Another Few Days Past, Another Update

Hello Again Viewers! 

 

 Ah... an ever-growing army of the un-dead...

(A Simpsons quote, please don't be offended!)

Now at the point that I have a Holy Trinity of followers, I'd like to point out that I am merely a beginner in the modeling game... and blogging for that matter. I have built a handful of BGB kits and other models in the past, with varying degrees of success, but I have a long way to go. And that was a loooong time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

And a shout out to fellow bloggers and consummate artistes Shane McCormack and Pete Michalak (of "Liralau" and now "Bridgewater" fame and prolific builder of locomotives and everything). Please do yourself a favour click on their names to checkout their blogs and works in progress. Pete seems to build models in his sleep and Shane has taken to winding the clock forward on his rollingstock. I am extremely envious of their talents!

The Ozrail 900s

Right, the Ozrail 900s. 909's mech/chassis has been returned to Chris Fretwell at Ozrail Model Trains, who has kindly offered to repair it. Ozrail's customer service - or more importantly after sales service - is second to none. 900 is getting a hatchet job done on it as I want to improve the detail with Model Etch Products grilles/mesh, glass (Krystal Clear) and replace that headlight, super detail and weather it.

900 "Lady Norrie" suffered violent damage to its nose after she 'fell' from my mantle piece courtesy of my ginger kitten "Jones"... Below is a photo of the loco with its nose reattached and factory glass removed. Keep the faith my loyal followers as wonderful things will be happening to this loco... as long as my skills aren't outweighed by my ambition.

WARNING: The following images may be deemed too shocking for some of our audience. Viewer discretion is advised.

 The workshop the other day...

 

900's Nose Job

 

SAR English Electric Shunter no. 500

 My Ozrail SAR 500 (no. 500) will be headed that way too for a new board (replacement, free of charge) and if the Cash Gods are smiling I might follow Pete's lead and get DCC and sound installed.

706

Another update of yet another project I've started - I am making up for lost time - and this time it's my sole Austrains 700 class no. 706 which has come in for scrutiny. I purchased some bits from the very helpful Ian at Ian Lindsay Models namely 442 bogie sideframes and 442/700 Kadee adapter/coupler pockets. The ILM 442 bogie sideframes unfortunately aren't much use to me to represent the 700 bogies, so I'll have to sell those on, but the coupler pockets are perfect. Some filing of the pilots and the pockets was required to make them a snug fits and to ensure the Kadee's met the height gauge. As you can see from the photos, I have sliced off most of the moulded hoses with a scalpel. I'll take the pipes off too and add some thin styrene to replace the half-relief detail on the pilot a la the amazing Justin Moy's work on his 442's...

The Ian Lindsay Models parts

706's pilot with the pocket installed and

moulded hoses removed

 

The pilot drilled for hoses, Kadee #153's fitted and

buffer holes filled

 

My plans for this loco are numerous but achievable. These include replacing the bogiew brake cylinders with cast items, fitting some brass rodding to represent the brake lines and sand pipes, fabricate the coupler release bars, add cast air and MU hoses and pipework on the pilot, add sun shades in the cab, fit the correct horn type, add marker lights, add better fletner vents and MU sockets, drill out the exhaust and fade and weather as per the prototype although I haven't decided for which timeframe.

When funds permit I'll buy a couple of more to convert. One in ANR livery, one in Mustard Pot and another for conversion to 701 in GWA livery... no wait, that's three more! Damn this hobby.... :)

FIN

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Plenty on clickys to click on and I'll try to add some links on the blog main page for my favourite retailers and blogs.

Cheers,

Joshua