Saturday Film Club: Hand drawn CGI: Animating the Terrahawks Title Sequence

Some traditonal pre-computer animation, or how you make computer graphics by hand. Fascinating, and amazingly crude, but effective.

Off to the NEC this weekend

 

If you are looking for me this weekend, I'll be in a big shed next to the airport at Solihull, chatting to people from the World of Railways stand at the National Festival of Railway Modelling. Which we must stop calling "Warley"!

I hope to see you there - please drop in and say hello. I should have a few things to show you, and there will be loads to see. 

National Festival of Railway Modelling website.

Water filtering - continued

 

My quest for a reliable source of water for small steam engines continues. Since it turned out the very convienent Spotless Water is deionised, and therefore bad for my fittings, I have gone back to the water from our condenser tumble drier. 

The only problem with this is that it's got fluff in it. Last time I tried it, I filtered it through a piece of silk, but sometimes I could see fluff in the filtered water, and it needed to go back through again. 

So, I went to the supermarket and picked up some coffee filters. Like an idiot, I had to ask where they would be, and was told, in the aisle with the coffee. 

Things didn't improve. I saw a number 4 on the box, and took it to be the contents. It is, but it's the size. There are actually 40 filters in the box. And I bought two. 

Still, it does seem to work. I can't see any fluff getting through, so perhaps I have the solution. Let's hope so, I have plenty of filters!

Warehouse Wednesday: Lamp room

 

Thanks to Duncan Young for this photo. He says:

I visited Eden Valley Railway at Warcop and came across this simple lamp room. The weather is quite harsh in winter hence its substantial construction instead of corrugated iron huts elsewhere. 

He's not wrong. Most lamp huts are wiggly tin, but this is pretty substantial - and would be easy model with some plastic sheet. Measurements could be guessed from the door, unless you fancy a trip with a tape measure. Thanks Duncan!

Mobil Box - Lucerne

 

I nearly gave Mobil Box a miss - the shop doesn't open until 2pm, and my time in Lucerne was limited. However, in the window were some fascinating G1 UK prototype locomotives, and I couldn't resist hanging around that end of town.As it was, I found some excellent souveniers for presents, and visited the Bourbaki Panorama, which was fascinating.It's not far from the lake, so I ate lunch watching boats. 

Back at the shop, I followed the owner in once he unlocked, and has a mouch. There's a lot in there - mainly plastic models and related stuff, but some trains. Also, a work area, so the place is obviously frequented by modellers who use it as a social area. 

The shop has been operating for 20 years - pretty good for what is a city centre location, and not a small one! 

Those locos in the window belong to the proprietors father, and for the right money (I didn't ask), they might be for sale. 

The electrical models appear to be mostly Marklin, but there is one that isn't, although I couldn't identify it. 

Sadly, all were to large to fit in my rucksack, so I settled on a card kit for a German lifeboat becuase it is flat and fitted in the back pocket of the bag!

A really nice shop with a freindly owner. Well worth dropping in. Check out the Mobil-Box website. 

NEC Classic cars 2024

Add another classic car to the list of vehicles I don't fit in - and Austin 7 based racer. 

Pedants will point out that you tend to build these around the driver, and so if I built one with the pedals slightly forward, and wore much less clumsy footwear, I might be able to drive it. Whiel I was at it, the hammered aluminium seats could be adjusted to fit my backside, they were hardly comfy!

As ever, the NEC played host to five halls of classic cars. Basically a days worth of looking around, asking questions and wishing a little bit that I was a millionaire with a big garage. A little bit. I think I prefer these things in thoery than in practise. 

If I were a millionaire, I wouldn't have bought the low-mileage 1993 Ford Escort turbo that I saw go for £180,000 in the auction. It might have less than 6000 miles on the clock, assuming it wasn't clocked in Essex 20 years ago, but what do you do with it? Drive the thing around, adding miles, and you are reducing he value. Sit it in the garage to look at, and well, what's the point? Someone must disagree, as there were at least two bidders. 

If I was buying, apart from the Rancho I always mention, I quite fancy this Ford pickup.

It had some rust bubbles. Quite a few in fact, that I'd have used to try to beat the price down, but it looks fun. Probably not the most practical of vehicles, but it is cool. 

The Ford would come second to this Morris J-type van though.

Doesn't it look fantastic? 

No obvious rust, and a spanking paint job in a lovely livery. OK, the thing will be miserable to drive in modern traffic, but standing with a polishing cloth at a local classic car show would be a lot of fun. I wouldn't be carting layouts long distances though!

Anyway, you can enjoy the show a bit without thousands of steps on a hard NEC floor, by visiting my Flickr Gallery.

Despite the sore feet, I still enjoyed the show. The Sporting Bears were working well, with a procession of cars going off with their punters who had made donations, and drew a good crowd of people watching from the barriers. 

