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.

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.

2020 Review - Part 4

October

The output of new models slowed towards the end of the year, especially at my end of the operation as I spent more time concentrating on meeting requests for resin wagon kits and parts.

By now I had completed the prototype for the MOD flat wagon kit.

Himself spent a week volunteering on the FR and getting a look up closed at the new lining design on Welsh Pony.

We had always intended to finish ours in the green livery that was predicted all through the restoration, but now it looks like the running-in livery will be staying for a few years so we decided to take the plunge and apply that to our model, seen here with the black lining transfers around the edge being applied.

Himself also got round to a job he'd been meaning to tackle for a number of years, and overhaul the Steve Coulson working dioramas in our custody.

November

Progress can be an illusion sometimes.

Himself began applying the orange lining around the edge of the panels on Welsh Pony.

It looked fine on the tender, but once it added to the tighter areas like the cab sides it became painfully apparent that even the thinnest products from the Fox range would be unsuitable.

It was time for Plan B....

The delivery of the painted and lined cylinder covers for 130 to Dinas meant we could follow suit with confidence on ours.

There was more pipework added to the boiler unit which is the last part of the locomotive still under construction.

We can't complete it until we see pictures confirming the positions of all the pipes at the front of the cab.

December

Plan B for Welsh Pony meant stripping it right back to brass and starting again with a coat of primer and purple/plum from the airbrush.

We commissioned a set of bespoke transfers from Custom Model Decals and you can already see the results in some of the latest blog posts. 

I was kept busy with casting.

One customer asked if it was possible to produce some copies of the fake bogie frames we used on our Funkey diesels to disguise the N Gauge chassis.

An enquiry from one modeller turned into orders for 10 sets from all across the country, so that kept me busy for a few weeks.

Currently I am in the process of producing a prototype for a kit of the FR/WHR well wagon.

There's been good progress on the main body of the wagon.  

I'm hoping to finish it off with an etched brass deck covering but that may take a while to come to fruition.

That's the story of our 2020.

It was a year when it seems that railway modelling was given a shot in the arm by lockdown - within our homes at least - let's hope that in 2021 it might be possible to attend an exhibition again.

Wouldn't that be marvellous!

Jam Sandwiches

There's been a big step forward with Welsh Pony to round off 2020, with Himself applying the first of the main lining panels to the saddle tank.

They still need some tidying up on the corners but you get a clear impression of how they might turn out.

Because we seem to like doing things the hard way these panels are built up out of straight and corner sections, and the way the transfers have been printed onto the carrier film you have to cut them out as precisely as you can, which is tricky when they are so comparatively tiny.

The cocktail stick taped down beneath the tank gives you a sense of scale.

Just like on the real locomotive the main lining design draws the focus and you have to look really closely to spot the orange line around the edge.

Which makes you wonder whether it was really worth bothering with it?

 

It's Fine

Himself has made a start at the second attempt at lining out Welsh Pony in its devilishly ornate livery.

This task required reserves of courage, determination and patience to be stockpiled before setting out!

He's using the lining components sheets we had supplied for us and has begun with the impossibly small orange line, and its black border, around the outside of the panels.

There's still some tidying up of the corners to be done - an enlargements like this are very unforgiving - but I think it's encouraging progress.

He tells me the curved line around the front of the saddle tank was particularly challenging.

Still, at least he's got something to keep him occupied during the inevitable January lockdown......

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........

Chocolate Orange

Himself is already starting work on what I suspect will be a very complicated job of lining out Welsh Pony.

He's started with the gold / orange (call it what you like) band which runs around the outer edge of the panels.

The main part of the lining is going to need something bespoke.

The colours are so unusual that we can't really try replicating it with a composite made up from the menu of regular shades.

I've seen a few custom transfer producers are making sheets in larger scales but from my enquiries I've yet to receive a firm commitment to run some off in 4mm scale for us.

Hopefully we won't get stranded with a half-finished model....

Purple Patch

Himself has decided it is finally time to start painting Welsh Pony.

As you can see, we've bowed to the inevitable and decided to finish our model in the present day 'temporary' livery, which it seems will be a little more permanent.

I'm not entirely surprised, but I will admit to being a little disappointed because I quite liked the idea of the 'Garraway Green' as a glimpse of what might have been.

But in recent decades the default preference for the FR and its supporters has been for Victoriana and Spoonerism - the stand-out example of that being the decision to build the new Double Fairlie James Spooner rather than a rebuild of Earl of Merioneth, which represented the high point of 'Back to Blaenau' revivalism. 

As an FR supporter who is interested in the whole of its 184 year history I believe there is room for both, but I believe this imbalance will be corrected by changing demographics in support base in the decades to come.

How Long Can We Wait?

The FR has a long and noble tradition of the temporary becoming the almost-permanent.

Consider the New Moelwyn Tunnel portals as one of the more recent and high profile examples of this.

Now the rumours are growing stronger that Welsh Pony is heading down this road.

The 'chocolate box' lining revealed at the Bygones event has been met with rave reviews and we're hearing suggestions from usually reliable sources that it could be a couple of years before this 'running in' colour scheme is replaced with the intended Garraway Green.

All of which begs the question:  what should we do with our model which is still clothed only in primer?

We had intended to turn it out in green, but only after the real one appeared in that livery to make sure we don't get caught out.

But how long should we wait?

With other models such as 87 and Lyd, we turned ours out in the liveries in which they first ran - namely light grey and spoof BR black.

Should Pony follow this tradition?

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 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.