From when my Parents gave me my first train set for a Christmas present as a child, I have had an interest in model railways. I originally started in "OO" gauge, but have also built in "N" and "O" gauge. The last layout I built was my exhibition layout "Holmehurst" which was in "O" gauge, and I exhibited it around the country. Photos of it can be seen by following this link.

I inherited some "OO9" rolling stock from my late father, including a loco I built from a white metal kit for him, and ever since living on our working narrowboat Hadar I have been thinking about building a "OO9" layout.

For those who do not know, "OO9" is "OO" scale, which is 4mm to 1ft, but the track and rolling stock are narrow gauge, equivalent to 2ft gauge in real life. Modelling-wise this means that I can used standard "OO" scale buildings, people, scenery etc. of which there is a far greater range of ready built items and kits to choose from, but it has the advantage that the reduced size of the track and rolling stock means that curves can be tighter than for standard gauge, without losing a realistic look within a restricted layout size.

I had thought about building a layout in our garden alongside our mooring at the Saltisford Canal Centre, but after much thought decided that this would not be practical. However I built a small layout (now dismantled) which sat on the shelf above the display cabinet, in our saloon, which houses my "O" gauge rolling stock. Having finished it, my wife Jo suggested that when we stop selling coal I could build a layout in the hold. As we stopped selling coal at the end of 2016.

I have now built the layout. This is now a full record of the building of this layout and any new additions along the way.

Please feel free to leave comments, I am always interested in suggestions or questions.

Tuesday, 25 February 2020

Westland Sea King Helicopter Part 12

This morning I went to check on the decals on the helicopter to find that some of the red/white/red tips to the tail rotor blades had dropped off. 
Then the tail rotor parted company from the helicopter. 
Then 3 of the red/white/red tips magically disappeared, thus sealing their fate. 
I have painted the red on one side of the blades and as it is enamel paint I have to wait until tomorrow before I can turn it over and paint the other side. 
I am in 2 minds as to whether to attempt the paint the white stripe across the middle of the red, or just leave them red?

Keith.
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2 comments:

  1. Davidss26 February 2020 at 07:19

    That's what you get for using decals; if they had been old fashioned transfers I'm sure all would have been well!!
    As for attempting the white stripes, I suspect the problem is consistancy - getting all five looking the same. If you were to motorise the rotors any slight differences would not be visible, but I guess I should have suggested that modification while you were mid-build, and could easily access the inside.

    Good Luck.

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  2. Keith Lodge26 February 2020 at 18:48

    The main rotor is the only one that can be motorised, a kit is available to do so, but as this model is going to be suspended on fishing line, wires from it would look very odd. All the decals came off the one sheet, and all the other decals have stayed on OK. I am an experienced painter so painting is actually better and easier for me. One of the problems with the decals which I didn't mention is that they do not wrap around the leading and trailing edges of the blades, but by painting them I can achieve this, so will look a lot better.

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