The Garratt has now had three coats of red which is now looking the right shade and Himself has begun cleaning up the brasswork.
The next job will be to apply the thin yellow lining on the bunkers and cab.
It's looking good, don't you think?
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Black Lines
We're not afraid to cheat when it comes to getting our paint jobs as neat as we can which on 138 means using black waterslide transfer lining to get the edge where the red meets the black as sharp and straight as possible.
The Garratt has now had three coats of red which is now looking the right shade and Himself has begun cleaning up the brasswork.
The next job will be to apply the thin yellow lining on the bunkers and cab.
It's looking good, don't you think?
The Garratt has now had three coats of red which is now looking the right shade and Himself has begun cleaning up the brasswork.
The next job will be to apply the thin yellow lining on the bunkers and cab.
It's looking good, don't you think?
Monday, 12 January 2015
Conway Cab Alterations
We've got so many projects on the go at the moment it's hard to keep track of them but Himself can never resist a new kit and has soldered together the body for our 2nd Conway Castle.
The Five 79 body requires a few alterations to represent the locomotive in its more recent condition.
For a start it had proper cab doors fitted after a few years in service and he's knocked up something in brass to represent these.
It also needs two small grills cut out of the whitemetal panel on either side nearest the cab.
Other modifications will include a pair of air filters protruding from the bonnet and the headlights will be drilled out and replaced with some blingy jewels.
The Five 79 body requires a few alterations to represent the locomotive in its more recent condition.
For a start it had proper cab doors fitted after a few years in service and he's knocked up something in brass to represent these.
It also needs two small grills cut out of the whitemetal panel on either side nearest the cab.
Other modifications will include a pair of air filters protruding from the bonnet and the headlights will be drilled out and replaced with some blingy jewels.
Saturday, 10 January 2015
More Painting Progress
Also going through the paint shop at the moment is the last of the 3 13m WHR saloons I batch built a number of years ago.
This is number 2045.
Yes, we are a little behind the times. This carriage entered service on the real railway when it was still terminating at Rhyd Ddu!
Himself is also cracking on with our replacement carriage 10 (Van 2 in more ways that one for us!) which is being finished in the Col. Stephens livery it runs in currently.
Again this has prompted some colour debate about the shade that should go on the ends and along the frame.
Do you go with something at the redder end of the colour chart or more orange?
After much discussion and comparison with photographs we have of the carriage we've gone for the more orange option - in fact it is called Lining Orange on the Humbrol colour chart.
It's a very tricky business.
This is number 2045.
Yes, we are a little behind the times. This carriage entered service on the real railway when it was still terminating at Rhyd Ddu!
Himself is also cracking on with our replacement carriage 10 (Van 2 in more ways that one for us!) which is being finished in the Col. Stephens livery it runs in currently.
Again this has prompted some colour debate about the shade that should go on the ends and along the frame.
Do you go with something at the redder end of the colour chart or more orange?
After much discussion and comparison with photographs we have of the carriage we've gone for the more orange option - in fact it is called Lining Orange on the Humbrol colour chart.
It's a very tricky business.
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Super Barn Signed Off
While I was down visiting the rest of the family over Christmas I took the opportunity to deliver the model of new Super Barn 119 which I was working on in the last months of 2014.
My part in the build is now over and Himself will finished off the remaining jobs which include a brass roof skin, handrails, the vacuum pipe and hoses and the bogies.
The last thing I did to it was to add the bits and pieces under the floor including the battery box, fuel tank for the heating system and something to represent the bit of the brake gear which can be seen hanging down beneath the frame.
I was also shamed into rebuilding the support struts for the truss rods following some feedback from a friend on the FR that the first attempt didn't look quite right.
Well, we can't have that!
My part in the build is now over and Himself will finished off the remaining jobs which include a brass roof skin, handrails, the vacuum pipe and hoses and the bogies.
The last thing I did to it was to add the bits and pieces under the floor including the battery box, fuel tank for the heating system and something to represent the bit of the brake gear which can be seen hanging down beneath the frame.
