1/87 Diorama Progressing

In March I started a small diorama in 1/87 scale planned as an expanded 'photo plank' to show off my growing collection of Soviet narrow-gauge models. Measuring 85x35 cm it has now had the main terrain features added. After an almost total modellingless April I'm now getting back into productive modelling! 

The diorama's main terrain feature - a low railway embankment - built from foam material and covered in disposable kitchen rags. 

On top of the plywood base I added a low embankment from foam material at the rear. This will carry a broad gauge track elevated above the narrow gauge tracks in front of it. The track will be glued to a 4 mm thick foamboard strip profiled to provide a representation of the subballast formation. I plan to fit the embankment with concrete sleepered track to represent a single track unelectrified broad gauge main line.

Lovely Spring weather has seen me working outside. Here I'm gluing foamboard as foundation for H0f and H0e track. The bricks with the mark of The Royal Danish Post and Telegraph Service were saved years ago from a demolished post office. They now serve to keep everything in position as the glue dries.

I have also begun covering the lower narrow gauge track area in 5 mm foambord. This will enable me to add drainage ditches between tracks where relevant. I've not quite decided the final track layout and placement of building elements, so I will be covering the majority of the area with foamboard.

A typical Soviet style prefabricated concrete fence of PO-2 type separates the embankment from the narrow gauge area and I cut foundations from scrap parts of plasticard for the placing of the fence. The fence is 'one-sided' and is made to be viewed from the narrow gauge area only, and consequently its rear side will be covered with a varied growth of shrubbery. The fence is glued in place and to strengthen the connection small foamboard columns support the fence from its backside, helping to make a strong bond.

The position of main broad gauge line and the main track of the 750 mm narrow gauge line is more or less decided. Between the fence and 750 mm track I plan to fit a 600 mm track with dilapidated rolling stock. In the front area I hope to fit in another 750 mm track with a few turnouts to a siding and a work shop building.

I'm now playing with track segments, turnouts and cardboard mock-ups to find out how best to place them on the diorama. 

1/87 Scale Diorama

The headline may promise more that this post deliver. But this week saw me finally getting the foundation for my 1/87 scale diorama started. The base plate from plywood had been cut in January and it is now reinforced by a wooden frame to keep it straight and level. 

My Soviet diorama looks flat and uninteresting in comparison with the huge model of Østerport Station in H0 in the background. The model is on temporary storage during the relocation of the Aarsleff Rail Copenhagen office where it usually resides. We don't quite trust movers...

The diorama is an ambitious project as it will be my first attempt at showing three gauges in such a small setting - and the first ever, to be honest. There will be a broad-gauge track running on an embankment in the background and 600 and 750 mm track on the main level in the foreground. 

The diorama is planned to be an expanded 'photo plank' to show off my growing collection of Soviet narrow-gauge models. It measures 85x35 cm. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze in an industrial building or two, a concrete plated road area and the characteristic concrete fence and overhead steam pipes so well-known from the Soviet Union. 

Children on Bicycle

Not since I finished the driver figure for the Fowler has a new figure joined the population on my 1/19 scale layout Nystrup Gravel. Now a new figure is adding many never seen before elements to the layout. Not only is the figure two figures and a bicycle, they are also a boy and a girl - the first female on the large scale Nystrup Gravel. The figures are also from a new manufacturer Figurendesign Volker Bauer from Germany. So many firsts!

Two children on a single bike and on Nystrup Gravel company territory! Workshop manager Petersen is not amused...

All figures on Nystrup Gravel have until now been delivered by Modelu in 3D prints from scanned real-life persons in period clothing styles. All male, all adults and mostly very 'industrial'. As Nystrup Gravel is an industrial railway layout, that's very fine. But to add a little variety I have been looking for some figures that wasn't males or adults. Two children on a bike would look good.

Following Figurendesign Volker Bauer on Facebook turned out to be a good idea. This week I saw a new figure presented: two small children on a little bicycle. From ordering to delivery only 3 days passed and I couldn't wait to open the package. The figure is supplied prepainted and well protected in a double cardboard box. 

Straight out of the box. The package arrived just as I was sorting discarded helmets for use on the vintage railway where I volunteer.

Image of the figure from the website of Figurendesign Volker Bauer. I'm glad my model didn't have the red hair on the girl.

