Friday Update: Twenty-five Two Twenty-two…

It's half term and I've been enjoying mostly a well earned rest this week. The kids are off school, we've had all seasons (surviving storms, strong winds, rain, sleet and enjoying fresh crisp mornings and sunshine) and I've finally found time to start a few of my own non-modelmaking projects...

Enjoying a few quiet moments with MRJ, a coffee made for me by my partner and a Welsh cake by my daughter. This looks bliss, but in reality, as we all know, lasted about 5 minutes in a busy family home.

Earlier in the week I took a ride on the DMU service on the Llangollen Railway, I will write more about that in a seperate post, but would urge you more than ever to support your local heritage operation of museum. Their volunteers work tirelessly to keep the past alive, and especially at this time of year, they could really do with our patronage. Luckily for the railway I had two hungry kids with me, so not only tickets into the coffers, but also some cakes at Carrog Station tea room!

It's always nice when a photograph of one of your commissions comes in from a customer. Here James sent in some photos of the TML PXA wagons I built for him with a Railfreight Construction liveried Class 33... these have a strong nostalgic pull for me, one of my favourite childhood diesels was my Lima Class 33. I fitted my own home made flush glazing and improved the chassis, the bodywork was repainted several time and ended up in Dutch 'Civil Link' but had started out as 33050 'Isle of Grain' in this distinctive triple grey with construction blue and yellow block marking. One little detail I loved about this livery was the logos themselves. The coloured block behind, in this case, blue, forms an F with the closest parts of the main yellow and coloured blocks in front. F for freight. All part of good thoughtful and clever design, not only attractive, distinctive and eye catching.

Photo: James Robards

My son's small 009 layout made progress earlier in the week. He has finished the station building, and I showed him how to paint the roof to look old and rusty, basically a dark brown over the grey primer, wiped off before it's dry. He's done a neat job! We also refurbished some of the trees from his older layout with fresh foliage and drilled some holes for them. In time I'd like to see if he can make one himself, but for now they're a quick 'gap filler' both literally and figuratively. The little layout is no bigger than Kisten Torfwerk or Creech Barn, but feels much more spacious with it's split scene. He's based it on a blend of the Welsh narrow gauge lines, with no one prototype firmly in mind, and it's a long term project that we're not rushing. He can run trains on it and add to it as his interest allows, perhaps a good lesson for us all here, get trains running and move on from there?

Finally, a 5 minute makeover of the MSC Hornby Sentinel. I drilled out the headlights to add a dimple for glue and affixed 1.5mm diameter nail art jewels in place, this brings the headlights to life much more than the silver painted circles on the Hornby model. It's a shame directional lighting couldn't have been included on the model itself, it is 2022 after all! I've also drilled out the lifting hooks on each corner of the buffer beam, this is a simple but effective job too - the next step will be to superglue the buffer beam blanking plates in, fill the gaps and touch up the paintwork. This is a lovely model that strongly connects with previous projects for me. I'm really happy with it.

I hope you've all had a good week. This weekend promises better weather here in North Wales, so I will be looking forward to some time in the sun - albeit chilling breeze I'm sure! 

One final thing, I'm currently looking for fellow modellers in the area, if you're reading this and live in LL20 or LL21, even Chester, Wrexham or Oswestry, drop me a line on the contact form. The nearest clubs are in Chester for me, but I'd like to find or establish something a little closer to home. You can contact me here using the menu 'contact form' on the home page, or via Facebook or the forums.

Until next time, more soon...