Review Of The Year - Part 1

And so we come to the end of another year of lockdown and exhibition-less modelling - for us at least.

It's ironic that the reason I began this blog nearly a million page views ago, was to have a way of showing off what we were doing while we were in the long process of building Bron Hebog, and while Dduallt was retired from shows.

Never could I have imagined we'd face such a sustained period where modelling, once again, became an almost exclusively private activity in your home, with no communal outlet.

It's one reason to be thankful for the opportunities the online world gives us.

Now, as I always do at the end of December, I'm going to take a look back - three months at a time - at some of the highlights of our modelling .

January

I'm afraid to say that there's been little progress since the start of the year on my prototype for the FR infrastructure well wagon,

Since this picture was taken I have found a way to cast the deck pieces in styrene, but it still doesn't have any couplings so has yet to be given any sort of test run.

Himself was busy adding the final pipe runs onto to the boiler unit of the Backwoods NG G16 kit for our model of the freshly restored 130.

And he was also well on the way to lining out a set of three 3mm Hawksworth carriage kits he'd been making as a favour to the Engineering Consultant - a man who was destined for higher things before the year was out!

February

This was the year my son reached an age where he was ready for his first OO layout, and I found my moulding and resin casting skills came in handy fixing a second hand Mainline wagon which had lost one of its sliding doors on one side.

Once the pipe runs were finished on the real locomotive, Himself wasted no time in getting our 130 painted, lined, and sent on a test run on Bron Hebog.

It really looked quite the part!

Another locomotive which was finished off - after many years - was our Mercian Welsh Pony, which looks absolutely stunning matched with the Victorian set.

March

Our James Spooner II project was in danger of running perilously far ahead of the real build as Himself had a play around with the etches to see how the half cab arrangement would work,

This is a model I hope we can expect more updates on in 2022.

Many years after our first model was stolen at an exhibition, Himself finished off his long-term project to make a replacement of the works shunter Harold. (aka, Shitty the Shunter)

At this time I was busy working on a commission for a scratch built model of Carnforth buffet car 114 in styrene.

To be continued...

That Works

We're delighted, once again, at a terrific job done for us by our friends at Light Railway Stores with a set of works plates for the cab side of Welsh Pony.

These really are quite tiny, but it's amazing the detail which they still get onto them.

The only problem is we forgot that the loco has two on each side, and only ordered one pair - oops!

Hopefully it won't take too long for a second set to arrive.

Speaking of Welsh Pony, it was very satisfying to get further confirmation that we made the right call in deciding to finish the model in its current guise.

Any student of the FR post-revival knows that anything described as 'temporary' ends up being anything but.

The latest edition of the FR Magazine includes an article mentioning that the loco is expected to stay in this condition for at least ten years.

Good job we didn't decide to wait for it to appear in the Garraway Green livery, then.....

Go Large

Sometimes progress on our layouts and stock moves at the speed of glaciers, but the end result is always worth the wait.

So it is with our 'Large England' Welsh Pony which is 99.9% finished nearly 8 years after construction began - and many more still since the ill-fated Mercian kit was purchased.

It's been put back together and test run after varnishing, and I have to say it really looks the part on the Victorian set.

The missing 0.1% is the works plates on the cab sides - we're having some slightly smaller ones etched for us by our friends at Narrow Planet.

This is now our fourth complete England Engine - although only three of them are powered.

Maybe it's time to stage an official line-up in the fiddle yard?

Almost There

The arrival of warmer weather has allowed Himself to venture into the garage / workshop and unleash the airbrush on a number of models which have been awaiting a protective coat of vanish.

Of most interest to readers of this blog, I'm sure, are our latest FR and WHR locomotives.

Welsh Pony has all its transfers applied now, although when this photo was taken was still awaiting the fitting of the nameplates.

130 has been refitted with a lot of the extra piping and the handrails are the last things to be fitted, along with its number plates on the cab.

Both are going to make stunning models when they are reassembled and tested, hopefully within the next few days.

Plum Again

Himself is painting Welsh Pony for the second time.

Having been stripped back to brass and primed it's now been sprayed with the Lancashire and Yorkshire purple brown colour.

Now he tells me he's trying to pluck up the courage to have a second go at lining it our with the new transfers we commissioned.

Stripped Back

The Welsh Pony project has taken a step back ahead of - I hope - the final canter to completion.

