ummm, cheeky

Noted from expong, by my online friend fairlight works:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fairlightworks/4065264795/sizes/l/in/set-72157622588263769/

Available soon from Parkside for the princely sum of £125 (source: parkside dundas) - an RTR chassis with outside frames(!) and an amended body kit to go with it. nice! I expect you can get 10% with a 009 membership.

But then you can get a backwoods kit of the same (not an RTR chassis though) for £79!

Choices, choices.

crafty!

With the painting season likely to start up pretty soon, I've been thinking about transfers. Blackham (http://www.blackhamtransfers.com) make very nice transfers indeed, although almost all have to be pre-ordered. The problem is that they are very expensive when you need the kind of quantities I need - just think about crests for the modern bogie stock (4 per carriage)!

Thus I have been looking at alternatives and I reckon this stuff could be an option:
http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=158&CatID=15

Where I can create my own artwork (the crest for example is easy) all I need do is buy some of this paper (£1.55 an a4 sheet) and print my own!

I would be interested if any other modellers out there have tried it...

Colin

Digital update and Bromsgrove Models

http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/dcc.htm?Submit=Digital+Control

Bromsgrove Models is a super 'little' company trading via the internet and selected model railway shows.  Run from a residential address, there is no shop to pop along to and browse, but the website is excellent and overheads (and thus prices) are kept down - e.g. gaugemaster sell their prodigy system for £225, I got the MRC version [gauagemaster rebadge it] via Bromsgrove models for £165 with free P+P!  

They are also very friendly and knowledgable.  Even though I had an issue with the power supply, I was able to pop around and get it swapped easily with no bother.  Whilst I was there I was also able to talk about subjects as diverse as 6 pin decoders, sound chips and decoder testers.

The issue is now sorted and I have been able to add a gaugemaster 2nd throttle to the system succesfully.  This works very well and I like the way the 2 throttles interact when handing over a loco between them.  I am very pleased with the system and can't wait to set up the layout in the new garage and get playing.

My study now also has an ESU decoder tester set up (courtesy of Bromsgrove models again) - this takes either wires or a 6, 8 or 21 pin plug and allows you to test the decoder using an onboard motor, lights and even a speaker!  Using this I was able to find that I have already fried a decoder - I think due to a short circuit on a tight fitting body.  oh well.

The ZTC decoders have been OK - the detachable harness is useful to separate the circuit board portion when soldering.  The functions, PWM, ability to use as a DC loco, feedback, size and price are all good and they are rated at a decent ampage too.  However, I have found one issue - they don't support advanced consisting.  This means that I will either have to set up a consist (double heading) on the controller [it will only remember 1 consist at once] or reprogram the engines in the consist to the same address manually (although in that case speed matching won't happen]. But then none of the cheaper decoders seem to support this (certainly the hornby R8249 doesn't) and what do you expect for £10.80 per decoder!

So far the DCC experiment has been good though... more news soon.

Colin

Activity Media aka Right Track

A quick review of some DVDs that I really think are worth watching...

The right track series has 7 current incarnations:

1&2 deal with loco kit building (in OO only - no narrow gauge here - shame on them!) and is very informative and useful.  I have watched part 1, with part 2 in my DVD player waiting a chance to appear.

3 is about painting and lining and includes some 'professional' advice from Ian Rathbone - a bit over the top sometimes, but very useful indeed.

4 is about detailing and improving RTR models (no real help to us narrow gauge lads and lasses, so I haven't purchased this).

5&6 are well worth it (they were the first 2 I bought) and deal with scenics - Barry Norman is the maestro this time.

7 covers building buildings and although I haven;t got this once yet, I plan to buy it.

8 (soon to be joined by 9) cover DCC.

