My 7mm scale 1950s workbench

[David Holman]

Tick VG, a sticker and extra house points!

 The photos clearly show that model locos should not be black - it is just too dense, so the weathering really brings the model to life. Having built two of these kits (later versions, mind), I reckon there were around 1200 rivets to press out on each one, so readers should have every sympathy and the Archer rivets transfers work really well.

 Why anyone would produce a kit of such an obscure loco, especially in 7mm scale and broad gauge is a bit of a mystery, but then look at the finished article and you start to see why.

 Still available from Studio Scale Models, by the way and the revised version is a delight - as long as you invest in a decent rivet punch! 

 Running rights on Northport Quay a given, David. I think that is five Sligo tanks between us now...

[Patrick Davey]

Insanely good - I know that part of Fermanagh very well and everything, particularly the back scene, conveys a strong sense of location.  Beautiful loco and, it certainly IS exquisite!!!

[scahalane]

Next level realism. You really get a sense of the shear weight of this engine.

[Tullygrainey]

A beautiful model and a fine piece of work GM. Love it. I agree with everything you say about weathering and the contrast between your photos of the weathered and unweathered loco illustrate the point perfectly. 

Another example of "Archer saves the day"  What are we going to do without them!

Alan

[Northroader]

A model full of character, looking great. A couple of wagons and a van, a cassette each end, and you’ve got a really nice layout. “Keep it simple”  is the best motto going.

[Galteemore]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. She’ll be boxed up now and indeed there will be no more posts for a while. I do have a significant project in hand, but will post when it’s fit to be seen! For now, a last glimpse of Lurganboy on the 7:20. Easy to tell that it’s easy gradients here - she’s burnt little coal since Enniskillen. Kilmakerrill bank’s 1/50 will change that! 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Galteemore

[Mike 84C]

Fantastic!   

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Beautiful 

[KMCE]

Such great atmosphere and detail. 

I love the upright sleeper detail supporting the platform timbers - nicely done.  And, as others have mentioned the easing of the foreground into the backscene is very subtle and lends to the aforementioned atmosphere.

Looking forward to seeing this next significant project you mention.

[Galteemore]

We are due to move house this summer, but one last loco has rolled out of the shops before I pack everything away. As @jhb171achilland @leslie10646know, if the SLNC was loved in our home, the GN was revered. So it was only a matter of time before I built something. As is well known the SLNC took on lots of GN A class 0-6-0s over the years - some on hire, others bought. Long story short, I commissioned some kit style drawings which arrived earlier this year. The designer recommended I made a few trial panels out of cardboard. Idiot man decided ‘let’s build a test loco out of plastic’ instead. Some bits eg overall cab, had to be metal. But most of is plastic. The model is a blend of the sublime and ridiculous - fine scale lost wax castings and garden centre parts such as plastic pipe (boiler) and copper slug tape (boiler bands). Coupling rods are off a LMS Duchess! I built it to 32mm gauge to make it more attractive for sale. It’s currently spoken for but you never know….photos below including one of the horror shop that lies beneath the paint. It’s not too bad I think as a model but I will build my own version with more metal as I find I prefer it as a material to work. By the way, this one is 150, which was fitted with a cut down chimney for use in Belfast docks. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Galteemore

[leslie10646]

Your ingenuity knows no bounds, David. Great stuff!

You've reminded me that an absent member of this Forum has a SE&CR Class C to convert to a PG for me .......

It was a BLACK one - not even I would have someone hack one in that lovely SE&CR livery.

[Tullygrainey]

Just wonderful! And imaginative use of 'found' materials. I like that very much! 

[David Holman]

Well, how fab is that and who cares what is under the paint when it all looks so convincing? As Alan and Leslie have already said, a bit of homespun ingenuity can work wonders. Lessons here for all of us.

[Killian Keane]

Some extremely good scratch and kit building on show by all this evening

[Mayner]

Those small GNR 0-6-0s make nice simple models for a scratchbuilding project with nice simple geometric shapes, cylinders, rectangles, flat running boards, in contrast to the Southern and Midland Standard goods with their curving running boards and mass of rivet detail of GSWR and Beyer Peacock designs.

Nice to see the great scratchbuilding tradition is alive and well among the modellers of Ulster's railways 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Quality work 

[Galteemore]

Sorted out close coupling of loco/tender yesterday in a way which allows fall plate to operate as prototype. Coaled and crewed - well 50%. Can’t find the driver but hopefully will locate him soon…... Ready to lift some wagons when he does appear. 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

A bit of tweaking to the can roof too by the look of it? It all sits very well and definitely looks the part. Classy!

[Galteemore]

Time to pack up the bench for moving house - and time to reflect on 8 years of modelling here. We moved in and I brought my collection of Japanese N gauge plug and play with me. About 2016 I made a plastic O gauge kit - which wobbled on 3 wheels - and bought a few RTR locos and stock. Eventually I plucked up the courage to try a brass kit. Which I managed to snap in two by over bending it - but still made a working wagon by the end. And eventually jumped from 4’8 to 5’3. Never in a million years did I think I’d have two Sligo engines at the end of it all. Thanks for all the support thus far. Looking forward to the next adventure ! 

