Danish Model Railway Union Exhibition 2025

The Danish Model Railway Union's annual model railway exhibition had again booked the large sporting centre no more than 1000 m from my doorstep. I'm not overly excited by model railway exhibitions, but when one is held this close to my home it's no big investment in time. I actually visited the exhibition last time it was held in my hometown.

An integral part of the DMJU exhibition is a diorama contest, where the audience is invited to vote for  the best diorama. This time there were 3 contestants and I didn't need much consideration before I voted for this diorama in 1/87 scale.

The DMJU is a society organising most Danish model railway societies. As their main public event the DMJU hosts an annual model railway exhibition. Some traders are invited, but the exhibition is centered around layouts and modelling rather than trading. 16 mm gauge is not a widespread scale in Denmark and as expected no layouts or models attended. Narrow gauge was pretty thin with only one layout having a decent amount of it in 1:120 scale.

Most layouts were H0 and drew pretty large crowds, but layouts like this isn't fueling my railway modelling passion. No offence meant to its builders.

The DMJU exhibition is primarily a show to give a broad overview of what's happening on the Danish railway modelling scene. Not least to younger people looking for a hobby. The exhibition is thus mostly focused on layouts, but some traders are present. I visited my usual business partners that also help me with custom made parts when I need that. No traders get rich from my model railway shopping at the exhibition, but I found a few goodies at the sales stand of Epokemodeller. One of the items was so well made I came to great doubts of my railway modelling future!

Large laser cut factory windows and drain covers for a future Eastern European diorama in H0. And a small narrow gauge locomotive in the same scale. 

Picking up the tiny Deutz OME117F loco I was astonished to notice that I could actually read the number on the builder's plate. 10835 corresponding to a Deutz loco delivered to the Netherlands.

All levers are present at the driver's position as is a fully detailed seat. I really struggle to understand how someting so finely detailed and well made can be sold for just 20 Euros. Sounds too good to be true, but it's not. Check out the loco on Artitec's homepage.

Doubting the reason continuing my modelling when such masterpieces can be picked up for 20 Euros from Dutch manufacturer Artitec, I placed the loco on my small 1/87 diorama together with some mine tubs and it looked even better. Photographed with some of the stuff I have made myself I realised that my own modelling wasn't so inferior as to be given up totally. So I will carry on doing fun industrial narrow gauge modelling. And now the Deutz is being built into the history of my yet geographically undecided Eastern European mining area as a 'trophy locomotive' brought back as reparations from Germany after World War 2.

Out of use Deutz with mine tubs in front of the concrete fence around the mining facility.

Moving closer the detail on the little locomotive shows up even clearer. The loco is a static model, but at the small price H0 modellers could easily place a few of them on an open standard gauge wagon and have an unusual load.

So despite my reservations I had a good 1½ hours at the exhibition and brought some nice things with me home for a very reasonable price. Surely not the worst activity on an otherwise quiet Sunday.

MD-54-2 in 1/87 Scale

The mailman rang the doorbell and delivered a package from Ukraine with yet another 750 mm gauge Soviet locomotive model in 1/87 scale. The company K-Model from Kyiv has a large range of H0 scale model cars and vehicles. Added to that is a small number of 750 mm narrow gauge models in the same scale. I have shopped in Kyiv before and am in the proces of  building (now and then, at least) their TU-4 loco.

Two 1/87 scale MD54-2 locos right out of the parcel from Ukraine.

MD54-2 locomotives were built by the Istinsk Machine Building Plant (200 km southeast of Moscow) between 1953-1962. The type was designed as a replacement for older small narrow gauge locos for 600 and 750 mm gauge of Soviet manufacture and a wide array of locos acquired as war booty and reparations. A riveted frame with two axles on elliptical springs carried what was basically the upper body and mechanical parts from the DT54 tracked tractor. A total of 1817 locomotives (a small number by Soviet standards). A very similar loco was the MKD-35 built primarily for the smallest industrial railways with 600 mm gauge where regauging to 750 mm wasn't economically viable. 

A lot can be said about the MD54-2 but it's not first in line for a design award!

An 750 mm MD54-2 at the Pershotravenka porcelain isolator plant, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. In the background the company's VP-4-2073. Photo: L.N. Yanchuk.

The model is delivered assembled, painted and fitted with glazing in the windows. The model is tiny, measuring only 5.3 cm in length and 2 cm in width. Each loco is accompanied by a skip model that looks somewhat proportionally challenged. I bought two locos and the two skips are going straight to my box of spareparts.

The model is 3D printed, is unmotorized and fitted with metal wheelsets. Despite being resonably well protected by bubble wrap and a sturdy cardboard box some headlights and an exhaust pipe had broken off during transit. I could retrieve the broken off parts from the wrapping and they will be kept safe until I begin working on the models.

