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Box Vans

Simple title, for a far than simple subject.

Currently working through weathering wagon stock, first up is a ratio LMS unfitted Van (my first wagon kit too). It was rather a straight forward kit to go together. I must admit I’m particularly pleased with this one, as the RTR equivalent dimensionally incorrect (It’s part of the Bachmann range, but ex mainline and is far too squat.

Next up is a slightly modified Bachmann BR standard 12T Van. This is the ply bodied version. The first thing I added was the tie bars (using L strip) before removing the rain strips. Ian Fleming had pointed out that a number of the ply bodied vans had the three strip version, rather than the curved rain strip and suggested I have a look in Geoff Kent’s Book 2 of the 4mm Wagon. Using a scalpel I removed the moulded rain strip, cleaned up with some wet and dry before replacing with microstrip. Finally I added instanter couplings (was all BR stock fitted with instanters?

Last night and this morning I weathered the van, using as many reference photos as possible.

They are now all set for my demonstration stand at Expo Thirsk. Sunday 26th July, Thirsk Towh Hall 10.30am – 4.30pm

£4, child & OAP £2 Family £10, 14 layouts, demos and traders.

Pannier Pentathlon

My current Pannier fleet. Five in total detailed and weathered (three 57XX, two 74XX). You could quite easily run an exhibition layout on these five, however variety is the spice of life and i’m somewhat addicted to detailing these Panniers, so there will be more of both classes.

Five of Croes Newydd’s work horses, ready to storm up the Snowdonia Mountains. 🙂

57’s coming out of my ears!

It’s probably becoming rather tedious now…yes another 57XX!

9793, another Croes Newydd long term resident (over 10 years). I’ve a couple of photos of her on the Branch, clearly all taken on the same day, one at Frongoch on a Bala-Blaenau train. The second at Trawsfynydd on the return working. There is also a couple of photos from 1961 of her double heading a freight at Arenig with sister loco, 9752.

I’ve a P2 to do next for a gentleman, and then I must tackle my Comet Brake Composite. I then at least have something passenger related for my Panniers to haul.

Another 74XX and Cwm Prysor trekking!

With one 74XX already in the bag, I decided to crack on with the second, 7431 another regular on the branch. 7431 has a couple of variations compared to the other 74s I shall be modelling. 7431’s running plate lamp irons under the tanks, are further forward (above the front left hand side driving wheel), not further back like the majority. Secondly the centre lamp iron near the front coupling is of type seen on the rear bunker, not the ‘shepherd’s crook’ type.

The photo I was working from of 7431 had it’s rear and top hatch open, which I’ve also tried to depict.

7431 will be part of an article to be published in Railway Modeller, at the beginning of next year.

With my work finished for the Summer, I headed over to North Wales for the day. First stop was the lovely Llangollen Railway, where I met up with fellow modeller Alan Buttler. It was a Vintage Vehicle weekend, so there were more trains in service. I particularly wanted to see 6430 working the auto train. 6430 is one of the later batch of 64XX, which have the cab like a 74, so from my point of view, it was closest I would ever get to see 74XX.

5199 runs around it’s train.

6430 with it’s auto train. A scene from a bygone age.

Afterwards, the heavens opened, and Al and I set off up to Cwm Prysor, around 25/30 miles from Carrog Station. Thankfully the weather cleared up slightly while we had a wonder around. There were couple of areas I particularly wanted photos off, including reference photos for my back scene which Tony Wright will be painting.

Arenig Fawr, the backdrop being the station, a rather imposing site.

The retaining wall on the embankment.

I had seen on diagrams and maps, that there appeared to be a stream that went under the embankment and fed into Llyn Tryweryn. Standing on the far side of the lake, I managed to snap this shot of it, which is good enough for what I need to model it I think.

Apologies for such a lengthy post, but hopefully it should be of interest. 🙂 Thanks again to Al for his company yesterday.

Miserable so and so!

We had stopped at Cwm Prysor, and I asked him could I step onto the footplate. I got told to bugger off!
Jobsworth!

74XX crewed and ready for Cwm Prysor

I’m currently full of a cold, and just thankful I’ve caught it while it’s the weekend, before I start back at work. It’s inevitable in my job, and there have been plenty of kids sneezing and coughing in my proximity this last week or so.

So while feeling like ‘death warmed up’ I decided to paint a couple more of Alan Buttler’s ‘test’ figures, in particular for 7414. It’s an enjoyable process, however the magic moment comes when you have applied the dirty washes, and the dirt is caught in just the right places on the figures overalls.

I still need to weather the brake van, but other than that and with the addition of a few more wagons, a nice pick up freight is forming. The 74XX class, by the mid-late 1950s were being used indiscriminately with the 57XXs on freight and passenger on the Bala – Blaenau Ffestiniog Branch.

I have a couple of ratio LMS vans on the way, which I’m looking forward to cracking on with. It’s all very well weathering RTR wagons, but it will be nice to build some of my own stock. I’m also thinking ahead to my passenger stock, the Comet coach I require is now in stock…and the Worsley Works coaches I have commissioned are at the artwork stage (GWR modellers will soon be able to model Brake Composites Collett E157 and Hawksworth E167).

Regarding the layout itself, I have mentioned previously that the boards are on order. I have just put an order in for 6 metres of C&L finescale flexi track. That should keep me out of trouble for some time! 😉

Bachmann 74XX from a 64XX

The 74XX is finally finished. This has been a truly rewarding project, one I wasn’t convinced I’d be capable enough to complete to a satisfactory finish. Without going over too much old ground, the principle difference in the 74XX (other than no autogear) was the cab join between the bunker at a right angle, not curved as bachmann have produced on the 64XX, plus there was no cab overhang.

