Not Going Out

The world has changed and not immediately for the better. Here in the UK we are two weeks into lockdown and are trusting that the measures in place will keep the number of deaths from Covid-19 under 20,000 which is what is described as a "good" figure. The immediate impact for me is working from home and I am one of the fortunate ones who can do that and carry on getting paid. Not everyone is so fortunate. There is more time and some of that time has been spent on reorganising the "office" so I can work from home all day. The computer has gone from the den where I used to occasionally work from home and, as a result, I now have a larger workbench for my modelling. I have had a serious reorganisation of the room and this is the result.

This means I can have more projects on the go at once. Usually I try to stick to just one project at a time but with multiple projects I get the chance to move to another one when I hit a roadblock on one and need to do some thinking. Also, I have the space so why not use it. Equally all exhibitions have been cancelled so now I have no deadlines and can afford to be a little less focused.

The first project is the model of Triumph mentioned in the last blog. The body is largely complete and I have been contemplating the detailing. Today I drilled out of the windows so I can put in open ones. I should have done that before building it! More on those in another blog.

It's clear that in the future there is going to be a layout based on Bowaters so I expect a Facebook page to appear soon. Bowaters itself is not easily modelable but I will find something from it to create a layout from. I look forward to building something more industrial. In the meantime the locos can run on Melin Dolrhyd provided they can get round the curves!

The second project is the 3mm 4F kit that I bought a while ago. I used to model in 3mm but could not make a working chassis. I am going to have another go and am determined to be successful this time. I invested in a Poppy's jig and have got as far as loosely assembling the parts in the jig.

I have a couple of options for motor and gearbox. I do have an N20 motor and gearbox combination produced by a member of the 3mm Society and I have a High Level Slimliner+ on order. When that arrives I will make a decision on which to use.

The third and final project is Southwold in 3.14mm to the foot. David Eveleigh designed this stock to run on 2mmFS track and it came out to this weird scale of 3.14mm to the foot which is close enough to 3mm and so there will be a layout in 3mm that contains standard gauge and narrow gauge and it will be Southwold based - you can't hide the shape of those wagons.

David's etches contains 16 four wheeled wagon chassis, 4 six wheeled wagon chassis, 2 coaches and 3 engines plus some odds and sods - a whole layout's worth at one go! As you can, see the etch above for one of the wagons is exquisite. It is also tiny!

That's it. Everything on the workbench currently and, yes, I am procrastinating over the Welshpool & Llanfair coaches!