Elsewhere, there were people who just loved their cars, and the enthusiasm when chatting came across. Like a model railway show, it's great to see people doing something they love, even if we are spared the cold nights in the garage fighting rusty fixings! 

IPMS 2024

I visited the International Plastic Modelers Show at Telford on Sunday rather than Saturday this year. As ever, it was an excellent show, for me, well worth the £25 entry fee (free to IPMS members). Loads of terrific, and inspirational modelling on show, and the chance to leave your money with the trade in return for more plastic kits that will take me ages to get around to building. 

I partucally liked this diorama made up from Meng kits.I have the harbour in my stash, but have been at a loss to know how to use it. Now I have an idea!

There are loads more photos, including some interesting Airfix items, over on Flickr.

Saturday Film Club: Travels in Europe, 1967 and 1971 Part 1

Obviously, I have developed an interest in foreign railways recently, and this film covers trains in 1967 and 71. Beautifully shot, and with some useful commentary, it's a good watch. I'm fascinated to see some of the old railcars working out of Lauterbrunnen, but before they were relegated to the freight duties I've seen them on.

Dee Ess Products ballast

 

Did you really pay a quid for a bag of old scenic material? 

Of course I did. Look at that cardboard top - it's wonderful!

I've never heard of Dee Ess, or, to my knowledge, have ever seen any of their products. I'm sure I'd have remembered the flamboyant packing!

While this claims to be ballast, it's a greay scatter material. Feeling through the plastic, I'm thinking a wood based material like early Tri-ang scatters. They might even be produced by the same people. Since Dee Ess were based in Broadstairs, only three miles from the magnificant Margate works, there is a good chance they knew each other. 

I note that the sales concession for the UK was held by Peco, so we aren't talking about a firm that was unknown. I suppose I ought to ask the sales manager if they still have any left in stock!

Plastic handrail knobs

 

I've managed to fit in a little more work on the DJH loco. This time I've fitted the handrail knobs on the tank and smokebox. 

My first thought was to dig through my collection and use turned brass ones - but in the kit there were enough plastic knibs, so would they work? 

Also in the kit is some wire, but it's curled up, so I replaced it with 0.45mm straight brass stuff. I'm trying to use as much of this kit as possible, but I have limits, and trying to unbend wire is well beyond those. 

So, the knobs had to be drilled out. Not easy, as they bend. By holding the heads in needle nose pliers, I managed to do this withouth breakage, although there was some scary twisting!

The holes in the body also needed to be opened out a bit, same 0.5mm drill bit plus a twiddle with my smallest broach. Then some superglue, and the job was done. 

To me they look a bit undersized, and I'd normally use 0.7mm wire in 7mm scale, but I can live with this as that's how the kit is supposed to be built.

Swiss wooden engine shed

I couldn't not photograph this engine shed when I saw it at Interlaken Ost station. I think it belongs to the Brünig steam railway, although the lack of soot (do Swiss steam engines emit smoke?) suggests it's home to a diesel locomotive. 

I suspect a standard design, as there is a similar shed at (I think) Berne station.

Noch Hausboot (14224) build

 

My kit of choice from the Thun model shop, is the Noch Hausboot (14224), which has the benefit of being tiny - the box is 10m long, and I was able to find a tiny spot in the rucksack for the trip home. We'll gloss over the price...

Anyway, knowing I still have kits from my Australia trip a decade ago awaiting assembly, I decided to get this one out of the way ASAP. 

It's laser cut from some very stout 2mm thick laserboard. Everything is, as you would expect, cleanly cut. The minimum of tabs hold parts into the fret, making removal with a sharp knife, easy. 

Th very thin glazing is cut to size and fitted (Glue'n'glaze) before assembly of the sides and ends with Roket card glue. No allowance is made for the plastic, but it is very, very thin, so the designer assumed you won't need it, and so it seems. 

Under the "hull" are a couple of skids, which don't show in the photos, but raise it up a couple of millimetres. I think this is probably prototypical, as you don't want the deck at water level. 

The only painting required is the lifebelts, everything else is precoloured. Building the model took very little time, and wasn't too fiddly, even in HO. 

I suppose that the "ropes" between the posts would look better made out of thread, or fine chain. It's the sort of modification a more advanced modeller could chose to carry out easily enough. 

A fun little kit, and at 8cm long, small enough for the souvenier section of my model display cabinet. 

Schaufelberger AG, Thun

 

Strolling around Thun, a really nice city with many pretty features, and very little in the way of tourist tat shops, I spotted a Marklin sign dangling from a department store. Looking in the window, it seemed to promise more than just a toy department, so of course, I investigated. 

