Hedges, backscenes and track in December's BRM

Some good, basic, railway modelling from me in the latest issue of British Railway Modelling magazine. 

Starting with track, we all have to lay it, so I'm using the NG7 layout (I must come up with a name) build to demonstraite a few techniques. Doubtless, some with feel that is all a bit simple, but if you are a beginner, then hopefully, I'm helping. And as ever, I try to drop something in for the more advanced modeller too. 

Next, we have a walk-through of the options for layout backscenes, including why it's a good idea to have one!

Finally, some budget hedge making, so show that this hobby doesn't need to cost a lot of money. 

I've been out with the camera again, this time shooting our lead layout, Sharnbrook Summit. 

As a bonus, I also took a load of video, which forms one of the features for BRM TV, as seen by subscribers. There's a lot of action!

BRM is available from all good newsagents, or our online store: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/Store/Latest-Issue/british-railway-modelling

Warehouse Wednesday: TEA wagon

Spotted at the Great Central Railway, and destined for preservation I hope, A TEA wagon. Sadly, not a wagon full of tea, but one introduced in 2001 to carry fuel. 

Because I am a bit thick, I don't know what TEA stands for, and digging around online hasn't helped much. There are lots of models, and it seems the prototypes vary a bit, but explain the acronym? No chance. 

Anyway, wagons like this are a vital part of the rail network, but preserving a block train would be a big ask. However, as the GCR seem to be able to run the Windcutter 16ton mineral set, and some oil tankers, maybe this will one day be thindering along the line behind a preserved Class 60?

Cab work

 

First job, fit the brake standard. Easy. Poke the spigot through the hole in the floor, and solder underneath. 

Then the roof. This is supposed to fit between the sides where they curve up. It doesn't. A couple of mm has to be cut off, and a bit of filing then makes it sit down properly. Easier to write than to do!

One advantage of soldering, is the solder acts as a filler. 

That is handy, as there is a step along the front edge. This is why I thought the sides fitted either side of the front sheet. The step would be gone, but then the centre section would have been too narrow!

Anyway, I blobbed a lot of solder along the step, and then proceeded to file it to something like the right shape. The result isn't perfect, but with a little weathering, it's not half bad either. At the same time, the join lines along the top have been hidden. 

And the whistles have fallen off. The old glue isn't so strong after all!

Sandboxes and (gulp) chimney

 

Time for some detailing. The sandboxes are easy, each has a spigot that sticks through the footplate. All I had to do was run some solder around this, underneath and out of sight, and they were done. 

The chimney was a different problem. The previous builder had removed the spigot (why?) and messed with the apro around the bottom. Cue several attempts at tacking it in position. With the use of a square under the footplate, and looking carefully at the side, I think it's OK, and checking it again the morning after, I still think we are fine. 

There is a slight snag. None of the fillers and dome are in the centre of the tank, even though they are fitted with spigots. I wonder how strong the aged glue is?

Off to Gaydon

Back from holiday, I should be at the Great British Model Railway Show today, sitting behind a couple of tables covered in various models I've made for magazine projects. 

I should have been there for the full weekend, but didn't put the show on my callendar, and accidentlly booked a trip that didn't get back until the Saturday. Efforts to find someone to cover the stand for the first day floundered on various freinds illnesses. 

Still, all being well, I'll be ready to greet you at the show, even if I doze off half way through!

On holiday

If everything is going as planned, by the time most of you are reading this, I should be at St Pancras station, awaiting the first of a series of trains, that will transport me to Switzerland. 

I've booked a trip through Great Rail Journeys, and should be heading to Wilderswil, for a week. 

Part of the holiday includes a trip up the Jungfrau Railway, so I hope the weather is good!

I'll also be near Interlaken, and have identified a couple of model shops, among other attractions. Well, it's a good way to make yourself visit different bits of a city. 

All this means no modelling content for a week, but you can (hopefully, technology permitting) follow my travels. 

On Instagram, I am Practical_Phil

 

 On Flickr, I am Phil Parker

Feel free to head over to either of these sites for your daily entertainment. And, all being well, I'll see you on my return in a week.

Hamblings catalogue

 

Found in a box of stuff under a second-hand stall, a rather tidy Hamblings catologue. 

There's some lovely stuff in here. A complete Jinty kit anyone?

Those lever frames would still be useful today.

One of the earliest 08 diesel kits too. 

