Almost there..

My own ballast wagons, for Bron Hebog, are nearing completion.

All that remains now is to fit the brass hand wheels which are being etched for me by Worsley Works, and also some brass steps will need bending for each corner.

Then they'll be sent down south for painting by the team who have been practising weathering techniques on standard gauge 4mm stock recently, so I'm expecting great things of them on these honest workhorses of the WHR.

Re-branding

The offer of a scratch building service has proved more popular than I expected.

I've now received commissions for more ballast wagons and now DZ wagons too.

So I reckon it's time to get a bit more professional about this.

Bron Hebog Scratchbuilding Services was a bit of a mouthful so I thought I should re- brand, and being a journalist I can never resist a good pun, so I have thrown open the virtual doors to 'Boston Largs Works'.

And to keep this venture separate from my personal modelling I've begun a complementary blog - there's link on the right of the page.

Attack Of The Clones

Another day's work on the outside contract for Colin and the ballast wagons are multiplying.



(The one's for Colin are without the door opening mechanisms yet)

I did manage to make a wee bit of progress with my pair too, adding the vacuum reservior cylinders which live under those Z shape supports at the front.

Factory Line

Here's a snap of the first products on the BHSS (Bron Hebod Scratchbuilding Services) production line. 2 WHR Ballast Wagons destined for Colin Lea's Rhyd Ddu layout.

What you see here is about three and a half hours work. They've come together rather more quickly to this stage than my own models did, but then that's always the way with prototypes and production versions.

Of course, making two doesn't necessarily take twice as long as building one. Although you do have to do all the cutting twice a lot of time is used up searchng for the right size of plasticard strip, locating lost tools and scratching your head wondering how you did this bit the last time.

If I was any good at advanced mathematics I could turn it into a neat little formula - but I'm not so I can't!

Going into business

For 20 years I've just been making models for myself, now I am to become a manufacturer.

Well, sort of.

I've agreed to make another two of the WHR ballast wagons for Colin Lea for his Rhyd Ddu layout which is having it's first show at ExpoNG this autumn.

Bron Hebog Scratchbuilding Services is open for business.

The fiddly bits

Getting on with the hopper door detail now.



Making the shafts which control the opening and closing mechanism is rather fiddy, with cutting fine slices from styrene tube to represent the cog wheels (unfortunately they won't have any teeth detail but hopefully that won't notice too much when they're on the layout) and also drilling out holes in stip to make the bearing brackets (is that what they're called?)

So that's one side done - three more to do.

Back to work

After a week away on holiday in the Cairngorms - Newtonmore and Kingussie highly recommened, by the way - it's time to pick up where I left off with the ballast wagons.

The basic outlines of the ballast spreading contraptions have been knocked up, the next job is to add on the door detail and control shafts.

This is where the project starts to get fiddly!