Sleaford Model Makers Show 2023 - Part 2!

 Following on from yesterdays look at the kit building part of the Sleaford Model Makers Show today lets have a look at some other stuff starting with an 0 gauge model railway which had a real presnce to it as you would expect with a 7mm layout. 

I do like Class 25 locos and seeing this one in 7mm scale started me thinking - then reality and Mrs. Woody kicked in! However I can dream!

The backscene was particularly well done with the perspectives well thought out.

Something I have not seen on a model railway or in real life is a station spanning a stream. Well modelled and I do like the wooden part of the platform that spans the stream. Something to remember!

Probably about 12 foot long its not massive but shows you can model 0 gauge in a modest space.

I do love that Bedford Dormobile conversion - very sought after these days!

An early form of contanirisation!

Staying with 7mm ) gauge these wagons caught my eye. Really nicely weathered.

They were part of these two rakes of wagons - nice!

With Christmas coming this layout had a nice theme!

I do have an N gauge layout which is not very advanced but I am always attracted to the scale as I really started in it many years ago. This was a nice smallish layout which still managed to run long trains.

Staying with N gauge this was another nice small layout, probably about 4 foot by 2 - Mrs. W approves of small layouts!

Never seen one in person until this show but seen a number of these Pandemic specials in magazines and on the web. These were a downloadable kit of card buildings to build into a box file. It does look good though and runs 009 narrow gauge track and stock. Even more to Mrs. W's liking given its size!

Another one that Mrs. W would approve of was this 009 pizza layout.

It certainly was packed with details.

Moving on the 1:16th scale radio controlled tanks were out which reminds me I have a couple of thoses!

There were also a lot of other models which show just how varied the whole model making hobby is.

And finally if you ever missed a kit from years ago chances are you can still get it - at a price. Have a look at these oldies!

I'm certainly hoping to b back next year. And by the way all profits as far as I know go to the Lincs Air Ambulance which is great! 

Sleaford Model Makers 2023

 

I cannot believe it is a year already since I took Mrs. Woody to the 2022 show. She was insistant that I take her back this year - at least that is how I recall conversations regarding the matter! However, I nearly got caught out by a change of venue and day. It was only thanks to Mr. Beecham, he of model making and cycling prowess, who happened to drop round and say he could not attend that I found out about the changes. It was a really good show so I was pleased to have found out about the changes. A bigger premises in the form of a local school, much better parking and a lot more room to move around made for a bigger attendance so my question to an organisier revealed.

Unlike a model railway show this show has something for everyone including Mrs. W. from the aforementioned model railways, model kit building, model engineering, fun fairs, dolls houses through to animated scenes like these....

And here is a video f it and another nearby scene.

I will cover the built kits today and look at the other stuff tomorrow but some great modellers showcasing their skills as these photos show.

Frustrations!

I have decided that my 009 narrow gauge layout Chalkdon needs some use. I literally have not run a train on it for about 6 months! Too many other projects on the go and I sometimes just put some aside thinking I will leave that for a week or so and go back. Unfortunately that week or so turns into months or years and in some cases decades! However that is me and the way I work but I think the last time I ran a train on Chalkdon it was the West Highland Railway Baldwin. It is a sound chipped loco but I now recall it was not running very well, stalling and refusing to run. I further now recall that was the reason I parked it and the layout up in frustration thinking I will leave it a week and come back to it in a better frame of mind. Well even having left it 6 months that loco still was not running properly so it was time to get the screw drivers out!

You can tell just how long the loco has been static by the amount of dust on it or should I actually say that is weathering!

I was fairly certain that the issue was with the electrical pickups from the wheels. These are contained on the base plate so this was unscrewed. The pickups were dirty and twisted so work with some rubbing alcohol and some tweezers were used to bend the pick ups back into a shape that would make continual electrical contact with the wheels and therefore power from the track.

There were frustrations with dealing with small parts and I did loose a spring that went off somewhere never to be found until a time when I am not looking for it. Luckily I had a feeling that the spring from an N gauge coupler would fit so a wagon was raided for the spring. It did fit and I will find another replacement for the wagon - promise!

Anyway, despite that frustrations the work I did has certainly made the loco run a lot better. Its not fully sorted but definitely a lot better and more importantly no where near as frustrating! Despite its faults I can not help but love the looks of this loco. It just needs a crew now which I am sure I will find frustrating to fit!

If I had a hammer!

Well actually I do have a hammer - several in fact - and today my large lump hammer got some use at the Rocks By Rail Museum!

