The Bit In The Middle

With both the power units completed Himself has started on the main unit of 138 which as you can see consists mainly of a big boiler on a big frame.

Backwoods aficionados may have spotted he's made a slight change to the mounting position for the rear unit which has been set back slightly to allow more wiggle room on bends and point work.

(Nothing worse than a Garratt that's not bendy enough..)

It's a mod we've carried out on all our NGG16's and involves soldering on the rear reinforcing plate the other way round and drilling through the running plate again.

This just sets it back by half a hole, not very much, but allows the model to take curves better.

The front unit is mounted in the original position.

Himself is making very rapid process so expect another update this weekend.

Flat Pack

There's been a sudden surge in demand for my DZ flat wagon kits so the workbench as been turned over to resin casting once more.

I'm currently working my way through orders for 15 of them which fellow modellers wish to use as base for various SAR 2 foot gauge wagons, so of which will have scratch built bodies added to them while the intention is that others will sit beneath 3D printed bodies.

Crest Quest

Yet again patience has paid off.

Long term readers may recall that over a year or so ago we discovered a transfer maker (Precision Decals) who produced the most exquisite 4mm scale FR garter crests for us.

They were far superior to what was already available in terms of colour, detail and definition and I raved about them here on the blog.

I asked the owner if he would consider designing and producing an example of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland crest, which adorns the modern WHR stock for us.

He said he would but warned it was an incredibly complex design which would take a lot of time and effort to produce the art work for, time which would probably never be repaid given the relatively limited NG modelling market.

It has taken a long while but he has been as good as his word and I received a wonderful surprise a couple of days ago when I opened my inbox to see a message saying they were now available, not only in 4mm scale but also in 7mm and in three versions.

There is the standard English lettering, the Welsh version (below) and a third, longer Welsh version which I have only seen used in marketing materials and not on rolling stock - although, as always, I am open to correction.

For more details take a look at the Precision Labels site and if you can't find immediately locate the FR and WHR transfers then there is also information there on how to contact the company.

We're thrilled that these transfers have been produced and are very grateful to Precision Decals and hope that other NG modellers will also reward him with their custom.

Up Front

The second time you do something the easier it normally is, and Himself tells me this holds very true for Garratt chassis.

It's around three years since he built our last NGG16 (number 87) and in the process of putting the rear power unit of this new one together he re-learned all the tricks and wrinkles along the way.

As a consequence the front unit has come together very rapidly.

Himself tells me is stuck with how much these small 009 chassis look just like the ones you see being overhauled inside Boston Lodge Works.

I'm looking forward to him getting started now on the bit in the middle.

Carriages Completed

After many months of steady work I finally have a trio of completed resin Super Barns sitting on the workbench.

They won't be sitting here for very long, in fact, because they will be dispatched to their new owner who is going to finish them off with a paint job.

Building my first production run of resin carriages has been a very interesting experience and I've learned a lot.

It's certainly much faster than scratch building to produce the parts for multiple carriages, however cleaning out the flash from each window can be a bit of a chore, especially with the FR toplight design.

On the minus side you do have to be very careful to glue the parts together accurately. It's much harder to bond resin parts together than the equivalent bits in styrene - even when using slow set super glue which allows you some adjustment time.

That said, the carriages are a lot more robust and stand up a lot better to being handled and abused when fitting all the bits and pieces. They do not warp or bend so much as laminated styrene.

However, the glued components will break apart if they are subject to a shock such as being dropped on the floor. Yes, I've found that out the hard way a couple of times!

I can see me making quite a few more resin carriages in the years ahead.

A Little Filler

Removing the rivets isn't the only alteration that is required on the front tank of the Backwoods kit to turn it from a generic NGG16 into the WHR's 138.

Both the first pair of Garratts which were repatriated from South Africa had the tank filling hatches replaced with traditional circular ones giving way to a rectangular opening with a pair of doors which are hinged on either side.

I don't know the reason why this was done but my guess would be that it means you have a bit more leeway in how you position the locomotive beneath a water column.

So this is what Himself has come up with using a few bits of styrene.

You can see that it lifts off for access to the rear screw which holds the tank into the frame.

One thing forgot was it now required a bracket at the bottom of the tank to hold the rear screw, before it was held down by the tank filler screw hole on the top.

With the cosmetics taken care of now Himself is going to start work on putting the second chassis together to go under this lot.

Pantomime Horse

Well, it's the best description I can think of for the rear unit of a Garratt. On its own is it not the locomotive equivalent of the aforementioned theatrical animal?

Being serious, now, you can see that Himself has more or less finished the rear unit on 138 apart from the pick-ups, headlamp and something to represent the lubricator reservoir that sits just below the lamp and in between the sand units.

(And of course coal)

And a very fine job he's made of it too!

I thought perhaps you would also appreciate seeing that it is not just a static exhibit. He shot this brief bit of video to prove that all the wiggly bits wiggle as they should.

Now, onwards with the front half. Giddy up Dobbin!