It is understood that others are planned including track building and other topics.  Perhaps a narrow gauge programme could be next?

http://www.model-railway-dvd.co.uk/

Colin

News from Mercian Models

I enquired recently as to why the Ffestiniog (or Festiniog if you are modelling in the olden days) Railway England Loco model that Mercian Models had made was shown as unavailable on their website:

http://www.modelrailways.tv/narrow_gauge/locomotives.htm

Trevor from Mercian wrote back:

"We are aiming at doing another batch but are exploring the possibility in having a ready to run chassis built for it [ the project has been started] and we would like to aim for October for the prototype, and hopefully end of year for sales. The price target is the same as the kit [£90.50].  The kit will be designed with a compromise wheelbase to accomadate both the longer and shorter wheelbase locos. The body tops already do the variants. "

cool eh!

Colin

The world's greatest model shop?

http://www.spmodels.co.uk/

One of the most surreal and extraordinary model shops and also possibly the world's greatest - as their shop sign exclaims.

The shop is based on a race track and ex USAF base! It's like driving into the middle of brands hatch via an airfield to get to it - very weird.

But when you do, it's astonishing - 20,000 items from toys to model aircraft/cars etc oh yes and stacks of railway items too. They have the largest display of woodland scenics items I have ever seen (I thought Castle Trains in Warwick was good!), masses of tools, adhesives, paints etc - simply wonderful!

Give it a try if your in Norfolk anytime soon.

Colin

carriage seating - solved

These were delivered this morning from my mate Phil (of Port Wynnstay models - normally 7mm narrow gauge suppliers) - they are resin castings from a plasticard mould I made and they are designed to tessellate together to form an easy way to add seating to the Worsley works carriages I have made. Just add simple plasticard tables!

Top job and only 50p each including making the mould and P+P. It's all good.

Colin

A Walk in the Park...?

The second in my supplier series: Parkside Dundas .

To many beginner modellers Parkside is where it all begins - easily available (most model shops stock a few of their kits), well made, relatively simple plastic kits (they do a few etched kits too but it's mainly plastic)...

They have a decent range too, although it is disappointing that the range has been static for a number of years now - there are plenty of vehicles/waggons that have no kit - so come on guys!

All kits come with quality instructions and are generally well cast and only require a little cleaning up of flash etc.

Also, should you lose a part (or think you haven't had it in the first place) they will kindly and with no bother post you another -a superb service. How many suppliers are like that? I know of plenty who would argue about whether it was or wasn't in the bag, or try to charge you too! Of course Parkside take the opportunity to post their latest catalogue with the part - given you're in a good mood when the replacement part arrives I'll bet that more than often further orders are forthcoming...!

I have had few problems with their kits, in fact it is the super detail that is often the issue - some small hand wheels or brake gear parts are very fiddly to attach and have next to no chance of standing up to handling!

But overall I recommend their kits wholeheartedly and it just might be that many modellers would never even start in 009 had they not started on these relatively easy kits first!

http://www.scalefour.org/parkside/ngindex.htm

Colin

A nice niche

This is the first post in a proposed series on narrow gauge suppliers: first up is Worsley works.

Firstly, let us be clear here, without a supplier like Allen Doherty's worsley works, it would be very hard to model many railways, in particular the more modern varieties (such as the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland!). Everything would have to be scratch built as the other manufacturer'skits that are available tend to be very heavily biased towards war department and earlier stock only.

For the sheer number of carriages I require for Rhyd Ddu, the task of scratchbuilding without a kit would be a mammoth undertaking - enough to probably put you off even trying! Some have done it of course - David and Rob Waller of Dduallt and soon to be Bron Hebog fame scratchbuild FR and WHR carriages from plasticard strip and make an excellent job of it, but that is not for me, or indeed for most modellers out there.


So, worsley have a nice niche in the marketplace - they provide excellent quality etches of sides and ends plus (usually) the floor and bogie frames and they do so at a reasonable price (considering the low quantities the market demands of the more esoteric kits and the cost of brass). A normal carriage costs between £15 and £20 which is good indeed.

Allen has a decent range of FR and WHR kits available incorporating most of the heritage vehicles (although in some areas actually duplicating other commercial kits). As mentioned above, the real benefit is in the more modern carriages and with the exception of a few items such as the new FR observation saloons 100 and 102 (I'm on to him about those - don't worry!) he covers most of the fleet. The oddities and weird are also well provided for - take the
Dacauville Aine, Petit Bourge, Paris stock or the Campbeltown and Machrihanish coaches for example.

