Friday Update: Twenty-seven Ten Twenty-three…

What a week! Some fantastic news - the books have arrived at Wild Swan - as you read this you can BUY both the first, and the new book from Titfield book shop (other shops should have stock next week)...

The books arrive in Bath at Wild Swan - photo Simon Castens

I hope to put together a video overview of the new book in the coming days, meanwhile, it's been a wonderful week for other things too - some great conversations with good friends (thanks Chris, Paul and James) and ideas for new projects, some large, some small but mostly N (!!) alongside more progress on work in the workshop for you all too! Last week I shared a photo of a number of industrials working their way along the bench, well they're nearly all complete and I'm very pleased with the weathered finish and the contrast in sheen and filth on different parts of the model - this is what you can't achieve with just an airbrush - it takes care, dare I say it takes passion? If you'd like me to breathe life in to your own model do get in touch for a personal proposal, I'd love to work with you.

In complete contrast another layout commission is progressing! This cameo is sized to fit within a Billy bookcase, and will model the old shed at Boston Lodge. The track is now laid, and wired up, obviously tested to - and in this 'raw' shot you can see the compromise in shelf layouts, where I bury the wiring in the scenery - hence why it's important to ensure quality soldered connections to track joints, feeds and do a lot of testing! Next week I will be starting on the baseboards for Leatown, which is somewhat larger (almost twice the length) so it will be interesting to contrast the type of layouts that each scale and gauge encourage. If you'd like me to work with you on creating your own layout, I suggest the Layout Design Process (from just £175) is a great place to start, we develop your needs and ideas to an achievable, realistic and personal scope, that really sets you up for success in creating your own model, or a great place for me to give you a fixed price proposal for construction. Do get in touch (form in the menu here, email through Facebook or via the forums).  

It's not been all work, a quiet interlude on Beaverbrook saw the HMLX 44t out switching cement for Holcim. This small diminutive model, a Bachmann offering is fitted with a tiny ESU decoder - Chris's musings on the fate of her recently led me to dig her out for a run and I remember why I hadn't fitted sound - she's smooth but just a little noisy, a product of the quite basic and dated drive train - although the central can motor and tiny cardan shafts are an improvement on the original twin motor design. It will be interesting to see what the re-release has 'under the hood' and how this compares as a more budget offering to the Rapido model?

A new book arrived this week, and it has been a wonderful rabbit hole - more on that soon - but I'd thoroughly recommend you finding a copy. Just £8 with all proceeds supporting the museum in Lampeter, this short collection of period photos and notes covers the last days of steam along the Aberayron branch and to the dairy north of Lampeter. 74xx, milk tanks and wonderful views in a part of the world I drive through regularly when visiting my Mum in Pembrokeshire - I always knew the pretty coastal village used to have a railway but had never been able to find much about it - with this new book, I've taken a much more thorough dive into the internet and turned up a fair amount! Certainly plenty of inspiration!

 

Wrapping up this week, a look at some of the scratch building that has also graced the bench. A new Hudson Hunslet is under way - which has meant digging out my own model to check and measure up a few details. I like to build these sub-assemblies in advance, this speeds up construction yet allows more focus on the specific parts improving their finish and detail.

As the weekend approaches, and half term inevitably eats into work time next week I look forward to taking a slight break because I'm finding that even plain old boring colds seem to hit me much more than they ever used to since having Covid a few years ago... that won't mean less modelling though, just less pace. I'm looking forward to working on a few of my own projects over the weekend - which I'm sure I will share with you all soon. Until next time though, more soon...

Donate

I love writing and creating material for the blog. If you enjoy what you read and engage with I would be appreciative of any donation, large or small, to help me keep it advert and restriction free.