Harnessing The Pony

Wasn't it marvellous to see Welsh Pony move for the first time in 80 years at the weekend!

As one of those who was a regular contributor to the fundraising effort over the last seven years I was delighted to see the dream I've had since childhood become reality.

Our Pony has been waiting patiently for the real one to catch up and now we can finally see how it's going to look Himself has begun adding some of the final details, such as the handrails on the tanks and the smokebox, and the blower pipe which runs along the clock side of the tank.

He's also stripped the locomotive so he can begin painting the frames black.

You may be wondering why you can't see any evidence of the worm gear or a motor?

That's because thanks to the unique (!) design of the 'unbuildable' Mercian kit the motor and worm are trapped inside the water tank!

While the real engine will be put through its paces in its deep brown running in colour ours will stay in primer until the final lined FR livery is applied, expected next year.

Oh well, we've waited long enough, a few more months won't hurt.

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.

Hannibal Moment

I love it when a carriage comes together!

That moment when all the pieces are ready to be joined together into one bodyshell, which is the stage 2048 is at now.

On the latest FR and WHR carriages that moment takes a lot longer to reach because of the recessed doors which mean you have to complete 8 sub-assemblies before they can be glued together.

Scratch building in styrene takes a lot longer but when you get to this moment it is a lot easier to bond plastic parts together and get them in just the right position compared to the resin pieces I use for the FR Superbarns.

Its also worth showing you one of the key steps I take before forming into a shell, gluing little blocks on the back which will set the height of the floor / chassis.

These are exactly 3mm above the bottom of the bodyside and I use a small piece of styrene to as a guide to make sure they're all set in exactly the right position.

It's so much harder to do this when its glued together.

Once that happens it's important to cut the floor as soon as I can to help keep the bodysides straight and prevent them bending inwards like inverted bananas, which is what the styrene naturally wants to do.

Vestibules

The component parts of WHR carriage 2048 are coming together now.

I've detailed the door units with the second layer of beading added now, and the spacers to set them back from the main bodyside.

(That's after they'd all be deconstructed and cut down in height by 1mm - see a previous post for details of this foul-up)

The bases for the end pieces have also been made.

These are quite complex to made because the top piece with the overhang has to be cut and fitted on top of the pillars and its vital to make sure it's placed centrally.

Next up is one of my least-favourite jobs - making up the corridor connections.

This involves cutting, fixing and filing 24 pieces of styrene strip to create the folding flaps either side of the end doors, and takes about an hour to make up all six.

Convertable Garratt

The great thing about the blog is that I don't have to issue orders, I simply hint at something here and it happens!

Himself has provided a few pictures of the dismantled Backwoods NGG16 on its DZ transporter wagons marshalled into a train.

We have options with the boiler.

It can be towed around the layout in its cradle mounted on ambulance bogies.

Or it could be mounted on a flat wagon propped up by sleepers.

Himself tells me he has fitted some discreet pins in the bottom of the boiler to locate it securely on the wagon, but won't prevent it sitting on its own chassis either.

It's going to make a very unusual feature, whenever the day comes that we can take the Bron Hebog out on the road again.

Double Doors

I was reminded of the perils of building a model when you're tired, or in a rush, or both, when I went to do a little more work on 2048 the other day and found myself having to spend the session deconstructing and rebuilding what I'd done before I could make any forward progress.

The issue appeared when I began to add the beading details to the doors, which are sub-assemblies on these WHR saloons,.

I discovered that I had set the height incorrectly, and from the window opening upwards they were around 1.5mm taller than the bodyside.

The simplest thing would have been to make a new set of base layers to the right dimension, but being the stubborn type that I am I elected to try and alter them.

This involved very carefully slicing between the pillars and the lower body panel and then trimming a very precise - and identical - amount off the bottom of each post and grafting it back together.

Being mindful not to fall into the trap of cutting too much off I found that it took at least three attempts to lower it to the correct size, and then some even finer trimming to ensure it was all square again.

Fortunately the pieces won't lose any strength from this butchery because there are full length strips to add on top which will secure the joint again.

It was all very irritating for being so unnecessary, though.

Transporter Wagons

You might recall a few weeks ago I cast a few of my flat DZ wagon kits for Himself to use for the 'dismantled Garratt' feature. 

 

He's made them up, painted them, and the various parts salvaged from a ruined Backwoods NGG16 are now in place. 

I think the bogie is particularly effective with those massive fly cranks fully on show.

   

The boiler is a bit of a compromise.

It's still got all its cladding on because otherwise we might as well scratch build it because the barrel would be thinner and the dome is much less pretty beneath.

It's not usual to see them painted in red oxide like this, but is does break up all the black.