All this speaks of a time before RTR models, when people had to make pretty much everything, but there were stores where you could go in, and buy all those bits. My guess is that some of them weren't as good as we remember them to be, but it didn't matter. Standards in the hobby were lower, but were modellers happier? (Probably not. I bet they still moaned about everything). 

Sadly, there's no date on the catalogue. I'd guess early 1950s, and would love a time machine to go and take a look. 

Bunker time

 

The imaginary bunker is a simple afair. Four sides to be joined together, and fitted to the footplate. Raised beading on the sides indicates these go outside the front and back. 

Once fitted to the footplate, they didn't seem parallel to the cab sides, so I loosened the joint, and gently levered them back a little with a long, thin screwdriver. At least the doorway looks right, even if it's a bit tight for the normal, portly crewmembers. 

A top is supplied, but that's going in the spares box as making a solid box would preclude getting anything in to clean out the flus. Also, it's pointless, as I'm going to put some real coal in the back eventually. 

The sharp eyed will spot I've fitted the bufferbeams too. Quite a bit of glue to be removed to do this, but now they are firmly fixed.

Mike Buttell - RIP

 

I'm sad to report that my friend Mike Buttell passed away this week. 

Mike was the Isle of Man steam railway in many ways. He was an ebullient figure who was responsible for many of the Enthusiast Week celebrations. You'd see him sheperding people around the sheds on official visits, providing entertaining commentry on the progress of various restorations. He'd then be climing on locos to fit headboards that he had arranged to comemorate figures from the line's history. 

I have a couple of reasons to remember Mike. 

First, I was over there on holiday, but planned to grab some content for a BRM DVD, and arranged to interview him about the history of the lines. This was to take place after the late train to Port Erin had arrived, and everyone was looking around the museum. Obviously, this made it a bit noisy, but Mike quickly dragged my Dad and I up into the locked royal saloon, he had a key, which made the perfect studio for our chat. 

The other occasion is when Sea Lion's side tank and cab back came up for auction. I was keen to buy them, but didn't have an easy way to collect, or anywhere suitable to put them. Mike volunteered to not only get the things from Groudle, no easy task, but find them a home in the Port Erin railway museum, where they lived until recently. 

Without Mike's help, it's unlikely that I'd have aquired these items, and they would probably be say, rusting, in someone's garden. 

I'm going to miss Mike's updates from the Isle of Man, and his jolly help when on the island. A sad loss to this very special corner of the railway world.

Shim brass

 

Shim brass is basically just very, very thin brass sheet. Modellers in the old days seemed to make pretty much anything from it, and I was always impressed by the versatility of this wonderful material. 

Of course, I aquired some, and have hardly ever found a use for it. 

Until I came to fit the backhead to Ghillie. 

The whitemetal backhead is fitted to a U-shaped lump of the same material. Said U-shape is to be cut back so the backhead just clears the rear fixing screw. Trouble is, when you do tha, you are still left with a gap between the back of the backhead casting, and the cab back. 

No problem, a strip of shim brass, soldered to the backhead with some 100 degree solder (a process that sounds simpler than it turned out to be) covers this, and makes the whole assembly look much better. 

And I've still got loads of the stuff left - probably a lifetimes supply!

Tack soldering win

 

I mentioned that I was soldering the kit together last week (and yes, I must put a guide on whitemetal soldering together one day) and starting on the body demonstraites why I am right to do so. 

The cab front consists of three parts - two sides and the front. Easy enough to assemble, except do the sides attach either side of the front, or on the back? 

I guess on the sides, so tacked them in place. Then I put the assembly on the footplate, and realised its too wide. They should go on the back. 

No problem, heat the solder, and the parts are seperate again. A little cleaning up, and we are good to go again. This time with them as the designer intended. If I'd glued them, I'd have had to wait for the stuff to dry, and then broken the joints. A much slower process.

Trainspotting at Quorn

 

Phew. Good job I didn't do any of that train spotting then...

Nope. Didn't see those Airfix tank wagons going through. 

Ummm. Look at those bad boys spotting trains. I'm going to tell on them!

Saturday Film Club: Model Railways Make Me Happy

Beer and S gauge

 

Supping a pint at The Model Railway Club a couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to enjoy this vintage S gauge model. 

