Aoshima Suzuki Jimney 1:32 model

 I buy odd kits. And something about the regular adverts from Plaza Japan for a Jimney plastic kit appealed to me. I quite like a boxy car, and the Jimney might have a stupid name, but I just fancied the fun of sticking the bits together - not that there would be any sticking as this is a snap-together plastic kit.

 

 

The bits look nice. Everything is in plastic bags, and impressively, the wheels are painted metalic grey. It was this detail that broke my enui. Looking at the photo on the side of the box, it appeared that they were showing a real model, not one someone had done over to look good. 

There's no painting, instead, lots of stickers, and I mean LOTS, cover all the colour details. Even the windscreen wipers and door locks are stickered. Not sure about the former, but everything else works really well. Peeling and applying these took the best part of a (relaxed) hour. 

The chassis snaps together as expected. Tyres are a stiff vinyl and the wheels rotate, but not freely enough to brooooom the car along the carpet. Those painted wheels are a nice touch. 

Inside, the seats and dashboard fold up and clip to make a tub. There are more stickers for the dashboard and even around the handbrake - although that one defeated me so I left it out. A nice black vinyl makes sense for an off-road car, so no painting required. 

And there we have it. A couple of hours kitbuilding produces a pretty good-looking model. For the most part, the stickers work really well. I'm not 100% convinced about the windscreen surrounds, they don't quite meet the edges of the body, but the chrome lettering and lights are spot on. 

At 11cm long, 5cm wide and 5.5cm tall, this isn't a big model. Everything went together perfectly, except the radio aerial, which needed some glue. If I'd been more patient, perhaps it wouldn't have fallen off and got lost. 

As the basis for a more advanced build, there's nothing wrong with this kit. Paint on the body and inside the cabin would be a start. Some seatbelts and perhaps even driver and passengers would be nice. That's for another day, and probably another modeller though. For the minute, this can live in the cabinet or corner of a cupboard until I can work out what to do with it. 

Most importantly, I enjoyed the build, and that's what it's all about!

The longest journey starts with a single step

 

Does anyone else find themselves bogged down when facing a new kit? 

I bought a cheap plastic kit for a Suzuki Jimney recently as a way to try and break my lack of enthusiasm for making things. My plan - stick it together with no expectations other than I'd finally have made something. 

But then my brain gets in the way. I start looking at the body and thinking I'll need to paint it, and that really means going out to the garage and using the airbrush. While out there, the chassis and black bits would benefit from some paint. 

Then I really ought to detail the interior - and so it goes on. I'm feeling tired just thinking about it. So the kit goes back in the box and back on the pile as it's more work than I'm in the mood for right now. 

I look at serious plastic modellers work and am normally very impressed, but wonder if some of the fun has been lost. The fun we had as kids of just sticking a model together without fretting about the finer details. 

This is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun, but do our expectations get in the way of our enjoyment?

B4 unboxing

 

I've long fancied adding a B4 tank to my loco fleet. It would be a perfect shunter on Melbridge Dock. I've quite a collection of dock shunters. They are both useful, and interesting, to me at least.

Years ago, there was talk of an etched brass kit, but nothing ever came of this. Pity really, as I bought a book on the class to give me some guidance. 

Anyway, Hattons were offering a tempting price on the Dapol model recently, so I blew a bit of money I'm due for a magazine article on one. 

  

I'd have preferred the BR version, but that wasn't on offer. This Southern example is the best second choice - it's the right colour and just needs re-branding and a smokebox number plate adding to fit the rest of my fleet. That and some dirt of course. 

This being the Interweb, you'll be wanting to see the model taken out of it's box:

Now, where did I put that book?

Do I hate N gauge?

 

SPOILER ALERT: No. 

I approve all comments before they are posted on this blog. It's important to stop spammers getting through. Anyway, a few days ago, this turned up: 

Maurice Pearce (Osborns Models Ltd) has left a new comment on your post "Blue DMU":

a long time between N gauge blogs Phil. I could say that does show an editorial bias against N gauge. That is fair enough and I understand we are all swayed by our personal interests and as I stated on RM web yesterday that is a problem with all the mainstream magazines that N gauge is underrated by them. Not enough articles are put forward perhaps precisely because N gauge IS underrated and the 'catch 22' situation arises. I can understand BRM's perspective but personally as a specialist N scale retailer I struggle with RM' position however, (which exists partly as a Peco promotion media), that they fail to promote a good chunk of their product range other than in their own adverts, (random page fillers). Which brings me on to the other current magazine obsession with giant half, and even full page pictures, which when depicting an N scale model of only a very few centimetres long can be made to look completely ridiculous and as never, ever intended to be viewed. So there is another problem where magazine editors can't help but show a bias in striving to fill acres of newsprint. Moan over. Roll on TINGS. 

