Friday Update: Ten Twelve Twenty-one...

Where has it gone?! This was supposed to be the 'last week' of work for me in 2021, as I've not had a week off since our summer in Scotland back in July, and traditionally I've taken a long Christmas break for a while now, but despite working solidly on commissions all week there are still a few jobs to do that will pass over to next week...

Taliesin power truck, Backwoods Miniatures kit, 009. Photo James Hilton.

A mix of OO kit build and repainting commissions mixed in with the etched Backwoods Miniatures kit I've been building have been the perfect 'wind down', familiar enough to present no challenges but interesting nevertheless. The photo above shows the power bogie for Taliesin, and it's tiny, but is such a smooth running little thing and a joy to look at. On the whole very well designed, although the instructions ask you to install a layshaft through the chassis that you can't access because you've fitted the wheels, and I'd forgotten this since the last one I made, so yet again wrestled with that part, the balance between shortening the lay shaft so it can be inserted inside the frames, without it being too short to 'grab' each frame when superglued in place carefully. Anyhow, it's in now and the worm is added - all good. Bodywork next...

The first OO commission to discuss is the Devonport models - here we see a Hattons Barclay with the Planet Industrials cab fitted, and some of my custom transfers. I've also build the ex-Ratio (now Parkside) gunpowder van and 7 plank RCH without end doors from Parkside - also decorated with custom transfers. These just need a light weathering before they're able to go to their new home, the author of the amazing book on the system, a real pleasure to undertake this commission for such a knowledgable individual.

Whilst ordering the custom transfers I managed to squeeze a few 'personal' ones on the side of the sheet so 1502 now has the correct numbers in the headboard number panels at both ends - incredibly tiny little things, but because the black is only black where it shows, and white is almost translucent they do light up! I really must say how much I love this SW1500... having had a soft spot for the diesel over many years seeing this one in action on Beaverbrook is always a delight. No I didn't build the donor model, in fact it's almost entirely as Broadway envisaged, but I repaired the glitchy drive (the truck clips were far too tight to the frame, adding a little play in their vertical travel improved matters exponentially) and replaced the god awful sound (with a Tsunami 2 and Rail Exclusive speaker) and repainted her - she is my favourite model.

Another OO commission has been this pair of industrial tank locomotives that are nearing completion now. The top model is a 3D printed body shell of an RSH tank on a Hornby Austerity chassis - this has proven to be a very tight squeeze getting the sound and decoder inside. Weathering has now started, you can also see the custom transfers applied - in this cruel close up the dithering on the red is visible, not in real life. I love how the wash has collected along the bottom of the sill, as I dragged it down the side. This is just as the prototype photo shows, a happy accident and one I will work into the final finish. The second is a Hattons Barclay with the Planet Industrials NCB cab (should be back in stock in the new year), finished in a maroon which has been weathered by mixing in brown before washes, detail painting and airbrushed filth. The lining is that I designed for the NCB commission but done in straw. I can't wait to show these off as finished models, they look superb - the etched plates aren't due until next week though.

As mentioned earlier this week, my Christmas project is the logging micro cameo layout so I've been mocking things up to see what will fit in the space, and how it might look with some trees, although I don't always use a physical mock up like this, the prototype and my thoughts about using some of the hundred or so trees I have in storage meant it was the only way to play with the composition.  I'm really looking forward to working on this over the holidays.

I've also found time to fit some headlights to my 'modern' GE44t conversion - this is now finished, so you'll see more of it in a longer post shortly. In the meantime, here it is outside the Co-op warehouse on Beaverbrook. The lighting is 1.5mm diameter fibre optic with LEDs inside the hoods. These are wrapped in head shrink to provide a 'hood' that slips over the tail of the fibre optic. It seems pretty effective, they work better than I had hoped, and the result is I have a solution now for the headlights on the CRS20 too, as they're quite tight to the top of the body shell, like this, too...

Finally, I picked up a rake of these Rivarossi skeleton cars and decided that I'd 'modernise' 3 or 4 of them with cast trucks and log bunks... the trucks were harvested off old childhood box cars with dubious liveries or poor weathering, the bunks are just the Rivarossi cross members cut and smoothed down at the ends, with styrene uprights superglued in place. These have since had triangular fillets fitted and the whole wagon given a coat of black. I plan to add a gloss yellow patch and some markings to the centre spine before weathering - to see how it looks, inspired by a photo of one on the Chehalis Western. I will do a separate post on that nearer the time.

This weekend I have promised myself I'll do a bit more on the CRS20 and I could do with writing a list of projects I'd like to work on during the holiday. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed todays long post. As always, thank you for reading. More soon...