Built to 5mm:1ft scale, the model has an interesting history. In 1947, there was disagrement within the S Scale Society as to which scale they should work to - 5mm or 3/16" to the foot. The decision was that the next person to join should decide. 

That person chose 3/16", and the model found itself too large. So, the builder took it apart, reduced every part, then put it back together again! I'm assuming that this expediency was forced because of the difficulty in obtaining materials for modelmaking. 

Now in safe hands, along with a large number of other historic models owned by the club, this loco is being rebuilt so it can run again in the future. 

A fascinating glimpse into the history of our hobby, over some nice beer.

We're off to the show in November's Garden Rail

 

We are off to the National Festival of Railway Modelling this month, with the 16mm scale, Dixon Green & Saed-y-Parc. Builders Phil Thompson, Rob Holmes and Stuart Mackay tell the story of how this portable exhibition layout 'growed'.

On the workbench this month:

• Converting a Bachmann 'Big Hauler' to battery power
• Make a display track for your models
• Build a teardrop caravan
• Service your locomotives at a convenient height

We review Maxitrak's Rheidol locomotive and Allchin traction engine, and see a well-known modeller transition from 45 to 32mm gauge modelling.

All this, plus the latest Product News for the large-scale modeller.

Cleaning away primer

 

Time to move on to the whitemetal body. The part-build is a bit odd. We have some large lumps of metal for the footplate and tank, plus the more vulnerable whistles attached on top. 

Everything is glued together with what looks like an epoxy. Very old skool, I'm going to be soldering for speed, and also the ability to tack parts together while I check the fit. Also, I like soldering whitemetal. Using an adjustable soldering iron, it's nicer than working with glue. 

However, soldering requires clean metal, and the model has been sprayed with primer. No worry, I had a new tool I thought would deal with this, the Le Crayon metal cleaning brush, from TMC. 

Originating in the metal detecting world, where it is used to clean up delicate finds, it's very fine wire wool in a wooden pencil-style holder. 

Sold for cleaning wheels, I was woried about scratching the surface of the tyres, but that would make it perfect for stripping away the primer. 

Except it isn't. That wire wool is very fine, and gentle on the surface. Forget damaging tyres, it will be ideal for that job. It just shows how first impressions can be wrong!

In the end, I scraped the worst of the primer away with a knife, and then polished the metal with the brush - a job it did superbly. The metal shines like silver, and effect I've only achieved with Brasso in the past, but this does it without leaving any residue, or any signs of a scratch. Very impressive.

Track testing

 

The track has been laid on the NG7 magazine project layout, so I couldn't resist giving the "Ghillie" chassis a quick run, powered by a 9V battery. 

It works, and pretty well to. OK, a bit of grease on those gears would be a good idea, but I think they will quieten down with use

Screwing down and chasing shorts

 

The chassis works, so time to finish off the body. This was part started when I got the kit, so in theory, it's not going to take too long to add the remaining whitemetal parts. 

First though, and most importantly, add the bolts used to screw body to chassis. The front one had been done, but the back one needed a touch of 100 degree solder to fix it to the footplate. I have managed to forget to do these in the past and had to become creative once the body was in the way of the fixing hole...

Of course, when the body is screwed in place, the model doesn't run any more. That's the trouble with a live chassis, electricity everywhere, and the different polarities will find each other. Sometimes you see helpful sparks, but not this time. 

The first culrpit was at the front edge of the footplate. The wheels touched the corners, and needed a little metal removed to stop this. I went a bit mad with a coarse file, but this won't show on the finished model, and I like to be better safe than sorry. 

 

 

The other issue was at the front. I still don't understand this as the polarity where the pickups are is safely contained, but gently pushing body and chassis together resulting in sparks, so insulation was called for. A thin coat of PVA now coats the top plate over the clylinders, and all is well. I'm pleased how neatly this has gone (you can't see it in the photo!) even if I don't know why it cured the problem.

Rapido Railex 2024

 

Good: A brand new show organsied by my friends at Rapido. 

Bad: It's in Kent. 

Unusually, the event took place on Friday and Saturday, so I left at 11am on the Thursday. Sadly, the M25 was closed, resulting in two hours stuck in Clacket lane services, followed by another three crawling around the very narrow lanes, along with all the other traffic. It was horrible. Fortunatly, the route took me through a gridlocked village, which had a hall to dump my car in, and a pub, for a toilet stop and some delicious lasagne. At 7:30, the motorway had reopened, and I made it to the show at 8:30pm. 

