A break from 4mm - some O-gauge wagons

As last weekend was the final outing for Widnes Road for 2009, as illustrated by a new shiny Bachmann 150 Sprinter basking in the sunshine above; and with a nearly 5 month break until the next exhibition, there is a chance to get down to some proper model making.

I have always been someone who tends to hoard kits if I can pick them up for a reasonable price, even if I don't have a current project which they would suit. A case in point is the reasonable selection of 7mm modern image wagon kits I have accumulated from e-bay.

The first one onto the work bench is a resin / white metal SPA / ZDA Sea Urchin. The image above is the result of about 6 hours work filling and sanding as most parts had air bubbles or in the case of the metal parts, fairly large gaps in the castings. After a bit of  work however, I'm fairly convinced I can get a decent model from a really quite cheap purchase.

The next photo shows the rather less 'economical' purchase which has spurred me on to get back to some 7mm modelling. Having been on the look out for some more HEAs to add to the one I completed in the summer, at the Royston show on Saturday I acquired not one but five, and very tidy they are too. With a half-decent speedlink train coming together I now have the impetus to build a few more wagons, as well as getting some track laid in the garden in the Spring.

Layout and stock tweaks

Having spent two days running Widnes Road at Tolworth Showtrain, I used part of a day off to make some minor tweaks to the layout. The most time consuming was lengthening No.3 Road in the yard to enable longer locos to fit with a full rake of dogfish & sharks.

Although it doesn't look as if much has altered it still took the best part of 4 hours work to lay a short length of track, relocate the bufferstop and light, and paint and ballast the track.

A full rake of 9 wagons plus a Class 47 or 45 can now fit in the headshunt.

I purchased one of Bachmann's latest DCC Sound Class 25's from Kent Garden Railways at the show, a pretty decent model straight from the box.

One retrograde step, I think, has been the substitution of the older unsprung metal buffers with sprung plastic ones.  these seem quite crude in comparison, particularly when viewed side-on. It 's a simple step to resolve this as the plastic buffers are easily removed with a pair of pliers. The replacements are turned blackened brass Oleos.

Photos from Tolworth Showtrain

This weekend Malcolm and I spent a very enjoyable two days at the exhibition of the Hampton Court Model Railway Club. About the right size for a show with a nice balance of trade stands and exhibitors; and a decent mix of UK and continental layouts.

I was particularly impressed by a Swiss layout, Rhatia, last years Showtrain Cup winner, which I spent a fair while watching.

I have uploaded a few snaps taken of Widnes Road in action over the weekend as well as a couple of shots of Rhatia.

Hello to all the people who stopped for a chat, it was good to meet so many genuinely interested modelers. For those who were asking about the frog polarity changing power supply device; its called a 'Hex Frog Juicer', available from the people at Tam Valley Depot, and sold online by Fast Tracks (not Making Tracks as I mistakenly told someone).

Invisible progress

After a few gremlins crept into the wiring at the last exhibition I felt it was time to give the layout a re-wire; and at the same time take the opportunity to try out a new gadget from Canada; 'The Hex Frog Juicer'.

Initial trials are more than satisfactory, it does exactly what it claims, "Automatically controls the polarity of DCC power for up to 6 frogs on turnouts or crossings. If a train drives onto a frog and it is the wrong polarity, the circuit will switch to the opposite polarity."

"The Hex Frog Juicer is the ultimate expression of
running your trains and not the track."