Vi ing the livery

This week ive been trying to change some of the numbers and nameplates on my vi trains fleet but it seems vi trains used a very thing paint application so it tends to eat through the paint despite trying some new suggestions. The only bonus is that it can be touched in as the paints are very close to railmatch shades but i suspect quite a few things will need to be partially resprayed.

The other thing i have to do is to begin fitting some kadees to the fleet as vi trains didnt use standard NEM pockets but they can be made to fit with a little modification but for a model produced post 2000 its very poor that it doesnt have it. 

Im still missing a few more 47s to add to the fleet but the 37s are nearly done. Id just like to get a dutch centre headcode version and an i/c mainline livery version to complete the fleet.

In terms of my freight stock im pretty much there, i just need to get the stone rake sorted and get some HEA wagons for the domestic coal rake.

Anyway back to work!

Vi for the future

having been comparing the Vi trains and Bachmann 37s and 47s ive finally come to a decision. ive decided to go down the Vi trains road. The reason for this i think is simple. Firstly theres a good range of liveries and versions, secondly while harder to get there are around £20 to £30 cheaper than the bachmann model secondhand and thirdly i dont like the rather chunky look of the bachmann model. The vi trains model looks a little finer. needless to say the change has already taken place with 6 bachmann models having been replaced by 8 vi trains models which i think is a good swap. Ive got some renumbering to do which i know is a little more difficult with vi trains models but the paints needed to dust in the areas are very close match to railmatch shades so it should be fairly straight forward.

 Anyway enough babbling for now.

Tanking along and mixing it up a bit.

Well the beginning of the new stock fleets began today with the lucky purchase of 8 lima TEA tanks in Total grey livery. For £7.50 each i thought they were to good to resist. They will form a rake with some Bachmann TTA wagons and should look good with a petroleum livered 60 at the helm. Theres still plenty to go though for example im on the look out for cheap PGA wagons to build up to 30, i currently have 11 so theres plenty of work to do there. I also need around another 20 odd HEA wagons to build up the rake a bit but i do have a rake of freightliner flats but with 20 roads to fill theres plenty left! Im also looking at forming up two speedlink rakes and these will be mixed an varied workings with both opens, vans, scrap wagons, PCA cement tanks, cargowagons with other oddities. Together with one rake of seacows and one spoil rakes that means i have 12 roads left. Reduce that to 10 by having two sets of light locos, then take out another two for DMUs. This leaves 8 but that goes down to 6 when you take into account the two HST sets which can then be reduced to 4 once you add in two I/C LHCS rakes and then add one each of a Regional/provincial rake and an nse rake leaves me with two to find rakes for. I could add one charter rake with a steam loco but it leaves me with one road spare. What goes in that road, im not sure but im sure i will be able to find something to fill it but i will need a few spare wagons and coaches along with an odd rake extra incase i have issues. Anyway plenty of time to do it all but time is ticking.....

Has 25KV come to Llwydd Town

Well work has begun on Llwydd Town but there been on thing that im not sure whether to go through with or not. Theres a small temptation to add 25KV OHLE on the rear passenger line. It would change the layout but im not overly certain whether to do it at the moment but its a possibility but i suspect it will be a later mod. In terms of the rest of the layout ive got the point motors to fit and im also going to do a route setting system for the four fiddle yard roads. im also going to put in a power bus system using figure of eight cable and choc blocs. One bonus is that the wiring is already red and black so it should make identification quite easy. I do have to cut two rails as there are electrofrog points but im quite happy i thought i might have to cut alot more! There are also some signals to install. Im going to use the Berko range of signals simply for cost as i already have two that i need. Im also going to put in some shunt signals. Because of all of this im going to have to do a small mimic panel but thats ok as ive decided that the set of legs supporting the middle board are going to be wider so i can add a shelf the length of the board. The end boards will hang off the centre boards and will have 9 inch wide legs as oposed to 16 inch legs for the centre board. Ive also got to box up the board for protection and also for ease of transport and also to keep the dust off during storage! The only other jobs are small ones such as refitting the bridge and replacing the fence round the fuel unloading point which was damaged while in storage!

