NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Morning all,

Recent activity has been a tad sporadic as of late.

Latest project has been the distressing of an Oxford Diecast Land Rover. This was done in conjunction with others who all did their own examples.

All have now arrived with their new owner.

This then is my example.

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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Latest project has been the distressing of an Oxford Diecast Land Rover.

Nicely done. Are you ever tempted to strip the factory paint off die cast vehicles and re-paint them?

I've found with O scale vehicles the factory paint finish tends to be rather thick thereby obliterating some of the finer cast detail.
 

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Nicely done. Are you ever tempted to strip the factory paint off die cast vehicles and re-paint them?

I've found with O scale vehicles the factory paint finish tends to be rather thick thereby obliterating some of the finer cast detail.


Evening Dave. Thank you. It was fun to do. The short answer is yes. The 4mm vehicles have a very thick layer of paint. I have a couple of projects of my own in the pipeline and I can see myself removing the factory finish and starting afresh.


Rob.
 

Allen M

Western Thunderer
If I may say so that Land Rover look well cared for. No big dents and all the panels the same colour.
Early LandRovers and Transit (type) vans & trucks are rather like Manning Wardle & similar contractors engines. They may start out generally the same but then get repaired and/or modified with what is available.
The MOT and rail/industrial regulations have reduced this in later times but it still goes on to some extent. I know an old scrap man, now approaching 90 who has a tipper truck body that has been on 3 different chassis to my knowledge so probably more.

Keep up the good work
Regards
Allen Morgan
 

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Evening all.

There's a new layout about to be started.

Small Western Region goods yard circa mid 50s.

As usual, slightly run down, teetering on the brink of closure.

I am contemplating the trackwork and may well end up replicating my previous efforts on Sheep Dip.....


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A mock up of the new venture......

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Just need to find the time to start....


Rob.
 

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Evening all.

This year has seen a few false starts in terms of the next layout.

A 1950s W&U inspired goods only terminus. A 1950s East Anglian, ex- Great Eastern BLT , an Isle of Wight inspired 1930s terminus and most recently a 1950s Western Region goods yard.

Its not an inconsiderable list.

Frustration with the running of the motive power for most of these ideas has contributed towards work commencing on none of the above, aside from a few mock ups using buildings and scraps of track.


Many have offered help advice and support to overcome these issues, most notably with the recent Pannier saga,illustrating just how much help people are willing to offer.


I decided to step back for a moment. One bit of advice came from Mick Bonwick who is so recently and very sadly now no longer with us.

In our last bit of correspondence, just over a couple of weeks ago, Mick wrote;

"What I do think, though, is that if you are finding that current standards don't give you what you expect/deserve/demand then it might be time to change your target. If you have some locomotives that do meet your requirements then maybe that's where your efforts should be channelled, creating something where their characteristics can be put to best use"

That got me thinking . The obvious choice for me was some where for the Hattons P class 0.6.0t and Dapol B4 0.4.0t to play. I have a few examples of both and all run very well indeed. A bit of an Arun Quay homage with a sheep twist immediately sprang to mind.

But I still had a Great Eastern itch to scratch.

I have three examples of Hornbys J15 'in stock' along with a couple of Model Rail/Dapol Sentinels. Again, all run very well. Add to these a Bachmann 03 in waspy green, another good runner and the basics were there.


I started messing with points and scraps of track and arrived at what is my simplest track plan yet.

Four points and four buildings should do it.

Two of the buildings were originally destined for the W&U layout.

Its never going to keep you occupied for long but it will scratch the itch to produce a neglected corner of an East Anglian backwater from the 1950s.

Lots of grassy,weedy track. This will be all about the detail.

Where exactly in East Anglia this is will be anybodys guess but hopefully this should do it.

Yes, I know, believe it when the first train runs but really, I shall hopefully start in the next day or so.

One last thing to decide then we should be good to go.

Here then are a few photos of the most recent mock up on the dining table.


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Referring to photo one, the entrance from the fiddle yard is top left. Layout will be viewed from the right.

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Rob.
 
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PaulR

Western Thunderer
I know exactly how you feel Rob. I've got an idea firmly wedged in my mind, but whenever I try to draw it out, it doesn't quite work out. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all develops for you.

What sad news about Mick Bonwick, he was such a supportive and encouraging guy.

Paul
 
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