Image from Ebay showing the MD54-2 model with the accompanying skip. At least I can source two central buffers for a future project.

The K-Models' MD54-2 on a slice of birch in a landscape setting. A tiny model that will be a nice addition to my Soviet narrow gauge collection.  

MD54-2 1027 preserved at the Pereslav railway museum in the small town Talitsy in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. The colours could indicate that this is the actual prototype for the K-Models model.

The MD54-2 models are now packed safely away in a small cardboard box as they are not high on my list of modelling tasks. I have 1/19 projects that are far more important and I have begun assembling the new 1/10 scale skips as well. The most important thing is that I now have two MD54-2 locos in my collection. You never know how long small manufacturers survive in a niche market. 

Lights On the Fowler

I have been keeping away from work on the lamps and lighting on the Fowler as long as possible. I have always been reluctant to take on varying electrical jobs (like fitting lights in locos and in buildings) on my model railway. Not because I don't like a layout with lights in a dimly lit layout room, but because I find it difficult work. So in pure defiance I set out to connect some wires and see if I could turn on the lights on my Fowler model.

Sometimes the fear of the task is the greatest obstacle. 15 minutes of work and I could turn on the lights!

I had been collecting some useful stuff for the lighting project and had two sizes of typical lorry headlights to choose from: 9.5 and 12.5 mm in diameter. I decided to use the 9.5 mm headlights in whitemetal that I suspect originates from Imperial Modellbau from Germany. They were packed in an unmarked plastic bag, so I'm unable to confirm it.

Two sizes of headlights and LEDs. I will be using the small 9.5 mm whitemetal headlights with separate resin glass inserts. The larger headlights are from an old diecast Ford A lorry.

The LEDs are insanely small as they are leftovers from another project. They seem to give a resonably sharp light in a good hue, so I'm intially testing them out in the lamps. Their size is close to a prototypical light bulb!

With the LEDs functioning all that remains is to figure out how to lead the wires to the lamps and still have the loco disassemble comparatively easy - and of course to fit the LEDs in the headlights. The Fowler is approaching the finish line!

Just to prove that the rear facing LED works as well!

Large Scale Skips - Really Large! (1/10)

I have developed a serious 'multiple scale dispersion syndrome' regularly drifting from 1/19 scale as my mood sees fit. I'm now trying out two kits from the new manufacturer Feldbahnfactory in the Netherlands. Also trading under the name of 'Spoorhout' the small manufacturer is just about to lanuch a production of 1:10 scale 600 mm industrial railway wagons and locomotives in laser cut wood. I couldn't resist the urge to build two classic steel skips in 1:10 scale.

The skips (one braked and one unbraked) comes in flat boxes measuring 36x23 and 41x22 cm. Curiously the braked skip (the kit with the most parts) came in the smallest box.

I have only been opening the boxes and carefully examined the parts. The instruction in A4 landscape format are expertly done and the impression of the kits is very promising. I can say that packaging is solid and the the four frets of parts are wrapped in silk paper. Obviously the maker, Arnoud Bongaards, is talented in digital design and drawing as well as presenting his kits to a very high quality.

Opening the box you are greated by silk paper wrapped frets with laser cut parts for your large scale O&K skips. I had the feeling opening a jewellery box, not a model kit! The kits will have great gift potential for industrial railway enthusiasts.

I received instructions in Dutch language as Arnoud wasn't quite finished doing the English version. Fortunately I'm pretty used to reading Dutch - and lets face it: the drawings says more than a thousands words!

Having carefully removed the silk paper wrapping I examined the parts that seem to be cut nicely and probably needing only very little work to separate from the fret. As with any wooden laser cut kit I'm looking forward to see how the prototype's round shapes are represented in kit form. A few other things I'm looking forward to experience is how the layering of parts will work out and how well the wood will take paint. 

Four frets A, B, C and D - and a small extra one taped to fret A.

Close up of fret D. For any resonably knowledgable skip fan the parts are readily identyfiable.

The well illustrated instructions seem to leave no question unanswered. Time will tell if it really works out that way.

The two skips are not meant to become the beginning of a huge undertaking in 1/10 scale. A fun diversion from my rather serious 1/19 scale modelling is good and I plan to exhibit the finished models on my work office where I have varying displays of railway and construction equipment models. Always a good starter for a talk with colleagues.

New Mini Drill

I'm not a modeller with a huge collection of tools and a workshop full of fancy machines. Basic tools, airbrush and a mini drill pretty much sums up what I use in my modelling. Recently my more than 25 year old Dremel-type mini drill from a supermarket stopped working. Time for a replacement.

Decent tool in a conservative design. Notably more silent in operation than my old drill.

