Off to Gaydon this weekend for the Great British Model Railway Show

 

This weekend, I can be found at the top of the escalators at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, for the Great British Model Railway Show. 

All being well, I'll fill a couple of tables with various projects I've carried out of the years. In deference to the organiser, many with be from The Hornby Collector and TT:120 club magazines, but there will be a few BRM and Garden Rail projects too. 

Please drop by and say hello. I'm there to talk all things model railway, and not to get any modelling done!

Visit the Great British Model Railway Show website.  

Look mum, no wires!

Out in Birmingham last week, I found myself tram spotting while waiting to go into the town hall. This is the section of the line where the trams run on battery power to avoid having to install overhead wires. 

For modellers of the modern scene, this is a gift. The hardest part of any tramway build is the knitting in the sky. Now we can just pretend that the model shows a battery section - job done!

It also occurred to me that it's been a long while since I've ridden Brum trams, and the only place they went in those days was Wolverhampton. The route is now being extended, and the trams have changed too! Another for the list of places to go.  

Why was I in Brum? Well, an evening making my little grey cells do some work...

 

That's the lid on the barge build

OK, we are calling this done. This "quick" project has been rumbling on for over two months; it's time to declare it finished. 

Right at the end, the kit decided to fight me again. Assembling the roof was easy enough, but painting it...

I sprayed the whole thing with grey primer, but fancied a lighter grey finish, so out came the acrylic pens. Three coats of grey later, it looked nasty, the paint was streaky, I suspect because it dried too fast to blend properly. 

Looking at the colour, it was too light. To be honest, this barge is more Sylvanian Families than scale model, the roof should be flush with the edges of the sides, not with an overhang. The correct thing to do would be to trim it back, and then paint in the same green as the sides. I wasn't convinced I'd produce the neat result that would satisfy me, and anyway, the overhang is quite attractive. 

Out with a pot of Humbrol 66, and it covers the pale grey nicely enough, but then dries patchy. A second, thinned, coat isn't much better. Left to dry overnight, I tried a light spray with Dullcote - a little better, but I am still wishing I'd gone in with a dark grey spray to start with. 

However, I can live with this. It's not perfect but the longer I spend with the kit, the more it becomes like the Irish road directions, "You don't want to start from here". I can see loads of things I'd do differently were I to build this model again. The roof would go for a start. The interior would be reconfigured to put the log burner at the other end. I'm not convinced by the railings around the back either. 

I could go on, but as was explained to me by the manufacturer, it's aimed at a market that isn't as exacting in terms of detail. On that basis, this is a winner. Not difficult to construct, and the finished model is attractive and a little different.  

I have enjoyed this build, which is the point of the whole thing, and I have a feeling someone with a greater knowledge of canal craft could really go to town with it. Perhaps if the project hadn't had to grab little moments of my time among all the other stuff I'm doing, it would be even more satisfying. At least I wouldn't have taken so long over it!

Turning up the heat in the barge

 

 

There's a spare corner in the barge, so I decided to fill it with a log burner. After all, it gets cold on the cut in winter, and we don't want our sailors to freeze. 

I looked at a few photos online, and then decided to just mess around with some bits of plastic tube. The result looks OK when seen through the windows, it even has a tiled hearth. 

If we are going to make smoke, there better be a way to let it out, which means a chimney on the roof. 

Here, it became apparent that I'd not thought this through properly. Steering the barge, you'd get a face full of smoke from the log burner - not ideal. Really, I should re-jig the interior to move the heat to the other end of the boat, but that's pretty much impossible with everything glued into place. Ooops. 

The not quite Elsecar haul

I didn't manage to buy anything from the Elsecar show. 

OK, that's not quite true; there are a couple of goodies for future Garden Rail articles, but nothing for me personally. We came close, but I have more than enough projects knocking around at the moment.

This isn't to say my wallet escaped unscathed. You see, the venue is home to a couple of antique centres, craft stalls, and a beer shop. From the latter, I bought piña colada cider, and from the craft shops, some Christmas presents. 

In the antique centre, there is a tool seller, and there I found a cased  Arcliner compass. I have part of one of these, but for a fiver, the new one has the extension bars, so I can now draw an arc over two feet in radius. This could be very handy, as I've found a few occasions when being able to scribe a reasonably accurate curve would be really helpful. Yes, you can use a bit of string, but it will stretch. The only other solution is to make a compass from a bit of wood. This works, but a proper tool is so much better, or at least it is to a tool addict like me!

There was also a jet cleaner - presumably for carburettors- but the super fine brushes will find a use I'm sure.  Finally, a carriage door key. Don't know why I thought I ought to own one, but it was cheap, and now resides beside my GWR spanner, and massive LNER drill bit. 

Antique shops, it's not all about ugly china. There's good stuff too. 

You are probably wondering about the piña colada cider. It was lovely, but I can't tell you how accurate the flavour is, as I've never had the cocktail!