Polbrook Gurney Colliery at Model Rail Live - this weekend!

A scene from the mid-1970's at Polbrook Gurney Colliery; a class 31 by Model Rail's George Dent arrives with empties as Austerity 0-6-0 tank 'Polbrook No.2' by David Warwick prepares a full rake.

This photo is not manipulated, other than the use of tools to extend the depth of field, content wise including the sky and lighting, it is all real and not meddled with - what you see, is what you get for real.

This layout will be at Model Rail Live this weekend  - www.modelraillive.co.uk  - see you there?

Calcination

Here is a trio of RT Models Contractor's side tipping wagon previously seen a week of two ago here before painting. The wagons, apart from a little weathering on the wheels are to all intents and purposes complete, and I think looking quite at home on this little Ironstone project I currently have on the go.

The yellow load is real Colsterworth iron ore from the South Lincolnshire; and with my toy-train-land-fiction destined for calcination - which is not something suffered by chronic armchair modellers and moaning pontificators, but an industrial process to drive out moisture from iron ore and other such minerals. The main reason for the process is that calcinated ore is much lighter - a significant thing when transporting by rail which charges by weight.

• If you're bored, read all about the process here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcination
• If you want to know more about these wagons - you'll be able to indulge in a full build review in Model Rail magazine shortly.

Into the Sunset

nevard_121212_Q1_IMG_1961, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

In the last rays of sunlight during the autumn of 1963, Guildford Shed's 'Cofferpot' No. 33019 briefly lets off a good clag as it heads west after a water stop at Basingstoke.

Those who follow me on Facebook will have seen this photo, I find it like with this blog a useful tool to show off photos, especially now that the new Facebook layout allows much bigger less compressed photos to be displayed.

This photo seeing I don't have a time machine is one of my frequent lash ups in the studio using the customised Hornby Q1 I discussed in my last blog post earlier in the week. The photo took about 5 minutes to set up and shoot, just using a single light source off to the left with the angle allowing light to reflect off the loco straight into the lens. The sky and smoke; I have to confess to using  Photoshop to laminate an early morning West London summer sky and smoke from a full sized GWR Pannier tank taken on some photo-charter a few years ago.

Purists would of course take their model outside in the correct weather and photograph it against the sky 'live', they'd then hide behind the loco smoking a cigar puffing smoke upwards. But no, it's too cold and I don't smoke, so prefer this method especially for this time of year!

Bulleid's Austerity

nevard121212_Q1_IMG_1957, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

This Hornby Bulleid Q1 has been renumbered as Guildford Shed's least glamourous No. 33019 and is midway through my non-airbrush weathering.

I used to airbrush weather all the time, but now favour pigment washes and drybrushing, these giving me giving far more control and a slightly more random effect like the real thing.

In time the upper surfaces will receive a little matt varnish misted on from above to suggest fallen ash (Testors Dullcote from an aerosol), otherwise I favour the slight sheen of a working engine, remembering clambering around mucky working engines in Poland in the very early 1990's. Working steam has more of a warm smeared sticky Christmas Pudding look than pure Barry Island rust often portrayed.

I tend to weather in stages, splitting into different sessions over a few days rather than all in one go, I can them appraise the result in different light including that of the layouts it will be running on. It also allows the paints to set well between sessions.  

Sunday at the Brewery

nevard_120520_BQ_IMG_3332, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Sunday morning at Brewhouse Quay, 'Radstock' and its crew are having a tea break.

The old Austin van is a recent second hand purchase by the brewery to use for carting casks around the complex. The plan is to repaint it in brewery colours, but this has yet to happen and is still displaying 'Home Dairies Limited' and in a rather sorry state . The locomotive is also second hand, it being bought from a colliery near Radstock, hence its name.

The models:

• Pocketbond "Classix" EM76605 Austin 101 J van in "Home Dairies Limited" which has been weathered. For more small cars, see my collection here.
• J94 'Austerity' named 'Radstock', a detailed, repainted and weathered Hornby release. You can read more about it here.
• The street light was built from scratch and can be read about here.
• The cobbles are very much a feature of Brewhouse Quay and can be enjoyed and read about here.
• The scene here is Brewhouse Quay.

Brewhouse Quay is going on the road, and can be seen at Railex 2012

Ode to Gifford!

nevard_120403_cementQ_IMG_2928_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Tuesday morning's photo I dedicate to Colin Gifford who changed the way railways were photographed in the 1960's. Until then photographers had recorded trains mostly as a strict 3/4 view, Mr Gifford changed that forever with the publication of Decline of Steam and Each a Glimpse. The latter book is rumoured to be re-released shortly with some new photography, and it will be interesting to see whether he influences modern railway photographers who in recent years have fequently been happy to settle for that 3/4 view again.

The photo above was taken on Cement Quay, the Ruston Bacyrus in the background standing on a temporary pile of sand for this shot.

