Friday Update: One Four Twenty-two…

Finishing something large and starting something small, a week of contrasts not only on the bench as I began the week sat outside for a coffee in the warm spring sunshine and type this sat under a blanket with the dog on a wet and miserable day...

The first pair of Ruston LB, as seen yesterday, are nearing completion - in fact the green one is done. I'm finishing off the weathering on the plant yellow liveried example. There is nothing special, or different about my approaches in the larger scale, they just take longer and the detail you can include can be increased. Work starts with the paint job, if you're weathering a model rather than a pristine example, then begin by factoring this into to colour choice, pre-shading, variation in tone and intensity. I sealed the enamel paint with a clear lacquer which added a little subtle sheen to the finish, and then work through washes, detail painting, dry brushing and airbrushing to get the feel of a model based upon prototype photos and the wishes of my customers. I can't wait to share more photos of these as the yellow one is complete and the next pair are started in the coming weeks. 

In complete contrast I have made a start on a OO gauge Judith Edge Yorkshire DE2 kit for a customer. Successfully putting the compensated chassis together I moved onto the High-level gearbox, but am currently stalled as I believe the worm and stage 1 gear are for different ratios, and do not mesh. Hoping to resolve this with the very encouraging Chris at High Level, in the meantime work is starting on the bodywork of the model today, so there will be more to show next week.

Behind the scenes work on a variety of layout design proposals is underway, which is keeping the variety in my workload high and I enjoy the research that is required to dive into the atmosphere of the prototypes my customers are trying to recreate, before I work through the usual process of defining a brief to shape a scheme.

It is always lovely to see photos of my creations in their new homes, but Simon King has taken things a step further here as he shared a photo of the Hudson Hunslet I built for him at Amberley with it's prototype! Although some of my creations are amalgamations of several prototypes, inspired but of my own imagination, it is incredibly rewarding to try and copy as much of an actual example as possible, as in this case. 

The last thing to share today is an update on Beaverbrook - the next structure has been started, this is across the road from the TerraTransport office, and I've begun by building a styrene core and adding the overlays. It is inspired by a real structure, but compressed horizontally to fit the available space. I hope once painted it will give the right feel, but moving it forwards is key to progressing this part of the layout which I hope in the weeks ahead will see the start of ground work. Also pictured of course, is my CRS20 which had just been weathered - more on this in a separate post soon. 

Weather permitting I'd like to run some trains in the garden again this weekend, but if that proves impossible there are always plenty of jobs to do on Beaverbrook between running sessions. What are you planning to fit in this weekend? Perhaps a visit to your favourite museum or preserved railway? A chance to go and see the prototype running? Perhaps visit an exhibition or pop into your local model shop? Whatever it brings, I hope you enjoy it. Until next time, more soon...

Note: No April’s fools or any of that silliness here, just my usual rambling and updates on model making.