Nice work!

Russ

I to admit that my attention may stray at times, but I find OO9 far to small.

I'm just conceptualising an On30 layout in not-quite-darkest africa upriver from Uppergolfballawayo. so far this has progressed to the loco for an armoured train, plus some of the local characters.

I must do some work on this as I think it will look quite cool

Its nice to here what our bigger cuzins are up to, I my self wont to do HO 12mm scale.

evin thow there not our scale its grait to see whots dune, is there a 3/16 scale site out there as well?

  regard Manaia

I think I sent you this link at some stage, but your armoured loco reminds me of Chris Walas's work : http://4largescale.com/chris/c40.htm It's his attention to the painting of his models that I specially like.

 Manaia wrote " 

Its nice to here what our bigger cuzins are up to, I my self wont to do HO 12mm scale. evin thow there not our scale its grait to see whots dune, is there a 3/16 scale site out there as well? "

 Start your own thread on HO 12mm. If a great 3/16th site is what you're after the check out Grant Morell's website : http://www.nzrmodeling.webs.com/

If you're into "conceptualising" or "imagineering", then have a look at Chris's mini layout made almost completely of paper. The guy is a modelling genius ! : http://forum.gn15.info/viewtopic.php?t=2849&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

FWIW, and since .009 has been mentioned, if any of the membership wishes to see what one Kiwi did in that particular scale, a perusal of 'Little Trains of Thought' by Merv Smith could be of interest. The book is long out of print, but if you can find a copy from somewhere the photographs are worth looking at - if only to get ideas we can use.

Merv's layout - the 'Piki Piki Tramway and Colliery Co' , was an .009 scale NG coal-carrying railway located somewhere on the South Island's West Coast and was very influential amongst the NZ modelling community when it was published as  it opened-up possibilities beyond the hitherto-normal Nine-Mill, Sn31/2 and OO/HO and N scales.  The  Motive power he used was largely based on scratch-built Beyer-Garratts, running on Arnold and Joef chassis (yes, I know, Arnold, Joef - it was a little while ago), an approach which was unique in New Zealand modelling at the time, and occasioned a lot of comment, largely of the 'I didn't know you could do that' type, and setting off a short-lived .009 NG craze - particularly in Auckland. The PikiPiki was later relocated and rebuilt when the Smith family relocated to Point Chevalier from Hobsonville, but, I am advised,  was subsequently scrapped, with the locomotives and rolling stock being consigned en masse to the dumpster - an unfortunate and undeserved fate for a unique little railway. Nothing, it seems, has survived, while Merv himself has gone off into other things (including retail MR) although these  activities are still largely railway related.

As I said, FWIW, and to give credit where credit is due.  Hope its been of interest.

I remember the first time I saw an article in the Womans Weekly on Merv's Pikipiki layout. Truely impressive stuff ! His foray into HOn 2 1/2 was a bit of a revelation for the non-rivet counters and imagineers of the day and, reading between the lines, set more than a few people in modelling circles into a fluster. To think of those beautiful little loco's being dumped makes me shake my head - I think Merv must have a had a cranial derailment there ! He once stated his layout wasn't of museum quality ! As my standard 3 teacher ( the evil Mrs White ) would say "Rubbish, drivel and tosh !". The Piki was certainly up there with the likes of Kerosine Creek IMHO. Time to re-read "Little Trains" again methinks.

Finally got on and finished this loco, as it's been sitting on the WB painted but needed finishing.

I intended to add bonnet side grills, but lost one. No probs, just use the door panels instead (see pic on first post). The missing grill turns up 2 weeks later ! Painted with a spray bomb, added couplers, lightly weathered with airbrush (yes I know I need practice at weathering), dull coated, glazed, and added driver. Just waiting for etched cab numbers from the UK. The v-tipper is 1 of 6 kits assembled, painted and awaiting weathering. Similar to ones used in NZ on construction of various lines. Pic below is of an ex-WW1 Protected Simplex and rake of v-tippers on a construction train somewhere on the East Coast Main Trunk line (possibly the Wainui bridge between Kati Kati and Tauranga).

ECMT

Fantastic - a really great effort, very inspirational and definitely my sort of locomotive although I'll stick to what I'm doing with N. Thanks for sharing it with us, and for the photograph

What are the origins of the wagons?  Dundas?

Do you have a layout planned to give the beastie something to do, or will it remain unemployed until some future date?

BTW. what is the background in the pic?  An NZ120 layout back scene? It also looks great, and seems quite appropriate.

Sorry for all the questions, but again, thanks.

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "

Thanks Komata. The v-tippers were a six pack of kits from a Japanese source : www.justmystage.com/home/yoshiya/sub3.html Not sure if he produces them any more. Or else other kits are available from www.nigellawton009.com/WGAllenVeeTipper.html

No layout planned, just too many ideas. Maybe a shunting layout on a "plank" - a typical UK 2' x 6" mini layout.

Re. the background pic go to motoriseddandruff.blogspot.com/ , click on the "Guest" label halfway down on the left side of the page, and scroll down till you find a posting by me dated Tuesday June 16, 2009. The background pic is the hills behind Kati Kati.

Cheers, ECMT.

