Clik here to view.
Rail King
If yesterday's model was nearly described as a "Terrible train set", how about todays effort? Surely this thing has got to be beyond the pale? It's true, the "Rail King Intelligent Classical Train"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Too much of a buffer
My red enamel paint job looked very nice but close up, the finish wasn't perfect. Not to worry, my understanding is that those flawless finished on both model and real cars don't arrive straight from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Satin varnish near disaster
I'm pleased to report that the transfers were quickly applied to the aircraft and sat on the gloss paint with hardly any trace of "silvering" caused by air being trapped under the sheet. In fact, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
G-ACSS
How's this for coincidence. Just as I'm messing around with the Comet paintwork, in Smiffs is a magazine with the very aeroplane on the front cover. Of course I had to buy a copy - not something toy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nine!
The first day of a new year means it's time for my review of 2014's activity on the blog. A quick check back to last years effort shows that my 3mm scale Class 25 has clocked up 3 years in the "to do"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trailing bogie
Back at the GWR railcar, the trailing bogie is a pretty simple, if fiddly, construction job. The biggest problem is that if assembled as supplied, the axle ends are nowhere near being held by the holes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Power bogie hangers
With issues concerning the motor/gearbox combo in mind, I thought it might be a good idea to see how the power unit fitted in the coach body beofre going any further. It's quite a nifty set-up. In the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Free wooden tongs for soldering
When soldering bits of brass or nickel silver together, avoiding burnt fingers ranks almost as high on my list of desirable outcomes as fitting the parts together properly. To whit, I've a fine...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wooden signal box
Time for a model that is special to me. As a youthful modeller, the articles I really enjoyed reading were those written by Alan Downes. His buildings really seemed to capture the look and feel of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Slating the roof
The most obvious job required on the signal box is finishing off the roof. For help with this, I turned to Alan Downes nemesis and another master modeller - Iain Robinson. Some time ago, he wrote a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Plastic noodling
Roof complete, I took the September 2014 issue of Model Rail as my guide for finishing off the Downes box. Looking at the photos of a very similar box he'd built, I took my cues from this - the plan is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A big 02 diesel in BRM and photos from down under
Thanks to the festive season messing up deliveries, as I write, I haven't actually seen my copy of the February issue of British Railway Modelling magazine. Sorry to ruin any conspiracy theories, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finished signal box
All that gleaming white plastic needed to be carefully colour matched with the existing paintwork applied by Mr Downes when he built the box. Splodging various browns around on the back proved that...
View ArticleBehind the scenes at Space 1999
Hat tip to Scale Model News for pointing me at this excellent footage showing the model making department for Space 1999. Being born post-Thunderbirds, this was MY Gerry Anderson. It also featured the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Leamington station mystery
Another casualty has turned up in the sidings at Leamington station and this one is more of a mystery and than the poorly loco a few weeks ago. We don't see much in the way of coaching stock nowadays....
View ArticleClik here to view.
My first model railway locomotive
A couple of days ago, I was sorting through the boxes that contain my Triang collection and I found this engine - the most important and precious one I own. Nearly 4 decades ago, at Christmas, I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My first scratchbuilt locomotive
In the same box as my first model loco, I also found my first efforts at scratchbuilding a locomotive. Based pretty accurately on a plan in a magazine for a Hunslet loco I now can't identify (I've...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My first kitbuilt wagon
Bringing up the rear in this nostalgia-fest, is my first kit built wagon. Built from a Keyser Model kits plastic kit, I recall finding the model in a shop in Luton. It was cheap enough for me to spend...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mystery Pug chassis
Back in the 1960s, there were several companies producing kits to make the static Kitmaster and Airfix model railway plastic kits move. In my collection, I have this little mechanism part fitted to an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weymouth Harbour Masters Office - Twice
Take your mind back to 1963. May 1963 to be precise. Winston Churchill announced his retirement from politics. Dr No premiered in the USA. The Rolling Stones signed their first recording contract. More...
View Article