Back to basics modelling pt 37

Ive been looking at this more and im comming up with a potential list of models id like to aim for. The 37are the most difficult to decide upon as for a centre headcode example its best to get one of the updated lima moulds which had the horns fitted and also the plated boiler area of the roof. It is possible to do the horn mod on a non fitted one with simple sticking the top of the roof but ideal they would need to be inset. The roof near the boiler port can be done using a flat blade knife to shave off the ribs and a little plasticard or filler to sort out the actual port itself. There arent that many models which have the mod fitted so for base models its quite a limited so to do its most likely there will be some respraying required. I know i will need two departmental ones and one coal one. I have one departmental split box 37003 which has been done as 003 in is BR Blue colour scheme with its Tinsley unofficial name and i might cheat and a 37069 from lima but i would prefer to get a centre headcode version. One thing i will be able to do is to get 37308 as it could be used a domestic coal version. Im also looking at getting a pair of 37/5s from the St Blazy pool. Now i know the lima volcano set of 37/4s does have the later body but id like to do one of the sector liveried ones. Now they did a few of the St blazey pool but only 37674 in its transrail scheme has the updated body so its either a partial respray or a roof mod to 37671 or 37673. For class 37s thats pretty much it as i would need to a few but the temptation to do just ex split box ones is too tempting to the extent im doing everything i can do resist it. Ill see if i can upload some photos in my next blog update to show what i mean.

Motoring Maintenece

No not of the 12 inches to the foot kind. Im talking more of the 4mm kind. The last few weeks ive been servicing up some old lima mechs. They really are incredibly simple to work on and very easy to get running to a smooth if not quiet standard. I find with most of the mechs i need to check all of the gear trains for damage or moulding flash. I then run the motor with a small amount of toothpaste in the gear train. Toothpaste has a slight abrasive quality which cleans the gears up a treat, but make sure you clean all of the toothpaste out once youve finished. The other thing i find people dont do is to lubricate the motor bearings. Only the tinyest ammount is needed but it will make heaps of difference! Im currently going through a doing a fleet of older Lima locos possible for Llwydd but maybe a 1990s club layout but i have to say that it makes a nice change working on something so simple and quite rewarding when at the end you get a mech that keeps up with most of the newest models on the market. Over the next few weeks i will document the introduction of some of these locos that i plan to do.

Summer Time Modelling or Top Landing Gear

With the summer now well and firmly here its now the time when the modelling season like the real world has a holiday. Its the time of year when modelling is fairly low down on the scale of things. Me personally I prefer to fly my RC aircraft despite there being a distinct windy feeling this summer it is still possible to get up to the flying field and fly until your hearts content or until the battery gets flat. My current flight is this

Its an FMS P51D Mustang. It features flaps, retracts with sequenced gear and I quite frankly a hoot to fly. It was always my aim to get one of these and given ive only been flying around a year or so (in fact a year in 7 days time) im pleased my fight skills are now good enough to get hold of one. Loops, rolls and even things like Cuban 8s are possible although it does lack a little power when doing low strafing runs to make it look really realistic. This is all despite it being both electric and foam and it can be had for around £220, the lipo battery, charger and radio gear will cost extra but a dx6i radio set and battery can be had for around £190. Im currently looking at what to get next and my choices are either a P38, lightning, B25 bomber or the DH mosquito. I did find a nice stuka which id get simply so I could do dogfights with the mustang but im not sure whether its worth the outlay or not. Anyway chocks away!

Llwydd Lives again pt2

This last week ive been reconsidering Llwydd's rebuild and im considering reinstating the semaphores as previously I was going to use colour light signals. The problem is the colour lights don't really work and I think id also be doing the layout a disservice. This leads to an important question which is, which signals do I use? The Dapol ones aren't available at the moment so realistically it looks like a lot of ratio kits which to be honest is what the layout currently has. Answers on a postcard please?

Down the Drain

Today ive been working on some transfers for the Birmingham R.C.E drain train. This was a rake of 4 TTA tanks recoded to ZRA which were used to clear the drains in the Birmingham Area. They were bright yellow wagons. . The could be seen pretty much as far as Preston and down as far Watford area but mainly seemed to have been stored at Bescot. The transfers are now home made as the black lettering is pretty standard and I now have a template for the Tops panel which means I can whip up some very quickly. along with a new ink jet printer it means that I can do most of my own transfers again. The trouble being I cant do white however which is slightly annoying to say the least.

