to take the roof off and touch up the paint in a few places. I should have known better than taking the roof off a nearly finished model!! Taking the roof and regluing it was a bit of a nightmare. However, I consider it a finished model now to run on my layout. I am pretty happy with it overall, although the glazing and the finish around the roof could be better.


Side view of the tool van

I put two different sets of transfers on each side. One being staff tool,the other being tool van. This will run with the PMV, now nearing completion in the paint shop.


The other side of the staff tool van

The other little project that was finished this week was a MK2 FK blue grey coach. This is the Bachmann model,which has been lightly weathered, mainly on the underframe, but also a light spray of grime on the underside of the body. It is now coupled up with another MK2 BFK, to form one of several fixed rakes on Amberleigh.


Finished FK Mk 2

Today was a free Saturday (a rarity!) and I spent the day weathering and detailing a Bachmann class 47. This should be finished tomorrow and I have thoroughly enjoyed the day, mainly with the airbrush. Unfortunately, the 21 pin decoder I purchased for this locomotive was faulty. I have sent it back to Bachmann and hope a replacement might turn up in the post. I can't find the Bachmann 21 pin stocked anywhere at the moment.


MK2 rake of BFK and FK

This leaves another spare day tomorrow. I am at a loss what to do? I am tempted to build the baseboard for Watergate Halt. I have my new NCE powercab to use and I am really looking forward to start programming so decoders with it. Alternatively, I might just run trains on Amberleigh and build some more wagons.