The Last Bowsider

Things have been a little quiet in the world of Bron Hebog these last few weeks - at least on this blog - but we've been quietly working away on various projects in the background and one of them is ready to break cover.

Himself has been painstakingly painting and lining our model of bowsider 18 in its current peak-Victorian livery.

This is a Worsley Works brass kit and the gold lining is all done using the narrowest of the waterside lining and corners range from Fox Transfers.

I think it looks absolutely gorgeous.

This completes our set of vintage bogie carriages, although I suspect Allan Garraway would have had something to say about the order they've been marshalled for the 'works photograph'.

Himself would probably had been summoned to the managerial suite and informed - in no uncertain terms - that this is not an Irish tramway!

Almost There

The arrival of warmer weather has allowed Himself to venture into the garage / workshop and unleash the airbrush on a number of models which have been awaiting a protective coat of vanish.

Of most interest to readers of this blog, I'm sure, are our latest FR and WHR locomotives.

Welsh Pony has all its transfers applied now, although when this photo was taken was still awaiting the fitting of the nameplates.

130 has been refitted with a lot of the extra piping and the handrails are the last things to be fitted, along with its number plates on the cab.

Both are going to make stunning models when they are reassembled and tested, hopefully within the next few days.

2020 Review - Part 4

October

The output of new models slowed towards the end of the year, especially at my end of the operation as I spent more time concentrating on meeting requests for resin wagon kits and parts.

By now I had completed the prototype for the MOD flat wagon kit.

Himself spent a week volunteering on the FR and getting a look up closed at the new lining design on Welsh Pony.

We had always intended to finish ours in the green livery that was predicted all through the restoration, but now it looks like the running-in livery will be staying for a few years so we decided to take the plunge and apply that to our model, seen here with the black lining transfers around the edge being applied.

Himself also got round to a job he'd been meaning to tackle for a number of years, and overhaul the Steve Coulson working dioramas in our custody.

November

Progress can be an illusion sometimes.

Himself began applying the orange lining around the edge of the panels on Welsh Pony.

It looked fine on the tender, but once it added to the tighter areas like the cab sides it became painfully apparent that even the thinnest products from the Fox range would be unsuitable.

It was time for Plan B....

The delivery of the painted and lined cylinder covers for 130 to Dinas meant we could follow suit with confidence on ours.

There was more pipework added to the boiler unit which is the last part of the locomotive still under construction.

We can't complete it until we see pictures confirming the positions of all the pipes at the front of the cab.

December

Plan B for Welsh Pony meant stripping it right back to brass and starting again with a coat of primer and purple/plum from the airbrush.

We commissioned a set of bespoke transfers from Custom Model Decals and you can already see the results in some of the latest blog posts. 

I was kept busy with casting.

One customer asked if it was possible to produce some copies of the fake bogie frames we used on our Funkey diesels to disguise the N Gauge chassis.

An enquiry from one modeller turned into orders for 10 sets from all across the country, so that kept me busy for a few weeks.

Currently I am in the process of producing a prototype for a kit of the FR/WHR well wagon.

There's been good progress on the main body of the wagon.  

I'm hoping to finish it off with an etched brass deck covering but that may take a while to come to fruition.

That's the story of our 2020.

It was a year when it seems that railway modelling was given a shot in the arm by lockdown - within our homes at least - let's hope that in 2021 it might be possible to attend an exhibition again.

Wouldn't that be marvellous!

Tank Lining

 This feels like the moment that 130 really gained its identity.

Himself has spent many hours this week getting cross-eyed applying the lining to the rear bunker and front tank, and you can just make out the background of the WHR initials.

We haven't quite caught up with the custom decal bandwagon and are still doing it the hard way (don't we always!) so the shaded lettering on our Garratts is done with a yellow transfer sitting on top of a black one.

One the cab is on the real one, and all the plumbing connected up, he'll be able to do the last of the part fitting and begin the painting process.

Southern Comfort

 

Before leaving for a week in Wales, Himself was making startling progress on the lining on Lyn.

It was a stroke of good fortune that one of the sets of 4mm scale standard gauge Southern locomotive lettering produced by Fox fits exactly for the tanks.

The same was not true of the numbers for the tenders which were a little on the large size, but we found a set of numbers in yellow in the general alphabet and numeral section of the catalogue which are a lot more suitable. 

The white lining is very impressive, particularly around the nameplate on the cabside and even more so on the oval plate on the bunker.

I'm never really been a fan of the Southern livery on any size of locomotive - it's a bit too 'in your face' for my tastes, and I've never felt Lyd fits in on the FR like that.

I much preferred it in the spoof BR black, or its original pre-grouping livery would be even better in my mind.

Somehow the loco which suits it best is this big, boxy American interloper.

Lining Lyn

Himself is making steady progress painting our Backwoods Baldwin Lyn.

