The end of 2023 and it has been a quite a year for us. Looking at the amount of modelling done this year is quite disappointing, but this is hardly surprising given we purchased a new house and then set about renovating pretty much all of it – certainly more than we were originally anticipated. However, the majority (not all) of the renovating has been completed downstairs and certainly in 2024 I will have much more time to model and for my other hobbies. This is a real relief, as the second half of 2023 was a bit of a slog. Anyhow, over the xmas break I slowly started to reawaken the modelling projects that were dutifully put away before the real mess of the house renovating started. It was difficult coming back to modelling projects after a gap of several months, as I had forgotten where I had got to with each model.
The class 03 that smashed onto the floor sometime in early summer was an expensive mistake. The locomotive has now been completely disassembled and I have slowly started rebuilding it. The main body is now finished and this will be heading to the paintshop later today. The chassis needs a bit more work to glue some broken bits back on and make sure it runs properly, alongside adding a stay alive to the decoder. Ultimately, the poor running of the locomotive was the cause of the crash, so hopefully the stay alive and rebuild will cure the temperamental running. I need to source some new buffers for it, but otherwise I am optimistic I can get this locomotive back to running pretty soon. The sheer number of components that I removed from the the locomotive is a little daunting, but hopefully I will remember how to get it all back together.
Class 03, only lacking buffers now.
I have also been building some new wagons, first up is a GWR diag 032, from the Parkside kit. This is now finished and will be washed and enter the paintshop today. It was pretty straightforward build and was done a few hours each evening over the festive period.
Diagram 032 wagon, ready for painting in BR bauxite.
I had also started a Slaters GWR 6 wheel milk tanker and of course in the intervening months of no modelling I had lost some of the sprues. So this project has stalled a little whilst I await the spares, although I have built the tank and now need to fill this and sand it down. Earlier in the year I also set about destroying(!) a Dapol milk tanker. This is now finally dismantled and I will now wash and paint the milk tank before reassembling and detailing the chassis. I have ordered some Slaters spare sprues at the same time to use on this wagon, so it will become a bit of a hybrid build and I will be happy to produce any useable wagon from this process – this is one of those projects where I wish I had left it alone and not started!
Slaters GWR milk tanker making slow progress.
Dapol Milk tanker – now a total mess and the rebuilding and painting can begin.
The air brush has also be set up and is running again. I have got some transfers on the Vanwide, the Conflat is making steady progress with painting and the Pill Box brake van is heading to completion. It is great to be painting again and I am optimistic that I can get several wagons finished over the next couple of months.
SR Pillbox Brake van, part way through painting in faded olive green.
So what modelling plans do I have for 2024? – well of course plenty! The biggest problem at the moment is that the house still needs plenty of work done and this will essentially curtail me setting up the layout. I think that not being able to run and test locomotives easily is a real drawback; whilst setting up the layout is doable, it will take up a lot of the lounge and I need to be finishing off various projects in the lounge and kitchen. Therefore, for use over the the next few months I am going to build a small DCC test track, something that will probably become a micro layout in the fullness of time, but for now it will be something where I can just test the rolling stock that I am finishing off. I have a 5ft Tim Horn scenic box already built for this purpose and I have ordered the track for the project. I have a the class 25 to reassemble and check, plus the class 03, a class 122 DMU ready to be weathered and I am also about to start a class 42 warship. Therefore, having a test track to easily set up and test locomotives has become essential and I am looking forward to starting this project tomorrow. So for now a happy new year to everyone and I hope to update this blog with a lot more content and projects in the new year.
