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Have I got the right cab back?
There is something odd here. The raised moulding along the back of the Thornycroft should, I would have thought, form a continuous line around the three sides. It doesn't.Two sides, yes. The short one,...
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Platform 5
Working on Modelling British Railways Diesel Locomotives over the last few weeks has made me quite nostalgic for “old” railways. In the search for information (can't rely entirely on Wikipedia after...
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Wheels
A nice touch on the Thornycroft kit is the inclusion of 2 sets of wheels. Because of the age of the prototype, it's perfectly possible that solid tyres might be fitted when the lorry was new. For my...
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Inside the engine shed
After escaping the cannibalism of the Holyhead Breakwater Railway, 01 001 finds a safe haven at Melbridge Parva shed. All appears safe - while the building has long since lost its doors, at least there...
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Nudie sunbather (NSFW if you work in a convent)
What's going on? I order a pack of people suitable for a campsite from the German firm Prieser, and in the packet is positive filth! Nudity! Boobies! Smut! Other words that might get me slightly sad...
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The joy of weekday museum visits
Meeting for cake last week, I found myself with time to spare in Birmingham Museum. Wandering up to the new(ish) Brummie Gallery, I found only 3 other people there. Fantastic.The problem with a lot of...
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Brede in World of Model Boating
Time for the Brede Lifeboat to make its appearance in print. The full story of the build appears in the Bookazine "World of Model Boating", a spin-off from Model Boats magazine. It's odd to see the...
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Loading platform
There's a lot of Clayhanger Yard this week as it's off up to Hartlepool this weekend. Job number 1 is to ballast the left hand baseboard. Before I can do that though, I need the loading platform for...
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Ballasting with ash
More ballasting. More ash.If anyone suggests ash ballast is a good idea for your model railway - slap them. It's not, it's horrible stuff to work with. My initial experiments showed that if you just...
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Clyde Puffer and Boiler House in Hornby Magazine
Hornby Mag arrives this month and inside I'm hard at work in Clayhanger Yard installing a boiler house and several feet of factory building. This end of the layout is looking good now, which is a...
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Clayhanger Yard at Hartlepool
Today, I'm packing a little van with Clayhanger Yard and a pile of Parker's Guide projects and heading north to Hartlepool for Hornby Magazine Live!I'll be around all weekend to chat about the layout,...
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Goblin war railcar
I'd forgotten I'd built this. Constructed from a Games Workshop Goblin catapult and quite a bit of scratchbuilding, it's a bit of an oddity.Once upon a time I had an idea for building a fantasy railway...
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TT Thomas
While not my favourite character from the Rev Awdry's railway stories, Thomas is iconic and a useful standby for those taking a model to the sort of public exhibition where there will be families. I'm...
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Sleeper cleaning
All that ask ballast was entertaining to lay on Clayhanger Yard. As mentioned on Wednesday, it sticks everywhere. Standard gauge tracks in yards tend to be ballasted up to the sleeper tops but not...
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Lifeboat Trio
Light blogging today - I'm still sorting out stuff from Hartlepool show (more on this at the weekend) and the Bachmann open day (more on this tomorrow), so here's some pictures. While wandering around...
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Bachmann Open Day
Press hat on, I headed off to the Bachmann open day. You might wonder what goes on at these events. Are there dancing girls? Free drinks? Wild partying?To answer this, yes there were free drinks....
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Locomotive breaking
I'm quite pleased with this model of an 07 diesel shunter. Built for Modelling British Railways Diesel Locomotives, it's based on a Silver Fox resin kit and runs on a second-hand Bachmann 03 chassis....
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Locomotive Repair
Yesterday I had a broken 07 shunter and was not happy. I chucked the bits back in the box, shut the lid and left it for the rest of the day. As the show quietened down, I summoned up the courage to...
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Hartlepool 2013
There's nothing I like better than to spend a baking hot Friday afternoon stationary on the M1 motorway in a small, underpowered van that makes a bonging noise when it thinks it's reached 70mph and has...
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Support your local model shop
I've just finished reading The Bachman Books written by Stephen King under the pen name "Richard Bachman. The subtitle is "Four dark visions of a terrifying future."The name amused me, being one "n"...
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