johndon

I've been working on the weathering of some KR Models Consett Iron Ore wagons for the layout. As this particular rake will be empty, the interior of the wagon needs to be weathered. Colour photos of the interior of these wagons are as rare as rocking horse poop (I've got around 3,000 photos of the Tyne Dock to Consett line but one 1 that shows the inside of the wagons) but that 1 photos is being used as a reference as the weathering pattern on the wagons was rather distinctive. The weathering has been done with Vallejo pigments. John

The new tooled DCC Sound fitted 37 has an RRP from £355 - £375 depending on the exact spec you go for Compare that to the Accurascale 37s which are due in the next few months, the two I ordered are £260 each for DCC sound fitted...

A sound fitted 9F and Type 4 diesel start the climb to Consett with an iron ore train...

I suspect you've hit the nail on head with the last part of your sentence, Accurascale coming along was going to have a big impact on Bachmann's sales of 37s. We'll have to wait and see what the Accurascale ones are like (I have two on order) but from what we've seen so far they look like they will be better than even the retooled Bachmann and will be better value for money, Bachmann's RRPs are getting ridiculous even in these days of ever more expensive models... Split headcode variants will dominate my layout as a lot of them went to Thornaby and that shed provided most of the 37s that ran to Consett.

Thanks, that's what I'm going to end up doing, just hope I can save it...

Having done some other modelling for a couple of months, I returned to the Iowa last night and found that the aft deck looks like this. I'm really disappointed as I was scrupulous in making sure that the plastic deck was completely clean free of any dust. I'm sure it can be fixed albeit I'm concerned that once I start gluing parts down with super glue all that will happen is that the blisters will move elsewhere...

My all time favourite space ship...

Very nice work although the image of Orville is going to take quite some time to fade

My study/office is undergoing a bit of a renovation and for something to put on the shelves, I've dug out a couple of AMT trek kits I build at around 20 years ago, the Klingon Bird of Prey and Cardassian Galor class. The BOP is fully lit using 'grain of wheat' bulbs (LEDs weren't as ubiquitous as they are now) although I've lost the power brick so no lights for now. They are very much of their time, I like to think my modelling skills have imprevoed somewhat since they were built, but I think they stand up reasonably well although, if I was to build them again, the BOP would definitely get some more weathering. Despite once having a huge (40+ kits) stash of Trek ship kits, they remain the only two that ever got finished, I've never even built an Enterprise! John

Here are a few closer looks at some of the buildings on the layout. If you're in the north east, I'd be happy to invite you along to see the layout, it is permanently set up in South Shields... John

All of the buildings, bridges etc. are completely scratch built based on drawings that we made from photos of the real location. I'll dig some photos out and post them. John

I thought exactly the same when I saw it! John

Looking good so far, I wish someone would do her in 1/200...

I have exactly the same kits but I have Hood as well Having got back in to aircraft modelling recently, they will almost certainly also be retirement projects...