#OO scale model

[daijindraws]

After a lot of cutting, sanding, modifications, and custom parts, my HO/OO USA Tour Thomas is complete. Complete with the bell from @KnucklesSCC I had to mangle/cannibalise my Bachmann James which is why the shell fis so high. The custom isn’t perfect,but I’m happy with it. Just in time for Flying Scotsman’s centenary too.

Thomas was made by Wilbert and Christopher Awdry, adapted for TV by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton, and currently owned by Mattel.

The Body shell is made by Arlo aka SkarloeyBoi

The bell was made by Sparkshot.

[weirdotranny]

Hornby James review

I recently acquired a Hornby James from eBay so here is a review /overview of it

The Hornby James has been a holy Grail of sorts for me for a while ever since trainboy uploaded his video on the model a couple years ago and as such I've wanted it badly and so, now that I have it for and for an actually decent price I thought I'd post here, These things should not cost as much as they do but luckily I got it in a mostly passed over bid for only 80$ which is steal a lot for a tooling from the 80s though, it is an admittedly great runner despite being tender powered.

The model is, on top of it being an excellent performer a great looker, though it is based upon the triang Johnson 3F it captures what James is perfectly that being; a medium sized tender engine one could realistically see pulling an express train such as the wild nor western. This model's face is also a perfectly cromulent recreation of the early model series face. With over all nice paint a perfectly acceptable likeness and being a perfectly good runner the hornby James is an over all good model for anyone who may want it (if you can get it for a good price) I'd give it a 9/10

[lomotunes2008]

So I was playing with a transparent background generator...

[trainmaniac]

Steam Engines and Gravity Power in a 1950s Colliery by Michael Alford

[nwreric]

As a long time Sam's Trains viewer, I can safely say that I was not expecting this to ever happen.

[maxbrick]

Work in progress… It got partially destroyed earlier, even after glueing and puttying it back together I had to “rebuild” some of it by making parts out of plasticard, especially on the cab. Now it mostly just needs the paint to be touched up, a few areas here and there filled, and some extra detailing.

[masterj]

TheTrainModeller (Luca)'s latest video earlier this morning is a loose adaptation of Henry's crash from the S5 episode "Something In The Air", made while filming for an upcoming project, and it looks fantastic! Check it out! :D

[ironirma103]

[nwr-astrotrain]

Behold! OO/HO scale The Doctor!

[punalippulaiva]

Oooooooh this is cooool!

I considered using live plants for my indoors layout before I started the current project, as the idea of live plants instead of a fixed setting really appeals to me... but even bonsai'd plants look huge next to N scale (which is the only one I have space for). And I eventually came to the conclusion it's perhaps not the best idea to make something entirely left-field for my first layout.

But this is a great idea! A planter to make the layout a bit separate from the surrounding nature, and a scale smaller than what garden railways normally use is really interesting.

I'm probably going to build a micro garden reailway in the near future, but first let me explain to the non-railfans who follow me what a garden railway even is because I need to infodump about something.

What is a Garden Railway?

Put it simply, a garden railway is a blend of two otherwise seperate hobbies, railway modelling and gardenning.

Typically, railway modelling is about the persuit of historical and technical realism on a small scale with regards to anything involving steel-wheeled vehicles running on steel rails. That said there are those who simply run trains straight from the packaging on track placed straight on the floor and that's fine.

With a garden railway, the focus shifts away from an almost sterile realism towards a more impressionist's view of a railway running through a landscape, whith emphasis on the landscape being alive.

more than anything I think it's about embracing the joy of enjoying one's hobbies in the great outdoors

So how am I, a queer, unemployable person on benefits going to build a garden railway, especially when all the examples I've used are so grand and spacious?

let me tell you about a little something called scale and gauge

out of the diagram above, Gauge 1 (1:32 scale/45mm track) is the most popular size for garden railways, both historically and current. O scale (1:43 scale/32mm track) is probably the second most popular, being the smallest practical scale for live steam, that's real working steam engines on a sminiature scale.

OO scale (1:76 scale/16.5mm track) the most popular scale all around in the UK, has a fringe use in garden settings, but can create some spectacular scenes if sweeping views of main line cuttings and embankments are your thing.

I'm going with OO scale, but I'm not modelling standard gauge, instead I'm using a narrow gauge standard called OO9. that is to say 1:76 scale trains running on 9mm track, for a scale track gauge of about 2 foot 3 inches (686mm).

a 6 foot by 2 foot raised planter will be all I need for a sizable circuit of track with a branchline and two stations, there's also space to play with hight by having the branchline finish at a lower level than the main running line. the first image is the planter I have lined up, the second image is the rough track plan I've made so far, using the theoretical maximum inside dimensions of the planter as the space I've got to work with.