Was it worth it? 

Yes it was. Although deliberatly not a big show, the layout quality was really high, and there were several I'd liked to have spent more time with. As it was, Friday I chatted all day, even missing lunch./ Saturday started slower, but there was still a lot to say. 

I'd kept my packing to a minimum - Titfield Thunderbolt and Grandpa's Trains cakebox scenes, the 009 layout under a cake cover, and my recent BRM project of a bowling green. Despite being fairly simple, this last model attracted a lot of attention and chat. Not bad for something without a single train!

I managed to squeeze in a photo shoot with R&J Colliery, all the way from Holland. Just my sort of layout - small and very highly detailed. Look out for the article in a future BRM. There are a couple more that need photographing, but I've yet to organise these. 

However, there was a downside. In the cafe were some Kent Gypsy Tarts. Keen to try the local delicacies, I gave one a go. It was horrible. Two bites and in the bin. Basically, a custard tart, but full of nasty burnt caramel goo. Apparently, we should thank the Isle of Sheppy for these. They can keep them!

50 Years of Ceefax

I loved Ceefax. Once a birthday present of a Ceefax capable TV has been set up, I'd come back home from work every day, and tune in to the latest ramblings on Page 145 - the letters page! In retrospect, this was early training for looking after internet forums. 

The news was also better on Ceefax. Everything was organised by the importance of the story, not whether the TV company had some juicy video. 

Basically, it was brilliant, and I fully support Count Binface's campaign to bring it back.  

The good news is that there are several working versions out there - try this one from Nathan Media Services.

Two Hornbys

 

A bit of fun. Hornby has released a 70th Anniversary of Margate Manufacture range of products. One of those items is R7395, Hornby's Office Building. 

This amused me, as back in 2015, I refurbished a 50p plastic kit of the Hornby offices!

They haven't done a bad job with the new version either. 

Although the goods in and out doors at the ends of the building are works of fiction, the main entrance is pretty good.

Baseboards, dirty Nellie and hammering in BRM

 

Progress continues on my NG7 layout in November's BRM. This time I'm over-engineering the baseboard using my very limited woodworking skills. 

Of course, baseboard building involved hammering nails, so on BRM TV, I'm taking a look at this most common process. 

Away from the layout, there is some weathering, using a new Hornby "Nellie" as my subject. Well, none other than Terrance Cuneo did the same back in 1963, so I'm following in his footsteps. 

Finally, a quick bit of stock building, with a Peco O16.5 wagon. 

The camera has been out again, pointed at the O gauge layout "Harbourne St Mary". 

And the wonderful O16.5 layout "Roundhay", the one that inspired my NG7 efforts. 

All this in the November 2024 issue of British Railway Modelling magazine.

Warehouse Wednesday: Battersea Power Station

Derelict for many years, Battersea Power station has been restored, and converted into a posh shopping centre. 

Up close, this iconic building really is stunning, both inside and out. I'd always assumed that it has been constructed in one go, but in fact, Turbine Hall A, with two chimneys fore and aft, was finished first. Hall B, with one chimney followed, and the final corner, with its fake chimney, came last.

Hall A is lavishly appointed with Art Decco tiles, which survived all the years or dereliction in the 1980s. Built as the blitz raged, it's amazing that anyone cosidered a building as utilitarian as this worth the effort. A bit of a a hangover from the Victorian decoration of pumping stations?

Hall B is plainer, but still a far cry from the unadorned brickwork you might expect. Incidentally, there is some brick still on show at the front and back of the building, so its industrial origins can still be appreciated, and throw the posh shops and walkways into sharp relief.

Of course, I wasn't there to visit the shops, they are far too push for the likes of me! I wanted to go up the chimney, in Lift 109. 

After a short (and pointless IMHO) light show, it's time for the main attraction. We get in the lift, head up through a series of lights (not pointless) and pop out the top for a superb, panoramic view of the capital. 

I was lucky with the weather, and all I can say is, £17 (booking ahead) for 7 minutes, doesn't seem like too bad a deal. This sort of thing must be horrifically expensive to set up and operate. Yes, a bit longer would be nice, but it's long enough to take photos, and then to realise you just need to drink in the view without looking though a camera or phone screen. Some things are just too big for a photo.

You can see the rest of my photos from the trip on Flickr.