Darius’ Workbench

[David Holman]

An almost daily feature of my childhood as I lived close to several of their bases. Hunters, Provosts and Lightnings too. To stand next to a Vulcan is quite an experience!

 Duxford is perhaps THE place to go - how they squeezed the B52 into the American hall, let alone land it there is the first place was a real feat.

[Galteemore]

Sobering to think that those who flew them had every expectation of not coming back if they had been used in their primary nuclear strike role. As it was, their only operational use occurred right at the end of their careers - and what a mission that was! 

[Broithe]

Whilst the two chauffeurs up front in a Vulcan had ejection seats, the three in the back didn't and were supposed to calmly exit via the hatch, in the traditional manner. Even in the early days, when high flying was still the norm, this was not easy and, when low-level, ground-following flights became the norm, it was basically impossible. Even if you did get out in time, the ground would not be very far away.

There was an attempt at creating an ejection system for the back three.

The centre seat would be fired first, then the outer two would be pulled, in sequence, to the central position, and then fired out.

This test rig was built, but I doubt it got any further than that and was unlikely to have ever been fitted to an aircraft.

 

[Georgeconna]

2 hours ago, David Holman said:

An almost daily feature of my childhood as I lived close to several of their bases. Hunters, Provosts and Lightnings too. To stand next to a Vulcan is quite an experience!

 Duxford is perhaps THE place to go - how they squeezed the B52 into the American hall, let alone land it there is the first place was a real feat.

 

[David Holman]

Needed a couple of goes then! Ain't taking off without a bridge over the M11 though...

[Broithe]

The landing of Lady Agnes on a less-then-perfect runway, to go into retirement at the Museum in Stolin, takes some beating.

 

[David Holman]

Hope the crew had some clean underpants with them!

[Darius43]

Modified Freightliner Flat couplings on test on the layout this morning - works successfully so far 

Cheers

Darius

[connollystn]

Fantastic layout. The Pullman 125 set looks very impressive.

[DJ Dangerous]

I'd like to see some Darius compilations on YT. I could sit back and watch your clips for fifteen minutes and still be glued to the screen.

[Darius43]

Wizard Models (ex Comet) brass sides grafted onto a Dapol donor coach.

Phoenix Precision LMS maroon thinned and airbrushed on.  HMRS Pressfix lining, lettering and numbers.

Cheers

Darius

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, Darius43 said:

Wizard Models (ex Comet) brass sides grafted onto a Dapol donor coach.

Phoenix Precision LMS maroon thinned and airbrushed on.  HMRS Pressfix lining, lettering and numbers.

Cheers

Darius

VERY nice, and shows the correct LMS lining style (Whitehead take note) for not just the LMS over in Brexitstan, but also the NCC - and - the GSR! Same lining on the GSR, same background colour (after 1933) but different crest and lettering style.

[Darius43]

Scratch built using card, acetate sheet and brick paper.

 

To go in one of the back yards of the row of terraced houses I am building.

The plants are ready made items from eBay.

Cheers

Darius

[Patrick Davey]

Now that is just superb!

 

[JasonB]

Very nice. Looks great. 

[Rob]

Amazing quality.... as always

[Darius43]

Another Scalescenes terraced house under construction.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

End walls fitted - one end adapted to follow the curve of the street.

Roofing next.

Cheers

Darius

[Galteemore]

The slight curve in the road - and thus the houses -  is very effective in adding an extra dimension of realism. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Galteemore

[Noel]

Superb

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Great stuff lad.

[Darius43]

Roofing completed.

The tiles need some “toning down” to blend them in with the adjacent roofs.

Also need to add chimney pots.

Cheers

Darius

[Noel]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:45 AM, Georgeconna said:

 

Last time I operated into Duxford was 1984

[Darius43]

Fitting out the back yards is my favourite part.

 

Cheers

Darius

[David Holman]

Shows how the little details matter and the importance of careful observation too.

Lovely!

[Darius43]

12 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Shows how the little details matter and the importance of careful observation too.

Lovely!

Thanks David.  Years of looking into back gardens and yards from passing trains hasn’t gone to waste

Cheers

Darius

PS it was really nice to meet you and Galteemore at Ally Pally yesterday.

[Darius43]

Sunstar 1:24 Diecast Routemaster with new home made number, destination and advertisement decals.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Dummy (non-motorised) Class 66 made from spare bogies, chassis and body sourced from eBay.  For running on trains that have a loco at each end.

We tried running these trains on the layout with powered locos at each end but could not get them to match speeds over the full throttle range - resulting in the train being stretched or scrunched.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Finally got roundtuit and completed the Snow and Ice Treatment Train wagons (3D printed kit).

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

A couple more of the 3D printed JGA cement wagons detailed up using brass rod, tube and electrical wire.

Followed by a coat of grey primer, with air hoses and buffer’s picked out in black enamel paint.

Cheers

Darius

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

That's cool

[JasonB]

Nicely done. 

[Darius43]

Decals applied followed by some light weathering.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Two more completed.

Four more to go…

Cheers

Darius

[Ironroad]

It's interesting that CRH operate cement traffic on UK rails (via their Tarmac subsidiary) but ceased operating cement traffic on Irish Rails.