Saturday Film Club: Pinchcliffe Grand prix (1975)

OK, you are going to have to enjoy this in Danish, but it's well worth it for the visuals. 

According to Jalopnik.com, Norwegian stop motion filmmaker Ivo Caprino took nearly five years to bring his tiny race car vision to life. Sadly, the project ran out of money, but he completed it anyway. What we have here is the big Formula One race at the end of the film - where bicycle repair man Theodore Rimspoke and his sidekicks Lambert (hedgehog) and Sonny (magpie) take on the badie, Gore-Slimey, who stole their engine...

The sequence is rumoured to have inspired the pod racing scene in one of the Star Wars prequels, and there is more than a hint of Steampunk, and Wallace and Gromit in here too. 

Oh, and someone built the car for real:

Some delicate painting, and we are done

 

Finishing he Brandbright wagon took a bit of time, but I'm pleased with the results. 

Inside, there is a coat of Coach and Wagon Works light teak wood stain. I like the colour, and it matches my recenlty built brakevan, but I'm concious that it might not offer much protection from the rain. The firm make some matt varnish for outdoor use, so I'll pick up a bottle in the future. 

Outside, there is sanding sealer, followed by a spray of grey car primer. I masked the inside, and removed the wheels and axleboxes to avoid grey where I didn't want it. 

Then the fiddly bit. All the metalwork was hand painted with Revell No.9 (Anthracite). A large, pointy brush allowed me to do the sides of the metalwork without too much paint in the wrong place. A damp brush was enough to tidy up any mistakes. Mind you, there is best part of a coupe of hours work in all this, over two sessions. 

Job done - and I'm really pleased with this. OK, it's not an exciting piece of rolling stock. It IS nice and solid. Exactly what I want to put behind a steam locomotive in the future. 

Thanks again to those who helped me out of my modelling funk. I can't promise to always be full of joy, but this simple project has helped a lot, and got a box off the shelf!

Ferns, kitbashing and painting people in the May BRM

Is it BRM time already? It is, and in May, I've been busy. 

First, the NG7 layout needed a station. I had a Dapol Chelfam kit in stock, but the finished model will be too large for my layout. What to do? Kitbash it of course, and this gives me the chance to introduce people to this noble art. 

As an aside, this project was the one that helped me get my modelling mojo back. A couple of days hacking away at quality cardboard was just what I needed. No idea why, other than I really enjoyed the task, and am well pleased with the results. 

Moving on to scenery, I try out some laser-cut ferns. The fronds are impossibly thin, but they really look the part. 

New rolling stock in NG7, this time a coach from Peco, which I have reviewed. 

Finally, for BRMTV, I've been painting figures. It's not as difficult as you might think!

Layout photos this month are the OO gauge layout, "Somewhere". 

Small, and industrial, it's very much my kind of model railway. Then we have my first shoot of a TT:120 project, "Camelot".

As always, British Railway Modelling magazine is available from all good newsagents, supermarkets, and online: www.world-of-railways.co.uk

You should have read the instructions

 

A few days ago, I mentioned a spacer that is fitted behind the bufferbeam to set the solebars in place, but the instructions specifically say not to glue in place. I didn't spot this, so by this stage, the offending part is very firmly fixed. 

The reason it shouldn't be there is that the bolt on the back of the coupling isn't long enought to reach through it, and allow a nut to be put on the end. In fact, the end of said bolt is flush with the face of the spacer. And the hole isn't big enough to get the nut in. 

I had a quick poke to see if I could persaude the glue to let go and release the spacer, but nothing doing. I had to make the hole bigger. 

The solution was a screwdriver fitted with a chuck, and 6.5mm diameter drill bit. This was just long enough to let me butcher out the hole so a nut could be fitted in, and the coupling screwed up tight. It's not idea, but it works, and that's all that matters. 

 

Bodgery, but satisfying bodgery. 

 

 

One door opens...

 

 

Some nifty design allows builders to enjoy opening side doors on the Brandbright wagon. The straps on the side are moulded around a brass wire, which you cut so about 2mm sticks out of the side of each. This then sits in whitmetal hinge bottoms. With a bit of tweaking, it all works OK. 

 

So, why have I, someone who loves a working gimmick, glued it all solid? 

 

Well, the idea is sound, but I'm not convinced the hinge bottoms will stay stuck under the floor for a start. Using superglue on them, it all seems a bit fragile. Mayne if they could be screwed in place, I'd be happer. 

 

Being practical though, the wagon is, as the instructions suggest, just more robust with the door firmly fixed with some PVA. I want a wagon that I can use without treating it like fine china. And having the ability to say "hey look, the door can open" isn't a compesation. 

 

So, it's firmly fixed in place, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty.