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MAY 2025 UPDATE
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KIER HARDY
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MATT OWEN
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MIKE WHITCHURCH
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ANDY LEE
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GREG BROOKES
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KARL CROWTHER
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There's not been a lot going on at the workbench this last month, however a green
Daimler Fleetline has joined the line up at Hornsey bus garage, receiving indicators,
rear view mirrors and a couple of coats of matt varnish. London Transport evaluated
some of the green Fleetlines in Central London, and some of the red Leyland Atlanteans
in the Country area. CUV58C is well suited to the layout with its Holloway destination.
Whilst at the bus garage, a snap was taken of a single deck AEC RF and 4 Routemasters.
BRCW type 3 number 6572 heads south through the station with a rake of tank wagons,
whilst Brush type 2 number 5610 calls with an inner-suburban service, and a Class 501
heads for Broad Street.
6572 continues on its way, passing HS4000 Kestrel with a freightliner service from
Stratford International heading north.
Electro-Diesel E6107 passes over the flyover with a inter-regional freight.
A 6-car Class 125 diesel hydraulic DMU slows for the station stop on its way to
Welwyn Garden City, passing English Electric type 3 with a rake of bogie tank wagons.
Class 501 EMU enters the single bore Hornsey Tunnel on the Up Slow, as a inner-suburban
high density DMU heads north over the flyover.
Another ornament for now? This Accurascale Class 37 has suffered with surging and
erratic control due to a faulty motor, so hopefully a replacement will be on its way
soon. For now it's out of action and parked up in the stabling sidings.
Work continues on the Bachmann 37 and slowly but surely a phoenix is rising from the pile of
parts. The bogies are now complete, as are the towers so, finally, she can stand on her own
two feet. I've also soldered up the snowploughs from PH Design parts - although only attached
temporarily here. I've also done some cosmetic work to the fuel and water tanks visible here.
Things are now temporarily paused while I await delivery of some pickup wire, so I've taken
advantage and started work on an etched underframe for a standard brake van utilising the kit
from Dave Bradwell. Unfortunately my kit has become a bit misshapen - entirely my fault - which
adds an "interesting" extra element to the construction!
Despite this, a very nice, square, underframe is emerging. The overall design of the kit is
excellent and it's testament to the kit that this is possible despite the state of the parts!
Work this month I've concentrated on creating a facility of some sort (on the new board
adjacent to the stabling point). Amazingly, some thought has gone into this and I had
considered a few options before making a decision, so I've settled on an oil / fuel
unloading depot operated by the well known company of Northern Fuel Distributors T/A
WibOil. The 100 tonners are standing on the arrival / departure road, whilst the 45
tonners are on what will be the unloading area.
I'd like a gantry framework arrangement, but it depends on what information I can find,
or what is commercially available. The access is from the main line, with the wagon
standing on what will be the headshunt. As I am not sure at the moment about the
configuration of buildings and scenics, and the siding lengths are open to adaptation,
although I can see my stock of buffer stops being somewhat depleted by the end of it. The
access from the main line will be controlled by a ground frame, so the next job is points,
mechanisms and wiring.
It's been a very busy month with 8 Star Wars models on the go for clients, but I have
managed to increase the wagon fleet by another two 16t minerals. These are Parkside kits
with the usual Gibson wheels, Smiths couplings, and Railtec decals. Weathering added
using cheap Pound Shop eye shadow in rust brown, dark grey and charcoal colours.
A view from the yard neck as a Class 101 DMU departs for Wolverhampton.
Derby type 2 number 7509 is captured with Brush 4 - 1665 Titan, along with a selection
of wagons on the stabling point at Shenston Road.
08951, 3748, 1665 Titan & 7509 at rest between duties.
Ruston & Hornsby 0-6-0 PWM654 shunter - an Impetus brass kit built model.
A variety of brake vans in the BSC Shenston exchange sidings.
Brake van with guard riding the back verandah on the rear of a rake of iron ore wagons.
Brush 2 - 5530 at the head of a steel coil train waits for the road in the station.
A brace of type twos waiting in the loop behind the station.
Apologies for lack of an update last month – in part due to the garden waking up after
winter! One thing from the start of the year I hadn’t previously shown was the half-relief
housing behind Kendal station. Basically, Metcalfe kits - almost perfect for the locality,
and look quite the part. The plan is for them to serve for now, pending a field trip to
Kendal to identify some more specific examples. I’ve also downloaded some hopefully matching
examples from Scalescenes, still to build, so that’s another task added to the ‘to do’ list….
Over now to Kentside where a start has been made on some landscaping – quite new territory
for me! A range of techniques have been tried and possibly the carved foam approach, despite
very messy, is perhaps going to the preferred way forward. The ‘egg box’ approach using card
was OK but produced a very uneven surface when paper was glued over it. The rest you can see
here was made up of horizontal layers of card instead (bridging a ‘void’ in the baseboard
surface). The building to the right of scene is actually a model of Arnside goods shed, built
for another project and is standing in for some sort of field barn structure of roughly the
same proportions – this being required to conceal a hole in the scenery to allow access to
two servos beneath, controlling points.
A close-up view of the ‘egg box’ attempt, showing how uneven the result was. I subsequently
removed the signals to avoid any damage to them during this work…..
And the work completed thus far. The hillside to the rear started off with ‘egg box’ but I
then went onto a block of foam for the remainder. Initial coverage was a mix of (green)
paper towels or brown wrapping paper glued on with PVA. To sort the uneven bits, I then
came across a papier mache product on Ebay. Basically, powdered paper pre-mixed with glue,
to which you then add water to create a paste that can then be sculped to shape (I added
extra PVA too). This I found very good to work with and it dries to give a very strong
surface, so I will probably use more of this in future. The Wills platelayers’ hut
conceals another servo, with one more hole to disguise….
Now onto the walling where I think I showed a test piece in a previous update. This seems to
have worked very well as can be seen here. It’s made up from Wills Coarse Stone sheet either
side of a 30 thou styrene strip, with coping stones cut from .125 x .188” Evergreen Strip.
Once set, the stones were then carved to shape and generally ‘distressed’ to give them texture etc.
And behind the wall is the Kentside barrow crossing now completed, just needing blending
into the adjacent platform surfaces. Scenic work again with the papier mache can be seen on
the entrance area to the quarry.
And looking the other way, the effect of the railway boundary wall can be seen to good effect.
After my usual (trademark?) method of carving and then using Milliput filler to disguise the
joins between sections of the Wills stone sheet, a base colour comprising a mix of Humbrol 64
and 147 was applied. Once fully dry, a mortar wash took the form of Humbrol 32, excess wiped
off the surface with kitchen towel. Final detailing followed via dry brushing with more 147
with a little 72 blended in. That said, I’m not totally happy with the colouring at present,
so some re-working may follow at some point.
And there’s still more walling to do – the other side of Kentside station, plus behind the
goods yard, so plenty of this to keep me busy. Though repetitive, it’s not overly taxing work!
Finally a reminder that it’s expoEM Spring in Bracknell over the weekend of 10th & 11th May
so hopefully see some of you there?
