Pic Of The Week 10

Light. It's funny stuff isn't it?

David Lloyd George is a chameleon-like locomotive which has a very different appearance depending upon the conditions in which you view it, and our model is much the same.

Getting the colour right was a big challenge.

Some times I'm not at all sure we succeeded, but then when I see Chris Nevard's picture I'm pretty pleased with the shade we plumped for.

I think the real locomotive's hue is best described as Heinz Tomato Soup, whereas what we ended up with on this Backwoods model is more like the Strathclyde PTE orange livery of blessed memory around the area where I live.

We were conscious when choosing the colour of the convention of painting models a shade lighter than the prototype. Some people even advocate using dark grey in place of black at all times.

However I do wonder whether DLG is the exception to this rule.

What do you think?

Stocking Up

The resin has been flowing into the moulds at a fair old rate in recent weeks.

Having fulfilled all outstanding orders I have finished casting a batch of B Wagon kits destined for the shelves of the Ffestiniog Railway's model shop at Harbour Station (and through the Festshop website).

With those completed I have now turned my attention to producing a selection of B and DZ wagon kits for Narrow Planet to try and shift on their trade stand at exhibitions.

I've also managed to produce enough bits for us to make models of the six wagons recently delivered to the WHR from South Africa for us to run on Bron Hebog.

A very rough calculation suggests that I have already cast around 40 of these B wagon kits. Not bad going.

Broaching The Subject

I made an excellent investment the other day - and now I wonder how I ever managed to make models for more than two decades without one of these tools?

They are - in case you were wondering - a set of broaches, and they've already proved invaluable in clearing the axlebox holes in the Bettendorf bogie castings for my kits.

Until now I've been managing to do jobs like this with a round file. And to be honest I was rather hesitant about shelling out £20 for them at the trade stand at Model Rail Scotland, but Himself told me (not in so many words) to stop being so tight. And he was right.

Although a file did clear the holes it was a time consuming process and I snapped quite a few of the very delicate castings while attempting to open them up enough for the brass bearing cups to fit through.

With a broach the process take seconds and I'm much less likely to damage the castings while doing it.

Pic Of The Week 9

For my 500th post I can think of nothing better than one of the best pictures of our layouts I have ever seen.

Chris Nevard took this exquisite shot of the Ladies Linda and Blanche in the woods at the back of the sprial on Dduallt.

It shows off the stunning Backwoods kits and the lovely painting and lining job by Himself perfectly.

Indeed, I am given to understand that this shot was considered as a possible cover image for Model Rail when Dduallt was featured back in December, but a standard gauge, 00 subject was chosen instead.

It's Hammer Time

I'm intending to make a Mallet.

My apologies to those who don't immediately get the pun. I appreciate these locomotives should properly be pronounced mal-ay, in a poncy French accent, but I'm a journalist and I can't help it!

The loco in question is this one.

I call it the Jung Number 9, as do many others, because we can't get our tongues nor our fingers around the full name of the machine which was built for service a the sugar mill railway in Indonesia and which now resides on the Statfold Barn Railway in the English Midlands.

It visited the WHR in 2012 where it took part in the 'King of the Hill' contest, which was embarrassing won by the elderly Ladies of Penrhyn, Linda and Blanche - the four-coupled sisters putting various articulated competitors firmly in their place in the timed runs to the summit of the line.

My plan is to use an N gauge Minitrix Mallet as the basis of this project, and so I recently paid a small fortune on a popular Germanic auction website for this example.

(Fortunately I managed to secure it before the UK lost its AAA credit rating and Sterling plunged against the Euro!)

I'm sure there will be pedants out there who will delight in pointing out that this chassis isn't a perfect match because the Jung Mallet has inside frames on the front, articulated bogie, but outside frames on the rear - fixed - half, whereas the Minitrix doesn't.

This is perfectly true, but - unless Himself volunteers to attempt to deconstruct the rather small mechanism and try to fit extended axles and cranks - I'm sure I'll be able to live with it.

It is, after all, only supposed to be a 'nice to have' novelty loco as opposed to a core member of the Bron Hebog fleet.

A more important consideration is that I have not come across anyone who says they have seen drawings of this machine. Apparently there was a fire at the makers which destroyed many records. So it seems that our only option is to measure the loco ourselves.

I am very grateful that the bosses at the SBR have readily agreed to allow us access to the locomotive and hopefully I'll be sending Himself along there with a tape measure and a notepad in the not too distant future.

Property Development

A certain Irish brewery once had the slogan: 'Good things come to those who wait.'

The strap line was alluding to the inordinate length of time it takes for a barman to pour the beverage but they might equally have been referring to the productivity of our Artistic Director.

It's never a good idea to hold your breath when Francis tells you he's going to do something, but when he does finally come up with the goods the results - assuming you haven't inadvertently asphyxiated yourself in the intervening period - are always top notch.

He hasn't disappointed me with his latest production, a set of plans for some of the modern houses we have to model in the Oberon Wood development to the south of Beddgelert station, beside the cutting leading to Goat Tunnel.

These are not mere sketches - they are works of art in their own right, as you can see.

These are the two houses in question which we will tackle first.

I'll be showing you how I get on with building them here on the blog in the weeks and months ahead.

Rhyd Reunion

My main reason for visiting the Model Rail Scotland exhibition in Glasgow last weekend was to see one of my 7mm models in its new home.

Last year I made this model of FR Observation Carriage 100 (the original one) for a modeller called David John who lives in the Highlands and he brought his layout Rhyd to the show at the SECC.

If you're wondering where you've seen it before, the layout is the cover star in the latest edition of Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review.

It's not a large layout but it is superbly detailed with beautifully observed features. One of my favourites was not a locomotive, carriage or even a structure but the representation of a riverside path. It was so good you felt you could almost step into the scene and take a stroll.

David does have some super stock to run including this model of Prince which, unusually, portrays the 'England engine on steroids' as it exists on the FR today. The taller cab and the fatter smokebox are giveaway features.

There was also a heavily weathered Funkey, Vale of Ffestiniog making occasional forays into the scene.

I very much enjoyed seeing my carriage being put to use and admiring David's layout.  If you ever notice Rhyd on the bill at an exhibition near you I can highly recommend a visit,  You won't be disappointed.