• Some of Colin Gifford's photography

Kits of the Sixties!

nevard_110909_BQ_IMG_1203_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Upon my return to the hobby a decade of so ago, a very kind gent sold me around 50 kit-built wagons and half a dozen Maunsell and Bulleid passenger carriages for the price of a round of drinks. As required, I've been slowly refurbishing selected items to bring them a little closer to current standards. 

Behind Radstock we have a rake of kit-built tank wagons from Airfix, the rumour being to fire up the new oil fired brewing coppers due to a major investment by Courage, who by 1964 were a major shareholder within the Marriott, Dent & Foster Brewery.

www.model-rail.co.uk/

Back the wagons, the jury is still out as to whether I'll bother doing anything with these, the weathering is very clumsy by today's standards (dirty thinners weathering being very passe don't you know?), the ladders are very thick plastic and the tranfers looks like they've been applied to a matt finish due to the haze under them. To be honest, it will be a lot less work to start fresh with some new kits or ready to run, but they serve their purpose for this shot as long as one doesn't look too closely. The little blue Morris (76MES001 Blue Morris 8 E) is a toned down model from Oxford Diecast hopefully draws the eyes away too! Click on the photo above for a bigger view.

The Making of Brewhouse Quay, the layout used for the background here features in the October 2011 (161) of Model Rail Mag. 

Brew-up at BQ

nevard_110821_BQ_IMG_0878, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The Bull:
It's brew up time at Brewhouse Quay for Sentinel 'Mendip', ex-L&YR 'Pug' 51202, Planet 4WD 'Fleur' and 'Radstock' an Austerity tank recently purchased from the National Coal Board. The Ford Popular wasn't parked that well from a photographic point of view, but now 55 years on it adds to the scene.

The Model:
The Sentinel is a Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel which has had a change of identity, having been detailed up and is now in private ownership. The Pug a detailed, renumbered and repainted Hornby model  - it runs a dream too which is much to my surprise - widening out the back to backs to 14.7mm may have helped here. The Ford Popular in the forground is from Oxford Diecast and has been reglazed with Krystal Kleer liquid glazing, muckied up and finished off with Testor's Dullcote. The little green diesel is a Planet from a Roxey Mouldings kit, and finally the Austerity a fiddled with Hornby 'Harry'.

The photo:
Taken on a little Canon G9 shooting RAW under the layout's built in flu-lighting, 7 exposures were stacked and processed with Helicon Focus to increase the depth of field to match what the eye sees. The only CGI is the faint puff of smoke from the engines - which I like so there! The backscene is nice and high so, no need to mess about there.

• Brewhouse Quay will be at Model Rail Live for its very first outing on 17 & 18 September 2011

Improved Pipe-work

nevard_110510_J94_DSC_2172_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

After seeing Paul aka 'Halfwit's' post on RM web about further improving the Hornby J94 Austerity by filing away the large lump of supporting plastic which sits behind the pipework extending down from the footplate below the cab, the little loco was pulled back into the workshops for a quick fettle to follow suit.

This view here of the loco midway through its detail and repaint a week of two ago shows the block of plastic reasonably well - OK, I should have taken a closer photo, but it's too late now. The above shows off the opened up pipework, and yes those flanges need a good polish!

At first I thought this little job might be tricky as well as weakening the area, but this was not the case. Sitting outside in last week's wonderful weather did help to ensure than I could see what I was doing properly which the aid of a 1mm hand-drill and fresh Swann Morton blade. Total time? About as long as it took for my cup of tea to get tepid, no fear, I wanted a beer anyway!

Whilst it's possible to do the same with the lower pipe which bends around under the steps, I decided to cut off the plastic pipe and replace it with some wire - an office paper clip in this instance! To finish off, the remodelled pipework was given a splash of 'gunmetal' coloured enamel after the paperclip was chemically blackened. I'm a fairly recent convert to 'gunmetal', having found it's great for representing oily metal, and it has the bonus of dry-brushing to a lovely sheen - thank you Darren Rees of Torrington for that tip!

• For more views of this loco go here.

Brewhouse Quay: 5 Months On

For want of a BLOG post, rather than dwell on pretty photos and blarney, this one is about the journey so far, for Brewhouse Quay has to be one of the quickest layouts I've been able to get together. There is quite a bit more to do, but I think that layout at a push has reached the stage where I'd be happy to take it to a show. That however won't be until September at Model Rail Live in Barrow Hill Roundhouse. Any spare time over the next few weeks will be taken up tweaking Combwich for RAILEX, for that layout is 30 years old now and is a bit like running a classic MG or having a high maintenance wife - constant TLC required!

I digress.....

Whilst the track is handbuilt, the buildings are 50/50 ready to plop/scratchbuilt, that definitely is has a speed advantage. Whether I'd use such a large ratio in the future is debatable - I prefer a more individual approach. However I was offered the brewery buildings as a freebee, and with these latest Scenecraft releases being extraordinarily good and above an beyond what I could achieve with the time I have available (model making is only a small fraction of my involvement within the hobby).

Click on the images to enlarge....

December: planning




January: woodwork and soldering!


