Much Ditheryn

The Sussex Downs 009 Group has been working on its layout, Much Ditheryn. It has been shown a couple of times while under construction, including at the group's members' day exhibition last year. There's still much to do, but scenery is continuing to develop. I recently took some photos, some of which have appeared with a short introduction to the layout and the group in the March 009 News.

The layout is set in the Welsh-Shropshire boarders, and hopefully the architecture of the village fits that. 

A river runs through the layout in a ravine.

The track runs on different levels.

Round the back, there is a double-deck train turntable fiddle yard, and a mimic diagram control panel.

Much Ditheryn will be at the Wealden Railway Group exhibition at Steyning on Sunday 8th March. More details of the show here.  Do say hello!

Tonbridge with Loctern Quay

 Today I took Loctern Quay to the Tonbridge show. 

It performed well, other than the odd reluctant coupling (despite all the testing!), and received nice comments. The show was really busy in the morning, the afternoon more pleasant. It was a good show, a great selection of quality layouts and good trade support with useful suppliers. Good catering for exhibitors too! Some of my better photos snatched between operating sessions below. I didn't think to get a show guide, so I think I have the names of name all the layouts, but I may not and I don't have all the details! 

I'd been impressed with Express Daisy Sidings (EM) when I saw it in Railway Modeller, and it was good to see it in the flesh. I liked the shunting move counter, operated by a reed switch and a magnet in the loco, perhaps I should get one for Loctern Quay?

I'd seen Bulldog Quay, Oare Creek (EM) develop on RMWeb, so another layout I was pleased to see. The superb model ships rather steal the limelight, but the pre-grouping trains were delightful too. Talking of light, my one criticism is that spotlights on a pole at the back corner are a terrible way to light a layout...

The Victory (OO) is another simple but delightful model. The narrow peninsular design made it stand out and the high viewpoint drew attention to the detail, but it was another difficult model to photograph because of the lack of backscene. 

Tellindalloch in Autumn (OO) is another layout seen in Railway Modeller. The obvious feature is the Autumn forest setting, impressively modelled trees of a realistic and imposing height frame the scene nicely. The river is well modelled too, with twinkling lights to give the impression of flowing water. 

I think this is Dublingham Goods (OO). A nice model, but strangely using 3-rail track (hand-built) and ancient 3-rail locos. I don't know why. 

I think this is Surrey Arms (EM). Also with 3-rails, but that's because it is Southern electric. A fine model with subtle colouring. 

Moors View (N). Dartmoor in the winter. Very impressive scenery, and can't have been easy to do this well. 

The Yard (O, O16.5) - I've seen this before, but am always impressed and mesmerised by the operating lorries and crane. The actual trains are merely there as props to be loaded!

Wittenden (O-16.5/O9) - double narrow gauge!

Penmaenbach (OO)

The Rapido stand had decorated samples of their new Kerr Stuart loco. Very nice!

Loctern Quay - Prep for Tonbridge

Loctern Quay will be at the Tonbridge exhibition next Saturday, so this week I have been dusting, testing all the locos and checking all the couplings. There's always the odd coupling to tweak to get it working consistently, and a sticky place for locos was traced to a piece of stray ballast. Hoperfully, this means more reliable operation at the show. While I was at it, I had a bit of a play, and decided to get the new camera out and get some shots of operation.

A tram loco propels a train onto the quay. 

As the train loco uncouples and sets back across the crossing, the quay shunter moves forward. 

The little Bagnall draws a cut of wagons into the head shunt. 

Gradually, a new assortment of wagons collects on the back siding. 

The Bagnall shuffles wagons by the quayside warehouses. 

Finally, the train is ready to depart. 

All working well, so I just need to pack everything away now. 

Retro monorail fun

What better way to fill a dark evening in January than building a bit of Lego? One of my Christmas present was this retro tribute to 1980's space Lego. It even has a railway theme!

OK, stretching a point, but it's a kind of monorail with a 2-car "train". It's digitally controlled too - you can push it with your finger. Not too hard or it falls off it's track, but this set is meant more as retro-fun than toy I guess.  

It's "micro-figure" scale, with a tiny figure about 1/4 the size of a normal Lego person. The whole model is around 6" square. Does that count as a micro layout?

Micro spaceman can ride the monorail or sit in the control tower. I had quite a bit of 80's space Lego, back in the 80's, so this was rather fun. 