The figure is hand sculpted and once finished, scanned. The file is then able to be printed in a variety of scales - even in 'odd scales' if you advise the manufacturer. I chose a readily available scale 1/22 version. Printing is to a high standar although the facial detail is a little soft. Painting is quite good with room for improvment in just a few places. The look is a bit too glossy for my taste and I will probably give the figure a layer of matt varnish once I'm finished working on it. I have a few details I would like to add. Other than that it is an excellent little model in itself and it has added much needed diversity to my layout. It will add charm and interest to any layout where children are often overlooked as a feature. The pose is well chosen for a pair of kids having stopped for a moment to observe something.

In the 1950's public child care in Denmark was still in its infancy and many children in rural areas had a lot of time for themselves - particularly before starting in school. Here a little boy and his younger sister has strayed onto the Nystrup Gravel yard. Full of exiting trains and places to hide. 

Baguley Frame Details Fitted

Having removed the unwanted parts on both frame ends on the Baguley-Drewry loco, it was time to add the first new parts on the loco. As planned I added new couplings/buffers and as an 'extra thing' I also decided to add sanding gear on the centre axle wheels despite it being very hard to see from normal viewing angles.

New buffers are now fitted to Nystrup Gravel's Baguley-Drewry. The buffers were probably made in Nystrup Gravel's own workshop after images of the type usually being fitted to Nagbøl locomotives.

To make a coupling that is fastened well in the frame ends I decided to use the bolts that held the original coupling pockets on the Accucraft model. As usual I cut a cardboard piece to test size and aid in design. I made the real plasticard version a little deeper and added the 'ribs' that enable the coupling chain to be fitted at alternating heights fitting wagons with different frame/coupling heights.

As usual I test design and size with a piece of cardboard before I begin the real work on new parts. 

Finished slightly deeper than the cardboard version, the front buffer is beginning to materialize. I use the bolts from the original coupling to fasten the new buffer.

Once the main construction of the buffers was finished I sanded the corners round and added boltheads in the lower corners from hexagonal plastic strip. Then I drilled a central hole through the buffer to enable a rod to fasten the coupling chain in the coupling/buffer.

The 'ribs' that enables coupling to wagons for varying height are being added. The plasticard jig giving equal distance between the 'ribs' are seen in the foreground.

Steel skips coupled to the Baguley-Drewry's new buffer. 

The pipes for sanding the centre pair of driving wheels (in both directions) were made from simple lengths of metal wire soldered to a bracket cut from scrap etched metal. Each bracket screws into the loco frame underside with two of the screws that held the now removed power pick-ups. 

Sanding pipes fitted to the centre wheel set. In the image they still need to be finely adjusted to a close fit but still allowing the wheel to rotate freely.

A viewer will have to look carefully for the sanding pipes to discover them. They may show more clearly after painting, but even in 1/1 scale sanding pipes aren't the most noticable feature on locomotives.

I'm also exploring how to fit an on/off switch next to the battery and a cardboard test bracket has been mounted on the underside of the frame. If I decide to use this solution I will probably have to adjust the height of the slide switch to avoid it snagging on track parts and vegetation. I still haven't made up my mind completely.

Testing shape and placement of a bracket for an on/off switch. As usual with a cheap prototype test part made from cardboard.

The work on the Baguley-Drewry loco will continue and there is a long list of tasks awaiting me. I will probably be focusing on installing the Loco Remote unit as one of the first tasks, as that will give me a good base to work on: underframe detailed and a running locomotive with 'only' work on the upper body remaining.

General Election Announced!

Yesterday I had an urgent phone call. A general election is scheduled to be held in Denmark on 24 March with all 179 seats in the Danish Parliament the Folketing up for election. The call was a reminder that election posters had to be fitted to all available telegraph poles in the Nystrup Gravel yard. It was standard practice that the main Danish parties could display election posters around the company grounds.

Just as I was shunting with the Fowler, the phone rang and minutes later I was hurrying to put up election posters on the layout. 

Nystrup Gravel is a town in the eastern part of Denmark and the gravel works are well documented, but as the layout's time frame is somewhat ambiguously placed in the beginning of the 1950's the posters aren't specific to any of the general elections that took place in the loosely set timeframe. In Denmark we had general elections in 1947, 1950, two elections in 1953 and again in 1957. On my model of Nystrup Gravel the posters were in use last time we had a general election - back in 2022.

'Don't make dad loose his job' the 1950 poster from the Social Democratic Party says. The socialdemocrats were in power through much of the 1950's laying the foundations for the Danish welfare state.

The Conservative Party's poster seems slighty croocked in this image. As always it's the photographers fault! 

