Final Touches

nevard_100501_lner-pigeon_IMG_6724_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Chivers Finelines LNER Dia 120 4W BY Pigeon Brake Van after painting, numbering and weathering.

Microscale Kristal Klear used for the upper window lights rather than trying to cut out clear plastic sheet and insert into the recesses on the rear of the side mouldings.

To get the patina, after painting with Railmatch BR Crimson (aka carmine), the van was numbered with HMRS Pressfix transfers and then sealed under a thin coat of Railmatch aerosol Matt Varnish. Then, a water based mix of matt black and brown matt emulsion, diluted 70/30 with water and a dash of washing up liquid was slopped over and hastily wiped off with kitchen towel to leave the pigment in the groves. To get the slightly orange faded effect so often seen, some matt Humbrol signal red was drybrushed very lightly onto the raised surfaces.

The roof was treated in a similar fashion, using Humbrol matt enamels - initially dark grey, and then drybrush on with a lighter grey leaving the darker grey exposed around the torpedo vents and rainstrip.

Aerosol matt varnish was again misted on very lightly to seal the water based paint in and to produce a haze over the windows.

All that's needed now are brake and presumedly steam heating pipes on the ends.

Paint it Red

nevard_100429_lner-pigeon_IMG_6708_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Some more progress with my rather long winded Chivers Finelines LNER Dia 120 4W BY Pigeon Brake Van. Long winded, not because it's a bad kit, but quite the opposite, long winded because there are simply not enough hours in the day, or days in the week!

Here the little van after 4 coats of Railmatch BR Crimson aka Carmine aka blood. If this van was not going to be weathered I would have added just one more coat, the undercoat just showing a little. It's numbered up as the penultimate one in the batch produced of the van design and finished off with a coat of Railmatch Matt Varnish to seal everything in before weathering.

It's interesting when seeing old photographs that BR Carmine looks quite orange rather than the pinky tone here. Of course these colours did fade very quickly in real life, going matt and pale within months. I imagine early colour emulsions tended to record colours differently to how the eye saw them too - adding to the mystery. Also different paint shops I'm sure had their own take on things, so it's quite reasonable to have plenty of colour variations.

PS, it's still to be glazed and the roof glued into place...

LNER 'Pigeon' Brakevan update

nevard_100411_lner-pigeon_IMG_6593_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

A little more progress with the Chivers Finelines LNER Dia 120 4W Gresley Panelled Full Brake (Pigeon Van).

I like to blast rolling stock with a coat of matt black, especially the underframe area which can be tedious if done by brush, in this case I used an aerosol one from Halfords. These car paints are super tough and make a great base for further painting.

Since taking the photo, a 2nd coat BR Carmine is drying; I was going to use a dead ringer car colour from Halfords (Ford Rosso Red) but have discovered a fresh tin of Railmatch BR Carmine (aka 'Railmatch : 311 : Crimson') in my paint collection which is doing just fine......
Actually as I look at the photo here, I'm very tempted to do another in finished in departmental black livery as part of an engineering train. How accurate this would be I have no idea, but it think it would look the part.

Lead Weight

nevard_100409_lner-pigeon_IMG_6577_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Progress has been slow with this wagon, not for any other reason that I've been very busy after the recent house move and photography of other people's model making.

Some 'Liquid Lead' suspended in PVA has been used to give the Chivers Finelines' LNER Gresley Full Brake some much needed extra weight. I'm not very technical on this front other that if in doubt add a little more. My trains are only short so any excess is hardly an issue.

Beware of using this weighting technique for enclosed areas like engine boilers - there have been several reported incidents of the PVA/Lead mixed expanding a little - resulting in pop! It's unlikely to be an issue here when the concoction has room to expand a little.

The little lengths of sprue are to reduce the risk of the sides bowing in which they do tend to do with age.

Model Rail Magazine May 2010 (143)

May 2010 Model Rail is dedicated to micro layouts, with plenty to illustrate that you can create something even in the tiniest of spaces. By contrast, the delightful Nettlebridge Valley Railway also featured is by total contrast around 35 feet long.

