Friday Update: Twenty-nine Eleven Nineteen...

It doesn't feel a week since I wrote my last update, it's not only flown, but the world seems to have changed somewhat after Warley, what a great experience and so much to do and plan for the future. In the meantime, a real mix of projects on the workbench this week...

First of all, if you haven't already noticed, the Heywood Muriel in 09 is complete - read about it here. I've also just finished off a pair of Talyllyn coaches in 009 - they'll be on the blog early next week.

At Warley I collected a Busch starter set from Steve, destined for a Christmas micro layout project. The chassis very quickly found it's way under my Alan Keef built from Mark Greenwood's excellent Narrow Planet kit. Seen here posed with two Busch wagon chassis that I've stripped the bodies off ahead of fitting the peat wagon cages when they're released imminently. Mark's loco really captures the look of the prototype but you do need a hold and fold tool to assemble it, it's quite complicated although straight forward to assemble and really really rewarding. More on that project in December.

I also collected a great book by Paul Burkhalter on the Devonport system at Plymouth (unfortunately both sources out of print). Lots of inspiration here for Planet Industrials! Myself, I was rather taken with some of the stock, and plan on converting this aging Ratio GWR Iron Mink into a suitable van for the Planet to shunt around.

The Andrew Barclay locomotives had a cut down cab to work through one of the tunnels on the system. I picked up a model at Warley from Rails (as Hattons didn't have a shop stand) and stripped it down with a view to designing a replacement cab...

...which was easier than anticipated. I quickly drew up some CAD for this and we've printed it out on our resin printer. The plan will be to re-use the Hattons handrails, brake and housing along with lamp iron, and it will plug into the chassis in place of the existing cab. Once I've got it safely here to work with I will get some more photos and design the etched parts.

This will be the second release in the Planet Industrials range with plenty more planned for 2020 and beyond. Watch this space, it's something I'm very excited to be part of...

The Planet has almost sold out, and we're planning a second batch as quickly as we can, however the first new variant prototype is here - this will have front shunters footsteps and a revised cab front and back sheet with long windows. Later in the year I will offer a Navy version with revised radiator and flameproofing. 

Finally a treat for me, a Judith Edge kit to assemble - I plan to replace the gearbox with a High-level and Mashima as well as fit compensation to the chassis. The plan is to fully document the build to put something together about building the model in an informative manner, possibly some sort of article.