The Bala-Blaenau Branch was (as far as I’m aware) never worked by autotrains so a 64XX would be on no use, but 74s were used heavily through the 50s. A model of a 74XX would be very useful.

Scalpel and file work followed and the results are good enough for what I require as a ‘layout loco’.

I chose to depict her as 7414, a regular Croes Newydd loco with several reference photos of her in the mid/late 1950s. The most interesting photo was one taken in 1956 at Trawsfynydd, showing her on a typical weekday passenger working. She was filthy….which appears common on the majority of 74XXs, more so than on the local 57s! However the most interesting aspect here is that someone had smeared in the grime, GWR on the tank side. Couldn’t miss the chance to try and recreate the engine in this condition. Due to copyright, I can not post the photography here, but for those interested, you can find it on Page 46 of ‘The Pannier Papers, No.7’.

As I mentioned earlier, the 74XX class in my period seem to have avoided the cleaners hand. I’ve not found a single clean photo of one on the branch. Amusingly the author Ian Sixmith of ‘The Pannier Papers’ even comments ‘where have the crests gone’ because the locos are so dirty, there is no sign of anything other than unlined grime!

Etched plates, and fireirons are from 247 Developments, and the smokebox plate is one of Ian Wilson’s from Pacific Models.

This has been such an enjoyable project and I’m so pleased I bit the bullet and actually had a go. I will certainly be making another 74XX using this method.

5742 crewed and ready for North Wales

Morning all!

As a follow on from my blog post earlier this week on Alan Buttler’s excellent Modelu figures, 5742 has now had her crew fitted.

I’ve also thinned the running plate steps down, a tip picked up from PMP and Alan Buttler.

The plan this weekend is to get 7414 weathered, and also add another set of Al’s figures. Three Pannier’s down……
As many more as I want to go! 😀

Modelu 3D Scan Figures – Blog Review

4mm figures have often been, how shall I put it…..somewhat lacking. Many of them look like caricatures, apes in boiler suits or resemble something like the elephant man! I’ve often said the best figures currently on the market, are the Monty’s Models range, however with a limited number of poses (especially for a Pannier) you often end up reusing the same figures over and over again.

However, a new product is shortly going to arrive on the market. Alan Buttler’s Modelu has begun producing model railway figures in plastic. What makes these figures different to those that have gone before, is that they aren’t sculptures made to resemble a human being. They are in fact human beings shrunk and turned into plastic……..don’t worry that was a joke (and a 1970’s Doctor Who reference). What Alan can do is actually scan people and then produce them as a 3D print. I’ve been skeptical about 3D printing, as the results I had previously seen resulted in a lot of layering and somewhat poor quality. However these results are exceptionally good.

Modelu will not only be able to provide you with crews for your locos, but should you wish…you can be scanned (for a one off fee) and be able to populate your own layout. I shall be contacting Alan about having my Father scanned. I like the idea that when he is no longer here, he will still be watching over me on my layouts. Of course Alan’s scanning equipment will not just limit him to figures, he has already (for himself) produced some lovely 3D castings for locomotive detailing.

Now, back to my review samples. I had been given some direction regarding priming the figures. Alan had said that some primers didn’t tend to stick too well to the plastic. This was the case with mine (I used a white halfords primer) and found that the primer did rub off in places, although this isn’t a great issue to be honest. In future I probably wouldn’t bother priming. The top coat painting was done with enamels, the overalls coat was done using rail match garter blue mixed with matt white. The figures were then given a dirty wash, which helped to highlight particular areas.

Both figures are in ideal poses for my Panniers (these two chaps will be my footplate crew on 7414). The features are crisp (detail varied slightly on mine, but that is only as Alan is experimenting with different plastics) and they actually look like human beings, rather than something vaguely humanoid.

These really are superb figures, which really opens the door for people and detailing parts in 4mm. You could in theory, have a layout where not one figure is the same. In my case I’ll be using the 4mm range, but Alan will be producing figures in a variety of gauges (he has already produced 2mm and 7mm variants).

For more information I would suggest heading over to Alan’s excellent blog Oswestry Works, and the Modelu Wesbite.

Scale Four North – In Retrospect

An enjoyable weekend was certainly had at Scale Four North last weekend in Wakefield. The Journey was straight forward, and I arrived ready to set up at 8.00am.

From my own perspective, I think my demonstrations went well. I believe the saying is, as a demonstrator you shouldn’t manage to find time do your own modelling, and the only thing I managed to do of my own, was the removal of a smokebox dart from a pannier…..so I think that was a good sign!

I very much enjoyed demonstrating my various weathering techniques, and I think those who stopped by found something of interest in my rambling. It was nice to hear from a couple of gentlemen, that they read this blog. It’s nice to know my musings are of interest to others as well as myself. 🙂

Thanks to Alan Buttler, Geoff Taylor and the Kerrinhead gang for letting me accompany them on the social meal, I think we had laughs all around…..Yorkshire Pudding, Jam and Cream anyone? 😉

Thanks to the Scale Four Society for inviting me, and very much looking after me. Finally a Special thanks to Eileen, who on both days offered to look after my stand for an hour while I went for my lunch. It was very much appreciated!

Right, I better finish that 74XX!