Cover illustration from the 1960 Hornby Dublo catalogue
COMMENT
This month, at last, we have some really good news. In anticipation of the club being able to reopen in the near-ish future [later, in June, we very much hope], we have two events for you. First, on the 5th. May as previously announced, those who have ordered the club’s 2021 private owner wagon edition will be able to collect their purchase[s] from the club car park between 10 and 11am. Those who purchased and requested posting will receive their wagons shortly in the mail.
As the more-general COVID requirements are likely to still prevail, please remember to wear masks and observe social distancing.
Please note that the OO version of the 2021 commission is now completely sold out, a very small number of O and N gauge models remain. If they are still available on the day, they can be purchased on the 5th.
Secondly, as a prelude to re-opening, we plan to hold a large stock-sale on Saturday the 5th. June, between 10am and 12pm, in the main ground floor hall at FOYD. A large and varied collection of stock will be available for purchase and I hope to be able to provide further information on what we’ll have in the May newsletter. It looks good, though…
YOUR MODELLING
A lot of you have been busy during the lock-down and I am pleased to b able to include some more examples of what you have been up to in recent weeks. It helps to fill out the newsletter, too! First, from Michael Sarsfield, his cut-and-shut interpretation of the Revd. W Awdry’s ‘Daisy the Diesel Railcar’. Michael writes:
‘…My model of Rev W Awdry’s ‘Daisy’ the diesel came about during lockdown. I, like many others, was missing going to the model club, sometimes you can’t always get on and do many things you want to model due getting bored of a project as you can’t always bounce ideas off fellow modellers. I had started to get back into modelling OO gauge and take a break from my 009 modelling for a time due to losing the spark because of lockdown but while I had been doing research into the Gwili railway for modelling, it helped relight my modelling spark again. While I was looking for a Class 121 in OO gauge, it got me thinking about making my own model, that’s when I looked at the Revd W Awdry’s model of ‘Daisy’ and it made me want to model it.
The model is a Triang-Hornby model of a class 101 DMU powered end with double ended cabs. My model is different to the Revd Awdry’s as I did not cut off the guard’s/luggage compartment but left them on to make it feel more like a Class 121. There is still some work to do on the model to finish it off, and then give it a good run back and forth on a bit of track, which would help settle the motor in after being repaired and the wheels reprofiled….’.
Next, from Ian Stevenson [and which brought grudging compliments from Simon Durrer!], some photographs of a small N Gauge layout that he is refurbishing. Ian writes:
‘…"LUDGVAN QUAY" is my new N gauge layout that started life as a lovely circular layout, with concealed fiddle yard at the rear, built by the late John Williams from our group. I was unhappy with some of the original scenic elements especially the curved back scene and cork rockscape. I also wanted to model the new backscene to include a realistic waterfall. The old back scene was carefully cut away and the framing over the rear fiddleyard was reduced in height to improve the proportions of the layout.
I created a landscape, typical of the Cornish peninsular, using cast rocks from "Woodland Scenics" moulds carefully assembled and with small stones added to replicate a rock face. The original model had a small stream from the road bridge out to the front right hand corner of the model. There was no natural source for the stream however so I decided to cut away the centre of the backscene and then add a waterfall.
The photos show the rock gorge before and after the waterfall was added. The actual falling water was modelled flat over a drawing of the required shape of the water, placed under a sheet of clear plastic. This allowed the Woodland Scenics "Water Effects" to be applied over the clear plastic which acted as a release surface once the material had set. The falling water was then carefully peeled off the plastic and was then installed into the vertical gorge area which had been painted with acrylic colours to show the rocks and to look wet where the water would splash down. I installed the falling water and, once set and dry, I added water ripples to the upper and lower areas of the stream. This was then followed by the application of acrylic paint colours to represent the colours of the falling water with titanium white used to create the highlights…’.
Lawrence McCarthy has been at it, too. Fed up of not being able to run his stock because of the club’s temporary closure, he took matters into his own hands, colonised his conservatory and built a test track to run stock in there. Lawrence writes:
‘…Being unable to attend the club because of the pandemic, and so run any of my collection of rolling stock, I decided that I would use the space within our conservatory to construct a temporary “test tracks” facility that could be put down and removed as required. The first step was to purchase some 9mm plywood on which to place the track. This was helpfully cut to the required sizes by the timber supplier, for which I was very grateful, as I do not have a great deal of confidence in my own carpentry skills!
At the same time, I acquired a suitable amount of Hornby set track to enable two decent sized circuits to be laid down. Orders had to be placed with various suppliers to obtain these components as model railway track is a product that seems to be in great demand at the moment. The final step was the procurement of a Gaugemaster controller and connecting leads to enable operation of the trains. After a few sessions, I have now reached the point where I can put together and subsequently dismantle the set up relatively quickly, although I have certainly developed an appreciation of how careful track laying and cleaning facilitates trouble free running!
Now on to plans for a garden room for a permanent layout......
And finally, and just because it’s pretty, a photograph of my heavily restored and improved Triang ‘Lord of the Isles’ of 1961 vintage. Apart from part of the boiler barrel and the cab, and the tender chassis, not much of the original remains. Details can be found at the end of this article: https://srmg.org.uk/some-recentish-loco-builds
Well, without your contributions there would have been very little to write about, but I am confident that within a month or two – assuming that there is no third spike in the pandemic – we should once again be able to return to some degree of normality at the club. Don’t forget the 5th. May for the ‘Copperpit’ wagon collection though and the stock sale on the 5th. June. More details about that event next month.
Best wishes all, and keep well [and those contributions coming, too!].