Back to basics modelling

One thought thats recently come to me was to get back to basics modelling. This will involve making use of the of older lima locos and using bits of plastic, etches and other bits and ending up with detailed models. Thats how we used to do it but it seems now all we do is get a loco and stick it on the track. That to me isnt really modelling and i have to say i feel like i dont have the skills so i also felt this would be a good way to improve my skills. The bonus being i would end up with a fleet of unique locos and it would also be relativley cheap. There are a few layouts that the stock could run on so it most certainly wont be a wasted effort. My thoughts are on the 31,37 and 47. Obviously they would need etched fans, and in the case of the 37 and 47 there would need to be removal of the roof straping on the 37 where needed and the the boiler port on the 47. On the 47 id also like to do the correct fuel/underframe tanks to the correct type for the loco. The 37 would also benefit from the correct window frames but i might leave this, they also need roof mounted horns as but they might be slightly compromised as the real ones are slightly inset but that cant be seen once the horns are in place. The 47 would also get the flushglaze. The 31 doesnt really need to much modification other than handrails which the 37 and 47s already need. Obviously all of these models will have full bufferbeam detailing. The other classes i will be looking at will be the 50, 56 and 60. The 60 doesnt require too much work and most of the work can be completed with requiring repaint. If you avoid the first 5 sector liveried models 60001/002/003/004/008 have an incorrect sized grill on one side wheras later ones have the grill corrected. The grills themsleves can be replaced without a repaint as they can be masked up once its been replaced. It will also need the internal equipment added as with grills opened up you can see straight through. The 60 also needs bufferbeams and the bogie footsteps. The 56s are only really correct from 56056 onwards without alot more work to modify the front ends. Apart from etched grills and working lights the bodyshell is pretty good. While some of the paint jobs are ok, the yellow is generally a very odd shade so needs to be repainted but again it can be done quite easily without needing a full repaint. Flsuhglaze is also required to help improve it. And finally the class 50. This could do with alot of work as the body has numerous detail faults. Below the underframe the biggest problem is that the bogies are incorrect and undersized however lima class 37 bogies can be fitted with ease with the footsteps modified. Above the underframe the model will obviously have etched grills, opened out exhaust ports and filled in sandboxes as they were removed when the refubished them back in the early 80s. The front ends could do with the wires for the multiple working boxes. Also the indicator box needs to be correctly plated over but etches are available for all of this. One other thing that can be added is the lifting points which are just behind the doors. This model also benefits from flushglaze. most of these models should cost no more than around £30 each and that includes the purchase of the original model. I would then have a completely unique fleet which might not worth much despite all the work its still a one off fleet and it will be all my own work.

New Layout possibility

Well while ive been away ive been thinking about the possibility of doing a small engineers layout. I did build one a few years ago but it was never shown but im planning to do it again as ive too many engineers wagons and need somewhere to put them. The track plan might need a little tweaking as ive been given a few points that I can use which will mean I only need a few small radius points and some lengths of flexi track.

Llwydd goes south!

Some people may be away that Llwydd Town had been sold. Well its now safely back at home in my garage. The plan now is to do a few little jobs that I feel it needs. These are essentially the following - - Fitting DCC - Adding point motors - Boxing the scenic boards up to protect them - Build some legs (they weren't included in the sale) - Replace the semaphore signals, they were only temporary nearly 10 tears ago so I will now have to look at replacing them, just not sure whether I need colour lights or semaphores. At the moment there isn't any time frame on when the work will take place but id like to have it done by next summer. In terms of the stock, some of it was purchased with the layout but there will be additions from myself and the era and location will remain the same.

Its back for good.

Well the blog is back. Ive been meaning to get it back into it so I will get the posts flowing again and begin showing what will be going on as quite a lot has been going while this blog has been off line. I will be updating it over the course of this week and hopefully there will be some interesting posts to follow.

Studley which did have a road but it seems to have gone missing?

