Review Of The Year - Part 1

I've established a tradition on this blog in the last days of December of taking stock of everything that Himself and I have achieved over the year.

I usually find there are things that I've forgotten about, and I'm always surprised by how much we've got done.

So here's a look back at what we were up to in the first quarter of 2018.

January

Looking back now I see that there was a lot of carriage building going on at this time.

FR 'superbarn' 118, which I'd built up from resin castings, had been painted, assembled, had its transfers applied and, finally, varnished.

Himself was also starting work on a very long-term project indeed - the completion of a Worsley Works bowsider 19 which had been sitting in a drawer in its naked state for years.

I was also busy trying to keep up with the expanding WHR carriage fleet and had started work on saloon 2047 which was being scratch built in styrene - as opposed to the resin parts I use for the latest FR stock.

February

This was the big reveal of our finished Robex 3D printed Lilla.

I thought at the time - and still do - that it looks absolutely stunning!

We'd decided to finish it in its current, highly ornate, plum livery with oodles of gold leaf lining.

It was taking up all Himself's reserves of patience and concentration but it was already clear the results were going to be worth it.

He'd also restarted work to plug the last remining scenic gap on the layout, landscaping around the last two houses I'd built.

March

There was yet more carriage work going on with me kit-bashing a Dundas 'Bro Madog' carriage to make it look like it's current condition on the WHHR.

As to why I was doing it, that was about to be revealed...

I'd also been putting together the castings for the second of the latest FR observation carrs 152 ready for Himself to add a brass roof and the window pillars at the front.

The reason I was making a WHHR carriage became clear when I handed over Himself's birthday present - a Robex print for the Bagnall Gelert.

I had confidence that he'd make a fine job of the body, after what he'd done with Lilla

The challenge for him was going to be doing the outside frame adaptation on a Fleischman chassis to go under it.

I had a feeling he wasn't going to thank me for that...

The Car's The Star

There's a lot that's been done to the layout since the last time we showed it at Dinas, three years ago, and a lot of new stock to run on it too.

I expect, however, that one of the star attractions when we're at Welsh Highland Superpower next weekend - at least among those in the know - will be looking for the crashed car at Bron Hebog crossing.

One of the perils of making a layout of a real place, and a reasonably contemporary one as well, is that there is never a shortage of people to tell you whether or not you've done it right, and even more so when you go and show it a few miles down the road from the actual place.

I'm expecting that the Oberon Woods estate scene will be getting a through going over because each time we've taken the layout to Dinas we've had people coming up who live there and asking us if we're going to be making a model of their house?

Well, now we have.

The big question is, will it pass muster?

Spy In The Sky

Nothing much new to report today except I spotted something the other day which I thought you might enjoy seeing.

While Himself has got parts of Bron Hebog set up in the garage to realign the board joints it's left some of the boards which are not being used standing upright around the edge of the room.

(Usually they are stored in pairs, face to face.)

The one at the south end of the station with the Oberon Wood scene on it caught my eye.

I realised that you when you have the layout set up you never really get the chance to get a birds-eye from directly overhead, so I took this snap.

If you'll forgive my immodesty I think it looks pretty damned good.

Talking Turf

A little more scenic work has been done on the last bit of the housing estate scene.

I guess Himself must have wrapped up warm before heading into the garage because my post last week about the weather getting milder appears to have been classic case of speaking too soon given what we've just been through!

The areas around these two houses are quite complicated with a mix of lawn, tarmac, slate waste and gravel to represent.

There are still quite a lot of small details to add, such as fencing, sheds and even a playhouse.

Speaking of which, if we're being completely accurate the bungalow should really have a hot tub on the patio if we're being completely authentic.

Should we?

Out Of Hibernation

It would be foolish to declare the end of winter is in sight but we've enjoyed a comparatively warm spell on the Costa del Clyde in recent days, warm enough, in fact, for Himself to venture into the garage and resume work on the estate scene.

He has started work on landscaping around the final two bungalows (mostly) at the front of the layout, with the aid of some plaster.

The area towards the bottom of the picture above (in front of the conservatory) will be grassed over as the garden.

On the other side - facing the operators, so the bit most folk don't see - are the front entrances to the houses which will be mostly gravel or paving.

How much more gets done, and how soon, is very much in the hands of the weather systems I suspect, but Himself has plenty to keep him busy indoors and outdoors right now.

Review Of The Year - Part 3

July

The early part of the summer was taken up with work on the housing estate scene.

The conservatory which I had to build for the back of the latest house was one of the more challenging bits of the estate I've had to make.

