Dinas Debuts

I've got lots of pictures to show you and tales to tell from our weekend at the WHR running Bron Hebog at the Super Power event.

I'll start with a few snaps of some of our latest models which had their first outing on the layout.

The new locomotive this weekend was our Britomart adapted from a Brian Madge Alice cab-less Quarry Hunslet kit.

She's still in primer but is ready for the paintshop.

It was my first opportunity to see it move and I am delighted to be able to tell you that she runs superbly well: very smooth, almost silent and with no stutters or stalls even on fiddle yard pointwork. Quite remarkable for a locomotive of that size.

We had a couple of carriages which require only a coat of varnish and which were included in the rakes.

Our second 'Superbarn' 121..

...and the second of my 13m long WHR saloons from the batch of 3 built at Boston Lodge a few years back. (There is a third still in virgin styrene in a drawer somewhere back at our southern HQ)

And finally the WHR tool van which spent a lot of the weekend sitting in the sitting in the station out front posed with a pair of DZ wagons and the historic - and sadly scrapped - mess coach 1000 which saw use during the reconstruction of the line through Beddgelert.

I've got many more photos to post over the next few days - and a couple of surprises - so do keep checking back and see what you missed if you weren't able to make it to Wales.

Grime

Himself has begun weathering the Tool Van, starting with the end doors.

The rest of the wagon will also be made to look a lot grimier and unloved.

This weathering business is quite a recent departure for us.

For years we kept all our fleet of locos and rolling stock looking as they were on the day they left the paint shop.

I suspect it was mostly down to a mortal fear of buggering up the finish of a model you'd spent ages building and painstakingly painting but in recent years Himself has been working hard on refining his artistic skills with an airbrush and learning from some of the excellent tutorial DVD's on the market.

Having said all that, I doubt whether he's ready to cover his beloved Backwoods Garratts in a layer of filth yet. Good job the F&WHR crews keep them looking spick and span.

Tool Van Varnished

Now that Himself has access to his extended workshop once again he has been able to get his airbrush out again. (The boss won't allow it in the house.)

First in the queue for a coat of varnish is my model of the WHR tool van which was built up on a DZ wagon chassis which has been given one of Himself's excellent paint jobs.

I'm particularly impressed with the way he's picked out the edging of the cupboard at the back and the running number transfers on the blue panels.

This tool van will be one of a number of new items of rolling stock you will get to see if you make it along to visit us at the WHR Super Power - Great & Small event at Dinas next month.

Getting Darker

Himself has really been cracking on with the WHR Tool Van.

Its had a darker shade of maroon applied (EWS colour according to Railmatch) and most of the metal work has now been picked out in black and various steps and rails in bright yellow.

I'm told some of the lighter red is still showing through so it may need another coat.

I think it's looking very good indeed, although Himself tells me the finish comes complete with cat hairs. (The moggy was apparently having a rave with his pals in the modelling room while Himself was on holiday)

Back In Action

I have shamed Himself into a return to the modelling bench.

Most of the last month was frittered away with building a signal box on the real FR and lazing about on a Greek Island - such are the joys of semi-retirement it seems.

He arrived back on these shores, however, to find a box containing the WHR P-Way Tool Van and seemed somewhat taken aback when the reply to his question, "What am I supposed to with this?" was a simple: "Paint it!"

So he has - or at least the first coat.

There is currently a debate raging about whether the maroon colour should be the WHR carriage red, seen here in the pic, or the darker shade we used on the Romanian ballast wagon, which is described as EWS Red?

I think we're moving towards agreement on the darker option.

Steps, Rails & All The Gear

I've been cracking on with the WHR Tool Van this week and it's almost there.

Although the progress doesn't look spectacular there are a lot of details that have been added that all contribute greatly to the look of the complete model.

The handrail on the end which I mentioned in the last post has been fixed in position now.

