O gauge

Added lighting to ‘Dark Lane’

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

On a recent to a trip to a local Exhibition, a friend was using a LED lamp for lighting his layout, it really was working very well. I decided to buy a similar item, so a search on Amazon with all the options I wanted was done when I got home.

I ordered a Hensam multi function Desk Lamp – it duly arrived within 24 hours. The only modification to the layout was to glue and screw a block of wood to the rear of the layout, this takes the clamp that would normally attach to a Desk. It has four brightness options and four daylight settings. The swan neck is easy to position and the head section moves well.

I have drawn the short straw at recent exhibitions and have had several ‘dark corners’ to contend with, this I hope will be a game changer. I am at an Exhibition this Sunday and will give it a good test, if OK I will use this feature on other layouts.

The two 09 shunters – side by side

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

After putting photos of both my Class 09 shunters on here recently, I had several people ask if I could post a photo of them together, so they could assess the differences. Please find said photos below.

I have to say I have done a little more work on both Locos since publishing the earlier photos, In my mind a Loco is never finished! I think this degree of ‘Fade’ was quite normal, especially BR Blue shunters that could go many years without a re-paint.

You could go even further and paint one of the engine room doors in a different shade as typical of a quick replacement from a scrap or unused loco – just a thought.

Another Class 09 in O Gauge

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

After my recent Class 09 in very distressed condition, I decided to finish this one with a light weathering. This is just a re-numbering and weathering after adding all the high level pipes.

I would classify this finish as ‘six months from its last repaint/overhaul’

MSLR Exhibition 24th/25th Aug

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized , ,

I spent the above days at ‘The Middy’, the Sunday and Monday of the Bank Holiday. We were last minute attendees as there were layouts that could not attend and/or pulled out. Anyway, four of our groups layouts plugged the gaps to ensure the rooms were filled.

I decided that I would run different stock each day on our layout Grub Lane – see under.

Sunday 24th – Industrial Steam

Monday 25th – BR Southern Region 1960

STD Class 4 tank finished

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

I have now finished my O Gauge STD tank. I have coaled the Bunker, added a crew, painted the back-head, painted the fittings and pipes as the prototype with brass and copper metallic paint, glazed the windows and given it a very light weathering.

That was quite a job, but was so satisfying. I found a photo of the prototype about a month out of works and tried to weather it as the photo.

BR STD 4 Tank in O Gauge

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

This is a item I purchased nearly two years ago, it was plain black with red buffer beams and made by Bachmann Brass. I have to say that lining locos has very much taken a back seat recently, at 76 years old, I am not as good as I used to be, hence I kept putting it back for fear of messing it up.

Well, I picked up enough courage to have a go today, it went reasonably well, but one side is slightly better than the other, it took me seven hours to do what I used to do in half the time. I used Johnsons Clear floor polish (the old type), to get good transfer adhesion, the transfers were mainly Fox, with the logos being HMRS.

I can not say that I enjoyed doing it, but I did it, and that is the last loco I need to do for myself. I still have a lot to do to the loco, I will post again when it is completely finished.

I picked a Loco that was used on three different Regions of BR so that I can run it in all as necessary.

Heljan PMV Van in O Gauge.

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

Here is one of the latest Heljan PMV vans. I have given it a Medium/Heavy weathering, Body medium, roof and underframe Heavy.

I have to say a lovely model and will be getting at least two – when I can afford it!

Since taking these photos I had given the door vents a coat of Matt Varnish to dull them down a bit!

Another Class 24 in O Gauge.

Kelvin Barnes Uncategorized ,

In my last post reference Class 24’s, I said that they were all finished – wrong! The day after our group member Nick asked whether I would weather one for him, how could I say ‘no’.

Slightly different to all the others I have done, BR Blue in PRE-TOPS. After research, I came up with D5008, just after it was repainted into blue. Because of what it is, it is Light on the body, but medium on the underframe.