Grahame's N/2mm bashes

[Grahame Hedges]

Hi Grahame
I have taken a picture of my Grandfather’s Artist impression he drew in 1949, sorry about glare but he designed a few buildings on the outskirts of London (NW) then I think in the Percival area. I love the cars and costumes in the picture. All done in pen and ink.
Hope it may be of interest.
All the best
JulianView attachment 158089

It's a stylish pen and ink drawing - well worth framing and hanging.

 

[Grahame Hedges]

I'm currently putting together a couple of TPM/BHE van kits picked up at Ally Pally on Saturday. On the right is a VDA, middle a VCA and on the left a Farish RTR VBA for comparison (it looks taller as it has wheels fitted while the kits don't yet). And still to add decals, pick out details and dirty down:

 

[Grahame Hedges]

A little more progress on the van kits, but still not completed. I wish I'd purchased a few more now.

 

[Paul Cheffings]

Hi Grahame

The van kits are still available from the NGS just without roof or chassis.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Those parts, a roof and chassis, are rather critical to complete a van model. Fortunately the kits on the BHE stand at Ally Pally included a roof, chassis, wheels and body parts (sides, ends and floor).

 

[Paul Cheffings]

Those parts, a roof and chassis, are rather critical to complete a van model. Fortunately the kits on the BHE stand at Ally Pally included a roof, chassis, wheels and body parts (sides, ends and floor).

Hi

A suitable chassis is available from the 2mm SA 2-380. Roof can be formed from plasticard.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Maybe, and yes, thanks for the suggestions. However, unfortunately I think that the extra effort and double sourcing is likely to put off the causal kit builder, or certainly the beginner. If you have to scratch-make parts, like the roof, and purchase some bits separately, it's no longer simply a complete kit ready to assemble. It's basically just a scratch-build aid and probably a little disingenuous to call them kits.

Although I can make parts from plasticard, I am supportive of developing kits to be complete packages so that they attract enthusiasts in to having a go at some constructive modelling. The NGS has certainly been working to flesh out kit contents by including wheels, bogies and couplers (missing from some ranges they have acquired) as well as producing appropriate decal sheets.

The development of kits over the years has seen to move towards supplying all the bits and parts necessary to make a complete running model. It seems like a backward step to a time when many kits didn't include wheels, couplers, decals, etc.

However, I understand that the Farish chassis is no longer available as a spare part from Bachmann and the roof part is a casualty of the RTR model being discontinued (with rumour that the tooling is worn out).

Oh well.

 

[Grahame Hedges]

I've been making a little progress on a few stalled projects. I've got some top coat paint on the Chivers BR/LNER long CCT kit. It's acrylic paint just thinned a little with water and brush painted on. I'm quite pleased with the result with no brush marks showing. Now I need to find some suitable decals.



And I've managed to get some decals on a pair of BR containers - I'd already completed two. They're a very cheap NGS kit and easy and quick to put together.

 

[Grahame Hedges]

I've revisited my St Thomas's church scratch-built model to start adding a few of the final details required. Here I've added the railings around the front yard:

 

[Grahame Hedges]

I've been putting together a GHQ white metal kit of a 1970s Caterpillar D8 bulldozer purchased recently from Osborn's Models. It's been out of stock everywhere for a long time and even out of production, but GHQ have recently re-launched it.

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Here's the GHQ N scale Bucyrus Erie 30-B crawler crane that I made up from a kit (some years ago and I still really need to properly string to cabling - I've been meaning to get around to it for ages). The body and tracks are white metal (Britannia pewter) and the jib and ladder are etched brass - all supplied in the kit. It's from the same range as the Caterpillar D8 dozer posted above.

 

[Tim Watson]

Super little vehicles, Graeme. I’ve put an order in for some of the earlier ones.

Tim

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Current project is bashing a NGS Loriot wagon kit and Tomytec Poclain TY45 in to a ZYR Lowmac EK mounted with with Poclain grab excavator.



It's far from finished, there is still quite a bit to do, and, of course, there are compromises, but it progresses well. Here's the progress.

 

[Joe's Garage]

Interesting model Grahame.
All the best
Julian

 

[Grahame Hedges]

I'm quite pleased with how the weathering turned out (I'm usually a bit of a rush job bodger and splodger with washes and powders) on this NGS kit of a BPV Boplate bogie flat:

 

[Tim Watson]

Excellent weathering!

Tim

 

[Grahame Hedges]

A smidgeon of progress on my Poclain/Lowmac ZYR, mainly making one digger attachment and bashing the other Tomytec one:

 

[Grahame Hedges]

For a bit of modelling fun and enjoyment I've scratch-built a 'ramshackle workshop' in N/2mm scale, roughly based on the recent new Metcalfe kit which I quite liked the look of. However, I find that Metcalfe kits exude that distinctive Metcalfe corporate style of flat, slightly shiny surfaces, open corners, heavily outlined printed roofing and missing relief details. Consequently, I wondered whether it would be possible to knock up a more convincing model based on one of them.

 

[John Rich]

Great modelling, I'm going in the opposite direction and plan to use a recent Metcalfe kit as a guide for a 7mm version.

John

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Not much modelling of recent. Just put together these NGS kits of BR standard vans:



And finished off and arranged the printing of my latest magazine (that is now available to order on eBay):