The Big Reveal

At last our model of 150 is ready to show you.

I don't think any of our models has taken so long to paint, line and varnish as this one.

Himself began painting it in the final weeks of last year and I had hoped to be able to post some pictures of it finished in January, and now it's almost June!

One of the delays was because we didn't want to risk spraying the varnish until the ambient temperature improved (it is not done in a heated part of the house, you see) and then when it did get sprayed some of the lining, in particular the really fiddly bits on the window pillars, blew off and had to be replaced.

We'll be the first to admit that some of the lining is a little over scale because we're using transfers designed for 4mm standard gauge rolling stock but I think trying to get some bespoke crests produced for 009 is going just a little too far.

I'm particularly pleased with how the curtain effect turned out

In the end Himself decided just to go for it with a brush painting onto the back of the glazing and given how difficult it was to make up and fit the glazing with both the bend and the curved roof line at the front it was a real one-shot, hero or zero, moment.

Along with the WHR Obs 'Glaslyn' it is one of the trickiest scratch building projects we've ever taken on and it's a true team effort between us.

The question is how we're going to summon up the will to do it all over again with 152?

Upstairs Downstairs

Time to start work on the final house in the row, and perhaps even the last building I need to make, depending on what we decide to do with the area currently used as a display area.

I'd been wondering for a while how tricky it would be to draw up the plans for this house because it is very different to the others being half bungalow and half house.

In fact it was quite straightforward because once you get familiar with the houses on this estate you discover that although they all have different shapes there are lots of common elements, such as the size of the windows.

I'll try to get this one made as quickly as I can because Himself is not able to finalise the siting of the others in the row until we know how this one is going to be placed.

Shape Shifter

I got into a groove with the alterations to the house in the last few days so that since the previous post about it I've managed to get it finished.

(Which is the second time I've said that - hopefully there won't need to be a third!)

To illustrate what I've done to it here are pictures of how it looks now and what it looked like before.

I'd like to think that you can't really tell that it wasn't supposed to be like that all along.

So if I hadn't have confessed to the cock-up on here no one would have been any the wiser.

A Bit On The Back

I've moved onto the second extension which needs to be added on to the house to make it more like the shape it appears in the aerial picture I posted the other day.

Here, I've simply had to build on an extra part of the ground floor.

I'm not sure whether it is an extension to the kitchen or some kind of sun lounge, and there was not much of it I could see from the photograph, beyond it's basic shape.

So I've made some assumptions (always dangerous) and put in a door to the garden at the other side and a large window at the front.

I have also decided to level off the bottom of the render and not extend the up-slope, which seemed the logical thing to do if it was indeed an extension to the original house.

It's been quite fun to do, so far.  Maybe I should make more models wrong to start with?

Half A Million Milestone

I know these things must be taken with a pinch of salt, but I was very please last night to notice that the pageview counter on this blog has passed the figure of half a million.

According to the statistics provided by Blogger May 2017 has also set a new record for the number of views.

Whether that is really an increase in the number of you coming here to take a look at what we're up to, or just attracting more attention from the bots, I have no way of knowing.

I notice also that it's now just over seven years since I began blogging.

I've never managed to establish the habit of keeping a diary of my daily life but it occurred to me the other day how, by accident almost, this has developed into a comprehensive archive of our modelling since he beginning of the decade.

Seven years ago I was working on our first Superbarn carriage so in many ways very little has changed.

The layout still isn't finished, but it is complete enough to have been shown a couple of times at exhibitions.

The last time was back in the autumn of 2015 but as I write this now I regret that there are no shows confirmed for the future.

That's no reflection of any unwillingness on our part so if there are any exhibition managers reading this who would be interested in having Bron Hebog at your show please do get in touch.

Getting The Builders In

I have begun the reconstruction of the house after pulling various bits off it last week.

The front of the upstairs bedroom has been moved forward and the frame for the dormer window built up.

I've also blanked off the two small windows on the side nearest the camera.

There will be an extension added in front of the area with the back door and another two windows will be cut in the new side piece.

I've also blanked off the bottom of the old patio door to create one very large window at the back of the house.

I would like to hope that you have to look very carefully - or certainly will when it's finished - to see the joins.

In Service

The poor weather so far this week has had at least one compensation - it's forced Himself to retreat from the garden into the safety of his modelling den,

He's been getting on with finishing a few off jobs including final assembly of the service car 125 after it was varnished many moons ago.