Dissatisfied with the first attempt at lining out - and the residue it left on the surface after removal - Himself has got the paint stripper out and removed the original coat of purple brown gloss and the red oxide primer beneath, taken it back to brass and applied a fresh coat of grey primer.

This is all because we've received a sheet of bespoke lining transfers to try out.

As is our masochistic habit, we've decided to apply the lining from a combination of straights and corners, rather than one-piece prints that are available in larger scales.

That's our choice, and if you keep checking back on this blog you'll find out whether we live to regret it or not....

In the picture at the top you can see how the Mercian kit for the England engines comes apart for painting.

The motor is fixed into the body frame, rather than the chassis, and it's also worth considering that - according to the design - it should be mounted in a transverse position.

Well, good luck with that........

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.

Grey And Black

Every now and then Himself is tempted to take things to extremes.

Not content with making sure that the cab of our Welsh Pony is finished in grey, as per the real one, he decided to try and replicate the black borders in the corners and around the doorways.

This very neat trick was achieved using black waterslide lining transfers.

He has also managed to paint the end of the saddle tank black, which must have taken a lot of care and skill in such a confined space.

I feel bound to say that I don't think he would have been so keen to attempt this if it wasn't for a friend of ours, who is making a model of the locomotive in 7mm scale, posting on social media that he wasn't going to attempt to pick out the end of the tank and was going to leave it grey.

Given the size differential between the two scales you'd be forgiven for concluding that this is a clear case of one upmanship on Himself's part....

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.

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.

Review Of The Year - Part 1

Let's face it, there's not a lot of modelling gets done in the run up to Christmas, so I've got into the habit on the blog of taking stock of what we have achieved over the course of a year.

Quite often I end up surprising myself with how much has been done, because progress on a model can be such a haphazard affair that you sometimes don't realise how many things you have been working on over the period.

January

At the start of the year Himself was putting the finishing touches to our scratch built model of the new FR service car 125.

A few miles down the coast I was starting work on one of the more obvious missing pieces on Bron Hebog - the ruined barn which sits in the middle of the S bend.

And after many years sitting in primer Himself got around to painting the exquisite model of Britomart which was built up from a Brian Madge Quarry Hunslet kit  (which are sadly filed under H for Hen's Teeth currently, more's the pity.)

February

There were other locomotive loose ends which Himself set about tidying up earlier this year, including the long-standing issue we had with the wheels on our Welsh Pony.

This model was built - with extreme difficulty! - from another now unavailable kit  (do you spot a trend here?) and the problem was that one of the wheels on it was slightly less than round.

Our little pony ran with a nasty limp.

Fortunately, one of my contacts who knows the manufacturer was able to obtain a replacement set of wheels, for which we are most grateful.

Himself pulled the chassis part and replaced them, with the result that it now runs much more satisfactorily as you can see below.

Which is more than can be said about the real Welsh Pony! (Patience is a virtue...)

As milder weather arrived he ventured into the garage and began scenic work on the layout again, making a start on the scale miles of post and wire fencing alongside the line.

I was very taken with an overhead shot he took of the farmyard area, which I think showed off the subtlety of the scenic work he's been doing.

March

While that was going on Himself had been painting the old barn which was ready to be tried out in position on the layout, and looked very effective.

We'd also taken a radical step into a new technology: 3D printing.

For his birthday I bought him a copy of the Robex design for the unique Quarry Hunslet Lilla which I had been admiring for some time after seeing pictures of models which other people had made.

Until now all our locomotives have had brass or white metal bodies.

Himself found that bits fell off this one from virtually the first time he held it, which didn't do much to endear him to the medium.

On my workbench I had begun another stretch of house building with the intention of finally finishing the Oberon Woods estate scene.

To be continued after Christmas.

Grey Pony

Followers of progress on the FR will know that parts of the real Welsh Pony are being painted at Boston Lodge just now, and it seems to have motivated Himself to do something to our version.

This is the ill-fated Mercian kit - with a chassis that cannot be built without a great deal of bodging - and as you can see the arrangement is rather unconventional with the motor placed in the frame rather than fixed to the chassis.

We are hoping to finish our model in the same livery as the locomotive when its restoration is complete.

As it is likely to appear initially with a temporary paint job it looks like we will have to play the waiting game a while longer.

VIDEO: A Gentle Canter

I got to see for myself at the weekend the dramatic improvement in the performance of our Welsh Pony since the new wheels were fitted.