[flange lubricator]

Fabulous love the screw jacks on the running plate very distinctive feature of the SLNCR

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Two handsome locomotices there, fair dues.

[leslie10646]

Good luck with the move and the new job, David. I'll be sorry not to have you nearby so that you can just drop in!

 

[David Holman]

Hope the unpacking doesn't take too long, so you can start getting creative again!

[Bob49]

Good Luck with the new job. Hopefully it somewhere nice. 

[Northroader]

Hope they’ve found you a decent abode. It looks as if I’ll be going as you’ll be coming. Good luck with it all, and looking towards more tales from the workbench.

[Galteemore]

A small commission job. Paint and assemble an 009 tram loco…details added include real coal and glazing. I’m glad I’m normally working in 7mm ….bit small for me ! 

[KMCE]

Very nice indeed - level of detail, paint and weathering is excellent.  I trust your client is happy!

[Tullygrainey]

47 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

A small commission job. Paint and assemble an 009 tram loco…details added include real coal and glazing. I’m glad I’m normally working in 7mm ….bit small for me ! 

Lovely detail and finish. A real charmer. If you hadn't mentioned the scale, I would have assumed it WAS 7mm!

[Flying Snail]

She's a nice little loco alright, oozing character!

[David Holman]

Lovely paint job!

[Northroader]

Er, track standards… when you was doing Abohill halt, say, what was the sleeper sizes and spacing you used? Just askin’ for a friend.

[Galteemore]

11 hours ago, Northroader said:

Er, track standards… when you was doing Abohill halt, say, what was the sleeper sizes and spacing you used? Just askin’ for a friend.

Bob, to assist your friend, I called by Manorhamilton PW dept and had a look at their jigs. Sleepers are 9’ long and spacing is 2’6 centres (closer at each end of a track panel). As you can see, corporate identity is important in my workshop. Even my lanyard for my ID at work hasn’t escaped….

Edited October 27, 2023 by Galteemore

[Galteemore]

Well Happy New Year all….and as 23/24 turn over another model rolls off my workbench. Although in fairness it has been thrown off it a few times. It’s the most difficult model I have ever attempted. But now it’s more or less done. What was so hard?! Read on……

At some point every SLNC modeller has to attempt a railbus, just as they also have to make an 0-6-4T. Your railbus, however is a fiendishly difficult citizen. Add  to the complexity of compound curves and planes the problem of making what in 1:1 is an exiguous bus frame robust enough to handle a working chassis with big motor/gearbox.

It ‘s even harder when  you don’t have a drawing!

My subject of choice was Railbus A, which served the SL from 1939 to 1957, and was the last SL item to work in NI, operating lifting trains and finishing up abandoned at Belcoo c1959, having lifted the SL track within the 6 Counties up to the border.  It was rebodied in 1950 at Dundalk, acquiring a body very similar to Railbus 2A, already modelled so beautifully by David Holman. But I really like the archaic style of the old 1920s bus body…
 

Trying to work out how to make it all work took long thought and many false starts. The trailer was quite easy - based on an old Lancs and Yorks Railway railmotor bogie from Wayoh, with suitably small wheels, spokes filled in to represent the solid Sentinel wheels and side frames pushed out to 5’3”. Planking and door sizes were calculated by using Alphagraphix kit for Railbus 2A’s trailer as a template. The railbus trailer also functions as an extra set of pickups, and contains a capacitator to act as an electronic flywheel.   
 

The railbus chassis itself  is a simple brass strip frame, with cosmetic springs and associated gubbins at the front. Rear axle has a set of drop outs cut in it to allow motor/gearbox to be dropped out for servicing. Front axles have some vertical slop filed in the bearings to allow the ensemble to lurch prototypically over track joints. Howden Meredith wheels replicated by taking resin castings of white metal lorry wheels and gluing to Slaters rail wheels .

The railbus body is plastic and Perspex - essentially three separate Perspex boxes for saloon, door vestibule and cab, with appropriate overlays for turnunder, door frames etc. Triangular Perspex section helped form the open top lights.  The cab framework is especially complex, curving through a number of planes simultaneously. Much filling, filing, sanding and shaping took place…..

The roof, another compendium of curvaceousness, is a single sheet of basswood, sanded to shape with a suitably battered roof rack made up  from model boat stanchions. Special bus parts such as headlight, starting handle etc from Lynx Models. Much had to be fabricated, from the destination blind handle to the lifeguards down each side. It’s not perfect by any means, but I’m pretty sure nobody else has modelled it ! And it works…..

 

Although I think I’ll tackle something else before looking at Railcar B……..

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1 by Galteemore

[jhb171achill]

Perfectly "shabby" looking! Mrs.jhbSenior travelled on one of those things from Enniskillen to Sligo a couple of times. She was aware also of Railcar "B", which for fairly obvious reasons she much preferred! Her thoughts on rails travel were not particularly complimentary, but she did wax lyrical about what is still a much under-rated scenic setting....

[Tullygrainey]

A great project and a great result. Really captures the look of the original. I have a fondness for quirky vehicles and this is definitely one!