There is a toy department, a great big one, on the third floor. But looking around, I could see stairs, but no escalator, to a fourth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I had a look. 

What I found was the sort of model shop any city would be proud of. Well stocked with plastic kits, boat and flying aircraft kits, glues and materials. The only omission seems to be paint. A few spray cans, including some Humbrol, but not a rack full of colours. Odd, that's the sort of thing that encourages repeat visits. 

Scenicly, all the main European manufacturers were represented with racks, and spinny display things, stuffed full of product. I liked the look of the 3D sheets from Noch, although I have seen these before, and Carson HO scale radio control vehicles. A quick play showed them to be very controlable. Not cheap, but hey, Switzerland. 

Of course there is a cabinet full of trains. A 30% sale was on, but with what I took to be DCC locos costing over 500 Swiss Francs, those are still scary prices, although the models are sublime. 

The Marklin Start-up sets look interesting. A step above the My World range, these are still dead rail radio controlled locos, for modest prices. Conversion potential perhaps? 

My biggest problem was working out what to buy. I didn't want to spend a fortune, and the space in my rucksack was minimal, so it had to be tiny. See what I ended up with tomorrow. 

In the meantime, the Schaufelberger AG website is here.

Travelling crane in The Collector

 

Another classic kit in the Hornby Collectors Club house magazine - this time the Airfix travelling crane. 

I've updated a few areas on my model, mostly to make it easier to build, and improve the look. What I haven't done, is build a working model. This has been done, but the people I know who did it, report the model kept breaking down!

The big question is, what classic kit should I build in the next edition?

Saturday Film Club: Sponges for railway modellers

13 times a year, I have to make a video for BRM TV, something subscribers to the magazine recieve a link for with each issue (If you aren't getting it, as the Subscriptions Department, whose details are in the magazine, not me. I don't have acess to the data.). Coming up with ideas is a bit of a challenge, but I'm rather pleased with this one - which has now been given general release. 

Happy sponging!

Berner Oberland train 'fridge magnet

Obviously, from a trip that involved around 45 train trips, I had to buy a model train of some sort. Now that wasn't going to be some fancy HO scale model - if you think UK locos are expensive, try Swiss ones! Anyway, I didn't see a model of anything I'd travelled on, and wouldn't have got it in the rucksack anyway. 

What there was, was a 'fridge magnet. Or rather a set of four. The Berner Oberland set shown above, a modern WAG set, one from the Jungfru, and a steam rack loco. 

At 12fr (read: £12) each, I was only going to buy one, and so went for the train I travelled on the most, for the six-minute ride from Wilderswil to Interlaken. 

Let's be honest, even if you allow for the model showing the pointy end of the train, not the one in the photo, it's not the greatest model. At 95mm long, I have no idea what the scale is, but around N gauge I suppose. 

The real trains are fantasic. Clean, efficient and with little flaps in the doors that open to fill the gap between platform edge and carriage. There's plenty of capacity too. OK, the train splits, but each end is longer than the Leamington to Marylebone service sometimes, and that's between a big town and capital city, not secondary city and the mountains!

December Garden Rail magazine

 

Does a garden railway mean loads of expensive rolling stock? Dave Skertchly doesn't think so, which is why the idiosyncratic “Vale of Weedol Tramway” is such a delight. With an entertaining history, this little line provides pleasure to its builder, and the good people of Wales where it is set.

Over on the workbench

• We find out how the buildings for Bourton-on-the-Water model village are built and maintained
• Building a “Greendale railmotor”
• Timpdon Models small brake van
• Wodeleigh Engineering's W&L open wagon
• Spooners “Boat”
• A vintage steam railcar from Locomotion

All this, plus the latest new products for the garden railway modeller. Available from all good newsagents, or online at www.world-of-railways.co.uk

Update: I've gone a week too early on this as my calendar is wrong. Still, the digi edition IS out now. 

 

Warehouse Wednesday: Swiss goods sheds

The Swiss seem to like moving things by rail. I lost count of the number of rail-served factoreis and businesses we passed travelling around. Many looked like the sidings were still in use too. 

However, the subject of this post is the traditional, wooden, Swiss good shed. There are plenty of these around too. I'm not sure many are used as much as the one at Lauterbrunnen, but some certainly are. 

Interlaken Ost's isn't railway, but it's still in place. At the other end of the town, near Inerlaken West, the shed is larger, but taken over by a sort of market style trader that reminded me of Jurby Junk on the Isle of Man many years ago. I suppose it's a tribute to these buildings that they are still standing, and ideal for his business. 

Working narrow gauge freight

Tuesday of my holiday involved a trip up the Jungfrau, an impressive series of trains and an incredible view from the top of the mountain. However, on the way back, as we passed through Lautebrunnen, I was amazed to see an ancient electric locomotive - shunting!

