All the shafts are fitted with ball race bearings, and they slide on nicely. It all feels quality so far.
Into the cast metal gearbox they go. Grease is provided for the teeth, although quite how much you are supposed to use is a mystery. After the photo was taken, I applied it liberally, I can get more if required, something easier than opening the case up again as it's sealed with seven bolts!
For various reasons, I've become a bit jaded about model railway building. Because of the Andy-shaped hole in our team at work, and the need for me to take up more and different duties, I'm not doing as much practical work for BRM for a couple of months. So, I've decided to treat myself to a dream kit that has been sitting in my stash for a couple of years. A radio-controlled car.
There is a bit of a history here, but I'll explain another day. Suffice to say, I've wanted to build this for a very long while.
The box is satisfyingly large, and inside we have a plastic VW body. Not clear polycarbonate, as found without car kits from Tamiya, but something a bit more conventional.
There are a lot of other bits too, but we'll come to them later. Ahead of the build, I've been looking at a lot of Baja bugs on Instagram, as I'm determined not to paint it the colour on the box.
Be warned, there are a lot of steps to this build. I'll try to sprinkle some trains occasionally on here, but I'm building this for me, and determined to enjoy the process, so there will be a lot of posts if this works out.
Of course, I bought stuff at York. You know the rules, no going to a show without supporting the trade a little.
First, a Hornby Steampunk diesel. I've always had a soft spot for the Steampunk range, and now it's discontinuted, I wanted to pick up the diesel. Of all the models, it's the one I liked the most, and also one I couldn't blag for free.
My thinking is that with a proper paint job, and some extra grebble, the is a nice model to be built. Well, now I have my chance. No rush, I just picked it up when I saw it.
On the same stand was a crate of Playcraft signal kits. For two quid each, I picked up a couple out of curiosity, but now I've had a proper look, I wonder if I should have bought more. The range of signals to be built from the kit is impressive, including juntions with multiple arms. They are probably easier to use than the Ratio kits too.
And then, just as I was about to pay, I spotted a plastic crate with a couple of LGB tipper wagons. I enquired, and was told it came in with a job lot, and was mine for £30.
So, three tipper wagons, for the price of one. The side tipper is particually nifty, with a lever that flaps the lower sides out.
In the crate are half-a-dozen LGB transformers. I've no idea if they work, but know a man who can check. I've wanted to investigate more powerful control for the garden line for years, so we can run the track cleaning loco, and now I'm part way there. Mind you, I think the bargain was the "I'm not lugging that box back in my van" teritory. Who cares?
Aside from that, there are various books and magazines, but I'll not worry you with those, except one, later this week...
To York!
As usual, I travelled up on the Saturday so I could stroll around the city, watching buskers, and generally enjoying one of my favoutire places. I didn't worry about the NRM, but did drop in to the station, where I was surprised to see a Class 91 in the bay platform. A freind tells me that there’s quite a few still running on a daily basis on the ECML, while work on the cracked bogie brackets continues on the Azumas (aka IETs).
Anyway, the next day, after another cracking early morning stroll, I headed to the show.
Since my hotel didn't provide breakfast (must check that next year) I shot upstars for a sausage and egg bap with cup of tea, before heading down to floor 2. I like to start as far away from the door as possible, to avoid the crowds.
Plenty of chat on the G1 demo stand, and the narrow guage stand too. In fact, you'll not be surprised that there was an awaful lot of talking, however, I did look at the layouts and took a few photos.
The standout for me was Penrhyn Quarries. 1/32nd scale on 16.5mm gauge track, the snowy setting looks fantastic. I pointed Tony Wright at it the bag a couple of proper photos, and he's done a full shoot, so look forward to a BRM feature, probably later this year.
One that won't be in BRM, falling foul of the "not British" rule, is North 9th Street Terminal. Built in P87 (P4 for American models), it's full of interesting details, and captures the early New York scene as far as I can tell.
There were a couple of 3mm (TT) scale layouts, and these buildings on Uppingham caught my eye as really nicely modelled structures.
Finally, Minimis really is minimum space. A sector plate replaces all the pointwork, but there is some lovely modelling on show. It wins "the layout Phil would like to build" prize easily. In fact I might have some idea along those lines in my head already for a future magazine project...
But what about the food, I hear you cry.
Well, by 2pm, the effects of the breakfast bap had worn off, and I headed upstairs. The food is good at the racecoarse, and not stupidly expensive. Since I was in Yorkshire, the Yorkshire pudding with sausages, mash and root veg seemed appropriate. Popular too, as the person in front of me, none other than Steve "Used to edit the Railway Modeller" Flint was also buying one.
Cutlery was wooden, and not all that effective against the batter. I managed, by Flinty struggled. Being a proper Yorkshireman though, he wasn't going to waste his brass, and folded it up pizza style!
I also splurged on a little lemon meringue pie.
So, while perhaps not a vintage York, it was still well worth the day out. I went in with the advance ticket holders, left close to closing, and could have happily stayed longer. York has a different feel to many other shows, and I love it.
