Testing the new Wood End

 I must stop calling it Wood End.  Anyway, testing time. As always with 009 this can be a little fraught, but all generally went well with most of the problems being stock which hasn't been out of the box for quite a while. A couple of items reach back to the original so are a little worn. With the track tested and run it's on to the scenic shaping. First the upper left corner has to be ground down to create a slight drop on the front edge. Then using the pre-built bridge as a guide, the front profile can be measured out and similarly the rear rising ground profile can be added. I have some suitable very heavy card to use for this.

Saturday Ramble The last layouts?

 How many layouts do we have left in us? As part of my general thinning of stuff over the last couple of years this question arises more often than expected. And now recent events bring it more into sharp focus. There are some who will say that it doesn't matter; it's a pastime, and they would be absolutely correct. Though this is less about the doing and more about the not doing. The doing bit being the modelling.

We are all though often guilty of buying more than is truly necessary and squirrelling it away for a hazy date sometime in the future when it 'may come in useful'. And I don't believe that there is one person reading this who can honestly say that they are not guilty of this to a lesser or greater extent. I am thinking of one or two people that I know in this regard and they will know who they are; people who buy when they see things without there really being a definitive reason for doing so, only to either dispose of said item a while later, or still be staring at them a decade on. Lets face it, if it's a decade later, you ain't going to build it. Which is where my original question comes in. 

If you are a one scale/one layout sort of person, and bravo for you as as far as I'm concerned, you've cracked the code, then this is less likely to be the case. Not impossible, just less likely, simply because there is less breadth of subject to deal with. I and many others have ideas for varied subject layouts to build sometime in the future and go into cupboard  mode with the 'items that...' only to realise it's all been a costly error, because at some point it dawns on you that there is only so much time and the layout that you have  (or possibly the overarching concept or subject) is the one that you are highly likely to concentrate on and is your forever project. This is a hard one to swallow and I'm not quite there yet... close... very close, but still plucking away at the ideas and at the same time trying desperately not to buy more stuff for layouts that I will never get around to building.

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Svanda at Newhaven exhibition

 Way back in 2009 Mr. Hill and I put together a small Norwegian layout. This was mainly due to a little gentle bullying on my part to give a home to his collection of NSB stock. Fast forward to now and with more than a few shows under its belt, it still gets asked for. This is usually to fill that awkward section of an exhibition ' the continental bit'. Also being just sub 12' long it's fairly easy to fit in and will also help bolster the diesel end of the show if it's looking a bit steam heavy. The outline is a 1980s secondary line, now truncated and kept open with timber products outward and a light passenger service. Quite honestly it could do with a full scenic refurb as it is looking a bit sad in places and we keep saying about retiring it; then another enquiry comes in causing a reprieve.

We've done a large chunk of the shows in the south east now, but even after 17 years on the circuit , a new one will pop up; in this case the Newhaven club bash at Seaford on the 31st Oct. Although this is is uber-local, we've not done it before. Always good to break new ground. Do pop in and say hello.

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Uckfield exhibition

 The Uckfield show. Quality, crowded, bucking the trend. I did manage to hit a point where it wasn't too busy, though note that this is where other shows would seem overcrowded. I've discussed its merits before here, so no point repeating, but the quality was, as always, very high. The above was probably the one for me by, as it happens, a near neighbour of mine.   

Plenty of flesh pressed, old friends to chat to and a new book dropped into my hand; the latest by modeller and writer Chris O'Donoghue All in all, well worth the entrance fee as always.

Show 10

Catering (I went out, too busy) 5

Parking 10

Rucksacks 1

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A bumpy ride

 Well, it's been a bumpy ride recently and this does go someway to explain my absence from just about everywhere of late.  I won't detail here, but it's been challenging.

Onward, and a return to the 009 project, though this has gone through a couple of design tweeks and is now smaller lumps. Things are quite tatty at this stage and I have to admit that I am consciously using up materials. this part of a much bigger drive to slim the materialistic part of life down to a usable minimum.

