Friday Update: Twenty-three Ten Twenty-six…

A quieter week in the workshop but progress never the less on several projects both customer and personal this week for us to talk about. Get comfortable, preferably with a hot drink and let’s begin…

Etched brass kits are a strange beast really. You get a moving model fairly quickly and a basic shell that ‘looks’ complete in short order but then spend hours and hours adding all the little details. This pair are nearly, nearly finished! I finished off the chassis detailing earlier in the week and moved onto body details and handrails yesterday, there are a few things left to do before I put them in primer and send them home for my customer to paint.

A fairly straightforward project this week has been the re-motoring of a pair of old friends! I built this pair a few years ago for a customer who supplied the kits and chassis. They’ve come back for some Tramfabriek conversions which worked beautifully and are much smoother and quieter performers now.

A rather exciting hint of a project to come, this 3D printed ‘The Square’ has arrived and I’ve stripped down the donor Bachmann model to look at the work involved. I’m getting quite a list of 009 projects in the next few months so expect to see large and small models rolling off the bench this winter.

Despite fatigue after the weekend some progress on personal models too - a very kind gentleman in the US saw my plea on the Canadian N scale railway modellers Facebook page and posted me some all weather windows for my Alco S2 - these are tiny, but just the detail to lift the model and better represent my prototype inspiration. 

Defiance featured yesterday, but whilst I’ve not made enough progress for another stand alone post, the road surface has been started with the back section going in, cut from 1mm Daler mounting card. It has reminded me how much I hate doing this, but how effective a single piece can be…

However, whilst Defiance moves from dream to reality I’m day dreaming of new projects when I’m surrounded by existing artistic commitments… I can’t be the only modeller who finds themselves in this position and whilst I’ve learnt to be kind rather than judging myself, the flip side is rarely anything is finished to enjoy. The half term awaits, but work continues. I trust you are all well and can find some time to indulge in your own hobby this weekend. Until next time, more soon…

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