The usual SAR brake gear has been glued and assembled. Because it's essentially a flat DZ wagon it's just a case of fitting on the etched components designed for my resin kits, most obviously the V hangers and the hand wheels at each end.

I have also knocked up a pair of footsteps from brass strip which are positioned at the platform end of the wagon.

Being cheap - or what I prefer to see as sensible recycling - I did not go to the expense of buying in a pack of brass strip for this purpose, I just snipped a section of thin waste fret from a large A4 sheet that came from Narrow Planet to hold together 30 sets of bogie parts.

It needed to be thinned a little further with a file but it's much better for the soul that paying for a whole pack when you only require a 50mm length...

You might also be able to spot the remains a couple of the hinges that used to support the doors in the long-distant days when this was a proper DZ wagon.

Tool Van Progress

I've had my fill of houses for the moment so last week I gave a bit more attention to the WHR Tool Van.

If you recall, this is a sort of shed-on-wheels which was plonked onto a stripped-down DZ wagon.

The latest developments are the doors at the 'platform' end of the wagon, the roof, and the handrail at the end.

The handrail is just resting in place in its locating holes, by the way. It's not really that wonky.

I'm rather pleased with the way the handrail has turned out.

Soldering is still a comparatively new skill for me and this handrail had to be fabricated from 7 bits of brass wire of different sizes.

The challenge, of course, is to not melt all your other joints as you add each subsequent bit.

I have no doubt that expert solderers will scoff at those joints but it will do for me for now.

Van Body

With three of the sides now made the WHR Tool Van is starting to come together and look the part.

Although most of the van body is now complete there's still lots of stuff to add to the wagon.

The Tool Van had all sorts of stuff hung on the side from what I can see in pictures of it in use.

On one side where two giant black boards with white crosses on them, for use during track occupations, and on the other side a big frame which looks something like the contraptions you see on the side of glaziers vehicles on the road.

I have no idea what its purpose was on this wagon but there's probably someone who's about to tell me.

Fake Frames

More progress to report with the WHR Tool Van.

I've started faking up the framing on one of the sides.

Why do I say fake?

Well, it's another one of those occasions where a model is made in completely the opposite fashion to the prototype.

On the real wagon the volunteers began by forming a framework out of metal angle section and then installing the walls behind, whereas I have started with the walls and added the frame on top.

Because I am cheap I have used channel section styrene and sliced off one side rather than investing in a pack of L angle, but it looks effective enough.

Its propped in place for the photo, hence the presence of the bottle of correction fluid.  (No brand names for non-modelling products here!)

Mock The Wagon

I've begun work on the WHR tool van.

As I have no measurement for the van part of the wagon I've had to work it out from photographs using the known dimensions of the DZ wagon chassis on which it sits as the starting point.

Because my maths skills are not the most reliable I started out cutting the blank pieces for one side and end to see if they looked as if they are reasonably right size when mounted on a flat wagon.

I have concluded they are acceptable, so I shall give myself permission to press on with the project.

You may notice that the frames on the wagon chassis are very plain.

This is because I have used pieces of plain styrene rather than the cast sides that come with the DZ flat wagon kit which have the remains of various hinges and brackets attached to them.

The tool van chassis had most of these gas-axed off when it was converted, except for a few at the platform end of it.

I had intended to shave and file these details from the castings but soon realised it would be far simpler to add a few details to plain sides than attempt to remove lots of them from fully detailed ones.

Tool Van

With so much commercial kit production going on recently I've rather been neglecting model making for Bron Hebog.

So I've decided to put that right with a small project which usefully utilises the fruits of my resin casting sideline.

It is the WHR Tool Van.

This mobile lock-up was built by volunteers on top of a flat DZ wagon - number 2002 I think - and so I've got a big head start on this project.

There are quite a few photographs of it on the web and an excellent side on view in the FR / WHR Stock Book from which I should easily be able to extrapolate the dimensions of the van bit from the known dimensions of a DZ wagon chassis.

As ever, progress reports will be forthcoming here.