Below; a rundown of this month's highlights - oh yes, and there's a little about me and my latest trainset....

• Heljan Class 15 and 86
• Dapol Class 86
• Hornby Mk3 DVT
• Ixion 'Manor' 4-6-0
• Nettlebridge Valley Railway - Somerset freelance
• Lima Class 59 upgrade with Bachmann parts
• Meet Chris Nevard
• Class 37 sound
• Urban backdrop
• Aerosols supertest
• Grove Street Yard - small space small budget
• George Dent makes a pond
• Pilot Road - N in a box file
• Little Boxley - shoebox layout
• Whatlington - 3mm:1ft from Peter Bossom
• Fitting ViTrains mech to a Lima 47
• Masterplan - micro layouts
• Micro advice - Chris Nevard
• Plus all the regulars (except Backscene)

Links

• Model Rail's new website
• Model Rail resident model maker George Dent's BLOG
• Model Rail on Facebook
• Model Rail on Twitter

The First Bit of Model Making in Months

Left - click to enlarge.

The first bit of model making this year in the form of a Chivers Finelines LNER Dia 120 4W Gresley Panelled Full Brake (Pigeon Van).
Lots more to do, but a start at remembering what glue, a craft knife and fingers do.....

The plan is to finish it in early BR Carmine which always looks good in a faded weathered condition. Much detail still to add in the underframe area and ends.

I've not constructed too many Chivers Finelines kits before, but something that does always impress me is just how crisp and well finished the mouldings are with little in the way of flash or badly fitting elements. They are also very good value too with this vehicle retailing at £8 minus wheels.

I'll post more progress in due course.......

A Tour Around Catcott Burtle

100331_MRTV, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

A few weeks ago, I was invited down to the studios of Model Railway TV in Arundel, Sussex to chat about Catcott Burtle and other aspects of this all consuming hobby. I wasn't expecting this to be online for a few weeks, so was quite surprised this morning to see the interview there. I think I'll be keeping the day job by the way - being more proficient behind the camera!

Link: Modelrailway TV

Voie Libre No.59 March/April 2010

Lots of UK interest in this issue of Voie Libre one from the friendly narrow gauge LR Presse publishers in France. The editor, François Fontana is a regular at ExpoNG and hence the large amount of material to interest us.

All too often niche hobby publications are drab and look more like the parish news rather than a fun tool to promote a hobby. They frequently take themselves far too seriously and create a stuffy elitist image which is guaranteed to put new people off the hobby. By total contrast, Voie Libre is a happy bright magazine, with a strong welcoming graphic quality - the text, photographs, diagrams and tasteful use of coloured backgrounds gel together to produce a magazine that is hard to put down.

Illustrations; rather than being the common and often sterile computer generated variety are good old fashioned pen and ink performed with a wonderful artistic 'organic' style that just make you want to model them in 3D!

François, is without doubt a fabulous model maker, brilliant artist and cracking photographer - can there be a better combination? If that's not good enough, you can download an English translation from their website too!

Content (translated with http://babelfish.yahoo.com/- hence rather quaint)
 

• Sutton Wharf: miniature theatre (1/25) (p.4)  
• Dunbracken: trains and a boat (009) (p.30)  
• Canteens of the Huts (Ovn) (p.46)  
• Report Nuremberg 2010 (p.10)  
• Under the magnifying glass 130 + 031 Bachmann (0n30) (p.14)  
• Rolling stock Build an urban tram (HOe) (p.17)  
• WD Models: Class coaches has or C (009) (p.34)  
• Power trolley Simplex Nigel Lawton (Oe) (p.41)  
• Discovered CFD of Lozere (p.23)  
• History The Péchot system (p.36)  
• Central book Engine 020 + 020T Péchot-Bumblebee (1/43,5) (p.0)  
• Platform Péchot (1/43,5) (p.0)  
• Péchot trucks to 2 and 3 axles (1/43,5) (p.0)

Metropolitan Railway Menu from 1892

It's interesting what people used to eat in 1892 when pushing out the boat, or in this case opening a new railway line. Click to enlarge so it's readable!