I was also shamed into rebuilding the support struts for the truss rods following some feedback from a friend on the FR that the first attempt didn't look quite right.
Well, we can't have that!
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Paint Shop
So Himself is spending the first few days of the year working through the backlog of models which required to be painted.
Our new Garratt, 138, has been disassembled and the parts are being painted red and black as appropriate.
There has been a lot of discussion about getting the right shade of red.
Like most locomotives 138 can seem different depending on the light conditions on the day you see it.
Sometimes it can look almost scarlet and an other occasions it's a much lighter red.
Working on the theory that models should be finished a shade lighter than the prototype we've gone for the latter option.
The photo is, I think, a little misleading, because it's taken under artificial light and due to the grey primer still on parts of the locomotive which will in time turn black.
I hope the red colour will end up looking a little deeper.
The first couple of coats of red and ivory have also been applied to our model of the rebuilt carriage 116 which is looking pretty good.
I shall post more pictures as work progresses.
Our new Garratt, 138, has been disassembled and the parts are being painted red and black as appropriate.
There has been a lot of discussion about getting the right shade of red.
Like most locomotives 138 can seem different depending on the light conditions on the day you see it.
Sometimes it can look almost scarlet and an other occasions it's a much lighter red.
Working on the theory that models should be finished a shade lighter than the prototype we've gone for the latter option.
The photo is, I think, a little misleading, because it's taken under artificial light and due to the grey primer still on parts of the locomotive which will in time turn black.
I hope the red colour will end up looking a little deeper.
The first couple of coats of red and ivory have also been applied to our model of the rebuilt carriage 116 which is looking pretty good.
I shall post more pictures as work progresses.
Sunday, 4 January 2015
In Honour Of 'The Goog'
The death of FR legend Allan Garraway has inspired me to bring forward a project which has been on my wish list for a number of years now, to build updated models of the bogie brake twins 11 & 12.
We already have two pairs of models of these carriages.
The originals which we made 25 years ago from ancient whitemetal GEM kits and a pair I scratch built in styrene.
Both sets, however, are in all over red livery which is what the carriages wore in 1988, the original nominal date we set for our layout of Dduallt.
Since then the real carriages were first given two tone red / ivory livery in the early 1990's and then, when they were relieved of the duty in daily service repainted into the LNER tourist green / ivory colour scheme they had in the 1960's.
Recently both have been given heavy overhauls to return them to a more heritage condition which is how I will be modelling them.
At vintage galas they've become known as the 'Garraway Set' in honour of the man who was at the helm at Harbour station from the very first days of the revival in 1954 until the FR steamed back to Blaenau in the early 80s.
It was Allan who had the idea of turning the two 1880s vintage brake vans back to back and running them as a pair.
11 had windows cut in the end and was fitted with comfy ex-Mersey Rail seating which was sold at a premium as an Observation Carriage - the start of a new tradition on the FR.
Carriage 12 had a buffet counter installed to relieve the passengers of even more of their money on the move.
It was a stroke of genius by a man who famously organised the practical side of the rebirth of the FR in a no-nonsense fashion with what we might now call a 'refreshingly direct' approach to volunteers whom he preferred to be 'enthusiastic railwaymen' rather than 'railway enthusiasts'.
The FR today bears no comparison to what he was managing in the 50s and 60s when his sense and strength of character was what was needed to ensure a focus on the infrastructure and not whimsy.
In Allan's day communication with supporters was by telegram, not twitter, while the railway was run on a shoestring with ancient equipment which had to cope with fearsome peak traffic volumes and a limited period in which to generate income.
It was very different to the current era of year-round operating, diverse revenue streams and multi-million pound grants and intense competition for a share of the tourism market.
Making these two models will, for me, be a way of honouring the massive contribution Allan made to getting the FR where it is today.
We already have two pairs of models of these carriages.
The originals which we made 25 years ago from ancient whitemetal GEM kits and a pair I scratch built in styrene.
Both sets, however, are in all over red livery which is what the carriages wore in 1988, the original nominal date we set for our layout of Dduallt.