Some context might be useful here as it's nothing to do with the Blue DMU post the commentator tried to leave it on. There is the thread running on RMweb: Is N gauge under-rated. As part of this I explained that the main reason magazines aren't stuffed full of N gauge layouts is that we don't get sent details of many. There might be some superb RTR available, but if anyone is buying it and building model railways matching the quality, finding them is proving difficult. 

However, that's not the point. Quite simply, it's no use coming on here and having a pop at me if your favourite scale or prototype isn't receiving the coverage you think it should, because, 

this is my personal blog

As I say at the bottom of the page. Anything on here isn't part of my professional work. No-one pays me to write about building Space 199 props, obsolete model loco building or 3mm scale diesels. On this blog, I get to built and photograph anything I want, and that includes weird stuff. 

What I don't do is N gauge. I've nothing against it, but it's just not my thing. I have built N gauge projects for work, and enjoyed doing it, but with so much to chose to build, on here, I'm more likely to construct an odd-ball monorail than anything in a scale smaller than 3mm. That's just the way I am. 

Someone will point out I post details of my work in BRM and Garden Rail on here - the former is so I can remember which issue various projects were carried out (the Blogger search engine is very good) and the later because I can. As I say, this is my blog!

So, I'm happy to have the conversation about magazine contents with anyone. In the context of the RMweb thread, on RMweb would make sense. If not, well, my e-mail address is hardly a state secret. 

To repeat, this is my blog. No-one gets to tell me what should appear. Ask, yes, I'm always happy to respond to requests, but tell, no.

 

Saturday Film Club: Waterloo station

This is just fun. Interesting views of the 1970s, and a funky soundtrack. Pity the trains are so boring (ducks to avoid things thrown by EMU fans).

Webinar - 7th May

 

What are you doing on May 7th between 2 and 3pm? 

Would you like to learn a load of the basic techniques useful for building a model railway? 

Do you have a fiver to spare? 

Yes? - Well the good news is that I'm hosing a webinar where I'll be covering just this. In an hour, I'll build a short layout, OK, a foot-long photoplank as seen above, live, and chat to those attending as I go. 

This is a bit of an experiment, but are run-through has proved it can be done, now all we need to do is run it for real. 

Some of you may remember a course I ran at Dillington House in 2016, where we did the same thing. This went down well, so when the idea of a webinar came up, it seemed a sensible starting point. Unlike that course, you don't get a load of materials and something to take away, nor the delicious lunch unless you cook it yourself. However, it is a lot cheaper and you get just as much entertainment and instruction. 

If all this appeals - you can book here.

Modified Porter

Finally this week, an On30 Porter locomotive. 

Based on a Bachmann model, the version you see here has been improved with the aid of a Backwoods Miniatures dress-up kit that is sadly, no longer available. 

You can read all the details in this blog thread.

One of a batch I built for a customer (before you ask, I don't do this any more), it got a little bit broken, but I fixed the body up and kept it for myself. 

One day, I will build an On30 layout. Something for small, and somewhat worn steam and diesel engines to run on. I keep photographing minimum space models and ogling them in magazines. It's nice to dream...

Sentinel 0-4-0VBT

 

Back in 2014, I built this RT Models 100HP Sentinel for BRM. 

It's a nice kit that comes complete with a bespoke motorising unit for slow running and all-wheel drive. Using a SPUD is all very well, but they need a lot of weight piled on top of them for slow running.

 

This is, to my eyes, a handsome beast. I recall Impetus kits producing one, complete with an impressive  resin body, but by the time I could afford the price, the range had disappeared into one of those black holes from whence models never escape again. 

Etched in nickel-silver, the RT Models version is an excellent replacement. I remember some of the bits were so small they didn't survive the etching process, but that also meant that they were so small I didn't miss them on the model.