Since the next day was free, thanks to the Schynige Platte railway having closed for winter the week before, I decided to head back and see if I could get a proper look at this anachronism. To be honest, I didn't expect much luck, but as it involved a trip through the mountains, I was happy with a gawp at the scenery. 

On arrival, I spotted another target for my camera, and old-looking railcar tucked in a shed. Working my way along the street, and using the car park of a hostal, I bagged the photo above. It turns out that overhead electrification equipment gets in the way as much on the real thing as it does on models!

It didn't take long loitering on the station platform for me to get a better look though, as these things are still working. It seems that there are communities on the mountain without road connections - so everything has to be sent up by rail. The result - a parade of short goods trains running on narrow guage rack track!

It seems that these are the original railcars that have since been displaced by more modern, and less stylish to my mind, units. 

The little green loco, a WAB He 2/2 51–58, is over 100 years old. The class used to be used on the mountain, but this one is now kept as the shunter in the small yard. A yard which would make a nice model, apart from the knitting. 

Nowadays, more modern machines have taken over the mountaineering, but they are no less interesting. They are also very busy, in three hours, I saw a good train depart at least every 30 minutes, alternating with the passenger trains. 

You can tell the photo above is Switzerland - look at those corner protectors on the plasterboard. No strapping it down and wreaking the top couple of sheets here!

It was interesting that some trains had a proper driving cab at the front, but the plasterboard service was driven by someone standing on the front of the wagon, presumably using radio control. I saw this on the standard gauge a few days later, as a freight diesel shot through Thun station at speed with a couple of orange-clad guys on the front of a two bogie train. 

So, a fun morning on a day to misty to go up any mountains. Until this point, I'd never actually seen narrow guage railways earning thier keep with freight, and certainly not as much as this, on such a modern system.

Bühler AG, Interlaken

 

If you go down the Bahnhofstrasse today, you are in for a slight disapointment. They don't open on Mondays. Yes, you can look at the somewhat faded items in the display windows, and it's still more interesting than a lot of the shops in Interlaken, but frustrating. 

Get past of the odd opening hours, a feature of many Swiss model shops, and you are rewarded with a cornucopea of models. 

Four rooms and the corridor are stacked with models. Mostly HO scale trains, but plenty of other stuff too such as RC models and construction kits. There are paints and modelling materials, it really is well stocked. 

This being Switzerland, there aren't any obvious bargains, but for the UK enthusiast, it's the breadth of product on display that appeals, at least it diud to me. I came away with a pack from the Faller Basic Range, which weirdly, isn't on their website, and a Marklin Christmas wagon, which you can be sure will appear on this blog at some point. 

Well worth a visit, especially if you get bored of endless shops selling watches, penknives and fridge magnets. 

Buhler website.

Great British Model Railway Show 2024

 

Did I mention I've been on holiday? Well, due to my incompetance with a calendar, on the Saturday of the GBMRS, I was on an epic trip from the middle of Switzerland to home. 

Plan B had been to recruit a couple of people to stand in for me on the first day, but those I had in mind weren't available. So an embarassing email was sent to the organiser, promising that I'd be there on the Sunday only. 

This is despite not arriving at the local station until 11:25pm. Fortunatly, a mate gave me a lift back home, in return for some chocolate, but this still meant an early start on the Sunday. Thank goodness the clocks went back. 

I had prepared most of my display before leaving, and wrote a list of stuff I'd forgotten, while away. So I was waiting for the doors to open at the show, and quickly, with the aid of the building manager who found me a table, set up ready for some chat. 

And chat I did. Like any good demo, hardly any modelling was achieved - two bits of a Metcalfe building were glued together. 

Thanks to everyone who dropped by for a chat. Sorry if I wasn't at my absolute best, but the previous days trip was catching up with me by the end of the day. 

I didn't have time to take photos of the layouts either, so here's a land speed record motorbike that was by the door we walking an out of for loading. 

Saturday Film Club: The Story Of The Real FAB 1!

The story of the real, iconic, pink Rolls-Royce, used to promote the Thunderbirds films. This film covers bit the original, proper one, and the more modern version. Some nice behind-the-scenes photos and films too.

That's not a model shop!

 

You're going to be hearing a lot about my recent Swiss holiday on the blog - partly because I enjoyed it, but mostly because prepering to be, and being, on holiday, hasn't left much modelling time. 

Anyway, here's the first post.

Arriving on Lucerne station, what do I see, but a Bachmann shop.

Is it full of model trains? 

Nope. 

Sadly, this is the boys from Barwell branching out. Pity really, as I was looking forward to some rather tasty review items from them...

As it is, I can say the vanilla donut was delicious, but it took ages to clean all the icing sugar off my clothes afterwards!