All being well, I'll be back next year!
Ignore the commentary, and there are some intertesting shots of 01 diesels here that I don't remember seeing before. Although Ben Bucki's diorama which features an 06 does pop up for a few seconds!
Lovely little locos though. I wish I'd seen them work in real life.
Under the bonnet of my parent's Berlingo, is a stay to hold it up when open. When not in use, the stay should be clipped under the bonnet.
If it's not, then the bit of metal will flap around the engine bay, and when a kind person goes to top up the windscreen washer fluid, only by chance does it not get wrapped up in the power steeering fluid pipe, and rip this out.
Now, the Berlingo has been enjoying the attentions of some auto electricians, and along the way, someone broke the clip.
Except it is clipped in place, and getting the old version out took about ten minutes with pincers, pliers and a Stanley knife. Basically, the old clip had to be destroyed where it was, until I could push it into the hole.
Fitting the new clip took seconds. Good job done!
It's cold outside, There's no kind of atmosphere, I'm all alone, More or less.
Actually, I'm not alone, I'm in the L&WMRS clubrooms, where this fantasic little layout module, built by Matthew and friends, based on the TV series Red Dwarf lives. I've wanted to point a camera at this for a while, and last Thursday, I happened to be shooting a little layout, a few feet away from there this sits. Well, it seemed daft not too.
Now, this sort of thing would give the average magazine reader, an attack of the vapours, but look past the sci-fi element, and there's some really good modelling. Those buildings could find a place on any layout. The rustwork along on the blue one is as good as you'll find anywhere.
Fans of the show will find all sorts of little jokes, and that's a big part of the fun. Why should model railways always be deadly serious? After all, these are younger modellers (compared to me anyway) doing good work.
Fun, fun, fun, In the sun, sun, sun...
Wandering around Glasgow a few weeks ago, I spotted this interesting, and to my mind, very modelable, plumbers yard.
None of the buildings is remarkable, but that's no bad thing. The temptation to stick lots of unusual items, be it buildings, road vehicles, or items of rolling stock, is strong for most modellers, but needs to be resisted for a realistic scene.
Despite the ordinary outline, modelling this requires some skill in the yard area. Lots of detail is required to bring the scene to life. There's quite a bit going on on the walls too, with both pipework and wiring to add texture to the model.
At the time, it reminded me of Iain Robinsons' sketch builders yard. Still one of my favourites.
I do get handed some odd projects for work. This time I found a duckpond kit handed to me, with the instruction to put it together. The result looks pretty, and could find itself used as an interesting little detail in a corner of a layout. The sort of thing normal people will get excited about, ignoring all your lovely trains!
There's also a quick platelayers hut build. A nice project for a few evenings, you get a result, without too much effort.
Subscrbers will also recieve a link to our videos, my contribution being a little discussion on layout backscenes.
More often than not, the answer is "Not much", and that makes me feel good. The NRS is different though, there is soooo much temptation there. I mean, who wouldn't like to come home with a Garratt under their arm?
As it was, I had to be fairly retrained. I've pointed out many times on here that I have more than enough projects knocking around, and don't need to add to the pile for a while.
But, there is a Timpdon steam railmotor kit. This has been on the list since I first saw one last year. I love railcars, and this will be perfect for the club G1 layout, and anwhere where we need a quick train between the chuffers.
Strictly speaking this is a Garden Rail project, and so I'll be building and writing it up in the magazine in a couple of months time.
A personal project is the Phil Sharples Hudswell Clarke Loco kit. This is a hangover from the last NGRS. Such an ugly loco surely has a place in my fleet. The only thing that stopped me was that Phil sold out of kits last year!
I think this is a Blog project, so watch this space, but don't hold your breath!
There are a few other goodies for the magazine too, but these will appear on the page in due course.
Three and a half hours work, and I'd built yet another garden at the Stoneleigh 16mm Association show. An extra three feet added to our display length allowed me a bit more flexibility with the track design. At least the 32mm gauge enjoyed some straights this time!
The trains ran pretty much flawlessly all day - working on the IP engineering coach seems to have solved the problem there. In fact, all the 32mm stuff worked well.
On the 45mm, I tried the new Porter with some Hartland Loco works wagons, and found them less than reliable. It seems having a coupling hook on each end means they can shove each other off on the R1 curves. Should I remove the hooks? After all, they work fine on the more generous curves outside on my line. And I like the idea of two hooks for each coupling, less chance of unwanted uncoupling.
My feeling is that the show wasn't as busy as previous years. The gaps semed to be local modellers. Everyone I talked to seemed to have travelled a distance. A friend on another stand had the same exprience. Where were the locals?
It's a pity, because otherwise it was an excellent show. There were several layouts I'd never seen before. The trade was good too, I can't think of many who weren't there.
Our stand was pleasently busy, with some subs sold, and lots of chat. I've, hopefully, inspired a few people to write for Garden Rail, on some very interesting topics. A fuller report will be in our June issue, complete with photos.
