New arrivals

On Friday I had a nice little present or two. Three parcels hit my door mat as the transfers for Kestrel arrived as did the correct paint for the loco plus I got a free sample of Baileys liquor from their Facebook page. A good day all in all. The paints will allow me to make a better finish over which I will spray some gloss varnish, apply the decals then spray semi-matt varnish to seal it all up.

I have next weekend off and, apart from some car maintenance , I should have time to run the railway and hope to have Kestrel running.

Autumn is here at last

After a weekend when it was too hot to operate the layout because of standing in the direct sun we now have completely the opposite with wind, rain and cold temperatures.
The good thing about this time of year is the Warley Model Railway Exhibition at the N.E.C. in Birmingham which means saving to make sure I have plenty of spending money plus I get Christmas money from family which gets added to the pot then whatever I buy gets wrapped up for Christmas. Its a bit of a strange way of doing it but it does ensure I get what I want.

This year I hope to get a few more Silver Fox kits probably of Lion and DP2 and also either the Brown-Boveri Gas Turbine or one of the Electric Loco's from their range.

As far as the kits I already have are concerned Kestrel will soon be getting the Brown lower body colour which will then let me detail the body before applying transfers to the body and glazing it. Hopefully we will get some reasonable weather so that I can get to run it. The Prototype Deltic is ready for its transfers as well. Pictures will be added to the projects page for each loco.

This means that the Baby Deltic will soon enter the erecting shop and will hopefully be followed by the Co-Bo before Christmas, we will wait and see.

End of a lovely weekend

For once I have been lucky and had brilliant weather on my long weekend off. Unfortunately it has prevented me from running the railway as the sun was shining right on it and it was just too damn hot!
Sat in the shade on my pation and did some modeling, as the previous post described, and the same again today with Kestrel getting a second coat of yellow and the chassis getting a coat of black. The body will need one more coat and the chassis may need touching up so hopefully tomorrow after work I will be able to complete them.
Once that is done the body will be masked up and the lower brown area painted and then it will be time for some transfers, once I buy them. Oh well, off to Google again.

Wonderful Day for Outdoor Modeling

The sun has shone and my decorating chores were complete so an afternoon of fettling locos, building kits and painting bodies was on.

First up was the Deltic. When tried on the main railway it refused to go far but on my test circle of track, after a sticky start, it ran perfectly although the motor is running the wrong way so a slight change to the wiring is in order.


Next it was the turn of my Triang Princess. I have been given this model of an older loco that has had a less than perfect re-paint. I decided to remove the motor and repair my Princess. This was done and now she runs perfectly. Hopefully she and my Dad's old coaches will finally get a run in the garden tomorrow.

The model of Kestrel was next with its grey roof area being masked off ready for the upper colour of its bodyside being applied. I am not sure that the colour is exactly right but it is close enough for me. More pics of it will appear in the projects page.

Lastly I built a Dapol footbridge kit that I purchased from the Loco Shed Shop at Gaugemaster's factory during my holiday. Once the new station platforms are fitted then it will be installed. It will be painted green and the platforms widened to take it.