Do you have any model railway projects on the go?

[61653 HTAFC]

Oh dear, well I can honestly say I did not have a drop of the brown stuff before typing that, it's purely a typo from rushing!

Though it would be appropriate enough to have some Guinness barrels lying about on the platform perhaps...

Of all the various figures available to modellers (that's the rabbit-hole I went down this afternoon!) I was a little disappointed to not find a "vagrant with can of Spesh'" figure! Guess I'll have to make my own...

 

[Cowley]

Though it would be appropriate enough to have some Guinness barrels lying about on the platform perhaps...

Or the Guinness barrels standing up and the passengers lying around.

 

[Cowley]

Of all the various figures available to modellers (that's the rabbit-hole I went down this afternoon!) I was a little disappointed to not find a "vagrant with can of Spesh'" figure! Guess I'll have to make my own...

Preiser do some cracking figures. I had a lady flasher that I had flashing to the Queen on my old layout...
Here’s a couple of vagrants figures that are on eBay:

 

[hexagon789]

Of all the various figures available to modellers (that's the rabbit-hole I went down this afternoon!) I was a little disappointed to not find a "vagrant with can of Spesh'" figure! Guess I'll have to make my own...

I've seen something along those lines at one of the stands at MRS, I have some of the pamphlets still that I can take a look at.

 

[hexagon789]

Or the Guinness barrels standing up and the passengers lying around.

Just the passengers or the railway staff?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Preiser do some cracking figures. I had a lady flasher that I had flashing to the Queen on my old layout...
Here’s a couple of vagrants figures that are on eBay:

View attachment 76671View attachment 76672

That first one would be ideal for Bradford on Tone (or Bradford for Nynehead as it might end up being called, in "Great Way Round" tradition), perhaps having pilfered a small keg of cider from the transfer shed... For Kirkburton or Holmfirth I think a tracksuit and 4-pack would be more appropriate!

 

[Cowley]

Well I’ve just had my first attempt at static grass and after a bit of effort I started to get the hang of it. It’s harder to make it look realistic in N gauge and I think I’m going to give it a trim with my beard trimmer when it’s dry before hoovering any excess off.
I sieved some dried soil from the garden and used it here and there to give some different texture too.

When I first did it it looked proper gaudy so I sprayed over it with the airbrush using a thinned down earthy colour and it definitely helped.
I’m sure an expert would have a fit but I’m not an expert!
Here you go:

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Looks way better than the old grass-mats way of doing it... not sure I'll be satisfied with doing it the old way now that I've seen that!

 

[FrodshamJnct]

Well I’ve just had my first attempt at static grass and after a bit of effort I started to get the hang of it. It’s harder to make it look realistic in N gauge and I think I’m going to give it a trim with my beard trimmer when it’s dry before hoovering any excess off.
I sieved some dried soil from the garden and used it here and there to give some different texture too.

When I first did it it looked proper gaudy so I sprayed over it with the airbrush using a thinned down earthy colour and it definitely helped.
I’m sure an expert would have a fit but I’m not an expert!
Here you go:

View attachment 76673View attachment 76674View attachment 76675

Looks brilliant. Itching for my baseboard to arrive now so I can get cracking on my lockdown project!

 

[Cowley]

Thanks chaps. I think I can improve upon it too so I’m quite pleased that it’s turned out reasonably ok for a first go.
The temptation is to keep fiddling around with it but actually I need to let it dry and have a look at it again tomorrow so I’ll get on with latexing my trees this evening.

Looks way better than the old grass-mats way of doing it... not sure I'll be satisfied with doing it the old way now that I've seen that!

Oh it’s definitely a lot better than that stuff. Gone are the days of died sawdust for flock and bright green lichen for bushes. It’s the future man!

 

[gg1]

Preiser do some cracking figures. I had a lady flasher that I had flashing to the Queen on my old layout...
Here’s a couple of vagrants figures that are on eBay:

View attachment 76671View attachment 76672

The two on the right are the oddest looking vagrants I've ever seen, they look suspiciously like a pair of Airfx WW2 pilot figures, complete with lifejacket and seat belt.

 

[Cowley]

The two on the right are the oddest looking vagrants I've ever seen, they look suspiciously like a pair of Airfx WW2 pilot figures, complete with lifejacket and seat belt.

Yeah. That is a very good point...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

This arrived this morning... very pleased with the look but it appears to NOT be DCC-fitted as advertised. Though I'm new to that aspect of models so I'll investigate further before giving a bad Ebay review!

 

[Cowley]

This arrived this morning... very pleased with the look but it appears to NOT be DCC-fitted as advertised. Though I'm new to that aspect of models so I'll investigate further before giving a bad Ebay review!
View attachment 76683

That’s disappointing. Was it advertised as ‘DCC ready’, or ‘DCC fitted’? That can be a bit misleading in my opinion because nearly all modern models are DCC ready in that they have a socket for the chip.
The trouble with a DMU is that you need two chips (one for each coach) which is the best part of £60.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

That’s disappointing. Was it advertised as ‘DCC ready’, or ‘DCC fitted’? That can be a bit misleading in my opinion because nearly all modern models are DCC ready in that they have a socket for the chip.
The trouble with a DMU is that you need two chips (one for each coach) which is the best part of £60.

