Friday Update: Twenty-three Seven Twenty-one…

Oh my this heat wave... whilst it's lovely to see the sunshine, and blue skies, especially first thing in the morning, it has been nearly 30 degrees here every day this week and over twenty all night, barely a breeze and a house that is like an oven! I don't like the heat of the summer at the best of times, but this has been almost unbearable to work in...

That said I've made a fair bit of progress on a few models. The sound fitted Simplex have progressed, here we see the 16mm model. I've fitted cradles to the chassis for the battery, radio and sound equipment - and fitted a cut down Model-Earth /  Cathy's Castings 'summer driver'. I ran out of olive green paint so the finish isn't quite there yet, but it is looking really promising so far...

The big push this week has been on the Renfrew Wharf layout. With track cut to fit I went about soldering all the joints and adding the feeds. These were glued into channels I cut in the surface of the plywood, and wired up to the NCE panel and frog juicers to check all was working.

The wiring was blended in with filler before being painted a dark grey, and then I painted the sleepers a mix of Humbrol 251 and 72, before the rail sides were painted with a mix of 251 and 82. The ballast was then applied, this is Woodland Scenics 'fine' cinders, as used on Pont-y-dulais, and secured with Woodland Scenics 'Scenic Cement' applied via eye dropper to the edges and a allowed to flood in by capillary action.

Attention turned to the scenic exit - on the prototype the road rises to travel over the railway and a pair of arches allow access to the station, works and fuel sidings. I wanted to give the impression  of the rising road and a bridge, and used a Wills abutment kit, here modified to fit the space, and a Peco girder, as on Pont-y-dulais. By cutting down this wider span, it's less 'vari-girder' and harder to tell it's provenance.

A platform has also been added, although I am concerned about clearances and height. This looks like it might be a touch too high, but when viewed against the GWR railcar (all I had at hand) it is passable. I hope to get some filler on the surface and colour on the wooden sleeper fronting today (which was assembled from off cuts of styrene and 7mm wooden Slaters planking sheet).

The 7/8ths Simplex has also moved forwards with the 3D printed metal couplings coming back this week - these look good, although there is visible layering, I suspect they were printed 'flat' rarther than vertically, which is a shame but they do file smooth.

I was sent this picture by a customer, I designed the decals for the Harton van and had them made, he's done an awesome job applying them, it looks great. Remember, if you want a custom decal that's hand drawn and matched to a prototype, do get in touch - no true type fonts here!

Finally, in addition to my Halifax South Western GP9RM a kit I ordered months ago finally arrived by surface mail from Canada - a BC Rail CRS20 (an in house re-build program at Squamish shops with a CAT 3516 engine). This resin model doesn't come with an etch of details like the Kaslo or Brigg's kits I've seen, but the resin parts are a massive short cut in producing this distinctive model, designed to use the Atlas Trainman RS32/36 chassis and running boards. I also picked up some suitable decals and an etch of handrail stations from BCR Model Shops, Colin has been very supportive with advice and making the model available to me in the UK! Thanks Colin. My intention is that the CRS20 is the next model on the bench, when the GP9 is complete, and will be a fun model to work on this summer. Once this, and the GP20eco are complete, I'll have models representing the railroads and places I visited in my youth, which was the intent.

I hope you enjoy the weekend, and that the break in the weather provides some respite from this heat, wherever you are! In the meantime, with the school holidays upon us, I'm dropping back from daily blogging for a month or so - but will endeavour to share models, prototype and inspiration from time to time. More soon...