Kirk N gauge kits

One of the highlights of TINGS is always Colin Allbright's display of vintage models. 

This year, he brought along a huge selection of early Ian Kirk plastic wagon kits. I knew of Kirk's models in OO, that were the seed for the Parkside Dundas range. I'm pretty sure I've got a few in the kit stash somewhere. 

Some will recall the coach range in both 4 and 7mm which were the mainstay of many a layout years ago. There are still models in the range not available RTR such as the  LNER Twin and Quad-arts. I built the former for Melbridge Town years ago and have a quad still to do. I'm not much of a coach fan, but I do like these. 

Looking at the N gauge wagons. I think that many would still stand up today with more modern examples. Maybe this is just the small size and my eyesight, but I can't see why not. 

It's certainly an interesting display. I'm always fascinated to find a new range I didn't know about.

Tiny signal box

A little project - the Peco NB-3 signal box kit - part of a future Cake Box model. 

It's a nice kit. Everything goes together well and if you are careful with the painting, the result is a very pleasing model. I've glazed the windows with Krystal-Klear rather than the supplied plastic to give a flusher look to the glass, but otherwise, the instructions were followed to the letter. 

N gauge seems to tiny though compared to other stuff I've built recently. 58mm long and 31 mm from front to back, I'd think that anyone could easily find space for it on a layout. 

Blue DMU

I don't normally share magazine stuff too far in advance, but here's a little scene from a forthcoming project. Like many people my age, there is a certain nostalgia for blue DMUs and it's nice to be able to recreate a scene from rather more years ago than I care to remember...

N gauge Wickhams

On the next BRM DVD, I'll be building an BH Enterprises N gauge Wickham trolley kit. To do this for telly, I needed some part-built models for the "here's one I built earlier" moments. When filming this stuff, you don't want to be hanging around too much for glue to dry, or have to clean up ALL the mould lines before moving on. The camera guys are watching and they don't have all day.

Of course, this left me with a little pile of half-built kits. Needing something to do while demonstrating, I took them along and spent a few moments in between chats wielding the brushable superglue to put all the bits together.

At least now I have completed models so I'm less likely to lose any parts. Now all I need to do is work out what to do with them all...

Clever design from Ratio

 

Building the factory for my N gauge layout, I'ver picked the Ratio pum/boiler house kit. 

Opening the box I realised (yes, I probably should have spotted this earlier) that the building is based on thier engine shed. To turn it into a boiler house, you get some extra mouldings to fill in the ends and some side windows. 

Very clever. Best of all, some of the extra parts such as the chimney can be sold as kits on thier own. 

 

Assembly was quick - all done in about an hour and half sat around the MRC chatting table. There's plenty of scope for kit-bashing too. Adding a door in the side that opens out on to a platform wouldn't be too hard. I quite fancy having a more in depth go at this one day. 

N gauge road vehicles

Working on an N gauge project, I couldn't resit some road vehicles from a second hand stall at the weekend to populate the car park. 

£4 for two and they are really lovely. 

The bus is 5cm long and yet has just as much detail as the O gauge(ish) Corgi versions of years ago. Even subject to cruel close-ups like this, they don't look too shabby. 

Of course there will be some matt varnishing to do, and a little dirt wouldn't go amiss either, but they look pretty good out of the box.