Fourdees Whiting Hunslet-style Tram Loco

After the push to get Whittingly ready for the deadline, then prepped for the NEC, it was time for an easy and quick project. This Fourdees kit seemed ideal. The 3D printed body kit "Whiting" is a tram loco inspired by Hunslet designs, and fits the Kato 109 chassis.

Very little prep was required. I cleaned up some printing marks and burnished some faint layering on the boiler. I also opened out the square coupling pockets for Microtrains couplings, this took a few minutes with a file - it's not often that fitting Microtrains is this easy.

The body, plus separate roof and backhead detail, and some crew, were primed. One of the crew is a poor quality whitemetal casting of unknown origin, but his face won't really be visible and his weight might help. The other is from my favourite recruitment agency - Dapol. The body was sprayed with a Halfords green enamel aerosol, which turned out to be problematic as the can seemed to be leaking propellant, clogged the nozzle, and when I realised I'd missed an angle it would only dribble. Fortunately, I could dribble some into a jar and touch-up the final bits with a brush!

The remaining painting was done with acrylics and a brush. The backhead detail is rather good, the half-height cab rear means there is a chance of seeing it though the crew mostly hide it. 

The resin body needs some weight, which helps the light chassis too - the Kato 109 runs smoothly enough but doesn't have much inertia. Roofing lead was cut and squashed to fit through the gaps into the side tanks, and a length was stuck under the boiler. 

Chassis fitted, and couplings installed with the screw through the coupling pocket. I had to use long-shank Microtrains to clear the nice cowcatchers. 

Crew stuck into the cab before fixing the roof (with PVA so it can be removed if needed). A little crushed coal was added over the moulded stuff in the bunkers. 

And complete. A very light weathering of water soluble oils has been applied, more may follow but I think it will stay reasonably clean. This view shows how good the print is, with no obvious layering, 3D printing has come a long way since the early days. The handrails and cab roof are a little clunky, perhaps the only clues of it being a 3D print?

I took a couple of photos with the new camera too.

And the final shot, a viewpoint on Loctern Quay that has been very difficult to capture due to the depth of field needed to get both loco and background buildings in focus. The new camera, set to F32, manual focus, and a long exposure on a tripod, can do it with no post-processing.

As expected, this kit has gone together quickly and easily, with most of the time painting it. It's a good looking and smooth running loco, which I hope will fit in well on Loctern Quay. The Fourdees kits are a great introduction to 009 loco kits, especially using the good value Kato chassis. 

A new camera

I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas, and are having a good break, perhaps even getting some modelling done! 

My main present this year was a new camera - well, new to me. For the last decade I've used a "premium compact" Canon which has served me well, but these days it struggles to better a phone camera. I've also tried a Panasonic bridge camera, but the results are similar to the Canon. Most day-to-day photography uses my phone these days, but a manual-control camera works better for layout and model photos (including magazine articles), and I prefer to use a camera at exhibitions and some holiday trips. My photography student son is a fan of Sony mirrorless cameras, and suggested I look at them. The big sensor makes a lot of sense for model railway photography, but I didn't want a bulky, heavy camera. I decided to go for the Alpha 5100; it's little bigger than a compact, with a sensor about 2/3 of a full 35mm frame, and a barely used one is not too expensive from MPB. 

As with DSLR's the lenses are interchangeable; this is the standard lens which is very compact, and offers 25-100mm equivalent range with power zoom so behaves like a compact, as well as being cheap. I might invest in a longer lens at some point for more flexibility, but this should suffice for model trains. I also got a remote shutter release which is a real boon for long-exposure model photography using a tripod.

I had a play this afternoon, including taking some photos of Hexworthy. This view along the layout is challenging as it is very deep - the loco is about 2 feet from the camera, while the tree in the distance is at least four feet away. This shot has all but the most distant features in focus, little sensor noise, and no sign of barrel distortion which is a real issue with compact and mobile cameras. 

So it works well on a tripod, we shall see how it goes at an exhibition once the season gets going. Don't bet on a big improvement in photos on the blog though, as the mobile remains the most convenient way to get quick progress shots!

Weathering 009 Coaches in BRM

December's BRM magazine has another of my articles. This time it is covering subtle weathering and detailing of ready to run coaches, for which I used a couple of 009 coaches for Hexworthy. 

The techniques are those I've used on other 009 coaches and have described here. I do use an airbrush, but in a very simple way, and the basic tasks include painting details and adding figures as well as adding shadows, smoke, and road dust.

The coaches look so much better for the small investment in time, and remain smart enough for use on a preserved railway, but have lost the box-fresh plasticky look for a more real-life appearance.