The stock roster is made up of old friends and here the test loco is part of the original Wood End fleet being a Peco w/m kit on a Farrish 08 chassis. This was constructed some 27 years ago and could really do with a strip-down and service, though it still runs well enough. The focus for the short term may well be taking some of these older models and giving them a little TLC and perhaps adding some detailing that wasn't put on in the haste of getting Wood End onto the exhibition circuit. This (provisionally named Pant) 009 project has no such rush with no promised shows and I can just potter at my own speed.

O gauge points

 A quieter reflective period. And a pile of points. This is totally old school stuff, none of your plastic sleepers and an bottles of solvent. Straight into the hardcore toxic metals. It's also a fairly budget method with Peco points over fifty quid a pop, this is mostly Code 124 rail that I bought off a Bring and Buy at Telford decades ago and some Marcway sleepering. The whole lot based around some EM Society plans blown up to 7mm scale. Cost per unit not much more than two or three quid. The hours though would wind the cost up considerably especially as I'm a little out of practice. 

All ready to go now.

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Saturday Ramble: Finishing stuff

  The TT has left the building (Cue: Viva Las Vegas).

Sometimes we are not very good at finishing things off. The new is always too tempting and starting is always easier. With commissions this won't cut it; there is a deadline and the impetus must be maintained. For most this is a hobby and that way of thinking is outrageous. I agree. So let's consider that aspect for a moment. Is the object of all this the process? Or is it the completion? In most cases this is a pastime, a way to while away non-working hours in a relaxing way, so is completion even necessary? After all, we are only doing this to pass the time not achieve a target. 

What does this have to do with the TT? Well that did have to be a target and yet, there were several times where I thought it not worth finishing; I'm still far from happy with the end result. In the cold light of day and a return to the bench, there are quite a few things that had been pushed to one side, the above from Mr. Hill from parts fished out of my Wills bits box - the his and hers privies. I can only surmise that the bit on the left is for the dog. This had been hanging around for a while so looking for easy wins and low-hanging fruit, I finished this off first. The first post TT project completed. The next is an O gauge point in copperclad and 124 FB, again for Mr. Hill, this now at the tie-bar stage having been basically tested with a wagon. Then onto some lower pressure magazine things. 

All these need finishing off after they have been started.

New Milton show

 

I hate the New Forest. I'd never been there, but I hated what I imagined it to be with queues of traffic and people leaning out of car windows looking at ponies. 

So it came to pass that Mr. Hill and I headed through the New Forest to a hitherto unknown show at New Milton. A chance taken. There was a traffic queue and a pub with a sign which read ' you're stuck in traffic, you may as well come in'.    Nice. 

We found the show despite some interesting signage. High points on the listings were Harlyn which I'd not seen for a while and Marley Potts (above) from ex-Newhaven bod Ian Forsyth. This was actually a little gem of a show with plenty of new stuff to see and some interesting ideas to boot including the 'column change' sector plate (below) which was a neat little idea. Catering was cheap, entertaining and top notch, we even got free cake later on. This is what all shows should be like: not too big, good mix, hospitable, good parking and free cake. 

The return trip was worse with Down from London types who had never seen a horse before all stopping when one stood in the road (horse not pony). I know what a horse looks like, they wander down my road every morning. If you wave your arm around encouragingly, they'll soon move on. The DFLs just queued, looked at it and took instagram photos. All my worst fears realised.

Show 9.5 

Parking 8

Catering 11

Rucksacks 0

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Drovers Brook at Bredgar and Wormshill

Third year in a row with three different layouts, this time with Drovers Brook, the home layout that never leaves the house. A bolt-on to the other attractions on site and organised by Kerry at Invicta Models. No steam running outside due to the dry conditions which was a shame. However lots of fun stuff (fairground organ excepting) plenty of chat and badinage and a barrage of insult throwing across the aisle with Pete and Roger on the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association stand. All topped off with an excellent, but not cheap meal in The Windmill at Hollingbourne before the motorway-heavy drive back. 

Drovers Brook behaved pretty faultlessly and appeared with the quickly bodged Rhiw lighting gantry and facia boards with the name blacked out to avoid embarrassment. 