Even loco No. 8 has been fitted with a poster! Probably just a practical joke, while volunteers were hanging posters around the yard.

While we wait for the results of the election there is work being done on detailing parts for the frame on the Baguley-Drewry locomotive. It's very varied work encompassing both plastic construction and soldering of metal. 

New Set of Tools

I have managed to model for the better part of 30 years with a miserable collection of 5 mini screwdrivers and pliers when assembling and disassembling models and equipment. Having gone up in size from 1/35 scale to 1/19 I have begun to feel the need for something a bit more substantial. And let's face it: those old mini screwdrivers aren't looking their best anymore.

A new box of mini bits for modelling and small household maintenance tasks.

A little seaching online revealed a multitude of cheap Chinese tools that would probably cover my needs, but I'm not too keen on Chinese stuff. iFixit seemed like higher quality and while not being from a European manufacturer looked like a decent deal. Consequently I bought an iFixit 'Mako Precision Bit Set' (number IF145-299-4 64) hopefully containing high quality bits in small sizes.

The set contains an ergonomic bit driver with a magnetic bit socket and an added 150 mm flexible extension in addition to 64 bits of different types. Most usefull so far on my current Baguley-Drewry project has been the nut sockets (supplied in the sizes 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 5.0 and 5.5 mm) and the screwdriver bits.

Opening the magnetically attached lid on the tool box reveal its contents. The magnets secure the lid well and there is very limited risk of the lid to separate unintentionally.

The bit driver fits snuggly into my hand and holds the bits well.

The old and worn mini screwdrivers are now ready to go in the scrap bin for recycling. Their departure will also provide much needed room in my toolbox. Not for new tools, but for the possibility of actually finding what I'm looking for.

Baguley-Drewry Progress

The 1/19 scale Baguley-Drewry loco is having a rough time. Some rather serious changes have been inflicted with tools I'm not usually using for building models. The frames have been stripped of the original couplings and moulded-on details on the frame ends. New scratchbuilt buffers/coupling are being designed and I'm exploring how best to position battery and Loco Remote equipment. All part of the first stage in the loco's transformation.

A snapshot of the sawed-off Baguley-Drewry on the layout. The developments on the large diesel loco has attracted the attention of a railway enthusiast using his simple box camera to snap a photo of the locomotive.

As the loco was used primarily with standard steel skips at Nystrup Gravel the buffers installed at the sugar beet railways were exchanged with something resembling a standard buffer/coupling from Danish loco producer Nagbøl Machineworks. Probably items that the workshop at Nystrup made themselves. In model I will be making the buffers from plasticard that will be bolted/glued to the frame. To ease painting and handling during use of the saw I removed the sidesteps. Easily done as they were simply bolted in place.  

I used a fine toothed metal saw to cut of the lifting brackets and the rectangular protrusions on the frame ends. To enable a trouble free use of the saw and to minimise risk of damage to the model, it was solidly clamped to the worktable before the saw was used. I mounted the loco on two scraps of surplus board to take the pressure from the clamps and avoiding damage to the loco's wheels and bearings. The loco's motor was wrapped in masking tape to keep metal debris out of it. After sawing I cleaned up the resulting minor unevenness and flash with a file.

All 4 steps were removed. That will ease painting of the steps as well as frame details. I used a new set of tools that will make much of my assembly work on 1/19 models easier and safer.

With a fine toothed metal saw I cut of the lifting brackets and the rectangular protrusions with a, too me at least, unknown function. The centre coupling had been unbolted and removed before the saw was applied.

Apart from cleaning the loco from unwanted parts I have been giving some thoughts to where battery, wiring and Loco Remote unit could best be placed and how lamps and warning lights will be installed. The grand plan isn't there yet, but the basics have been decided. A 9 V battery fits between the frames in the forward part of the loco. From there wires will lead to the Loco Remote placed under the bonnet and from there to the motor.

The Baguley-Drewry seen from below with the rechargable battery in the front end of the frames. I will need to find room for an on/off switch somewhere close by. That shouldn't be impossible.

Side view of the loco with the Loco Remote unit placed in its future location. There seems to resonable room for wires and perhaps even for an extra feature with added lights.

With the first task completed on the rebuilding of the Baguley-Drewry I consider me off with a rather decent start on the project. Particularly removing the cast on parts on the frame ends had worried me a good deal, but with a good plan and careful use of the saw the result didn't turn out bad. Next project is making the buffers and adding a few details to the frames before installing battery and Loco Remote.