All being well, I'll be spending this weekend in York, eating Yum-Yums, watching buskers, and perhaps popping in to the little model railway exhibition. So, let's enjoy some classic British Transport Films action from the days of steam.
It's a Good Friday to show a finished project - in this case, the Mini.
Sitting on my NG7 layout, it looks the part, although I've yet again failed to find a modern car, this is a 1991 model!.
Somehow, the whole thing is a bit twisted, so I filed the bottom of the tyres hard to ensure it will sit flat on a road. Maybe the suspension is playing up on the car I've modelled...
At the front, the headlights are great, but I sill can't work out if the inidicators are in back to front. They didn't seem to fit properly either way.
For chrome, I've used Humbrol aluminium because it's the right colour, but not too shiny. Application looks a lot worse in the photos than in real life. I tried to dry-brush the radiator to avoid a solid lump of silver, and was only partially succesful.
At the back, the light cluster is painted, and then stuck to a slightly flat area on the rump of the car. Again, no positive location, so much eyeballing, trying to get the spacing and height the same on both sides.
At least the bumpers fit properly.
Assembly isn't hard, except there isn't a positive location guide for the sides. Looking at the exploded diagram in the instructions doesn't help much either. The trick, as far as I can tell, is to set them so there is equal space around the wheels. Follow the pictures, and the rear wheels are partically covered.
Oh, and as with pretty much every car kit I've ever built, the steering wheel is a pain to fit. Glue it in place, and prop the model up so gravity keeps it in place, instead of drooping down into the footwell. What can't kit designers put a longer stalk in these things so they stay put?
Fitting in with the just sticking it together vibe, I might have painted the tyres anthracite, to contrast with the rest of the Humbrol black, but I can't be bothered to fill those gaps around the tyre, which appeared, no matter how hard I pushed the two halves together. Still, I doubt they will be visible when the body is on.
I'd normally start a write-up with a photo of the kit, but if I did take one, it's lost in a folder on the computer. Not to worry, I always hate cleaning up the background on these shots anyway, so the pain can be restricted to publications paying me money.
The body is mostly a one-piece mouding with just the front and back to be attached. Part fit isn't bad, but I do wonder if they could have been included in the main body. Did the designer feel that this wouldn't be "kit" enough? To my eye, the shape appears really nice, and the detail has a finesse that diecast models lack.
Colour was decided by the handiness of an old can of Halfords ArtFix paint. Not in the current range, I thought a red colour car would be fun, and stuck the body on my painting stick with some Blu-Tack, then applied a few thin coats of paint.
Initially, this looked like a bit of a disaster, there was a definite hint of orange peel to the finish, but overnight, this settled down to an acceptable semi-matt finish. Not perfectly smooth, but not bad enough for me to want to attack it with T-Cut. The lesson here, is not to panic I suppose.
The Peco book has been on the list for a while. I'm always interested in the wider aspects of parts of the hobby, and Peco do a good job with this sort of thing. For three quid, how can I go wrong?
Fair Price is a brand I've looked at on eBay many times, and trying one of thier kits would make sense to me, possibly as a magazine project.
Finally, a plastic kit wagon. I know I've got loads in my stash, but I thought I could perhaps just stick this one together as a blog piece. A bit of fun, with no great purpose in mind.
Oh, and a Hornby Railroad Class 121 DMU. I've a soft spot for single-car units, and despite being in the cheaper range, this one looks pretty good to me. Some dangly bits on the buffer beam wouldn't go amiss, and dirt on the chassis and around the exhaust pipes.
I think it might be fitted with a Ringfield motor too. If so, there is a remotoring kit looking for a suitable test piece in my magazine pile.
Best of all, I can see me finding a use for this. A short halt-based layout perhaps.
I've not been to the South West Area Group of RMweb's annual meeting for a couple of years, but happily accpeted the invite this time. And then a few months later, attendance became compulsory for me, to celebrate RMweb founder Andy York's life.
We'd agreed this wasn't to be a solem occasion. We'd have a group of friends, some excellent model railways and fine pasties with cake. Exactly what he would have wanted.
And that's what happened. The hall filled with small layouts, and then people. We all talked an awful lot. Many reminisced about our recently departed friend, but mostly a good time was had.
I managed a photo shoot of the ex-Iain Rice layout "Trerice" for a future BRM, but otherwise was too busy to do more than graba few shots on my phone.
For better photos, keep an eye on the RMweb thread for the show.
We did have a short break to remember Andy properly. I think it does him justice.
Thanks to Jamie Warne for the video.
This caught my eye on YouTube, inspired by trying some new sanding sealer, which is washed out of the brush with methylated spirits, and not cellulose thinners. It doesn't smell as exciting as the old stuff either...
I'm off today to collect my van, which will be filled with plants to make up the "Layout in a Day" at the National Garden Rail Show.
As ever, I don't know what the display will look like, until I build it. Fingers crossed it OK - and if you are visiting the show, I'll be the one wearing tweed. Well, the one wearing tweed hanging around the Garden Rail stand anyway. See you there!