Well i know its been three months but its impending show booking at Cheltenham has meant ive had to divert my time to something a little more important but the work is more or less complete. i will update the blog in a few days with a full update showing the photos taken during the rebuilding.

Its back....

Well the blog is back. Whats happened in the mean time, well lots and lots. When i wrote the last blog post Westleigh was still two months away from its first show which was not overley successful. It all stemmed by the fact that the fiddle yard was 2cm was too long which meant the layout wasnt sitting correctly and the joints were out of sync. What else has been going on since this show? Well ive be dablling in N gauge but im not quite sure what to do at the moment but i have plenty of ideas written down so whatever i do choose i have a basis to be begin from. Recently due to the entimely demise of Jo Thompson i had a chance re-encounter with a layout i built many years ago. This was called Studley Road and was a layout i sold to Jo years ago but its been donated back to me and im now planning to get it back onto the exhibition circuit in a few months but it does need some work. The board and the trackwork are fine but the scenic section needs some work and there is a need to do some basic re-wiring. When i know of a possible show appearance i will update this blog. Until the next time which hopefully will now be every few days.

The 3rd Rail

As some of you may know ive been collecting some SR stuff along the way with the view to building an SR layout. Now i was going to make a much smaller layout than Westleigh to run them all on. However the point was then made to me that as most SR EMUs are 4 cars they wouldnt work on a small layout, so why not convert Westleigh and then build a much smaller layout for all the 2 car North West DMUs. So its a question of using lots of IL-1 and IL-120 to change it, there being nothing else that locate the layout anywhere. There is much else to report at the moment but there will be alot of updates within the next month as ive got lots of things to do.

Summertime Modelling

The subject this week is the reduction of modelling during the summer. I spend most of the winter season locked up getting modelling projects done but the drive seems to wane around the summer months returning in the summer. After all who wants to be sat at a desk with a soldering iron sweating when you can be outside seeing the real railway network. Its when we dust down out cammeras and get out there while the sun shines (which its done alot so far). I always find this is the time when i get the impetus for the new modelling season. Ive already got a new layout plan to do and a list of projects as long as my arm. How much of it will get done i dont really know but id be amazed if a least 10% of it is done. Im also going to showcase for two days next weekend to see some of the stunning layouts that have been booked. Coppell for example is a fantastic example of modern image modelling and im planning to spend a good few hours looking at! www.demu.org.uk/showcase Enjoy

And because Westleigh is getting too big ive decided to begin a much smaller project about 7ft scenic section with a casstte fiddle yard. Its designed to go in the back of a small car and be operated by one person. Its going to be southern region but im not sure whether to have a convetional platform or have a siding and a cleaning platform. The juries still out but i have all the points so the costs of this should be less than a £100 to get to a reasonable state. Much cheaper than the £1300 of Wetbury. Richard

Wetbury Begins

Id mentioned in my previous post that im working on an N gauge project based on Westbury in the period 1990 to 1993. Ive uploaded the track plan which is 16x3 in size on 4 4x3 boards. The fiddle yards are going to be either cassettes or standard ladder yards for The east end, salisbury and frome routes. Or i might make it roundy roundy with a central operating well with seperate fiddle yards. Ive done a tot up of the track required and ive valued it at £1300 just for the scenic section, not cheap is it? Richard

Its been a while!

I suddenly thought a few minutes ago i havent updated this in a while. It turns out its nearly a year. Well so whats happened in that time . In some respects not very much accept ive built another layout. However it will look very similar to original Westleigh, why is that? Well about 6 weeks before its first show i noticed a slight hump on a board joint and it was of course, warped! So what did i do, well i rebuilt it in 6 weeks flat, three new scenic boards from scratch. Amazingly i did it with nearly 10 days to spare. Ive also changed the home board so its covered so you cant see any of the tight curves that were present on the old version. Apart from that not much else has changed really, the only other new development concerning the layout has been the control system has been upgraded to a lenz set 100 with two handsets so i now have two cabs which makes operating it alot easier. In other news my scheme to build Westbury in N is progressing well. Ive nearly got the plan sorted so i can start building the structures on the layout. Its a very long term project but its something i can do work on it when i want to so i dont get bored with modelling. I shall upload some photos to accompany this blog post tomorrow. Richard