 

Hunslet shunter

Since I've been too busy to do any actual modelling for the last few weeks, and I really need to reacquaint myself with my Olympus PL1, I've dug some old models out of the cabinet to post here. 

First up, is the Silver Fox Models CLASS D1/1 Hunslet 0-4-0 Dock shunter. 

An attractive prototype, owing a loot of its design cues to the same firms 05 Shunter, it was high on my list to build the moment I spotted photos on the OPC published shunters book (the really old one) and realised it would be perfect for Melbridge Dock.

I eventually constructed the resin-body kit for Hornby Magazine in 2011ish and it re-appeared on the  Parker's Guide bookazine. Running on a Tenshodo SPUD, it's pretty much built as supplied. A bit of extra wire for the handrails and electrical conduits, but the model shows how good, and easy to build, a resin kit is.

  

The biggest change I made was to drop the model down a couple of mm to bring the skirts and cowcatcher nearer the rails, but as this is just making a hole in the rectangle of Plastikard the motor bogie its on, not too difficult.

Model Truck World

It's a brave company that launches a new paper magazine these days, but that's what Guideline Publications have done - twice. 

Home to a number of modelling mags already, plus Railway Bylines and British Railway Illustrated, they obviously see a future for paper, as not only has Model Truck World appeared on the news stands, but it's sister magazine for countryside diecast fans - Model Farmer. 

So, what's it like? 

Starting with the basics, the mag is full colour, A4 size and printed on very heavy paper so the photos reproduce really well. 

If you've ever looked at a military modellers magazine, much inside will be familiar to you, just with less (i.e. no) tanks. 

This is high-end model making, not just sticking plastic kit together. The materials and techniques are the same you'll see in military modelling, except for the forklift truck, which covers radio control installation as well. 

Scales are generally much larger than those railway modellers will be familiar with - 1/48 being the smallest found in there. As such, many of the methods won't be directly applicable, but there is much to inspire. 

If I have a complaint, it's that the issue could do with one or two less articles to allow more space for the photos. They are all sharp and clear, but often reproduced in 5x4cm boxes with massive chunks of text alongside them, dominating the page. A few had me wanting to see more. 

That said, the editorial to advertising content is high - you get a lot for your £4.95. While I can't claim I'll be subscribing, I will be flicking through and picking up the odd issue as the civilian subjects given the full-fat modelling treatment suits me more than the guns'n'glory of the military magazines. If you see a copy on the shelf, I suggest you'll enjoy it too. 

Full details over on the Model Truck World website. 

 (Note: I bought this issue with my own cash - I'm a sucker for the first issue of model mags)

Podcast: Garden Railways

 

Some Sunday listening for you -Railway Mania asked me back to talk about garden railways on their latest podcast. It took 3 1/2 hours to record this, but then we did spend an hour yakking before recording started!

Saturday Film Club: 1978 SEAB Flipper

 

 I do love a weird car, and if it's a microcar, so much the better.This odd beast ticks all the boxes, with the bonus of a very ingenious drive system that removes the need for a reverse gear!

It's the Big Virtual Show III this weekend!

Whatever you are doing this weekend - cancel it. We've put together yet another massive selection of layouts, interviews and fun for you. 

Head to: www.world-of-railways.co.uk tomorrow morning, and don't leave until 4pm Sunday!

Garden Rail April 2021

 

April sees us putting the fun into garden railways. Mark and Donna Mitchell built the Glebe Valley Railway in just two years, and the line has taken on a life of its own with a daily story appearing on Facebook.

The joy continues as we meet four friends who have built Gauge One Midland 2P locomotives from Barrett Steam kits. Even a few burnt fingers didn't stop them enjoying the job.

We also build coaches, wagons and an engine shed, as well as proving you can radio control a locomotive for less than the price of a coffee.

Full contents listing over on RMweb.

Mock half-timber

There is a trend near where I live, for old bungalows to be bought, largely knocked down, and then turned into much bigger houses. Sadly, I suspect this one is due to be on the receiving end of the same treatment. 

That's a shame as I suspect it's quite old. The left hand end wall is brick with painted on "woodwork". The rest it rendered, so I assume is the same. 

I'm not quite sure why anyone would add the mock Tudor decoration to a house like this. It's seems a little dishonest, but then people did that sort of thing years ago. I'm sure this dates back as far as I remember, so several decades. Presumably, it was built this way. 

