First Steps

Martin C

Member
My first venture back into modelling for many many years. I much appreciated the advice given in my post in the New Members forum a month ago and placed an order on Squires Tools for a few basic items.

Now embarking on my first kit - a Parkside Grampus wagon - and here is my progress so far:

Its been great fun, taking its slowly and cleaning all the parts and testing fit before applying glue.

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All set and ready to build, a couple of the buffer springs went AWOL but have now been rounded up!

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I opted to build the chassis first and get that running smoothly, which it is! Brake gear and detail to be added next.

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And the buffers have been assembled, having pre-painted the housings.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Now embarking on my first kit ... and here is my progress so far:

Its been great fun, taking its slowly and cleaning all the parts and testing fit before applying glue.

...

And the buffers have been assembled, having pre-painted the housings.

A postive story so far, good for you. You may wish to smooth off the buffing face of each buffer to remove the parting pip... too visible on the model and not there on the prototype.

regards, Graham
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
For small parts, I find small plastic boxes essential. I have business card boxes, and also various plastic tubs sold as "disposable shot glasses". The latter have lids which make them ideal to store buffer parts until they’re required. They’re also useful for mixing paint in.
 

Martin C

Member
Well, I finally finished the Grampus wagon, quite pleased with the results. Looking in detail I can see that a couple of buffers aren't quite straight and some paint ran to the bottom of the buffer beam and left a ridge I should have sanded off (still getting the hang of mixing and spraying). Overall I really enjoyed the build and the planning involved.

So what did I learn?
  • 7mm is definitely the right choice, easy on my eyes and you can get great detail
  • Taking things slowly is essential
  • Sharing on here is well worthwhile
  • I must get a compressor, spraying with air cans is a nightmare!
What to do next? plans for a small layout but perhaps just a length of test track to try out some track building and laying. Another model, looking at an Easybuild DMU kit (class 121/122) or a JLTRT class 25.


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