Gelert Looking Good

Himself has done his customary excellent job on the transfers on Gelert which now awaits the airbrush for a coat of satin varnish.

The nameplates from Narrow Plant will go on right at the end.

One final additional detail which has appeared is the bright red crank visible in the cut out in the water tank.

I do think that accessorising these 3D printed bodies is so important if you have any ambition to produce a decent model.

They make a fabulous starting point, but that’s all it is.

I’m afraid there are too many modellers happy to regard them as unpainted ready-to-run bodies, and that’s a shame.

Almost Ready

The WHHR Ashbury corridor replica is just waiting for a final spray coat of varnish.

This has been built from a Worsley Works scratch aid body kit which required a few alterations like finding some scrap brass to make the middle droplights which were missing from the etch.

Once this and the buffet car are finished our WHHR set will be complete.

Sunroof

All our Garratts are unique - as are the real ones - and Himself has created another point of difference on 130.

He's used some scraps of brass to create a partially-opened vent on the cab roof, complete with the runners.

All our others have a closed vent with no runners.

You may wonder what the filler is there for?

I think - although Himself didn't mention it - this is where the original style hoop vents would go and he has removed any evidence and filled and rubbed down Milliput, which is what you can see above.

I am, as ever, open to correction, which I'm sure will come swiftly.....

Bagnall Bling

Now back from his sojourn down south Himself is getting on with preparing Gelert for it's roll-out at the Greenock show.

We've decided to finish it in its current lined out livery, because frankly it just looked too dull in all-over dark blue.

For this he's using Kemco / Modelmaster BR mixed traffic lining sheets.

These are also what we used on our spoof BR liveried Lyd.

Its arguable that the grey is a little too - well - grey for the lining on the real loco which looks more brilliant white, but these transfers are very crisp which more than makes up for it in my mind.

If you look very closely you might be able to make out that he has deployed his thick black transfer line trick to get perfect definition on the change between the blue of the tank and the black of the running plate.

I think it'll make a very attractive little engine and look terrific taking turns with Russell and the Baldwin hauling our new WHHR set on Bron Hebog.

Empty Desk Syndrome

For the first time in quite a while I've found myself with nothing to do.

It's not that I haven't got things I'd like to be getting on with, but for various reasons the projects are in abeyance.

Progress finishing off the Van 51 prototype will have to wait for the test etches for the balcony rail to be delivered to me before I can go any further on that.

I really ought to be getting on with making a start on the latest WHR observation car which is in the final stages of construction at Boston Lodge but my usual sources have yet to smuggle any plans out of the carriage works for me to use.

(It is very different to Glaslyn so the designs I have on file aren't much use to me.)

I could take a look down the - very long - wish list and go for one of the projects I've been meaning to do for years but it would just be typical that as soon as I started something like that the bits I need to progress the more urgent projects would appear.

Hmm, what to do?

Green Garratt

Today I’m completing the look at our authentic WHR Garratt fleet with the most recent one Himself finished - 143.

This engine has not run on Bron Hebog at a show yet so Greenock next month will be its public debut.

Himself put a lot of effort into making it as accurate as he could with detailed alterations like extending the cut outs at the bottom of the bunkers and tanks.

As I’ve yet to see it in action in the layout I feel I can’t be sure where it fits into my ranking of favourite NGG16’s so I’m looking forward to the show very much.

Red And Green

Himself is cracking on with completing the two WHHR Ashbury carriages ahead of the show in Greenock next month.

They’ve both had at least one top coat - the buffet car in green and the original condition replica in red.

There’s a lot left to do but the liveries are so completely simple that you already have a good impression of how they might look when finished.

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?

Timehop

Social media - and its menacing algorithms - reminds me that it’s 4 years since we took Bron Hebog and Dduallt to show at the Welsh Highland Great and Small weekend at Dinas.

It was an epic weekend, and a huge undertaking, and most likely not something we’ll ever repeat.

In some ways I’m astonished that its been that long since we ‘completed’ the layout in structural terms, but the recent work Himself has been doing with more trees brings home to me how sparse the layout was back then.

It’s something very evident in this shot of the Funkey from four years ago.

Our next outing with it will be in five weeks time in Greenock.

Underframed

The WHHR Buffet Car is ready to be primed and painted.



Himself has completed the underframe and added details such as the brake pipes.

We added a 10 thou styrene shin to finesse the ride height.

It should be a simple paint job with its plain green livery.

Non-Corridor Corridor

I’ve always been amused by the way the NWNGR Ashbury carriages were referred to as ‘corridor’ coaches, because by modern terminology they so clearly are not!

However, I suppose that back in the day being able to move around an open saloon, changing seat on the move if one so wished, was a noteworthy development on the narrow gauge where most other stock was made up of divided compartments.

These days, of course, we take the word corridor to mean a door in the end, so you can move from carriage to carriage, and the adaptation of FR 11 and 12 to run as a buffet/obs would have been transformative.

Anyway, as you can see, the interior for the last of our WHHR carriages (for now) is made and with a fair wind behind him maybe Himself will get the full set ready to run in Greenock next month?

Sprouting

A few more trees have appeared on the layout, around the biggest feature which is the 180 degree bend leading into Cutting Mawr.

These are but a fraction of what is there in the real location, which is getting rather bushy, but the trains look so good making their way around the curve that we don't want to hide them from view behind a forest of foliage.

Sanding

A few more bits have been added to the bunkers of 130 as more clues filter out of Boston Lodge and Dinas as to how it will definitely look.

I’m told this has been 3 days work.

Himself describes these as the 'fiddly bits' and they include the sand pots, mounted on the front of the tanks, which have recently been painted in the lovely deep plum colour for the real loco.

Among the most tricky parts are the lifting eyes which have to be fashioned from brass and - painfully - soldered in place.

The ‘greedy rails’ have been added to the top of the coal bunker.

The big, rectangular water filler doors have been knocked up in styrene for the front unit as well.

At the back end the vacuum pipe and the lubricator have been put in position, but this isn't being done on the front as no photographic evidence has come to light yet....

Shafted!

A small piece of progress to report on James Spooner.

Himself has fitted the drive shafts which connect the motor - hidden in the firebox - with the power bogies.

They don’t have pick ups, or an electrical connection to the motor yet, but it has operated in a test with an umbilical link to a power source.

These solid shafts are a development of the Backwoods kit which originally used long, thin springs to take the drive, but the extra flexibility was unnecessary, and from the Single Fairlie kit onwards this is what was adopted.

Tree Surgery

Himself is making up a few more trees from kits he discovered lying around.

Our trees are not the most sophisticated.

We use the Woodland Scenics kits which come as flat, soft plastic sprues which you twist to shape and glue clump foliage onto.

We’ve always believed the effect of a great number of these on the layout goes a long way to making up for what they lack as individual models.