More Bogie Wagons for Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to be offered two Hudson bogie wagon kits by a friend from France. The kits were made by David Provan in 1:35 and I'm unsure if they (or other kits by David Provan) are available anymore. The wagons are in etched brass and comes without bogies.

The wagons with steel sides match the two wagons Nystrup Gravel used to transport bagged sand for foundry use. Nystrup's foundry sand was a specialised product that was sold to foundries in both Denmark and Germany. When demand for the product was high, trains of sacks sometimes included the two-axled stone wagons. Even the long bogie wagon that on photos seems to have been mostly used for beer, were sometimes used for foundry sand.

As the kits are not including bogies I roamed through my unbuilt kits and found four Scale Link Hudson skips (item SRWD6) that I decided to use for bogies. I did the same on the beer wagon. I have high hopes for a 1:35/1:32 kit of a standard continental skip so it seemed a good plan to turn the Scale Link skips into bogies.



The beer wagon in front of the loco shed. No less than 34 crates of beer and a few with apple juice make up the cargo. The wagon is modelled after a real Danish prototype used by a contractor on a dam project. The beer crates are kits in etched brass by 'Epokemodeller' while the decals are designed by me and printed by 'Skilteskoven'.



Four Scale Link skips during assembly as bogies for the new flat wagons. Bearings have just been fitted to the axle boxes.

I have the skip frames on my worktable and is slowly getting them assembled and fitted out as bogies with plastic profiles from Evergreen. I use the same method of construction as on the beer wagon as it has achieved good running even on below average Nystrup Gravel track.

 

Five minutes later the four bogies are in different stages of being finished.

I don't expect further progress on the wagons any time soon, as I'm off to Germany next week to watch trains on the Pressnitztalbahn with some friends. We'll probably manage several other locations of interest on the way to and from Saxony. We will be staying in a hotel made up of old sleeping cars - the Wolkensteiner Zughotel. Haven't slept in a sleeping car since travelling through Romania in 1992.

One Hobby Shop Less (1/35)

You probably know the story: The local hobby shop you used to go to as a kid or young is closing. Sometimes it can make your modelling life a lot more complicated even though you can have everything you need from online shops. Copenhagen's oldest hobby shop 'Model & Hobby' closed this summer and now leaves the centre of Copenhagen without a proper hobby shop. (There is a War Hammer shop just around the corner from my office, but that is not the same...)

I know that many live far from a hobby shop and will probably find me sort of spoiled when I think it's hard that the nearest hobby shop from where I work is now not 5 minutes away but 15. But now I cannot visit a hobby shop in a lunch break - something I will miss. In the future I will be visiting Stoppel Hobby a lot more on my way home from work.

An image from the now closed hobby shop - a long time before I visited it for the first time. Beside minor details and the kit boxes the shop looked the same when it closed. I even believe the lady behind the counter was the same - just some 40 years older. Scan from 'Danske model- og jernbaneklubber, 1970'.

The shop supplied me with plasticard, wooden profiles, knife blades, landscaping materials and paint for almost 20 years since I began studying (my old department being just a short walk away). The shop was in existence for more than 65 years and closed because the owners wanted to retire - not because me and many other Danish modellers spent too little money there. But the shop hasn´t left without a trace. On the internet there is still a memorial site - and my shelves are full of models that owe their origin to the little shop in central Copenhagen.

Two French army wagons from the first World War built on Pechot bogies. The bodies are home built from wooden profiles from 'Model & Hobby' in Copenhagen and painted with Vallejo paints bought from the same shop.

Works Plates and Primer - My 3D-printed Schöma Loco (1/35)

After having cleaned the model, I sanded off the raised lines on cab front and rear and used sanding sticks to make the roof appear nicely rounded. After another wash with Ajax window cleaner, I primed the model with a thin layer of 'Chaos Black' from Games Workshop.
 



Current status of the Schöma KML5.

I’m also in the process of getting together the parts I need for the building of the loco (if the term 'building' applies to a model coming out of a printer). With the help of a German modelling friend I have received a set of etched metal plates.

 

The plates are made by a German manufacturer, Beckert Modellbau and are tailored in 1:35 scale to fit the Schöma loco both my friend and I have bought from the Shapeways’ site. My plates are made from etched nickel silver and were delivered painted black with the raised lettering rubbed down to show the metal and finished off with clear varnish. All that is left for me is to glue the plates in place. At 22 € the 4 plates are not exactly cheap, but well worth the investment anyway. The plates are quite a prominent feature on the prototype so the model wouldn't be complete without a set of plates. Next up is a drive unit for the model.

The Soviet Tractor at Nystrup (1/35)

I have been giving a short history of why Nystrup Gravel was in possession of a Soviet built tracked tractor for towing equipment and felled trees from areas to be quarried. Now the 1:35 model I have been building of that tractor is finished.

'Stalin' (as the tractor was known among the employees at Nystrup) has been in for serious maintenance at the loco shed. Minor repairs were done in the gravel pits to save the hassle with the local council over the road damage the tractor usually caused when travelling on them. Apart from it not being approved for road travel by the police...

A size comparison with one of the workers. By far the largest tractor to be found anywhere near Nystrup!

A rear view showing the heavy chains used for pulling logs and machinery at the pits.

After priming (see my previous post on the tractor), the model was given a coat of 'panzer grey' as it seems the Germans besides giving conquered equipment a mechanical overhaul, also took the trouble to repaint it in standard German military grey. I fitted a custom made decal from 'Skilteskoven' marking the tractor as a piece of equipment from FluPlaKo (Flug Platz Kommando). The tracks received a spray of a mix of brown and rust and several washes of rust and black oil paints. Wear on the tracks were made with a soft pencil.

The LZ-Models' huge diesel engine was a pleasure to build and it really lifts the model into another league. Do remember, though, to put some lead under the driver's seat or in the gear box as the resin engine has potential to make the tractor a 'nose sitter'. I added some fuel lines from copper wire and a few other home made details.



The LZ-models' resin engine fitted in the tractor. Radiator only temporarily fitted. The basic tractor kit has been primed in 'Chaos Black' from Games Workshop. Just behind the drive sprocket part of the towing chain can be seen. I fitted a brass shackle from Aber's set R-18 for Soviet heavy tanks.

Accident in a level crossing

From the binder I found this spring containing papers from Nystrup Gravel, it seems that the company also made newspaper clippings from the local papers. I have previously found clippings in a local archive, now a second source has appeared. The first of the new clippings I bring here on the blog is on a very mundane happening, but apparently still important enough to warrant a notice in the local paper.

The article mentions a crash between a tractor and two wagons with hay from a nearby farm and a Nystrup Gravel train. No serious damaged resulted, neither to drivers nor ‘hardware’. Some argument must have ensued, though, as the police was involved. The result being that the gravel company was forced to erect warning signs at every level crossing. As road crossing, especially with small farming roads, were numerous it was no small investment for the gravel company. Fortunately a standard gauge railway in the vicinity had just succumbed to the competition from road vehicles and closed down. A relatively cheap supply of cast iron warning signs was acquired from there. The signs could be found at crossings even years after the gravel line was abandoned and torn up.