Model Rail 142 - April 2010

April 2010 Model Rail has hit the newsagents, and although I'm rather biased I do have to say that it is really rather good!

The content goes on forever with a plethora of really useful, inspiring, well written and illustrated features. The repro is top-notch too - something as a photographer I'm very very fussy about, and I can safely say that this aspect without doubt is a market leader in this area.

OK, enough waffle from me, here's the official release what's inside....

• BACHMANN 2010/11 PREVIEW: All the big stories from Bachmann's 2010 launch.


• POINTS SPECIAL! Buying, fitting and using points, fitting point motors outdoors, manual point control and more!


• SUPERTEST: Buying and fitting the right point motors for your layout. Don't buy anything until you've read George Dent's unique comparative test.


• TETLEYS MILLS FAREWELL: A special 12-page tribute to Britain's favourite 'layout that never leaves home', which will be dismantled in 2010. Dave Shakespeare reviews the changes made since our last visit and looks forward to his next project.


• REVIEWS: MTH 'O' gauge 'Duchess', Heljan Class 20, limited edition Bachmann Class 47s, Graham Farish MOA wagon and much more.


• LANDSCAPE DESIGN PART 2: More great tips from Peter Marriott on how to give your layout a 'real world' look.


• CEPs and BEPs in 'N' gauge: Grahame Hedges builds Southern Region EMUs.


• TOP 10 TOOLS: The ten most important items for any scenic modellers' toolkit.


• Cliffordsbridge: A 'OO' gauge layout that never leaves home using ready-to-run diesels and rolling stock.


• Q&A, Show & Tell, Masterplan and all your favourite regular features.

Links:

• Model Rail Live


• This issue


• Follow Model Rail on Twitter


• George Dent's Blog

A bit of messing about on Blurb

Blurb is a great way to mess about trying ideas out for a possible book.

I have been asked buy a publisher to come up with a model railway book idea, but to be honest I'm not quite sure where to start. Maybe something about scenics and some of the techniques used on my layouts?

In the mean time I'm messing about with some mock-ups I'm hoping will polarise the various thoughts I have. The joy of Blurb is that you can end up with a high quality printed book of whatever ideas one might have - and the great thing is that it does not have to be the slightest bit commercial! The idea here is for a 10x8 inch landscape format book as a 'toe in the water' which could be sold via the website or at the occasional show I do.

Clicking on the images here will take you to a bigger picture.

Let's see......

Western Promise

nevard_100309_combwich_IMG_6448_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

With the change of regional boundaries and the operation of the former S&DJR route becoming under the control of the Western Region from 1958, ex GWR locomotives started to appear in place of Midland engines. Here we have Templecombe's ex GWR pannier tank No. 4691 as it prepares to leave Combwich with the 11.15am service to Templecombe on the 12th September 1961.

Back of an Envelope Fun

Right (click on) - another idea scribbled on the back of an envelope last night during a tea break which was then cleaned up in Photoshop over breakfast this morning. I could use Catcott's fiddle yards I guess. Having acquired several Bachmann Scenecraft seconds and some Skaledale stuff which could be bashed about a little mixed in with a dash of scratchbuilding, something could be hacked out quite quickly I guess.

The curved nature would be a break from the norm, with the tandem pointwork being a good focal point. Trackwork will all be done properly this time, either useing C&L as with Catcott or maybe even handbuilt using spiked code 55 flatbottomed as Brian Harrap has on his super Quai: 87 layout. Of course a mix of the two could aslo look good.

A diorama approach will work well with what could be quite a deep layout height wise, starting low at the front with the brook rising up by 18 inches on the left hand side with an old 'batch' (slag heap) balanced by colliery buildings on the right.

The two parallel lines crossing from the middle to the left hand side are a possible aerial cable way to remove waste - if that could be made to work that would be great fun. Additional fun and games could be had with actually loading wagons too via a hidden shoot from the rear of the layout down to the screen which is middle right.

