Nystrup Gravel's Wagons no. 49 and 51 (1/35)

It may have taken some time, but now the two Hudson bogie wagons are ready for service on the 1:35 scale version of Nystrup Gravel. I started building the wagons from two David Prowan kits back in September 2013. Now more than three years later the wagons are evidence that I finish what I start - also when modelling.

Nystrup Gravel used the two wagons to transport bagged sand for foundry use. Nystrup's foundry sand 'Multisand' was a specialised product sold to foundries in both Denmark and Germany. The two wagons were bought from Great Britain through the Danish dealer of narrow gauge equipment V. Spøer. The wagons were delivered with steel sides which were obviously discarded quite soon by the Danish workers as they hampered easy on- and offloading. At least one of the steel drop doors was left rusting behind the loco shed for many years. In the recent issue (108) of Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review the Hudson bogie wagons are mentioned as having been delivered in large numbers to the British War Office for use in e.g. ammunition dumps.

The two Hudson wagons (one unloaded) photographed in front of 'Bankes Bakelit'. Apparently the original Hudson bogies were swapped for rebuilt skip frames at Nystrup.

When the second wagon was painted I could add the final weathering to both of them. I used pastel chalk for dust on the load area and graphite from a soft pencil for worn metal - primarily on the buffers on the bogies. I painted 19 sacks and added decals - enough for a symbolic load on one wagon. The next 25-30 sacks will be done when I need a therapeutic break from another project.

Being from etched metal and fitted with white metal bogies the wagons are comparatively heavy for their size. I fitted the bogies with a thin washer between bogie and wagon and small gap between the two to enable the bogies to adjust to uneven track. Time will show if more weight and washers are needed for safe running. 

Jung loco no. 6 shunting wagons 49 and 51 between the small industries in the western part of Nystrup.

Approaching the Finish Line - Bogie Wagons (1/35)

With a troubled history my two Hudson bogie wagons are now approaching the finish line. Being put back in a card board box several times due to missing parts or lack of motivation the wagons are now subject to a focused building and painting process. Fueled by the delivery of decals for the load of sacks and last week's progress on one of the wagons.

Cleaned up resin sacks and fresh decals from 'Skilteskoven'. The sacks will hopefully make the otherwise quite dull wagons a little more interesting.

With new found energy I glued on the 68 rivets (made from thinly sliced strched sprue) on the remaining wagon and primed it and its two bogies. A few of the cleaned up resin sacks were quickly painted and prepared for decals. When paint and varnish had dried I fitted the decals designed for the sacks. As expected the decals fitted perfectly on the resin sacks from Wespe Models.

One newly primed flat wagon and its almost finished cousin carrying a few test samples of sacks with foundry sand.

Straight from above: Three sacks with 'Nystrup Multisand' - the well known brand of high quality foundry sand from Nystrup Gravel, Denmark. The sacks still need a layer of matt varnish and a little weathering.

Next time you'll hear about the two bogie wagons they will be completely finished. I promise. You won't hear more about them for some time after that. I have a few other projects to tell you about in the time to come.

Flat Wagon Progress (1/35)

With soldering done the two wagons were washed thoroughly with hot water and a used toothbrush. When the wagons were dry I began fitting plastic details like brackets and rivets. The work adding rivets is somewhat tedious. Consequently my motivation hasn't been sky high.

One of the wagons with boards test fitted as low sides and sacks with foundry sand. The drawing is my concept for a decal for the sacks. I'm slowly cleaning up the many sacks - one more boring task!

Finally I pulled myself together and finished rivetting one of the wagons. It and the bogies got primed immediatly and now awaits painting.

A Local Hobby Shop in Berlin

While in Berlin this summer I came across this fantastic shop front of a hobby shop. Apart from childrens' toys the shop carried a lot of plastic kits, railway books and a wide selection of Märklin model railway items inside. But most amazing to me was the old fashioned shop front with neon signs in old Märklin design. If you fancy a visit yourself, find the shop on Wilmersdorfer Strasse 157 in Charlottenburg, Berlin or visit the shop's website.

The costumer at the door seems to hesitate. No need for that as there is plenty of nice stuff inside! I must confess I didn't buy anything. But as I model a Danish narrow gauge industrial railway in 1:35 scale I didn't expect a lot of things relevant to me.

The iconic neon signs over the shop front windows. Must look wonderful when lit in the dark.

A Long Story: Hudson Bogie Wagons (1/35)

Almost three years ago I started building two bogie flats in an attempt to recreate the two wagons used by Nystrup Gravel to carry foundry sand in sacks. The build process was stalled by several factors and the wagons somehow ended up in a box. The wagons have now returned to my work bench again and I'm determined to get them finished this time.