He's reached the lining stage of the process.

Although its the white which stands out most in the picture there is also some black lining there, forming the neat edges to the green.

This was applied first and has been varnished to provide a better key for the narrow white lines.

They're a lot simpler to apply that on many of the FR locos because they have 90 degree joins instead of inverted corners which can be a real pain in the backside.

King Of The Castle

The rebuild of Welsh Pony - being steamed for the first time in 80 years today - may have been protracted, but the build of our 2nd Conway Castle runs it pretty close!

The sticking point - excuse the pun - has been the lining.

Himself was never quite happy with the first effort but it's taken a number of years to summon the motivation to rip it off and have another go.

The complicating factor is that it's two thin lines together.

The solution he reached in the end was to begin with a thick line of cream / yellow - if you call 0.75mm thick? - and secure that with a coat of varnish.

Then on top of that he's laid a 0.35mm green line, all complicated by the need to form the 'whiskers' on the front and back.

I think it's looking rather good, and after many years on the back-burner it should be racing to completion now.

Gwyrfai Glazed

One of the (many) tricky jobs on scratch building these Pullman observations cars has been completed.

Himself has cut and fitted the glazing to Gwyrfai and put the carriage back together for a photo call before it is dismantled again for varnishing.

 What do you reckon?

Halfway House

Himself is reaching the end of the arduous job of lining out a Pullman observation car.

I’ve seen quite a few models of Gwyrfai crop up on my social media - including brass body kits and 3D prints - but I wonder how many will be finished off to this exacting standard?

The transfers have been quite a challenge this time.

Our favoured Fox products appear to have been updated, so whereas before some were a little too big, but just about fitted, now they definitely don’t.

So we’ve had to mix and match and with the help of an FR friend have obtain a sheet of the secret 3mm scale decals exclusively produced for members of the 3mm society.

These are what we’ve ended up using for the crests and also the name.

This was a bit of a saga.

The Fox sheets of old used to give you blank borders and alphabet sheets to make up the name of your choice - nowadays you can only buy sheets with a selection of ready-made names.

Himself tried more than once to slice these up to create a blank box and individual letters but - unusually for Fox products - the transfers broke up as he tried to apply them.

Perhaps just a bad batch?

So he’s ended up using the 3mm versions, which turned out to be a tiny bit bigger!

As the kids say - whatever!!

It’s going to look fabulous, isn’t it!

Twins

The painstaking job of applying the intricate Pullman livery to 152 has begun.

We use the 4mm Fox waterslide range - it’s probably ever so slightly over-scale but the quality and ease of use compensates for that.

Himself is complaining that it’s a little harder to fit the upright arrows on the window pillars this time.

As the casting is the same one we used for 150 I think the chances are this batch of transfers has been printed slightly larger.

He also tells me policemen are getting younger, too 😂

The Borismobile

Those who know their Westminster history may appreciate the irony in almost completing our latest Worsley Works carriage as BoJo becomes the UK's political leader.

The man reputed to have ridden in this carriage would probably have a lot to say to the latest tenant in Number 10 Downing Street.

William Gladstone was a Prime Minister who also knew what it is to split your Governing party on the defining political issue of his generation, and which also involved the very delicate question of the future of the island of Ireland.

Rather than relaxing by making models of buses from old boxes (or so we are led to believe the PM does) Mr Gladstone liked to use his spare time chopping down trees and seeking out so-called 'fallen women', to guide them back onto the path to righteousness.

Enough political references, however.

What you really want to know is that Himself has completed the lettering on the NWNGR carriage.

We decided not to bother trying to replicated the intricate, shaded letters, and have used just gold waterslide transfers from the Fox range, and I think they look effective enough.

All that remains is to source a suitable shade of pinky/purple paint to create the curtain effect on the glazing in the centre compartment.

Orange Lines

The lining on 143 is complete.

It’s looking rather tasty, wouldn’t you agree?

Cheating

Himself has a neat little trick for getting straight edges to the panels when he paints locomotives - transfers.

He uses thick black lining from the Fox waterslide range.

You can see how effective it looks on 143 here which has had all its coats of green and is now ready to move onto the lining out.

Review Of The Year - Part 2

April

By this point my Bro Madog kit-bash had got to the point where the body had been assembled and was ready to be primed.

The main change to the carriage was creating the toplight windows by cutting out solid plastic and inserting new pillars and a top rail.

I was pleased that you really couldn't see the join.

Himself was tackling the biggest outstanding scenery job which was lining the walls of Cutting Mawr.

Some of it was done with genuine pieces of Welsh rock, although most were copies I'd cast in resin.

He also set about fitting a basic backscene to hide the goings-on in the fiddle yards from view.

May

I had started work on a second WHHR vehicle for a new rake, and again it involved a kit bash.

The ex-VoR brake van has changed a lot from the version with matchboard sides which is made by Dundas.

