Big Scale, Small Rails.

While working on the Gn15 items, I also dug out the selection of Gnine items also in the box. For those that don't know Gninie is G scale running on 9mm gauge track to represent 7 1/4 inch gauge, roughly at least! 

In the box was a loco kit, complete with the Bachmann Plymouth chassis required, and two tub wagons, all made by Sidelines. I had clearly attempted to build the loco years ago, as it was badly brush painted in garter blue!

This was stripped and the whole thing sprayed in a Humbrol green shade, details then picked out with a brush. 

I was quite happy with the controls all picked out, including the cable on the brake lever! A number, from a Woodland Scenices dry transfer sheet, finished off the bufferbeams before the entire model was given a coat of matt varnish.

I've yet to finish off the two tub wagons that were sat with it, or locate the third wagon which I know is in the draw somewhere!!!!!

Gone Green.

And so we come to the last Gn15 model I've built so far. This is another Sidelines Kit, although I'm unsure of which one! Rather than a tenshodo it runs on a BEC models tram bogie, which seems to run quite well for how basic it is!

This one was mostly complete when it came into my hands, although I did partially dismantle it due to some dodgy joints.

Green was the choice of colour this time! I think this is a Humbrol shade but can't quite remember. Red bufferbeams help set it off nicely, as does the single nameplate attached to the rear of the cab.

A wooden seat in the cab and a few details finish it off. Once it's weathered and has a driver figure added I may add a bit more clutter here, such as an oil can or battery.

And thats all the Gn15 for now! 

Wheels on my Wagon.

With one Gn15 loco complete, it was time to look at some of the wagons that remain unfinshed in the box!

The first three I completed are bog standard Sidelines kits, a tool wagon and a pair of bolsters. These are made up of some castings with lovley detail and make up into very attractive pieces of stock. Like the locos they could do with been finished of with some weathering!

The fourth wagon I've completed so far is an eBay purchase. The more Gn15 bits I started to build the more I go into the scale. I found a pair of wagon kits for £22 Inc postage. Similar in style and size to the Sidelines wagons they consist of only two castings (!) and metal wheels running in brass bearings. The end results is quite nice, with me adding simple dumb buffers from plasticard, using a track pin for a coupling hook.

I really must sit down and do some weathering!

Going Electric.

About five years ago I was lucky enough to be given a big box of Gn15 models by a good friend after they had started modelling in 16mm scale. The box contained many items, from lovely complete scratch built whimsical models to unstated kits, with everything in between!

I had started to build a couple of the Sidelines kits in the box, but never really finished anything, Gn15 been a scale I hadn't particularly thought about modelling in. Recently, after sitting for five years in a cupboard, I dug the box out and made a start!

My first victim was a Sidelines 'Firefly' kit, running on what I beleive is a BEC models chassis. Originally the full cab version I had clearly made a start on it at some point, hence the remains of black paint. In a moment of madness (!) I chopped the cab off and rebuilt it into a open cab loco, adding the bolt detail back in with nail art gems!

After giving it a spray of Halfords finest grey primer, I was quite taken with how well it looked in grey, so the details were picked out using a brush, such as the axle boxes and bufferbeams.

Some random Narrow Planet plates I had in stock with fixed to the ends, giving the little loco the grand name of 'Prometheus'!

The kit included various details for a cab interior and I'm quite happy with how it looks. The heavy gauge cable running from the controller is actually aluminium coated wire. I don't know what its actually meant for but it looks good here!

It still needs a driver, and I have a couple of suitable figures in stock awaiting painting, and a possible weathering, but for now I'm quite happy with it in its clean grey livery!

At least its another unfinished thing no longer lingering in a box!

Little Rusty Planet.

Like many of us, I've had more time on my hands recently, with going to work and not been able to go many other places! With this extra time I'd decided I would try and (nearly!) finish some things that have sat around for years!

The first of these was this rather rough 16mm scale Planet body. I have no idea of its origin except it was given to my Dad with a rather nicely made metal chassis. He kept the chassis and threw the body my way....

Its sat in a draw ever since, and Ive had a couple of attempts to make it into something! It appears to be made of card and plastic and is rather wonky in places, but that's part of the charm! It also, for some strange reason, doesn't have a rear window....

The first step I took was to beef up the chassis using some plasticard. I just found the originals too narrow and struggled to add depth using them. I also cut a floor to fit a PS Models chassis that was also in the bits draw that allowed the body to be a push fit.

Unable to find any suitable axle boxes that suited, I used bits of microstrip and a Cambrian Models bolt head to create something vaguely similar to the prototype, a scale model this definitely wasn't going to be! You can also see marks on the body where bolt detail had once been. 

Been too lazy to model a cab interior, and the fact the batteries will have to be in there, I decided to add a wooden door, using a saw blade to create a wood grain style effect in the plastic. The rivets here are actually 'nail art' gems, perfect for these large scales, cheap too!!! (And been Yorkshire, that's what we like!)

A coat of grey primer brought it all together, and showed how wonky it all is.... 

I'd also added hundreds of tiny Cambrian Model's bolts and rivets, giving a somewhat armoured look! A window frame was also added to give some relief to the cab front.

The multi-height couplings were added to a plasticard back with some Cambrian rivets to give the impression of a casting that had been bolted on.

With all that done I decided to add the top coat! This was chosen based on what I already had in stock, so green it seemed to be! Details were picked out using a brush, and transfers added for 'JS Engineering' on the cab side, because why not!

And the (almost!) finished product! Weatheirng was done by dry brushing various appropriate Humbrol acrylics allowing the paint to gather around raised details where muck would. I also used some Tamiya weathering powereds for a little texture before sealing it all with a coat of matt varnish.

I say almost finished as its sat since waiting to be wired up! I'm still undecided whether to fit RC or leave it as a switch on and go loco. 

Either way I'm quite happy how it turned out for a model built from bits in the draw!

Revival.

So over two years on and I'm back again! Let's be honest, the first go at this blog didn't go particularly well, but then that's just my track record with these things! Since my last post I've done numerous things, including finishing my HNC and HND in mechanical engineering and learning to drive! I have been modelling, but nothing particularly worthwhile! Recently, with the world in the state that it is, I decided to finish some of the kits sat in the cupboard! I'll post about them in due course, but for now, here is a taster!