I know it has little architectural merit, but I'll still be sorry to see it go.

Weathering a tractor

For a weathering demonstration at this weekend's Virtual Exhibition, I need a dirty model. This 1:43 Lanz Bulldog from an old partwork was handy, so it was time to give it a work over. Why a Bulldog? Well, there is one in my novel...

Anyway, it's a really good model with loads of detail, so no construction work to do. Perfect for my purposes. 

The vinyl tyres came off after quite a fight, and the model was given a couple of coats of Testors Dullcote matt varnish. On it's own, this really improves the look of the model. I know collectors like things shiny, but they do look like toys. 

Dry-brushing the paintwork with some Humbrol 144 started the big improvements. While I was at it, some bit were given some Revell 9 (dirty black) such as the bottom half of that lump on the front. According to prototype picture, it shouldn't be body colour. A bit of rust colour added the same way helped too, especially on the exhaust and whatever the other sticky up thing is (air intake?). 

Finally, it was out with the Lifecolor Dust and Rust paint to splodge some rust around with a fairly stiff brush. I tried a sponge at first, but couldn't get it into the places I needed it. Rust was based on one of the few photos of a dirty prototype I could find - plenty of over-restored examples, few "in service" shots. 

Lots more rust around the back where the farmers boots will bash protective paint away. Photos show it creeping up the mudguards too, so the stiff brush did the job. 

There we go, a quick'n'dirty weathering job. There will be more, but that's for another day.

Billings Dana 200 rudder linkage

 

My dad is fiddling with a Billings Boats Dana 200 kit. He found it on a shelf and decided a little boat would make a change from bigger projects. 

Needless to say, I got roped in to help with the technical stuff, and of course, despite the kit being suitable for RC, according to the box, you are on your own trying to fit the stuff. 

Drive is easy, rudder less so. There's not a lot of space to fit everything so we had to build the rudder and post from the (static) wooden version and some brass tube. 

To rotate the rudder, I cut a 4BA thread in the top of the post and made an arm up from a bit of brass. This is soldered to the nut and the screwed on to the post. It's help in place with a drop of superglue on the top. 

The servo just squeezes under the deck and the whole thing is a bit tight. The linkage hooks through the arm, retained by a bent bit of wire fitted through a hole drilled in the fat wire. 

It all works though, so now I just need to wire the boat up. 

Video: Making model hedges

 

Another of my BRMTV videos - this time making model hedges.

Saturday Film Club: Steam turbine TGV in Gauge 1

 

The story of the development of a Gauge 1, steam powered, tilting TGV. German with translations throughout. I don't claim to understand the technology, but it's fascinating.

Plastic trams

Dad's birthday - and I spotted that the Wythall Transport Museum shop eBay account had some of the Atlas Editions tram models for sale for a fiver each. Well, I couldn't think what to get him, and I rather like the look of them.

I'll confess, I've not carried out any research into these - so they may be horribly inaccurate, but neither of us is bothered, they just look so good. 

To be honest, if the partwork that these hail from re-appeared on the shelves, I suspect we'd sign up for it. We're not into foreign trams really, and don't need any more models, but how can you resist? All the models are HO scale, and moulded in plastic. This wasn't cheap to tool up.

Still, a present bought, and money gone to a good cause. Now, I wonder if we could build a very small transport museum, with a display of trams from around the world...

Fixing the front door lock

I like taking apart mechanical things, especially those with chunky fixings. When the catch on our front door stopped working properly, after being allowed to slam shut in the wind a few times, it needed investigating. 

OK, it needed replacing with an identical one, but after that I took the old unit and had a play. 

The basic device is simple enough, there's a bit that turns which shoves a cage back and forth, on to which is fitted the brass tongue bit that locates in the other side of the unit to hold the door shut. Obviously, I've not looked up the correct technical terms...

The fault was that every so often, the handle inside the door seemed to lose contact with the slidy cage and flop around. My first thought was that the cage could move out and miss contact, but there didn't seem to be a problem there - no obvious wear in the plates holding the thing together, and the two, chunky retaining screws were tightly fitted.

Eventually, after about half an hours tinkering, I spotted the cage was slightly distorted. Slamming the door on the latched unit had whacked the tongue and moved the metal. Five minutes with pliers (it's quite soft) and a hammer and the whole thing moves silky smoothly. As good as new. 