Himself had been doing some work on the gardens of the houses which are already in place on Bron Hebog.

He'd also been busy creating the cemetery above the crossing on the far left hand side of the layout.

August

I decided to take a break from house building and put together the castings for Superbarn 118 which I'd cast the previous year but kept stored.

Himself was also giving some attention to the scenery on the top of Goat Tunnel, planting a copse of trees.

We also made a start on the last major scenic challenge on Bron Hebog which is lining the Cutting Mawr at the back of the layout with rock.

Instead of using slabs of real rock, which is what we did on Dduallt, we've decided to try casting copies of sections in resin which will be lighter and make the layout slightly less heavy.

September

By this time I'd started work on the last two houses to complete the Oberon Woods estate scene, both of them are detached (mostly) bungalows.

Himself had a few models which needed priming and decided it was time to give our Welsh Pony a coat.

The photo was taken in black and white - if it was in colour you would see that the primer is actually red oxide.

We did use grey primer as the base coat of the new Superbarn 118 which was ready to start being painted.

It's seen here on the shelf in front of some of the Superbarn fleet including the service car 125 and the observation car 150.

Review Of The Year - Part 2

April

At the start of the year Himself had begun painting our Britomart, a few months later it was finally lined out and had its name and works plates fitted.

The finished effect was terrific!

He was also making the finishing touches to another model which featured in our January review, the service car 125, which had received a coat of varnish and was ready to join the fleet.

I had made rapid progress with the latest house for the estate scene which was looking pretty much finished.

Or so I thought.....

May

Yes, I spoke too soon.

I had to pull it to bits in places because I'd come across an aerial picture of the estate which showed me aspects of this house which I had never noticed before, including an entire extension on the back.

Fortunately with styrene it's easy enough to splice in new bits.

Yet another long-term project came to fruition this month when our model of observation car 150 had its (very complex) lining finished and the glazing added.

It was so impressive I had to take some portrait shots on Bron Hebog.

June

Our attention in the early months of the summer was all about the estate scene.

The house which you saw me building earlier in the review was ready to be tried out in place on Bron Hebog.

Around the same time I was already well on the way to filling the gap site at the top of the picture with one of the more interesting houses on the development - which is saying something given the unconventional shape of many of them.

We'll begin looking at the second half of the year next time.

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.

Sofa So Good

I wrote in a previous post that I was concerned that the conservatory on the back of the bungalow was going to look conspicuously empty unless we made some attempt to put some furniture in there.

Unknown to me Himself has had a go at knocking up a table and a couple of armchairs and I think he's done a jolly good job of it.

He tells me that he has also stuck an old Tiny Signs poster on the wall of the house to look like a picture has been hung up.

As you can see he has also built up the rather complex patio and steps around the back of the property.

There are other details which we might get around to adding to the scene.

When I have the time and inclination I might see if I can make something up to represent the owners' hot tub which sits in front of the French windows.

The question is whether we should model anyone actually using it?

So here's the state of play with the houses sitting in position.

In case you were curious I got an answer about how the decking was done and it turns out that Himself did indeed glue on each plank individually.

White And Cream

Himself has been busy painting the final two houses for the Oberon Woods scene.

On our rolling stock we usually use enamel paints but the Artistic Director taught him how to use acrylics to the best effect on the buildings.

One of the major advantages is the much faster drying time which explains why he's got them to this stage already.

I think he's done a terrific job with the stone cladding on the front of the bungalow, especially since he has challenges seeing his colours.

This house is the only one in the scene which is not painted white, although in our research I spotted there was one small area, above the conservatory, where there is still a wee patch poking through.

He has also been working on the neighbouring property which has had some of its landscaping features fixed to it, such as the sunken pathway to the front door and the driveway in front of the garage.

At the rear is an extensive area of decking.

I'm not sure (because he hasn't told me) whether he made this by laying individual strips of styrene or used an embossed styrene sheet.

It will be good to see them sitting in position on the layout and with all the rest of the gardens around them.

On Level Ground

Having taken a month's sabbatical from modelling to scratch build a luxury guinea pig apartment complex (or a hutch, if you prefer) I'm pleased to report that Himself is back to work on Bron Hebog.

He has begun by preparing the ground for the siting of the final two houses of the Oberon Woods scene.

You may remember that previously this bit of baseboard had a temporary sloping cover.

Now that has been taken off and replaced with a flat base for the buildings to sit on.

The houses still have to be painted and once that's done they will be fixed in position and the land built up around them so that they sit in the landscape not on it.

Oh, and in case you were curious, here's a snap of the aforementioned hutch.

And, no, he's not taking orders!