I did wonder if I'd misread the ad, but I went back to check and it did say "DCC Fitted". Now there may be something I'm missing in terms of setting up, but when placed on the track and setting the controller to DC mode I'm getting the high-pitched whine expected from a non-fitted loco.

My brother has a load of spare chips so at least I won't be out of pocket on that side of things, but if it turns out to be a blatant lie from the seller they'll be getting an appropriately poor feedback rating!

 

[Cowley]

I did wonder if I'd misread the ad, but I went back to check and it did say "DCC Fitted". Now there may be something I'm missing in terms of setting up, but when placed on the track and setting the controller to DC mode I'm getting the high-pitched whine expected from a non-fitted loco.

My brother has a load of spare chips so at least I won't be out of pocket on that side of things, but if it turns out to be a blatant lie from the seller they'll be getting an appropriately poor feedback rating!

I’m not an expert but I think you have to be careful with putting a DC train on the track and running the higher voltage DCC through it, so make sure you don’t damage it.
If you can get inside one of the carriages and take a photo of the chip we could probably work out if it’s a DCC one?

 

[hexagon789]

Thanks chaps. I think I can improve upon it too so I’m quite pleased that it’s turned out reasonably ok for a first go.
The temptation is to keep fiddling around with it but actually I need to let it dry and have a look at it again tomorrow so I’ll get on with latexing my trees this evening.

It looks great, that was your first go at it?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I’m not an expert but I think you have to be careful with putting a DC train on the track and running the higher voltage DCC through it, so make sure you don’t damage it.
If you can get inside one of the carriages and take a photo of the chip we could probably work out if it’s a DCC one?

Hopefully I will manage to get it open... I'm a bit nervous of damaging it, and Bachmann's instructions aren't as clear as they think they are- unless that's just my 'tism rearing its head!

When trying to run it with my Select set to DC I just got headlights and humming with no movement, so I'm not going to push it. My brother is going to drop off a couple of decoders later, along with a DC controller if he can dig one out.

Latest update: my 108 is now chipped in both cars, the motor car was done by my brother with me watching on facetime, and I managed to do the trailer car* despite wanting to throw it out of the window a couple of times! Just need to fiddle with the direction settings so that I get red lights on the back rather than the same colour on both ends depending on direction.

*=NOT a "dummy car" as it's meant to be unpowered. Need to retrain myself on that!

 

[Cowley]

Hopefully I will manage to get it open... I'm a bit nervous of damaging it, and Bachmann's instructions aren't as clear as they think they are- unless that's just my 'tism rearing its head!

When trying to run it with my Select set to DC I just got headlights and humming with no movement, so I'm not going to push it. My brother is going to drop off a couple of decoders later, along with a DC controller if he can dig one out.

Latest update: my 108 is now chipped in both cars, the motor car was done by my brother with me watching on facetime, and I managed to do the trailer car* despite wanting to throw it out of the window a couple of times! Just need to fiddle with the direction settings so that I get red lights on the back rather than the same colour on both ends depending on direction.

*=NOT a "dummy car" as it's meant to be unpowered. Need to retrain myself on that!

Oh well done.
When Mrs C had our bedroom in my old loft which had the 00 railway in it I used to set my blue and grey 108 running around and around with just the lights on the layout on (god she’s patient with me ).
I loved that model which is why I had to get a replacement in N. Unfortunately it hasn’t got interior lights like yours has though...

 

[Cowley]

It looks great, that was your first go at it?

Yes it was and I bought some new batteries for my beard trimmer today and set to work mowing the grass on the dry bits from yesterday, this improved it no end and is definitely the way to go to trim it to a more scale short N gauge length.
I actually had a bit of time free today so I properly went for it.
Here’s a couple of photos of the areas I did, but bear in mind that it’s nowhere near finished yet as I’ve got to tone it down, trim it, add bushes, trees and various other things...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Oh well done.
When Mrs C had our bedroom in my old loft which had the 00 railway in it I used to set my blue and grey 108 running around and around with just the lights on the layout on (god she’s patient with me ).
I loved that model which is why I had to get a replacement in N. Unfortunately it hasn’t got interior lights like yours has though...

Now that's patience... either that or she secretly loved it too!

I'm quite pleased with the interior lights, they aren't so bright that they'd cook the passengers- unlike the Lima HST power car I had back in the day which looked as if the driver was spontaneously combusting! I got to the bottom of the lights issue too- turns out I didn't want to group the two cars as a consist, better to just toggle the direction of the trailer car separately: if two vehicles in a consist are set to opposite directions it throws up an error, even if one of them is unpowered!

A few photos here: so far still just a temporary oval of track on the cellar floor, apologies for the brightly coloured floor tiles! Can't wait to get some proper baseboards set up so I'm not destroying my knees!



In other news, the Olympian is (very) slowly taking shape. Matt black Humbrol seems to be in short supply:

 

[Cowley]

Now that's patience... either that or she secretly loved it too!