Now, we have a spare front door lock all parcelled up in the garage, where it will probably manage to vanish if we ever need it. 

Anyone else like this sort of job?

Backwoods Miniatures 0-4-0+0-4-0 Garratt

 

Spotting that James Hilton has been working on a Backwoods Miniature industrial Garratt kit prompted me to dig out my model for a couple of photos. 

Despite the age of the model, I don't think I did to bad a job with it. This isn't the easiest kit to build, but that's mostly to do with the prototype. The only niggle I remember (it was a long time ago) was squeezing the motors into the thick brass boxes that form the tanks either end before being wrapped in thnner, half-etched brass. 

I made holes to correspond with the ends of the spinning bit of the motor. Only 1mm gained, but just enough for really free running. 

The valve gear looks fearsome, but because it's all etched in thick nickel silver, there's no pesky laminations to do. I riveted it all together and the last side took about 20 minutes.

Given some juice from a 9V battery, the model still runs, although only backwards. I remember this being an issue, one end is a bit lazy and years of standing around haven't helped. Given the need, I''m sure I could have it back and working. We used to shunt with it on Melbridge Dock!

Unfashionable painting

Sometimes social media amuses me. Never more so than when you see modellers trying to cosy up to a manufacturer. Most do this in an unsubtle way by loudly rubbishing any competitors products and saying they will never build anything but the kits produced by their "favourite". 

If you actually know any of the people running the companies, they don't fall for this at all. In a way, this pledging of allegiance is something the poster will have done at school where they tried to join the gang of cool kids. 

I'm not a cool kid, so let me say, I like painting good quality whitemetal figures. Yes, I know this is very unfashionable, especially in the finescale modelling world, but a top notch sculpted figure has more detail than even the best 3D printed ones. Yes - controversial, I know.

Now, I love the printed people. They are perfectly proportioned and adopt the right poses because of the method used to create them. For a model, proportion and pose trumps detail every time. Give your mini-person the proportions of a simian, and it doesn't matter how fine the chain on their watch is, they look rubbish. 

But, for the moment (and this is changing), a really superb figure sculptor can do better. I really enjoyed painting these people from Duncan Models, and the S&D Miniature range. OK, the close-up is a bit cruel, but a bit more finenessing, if I had the time, would sort that. Doing the facial details was fun, perhaps I should dig out some of those photo-realistic eyeball transfers...

End boards

Selly Oak needs to vacate it's worktop for a few days which prompts me to do an important job - make up the end boards used to transport the model. 

The principle is simple enough - the baseboards face each other to protect the scenery, and a pair of 12mm thick slabs of MDF are bolted at each end to hold the boards apart, making an open-sided box. It's a technique I've used for every layout since Melbridge Dock, and has served me well. 

Obviously, it helps if the boards are roughly the same size - they definitely need to be the same length, but then that's how my layouts get built. It reduces the model size for transport down to a minimum, and there aren't piles of carrying cases cluttering the place up. 

Of course, when you go to pick up the wood and realise you measured the height of the model and then forgot to double it for the end board measurement, you feel a bit silly. Still, I'm sure I can find some use for the scrap MDF...

Video: Build a canal boat

 

BRM are currently uploading some of our older construction videos to YouTube, and of course, many of these star me!

This one shows me building a simple canal boat kit. Old technology, but it makes up into a nice model.

Saturday Film Club: Muriel on the original Echills Wood Railway

 

An entertaining blast from the past -7 1/4 inch gauge locomotive "Muriel" running on the Echills Wood Railway when the line was still based at Stoneleigh park. 

I remember riding on it as a child. At the time, I seem to remember there being some proper, enclosed coaches, but we rode on the open trucks with the seat down the middle as you see in the film. I doubt I enjoyed it much, I'm a bit of a wuss about this sort of thing and these trains never seem very stable. 

The line was eventually evicted from Stoneleigh for no good reason, and moved to Kingsbury Water Park where they were welcomed with open arms by rangers who couldn't do enough for their new attraction. After a while, Stoneleigh realised what they had lost and asked them to come back - a request that was not appreciated! The line joined a long list of attractions lost to the park including the Town & Country Festival, Royal Show and VW Action. Make of that what you will. 