What I decided on was using the chassis and the very bottom section of the body (showing the frames) and making the rest out of styrene.

It was coming along well.

Himself had done a quite remarkable job with the gold leaf lining on a second vintage carriage - this time number 15.

And I was busy starting work on yet along superbarn, this time casting the parts for what would become 120.

June

This was a very big month for us as we took Bron Hebog out on the road for the first time in a couple of years - and what a road trip it was, all the way to Norfolk for a one day show!

The Dad's Army section of the museum building is certainly up there as one of the more unusual venues we've exhibited at, but they looked after us very well indeed all weekend.

It'd got the WHHR brake van ready to the point where it had been painted in BR blue, just like the real one, to wind everyone up.

Unfortunately I had yet to get my hands on some of the famous double arrow transfers to complete the look.

We'd had a few issues with track alignments during the show. It was nothing major but it's still and irritation when you're exhibiting, so Himself decided to invest in some additional  measures after we'd returned home.

These precision engineering dowels don't come cheap, but hopefully it will be money well spent.

Ashes To Ashes

The new BZ wagons will be ready to make their appearance on Bron Hebog this weekend.

Himself has been busy over the last few days painting and lettering them.

The lettering incurred some unfortunate, unforeseen expenditure.

You may not have considered it before - I know I hadn't - but on most sheets of lettering you don't get equal numbers of letters, and certainly not many Z's.

Which is a bit of a hinderance when each of these wagons requires at least 4 of them.

Thanks to the modern marvel of internet shopping Himself was able to get in fresh supplies in time to get the wagons ready for the show at Dinas.

They've also been filled with a removable load of locomotive ash, which is how they were being used when we photographed them at Boston Lodge last year, and this is quite often tripped along the WHR to be spread at various locations so they at least have a prototypical purpose for appearing on the layout.

More Bling

On Monday I showed you the finished 'blinged up' bowsider number 19 - but work continues on our other Victorian extravagance, number 15.

Himself has finished applying the gold lining - and my goodness isn't there a lot of it! - to one side, and he's also added the FR crest and monograms.

(These may be slightly overscale, but who's measuring?)

He's also intending to try and fit a tiny number 15 inside the middle of the crest!

One end of the ends he's started to apply the white lines around the panelling.

Again, this is not strictly prototypical because there should be two incredibly thin lines either side of the beading, whereas the solution we've got for here is one single line on top of the beading,

But quite frankly, this is so damned small and fiddly to do that I think it's remarkable enough that there's anything there at all, don't you agree?

Nineteen

Our new model of bowsider 19 is ready to join the fleet.

The carriage has been given a coat of varnish - which has come out a little on the matt side, but never mind - and put together with its glazing and the final details added like the door handles, which Himself made from scratch from very fine brass wire.

I think the lining looks absolutely stunning, especially the stuff along the frame at the bottom.

It's going to look great running in a small Victorian set along with the curly roof van, 15 (which is coming along nicely - more on that soon) and the first class Ashbury 4-wheeler.

Gold Blend

After many long sessions of painstaking work, one side - just one side - of our carriage 15 has its ornate gold lining applied.

Looks amazing, doesn't it!

Himself tells me that it took the best part of a whole day's work to complete the last half of this side, and he felt quite cross-eyed at the end of it.

He's got to do exactly the same on the other side and then there's a lot of white lining to put on each end of the carriage plus more gold leaf around the panelling on along the frame, which you cannot see in this picture.

So it's going to be quite a while before this carriage joins the fleet.

Gold Leaf

Himself has begun applying the transfer lining to our new, old carriage 15 (if you can follow that logic).

This is an even more thankless task that on carriage 19 which completed not so long ago because there is even more of the fine gold lines and tiny weenie curves to be slid into position around the intricate beading on what are reputed to be the UK's first bogie carriages.

At the moment he's just done the very start of one end, but it's a painstaking business but I'm sure the end result will look fabulous.

Once again he's using the Fox Transfers waterslide lining sets.

I suppose it may be some consolation that it's no easier doing it on the real carriage where all of this detail is applied in an equally intricate fashion using genuine gold leaf.

If you've never been to one of the FR's Victorian Weekends you really should make the effort to go because the restoration, rebuilding and recreation of the vintage carriage fleet is something to behold when you see them all brought out and being played with.

One Sided

One side of 19 has been fully lined out now.

Posed on the layout it does look most impressive, don't you think?

We've had to make a compromise which we're not fully decided on yet.

The panels in the doors beneath the windows are not wide enough to accommodate a regular 4mm transfer for THIRD or FIRST.

Instead what Himself has tried out is using 2mm scale ones to see what they look like.

They're undoubtedly smaller than they should be - but are they too small or could we get away with it?

Better to have them than nothing at all?

One of the ends has also had its white lining added.

It'll look very nice running with the Curly Roof Van, I think.