Easy Living - Vacation

After a week in Germany my vacation has now settled into the slow rythm of doing very little in a slow pace. Giving my house a little paint, interrupted by watching the olympics and generally enjoying life with wife and family. A little train running and a start on the cab interior on the Fowler diesel has been added to the few things accomplished. 

Running the Fowler back and forth on a short temporary garden line in front of my garden shed. Very relaxing!

With the help of images and drawings from an article by Bill Strickland in the November 1980 issue of 'Merioneth Mercury' I've begun making interior details for the Fowler cab. I'm just getting started on the brake installation and sand boxes. It's fiddly work and I hope it will be worth the effort. Work on the driver firgure is also under way with intial adjustment to feet and head to fit the cab.

Covering the added exterior details with paint has helped to make the model a little more finished although there is still a lot of work left. I used Vallejo 'Black' to cover bolt heads and profile additions on the frames and an ancient (most likely early 2000's) tin of Humbrol enamel 195 'Dark Green Satin' on the body details fitted. Where I had fitted metal parts I was carefull to prime with enamel paint before the acrylic colour was applied. My experience is that enamel has a stronger 'grip' on bare metal than my favourite acrylic paints.

What a difference a few brush strokes makes! All the exterior detail additions have been painted. The loco will continue to develop in the coming months.

One of my vacation projects actually got finished: the Modelu fox and it even got some publicity on the Modelu Facebook page. The guys at Modelu said nice things about my modelling and provided their audience with a link to this blog. Things like that boost my modelling confidence. Hopefully it will also help the producer to boost sales something we all will benefit from. Notice that I'm no influencer type receiving gifts in return for mentioning producers. My blog is way too obscure and I'm a proud full price paying customer when I shop for my hobby.

My first Modelu animal lifted from the Modelu Facebook page.

More Modelu Figures

In early May I received new Modelu figures to test as drivers in Nystrup Gravel's Fowler diesel. A lot more was in the package and I also mentioned the figures being sorrounded by supporting web of thin posts. They help the figure to remain firmly supported during printing and initial curing. Here is a closer look of how Modelu figures are looking before the supports are removed.

The two additional figures from the Modelu double figure sets 11208 and 11219 figures and a fox from set 31101. The maze of support sprues are evident. Unfortunately the right figure's right thumb seems to have suffered a fracture not even the supports could avoid.

The supports are easy to remove and shouldn't keep anyone away from investiong in one or several of Modelu's excellent large scale figures. I would count the Modelu figures as one of the most influential additions to 1/19 scale railway modelling. Modelu's figures are light years better than the usual caricature garden railway figures. They may be good enough in the garden, but on a small indoor layout like mine... never!

Apart from the loco crew I had the following sets added to the package:

0134 'Man with spade'

0148 'Man Kneeling'

31101 'Foxes'

'Man with spade' will be a good representation of track worker having been at work tamping a few sleepers with the spade. 'Man kneeling' could be representing a mechanic tending to a problem on a loco with a few tools laid on a piece of old cloth beside him.

Apart from the selected loco driver and a single fox the rest of the figures go back in a cardboard box for storage. I have plenty of other projects.

Pioneering Railway Enthusiast Visiting Nystrup

The many photographs of Nystrup Gravel that can't be traced back to the chief mechanic Thorleif Petersen are from two major sources. Local newspapers visited the gravel works regularly due to the company's modern PR strategy of open dialogue and transparency. In addition some of the early pioneers among Danish railway enthusiasts fortunately picked the line for repeated visits, despite the fact that industrial lines weren't high on the agenda for most enthusiasts. A couple of days ago I began the work on this particular enthusiast and he is now ready to see line side service.

My interpretation of an energetic early 1950's industrial railway enthusiast based on a Modelu 3D-printed figure in 1/19 scale. This shot reminds me that I have a most pressing task of getting some of my background photographs fitted to foamboard panels and placed up against the wall.

Contrary to the rather drab workers and mechanics employed by Nystrup Gravel the visiting enthusiast is in colourful clothes and recently shined shoes. He certainly isn't dressed in the practical outdoor clothing like some of today's enthusiasts on field work. That he is in fact relaxing, enjoying his hobby, is nevertheless clearly seen as he isn't wearing a tie and has most informally unbuttoned his shirt's top button. Unusually he isn't wearing a hat either.

Keeping his Leica IIf steady and waiting for the right moment to press the shutter release button.

After priming the figure with 'Chaos Black' I painted it with Vallejo acrylic paints. As usual I have tried to work with matt, satin and gloss paints and varnish to give an impression of the different surfaces on the figure. Matt for clothing, satin for skin and gloss for camera and the shiny brown shoes.

An accompanying enthusiast has sacrified a piece of valuable film for an image of his fellow photographer at the loading ramp in Nystrup. The photo is from the collection of Thorleif Petersen. Perhaps I will one day be able to identify the enthusiast?

Railway Enthusiast With Camera

Continuing the covid-19 modelling frenzy with a new figure after the recently finished Nystrup Gravel worker with oil can, I picked up one of the railway enthusiasts with cameras from Modelu. I chose the figure 1673 'Photographer with Leica Mk 2' as it is an immensely charming figure with several 'nerdy' features that are stereotypically attributed to 'train spotters'; pullover, shirt and unkempt hair as well as an expensive camera out of reach for the average citizen in the 1950's Denmark. 

Unpainted railway enthusiast photographing Nystrup Gravel's locomotive no. 3 in the yard at Nystrup.

The figure from Modelu is one of the best that I have laid eyes and hands on so far. The details and features of the 3D-printed figure are fine and as the Leica is obscuring most of the face, the usual soft facial detail isn't a problem. I only had to sand a few problematic spots (probably 'sprue' from the printing proces) and repair the camera strap that had broken in two places. I repaired the strap with Micro Kristal Klear that readily produces short a 'string' from one attachment point to another when applied with a wooden toothpick. When the Kristal Klear had dried the 'strings' were reinforced with AC-glue. I also discovered a few annoying depressions on top of the figure's head. Probably they are effects from the printing, too. They were filled with modelling putty and worked with a scalpel blade to resemble the surrounding hair. After a wash in hot water the figure is now ready for priming.

"Hold the position, please"

Apart from modelling and careful visits to other areas of the house to say hello to the rest of the family I had a nice walk in the lovely cold weather. Near my house some new hills have recently been made from surplus earth from the new Greater Copenhagen Light Rail (a project I participated in winning as tender coordinator). The hills give a good vantage point for watching trains on the main line between Copenhagen and Roskilde.

An ET 4-unit from operator DSB in the sparse snow seen from the newly established 'Hyldager Bakker'.