Visit Echills Wood online. 

Class 86 locomotives

I'm sure I read something on Twitter this week that said the last Class 86 locomotives in the UK had been moved to storage. Needless to say, I can't find it now, but it sort of gives me an excuse to post this photo of members of the class stored at Long Marsden. 

A bit of digging online tells me that 86 234 was exported to Bulgaria in 2012, where is may well live on, not bad for a 56 year old railway engine!

Cottage tinkering, coach ruining and mucky vehicles in BRM

 I'm making things better, or worse, in the Spring issue of BRM. 

When launching their popular castle kit, Metcalfe Models also added this rather attractive cottage from the village of Laycock to the range. The bigger kit can keep for later, but the cottage looked really attractive and I knew I could make it look even better. 

Actually doing this proved a bit trickier than expected, because my initial plans for the corners didn't work out, but with a little experimentation, I cracked this. A few more mods and the result is a fantastic looking model that could grace any layout. 

We've already reviewed the latest Hornby generic pre-grouping coaches in the shape of a 4-wheeler last month. It's the 6-wheel variant that really interests people though so I blagged one from the big H and then faced a problem - another review? Not really. 

So, I turned it into a project making a run-down example, and am pleased with the results. 

Finally, the BRM TV. 

I'm looking at road vehicles for your layout - taking them apart, adding some dirt etc. 

The most impressive thing is that I start by showing how we used to make cars from whitemetal kits and don't just go off on a 30 minute rant about how useless those expensive kits were...

More on Spring 2021 on RMweb.

More hairspray action on Selly Oak

 

At the canal end of Selly Oak, there has been more hairspray action to give the rough ground a bit of texture. A few blasts of laquer followed by more static grass or some scatter, and it's gained a lot of character. 

I'm not finished, but at least the embankment doesn't look like a freshly mowed lawn. This is really simple to do too and when you need the encouragement of a quick win, well worth the effort. 

There's also been more Forest in Box planted under the right hand side of the bridge. I wanted to block the view with something horrible, scruffy and green. There's still the extra bridge side detail to go in, but I made that weeks ago, then moved the support so it doesn't fit any more...

Resin is bad for your teeth

 

I'm known for and enthusiasm for cutting up those nice ready-to-plonk resin buildings, and turning them into something the manufacturers never envisaged. 

This work tends to be carried out on a cheap mitre saw setup. In the garden obviously, because the process is very messy and you don't want to be ingesting quantities of the dust. 

The problem is, resin is hard. And it doesn't do the saw teeth any favours. 

Hacking away at some wood last week, I was aware that the saw was wearing its way through, not really cutting. Running my finger gently along the teeth provided an explanation. At the ends of the blade (left above) the teeth were sharp. In the middle (right) not. 

I've not used this blade much, but changing it improved things a huge amount. I'm glad I had a spare on the shelf!

Airbrush test Part 2

You might remember that a few weeks ago, I tried out a cheap airbrush with hand-held compressor. 

If you didn't the post is here, go and have a look. 

Several posters asked some interesting questions and made helpful suggestions for further tests, and finding myself with a simple spray job to carry out, I decided to look into this further. 

 First, we have Humbrol Track Colour paint sprayed on to some paper using my Iwata airbrush. I don't look after it properly, but it gives perfectly acceptable results. The only limiting factor is my skill.

The same paint from the cheapo airbrush. This was connected to an airline from the same Sparmax compressor. You can see the difference. Initial impressions that the airbrush is rubbish are confirmed it appears. Well, unless you want to splatter things. 

This time, we have the Iwata connected to the cheapo hand-held compressor. Not bad at all. I happily sprayed several bits of track brown with the setup and I'd do it again. This is basically what I bought the cheapo airbrush for in the first place - portable spray painting. 

The solution seems to be Iwata combined with hand-held compressor. But I now wonder if the rubbish airbrush can be fettled. I need to look into this and see if anything can be done. It's not like I can make things worse after all!

Model railways in the news

It's been a good week for model railways appearing in the mainstream press. 

First, there is an interesting piece in the Waitrose customer magazine talking about people enjoying modelmaking, with a great lead photo. 

Read this here. 

 

The Daily Mail meets Simon George (52) to look at Heaton Junction.

Read this here.

 

And the Peckforton Light Railway makes the local TV news.