The look I'm after is a cold winter's day (even though this sketch looks 'summer') inspired by the last days of steam at Writhlington on the old S&DJR. Wagon stock would be 99% open wagons and locos anything from a Sentinels, 'Bagnalls' (Jinty), Pugs and maybe even a Hymek - no hard rules!

Starkey Knight and Ford

nevard_100307_combwich_IMG_6441_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

The Star public house on the quayside at Combwich. Ivan Locksmith's old Austin has certainly been getting around recently. Note the modern metal casks (carrying a keg beer called 'Tantivy') that make the elderly Austin look rather out of place - though of course in those pre MOT days it was quite common to see pre-war cars on the roads even in the 1960's.

Starkey Knight and Ford was a well known Tiverton and Bridgwater brewery which sadly became swallowed up by brewing giant Whitbread in the 1960's. Their beers started to be replaced with Whitbread ales from around 1966 in the pubs.

For any readers of this blog living in the real Combwich, please note that this is just a load of old bull, The Star is just a ficticious model - by contrast the brewery information is fact.

Back Yard

nevard_100307_combwich_IMG_6444_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

With Combwich still being in a temporary dismantled state, it's given me another chance to have a go at capturing some new angles never before photographed. Here's the rarely seen view of the rear of The Star.


Right: the view of the front of the shabby little building which was made mainly from scraps of paper and cardboard. It is in fact based on a cobblers that used to be in Weybridge, Surrey that vanished around 100 year ago. The slates were applied individually and I think were worth it. The roof line was intentionally distorted to give it that aged look.
Here's the make-believe you all so love.......

'The Star at Combwich was a bit of a mess and rumour has it that the landlord's dogs used to lick the pint glasses clean. The beer was so sour it's unlikely that the canine smell on the glasses would have been noticed. The only food served was a knuckle sandwich along with a little blood and sweat to help it down'

Nothing like a bit of balony

nevard_091219_cementquay_ext_IMG_6164_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Highbridge's final Midland 1P 58086 managed to avoid scrapping in 1959 and in fact ended up in private ownership pottering about with wagons in Old Quarry Wharf on the banks of the river Severn. Here is the old girl captured on Ivan Locksmith's Leica in September 1963.

Wrong Side of the Camera

I'm normally the other side of the camera, either when I'm working in telly land or on assignment for Model Rail Magazine. On Tuesday though, I was asked down to chat about Catcott Burtle and photography at Ashdown Broadcasting's new HD web-TV channel Modelrailway.TV.

Right: Setting up Catcott Burtle in preparation for my nerve racking interview about the layout. Modelrailway.TV's Elliott Cowton seen here did a great job at ensuring everything went smoothly.

To those not in the know, Modelrailway.TV is a high definition on-demand channel specifically aimed at showing complete beginners and even the more experienced how to improve their model making skills and to take some of the mystery out of the more confusing gobbledegook in model railway land.

Ultra fast web streaming is increasingly opening up opportunities for niche subjects to be aired to a hungry and enthusiastic audience; allowing all sorts of fresh channels that could never afford to broadcast via more conventional means. Cable and satellite can run into millions per year, and that's just for an uplink or connection - that's before you even start production!

Left: 'On the Sofa', being interviewed about the hobby and photography by Ashdown's David King. I'm the nervous one on the right, I imagine you've guess that though! At least I ironed my shirt!

We to tend associate streaming video on the web with low res, highly compressed blocky images as seen on the likes of YouTube; so when viewing Modelrailway.TV's output I was thrilled to see that with most of the programming you have the option of of downloading proper HD widescreen material, this is because production is to broadcast TV standards.

With the gap between web and conventional television forever closing, it cannot be too long before web-TV will be sitting right along side familiar satellite and terrestrial broadcasting - all via the same box underneath the TV in the living room.

Keep an eye out for Catcott Burtle in Modelrailway.TV's run-down later this spring.