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Saturday Ramble: Lightening the load

 Sometimes there can be too much. Sometimes you just want to clear the decks and sit in the sun, especially at it has made a rare appearance this summer. The TT:120, done to the best of the brief if not my satisfaction. The trio of BRM projects moved through quite swiftly and submitted to Warner Towers. Suddenly there is nothing; though this isn't quite the case. Hidden under the debris are projects  long forgotten and yet now taking a new urgency.

There are a number of items that have been on the bench both physically and metaphorically for probably a year. Honestly these all need to be finished. The target therefore is to get all these done and clear. This, as well as a few tidy-up and addition bits to both Rhiw 2 and Drovers Brook; the first of these, above, was to get a walkway over the as yet to be added point rodding. This probably comes with the Ratio kit, but as I bought it for a fiver from the Croydon club stand part-built, I had to make my own. This probably sums up the general  direction of travel now; I make things from scratch and scrap, and fix up old discarded stuff. There's more pleasure to be had from actual modelling and rescuing than I've ever got from buying something, especially at the eye-watering prices that are to the fore now. We are steadily losing this. Yes I know this is a well-worn moan from the older guys but when a very well-known younger modeller pinged me and asked if I knew where you could buy 3D printed tie-bar plates for a bridge he was building, and I replied '20 thou sheet and some micro rod', you do begin to wonder. That though is a whole other can of worms and this is about me working through bits. I'll line them up in due course.

In the meantime Drovers Brook heads toward the Bredgar and Wormshill event on Sunday. Not an exhibition in the true sense, but a bolt-on to all the other things that are happening. We'll all be in the engine shed, which may well be cooler than outside, or unbearably hot.

Consolidation time.

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009 water tower

There is some back story on this, but I'll gloss over that for a minute. A bit of proper modelling as some would comment: a water tower for the upcoming 009 layout. Mr. Hill passed me the basic bits in a slide box with alternative bases. I went with this one which is a vintage set of Airfix crossing gates. These topped with the expected Wills vari-girder tank and a timber lid from the fret parts of a Peco TT:120 building kit. So three kits, mostly scrap materials and none used for their intended purpose. The detail parts are some more ex Airfix bits, some 1mm rod and a bit of chain. This is a tad long and may be shortened. I'll live with it for the time being.

Cost: almost zero. Yes I could have bought a proper 3D print or a kit, but that ain't the way we roll around here.
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The wonder of Metcalfe card kits

 I do like a card kit. The middle part of a trio of buildings that I needed to get done was this N gauge factory from Metcalfe. Of course I had to fiddle with it a little by moving the outers to the inner and putting the loading bays together as would seem logical. The whole structure layout is slightly illogical and that may be why I struggle with the death-by-Metcalfe layouts out there. There are a couple of people who can make these work, the rest just scream Metcalfe. There really has to be a way to lift this, but I haven't yet found it. The N gauge kits seem to suffer less than the OO, but it's still the bright 2D window frames and the consistent brick/stone finish - here I've hit it fairly heavily with the pencil shading and it still looks quite bland. I think the windows need to be replaced, by which time you may as well scratch-build. Also this seems almost to be unique to Metcalfe; the old Bilt-ezzi and the Superquick kits are less of a problem and the Scale Scenes are the best of the bunch, though the download aspect kills these a little for me. Anyway this and the other two buildings are coming to an issue of BRM in the near future.

Pett O gauge open day

 Almost an annual trip. Down to that odd area between Hastings and Rye which feels like a huge village  with no defined edges  Plenty of rummage boxes and the usual multi gauge test track and a softer feel than an exhibition. Time to chat, space to ponder. The 7mm NGA were in attendance (above) which I wasn't expecting with this lovely demo layout on two of the Peco/White Rose competition boards. Really taken with this. The now well-worn comment about these events being 'older' and I still felt like I was the youngest in the room, which doesn't bode well for a decade's time.

Show 9

Catering 9

Parking 8

Rucksacks 0