Friday Update: Nineteen Four Twenty-four…

Where is the spring? We've had the daffodils, we have the lambs but we've also just had a hard frost, lots of rain and a period of cold weather that feels rather wintry to my bones...

The SWEEP is finished - more on this next week when I get around to the beauty shots and writing up the build, but I've been enjoying playing with it on Beaverbrook. Posed here with excellent Modelu crew, it feels very much at home.

Mostly smaller things in the workshop this week as I've been trying to clear a few things in the 'work' list ahead of a period of focus on Rushcliffe. We'll kick things off with news of an imminent re-stock of some old Narrow Planet and EuroNG kit favourites - and as exciting - plans for a new EuroNG locomotive. A small chunky Jung but with a higher pitched larger boiler than my O&Ks - watch this space! In the Shapeways order for the skeleton shells was this, below, a 'one off' reprint of the 006.5 Hunslet Jenbach 'Jubilee' rescaled to 09. I have artwork for this to fit a Kato or a Minitrains Gmeinder chassis, this the latter...

What is interesting with this skeleton print is that it was in the Shapeways SLA resin - i.e. there version of the home printers everyone uses these days. The quality is very good, a nice firm feel and smooth surfaces, nicely cleaned up with little distortion and only 3 TINY sprues left on. Not cheap, but worth it for these one offs - the etch will also be supplied to my customer, effectively a 'one off kit'. If there are older kits you'd like me to do a one off, get in touch and for nyone unfamiliar with the scale can see my fingers for comparison! This is 0 scale (7mm/ft) to run on 9mm track.

Sticking with 7mm/ft we have a set of 4 in total (of this first batch) Dapol MGR coal hoppers in for backdating and weathering. The TOPS panels have been removed and the weathering started - HOP AB decals are prepared and ready to go on, these will be sealed with lacquer and a final blow over with a touch of dirt to blend them into the finish. Coal loads too, these are relatively simple home made affairs that tuck inside the top lip of the wagons and provide a good representation of the heaped load of the prototype. These are BIG wagons, and take up a lot of space here, hence the smaller batch size of 4 at a time which also helps my customers wallet. Let me know if you'd like me to work on your own large scale models, if you click the '0 gauge' label below it should bring up some of my previous work in the scale.

Another pair of 009 coaches also on the bench - another Van 10 from the Dundas kit alongside a Robex (remember them!) Shapeways print of one of the WHR carriages. Whilst the Dundas kit requires assembly and the 3D print is complete both have required significant detailing - the Robex including door handles and grabs. The difference in size is pretty amazing, both to be finished in a 1930s era livery - hopefully I can get the main green colour on today.

I do enjoy a smaller weathering job - this pair arrived a few months ago for crew, coal and bringing to life. They've received my 3 stage weathering (wash, detail paint and airbrush) and will receive their own 'dedicated' post next week. I was really taken with the P class, they're not my prototype, not my region, not my anything really but it's such a lovely little model... perhaps, perhaps, I should do a faux light railway? Oh don't add any more 'would like' projects to the list James!

Meanwhile I'm seeing double with GP9s on Beaverbrook (above) and Irish dreaming (below). The story of both of these shots will be told another time - but they both tease at new material. The HMLX lease fleet grows with Chris's 5606 receiving patches, numbers, reflective sill strips and weathering - this was Chris's stalwart machine on the shove and he sent it over to me when that project hit the skip. With my own SWEEP running through the shops in the final stages I brought out 5606 and worked on it alongside... Chris's fingerprints are on this model. It was he who added the DCC sound to the basic Bachmann model, he who added a panel line wash, he who removed the Chessie lettering... he who loved operating it on the Shove. Now it's a collaboration - I've added LED lighting, non working ditch lights, modified the pilots and lettered and weathered her... she's ready to go home, when he is, for the next HMLX operation.

Below, the Murphy 141 and IRM A class sit together having had their Kadee couplings fitted for these are not to be shelf queens but as with Kohlenbach Brücke Works they will be earning their keep on the Irish project to follow later this year. Yes, they'll be weathered and loved, but I don't need full detail, I need character and they already have that by the bucket load.

Last weekend saw a successful gala ran by the railway and it was interesting to reflect on how I felt. I had plans to go and enjoy the spectacle but when the days arrived I felt curiously distant, as if the valley was full of strangers and my railway was dressed up in Sunday best - I didn't want to see a 'branch line gala' where more trains than normal run... for me, the week day running and last trains on a Sunday are my branch line gala, more lightly loaded, infrequent yet real. I'm strange sometimes, it was lovely to hear it had been largely a success, and to have introduced new visitors to the charms of the area, but the lonely (preferably blue) DMU trundling through the valley feels more my sort of train. It was an interesting personal reflection, and one that I can now embrace, recognising this in myself will further deepen my relationship with the train.

As last weekend saw progress on the Euro shelf, I'm hoping again to push things forwards. The last thing really holding up scenic work is establishing the road surface around the warehouse so that will be the focus of efforts on Sunday. I hope you've all had a good week - and enjoy the weekend ahead. Until next time, more soon...