The Other No.5

 An invitation for Sunday lunch at Himself's gave me the opportunity to inspect progress and I was really pleased to see how great Maenofferen tank waggon looks now it's been painted  - a coat of red oxide primer will be sufficient for this model - and with its transfers in place.

It's always hard to judge when the model is still in resin or styrene form whether you've captured the look of the real thing, but if I say so myself I think I have.

Just as well, really, given how the first ten kits for sale have been cast this weekend...

Red Tanks

An exciting moment in the build of 130 as the first of coat of paint is applied to the bunker and tanks.

Trying to choose a colour for a model is always a tricky business. You have to take into account the effect of scaling, and also that people tend to see the colour as their mind's eye recalls the real one.

Thus we've opted for a BR crimson shade for 130 which by the time it's lined out won't look too far away from the real thing, I hope.

It's terrific to see yet another Garratt for Bron Hebog on the home straight. 

Twenty Forty Eight

 There's another new carriage in the fleet.

Himself has completed the varnishing of WHR saloon 2048 and added the handrails beside the doors at each end, which is perhaps his least favourite job of all.

Each of these monster WHR carriages are scratch built in styrene.

There's now four of them to this design and had I known they would end up mostly (note the careful use of the word) identical, then I might have made a master to cast resin copies like I do with the FR Superbarns.

Garratt Goes Grey

 Our 130 has reached a significant stage with the start of the paint job.

Just like with the real locomotive Himself is starting with the tank and bunker on the assumption that as they've been painted, lined and fitted to the power bogies that they surely won't be changed before it enters service?

There's still some pipework to be added to the boiler unit in the area in front of the cab, but until that is plumbed in on the real one we won't know for certain what route it will take to get to its destination.

The handrail knobs have been fitted along the boiler but the rails are still to be threaded through them.

Another One Joins The Fleet

 I'll keep this post short and let the picture do the talking.

As you can see, Lyn is now lined, varnished and reassembled, and ready for action on Bron Hebog, whenever model railway exhibitions are allowed again.

I've written before that Lynton and Barnstaple locos are not my favourites, neither is the unsubtle Southern livery, but Lyn is the most appealing of the lot.

I think it's perhaps got the Earl of Merioneth attitude - it doesn't pretend to be pretty, it's just built to do the job.

And if you don't like that, tough!

Tank Talk

I'll soon be in a position to start production of the Maenofferen tank waggon now I've successfully produced a master and test casting of the chassis.

As I explained in a post a couple of days ago, this uses the Dundas 3-ton waggon floor which has been extended at each end.

To make it easier to fit the wheels, however, I opted to design it to use the solebar and axle box part from the kit which slots neatly into place.

The waggon kit will be a relatively simple one, with two big blocks of tank to fit together - and fill / file any obvious join mark - and the floor part.

The other vital bit is the domed cap of the tank filler which is done as a separate casting.

For simplicity for customers I am thinking that for this kit I will look at supplying the kit with the wheels and Dundas parts included.

However, I don't intend to carry a large stock at any time so expressions of interest now would be helpful so I can gauge how many bits I need to buy in.

Emails to the Boston Largs Works address, please.

Best Seats In The House

The mini-heatwave hasn't been conducive to spending long periods at the workbench, so Himself has been catching up on little jobs, such as tweaking the tender of Welsh Pony.

This is yet another excellent example of why you always wait for the FR to finish building the real thing before you contemplate completing your model.

Build your tender according to the kit instructions and you would have nearly all the space inside free to hold coal, but observe Number 5 trotting around on the Covid shuttles this summer and you will see they've done a Prince on it and created a couple of cheeky perches at the front of the tender.

Wouldn't that be a lovely place to sit and watch the Vale of Ffestiniog slip by?

There are another couple of embellishments which have been added to increase the authenticity - handrail knobs have been repurposed to adorn the front of the tender body.