Seeing Red

When we posted a set of pictures of the grey Garratt 87 a few days ago there was a request for some of the red one 138, and we’re happy to oblige.

This was our third Backwoods NGG16 in the fleet.

It was the first, however, to feature those lovely huge headlights.

All the WHR Garratts differ in small details - on 138 one of those is the chimney which needed some modifications to the one supplied in the kit - another is the filler on the top of the front bunker.

Like with children it’s probably wrong to have favourites, but if pushed I’d have to say it comes just behind 87 for me just now.

I might change that opinion when I see 130 finished?

Green For Go

I’m delighted to report 143 is finished and has had its maiden run around the test track down at the Greenock MRC HQ.

Andy Strathie shot this little movie of the moment, including a double-header with 138.



The build has taken five months - although at least a month of that can be discounted while Himself was in works for a mechanical overhaul.

The club test track is a great facility to let it really stretch its legs and run everything in.

Garratt In The Gap

Having fixed the last bits of rock onto the sides of Cutting Mawr and added various bits of infill and foliage to finish it off Himself decided to pose 138 and a selection of carriages in there to show it off.

One of the things which really pleases me about it is that it's hard even for me to tell at a glance which are the genuine pieces of rock and which are those which had been cast in resin.

I have to run my fingers along them and feel for the cold ones just to be sure sometimes.

It's a vindication of the decision to try to save weight by making copies, although it's perhaps not the most cost-efficient way of doing it because you do get through a lot of RTV and resin.

I hope you enjoy these views because it's only possible to get angles like these when the layout is disassembled.

And if you'd like to see if with your own eyes then come along and see us at Narrow Gauge East at Bressingham in June.

The Faerie Queene

Our Britomart is finally complete.

The name and works plates have been fixed on and she's been reunited with that wonderful little chassis.

You only really see just how dinky the loco is when you see it lost in the middle of the expanse of Bron Hebog and sitting next to one of our NGG16's.

The project has been a slow burner but I'm really delighted with how it's turned out.

Fence Spotting

You know things have gone too far when you start taking a close interest in the finer details of fencing - but that's the stage of advanced obsession that Himself has reached.

He is also rather pleased with his latest effort to represent the boundary along the uphill platform at Beddgelert.

He's done this using etches from Wizard models which I think look really effective.

There's also been a policy decision to take more photographs with trains posed at the work site.

I'm sure that's something we all approve of, yes?

ROTY - Part 1

It's always interesting in the last few days of December to look back at all the modelling - and blogging - we've done over the course of the year.

I'm always surprised by both how little and how much we've achieved.

Often I'll look back and see that a model that we've only just completed was started in January and in other cases we've finally finished off something that has been lying part-built in a drawer somewhere for years.

So here, then is the first part of the Bron Hebog Review of the Year.

January

Himself began 2015 by getting down to work on painting our 3rd Garratt, 138.

We'd chosen the colour of the red together at the the exhibition in Hull a few weeks before (he's never been good at reds) but at this stage I had a few doubts about whether I'd got the shade quite right.

I was getting started on a project I'd been thinking about for many years, to make a replacement pair of models of FR carriages 11 and 12 in their current condition.

What finally spurred me into action was the recent death of legendary FR GM Allan Garraway.

During FR Vintage events these carriages run in what's known as the Garraway Set and so I felt it was really time I got around to making them as a little tribute to him and his huge contribution to making the FR what it is today.

February

Turns out I really didn't need to worry about that shade of red at all!

Himself finished painting and lining 138.

It looked truly magnificent!

He also began on one of the Christmas presents he received.

This was my not-very-subtle way of ensuring that another of my long-term projects - an updated Conway Castle - got started.

March

Some things never change - I was building houses for the layout!

This was the early stages of a row of houses that run in front of the cutting into Goat Tunnel.

As spring sprung it became warm enough for Himself to venture into the 'Grandad Cave' again and he began filling the Afon Cwm Cloch with fake water.

April

As you can see, I was making good progress on the houses this month.

All of the houses in the Oberon Wood scheme are different and not one of them is what you would call a conventional house design.