The box has landed. I can begin to plan what has to be done, how and in what sequence.

Status on the wagons is that all soldering is done and my home made bogies test fitted with cut down M2 bolts. As the kit's etched end angle profiles where too short I replaced them with pieces of brass profile cut and filed to suit.

The end profiles are filed to the right length in my small vice.

I got the vice as a birthday present in my early teens from my mom and dad. In more than one way a piece of history now. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was dissolved in December 1991

I'm now progressing with cleaning up my solder work which wasn't up to my usual standard. Next is fitting of small details like rivets. The load will need some work too, as the sand bag resin castings aren't exactly perfect. 

Both wagons ready for clean up. I bought the resin sand bags from Wespe Models on a Summer sale when I had another kit sent north anyway.

Bus ready for departure (1/35)

My 1:35 scale version of the Opel bus from the Nystrup-Ubehage-Dimholt-Skovby route is now ready for departure. The route connected the towns of Nystrup and Skovby via a route through the dark and inhospitable woods around the small hamlets Ubehage and Dimholt.

The bus picking up a passenger on its way to Nystrup.

 In the last blog post on the bus I was getting ready to fit sides to the model. An operation I had read other modellers found rather difficult. Thanks to that knowledge I was well prepared and the actual process went smoother than expected.

Sides fitted to the chassis. The roof is only temporarily fitted.

With the sides fitted I finished the weathering of the interior and prepared the seats for instalment. The seats are placed extremely close to each other and there is very limited room for the model figures to be fitted as passengers later. Perhaps the bus was the inspiration for the design of the seat placing in Ryan Air commercial airliners?

Ready for fitting of the seats.

Seats fitted and all exterior details glued on. The bus is ready for primer and paint. I fitted turned brass width indicators on the front mud guards. The width indicators came from RB Models from Poland. I had to make a rear view mirror myself as I wasn't able to locate one among the kit parts.

When the primer was completely dry I started masking to begin air brushing. As orange has bad coverage over the blue colour I masked the areas to recieve blue and spayed orange on the window band directly on the primer. After drying I masked the orange area carefully and air brushed the blue colour. I used Vallejo 70911 'Light Orange' and Vallejo Air 71005 'Intermediate blue'. Mudguards were brush painted black. Details were also painted with a brush. The thin chrome band separating orange and blue areas was painted a day I felt I had a particularly steady hand. Decals were designed and ordered from 'Skilteskoven'.

The bus during detail painting. After painting I gave the complete model a layer of gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals.

I applied the decals with the use of decal softener and setter from Mr. Hobby. While I don't really know if the setter liquid does anything useful, the softener definately helps the decals to conform the model's surface. When satisfied with the decals I gave the bus a final layer of gloss varnish.

After fitting two passengers, a driver and fitting the windows I closed up the bus by gluing the roof in place (see the figures built and painted in this previous post). Originally I had planned to fit more passengers, but the seat spacing makes it difficult. Other modellers planning to build the bus could perhaps consider adjusting the spacing by leaving out a row of seats? On the roof rack I placed the spare wheel, a fuel canister and a suitcase tied down with EZ Line.

Crossing the viaduct over Nystrup Gravel's 600 mm. line. The bus is heading north towards Ubehage on its way to Skovby.

A rear view of the Opel Blitz bus. Made from a 1:35 scale kit from Ukrainian manufacturer Roden.

With the bus finally finished I can now move on to other tasks. More on those projects coming up soon.

Fowler Driver Finished (1/35)

Last blog post left the Fowler driver ready for primer and paint. In this post the driver will be painted, weathered (yes, I apply weathering to figures too) and placed in the Fowler's cab.

I mentioned that I built the Fowler driver while making figures for my Opel bus. Here they are all four of them before primer.

Two figures with primer. To avoid fumes from the primer I bring items for priming outside the house.

Main colours have been brushed on the figures. I have used Vallejo acrylics. The paints don't smell, they flow well from my brushes and are easily cleaned from the brushes with tap water.

Painting finished. The three figures for the bus are ready to be glued in place. Minor adjustments still needed on the loco driver as he stands out more in the Fowler cab. After the photo was taken I painted a little dirt on the driver's coverall and used pastel chalk to make his boots appear dusty.

Loco driver in position in the cab.

Working on figures can be a modelling adventure in itself. I try to have a relaxed attitude toward figure modelling and have no ambitions of reaching anything near the military modellers' accomplishments that are stunning. My model figures are there to help locomotives and vehicles appear realistic and give a hint of size. I set off 1-2 effective hours of work for modelling and painting each figure. In my opinion that is a good compromise between the horrific prefinished figures you can buy for Gauge 1 (1:32 scale) model railways and the masterpieces from military modellers.