Friday Update: Nineteen Three Twenty-one...

Well what a week, as Wales restrictions lift slowly I was able at long last to get a hair cut, as well as making food progress on a wide variety of commissions, personal models and appearing in print...

I’ve drawn up some custom lining panels for both my own Bagnall and the customers Taliesin models. The beauty is the ease in producing these otherwise complicated patterns. The ones for Taliesin include a black edge, lined in yellow and then the internal panel lining, making matching them up a bit easier, they should work really nicely on a rich red to replicate the current livery. Paper templates shown here allow checking of the fit around rivet heads and curves.

This large scale diesel built around a Bachmann G scale chassis is probably even larger than 1/12 and represents a minimal gauge (sub 12”) prototype from the imagination of my customer and now me! It’s primed and ready for painting, which shows the jade work that went into it’s conception and scribing the styrene has paid off, it’s looking very promising indeed...

A lovely surprise was seeing a copy of Continental Modeller drop through the letter box with an article about the construction of my MLW S13. Since these photos were taken I’ve added a touch more panel line weathering to the hood and added a sound card. What I was really impressed by wit(the article was the presentation in the magazine. It looks superb, grown up and mature, not box by box progress how to photo layout which I had feared.

The very last, ever, Hudson Hunslet is one I paused during the lockdown before Christmas for my customer. We’re now making progress again and the cab detail has been added. This is a one off, with cut down controls and no sanding gear, based upon one tried at Maenoerffren and now being rebuilt at Bala. Custom  buffer beam couplers and buffing plates next...

My hair on the World of Railways BRM virtual exhibition interview the other week was massive, and I joked about lock down hair, well our Welsh hairdressers and barbers could open this week and I somehow managed to get an early appointment for a trim! I hope you’re all tipping well on these first repost lock down trims, as these guys have really struggled financially through the lock downs... I look a lot neater now, but getting used to short hair again is strange!

Finally, I’ve picked up a sound fitted Broadway Limited SW1500 for a new project. I’d heard they were well detailed models with a few issues, I thought initially I had a bent frame, but only the truck clips made them very tight and restricted. She runs beautifully but the sound was truly awful. Even turning it to zero the model made a quiet squealing noise when idle from the speaker, so I chopped it out! It’s nice to have a quiet engine amongst all the DCC fitted sound models. Plans? I’ll share those another time, for now, have a good weekend and more soon...