Model Rail Scotland Debuts

Excitement is building ahead of us taking Bron Hebog to Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow in a month's time, which will be our first show in more than two years.

While I was thinking about that the other day it occurred to me that there must be a number of models we built in that time which have not been seen in public yet (aside from on this blog and our social media).

I stopped counting when I got to 15.

So I thought you might like a reminder of what's among the new stuff.

The steam engines include NGG/16 130, which is all new, and in the last two years Himself has got round to painting Lyn and Welsh Pony.

The diesel fleet has been bolstered by the recent arrival of our green Vale of Ffestiniog, and the duplicate of Conway Castle in the livery in which it served with distinction on WHR construction trains and as the Dinas shunter for many years.

Now, we also have the locomotive which replaced it, the big yellow Baguley number 9, and at the other end of the spectrum the former Boston Lodge gofer Harold.

New carriages include 2048 and the fourth of the opulent observation cars Gwyrfai, as well the much less salubrious Ashbury replica 21 and the Pickering brake for the WHHR excursions / incursions. 

If Rule One is enacted at any point over the three days at the SEC you might also be lucky to see some of our new tow-along amusements including a derelict Livingston Thompson on ambulance bogies, and a freshly un-plinthed Princess.

Both are completely out of era - being 1980s representations - and completely out of place on the Welsh Highland section, but you never know...

More prototypical is a deconstructed NGG/16 loaded onto DZ flat wagons for transfer between Boston Lodge and Dinas.

This little tableau is a consequence of us being offered the chance to buy the remains of a Backwoods kit which someone made such a Horlicks of building that the best thing to be done with it was recover any parts which could be used as spares and turn what was left into a conversion piece.

2020 Review - Part 2

April

I finished off the previous post saying we had plans for an old England engine kit and a dead chassis which were lying around in the bits box, and this is what we turned them into.

I've got a real fascination with the FR of my childhood in the 1970s and 80s.

While Princess may look splendid now in her lined out maroon livery, this is how I first remember seeing her, when she was freshly liberated from a plinth in Blaenau Ffestiniog.

This model is an unpowered tow-around which may make the occasional, fantasy trip up and down the line.

Himself also finished off the construction work on our own version of Van 51 using one of my kits, improved with a brass roof, resin ventilator and railings on the balcony.

And we started another one of my wish list projects, to create a model of Livingston Thompson at its nadir, when the remains of the locomotive were removed from storage in Minffordd yard.

The donor in this case was Langley white metal kit which had been donated for the purpose many years ago.

May

Out of the blue were were offered the chance to buy another Backwoods Garratt kit at a knockdown price.

As you can see from the picture it was a bit of a wreck, and we had no intention of getting it going as a runner, but it came with a Farish 08 chassis - which is always handy - and we had an inkling of an idea of what we could do with the very battered body...

 

I'd finished making and fitting the interior on Gwyrfai and by this time Himself was well advanced with the painting, which is an epic job on these observation cars.

The paint job was also complete on Van 51 which looked very smart and was just waiting for the glazing to be fitted.

June

Some running repairs were required on Bron Hebog when we noticed one of the crossing gates was damaged.

Himself knocked up a replacement out of styrene strip.

The very intricate transfer work on Gwyrfai was complete and all it now required was a coat of varnish.

And so while he was in the mood for tackling tricky transfers - and getting through incomplete projects - Himself started re-doing the lining on Conway Castle which hadn't been touched since before he moved to Scotland.

2020 Review

I expect you're probably already heartily sick of reading posts about how **** a year it's been - but don't click away, because this is not one of them!

One of the few Christmas traditions that isn't being altered this year is that I like to take a look back at all that we've achieved in the last 12 months on our respective workbenches.

I always find I'm surprised by how much we've got done and the things I'd forgotten about.

January

At the start of the year I was working on the latest WHR Pullman observation carriage Gwyrfai which I was scratch building mostly from styrene except for the curved front and roof which were to be bent from brass.

Himself was having an adventure in 3mm standard gauge building a very complex chassis for a GWR 2-8-0 tank for the Engineering Consultant.

February

A few weeks later and the body was at an advanced stage with a very crisply cast boiler and that classic huge bunker at the back.

And by this time Himself had also bent and soldered up the front for the Obs which was being offered up to test.

The idea was that once we were happy with the shape I could apply a thin plastic skin and beading to make it match the styrene body sides.

March

We'd been closely following progress on the rebuild of 130 at Dinas, and as reports were published on the web Himself would add more bits to our Backwoods kit build which had been started the year before.

In this picture of the boiler bands have just been fitted.

This was the point in the year when we entered the first lockdown, and Himself starting looking around for other projects to keep him busy and hit on the idea of doing something with an ancient white metal England engine body and a knackered Ibertren chassis from the bits boxes.

In the next post I'll show you what he ended up doing with it....

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!

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!

In The Nick Of Time

We’ve just had our worst case yet of ‘Boston Lodge Syndrome’, which is what happens when a modeller gets caught out by the craftsmen in Wales not following the script.

Himself has been progressing well with the painstaking job of lining out the new WHR observation car Gwyrfai when he sent me an alarming late night message saying “Er, shouldn’t there be a window above the door at the back?”

A quick google search confirmed the worst.

Bugger!

But how did that happen??

I dug out the drawings and it became apparent it had happened again....

Between us we quickly concluded that the only possible remedy was to drill holes in the styrene panel and file to shape.

It was a high risk strategy that could ruin the whole model of it went wrong.

Fortunately, Himself has pulled it off (at least on one side) with only minor damage to some lining which can be repaired.

What puzzles me most is that no one involved in building the real carriage - who I know read this blog - warned me.

