Two Slices

I've been getting very behind in my blogging again.

It's not that there's no modelling going on, but the lack of updates here is because I have been lured back to the dark side of standard gauge and have spent much of my spare time in the last couple of weeks working on the tracklaying on the dual gauge 'test track' in the study.

Officially, this is a more practical solution for my son's OO 'train set'.........

I have stayed away from posting updates about that here because you come to read about narrow gauge modelling, right?

I did manage to get some FR work done immediately after my return from a few days in Wales  - the first time at the railway since 2019.

With the arrival in the post of a pack of fresh Hudson bogies I have trial-fitted the chassis in the toast rack carriage 39.

The task which am putting off - and which the OO track is providing an ideal excuse for - is trying to find a way to represent the tiny mesh safety doors fitted to this carriage.

All suggestions welcome...

Toast Rack Update

I apologise for things being a little quiet on the blog in recent weeks, which is on account of a number of factors including holidays, effort on constructing the dual gauge home 'test track', and a secret project that I can't tell you about.

All of which means that there hasn't been much progress with my scratch built model of FR Hudson 'toast rack' replica 39 until the other day when I cut out and test fitted a styrene floor / chassis for the body which has been glued together.

At the moment I only have the one pair of bogies - which I've stolen off the 009 Society kit - so I can't glue the floor into place and finalise its position and the running height until they are both on the rails and I can accurately compare them.

I have a pair on order but it's likely to be more than a week until I receive them.

Tall Slim Aussie

While I was away Himself was making progress on the test etches from RT Models for the Dinas shunter number 9.

At this stage the bonnet and cab are just resting on the footplate, and in the case of the bonnet it's just a basic former which will need some thin door and grill pieces scratch built on top.

What surprised me was how comparatively thin it appears, probably on account of the cab being so tall.

The most important developments have been down below where the chassis has had its Farish fly cranks replaced with brass ones from Meridian Models and the jackshaft drive has been grafted on.

Himself has decided not to use the replacement keeper plate supplied with the kit but to insert a brass tube through the rear of the chassis to hold the unpowered axle.

Its been reassembled and test run on the layout.

The next stage will be for me to do something with the bonnet.

Another Round Of Toast

Having embarked on my project to scratch build models of the FR / WHHR Hudson 'toast rack' carriages, on account of the 009 Society kits being sold out, imagine my surprise when one of them turned up in the post at Himself's place.

As luck would have it this appeared just before I began any serious work on the model of the WHHR example, which regular blog readers will know has its L-section strapping the opposite way - the correct way - round compared to the replica built for the FR by Winson Engineering in the early 1990s.

While I was away on holiday in the West Highlands last week, Himself put together the kit, which includes very neat etchings for the protective hoops on the side, which I scratch built using brass wire on my model.

In the photo you can see it posed next to my first attempt at scratch building FR carriage 39 which I did from guesswork more than 20 years ago - it wasn't such a bad effort.

Australian Adaptations

Himself has begun making the alterations to the Farish 08 chassis which will power our model of No. 9 - the large, yellow, ex-Australian shunting diesel at Dinas.

In the search for a more authentic look, with chunky fly cranks, he's replacing the plastic extensions which create the false outside frame effect on the 08 with a couple of packets of brass cranks we had in our strategic reserve of bits and pieces.

These were once produced by Meridian Models (item MP24) but so far as we can tell are not available at the moment - which is a shame because they're very handy to have.

They are fitted over the stubs of the overlong axles on the wheel sets on the chassis.

Quartering is as simple as it can ever be because you can line up the crank with the inset in the wheel where the original plastic cranks were positioned.

The jackshaft drive will be created using the clever replacement chassis keeper plate supplied by RT Models and employing a fourth set of these cranks.

Adventures In The Spare Room

Many months ago I mentioned the idea of a home test track and at last it is coming to fruition.

The pretext is to provide something semi-permanent for the youngest generation to mess around with the antique collection of OO models, which have been faithfully hoarded by Himself since the family moved house and switched to narrow gauge modelling over three decades ago.

The location is my spare room / study, which occupies a rather narrow extension on the side of the house and is only five and a half foot wide.

We're also designing it to fold away into a storage frame, because I doubt I could have got 'planning permission' for something which took up half the room on a full-time basis.

Over the course of a couple of days Himself and I have knocked together an 8 x 5 baseboard using a sheet of thick ply - with some cunning slicing and dicing -and a bundle of 2 x 1 lengths.

We've yet to tackle the really difficult bit which is getting it hung on the wall!

I wouldn't normally recommend a flat baseboard ,but it is only intended as a glorified train set, rather than a layout.

Having put in all this effort, of course, I'm demanding something back and have negotiated running powers for an element of narrow gauge to be included on the track plan.

Officially this is purely for the purposes of testing rolling stock under construction at the other end of the room.

However, I would be lying if I denied I'm not a little bit excited at the prospect of having a layout of some kind in the house for the first time since I was a teenager....

Hooping For The Best

For what appears to be such a basic and insubstantial carriage it's remarkable how much fiddly work is involved in scratch building a model of FR 'toast rack' carr 39.

Last night's task was to begin bending and fitting the distinctive hoops at the side of these Hudson carriages.

This involves forming sets of U shapes of three radii out of 0.45 brass wire and carefully fixing them in position.

Thank goodness for 60 second superglue!

One down, one to go.