Author

Webmaster

Date

25th December 2020

Reading Time

3 minutes

I have not been entirely idle since my last post, although I am not sure whether what I have been doing counts as productive.  My scrap/gloat boxes get bigger and bigger, and I felt I just had to take some of the old junk and sort it out. Charitably, one might call it “upcycling”. Uncharitably…..

So from the sublime to the rather disreputable:

First, a little signal box. This started as a 1960s American kit for a US interlocking tower – by the time I had finished I realised that all that remained of the original kit were three pieces of clapboard siding ! I like to think it has a vaguely Saxby and Farmer-ish air. Others may ask why I didn’t bin the kit and just do it properly !

Second, a water tower with attached pumphouse. This is a Hornby resin ready-to-plant model which I bought a few years ago. But on closer inspection it was not terribly satisfactory. To improve it I added a corrugated tank roof, a new plasticard pump house roof, a ladder, inspection hatch, handrails, water pipe and bag, and a representation of the discharge apparatus and depth gauge. I also did what I could to square up the basic moulding. I don’t think it looks too bad.

Third is an American interlocking tower: this is a very old Bachmann “made in Hong Kong” building which just needed some repair.

Fourth, another ancient Bachmann, this time an American water tower ( the reddish one ). I remade the water spout and the associated bits, based on an O Winston Link photo of a Norfolk and Western tank, using a lot of fuse wire. It is not quite finished yet ( no ladder or final painting yet done ) but it looks bit more the part than before.

Fifth, (and I began to get a bit carried away here ) another old American kit which was allegedly for an N scale water tank. In fact, it seems nearer HO, so I reworked it to resemble a tank from the Civil War era in that scale.

Finally, and another work in progress, an engine shed. This is another relic of a previous life, based on an old Pola kit. All that remains of the original kit are three walls and the ( crude ) kit windows. It has haunted me for years, because it really ought to have gone straight in the bin – the moulded brickwork is spectacularly overscale for example- but I could never quite bring myself to do so, if only because it also has my very first attempt at relief bricks – bits of microstrip glued on with Evostik !!!

What exactly I am going to do with these I don’t know, but it has been fun ( and quite quick ) to do, and has cleared them out of the metaphorical attic.

Happy Christmas to all, and happy modelling !

Matthew Wald