ABB

Week ending 21 July 2024

/ , , , , ,

Monday and a select few at the club. Rhobat continues with the Barry class J fitting a replacement cab and bunker. The first version was rather flimsy and a poor fit but the new one is a bit better. It’s not yet glued in place.

Tuesday was a quiet evening. Away from the clubroom I have been painting the doors and windows for the terrace, adding variation in colours. Some of them need toning down.

TAFKATYS’s latest offering is an ex-NER J23 in 0 gauge based on a Gladiator kit.

Also on display this week we had a lovely Black 5 that The Welsh wizard has for sale and a Saint belonging to Don. Yes, we know the tender is wrong.

Week ending 21 July 2024 Read More »

GBVs Pontnewynydd (twice), Rhymney and York

/ , , , , , , , ,

First up this blog is this poster print of York that has been bequeathed to the club by Rowena, the widow of our founder member, club stalwart and Secretary, Tony Bennett.

York held special place in Tony’s affections having spent his student days there.

The Wizard is still working on the Rhymney Goods Brake Van in Scaleseven

Andrew N has recently completed his second Pontnewynydd break van in P4, the first, on the left is from an ancient Falcon Brass kit, the one on the right is a recent product from the 247 Developments stable. Here is the story of the latest build.

Tuesday and more work on the doors and windows for the terrace. The green door has come out very dark because of the red primer. Perhaps the white primed one would have been better. The white of the window frames is too stark, so the second frame has been overpainted with light grey, thought it’s come out looking cream.

Last seen back in mid-May as basically a flat pack the GWR Hawksworth autocoach has been put together by Wagonman. There’s a lot of detail on both ends because of the autogear. Windows, couplings and paint will come next.

Friday

Work on the terrace continues with the pavement to the front. The grey primer is being overpainted with a white / grey acrylic mix. The laser cut edges to the flags made it easier to run the paint up to the edges.

And LBH almost finished a wagon – in this case a NDR (aka A(N&SW)DRCo) two-plank example with the help of Bernie’s paint job. Just couplings remaining to be fitted.

GBVs Pontnewynydd (twice), Rhymney and York Read More »

Week ending 16 June 2024

/ , , , , ,

An all-clubroom week this week.

Not many model photos from Monday, despite a good attendance.

TAFKATYS has made some progress on the Goods Shed for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae and it is seen here in situ. Don’t be misled by the cerise hue; it’s an effect of the light passing through the curtains during a rare spell of sunshine.

A review of period images of south Wales’ pubs, principally here showed that rendered pubs were generally painted a very pale colour, probably while with the lowest 3-4 foot being a dark colour, probably black. Hence the repainting we see here and the mock up of the finishing,

The regular reader will notice the name change, chose to reference the Abergavenny location and its association with Crawshay Bailey, Junior.

Mike E brought along a whitemetal kit for a Midland 2P – a typical S & D loco. it was something unearthed from a cupboard. You can see the date on the wonderful instructions. Mike claims probably bought it about 20 years ago.

On Tuesday Mr Chairman continued to battle with the 4MT. A new hole has been drilled in a more convenient spot for the wires and leaving space for the connecting plug and socket. (under the centre axle)

But bits keep coming adrift. The black locating tab by the rear axle came off and resisted both butanone and superglue. It’ll have to be araldite next.

By Friday the low level light black paint had been applied, but it’ll need to be toned down before we’re finished.

And the lean-to, which will eventually be at the other end of the terrace, gained corrugated-iron roof.

For the row of houses a start has been made on some of the details. The chip shop frontage has been put together and awaits priming.

The ‘fret’ to the right are the parts for doors and windows of a single house. The door is three layers and the windows two. The glazing will be two separate pieces attached to the back, and I haven’t worked out yet how to do an open window.

The wiring is nearly complete on the 4MT with a plug attached to the tender sub-chassis. Having done some fiddly soldering in there I was keen to give it a test run. I thought trying to get the last two wires in (from the tender pickups) was pushing my luck. The test was successful, it still runs smoothly.

Week ending 16 June 2024 Read More »

Week ending 9 June 2024

/ , , , , , ,

Bank holidays and half term over we got back to normal this week with five attending in Monday.

The terrace on ABB with be bookended by a chippie, with a small lean-to and a pub, both will be finished in render to contrast to the brick-built cottages.