As he's got most of the layout up in the garage for tree planting I'll suggest he sets up a picture of the complete train so you can see the full effect.

Slow Burner

There wasn't a lot of modelling done last week - I think the motivation tank had rather been drained by an orgy of casting to order the previous weekend. 

 I decided it was time to try and progress the new WHR saloon 2048 a little.

 

As you can see the beading has been added to one of the sides. 

 The other one is still to be done, and I've also made the base layers of the doors to go either end of these. 

Unlike the FR Superbarns I've never resin cast these carriages - probably because construction of the fleet has been spread out over so many years - so each one is made entirely from styrene from scratch.

When motivation's lacking it feels good just to get back to the workbench and do something, even if it's not a massive amount of progress.

In this case I'm trying to force myself to finish this project rather than giving in to the temptation to begin something new.

We'll see how this week goes...

Under Starters Orders

The day I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid is drawing near - the steaming of Welsh Pony.

I cant tell you what it means to see the loco I used to play on outside Harbour station run again - I never believed it would happen.

I’m also proud to have done my small bit to fund it through donating proceeds from sales of my resin kits.

Our own Pony has been waiting patiently for the real one to catch up.

Although we won’t paint it until the real one has received its final green livery we will at least be able to add all the missing small details.

This model is made from the ‘unbuildable’ Mercian 4mm kit.

For the full story of why it’s unbuildable, and what Himself did to overcome it, real back through the blog.

Completing ‘Conk Out’

Things must be bad if Himself is picking up one of those projects you avoid for years!

Our second Conway Castle - affectionately known as ‘Conk Out’ - has been in abeyance since Himself moved north of the border.

He’d got so far with the lining, then decided he wasn’t quite happy with it, and its been shunted into the ‘too difficult’ siding ever since.

The other major thing it lacks is glazing, which is an awkward job because all the bits have to be cut to fit flush in the white metal holes.

This same Chivers kit was the first 009 model he made - in ‘Bertie Basset’ orange/ black / grey livery -  and I remember the work that went into glazing it, only for the varnish we were using to turn it all cloudy!

But that colourful ‘80s livery is a step too far for Bron Hebog so we had no option but to make another in two tone green.

I’ve always regarded the Boston Lodge rebuild as a very handsome machine, and I’m saddened that the plan is to return it to something more like its original Planet outline.

For me it’s another example of the FR’s period of modernisation and innovation - which included things like the push-pull set - being lost.

Blacked Out

The title is not a reference to current affairs - some attempt a click bait - merely a reference that the cursed carriage Gwyrfai has fooled us again!

Himself was fitting the handrails at the door end when it suddenly occurred to him he has yet to black out the end windows in the cubby hole behind the saloon.

This will be done by painting a section of the glazing.

Fortunately he’s noticed now rather than when he had declared it ‘finished’.

Speaking for myself I’m glad it’s not just me who’s been caught out.

This fourth Pullman observation car has been a swine at times - please, no more!

Russian Doll

If I put up a post telling you what I’ve been working on this weekend it would be very boring - casting scores of Superbarn seat and table sets for a customer.

So instead I thought a little walk down memory lane would  be more interesting for you.

Prompted by discussion on a Facebook group I dug out some pictures of a model of Rhiw Goch signal boxes - note the plural - which I made as a gift for the chap who led the rebuild project many years ago.

I don’t have many moments of genius but this was one of them.

Inspired by the way they built the new box outside the old one then did the demolition from within.

So I built the models like a Russian doll with the new one slipping on top of the old ‘70s garden shed box.

I was pretty chuffed with how it turned out, and when the late, great Steve Coulson produced a plinth and protective Perspex case it finished it off brilliantly.

Still one I’m very proud of.

The full story is in Narrow Gauge and Industrial Modelling Review number 74 - I hope the editorial team won’t mind me reproducing the images here.

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?

Gate Keeper

Himself has been on gate patrol.

While assembling some of the boards he noticed damage at Bron Hebog crossing - could it be anything to do with the somewhat battered Ford Puma parked there?

Our wooden gates are all fabricated from styrene strip do it didn’t take him long to knock up a replacement.

Now, Where Was I?

The commission for a model of FR ‘Barn’ 105 is complete and ready to send to its new home.

The buyer will be painting it themselves and the blue colour in the windows is the protective film which I’ve left on the glazing to reduce any chance of scratches.

Now I can pick up where I left off on my own projects.

First I will carry on the built of the latest WHR saloon 2048.

At the moment I’ve got the first base layer of the sides made, and now they need to have beading added and the four recessed door sections at each end made up.

I’ll probably also find the challenge of that Maenofferen tank waggon impossible to resist.