On the other hand, with over a dozen of the to make, at least I could never complain that the task was becoming repetitive, even if it did involve a lot of head scratching some times!

April was show time again!

We took the layout to a show at Crawley and 138 made its public debut.

Apologies if this sounds a little conceited, but it doesn't half look good!

We'll look back at May - August next time.

Mileniwm

So, at last, our 1000th post!

It was more than five and a half years ago that I started this blog.

I've never been one for keeping a diary so it feels like quite an achievement to have kept it going.

In more recent times I have tried to keep the discipline of posting every other day.

That hasn't always been easy, especially when there hasn't been that much actual modelling going on, but fortunately I am able to call upon the skills developed in the day job to make a little sound like a lot more than it actually is.

Waffle would be another word for it.

One of the challenges of blogging is to be able to illustrate your posts which sometimes requires a little lateral thinking - hence the pictures of 138 in its rather lurid livery during a spell when its identity was being prostituted to please one of the major sponsors of the WHR rebuilding.

Apologies if you'd forgotten all about this and I have traumatised you anew.

Before writing this post I took a look at what I was working on when I wrote the first few entries.

In some ways a lot has changed and in so many others it hasn't.

Back in 2010 the layout was not even one third built.

We had the station area and that was about it.

Anyone who's been with us from the start will have followed the periodic spasms of construction leading to the the completion of the layout - in trackplan terms at least - last year.

Other things do not seem to have changed that much.

In the early posts I was building my first Super Barn,a model of 103, and we're still knocking them out - the new 117 and 118 are on the agenda for 2016.

I notice that at the time I started blogging I had already built the collection of farmyard buildings at Cwm Cloch and it was something of a jolt to realise that it's taken best part of 6 years to get round to doing the farm house itself.

It's been pleasing to watch the page view counter clicking up - we should easily pass 400,000 next year - although you have to be careful not to become too obsessed with these things.

By my reckoning it'll be another 3 years before we reach 2000 posts. I wonder if I can keep it up?

Vegetation

I've written before about how we planned to build up the scenery in layers and these latest pictures show how Himself has been adding foliage on top of the basic long grass layer.

It also features our latest Garratt 138 showing off its new Narrow Planet number plates and works plates which are newly fitted.

The small one on the front water tank is particularly pleasing.

As well as adding bushes and other vegetation Himself has been working away at fitting the remaining level crossings with their anti-sheep grids.

These are made up from sets of triangular sections which I cast in resin for him.

He has calculated that around 70 more are required to finish all the crossings which he would like to get done in time for the next exhibition in a couple of weeks time.

So if you'll excuse me I'll stop writing now and get casting.

138 Ready For Action

Our third NGG16 is finally ready to enter service.

Himself tells me it took him most of a day's work to reassemble the locomotive after it had been split up to allow painting, with lots of fiddly jobs like reattaching pony wheels and soldering on the wires which connect the two power units and ensure even smoother running.

All 138 needs now is its number and works plates which are being etched for us by Narrow Planet.

As you can see from these pictures of it posed on the Cemetery Crossing segment of Bron Hebog it's going to look really striking at the head of a full-length WHR train at exhibitions.

Lined Up

This is what I've been waiting to see - 138 all lined out!

Obviously it's not on its wheels yet, but Himself has now completed the painting process with a coat of varnish and all it needs now is a set of works plates which are on order from Narrow Planet.

The rim of the chimney has had some minor surgery after an eagle-eyed reader noticed that we had plonked on the original Beyer-Peacock version which comes with the kit, not realising that 138 and 143 currently sport a different one.

Thanks to one of my squad of F&WHR informers we were able to get comparison measurements and photographs taken of the chimneys on the real 87 and 138 which confirmed to us that we would be able to adapt the casting on the locomotive.

I think in this red livery it's going to look really striking when it's doing the business on Bron Hebog.

Single Yellow Lines

Some very painstaking work has been going on with the lining out of 138.

After many hours work - and the simultaneous wearing of many pairs of glasses, no doubt - the rear bunker is more or less ready.