I already have one starter pack of OO9 track, which contains a full loop and a bunch of straight sections plus a couple of points, which is a decent portion of the costs taken care of. The planter itself is £100, which is also affordable for me.

The unknown for me at this time is what plants to use. It'll probably be figured out as I go but I'm drawn towards alpines because small trains should run through small plants, however I also want flowering plants to encourage pollonators in the city I live in.

I'm also drawn to the idea of a small pond situated by the end of the branchline with the main circuit running directly over the water via a trestle bridge. I'm tempted to look at aquatic plants to help take care of the water but I need to do more research on this front.

all going well I should be able to start work on this after september, and unlike other projects I intend to see this through to the end.

[locomotive-paws]

Live action Henry and Toad

Got these two in the post.

My first OO scale tender engine and let me tell you the detailing pack has so many little extra bits for customization... but it's a beautiful model.

It's funny how they always call Thomas a "little" engine, but he's fairly good size in comparison. These are the same scale.

And last off my little gronk taking off with Toad, pulling a break van ride; which gronks are commonly used for these days, apparently.

[feigeroman]

Saturday Movie Night: Railscale 1

Here's an idea I've been sitting on for ages, which I hope will become a semi-regular feature on this here blog. It's a pretty basic idea - every week (if I remember), I share a video on here which I think you guys would be interested in seeing. Naturally, that means a lot of the videos will be to do with Thomas, or real-life railways (real and model), or anything else I decide is worth sharing.

I don't know if anyone here has heard of Phil Parker, but yes, I am basically ripping off the Saturday Film Club feature he does on his blog.

You may well remember me talking about Railscale a couple of years back. Well, since then, someone's gone and uploaded all three issues to YouTube (see that earlier post for why there were no more). So I thought, what better way to kick off this semi-regular feature?

See above to watch the programme, and see below for more details about the contents.

THE BROMFORD & HIGH PEAK RAILWAY (7mm/O)

This huge, spectacular O gauge layout was deliberately shrouded in mystery by its creator, Ferrari importer Ronnie Hoare. For security and insurance reasons, he rarely allowed visitors to the layout - the Railscale team were thus privileged to be allowed to film it for this feature. The layout itself featured over a scale mile of track, and included models from some of the country's leading model makers.

INSIDE A SAWMILL (7mm/O)

We next look around Les Tindal's scale model of an American sawmill of the interwar period. The sequence shows how Les adds details and develops scenery, and finishes with a look at huge he achieves the authentic weathering of timbers and metals.

PECORAMA (Various)

Pecorama is a permanent model railway exhibition in sunny south Devon, own and operated by the PECO company. They believe that any house or flat can accommodate a model railway, and the layouts on display have been made with this philosophy in mind.

WINCHESTER CHESIL (4mm/P4)

The Scalefour Society was one of the leading pioneers in the great push towards greater realism for model railways. This exact scale model of the GWR's Winchester station was made by society members from the Southampton area, and they take up the story of how the model came into being.

BOYTON CROSSING - PART 1 (4mm/OO)

The first in a series of segments demonstrating the construction of a model building - based on the crossing keeper's cottage at Boyton, on the Salisbury-Warminster line. Railscale's resident model maker, Mike Jolly, talks us through the process of researching and measuring the prototype, before building up the basic structure with card and embossed sheets.

LIVE STEAM ON THE ISLE OF MULL (Live Steam/10.25")

 In 1984, a miniature railway opened on the Scottish island of Mull, linking Torosay Castle to the ferry pier at Craignure. The line has since developed into a tourist attraction in its own right. Nick Dodson of Railfilms shows us around, and talks with founder Graham Ellis.

PROJECT N - PART 1 (2mm/N)

Mike Jolly returns to commence the construction of an N gauge layout. After deciding on the plan, he chooses and cuts the timber, and makes a start on assembling the baseboard.

COACH CONVERSION (2mm/N)

Railscale 1 concludes with this short segment, demonstrating how to convert a Graham Farish BR Mk2 coach, to represent types not available in the ready-to-run market.

[sarkos]

Super Galaxy Legend Bisson, The Bootleg Gundam Anime that ALMOST Existed

I’m posting this not just for love of bootlegs, but because a friend speculated on making a model rail set featuring Gundam kits, and the Bisson kits are 1:76 (OO scale)

[hunty627]

Here are some more Hornby OO scale models for @grantgfan to add to his collection.