Saturday Film Club: The Dry Fit

Another video from me. This time, providing some sage advice for anyone building a kit. 

The missing seagull

 

Written in permanent marker on the back of Melbridge Dock, are the words "7 seagulls". 

Pretty soon after the layout appeared at shows, people took to counting how many of the birds were on the model, and so I jotted it down so we didn't have to remember. Later, when the information boards were added to the front, seagulls became part of the spotting list. 

Remembering this, I checked how many gulls were on show, and there were six. 

Disaster!

Fortunately, in the bolt box, there is a little jar of details. I keep these handy in case something is damaged, and we need to stick a box or pallet over it. In there was a seagull, who was quickly superglued to a rooftop. 

I'm not sure if anyone counted over the weekend, but at least if they didn't, the numbers were correct. 

Oh, and if you are interested, the 4mm scale birds are whitemetal models from the Springside range.  

Not in the stock box

Not all my loco fleet made it to the weekend. A week of testing at home persuaded me that there were a couple of models that would be more trouble than they would be worth, So, they stayed at home, and also missed out on a proper photo, having to make do with mobile phone shots. 

First up, the Garratt. No great surprise here, it's always been a problem child. We have shunted with it in the past, just so I could say I had, but the front power unit seemed to have an aversion to some of the points, and there is still a stick spot in the mechanicals. With more time, and more shows lined it, I'd have it on the bench and work out if the running maladies are mechanical or electrical. I suspect a bit of pickup tweaking would help, but that's for another day. Let's face it, this isn't exactly the perfect shunter for a 6-foot layout!

The other was the Lewin shunter. 

To be fair, this has never been part of the Dock loco fleet, but as it's a very appropriate model, I decided to try it out. 

There are a couple of reasons it wasn't practical. The first is that the model runs on Gibson wheels, and these are a little finer than the Romfords the track is built for. Matching track and wheel standards are a must for reliable running, and this wasn't happy with a couple of the points. 

A bigger problem though, is that massive dumb buffers. The gap between them is a pretty small target for the Sprat and Winkle hook to find, and coupling up was more miss then hit. I'm not sure what I could do about this, those buffers are a bit part of this model's look, replacing them with something more conventional would ruin it. 

Fortunately, I'm not short of rolling stock, so this isn't a problem, but it shows that you have to make hard decisions sometimes in the name of reliable operation. 

'Layout in a Day' in Garden Rail July

Can you build a garden railway in just 8ft x 6ft, and do it in a single day?

In our July issue, the Garden Rail team proves the answer to both is yes - as our ‘Layout in a Day’ wowed visitors at this year’s National Garden Railway Show.

Also in this issue: metal 3D printing, making the most of Mostyn vans, personalising a Mini Plant locomotive, building a sheep wagon, a manrider for your permanent way staff, and a 16-ton mineral wagon for Gauge 1.

Plus reviews of Gaugemaster’s G scale BR diesel, a 16mm De Winton, and a look at a garden line powered by clockwork — along with all the latest new products for larger scale modellers.

 Garden Rail is available from all good newsagents, and our online store: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/ 

Locomotive stars of the show

 

Among my worries about hauling Melbridge Dock out for a weekend, was how well the locomotive fleet would work. After all, they had been in store for a decade, and maybe my memories of their operation were rose-tinted after all this time? 

I shouldn't have worried, in the stock box, I still have a selection of reliable workhorses, four of which I feature here. 

Starting with the 02 diesel. My model pre-dates the RTR version by many years. It's a Craftsman etched brass kit with a Mashima motor inside, and probably Romford gears. The class is a favourite of mine, I've built this kit at least three times, plus my original DJH version, and the same companies O gauge model. There is a TT:120 loco sitting awaiting building too!

Moving up a number, we have the ever-reliable Mainline 03 diesel. 

By tradition, this always works the first train of the day, retiring to the display cabinet after this so the kit-built models can show off. My reasoning being that people haven't paid good money to come into a show just to see things running that have come out of boxes. I'm a bit old-fashioned in that thinking, but when the layout was in its prime in the 1990s, you didn't buy a shunter that worked, you built it. 

Yes, I know that the Bachmann model is more realistic, the bonnet is narrower for a start, but I don't think this looks bad. It resembles the 03 enough for me. At the time, it was a huge leap forward in model shunters after all. 

Talking of shunters you still can't buy RTR, the 06 diesel. 

Hornby make one, but it's pretty terrible, and no amount of detail can make it worthy of a place on my layout. This version, from a Judith Edge etched brass kit, is pretty perfect, though. It runs a lot better than I recall, but then it's a late addition to the fleet, so perhaps it never enjoyed the chance to impress me in the same way other models did. 

Finally, some steam. A Y8. 

The Y8 is our passenger locomotive, and so modelled reasonably clean. It's a K's whitemetal kit on an etched brass chassis (sorry, I can't remember the maker, but I doubt they exist now). The train is based on the Davenport Dockyard set of coaches, and photos showed it hauled by a small loco, and this is as small as they get!

Each of these models behaved impeccably for me and my operators all weekend. Running locos that I've built myself, reminded me just how much pleasure there is from seeing a model I've built with my own hands working properly. If you've not done it yourself, I heartily recommend having a go.