To replace the cheap (probably Asian-made) broken mini drill I chose a European-made Proxxon with speed regulator. It's a type Micromot 60/E and has so far worked fine with the small range of mini drill attatchments in my possession. It may cost a bit more, but I'm not shopping mini drills every week and it's good to know that there is an endless range of accessories to the machine. If the Proxxon can keep working as long as my old mini drill (and I expect it to) It'll keep me company for the rest of my life. One thing less to worry about!

Drill and power supply is placed to the right on my work table. Usually I don't leave a drill in the tool. That's bad workshop discipline.

Fowler Painting Begun

After enjoying building parts for the cab interior, I have now set out to paint the loco. Not something many will notice afterwards as the loco obviously is already painted. Handling and working on the loco has created scratches, and the many added exterior details, although given a first treatment of paint back in August, could use a proper repaint. Now the loco is dismantled for fitting the cab details and repainting.  

Cleaned up work area with parts for the cab interior. After vacuuming the workbench, painting of the Fowler can now begin.

One of the first things I changed on the Fowler was lowering the buffer height to fit Nystrup Gravel's skips. With the buffers lowered the old mounting hole became visible. I thought the partly visible hole would be a good illustration of narrow gauge industrial locomotives' flexibility. I drilled two holes for the mounting bolts in each buffer plate and painted the area, where the buffers would have been located when mounted higher with a mix of red/brown colours to illustrate the original primer. The area was masked off with Tamiya masking tape. Then buffer plates and buffers were air brushed Vallejo Air 'Ferrari Red'. Removing the masking tape revealed the primer colour as if the buffers had been lowered without anyone taking the trouble to overpaint the area with red.

Painting in progress. Rear buffer beam screwed off for ease of drilling and painting. Coupling rods have received the first layer of red paint.

Buffers are fitted after painting, frames painted 'Black Grey' and rods and counterweights painted red. The cab floor has had its first layers of paints, the brake coloumn is fitted - and I found the hand tools I've been looking for!

Gear lever subassembly and instrument panel glued in place and cab interior having its first layer of weathering applied. The traces of the buffer's higher mounting for the loco's original customer can be seen.

My trusty German Gabbert airbrush from the late 1990's has developed some bad manners that I will have to look into before I can paint the upper body. Until then I can't fit window glazing and get the final things in the cab glued in place. While getting the airbrush in shape again, I'm placing the Fowler on the shelf. Hopefully not for long!

Fowler Cab - End In Sight

Work on the cab interior on my Essel Engineering  Fowler F30 has progressed pretty well. All major parts have now been built and primed with some even painted and installed in the cab. The only item on my list of interior items that I haven't finish is the hand tools. I can't remember where I put the white metal handtools that I wanted to place on the cab floor. On the other hand additional details have been added and window glazing for the front windows have been prepared. 

Painting the interior and fitting the details in progress.

The interior is built in segments and planned to be glued in place inside the cab as painting and assembly order of different exterior fittings dictates.

The instrument panel was in an early stage in the last post on the cab interior. After drilling holes for the instruments it received a little putty and some sanding. Then I added some small push buttons from sliced round plastic stock. The panel was primed and given a cover of medium grey on the frontside and silver on the inside of the holes for the dials. The transfers are fitted to thin clear plasticard and covered with a thin layer of gloss varnish. The dials are then cut out and fitted on the inside of the panel with Humbrol 'ClearFix'. Once dry a drop of 'ClearFix' is also onto the dial from the front. The idea is that a light source mounted in the instrument panel will allow a little light to shine through the clear plasticard and thin transfer to show illuminated gauges. Fingers crossed!

Instrument panel in plasticard and 1/35 scale transfers for the instruments.

The first dial fitted to the 16 x 25 mm instrument panel. Only the green lamp will light up on my loco. The red lamp has been blocked by layers of black paint on the rear side of the panel.

Once the design of the gear levers and associated stuff was finally decided, the box for the levers and clutch pedal was quickly built. The two levers and pedal were cut from plasticard. One gear lever is for directional change - positioned firmly glued in 'forward'. The other lever is for 'low' or 'high' and permanently positioned in low gear.

Instrument panel finished, levers and sanding pipes fitted to the sandboxes and gear installation in progress.

Gear levers and clutch pedal test fitted in the cab. 

The speed controller is not patterned from a real Fowler loco, but from a preserved Danish narrow gauge locomotive. I guessed the simple design would be one that a mechanic at the Nystrup workshop could have made without any fuss: a length of angle iron and a handle with a wire connection to the engine. 

Speed controller glued to the front wall in the cab. Pencil lines marking floor level to help adjust cab interior.

A small triangular plate fitted in the rear cab corners. A convenient place to place the note book used to keep track of the number of skips propelled back and forth each day.

Some interior details are fitted by now, while others have to wait until repainting of the loco exterior is finished. 

Back on the layout for a snapshot. The loco is looking so much better without the original huge battery box in the cab. Next up is little work on the buffers and a repaint.