All that can be heard is the twittering of the birds

nevard_100221_combwich_IMG_6337_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

A quiet moment at Ankle Bend Crossing just outside Combwich in the summer of 1955.

My recent house move has meant that the layouts are temporarily dismantled, the bonus of this is that it's given me a chance to get some snaps of some of the little scenes in the comfort of a warm house rather than the cold garage which previously housed Combwich.

No Photoshop was used in the creation of this image, only for colour and contrast adjustment. An A1 sized photograph of clouds was placed behind this segment of the layout.

Bath (S&DJR) Two Tunnels Greenway - decision made!

nevard_090918_midford_DSC_5797_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

It would appear that B&NES on Wednesday 17 Feb '10 finally gave the go ahead to the Two Tunnels scheme to lay a cycle/walkway up out of Bath along the former S&DJR through Devonshire and Combe Down Tunnels through to Midford....

News
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Progress-tunnel-cycle-path/article-1840135-detail/article.html

About
http://www.twotunnels.org.uk/

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5299781522

DCC and me

Lenz Set 100 DCC, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

A very kind benefactor has kindly long-term-loaned me what I gather is a very good DCC system to mess about with in the form of a Lenz Set 100 DCC set up.

The plan therefore is to buy some chips for my modern diesel stock which is mainly DCC ready - the 'ready' bit is very important, because electical stuff really is not my forte.

Luckily Cement Quay, bar a couple of sidings can all be 'turned on' which should allow a simple changeover. I will however make sure at the flick of a switch I'm able to convert back to DC - why, because occasionally I like to run a steam era scenario - many locomotives of which would be a nightmare to convert because they're so old.

My wife the other day even said that she liked sound fitted locomotives - what a sweetie! At least when I save up some pennies I won't need to smuggle the offending 'noisy loco' into the house and only operate it when she it out!

Nuffield's Best

nevard_091231_gpo-austin-a30_DSC_6510_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Here we have a 'Classix' EM76667 Austin A35 Van - Royal Mail (75223). This attractive little model has been enhanced with a coat of matt varnish to kill the toy like shine.

It's debateable if any A35's ever carried this livery, but despite that, it makes a colourful model that contrasts nicely with what was frequently a dull austere era when cars where either painted black, grey, pale blue, cream or black.

These inexpensive models I fear have knocked the white metal kit market off the shelf, for despite minor failings they're a fraction of the price of a kit, better detailed and ready to plonk.

Please be kind, this model is far bigger on your screen than it is in real life - it's only around an inch and a bit long!

Model Rail International

See Cement Quay's 'bit on the side' print début with an unexpected twist in the new Model Rail International.

• Nuremberg Toy Fair 2010
• Zement Hafen - Waterside German ‘HO
• Inspirational Projects
• CULT CLASSIC: Modelling DB Class 103
• ‘ALLENDENAC’: French ‘O’ spectacular
• ‘ZOFELD’: DB era 4 Diesels
• Where to go in 2010
• Easy trips & big events
• Packed with useful information, tips and inspiration!

---

• Follow Model Rail on Twitter!
• Buy online here!
• Call 0845 120 4600 International +44 (0) 1858 438866

World Wide Wagon Tour

nevard_100123_worldwide_DSC_6520_CLAG_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

'Winston' photographed for my entry in the the 'Your Model Railway Forum' World Wide Wagon Tour on 23 January 2010. Catcott is stage 4 of a tour of one of many layouts on route and will culminate at the Kernow Model Railway Exhibition 4&5th September 2010.

Fingers crossed the various postal services will allow this wonderful tour to complete! And yes, that is me driving it (aided with Photoshop) - for a bigger version of the photo above click here!

New Home - well, almost....

Temporary Storage, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

The move finally went to plan and the model railways have been coming out of 'Big Yellow' storage in dribs and drabs. Here is some of the collection housed in the smallest of the bedrooms temporarily whilst I ponder on demolishing the monstrosity of a concrete pre-fab garage and building a new bespoke wooden garage/railway room.