First off was the cover door to the hydraulic pump on Harriot the JCB. The red arrow shows where it should be but following some, should we say, slight mis-maneuvering, it is bent!

It had been bent some time ago and being thick metal was not going back into shape very easily. In fact the only way to get it back to shape was to cut along part of it with an angle grinder to free the flat side so that it can be beaten back into some resemblence of a flat panel. Once that is achieved it then needs welding back together. Simple when you just say it but not so easy n reality. Rob did the angle grinding and I have started the beating with my trusty large lump hammer!

You can see just how bent it is by the fact that straightening the edge has pulled it away from the curved part. With more brute force and welding it should be OK!!!

Before having time to do too much hammering and creating a lot of noise, Rob suggested, probably for the sake of everyone's hearing, that we ought to go up to the drag line and try to fully close the rear doors before the onset of Winter. Great idea and it was hammer time again! The problem was the middle door was jammed. Not sure why it was jammed but it needed moving to the right to weatherproof the engine.

Rob had hoped that his improvised car jack would do the business! 

As you can see it had possibilities and my hammer even played a small part! However it did not do the job !

Therefore it was hammer time! That, a bit of wood and me hitting it, without actually hitting me or Rob, had the door slowly moving into place. 

It needs more work but for now and over Winter it will do!

You can tell how far we moved it by that stripe of unfaded red lining and maroon paint to the left of the door. Only took us a couple of hours!

Back at the restoration shed I did notice that John has made further progress with the wagon with the end planks ready t go on and the sides are now up.

I wonder if he needs anything hammering!

  

20 years apart but both look good!

One of those days where the time to do any model making was, well, just not there! However I did have a chance to compare my Hornby Class 86 loco in Virgin livery that I recently converted to DCC with its British Rail Blue counterpart. 20 years or so separates the liveries and possibly the models too which shows just how good the original design was and how well the models have faired. I think it is one of those iconic designs that looks good in what ever livery it is but that's my bias! Anyway I just enjoy looking at them on the layout.

Anchors away!

Well, hopefully not literally away but they are on the vehicles with ropes fastening them to the deck so that they actually anchor if needed! Its been a day of adding small parts but the Panzer Ferry is coming on . The boat hooks certainly add a splash of colour. A few more parts to add to the upper parts of the vehicles and then it is how to add the chains fastening the pontoon to the vehicles. It would also be good to add a suitable vehicle to the pontoon but I am jumping ahead of myself! In the meantime a pew pictures of where I have got to.

Boat hooks!

Further work on the Panzer Ferry kits which has seen the boat hooks painted up in the white and red suggested in the plans and shown on the kit box art work. Not necessarily a good choice of colours if you are trying to camouflage a vehicle from the enemy but then who am I to question! The decals have also been applied which totaled eight in total so not too much stress there. I think it will be time to mount the anchors next so I need to find some scale rope to tie to them. Strangely there is no mention or illustration in the instructions of anything that would connect the anchor to the vehicle. I cannot see much use in an anchor with no rope!

 

The Panzer Ferry back on the workbench!

It is back on the work bench and it has been some time since I last worked on the Panzer Ferry kits so it took me some time to re-establish in my mind and with the instructions and the models in front of me exactly where I am with them. As always it is the small items I need to finish. There are a few small parts that need to be painted and fitted as well as the transfers needing to be applied. 

With that in mind it was time to go through the sprues and find the parts I need. Not so easy as you may think as there are so many surplus parts to the kits that what I actually needed has taken some finding! I have located what I need, there are others but I will return later for those. 4 boat hooks, 4 hull rubbing strips, an anchor and a pully were prepared for painting.

Being cold in the Man Cave is not the best for paint application or drying but hopefully these parts will be ready tomorrow.

I also applied some gloss varnish to the vehicle hulls where the decals need to apply. This will make them easier to apply and they should also set better.

Just hoping it warms up tomorrow!

Signal box progress.

Whilst Mrs. Woody basked in the warmth of inside I spent some time in the Man Cave where I manly put up with the cold! Its not that I don't have a heater in there but if I am only in there for an hour it makes little sense in turning it on as it would be getting warm as I left. If I am in there for several hours it makes sense to turn on the heat. However my argument that I should spend more time in the Man cave will probably not work on Mrs. W! 

However today did see the glazing finished on the Peco signal box kit and most of the parts are together. I still need to finish the interior with the control desk, seat and signaler so the roof is still loose and the balcony railings need to be glued to match the stairs but otherwise it is looking good.

It certainly does not look like a conventional signal box!