Review Of The Year - Part 3

Here we are into the second half of our annual review, and the pace of projects slowed down a little over the summer months, as I suspect it does for most of us.

July

We were fortunate to be able to get hold of one of the last of the batch of 009 Society Hudson toast rack kits, which we made up to represent number 42 on the WHHR.
 

In this picture it is positioned between one of our Dundas 37 / 38 pair and my original scratch built 39 which I must have made in the mid-90s.

Himself got on very fast with the RT models Baguley Drewry shunter kit prototype we obtained from RT Models, having swapped the etch brass fly cranks for some cast brass ones we had spare.

August

I was working away at my version of the toast rack to represent the FR's replica 39, which I was making using a basic resin casting for the body side and then using styrene angle and brass wire to complete.

 

Himself had the idea of using a spare Lynton and Barnstaple bogie van kit to make a freelance FR-style track cleaning wagon.

This has a sprung pad beneath it which wipes the rail heads, and the whole wagon is weighed down with lead, to the extent that it needs to have a locomotive at each end of it to be pushed around the layout.

At my house the 'test track' project had reached the track laying stage.

September

By now now the toast rack 39 carriage had reached the stage where it was almost ready to have a roof added and be sent for painting.

In order to better represent the Dinas shunter, number 9, I produced a styrene master for some alternative bonnet doors and grills which I turned into a casting.

And after a saga which went on for more than a year we finally got hold of etches to make a model of the Ashbury replica 21, which Himself soldered together in short order.

I'll bring the story up to date with a final instalment to be posted on Hogmanay.

Bush Train

I've been sent some nice pictures of WHR diesel shunter number 9 which was finished off during the week.

It looks pretty good to me considering where we started with a set of prototype nickel silver etches from RT Models, and we've added a lot of extra details such as the castings I made for the doors along the side of the bonnet, the protective bars in front of the grill and the exhaust and lights.

I've written in previous blog posts that this model is undersized because the design was based on the majority of these Baguley Drewry locos, whereas this one which worked in Australia and was retired to North Wales is longer and wider.

However, I hope all the extra details and the colourful livery will distract the eye.

Multi-Shade Shunter

For a humble yard shunter the Dinas-based Baguley Drewry number 9 carries an exotic mix of colours.

Himself is making solid progress adding the green and orange sections to the yellow base on the body.

The very fine band midway up the cab sheets has been covered with a waterslide transfer and will most likely be picked out in the same darker shade used on the top of the bonnet.

The orange on the rods and fly cranks certainly helps them to stand out and will look great when it's moving.

Bull Bars

There's been more work on the front end of WHR diesel number 9, specifically the protective structure in front of the radiator.

The real one has quite a few more bars, but short of getting something etched bespoke for us I think this will give enough of an effect.

Besides which, I'm hearing whispers that the prototype etch for the loco we're using has turned out to be a smidgeon on the small side when a tape measure was run over the real thing, so there's always the question of how much effort Himself should go to with this one because I couldn't rule out that a some point in the future the chassis may be transferred to a body of the correct dimensions,

Regardless, its's developing into a very nice looking model, and given that the real one has only made the most occasional forays to Beddgelert so far it's never likely to be a front line machine for us,

But it is yellow, and yellow is my favourite colour, so it's definitely got a place in our stockbox.

Rob's Bonnet

A day isolating in the 'Covid Cave' on Sunday gave me the opportunity to get the master and the castings for the new side doors on the bonnet of WHR diesel shunter 9 completed.

I think I'm pretty satisfied with how they've turned out.

I cast three copies (and one for luck) of the first master of just one set of the double doors, then joined them together - with an extra blank door on one end - to form a second master.

Once that had been used to make a mould I cast a few copies of this longer set and selected the best pair to use on the model.

When they had cured the spare door was cut from different ends - because they need to be a mirror image - and I've added some hinge details using fine styrene rod.

They're not that much thicker than the nickel silver etches which came with the kit prototype from RT Models and I'm confident they'll look quite effective on the finished model.

I think this can now be passed back to Himself to work out how to replicate the 'bull bars' style grill protection on the front.

Doors Time

With the toast rack project passed over to Himself for the roofing and painting stage I've not got any excuses left for not tackling the doors on WHR diesel 9.

As you may have read in previous posts on this blog, the idea is to make this up from a test etch for a potential new kit from RT Models running on an adapted Farish 08 chassis.

Because it is a test, a few of the details will need to be altered before it goes into production, including the side doors on the bonnet which were not the same as the ones being carried by the WHR example based at Dinas.

In the kit these were meant to be metal overlays to be positioned on top of the perforated bonnet former.

I think I shall try to make a very thin masters out of styrene and attempt to cast copies. 

Keep following the blog to see how I get on....

Tall Slim Aussie

While I was away Himself was making progress on the test etches from RT Models for the Dinas shunter number 9.

At this stage the bonnet and cab are just resting on the footplate, and in the case of the bonnet it's just a basic former which will need some thin door and grill pieces scratch built on top.

What surprised me was how comparatively thin it appears, probably on account of the cab being so tall.

The most important developments have been down below where the chassis has had its Farish fly cranks replaced with brass ones from Meridian Models and the jackshaft drive has been grafted on.

Himself has decided not to use the replacement keeper plate supplied with the kit but to insert a brass tube through the rear of the chassis to hold the unpowered axle.

Its been reassembled and test run on the layout.

The next stage will be for me to do something with the bonnet.

Australian Adaptations

Himself has begun making the alterations to the Farish 08 chassis which will power our model of No. 9 - the large, yellow, ex-Australian shunting diesel at Dinas.

In the search for a more authentic look, with chunky fly cranks, he's replacing the plastic extensions which create the false outside frame effect on the 08 with a couple of packets of brass cranks we had in our strategic reserve of bits and pieces.

These were once produced by Meridian Models (item MP24) but so far as we can tell are not available at the moment - which is a shame because they're very handy to have.

They are fitted over the stubs of the overlong axles on the wheel sets on the chassis.

Quartering is as simple as it can ever be because you can line up the crank with the inset in the wheel where the original plastic cranks were positioned.

The jackshaft drive will be created using the clever replacement chassis keeper plate supplied by RT Models and employing a fourth set of these cranks.

Bags of Drewry

The previously mentioned aspiration to build a model of WHR diesel number 9 has taken a big leap forward with he arrival of some prototype etches.

We were offered the chance to buy them from the owner of RT Models who is working on bringing out a kit to run on the Farish 08 chassis. (What else?!)

Unless I am mistaken - which is always a possibility - these are in nickel silver, and I bought them knowing that at least one detail will need to be kit-bashed, because the etched vents in the side doors along the bonnet are in the wrong places.

This is more than outweighed, I hope, by the benefits of a crisp, solid and reasonably heavy body structure.

The other fun aspect is that it because it is a test etch it doesn't come with any instructions, so I'm sure Himself is going to thank me for that!