One major issue is keeping up with the ever changing policies and designs of Boston Lodge/Dinas - beading changes, window lines alter and all that means multiple versions of the same kit. In fact few at Boston Lodge could tell you when what was altered!


Obviously, you still need to build up any interior detail you need, add a roof (pretty easy on most FR/WHR kits), add door details such as handles and glazing etc but all those elements are pretty easy to find - just spend an hour wandering around a big show.

Some images of his products are below - so I urge you to give them a go, they are pretty easy in the main to solder up (in fact they make good learning items) and the etched detail is really well done.


The latest kits that I picked up at Shepton Mallet are the 3 WHR(C) saloons - the new 13m long ones completed in 2007 No.s 2043-5 and the Romanian Coach 2060 - now available so get your orders in!

Oh and he does some locos too, notably the FR and WHR(C) funkeys! Keep up the good work Allen!

http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/

Colin

Woodland scenics 1 - IKEA 0 (AET)

Hi,

The ballast experiment has concluded. The IKEA FLORERA looks too much like snow or ice (IMAGE 1 BELOW) and would only really work after significant airbrushing and repainting. The woodland scenics ballast (IMAGE 2 BELOW) worked well, but the syringe method moved the ballast too much on application, so I will be moving to a dropper instead. The mix of 50:50 PVA to water worked fine (with a drop of washing up liquid). The medium grade of ballast though looks too big and thus I will be sourcing some Woodland scenics fine grade ballast soon. I am still undecided on the colour though, the mix of grey doesn't look right from a distance, so I might just go for light grey and weather it, in places.

I have continued adding spines and tonight finished the newspaper/masking tape bits (after borrowing extra newspaper from our kind neighbour - Daily Mirror - huh!). I then pressed on and completed much of the modroc application, the results below. It got dark and the masking tape wouldn't stick to damp wood, so I'll leave it till it's all dried and continue...

Colin

Forwards Miniatures?

Now I'm a big fan of backwoods miniatures (www.backwoodsminiatures.com) as they produce some very good kits. Their Double Fairlie, Taliesin, NGG16, K1, Russell and Linda/Blanche are indeed likely to feature on Rhyd Ddu in the future... I do however have some comments on them:

They have now (it seems) finished on their '009 crusade' and have moved into the On30 market, which is a shame as there are many other narrow gauge locos that could do with the Backwoods treatment. In their defence, they say that a kit for Monarch will be done at some point in the future and that when a NG15 is running on the WHR, a suitable kit will appear, but it is disappointing that some locos won't ever be part of the backwoods family... That appears to be a factor of: Pete's personal preference of locos and the (presumably) better market for On30 stuff.

In an article, in 'Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review' [is that the journal with the longest name ever???] (http://www.narrowgaugeandindustrial.com/) a few years ago, it was revealed that the double fairlie kit nearly didn't make it, as Pete has trouble with his personal views on the prototype... This, it seems, is the reason that other locos, such as the FR Englands, Mountaineer, any Talyllyn/Corris loco etc will never make it to become a Backwoods kit. What a shame, particularly as some of the 'missing' kits I would suspect would sell pretty well.

Secondly, the Backwoods kits are generally only a model of the loco in one particular time frame. That is, that the NGG16 is in SAR condition and requires a lot of modifications to make it into a WHR NGG16; the same with the double fairlie, which is only really to model Livingston Thompson (and it's other previous namings). Again, a shame and one which must reduce the available market for such products.

But why am I moaning, the kits are superb, instructions great (a few companies could learn lessons from the great instructions backwoods give), the locos run well and, the best bit is, that they are as near to perfect scale models as is possible in 4mm to the foot gauge. Certainly significantly better than some out-of-scale white metal kits that used to be the mainstay of 009.

So, well done Pete, but, as ever with my postings on this blog, it's not 10/10 due to the slightly disappointing range limitation imposed by your own taste and the lack of flexibility within kits for differing versions of the same loco. Altogether it's 9/10...

Colin