First Class Job

It’s the turn of Gwyrfai for the paint shop, starting with the interior.

Something to note is the way Himself has tried to replicate the panelling on the ceiling and the lush carpeting and exposed framing of the armchairs.

The exterior has also had initial coats of plum, and cream on the doors, and soon it will be time for the painstaking task of applying the Pullman lining transfers.

Optimism

I’ve done my bit on Gwyrfai and it’s been delivered to Himself disguised amid bags of shopping from the supermarket.

The reference to optimism is regarding the number of chairs in the front saloon.

I’ve fitted 8 as per the design, however the carriage entered service with only 6.

Will it ever receive the missing pair as originally intended?

Will this be the carriage equivalent of the New Moelwyn Tunnel portals?

Am I going to look a right idiot?

Only time will tell......

Finishing Line In Sight

Finally I can see the end of the Gwyrfai project - it at least my bit of it.

Last night I finished the outstanding jobs on the interior, fitting the bulkheads, lowered the tables in the front saloon and fashioned something to represent the shelf at the front that actually hides a demister unit on the real carriage.

The remaining construction tasks now are to fit some steps, the electrical connections at the corridor end and fit some channels under the ceiling to help hold the glazing in.

After that I will deliver it to Himself - without breaching social distancing (!) - and he can have the dubious pleasure of painting and lining it.

Won’t that be fun!

* I should probably point out that I am a key worker & Himself lives on my route to work.

They’re In

So last night I decided to stop faffing about and get the interior fixed into Gwyrfai

The tricky bit is always making sure the seat backs are lined up with the window pillars precisely, but the slow setting super glue helps with this.

I have still to make up the bulkheads and I also need to cut down the height of the small tables in the front saloon where the windows come down lower.

It feels like a big step forward has been taken, though.

I Might As Well

I wasn’t intending to do this but I suppose there’s no particular hurry just now....

Months ago when I was casting the seats for Gwyrfai I couldn’t be bothered to add on the styrene arm  rests, reckoning that you can’t really see them anyway.

However, yesterday afternoon when I was meaning to begin fixing the chairs into position in the carriage I decided perhaps it wouldn’t do any harm to add them on?

I think it was probably an avoidance tactic so I didn’t have to commit to setting them in position - there’s always something unsettling about the prospect of getting out the Super Glue I find - not a very subtle modelling material at all...

The Importance Of Model Railways

In times like these when there is so much uncertainty, so much than can leave us fearful, I am reminded what a wonderful hobby model railways is.

It occurred to me as I was stubbornly attempting to force flat styrene sheet into a complex curved valance at the front of Gwyrfai that I’d completely forgotten about the Coronavirus and everything that goes with it.

It doesn’t have to be model trains, of course, because any practical hobby which requires you to focus on a task is brilliant therapy at an anxious time in all our lives.

With it looking like so much of our day to day lives are about to enter a prolonged slumber here in the UK (and elsewhere) it might be that I have more time to spend at my workbench, and if I do I shall be glad of it.

You’ll see from the photo that I’ve also applied and shaped the Milliput dome and I think it’s looking quite good, although a coat of primer will soon expose any flaws.

I think the next big job will be to fit the interior which is already cast.

In the meantime everyone...

Over The Top

The roof has been the focus of work on Gwyrfai this week.

In the photo you can see the structure I use with the flat false ceiling, longitudinal ribs and the styrene skin over the top and glued only at each edge.

I’ve also made some shapers to help form the sloped end at the front.

The voids will be filled with Milliput, which although it takes longer to set provides a much smoother and more solid structure than filler ever could.

Plastic Surgery

The camera can be unforgiving sometimes - this is not as rough as it looks when seen with the Mark One eyeball.

I’ve faced the brass former at the front of Gwyrfai with styrene and added the second layer of panelling detail.

The next job will be one of the most testing ones - to fit the roof skin and form the sloping front section.

Take The Floor

I had one of my most productive days in a while at the weekend getting to grips with the returned Gwyrfai.

The first task was to replace the temporary floor with one that fits all the way to the curved front, which will help to make it more rigid during handling.

I also knocked up the skirts along the side which hide all the brake gear and other ancillaries underneath.

Once that was done I prepared the false ceiling which will be used to secure the top of the body sides and will have the roof skin formers added next.

It is also the base for the domed end which will be shaped in Milliput.

Brass Front

It was a delicate operation but Himself has done a brilliant job fabricating and fixing on the brass front piece of Gwyrfai.

Now it’s my job to laminate it with a thin styrene surface and make a proper chassis to replace the temporary one it has just now.

I think it’s definitely captured the look of the real one, don’t you?

The challenge for us both will be to complete it in time for the Perth show at the end of June.

Back On The Straight And Narrow

For the moment the flirtation with standard gauge is over and Himself has scaled up to resume work on Gwyrfai

The plan was always for me to make 3/4 of the body shell out of styrene and for him to fabricate the curved front in brass.

This is it having a test fitting, and it looks pretty good to me!

Sitting Upright

I’ve got the last of the chairs for Gwyrfai cast, and while the ladies of the house watched a movie I was informed I would find very boring I snuck into the workroom to glue them together.



The bucket seats have a four legged base to be fixed on the bottom and most of the armchairs get put back to back, and all need a front support added as well.

The slightly fiddly job now is to fix two short piece of styrene horizontally to represent the arm rests, and then that’s them done.

Steady Progress

Casting of the interior parts for Gwyrfai continues steadily.

I’ve managed to get a couple of sets cast each day.

The bucket seats for the front are almost done but I’ve got a way to go with the armchairs.

I need 16 in total and before they can be fitted I have to make the arms from pieces of styrene and glue them all on.