Back in the saddle

Well, the footy season is now at Round 6 and despite what I thought when I posted last (back in Round 1), the mojo hasn't really returned.  I have done some stuff - pictures to follow - but until today, I haven't really been that inspired to do much modelling although I have done things for my hobby in general such as cutting up the bits and pieces to make some new stock boxes a couple of weekends ago. (There was also a comment from one of the students at my new school about the lack of updates so I thought I better - now to see if he actually reads the blog!)

Today was a little bit different.  It was the first day of the major model railway show in Queensland - the Brisbane Model Train Show (here) and the first train show I have been to since taking "St Alban's Priory" to the 2008 show.  I spent the morning building a 2mmSA replacement chassis for a Peco 15' wagon - not for a Peco wagon, but for an Etched Pixels LBSCR Stroudley Coach.  It was nice to get back in the saddle as such and so I thought I would share some of the bits and pieces I have done over the last 6 weeks:

 I've had this version of the Farish Std 4 2-6-0 since it came out and I was very disappointed with the "short" connector between the loco and tender - so much so, I had to double check that it was the short one, since the gap didn't seem that smaller once I had fitted it.  I have since made a new connector using some PCB (frame spacer actually from the 2mmSA) which has closed it up nicely but still allows the loco to travel around my curves - smallest radius on St Alban's Priory is 14.5".

Long time readers will know I was not happy with the first attempt at scenicing Swallow's End, my first attempt at a 2mm Finescale layout.  So much so I ripped up all the track and the board came back from Longreach bare.  I have since repainted it brown on the basis that I wouldn't need quite so heavy a layer of scatter material over a brown base, but I still wasn't convinced so I have cut the track formation out of 4mm ply.  This I am going to paint grey to provide a base colour for my ballasting attempts.  I am not sure that a scale 2 feet of permanent way would be correct for such a sleepy terminus so I plan on building the surrounding countryside up using 2 or 3mm board (Masonite probably) and fitting the pieces together (such as the cattle dock, coal merchant etc) like a jigsaw as I go.  I will be able to do the bits separately - so if I don't like the result I just bin the offending section rather than having to attack the layout - and then put it all together later.

Last but not least, I have built these 4 etches from a Langley etch - garden shed, dove cote, green house and a conservatory extension.  Not sure where they will be used yet, but they were in my to do box so I did them!