Making a Start - The Peak District Midland / Monsal Dale pre 1903
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2016 11:20 pm
Following a certain amount of practice and much picking of other peoples brains on this forum, I thought It was time I started a thread on my first attempts, not just at P4, but any form of what might be termed 'proper' modelling (as opposed to simply playing trains as a boy). The goal in the end is hopefully to model Monsal Dale Station on the Peak Line probably around 1903.
MR Official 1910
MR Official 1910
Beyond some very rudimentary landscape modelling (chicken wire, Papier-mâché and scatter material with lichen) and the building of airfix kits as a boy, my modelling to date has been conceptual architectural models rather than anything realistic.
A little background....
As a boy in the 70s I lived in Great Longstone in the Peak district, enjoyed my model train set and had Slaters (with their wonderful Monsal Dale/Millers Dale O gauge model) as my local model shop. My pride and joy at the time was a K's 'outside frame' Dean Goods locomotive - this had been professionally built and was bought for me by my parents from Slaters as reward for some exam results (a pretty fantastic gift!). Everything else was Hornby running on Peco track. Scenic modelling shall we say was limited.
The advent of University and a parental house move meant the end of the model railway, with the Dean Goods becoming a keepsake.
A couple of years ago I unpacked the loco from a forgotten box and found that it was damaged and somewhat worse for wear. I thought it would be nice to get it running again and clean it up a bit (for old times sake).
At the time, for me to do this would have been beyond my skill set, so I contacted a few model makers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the cost proved too great. I then came across Tony Wright's dvds on metal kit construction and decided to have a go myself.
I picked up an old DJH 'Barney' kit on e-bay with the aim of practicing to see if I could develop my skills to a level where I might tackle the rebuilding .... and so my interest in model railways re-emerged.
The process of building the Barney and where it has lead has been a fascinating journey. I am currently on the third re-build, have discovered P4, joined the society, started experimentation with track building and begun exploring fine scale modelling as a whole.
I thought I would summarise my progress to date in a few instalments and then use the thread as a record of future progress and an area to ask for advice/help/encouragement (family commitments mean that joining a club is not really an option at present). As an aside, I have also begun experimenting with the Protocab control system, which might interest some - I will try to document how I get on with it.
Initially the Barney was built 'straight off' in accordance with the instructions and using only the box contents. I suspect if you had shown me my initial effort before I began, I would have been quite pleased (unfortunately I took no pictures) - but by the end of the process my skill set and eye had improved such that I was far from happy ... so into boiling water it went.
Having read Iain Rice's White Loco construction by this time, I then re-built it with the aim of upgrading the kit (still in OO) with brake rigging, lamp irons, turned handrail knobs etc, and with neater soldering and a squarer more plumb construction. I was reasonably pleased with the results but still far from satisfied. The 'mark one eyeball' had again improved. I was particularly critical of the chassis which didn't appear to fit the body, was crude in the extreme and furthermore my cobbled together rigging didn't quite fit.
So back into the boiling water it went!
I was also beginning to hanker after a layout. At this point I started to think about the Peak line, settling on pre 1905 which set me looking at track and track construction (that was quite an eye opener). Initially I considered OO fine scale, which then graduated to EM and ended logically at P4. I settled on Monsal Dale Station as a relatively simple and achievable track plan, with the opportunity to run some varied stock (I love the Johnson locos and Clayton carriages) - and so the fun began
.... to be continued.
MR Official 1910
MR Official 1910
Beyond some very rudimentary landscape modelling (chicken wire, Papier-mâché and scatter material with lichen) and the building of airfix kits as a boy, my modelling to date has been conceptual architectural models rather than anything realistic.
A little background....
As a boy in the 70s I lived in Great Longstone in the Peak district, enjoyed my model train set and had Slaters (with their wonderful Monsal Dale/Millers Dale O gauge model) as my local model shop. My pride and joy at the time was a K's 'outside frame' Dean Goods locomotive - this had been professionally built and was bought for me by my parents from Slaters as reward for some exam results (a pretty fantastic gift!). Everything else was Hornby running on Peco track. Scenic modelling shall we say was limited.
The advent of University and a parental house move meant the end of the model railway, with the Dean Goods becoming a keepsake.
A couple of years ago I unpacked the loco from a forgotten box and found that it was damaged and somewhat worse for wear. I thought it would be nice to get it running again and clean it up a bit (for old times sake).
At the time, for me to do this would have been beyond my skill set, so I contacted a few model makers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the cost proved too great. I then came across Tony Wright's dvds on metal kit construction and decided to have a go myself.
I picked up an old DJH 'Barney' kit on e-bay with the aim of practicing to see if I could develop my skills to a level where I might tackle the rebuilding .... and so my interest in model railways re-emerged.
The process of building the Barney and where it has lead has been a fascinating journey. I am currently on the third re-build, have discovered P4, joined the society, started experimentation with track building and begun exploring fine scale modelling as a whole.
I thought I would summarise my progress to date in a few instalments and then use the thread as a record of future progress and an area to ask for advice/help/encouragement (family commitments mean that joining a club is not really an option at present). As an aside, I have also begun experimenting with the Protocab control system, which might interest some - I will try to document how I get on with it.
Initially the Barney was built 'straight off' in accordance with the instructions and using only the box contents. I suspect if you had shown me my initial effort before I began, I would have been quite pleased (unfortunately I took no pictures) - but by the end of the process my skill set and eye had improved such that I was far from happy ... so into boiling water it went.
Having read Iain Rice's White Loco construction by this time, I then re-built it with the aim of upgrading the kit (still in OO) with brake rigging, lamp irons, turned handrail knobs etc, and with neater soldering and a squarer more plumb construction. I was reasonably pleased with the results but still far from satisfied. The 'mark one eyeball' had again improved. I was particularly critical of the chassis which didn't appear to fit the body, was crude in the extreme and furthermore my cobbled together rigging didn't quite fit.
So back into the boiling water it went!
I was also beginning to hanker after a layout. At this point I started to think about the Peak line, settling on pre 1905 which set me looking at track and track construction (that was quite an eye opener). Initially I considered OO fine scale, which then graduated to EM and ended logically at P4. I settled on Monsal Dale Station as a relatively simple and achievable track plan, with the opportunity to run some varied stock (I love the Johnson locos and Clayton carriages) - and so the fun began
.... to be continued.