Currently there is around half the layout erected in the garage (there isn't room to put the whole thing up, alas) a section running from the top fiddle yard (just beyond Bron Hebog crossing) down to the points at the Caernarfon end of the platform loop and the old arched bridge across the Afon Cwm Cloch.

So here for you to enjoy are a trio of short videos of our little pony trotting along with our latest incarnations of carriages 11 and 12.

Back In Harness

Our Welsh Pony is back in business after a successful wheel transplant.

Himself reports that the loco now runs more smoothly and without the notable lurch it had before.

Closer inspection of the old wheel sets suggests that the problem was not a driving wheel which had the axle hole off-centre, as we suspected, but a tyre which was not a perfect circle.

The shot above reminds us what a lovely looking model the Mercian Kit made before it was withdrawn from sale - it's a shame the chassis / gearbox design was such a horror show.

As I recall, it was impossible to fit the components provided with the kit into the space available and Himself bodged it up with a replacement gearbox.

I suppose our Pony will have to be put to one side until we see what the real one looks like when it's finished - fingers crossed it will happen in its 150th anniversary year.

Pony Wheels

For the last couple of years our model of Welsh Pony has been put to one side in a state of semi-completeness.

This is entirely logical in that the locomotive should (hopefully) turn a wheel again for the first time since the 1930's later this year, and once we get to see the completed locomotive we can finish ours to match.

There has been another reason, however, why it's been ignored, and that's because it was born malformed.

Alas, this is a lame pony.

The reason is that one of the wheels on the kit - which I understand has been withdrawn from sale and, somewhat appropriately, is now as rare as rocking horse poo - came with its axle hole drilled off-centre meaning the engine has always with run with a very pronounced lurch.

Fortunately for us, one of my contacts knows the kit producer and has been able to procure a spare set for us.

(Yes, I know they look like Small England wheels, but there is an etched disc which is glued on top to make them look like the Large England's more solid wheels.)

The challenge now for Himself is to see if he can get our little nag galloping along before the FR does.

Review of 2014: Part 1

January

In the final days of the year I like to look back at everything we've achieved in our modelling at opposite ends of the country.

January 2014 began with Himself putting the finishing touches to our model of Welsh Pony which he built - after a long struggle - from a Mercian Models kit.

It looks better than it runs, which is mainly on account of some distinctly un-centred wheels, and nothing more has been done on it in the last twelve months.

We shall wait until the FR has completed the restoration of the real Welsh Pony, but as they're making impressive progress on that we shouldn't have to wait too long.

It's also amusing to look back and see that the year has been book-ended with me casting interiors for Super Barn carriages.

Back in January this was the first one I'd done.

Himself was also starting work on making our third NGG16 from the fabulous Backwoods Miniatures kit.

February

Progress was so swift that by the next month I was reporting the completion of the rear power unit. I could look at that valve gear all day...

I was cracking on with making a trio of Super Barn carriages for a client with the body parts cast in resin and the roofs cut from an empty super-sized beer can.

It's a hard life sometimes!

The Artistic Director also produced some long-awaited plans for the 3rd & 4th houses in the Oberon Wood estate which were a true work of art as always.

March

It didn't take me very long to get the first of the houses knocked up in styrene.

Himself sent us some 'works portaits' of our completed 138 which, unlike Welsh Pony, moves as good as it looks.

And with the deadline for our next exhibition appearance in September a big push began to try and get the layout as complete as possible.

April

Things started getting heavy, quite literally, in April as Himself began work on the rock faces in Cutting Mawr using real Welsh rock.

May

By this time I'd sent down the 3rd house which was in the process of being positioned on the layout and the landscape built up around it.

The 'Head of Steel' advanced rapidly with track being laid on another new board, the gently curving section which makes up the final part of the big S bend behind Beddgelert station.

June

I was being kept busy making another batch of Super Barns for another client, this lot had to be supplied painted but without interiors.

At the same time I was also getting on well with making the 4th house for the estate.

There are common themes to the designs but they are all different so you have to pay close attention to the plans drawn up by the Artistic Director and cross-check with my on research photographs.

This one required some corrections late on in the build process...

At the back of the layout Himself was making the last of the bridges over the Afon Cwm Cloch.

Here is a shot of him checking clearances with a Garratt and the longest carriage, the Pullman observation car 'Glaslyn'.

 

To be continued....