February: wiring, the running of the first train


March: groundwork


April: colouring


May: enjoying

"ello ello"

nevard_110428_J94_DSC_2049_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Brewhouse Quay update: "ello, ello, what's goin on 'ere?". What would appear to be a special contract brew for the Black Rat Brewery is under guard courtesy the long arm of the law, or old bill. A few of those casks appear the have already had their liquid bounty racked off if the holes are anything to go by!

Out of curiosity, the type of huge wooden cask on the far left are rumoured to be known as a 'butt', this being correct means that they each carry 108 gallions of intoxicating liquor, or possibly just air in this case!

Meadow Green & Bungalows

nevard_110427_J94_DSC_2034_web1280, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Well, I was all set to leave this loco black, then whilst going through one of my colour industrial steam books noticed that very few industrial locos were plain black. By chance in the garage I had this aerosol of Halfords Ford Meadow Green kicking about for scenic work, and after the hasty the application of some masking tape the loco was given a blast of this wishy-washy green colour. I really cannot believe that anyone would have chosen this colour for a new car in the showroom, but there again metallic beige has always been popular with the blue rinse brigade, accountants and people who live in bungalows, so who am I to judge?

Here is the result, after a little weathering and the application of a bespoke etched name plate from Narrow Planet. Why Radstock? Well, the primary reason for doing this loco is for Mendip Colliery and this former industrial town used to be the North Somerset centre of coal mining until the early 1970's.

Austerity Progress

nevard_110427_j94-hunslet_IMG_9846_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Here we have the J94 Austerity mid-way through a super detail and repaint (See earlier post here.)
Originally all I was going to keep the lined maroon colour, but due to the amount of filling and filing I have abandoned that move. Currently the loco is in black, and I'm tempted to keep this 'colour' and paint the nameplate red. I don't really go for pretty twee colour schemes.

Alternative angle can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/5659394274/in/set-72157625418433737/

The slight gap running along the base of the saddle tank will sadly have to stay, filling it would make any future maintenance very tricky - separation being required to access the motor and worm. As usual, such things tend to look worse in photographs.


Work so far has been as follows...

• Remove the silly moulded handrail loop midway along the base of the boiler.
• Fill small cutaway below the above.
• Replace the moulded smokebox door handles with brass.
• Remove moulded lamp-irons and replace with brass.
• File away and replace the cab entry grab rails and replace with brass.
• File away mould lines on the chimney.
• Remove moulded coal.
• Repaint the whole loco in matt black.

Work still to do...

• Replace the moulded pipework below the cab (this can be done at a later stage when I source something suitable - suggestions of a supplier greatfully received).
• Add 3 link couplings.
• Add slightly larger diameter buffers. 
• Blacken wheels - this makes a huge improvement, short of actually replacing them.
• Add etched bespoke name plate 'RADSTOCK' from Narrow Planet. See earlier post here.
• Add coal load to bunker. 
• Weather.
• Add a crew.

Bespoke Nameplates

nevard_110408_narrowplanet_DSC_1917_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Earlier today a bespoke 'RADSTOCK' Narrow Planet nameplate arrived for this Hornby J94 Austerity seen here posed on Brewhouse Quay. This loco has yet to be detailed up, so the plate is only tacked temporarily in place for this snap.

I will do a full review in due course.......

Find out more from here:
www.narrowplanet.co.uk/

'Austerity' need not mean dull!

nevard_110225_harry_IMG_9284_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Yesterday this colourful happy chappy called Harry arrived second hand from Paul Steedman of RHB Rhatia fame (see his layout the latest Model Rail International just out - get it from Smiths - that's the cover on the right by the way). As you can see, the loco is in very nice condition too in its rather smart red, which is anything but 'austerity'.

This Hornby model is a little dated, so it could do with a little work to bring it up to current expectations. Some will of course replace nearly everything with bits of brass, I have no issue with that, but life I'm afraid is too short for me with so much else going on, and anyway in my case it's all about effect rather than total accuracy. So, for this reason my detail tweaks will simply involve some new lamp irons, cab handrails, smokebox handles and a finer replacement for that rather chunky grab thingamabob hanging off the saddle tank near the front. Most of these bits will be manually filed up from surplus brass 'sprue' and paper-clips. 

I quite like the crimson colour and fine lining, so that will stay and be subdued with bit of weathering. A new name will be chosen and take the form of an etched plate. I quite like the name 'Mendip', this I imagine is unlikely to exist 'ready-to-stick', so the actual name will probably be something else that looks and sounds suitable (suggestions if you like-please).

The chassis is a little crude looking by today's standards, but once it's under a layer of grime, it will hopefully look much better, and anyway, it's a sweet running chassis after widening the back to backs to get through my C+L - so *why meddle?

This loco's home will be split between Brewhouse Quay, Mendip Colliery and Cement Quay (when in olde-worlde steam mode).

---

*Cue hate mail from the adenoidal brigade who will insist that this loco is totally wrong and that I should be building a kit from brass and how I should be publicly strung up at the next finescale meet and be whipped to near an inch of death with Peco code 100.