For the fine lines around the edge we're using the smallest size of lining produced by Fox Transfers in that colour,  just 0.35mm thick.

These are waterslide and come in straight lengths and a ranger of corner radii.

More worthy of note is the WHR lettering.

We were unable to find any ready made transfers with the correct shading so Himself has had to achieve the effect by offsetting a yellow transfer above a black one and the result is very effective indeed.

The front water should be rather more straightforward and then there's the very fiddly lining complete around the cab.

It's going to look fabulous when it's finished.

Black Lines

We're not afraid to cheat when it comes to getting our paint jobs as neat as we can which on 138 means using black waterslide transfer lining to get the edge where the red meets the black as sharp and straight as possible.

The Garratt has now had three coats of red which is now looking the right shade and Himself has begun cleaning up the brasswork.

The next job will be to apply the thin yellow lining on the bunkers and cab.

It's looking good, don't you think?

Paint Shop

So Himself is spending the first few days of the year working through the backlog of models which required to be painted.

Our new Garratt, 138, has been disassembled and the parts are being painted red and black as appropriate.

There has been a lot of discussion about getting the right shade of red.

Like most locomotives 138 can seem different depending on the light conditions on the day you see it.

Sometimes it can look almost scarlet and an other occasions it's a much lighter red.

Working on the theory that models should be finished a shade lighter than the prototype we've gone for the latter option.

The photo is, I think, a little misleading, because it's taken under artificial light and due to the grey primer still on parts of the locomotive which will in time turn black.

I hope the red colour will end up looking a little deeper.

The first couple of coats of red and ivory have also been applied to our model of the rebuilt carriage 116 which is looking pretty good.

I shall post more pictures as work progresses.

Review of 2014: Part 1

January

In the final days of the year I like to look back at everything we've achieved in our modelling at opposite ends of the country.

January 2014 began with Himself putting the finishing touches to our model of Welsh Pony which he built - after a long struggle - from a Mercian Models kit.

It looks better than it runs, which is mainly on account of some distinctly un-centred wheels, and nothing more has been done on it in the last twelve months.

We shall wait until the FR has completed the restoration of the real Welsh Pony, but as they're making impressive progress on that we shouldn't have to wait too long.

It's also amusing to look back and see that the year has been book-ended with me casting interiors for Super Barn carriages.

Back in January this was the first one I'd done.

Himself was also starting work on making our third NGG16 from the fabulous Backwoods Miniatures kit.

February

Progress was so swift that by the next month I was reporting the completion of the rear power unit. I could look at that valve gear all day...

I was cracking on with making a trio of Super Barn carriages for a client with the body parts cast in resin and the roofs cut from an empty super-sized beer can.

It's a hard life sometimes!

The Artistic Director also produced some long-awaited plans for the 3rd & 4th houses in the Oberon Wood estate which were a true work of art as always.

March

It didn't take me very long to get the first of the houses knocked up in styrene.

Himself sent us some 'works portaits' of our completed 138 which, unlike Welsh Pony, moves as good as it looks.

And with the deadline for our next exhibition appearance in September a big push began to try and get the layout as complete as possible.

April

Things started getting heavy, quite literally, in April as Himself began work on the rock faces in Cutting Mawr using real Welsh rock.

May

By this time I'd sent down the 3rd house which was in the process of being positioned on the layout and the landscape built up around it.

The 'Head of Steel' advanced rapidly with track being laid on another new board, the gently curving section which makes up the final part of the big S bend behind Beddgelert station.

June

I was being kept busy making another batch of Super Barns for another client, this lot had to be supplied painted but without interiors.

At the same time I was also getting on well with making the 4th house for the estate.

There are common themes to the designs but they are all different so you have to pay close attention to the plans drawn up by the Artistic Director and cross-check with my on research photographs.

This one required some corrections late on in the build process...

At the back of the layout Himself was making the last of the bridges over the Afon Cwm Cloch.

Here is a shot of him checking clearances with a Garratt and the longest carriage, the Pullman observation car 'Glaslyn'.

 

To be continued....