Since then the real carriages were first given two tone red / ivory livery in the early 1990's and then, when they were relieved of the duty in daily service repainted into the LNER tourist green / ivory colour scheme they had in the 1960's.
Recently both have been given heavy overhauls to return them to a more heritage condition which is how I will be modelling them.
At vintage galas they've become known as the 'Garraway Set' in honour of the man who was at the helm at Harbour station from the very first days of the revival in 1954 until the FR steamed back to Blaenau in the early 80s.
It was Allan who had the idea of turning the two 1880s vintage brake vans back to back and running them as a pair.
11 had windows cut in the end and was fitted with comfy ex-Mersey Rail seating which was sold at a premium as an Observation Carriage - the start of a new tradition on the FR.
Carriage 12 had a buffet counter installed to relieve the passengers of even more of their money on the move.
It was a stroke of genius by a man who famously organised the practical side of the rebirth of the FR in a no-nonsense fashion with what we might now call a 'refreshingly direct' approach to volunteers whom he preferred to be 'enthusiastic railwaymen' rather than 'railway enthusiasts'.
The FR today bears no comparison to what he was managing in the 50s and 60s when his sense and strength of character was what was needed to ensure a focus on the infrastructure and not whimsy.
In Allan's day communication with supporters was by telegram, not twitter, while the railway was run on a shoestring with ancient equipment which had to cope with fearsome peak traffic volumes and a limited period in which to generate income.
It was very different to the current era of year-round operating, diverse revenue streams and multi-million pound grants and intense competition for a share of the tourism market.
Making these two models will, for me, be a way of honouring the massive contribution Allan made to getting the FR where it is today.
Friday, 2 January 2015
Celebrating The Spiral
Today, the 2nd of January, marks a significant anniversary for the FR, for it is 50 years since a spade was driven into the ground to begin work on the Llyn Ystradau Deviation, an epic volunteer-led project to reconnect the historic railway which had been severed when an upper section was flooded as part of a hydro-electric scheme near Tanygrisiau.
Although there have been many impressive achievements in railway preservation during the last half century, not the least of which is the restoration of the Welsh Highland Railway in full, of which we model at small section on Bron Hebog, the idea of settling out to build a brand new formation in such a remote spot remains a daunting enough proposition in 2015, it is hard to imagine how immense the undertaking must have seemed when a small group gathered at a spot near Dduallt station at the beginning of 1965.
So the building of the spiral, the New Moelwyn Tunnel and line along the lakeside, behind the power station, ranks with the achievements of the Victorian pioneers in the railway history books.
It is a history we honoured with the OO9 layout of the spiral we built more than 20 years ago.
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Dduallt has been in semi-retirement since the Bron Hebog project gathered momentum but this 50th anniversary year of the Deviation seems too good an opportunity to miss.
So we are delighted to announced that we have accepted an invitation to show Dduallt at the WHR Super Power event in September alongside Bron Hebog.
This may very well be the one and only opportunity to see these two layouts operating at the same time - and that includes for us the builders! - so make sure you get the Super Power weekend down in your 2015 diary as a date not to be missed!
Although there have been many impressive achievements in railway preservation during the last half century, not the least of which is the restoration of the Welsh Highland Railway in full, of which we model at small section on Bron Hebog, the idea of settling out to build a brand new formation in such a remote spot remains a daunting enough proposition in 2015, it is hard to imagine how immense the undertaking must have seemed when a small group gathered at a spot near Dduallt station at the beginning of 1965.
So the building of the spiral, the New Moelwyn Tunnel and line along the lakeside, behind the power station, ranks with the achievements of the Victorian pioneers in the railway history books.
It is a history we honoured with the OO9 layout of the spiral we built more than 20 years ago.
Dduallt has been in semi-retirement since the Bron Hebog project gathered momentum but this 50th anniversary year of the Deviation seems too good an opportunity to miss.
So we are delighted to announced that we have accepted an invitation to show Dduallt at the WHR Super Power event in September alongside Bron Hebog.
This may very well be the one and only opportunity to see these two layouts operating at the same time - and that includes for us the builders! - so make sure you get the Super Power weekend down in your 2015 diary as a date not to be missed!
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