I'm quite pleased with the interior lights, they aren't so bright that they'd cook the passengers- unlike the Lima HST power car I had back in the day which looked as if the driver was spontaneously combusting! I got to the bottom of the lights issue too- turns out I didn't want to group the two cars as a consist, better to just toggle the direction of the trailer car separately: if two vehicles in a consist are set to opposite directions it throws up an error, even if one of them is unpowered!

A few photos here: so far still just a temporary oval of track on the cellar floor, apologies for the brightly coloured floor tiles! Can't wait to get some proper baseboards set up so I'm not destroying my knees!

View attachment 76724View attachment 76725View attachment 76726

In other news, the Olympian is (very) slowly taking shape. Matt black Humbrol seems to be in short supply:
View attachment 76728

I might do you a quote for painting that wall...
That looks like a great model. I love the lighting. Do the lights light up the whole of each carriage? Mine only seemed to light one end of them but that might have been because it was an older model?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I might do you a quote for painting that wall...
That looks like a great model. I love the lighting. Do the lights light up the whole of each carriage? Mine only seemed to light one end of them but that might have been because it was an older model?

To be honest it's hard to tell... I think this one is probably a decade old itself. I'm not sure if there's any ability to adjust the interior lights, but they seem to be slightly brighter in the first class section.

 

[Cowley]

To be honest it's hard to tell... I think this one is probably a decade old itself. I'm not sure if there's any ability to adjust the interior lights, but they seem to be slightly brighter in the first class section.

Well they’ve paid extra of course.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Well they’ve paid extra of course.

Not if the unit is on loan to Provincial for working the Kirkburton branch, they haven't!

 

[hexagon789]

Yes it was and I bought some new batteries for my beard trimmer today and set to work mowing the grass on the dry bits from yesterday, this improved it no end and is definitely the way to go to trim it to a more scale short N gauge length.
I actually had a bit of time free today so I properly went for it.
Here’s a couple of photos of the areas I did, but bear in mind that it’s nowhere near finished yet as I’ve got to tone it down, trim it, add bushes, trees and various other things...

View attachment 76714View attachment 76715View attachment 76716
View attachment 76717View attachment 76718

For a first go though, I'd be mighty pleased with it!

I'm quite pleased with the interior lights, they aren't so bright that they'd cook the passengers- unlike the Lima HST power car I had back in the day which looked as if the driver was spontaneously combusting!

I have a pair in GNER colours (needs repainting) but I know exactly what you mean about the lighting!

Something else to add to the ever growing list...!

 

[Iskra]

Yes it was and I bought some new batteries for my beard trimmer today and set to work mowing the grass on the dry bits from yesterday, this improved it no end and is definitely the way to go to trim it to a more scale short N gauge length.
I actually had a bit of time free today so I properly went for it.
Here’s a couple of photos of the areas I did, but bear in mind that it’s nowhere near finished yet as I’ve got to tone it down, trim it, add bushes, trees and various other things...

View attachment 76714View attachment 76715View attachment 76716
View attachment 76717View attachment 76718

Excellent looking grass, I particularly like the overgrown siding.

Looks an interesting layout you have too.

I have sourced some baseboards now but I won't be able to pick them up until lockdown ends. I've got 3x 4ft by 2ft boards that I'm hoping to fashion into an L shape with the bottom of the L being the fiddle yard.

In the meantime I've got some metcalfe models buildings to make and some airfix kits for some of the vehicles for my small military logistics depot (no tanks or anything, just some old lorries, the mundane is more realistic).

 

[Cowley]

Excellent looking grass, I particularly like the overgrown siding.

Looks an interesting layout you have too.

I have sourced some baseboards now but I won't be able to pick them up until lockdown ends. I've got 3x 4ft by 2ft boards that I'm hoping to fashion into an L shape with the bottom of the L being the fiddle yard.

In the meantime I've got some metcalfe models buildings to make and some airfix kits for some of the vehicles for my small military logistics depot (no tanks or anything, just some old lorries, the mundane is more realistic).

Actually it’s a good way to go about things in my experience. If you take the time to get all the buildings done now then when you do get the boards it’ll come together really quickly.

 

[Cowley]

I just built this little digger thingy:


The plug’s there to give an idea of scale...
I got the bits out of the packet and thought “no chance” , but actually it was really easy in the end.
It’s to dig the sand heap in this scene:



Oh and I also managed to find an era appropriate lorry on eBay the other day for £25 delivered. Unfortunately it’s broken down already...

 

[Iskra]

I've come up with a vague track layout. The boxes represent the station platforms with the whisky distillery yard at the top, the bottom left sidings are a military logistics depot and bottom right are general goods sidings. Any thoughts? The idea is that it's an early 1960's coastal terminus somewhere in Scotland but close enough to the Central Belt to be the end of the line for commuter trains, with the occasional longer distance service. Freight traffic will be Whisky (out), grain and coal (in) as well as fish, parcels and military supplies (oil/fuel, ammunition). The bay just above the station would be a small loco servicing road and storage for the station pilot as shunt release would be the main method of working.