The First Larkrail Challenge

[queensquare]

Next July sees the inaugural Larkrail (see Simons thread for details of the exhibition) and to celebrate I can now announce the first LarkRail Challenge.

The idea is simple, entries can be of any prototype you like - locomotive, rolling stock, building, permanent way etc. They can also be in any scale, gauge combination and also be scratchbuilt, kitbuilt, RTR butchery or a combination of all these. The only criteria is that the entry is not in your normal modelling scale. Extra smarty points will be awarded for those entries that are a long way from the builders normal comfort zone. Judging will be subjective, quirky and almost certainly unscientific. The judge or judges have not been selected yet and may well be chosen on the day. An area will be set aside at LarkRail to display entries.

The winner of what is sure to become a prestigious prize in modelling circles will, as well as huge amounts of kudos, receive the coveted LarkRail Challenge cheque book and pen cup to keep and cherish.

The purpose of this thread is to allow Thunderers to announce, discuss and update progress on their entries. Remember, there is no restriction on what you enter in terms of period or subject matter, only that it is not in your normal modelling scale so please no comments about only blue allowed etc. It is in the exhibition section for now but may well move elsewhere if it develops/evolves a nice workshop type theme which I rather hope it does. I have run the idea past several people and the responses have been universally positive. What I'm particularly interested in is the challenges that working in a different scale raises. I know, for me, its the level of detail visible and therefore necessary in the larger scales


To start the ball rolling, I will be building a wagon in 1/32 (I'm a 2mm modeller). More details to follow when I get a chance to get to the workshop with my camera, suffice to say it will be a Highbury Colliery PO wagon. Cooky (1/32 and larger) is building something in 2mm - get the idea!!

So what are you going to build?

Jerry

 

[Simon]

Great idea - I'm in!

Current favourite is a brake van in 3mm scale. I'm never going to model in this scale but did fall for this Finney and Smith kit a few years ago, this would appear to be the prefect reason to build it.



Not very ambitious (and none of that 14.2mm nonsense) but I do like these vans and I could dream of going on and building a 1/32 one later

Simon

 

[Steve Cook]

I appear to have been entered into the challenge without even realising it, well played that man

Excellent idea Jerry I'll grab a photo of the etch that has arrived as a kick off then....

 

[Steve Cook]

Here's the etch as it arrived, photographed next to a two pence piece for reference.



Its a 16T Mineral Wagon kit from the talented hands of Mr Stephen Harris. Laid out as above it doesn't look too bad, but given that three of the four quadrants are stacked on top of each other (before soldering to make the body) it all starts to seem a bit on the small side. Might be time to change the tip on the soldering iron Pixie on RMWeb did a little build sequence, I've stuck a link in here as his photo's explain it better than I can (head about 2/3 down the page). It strikes me as a novel and interesting way to build a kit, the challenge will be not making a complete horlicks of it! I need to order buffers, wheels and couplings to complete it so I'll try and get around that tonight. As a comparison against a Gauge 1 wagon.



Steve

 

[Steph Dale]

Er, Steve,

You can't enter mate as everything is your 'usual' scale, isn't it?

Steph

 

[Steve Cook]

Cheeky blighter (quite correct though)

You going larger or smaller than 7mm then

 

[28ten]

Nice looking etch
My challenge is filling 4x2 but i might try and slip something else in

 

[ceejaydee]

With it being so many sleeps away I'm not sure if I will make Larkrail 2013 however the challenge still sounds rather tempting.
That then leaves the question of what to make as I have dabbled in so many scales over the years that I'm not sure which are my usual and which are not?
Although given my persistent inactivity (recent bouts of layout planning, new stock testing and fitting DCC decoders doesn't really count as modelling does it?) perhaps I should just choose to build something... or anything in any scale!

 

[queensquare]

Although given my persistent inactivity (recent bouts of layout planning, new stock testing and fitting DCC decoders doesn't really count as modelling does it?) perhaps I should just choose to build something... or anything in any scale!

That's the spirit Christopher! I'm sure that like most modellers who have dabble in various scales you have something that's been stashed in a drawer for years which was bought in a moment of weakness and seemed like a good idea at the time. Get it out, get it built and bring it along next July. Essentially, if its finished, its elligable

Jerry

 

[ceejaydee]

That's the spirit Christopher! I'm sure that like most modellers who have dabble in various scales you have something that's been stashed in a drawer for years which was bought in a moment of weakness and seemed like a good idea at the time. Get it out, get it built and bring it along next July. Essentially, if its finished, its elligable

Jerry

Even with the recent sales of all my 3mm/TT equipment I have a list/stash of un-started and unfinished projects that even Connor MacLeod would struggle to live long enough to finish

However sometimes a gentle nudge is all that is required to get going so I'll contemplate a project for a few days before making an announcement... Thanks for the nudge Jerry

 

[JimG]

Personally I've worked in OO, N, American HO, British HO, O, back to American HO, and once had a Bachmann G Scale train set... so I must admit that when I first read about this "Challenge", it did cross my mind that, with all the Scattergun Modelling that goes on, how would it be a challenge..? More 'Par for the Course' I'd have thought....

