Neil's HO workbench - Been back to Belgium

[Neil]

Since the last post Vischkaai has been billeted upstairs in my playroom. Though the new arrangement works well the layout rests on benchwork under the eaves and therefore there is insufficient height to accommodate the buildings. As I wanted to take some pictures I ended up taking the layout back to the garage yesterday along with the camera and a selection of stock. Here are a couple of them.

 

[chrisb]

...a selection of stock...

Lovely ambiance and I especially like the weathering on that oxide van!

 

[Neil]

Like many I'm using lockdown as an opportunity to finish part started projects. One that has risen to the top of the to do list is a model of SNCB's loco number 2, an elderly Moyse. Just the thing I thought for shunting the ferocious reverse curve behind Vischkaai's warehouse. A good number of years and a house move ago I bought a sweet running Kato motor bogie. I think it was meant to go under an American diesel but I had other ideas and got as far as cutting out a few body panels for the Moyse and then stalled. Over the last week or so I've cut bits off the Kato chassis so that I could build an underframe unit which would slide over the mechanism. Here it is.






It has ABS buffers, Paul Windle 009 couplings and springs carved off a Ratio Midland Railway bogie, all the rest is plastic. The lower photo shows the body panels which I've just started work on. It may yet take some time to finish as it's my wet weather project. My dry weather alternative is fitting point motors on Northern Town, but that's another story for another thread.

 

[Neil]

With the weather this month being so good I've spent the biggest proportion of my time out in the garden only snatching odd moments at the workbench. However the Moyse has started to look more like a complete loco than a collection of parts. Here's what it now looks like.



I've started to make a list of things to do just so that I don't get ahead of myself and stick something in place which would make applying the detail harder. I still need to tackle handrails, both cab and bonnet, a grille and fan behind the hole in the near bonnet and the exhaust.

 

[matto21]

What a lovely little loco that is, both in real and model form.

 

[Neil]

The shunter has come on a little over the last week. Cab handrails were a bit of a faff but nothing like as frustrating as those for the bonnet. Soldering the upright stanchions to the bonnet top handrails took several goes and many four letter words. Butt joining 0.5mm dia wire was never going to be easy but my stubbornness won out in the end. At the moment the handrails are loose but trapped in place as the bonnets are now fixed to the cab. I'm getting perilously close to the paining stage.

 

[AJC]

That's shaping up extremely well, Neil - suitably shabbied up it'll look fab.

Adam

 

[Neil]

Finally the Moyse has taken its turn in the spray booth (a cardboard box in the upstairs bathroom) and has come out looking like this.






There's still some way to go, detail painting, sticking on small parts and weathering but it's looking something like at last.

 

[Neil]

I note that it's been a couple of years since the last post. I'm afraid that little has happened in the intervening years as I've concentrated my efforts on progressing Northern Town. However earlier this year Vischkaai went out to the garage again for further photos to be taken and I'm pleased to say that it looks like it will appear in next months Continental Modeller.

I don't feel as though I can share the photos I took of the layout but I have a few from Belgium itself taken on a trip to Antwerp last month. Here's the view from our hotel room.



Just as spectacular at night.



Also of railway interest are the old transit sheds by the riverside .......



..... which used to look like this in their heyday.

 

[simond]

it's curious how much the second photo looks like a model...

 

[steve1]

Neil,

I see we have met up in the latest Continental Modeller.

steve

 

[Neil]

Hello Steve, that's good to know. I'm still waiting for postie to deliver my copy and I look forward to see what you've submitted; always of interest.

 

[steve1]

Hello Steve, that's good to know. I'm still waiting for postie to deliver my copy and I look forward to see what you've submitted; always of interest.

I’m still waiting for mine too but I was able to get a squint at a digital copy when I was at DEMU Showcase over the weekend.

steve

 

[Tim Hale]

Hi Neil,

I find myself returning to this thread, may I enquire the origin of the high brick wall? Possibly an exotic Artitec product?

Tim

 

[Neil]

Hello Tim,

Nothing exotic I fear, the brick wall is scratchbuilt, nothing more complex than 40thou plasticard clad in brick, capped with individual bits of 40thou for the walls and 80thou for the piers.

 

[Tim Hale]

Neil,

Thanks, I like the odd white warehouse, something really most appropriate for an industrial scene. I have added an Artitec warehouse to the shop and workshop.

BTW, you have a pm.

Tim