What did we see at the NEC ?

This weekend involved a visit to the Warley Railway Exhibition at the  NEC, Birmingham. One of  the interests for me was to see what I could establish  of benefit to Lynton modellers .
The first stand to greet you almost immediately is the PECO stand and here in their presentation display case was the new proposed, ready to run model of a L&B bogie open wagon. This seems to be 3-D printed using the very sharp 3-D printing system offered. By using the clear type of process this results in a much better definition. In fact 3-D printing is quite the new technology and one we can use more with reliable results now. Here is a picture of the proposed model in 3-D printed mock up 

Next stop was the Hejan stand and here I was able to view the progress on the proposed L&B Manning Wardle locomotives. The planned release date is later in 2015 and with a proposed price of £189.00 this looks very attractive.The locomotive might be DCC ready and I was given the metal components to hold. They were quite heavy which should give the model very good adhesion and pulling capability. If you enlarge the image below you can see all the component parts and the proposed models on offer. 

Bachmann's  model of Woody Bay station on the L&B was also on display and here she is. The real Woody Bay station shop will soon have these for sale , 

At RT models I enquired with the owner Robert about progress on making the outside frame conversion for adapting the Graham Farish 08 outside frame 2 mm scale chassis for use in upgrading the use of Minitix chassis in white metal models offered by Chivers ( Lew) and the Rodney Stenning models. Robert reported progress was slow but the frame etches are now complete. The aim of this is so that I can upgrade models of the above I already have to be correct outside frame models..more on this soon....

A Room with a View

Here are some more pictures of the cabin . I've added a little weathering by using some weathering powders and a figure from Monty's Models looking over the shunting as it happens in the Station . Here he is ready to move back into the cabin as required.

Pull the other one

Excuse the stupid title, but how else to compare two signal boxes ?  I've had some time to make a final push to finish my signal cabin for Lynton station recently.
Some time ago I also made an up front commitment to buy the then soon -to -be -released Kernow model of a Southern style signal cabin. At the time of making this up-front commitment I wasn't sure I was going to be capable of producing the signal cabin myself. I did think the Kernow model might make a decent close interpretation instead of a home build. Several months passed by and no sign of the  Kernow model ( delays in China?) so I set about building my own. As you can see in a previous thread, making my own cabin wasn't as difficult as I had envisaged .
Then arrives the Kernow model and the pictures below justify, I feel, in committing to making my own. They are quite different beasts and,as my own model is based on drawings from  " measured and Drawn " I think I'm pleased with the result. The inside has a lever frame, wooden floor and a clock. I've positioned the cabin on a simple diorama base enabling me to add this to my station model and remove as I wish.The final job will be some simple weathering . Anyway, for comparison, the two signal cabins side by side.

Inspirational Diorama

Unfortunately there has not been much time for much modelling lately although there has been some progress on the Lynton Signal box. I hope to write a report soon.
This weekend I had the pleasure to help with the Lynton and Barnstaple sales stand at the Southport model show. The Lynton sales stand is organised and maintained by Bob Barnard who is a very accomplished 4mm scale modeller of the line. It was a nice model of Caffyns by Bob that graced the back of the sales table. Here to share are some pictures of this nicely detailed accurate Diorama.

Taw and Yeo test train

As mentioned in the previous post  Yeo and Taw made the inaugural runs into the station. All went well.

The previous post had not allowed me to post picture of the event so here we are ...

Track Gang

As reported in the previous post some work was required on the track alignment into the fiddle yard. The track I had laid was re -used track. This had a join in the middle of the curve. So lessons learnt. This was causing the track gauge to widen. So a new piece of  Pritchards finest was laid and progress was made. I used Tracksetta 15 inch to just fit into the newly cut baseboards. As you can see,this means the track is right on the edge of the baseboard such that I will really need to build up the edge slightly when I landscape the hillside. This did give me some heart stopping moments when I ran Taw  light engine for the first time. However all was good. Next I ran Yeo with one , then two and then three Peco coaches . Phew again.... all good . Finally as a moment to savour, I drew Taw in and she ran very smoothly at very low speed and then drawing out of Lynton with a 2 coach train and into the fiddle yard. A big moment and all is well .

It's Taw right

Fresh back from Eastleigh ( Brian loves workshop) is Taw. Brian has listed the jobs he performed to get her back in shape as follows,
1- cleaned wheels
2- cleaned and adjusted the pick ups.
3- washed out the chassis with ISO  propyl Alcohol and as a result then re painted the chassis ( colour matched mixed paint).
4- Re - soldered on the return cranks.
5- checked and ran chassis.
6- fitted foot steps under the tanks.
7- refitted chimney ( again) - came off in the post. Return however was good !
8 - straightened and painted cab roof.
9- touched up nicks and scratches on the body.
10- fiited a crew ( Dart Castings )
11 - fitted side windows in cab and blackened the side windows .

So thank you Brian, fantastic job . I gave her a test run on the newly laid track. Now up to his point only my model of Russell had negotiated the newly laid track and all seemed well. With Taw however the longer wheel base pointed out some flaws. Not only the longer wheel base was a cause. I noticed that Taw had much larger pony wheels compared to the other backwoods models of Yeo and Exe. This was causing the pony wheels to hit the front plates. However I did think that realignment of the track could be a solution. So the next job will be to post the modifications made to the track. For now a picture of Taw " back in Steam" .