S scale is missing.

Jim.

 

[ceejaydee]

Personally I've worked in OO, N, American HO, British HO, O, back to American HO, and once had a Bachmann G Scale train set... so I must admit that when I first read about this "Challenge", it did cross my mind that, with all the Scattergun Modelling that goes on, how would it be a challenge..? More 'Par for the Course' I'd have thought....

Over the years I have tried to varying degrees N, 3mm/TT, OO, O, G1 1/32, G scale both 1:22.5 & 1:24 US 1/29 then OO9, HOe, HOm, 5.5mm NG, O16.5, On30, Oe, O-9 and most recently US HO.... maybe I should have said what I haven't tried

All that and I still forgot 16mm scale.

Edit - I also forgot G3!

 

[queensquare]

I think that most long term modellers could put up a similar list of scale gauge combinations they have had a dabble in over the years - I know I could. The question is though, how many of these have involved serious modelling, ie. making things as opposed to a lot of armchair work and some hopeful purchases. I would suggest that the list would shrink somewhat.
The entire purpose of the 'challenge' is to get people to make things, bring them to LarkRail to share with like minded enthusiasts and have a bit of fun in the process. The idea of building something in a scale/gauge away from the norm stems entirely from the fact that the challenge idea grew from Cookie and myself challenging each other to build something in our respective scales.
As I said above, if the model is complete, it is eligible. There are no rules, its all for fun and to encourage you all to get some modelling done.

Jerry

 

[Simon]

.....making things as opposed to a lot of armchair work and some hopeful purchases......

Jerry

Egad sir, you know how to wound a fellow

 

[queensquare]

Egad sir, you know how to wound a fellow

I know, I'm probably more guilty than most of talking a good model!

It would be interesting to know just how many of the brilliant ideas the two of us have come up with over the years in our rambling natters have actually made it to wood/plastic/metal - I suspect percentage wise, pretty low.

But then, chatting with chums and devising mad schemes is a big part of the hobby for me- some (tiny proportion) even get built

Jerry

 

[Steve Cook]

Whilst I'm waiting for wagons bits and pieces to arrive I thought I'd have a bash at scratchbuilding a small building. Its fair to say I've never done quite so much work under a magnifying glass before, and its made me up my game in terms of accuracy and measuring
The intention is to plank the outside, thus the window frame and door frames are all proud (30 x 30 thou strip). The doors are made from 30 x 10 thou strip, laid over the basic 0.5 thick carcass. The front, rear, ends and support bits have all been cut, the front and rear already having been laminated with another piece of 0.5 plasticard to help create the recesses for the glazing. Can't say I'm really happy with the latter, I might have to try again tomorrow to improve the etch lines for the cross bars, but the witness marks along the edges where its been cut are a bit off-putting too (I'm using some of the Slaters glazing material, can anybody recommend an alternative?).





Once I've got the glazing sorted I can stick it together, fit the rest of the external framing and then start on the planking...

Steve

 

[28ten]

There will be an alternative challenge for those who really like a challenge.........

Looking after my two boys for the day, Simon can vouch for how placid and quiet they are

 

[Simon]

There will be an alternative challenge for those who really like a challenge.........

Looking after my two boys for the day, Simon can vouch for how placid and quiet they are

Splendid fellows the both of them and anyway they'll be all growed up by next July

I reckon Harry and Charlie's student section on the mezzanine will be right up their street - don't forget the "Tarzan Rope"

Simon

 

[Steve Cook]

Bit more progress today Re-did the glazing first, cutting larger than required and filing/sanding to size gave a better result so I did all three bits and have held off on the glazing bar front for the moment - it may make more sense to paint them on after the glazing is fitted. Everything was glued together, then all of the external framing added to give me a recess into which I can fit the planking. A false roof was made to give the basic box a bit more strength then a nickel silver sheet has been cut to size and folded to sit on top.



Apologies for the photo, I'm trying to get to grips with the macro function on the camera and failing Edit - Original really crap shot replaced with a slightly less crap one...

There is still some tweaking of the roof required to get it to sit correctly, then its down to cutting out more bits of nickel silver for the fascia boards and bargeboards. These will be soldered on to help hold the roof in shape and will give me something to solder the gutters to (if I can work out how to make them!). Following Jerry's advice in MRJ212 I've been practising making corrugated iron sheets with foil from a baking tin and a Nestle coffee jar cap - good fun if slightly fiddly. The hope is I can glue those sheets onto the NS roof, allowing that to be removeable when I attack the planking.

Steve

 

[Steve Cook]

Tiny amounts of progress and a slight change in direction - I'm now trying to do the planking and see if it turns out OK before investing time in doing the roof. The planks are 60 x 10 thou Evergreen strip, cut to length and glued into position, the Mk1 eyeball being the fall back as I struggled to make a jig that would hold the planks into position for gluing - that and a slight bow on some of the strips has made it a bit of a bugger of a job - and thats the easy side done! On the positive, I can use the rear planks to determine the positioning of those on the side.



Next update as and when...

Steve