Friday Update: Three Nine Twenty-one…

Heigh ho, heigh ho it’s off to… yes back to work this week in full swing as the kids went back to school yesterday and things got back to some sort of normal in my workshop…

You will have seen Renfrew Wharf, a commission layout, in last weeks update. Well progress has been made on greenery, shrubs, undergrowth, overgrowth amd litter. I’ve got a few finishing scenic touches to make before I can go back to carpentry to complete the layout ‘lid’ and fiddle stick. There is nothing new in these techniques, but they have drawn inspiration from other modellers, one in particular, Lance Mindheim’s litter technique. This uses the thin tissue coated wax paper used in shoe boxes, cut up, and placed against rail sides and in bushes, secured with just a few drops of liquid scenic cement.

It’s nice to be working with metal again… I’ve been commissioned to build another Lyd2 in 009, combining the Worsley Works scratch aid body with my own 3D printed details from Shapeways with a custom designed 3D printed chassis that re-engineers the Grafar chassis. I’ve put together the basic etched body, and now need to tweak the custom designed etch for the chassis parts, as I want to improve the jack shaft fitting. 

Trains have continued to run in the valley, and I caught the green Wickham unit at he station. The weather has turned cloudy and cold since the weekend, which is good and bad, it lends a somber tone to the return to school for the kids but certainly makes working at home more bearable. I mentioned on a Facebook group about hoping to see the Blue unit out and about, sadly that seems unlikely. The railway seems hell bent on pretending it’s 1960, rather than reflecting the changes in our historic railway scene. I’d love to see blue, blue and grey and even provincial… imagine a Class 142 running daily, offering a service to locals subsidised by Transport for Wales?! We can dream…

With the 16mm Tin-turtle finished, focus has moved to the 7/8ths example and the distinctive windscreens featured on the prototype Knostrop example have been created from my 2D CAD by a kind fellow modeller, Matt Nunn. Matt runs Harecroft and I knew he has a laser cutter… I mentioned I could do with them quickly but wasn’t going to be able to visit my friend Steve with whom I usually drink tea and cut acrylic, until later in the month. They arrived without fuss a few days later in the post! This hobby and community is a wonderful place sometimes…

I’ll sign off this week with a glimpse of the N gauge adventure… the Canfor unit has has shading on the dynamic brake grills and the ladder fitted… the Simpson unit is nearly complete, and once done so will get its own post, detailing the work undertaken. It’s been as if not more involved, this side handrails especially… I’m looking forward to working on the CF7 and Beaverbrook itself this weekend, whatever your up to I hope you find some time to spend working on your own projects in some form. If you’d like any help with those, then I’m taking commissions, get in touch using the contact form, Facebook email page, Messenger, or the forum pages. Until next time more soon…