Magazine catch-up

 

Time for a little catch-up with some of the other places you can see my work appearing. First up, it's the Summer 2023 issue of the Hornby Collectors Club magazine. 

I've gone all retro with the 1980s R196 bungalow kit. Good fun little project, and it makes a change from looking at old locos and wagons for the readers. Perhaps there could be a little following for classic kit building? There's an R195 lifting bridge kit in my stash that, I think, would be an interesing piece. 

Dropping down a scale, in the TT:120 club magazine, I've assembled a workmans cottage from Scale Model Scenery. 

Another nice model, but this took a little more care than usual as I used the paper wraps rather than paint, so clean fingers are a must!

Elsewhere, I've had a few Isle of Man photos in the current Narrow Gauge World, and even a shot from car park at the IPMS show in Practial Classics!

Coal yard and sheep shelter in The Collector

Deadlines. 

My life is ruled by deadlines.  On a board beside my computer there is a list of magazine deadlines and the projects that I need to complete by them. 

It should be a comprehensive list, but sometimes I manage to leave something off and it comes back to bite me. 

Which is why a few weeks ago, I found myself turning out two small scenes in double-quick time so the articles could be delivered to the Hornby Collectors club for their Autumn 2020 magazine. 

The problem with being up against it for time when you are making things is that paint and glue don't realise you need them to dry FAST and so there needs to be some clever juggling to keep work going while something else dries.

Handy hint: Hair lacquer sticks loads of stuff and yet dries very, very fast.  

The first scene is a rural one.

I'd been asked to demo the Skale Scenics range and so we have their grass, flock and this rather nice ready to plant oak tree. The hut is an old Hornby model and the sheep and shepherd are from the range as well. 

After that, we have a competition launch model. 

For the 100th birthday of the company, we've launched the 100mm challenge, you can read the full details in the magazine, but the length of track is important...

Hornby Collector Club.

R528 Operating Tipper Set

The Hornby operating tipper set is an interesting accessory. My best guess for its launch would be the late 1980s as I seem to remember it appearing in Scale Trains magazine. The set is often paired, including by Hornby, with the R515 operating conveyer belt. 

In operation, a locomotive pushes the wagon up the incline and on to the tipper. Once uncoupled, a catch unlocks the wagon end door and it is tipped to drop the load. When used with the conveyer, the load normally falls in this to be lifted into the back of another wagon, which is in turn unloaded on the tipper in a never-ending sequence.

I'm not convinced by the operation. You have to uncouple the wagon so it can be lifted, but this has to take place just before it's on the tipper. BUT the wagon then has to be pushed hard against the stop to release the catch. I suspect for most people this requires a bit of "hand of God" action. 

My set cost less than many RTR wagons and seems pretty complete, although the box is a bit faded.  I didn't worry about wiring up the switch for testing, just using a 9V battery. As far as I can tell, the motor is on or off raising and then lowering the tipper bridge. I reversed the polarity but don't think I needed to. 

One fun feature is the load. According to the box phot, this looks like coal or slate. In mine, where it was sealed in a bag, it's transparent balls. No idea what they are supposed to represent, a bulk order for fortune-tellers perhaps?

A challenge in the Hornby Collectors Club magazine

If you visited the Hornby Collectors Club show at Gaydon last year, you could pick up a goodie back containing a Hornby mug and a wagon. I grabbed mine and used it as the material for a challenge in the latest HCC magazine.

The wagon is a long-wheelbase open and if I'm honest, not one of the firms best. Stretched to fit a guards van chassis, it's a bit weird, but that didn't put me off. I've turned it into an internal user wagon with a few bits from ScaleModelScenery.

Talking of the HCC magazine, because I write for this, I get an appearance in the latest Hornby catalogue.

 

Since this is the 100th birthday catalogue, this is a big deal. On the page advertising the collectors club, you can see my "When Hornby did sci-fi" article poking out. You can even see my name - fame indeed!

Wagon loads in The Collector

Way back in the 1970s, TV show Blue Peter had a model railway.

Every year they also published an annual and in one of these, John Noakes (I think) showed the reader how to make loads for model railway wagons. The only one I can remember was pipes made from pasta tubes, but there were others.

This half-remembered spread was in my mind when I started on my piece on wagon loads for the latest issue of "The Collector", the house magazine of the Hornby Collectors Club.

For the first of the two-part series, I'm looking at mining stuff - coal, coke, ore and pit props.

I've tried to show a variety of methods for making each load and also explain niceties such as how much you get in each wagon.

Next month, other loads.