Tuesday saw seven of us chatting on Zoom and presentation covered Richmond (NER) and Simla (SKR). Hopefully next month Mike E will chat about modelling US shortlines in 1:48.

Our resident Wizard has made substantial progress on a GWR County Tank with the aid of an 88D Models kit.

By Friday a bit of progress had been made on The Two Gongs.

After a period of storage this 4MT is back on the workbench for attention. Having established that the chip is damaged the hunt was on for a suitable location for the new one. Previously it was tight on top of the motor and it probably got too hot. There is no further space in the boiler as it is full of lead, so it looks like it’s got to be in the tender. There’ll be long leads to the motor which is right behind the smokebox.

The tender has a compensated sub-chassis which needs to come away to get access for the chip. Handling this managed to dislodge one of the pick-ups which can be seen dangling at the front. By the time that had been glued back in place the one on the other side had fallen off!

Week ending 9 June 2024 Read More »

Week ending 26th May

/ , , , , , , , ,

One of LBH’s brake vans did not hold the road too well when running at NewGOG and on inspection it was found that the axles were not perfectly aligned allowing the vehicle to rock slightly. It had been built (by a third party) without any provision for springing or compensation, so LBH is trying this somewhat gimcrack arrangement of wire springs bearing down on the axles as there is just a little movement available. He’ll add a load of lead too.

On ABB the area in front of the three sets of semis has never been satisfactory with just a rough bank where a pavement or wall should be. So excavations have started and some brick plastikard cut to represent the wall. Should the wall have a step in it to reflect the step in the houses behind?

We already have some nice laser cut iron fencing from Scale Model Scenery to put on the wall, and the gates look attractive too. The panel size does not match properly to the step in the wall.

The ever productive Wagonman has completed two models that have appeared on this blog. The ex-GNR 6 wheel Brake van has 4 skylights and they are each glazed with 2 pieces of clear plastic. The LNWR Coal Tank is finished in its final format as used on the special train on the MT&A from Abergavenny.

The work converting the L&Y 2-4-2 to a Barry Railway J class continues. The bunker and cab section has not fitted as smoothly as the tank section with sawing, grinding and filing required to get it as far as shown below.

And congratulations to Paul 🏅🏅on being awarded his second Royal Medal, this is for driving King Charles’ train, and goes with the earlier one he had for driving his mam’s. Apparently there is no truth in the rumours that he also drove for King George VI.

The long term dissatisfaction with the area behind the station building may be over. This laser cut terrace from Intentio seems to be filling the space in a better way. The shop on the left is a chippy, and the space to the right will have a pub, also laser cut. The name for the pub is not confirmed yet, but could be The Sheward Arms, although looking at the picture above maybe The Two Gongs might be more fun.

Week ending 26th May Read More »

Week ending 21st April

/ , , ,

Monday TAFKATYS came with a loco under repair for Luke. It is now running better and needs pick-ups. This provided a lot of online discussion about suitable pickup material and we even wandered as far as harpsichord strings.

After a couple of fruitless searches the running in boards for ABB have finally been found. They were inside one of the villas which had been packed away. Obvious when you think about it !!?

Wagonman has now completed the Birdcage brake coach. It is finished as in departmental use.

On Friday more coaching stock from Wagonman appeared. The first is not a model of Australian stock but a Slaters Midland coach pose to show the fiddly brake blocks so far fitted to only one axle. Earlier thoughts of producing the fully lined MR livery have been abandoned and this coach will appear in Departmental colours. Below are two shots of the nice handrails on the GN full brake last seen 7th April – more fiddly work.

The roof of the GN full brake also provided challenges. The brass had to be cut out for the lights to be fitted, then filed individually to size to take the castings which were not quite identical.

Luke’s shunting puzzle layout was brought to the club as it needed to fiddle yard attaching, Resident wood guru Paul🥇 provided the necessary skills.

The fiddle yard is a sector plate with a traverser at the end for running the loco around.

Week ending 21st April Read More »

Week ending 7th April

/ , ,

This week the trackwork challenge was more conventional with plastic sleepers and chairs being glued in place. More gluing took place on Lyne Road as the platform surfaces were being fixed down. (cue – joke about a long weight) The NE 6 wheel brake progresses for Wagonman with footboards now in place and handrails added. And Mr Chairman started to re-vamp more shrubs for ABB by removing the old foliage and adding bark colour and texture to the trunks.

Week ending 7th April Read More »

Scroll to Top