ECMT

Thanks  for your reeply, which was much appreciated.

There are defintely ideas to follow-up on.

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "

Here's a couple of pics, featuring the same sort of v-tippers, that would appeal to you. Taken at the sulphur mining operations on White Island, possibly between 1923-1933.

ECMT

Thanks for the images.  Yes, very appealing indeed - especially the top one.  Love the trestle supports ('Bent' bents perhaps?)

Although as far as I know such a critter never existed, what would an industial-level locomotive-employing sulphur mining tramway look like - especially given the extremely corrosive nature of the chemical?  The weathering-potential would be enormous (Lots of rust and corrosion)

Perhaps that could be a use for your 'orphaned' .009 locomotive anbd those side-dump wagons?

Just a thought. . .

I couldn't find pics of , (seen them somewhere on the net), the quarry tramway from Whakatane to Whale Island (1915 - ? ), which was used to obtain rock for the construction of the Whakatane breakwater. Maybe a small steamer left over from those operations ?

Definitely something to mull-over at length - especially over Winter.

Unfortunately I'm too committed to NZN-Freelance and the 'mines at the moment, but perhaps one day another Tea-tray may eventuate along similar lines.  A small Fowler or Davenport-inspired NZN-Freelance 0-6-0T could be a possibility. Time will tell . .

It would of course look really great in .009. . (LOL)

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "

This has been sitting on my workbench for far too long. It's an HOn30 (HOe) Railtruck produced by Japanese modeller Yoshiya Kobayashi. It's a brass kit involving straight forward construction & folds and fits onto a Kato 11-107 tram chassis. I thought it was probably a freelance model, though many railtrucks have been cobbled up on bush trams to look similar to this.

Reading previous posts it looks like I didn't post a pic of my completed v-tippers, filled with prime East Cape potting clay.

WOW ! I love that thing. that looks great, well done. great weathering...

love that truck! nice work. i want to do something like the Smith trucks that operated on the Mamakus. will probably have to be in this scale as well. definitely not on the project list for some time though. your loco has come up well. must be plenty of space on your workbench now! haha!

I must admit to being a real fan of japanese modelling.  There are some really talented modellers there, and somehow they seem to get a different "finish" on their models.  Its something I cant place, but somehow things look..."brighter" than work from other countries.  Is it the paint they have access to?  Or is it more that their primary weathering concern is dust rather than dirt and gunge?  Still trying to puzzle that one out....

Okay, tracked down this image on my PC (I was posting from the comfort of the couch and my laptop before).

This is a Japanese modellers On30 efforts....and i believe that even if I didnt know the modellers place of origin, I would be able to pick it due to the finish.  Anyone got any opinions on what makes their modelling so unique??

Steve - Thanks for your comments. I'm flattered that you like my weathering. I don't think I'll ever be as good as you, but if you don't give it a go, you might as well stay in bed. Goes for assembling kits or scratchbuilding too I suppose. I did the weathering mostly with a Tamiya Weathering Master set.

Beaka - I spoke to you at the Mt. M show at the beginning of last year, and said I had intended to bring the railtruck along to show you. So it has languished on the workbench for far too long. I thought you might like it. Not exactly Jeff Law quality (mate I like his modelling !), but I'm happy with how it's come out. An Olly Smith type railtruck should be do-able in OO9, HOe, or NZ120. I took a few pics of Ollies Railtruck at Mamaku recently - what a buzz to see it in the flesh. As to workbench space - there is now even less ! The cupboard was bursting so I took out a kit I've wanted to do for quite a while. Pics to come . . .

Am-Fet - I know what you mean about Jap modelling. And what a great little scene in that pic. They have a knack of capturing and setting a scene so well. There's quite a few vids on You Tube of Jap narrow gauge layouts - always superbly done. Why is their modelling unique ? Maybe just time & space. They use their available modelling time to it's best advantage, and they don't have the comparatively large amounts of modelling room that most Westerners do. They go for quality not quantity. I like to think of it as " Bonsai modelling ". Small, well formed, perfectly proportioned. For quite a while I've been a fan of the " Carl Arendt " type of layout. I like the Fremo/module idea, but I'm not a fan of the American type of fill-a-basement modelling.

was it a ...........wait for it!   RAILCAR KIT?

BTW does your partner know whats in the cupboard??? you avoided answering that!

mind you , my shed is deliberately untidy.perfect for hiding things.

Well - it's like this - NO !

Nope, my wife doesn't know exactly whats in my cupboard, and probably doesn't want to know. She does know I have far too much stuff than I need, or so she says anyway.

I'm just lucky ( or unlucky ) to not have a shed.

I've just finished this. No, not the loco or the tram carriage, just the name plate. The loco is a Roxey Mouldings model of a Kerr Stuart "Hampton". I purchased this second hand about 3-4 years ago. It just needed finishing, cab steps, handrails, couplers and replacement front buffer plate adding, and painting. I finally got around to adding the brass etched name plates this week. These were purchased from Narrow Planet in the UK. They measure about 2mm high, but are very crisp in detail. The carriage is a repainted Eggerbahn OEG Tramway coach - one of two I managed to score from the UK. Another job I must do is an updated photo diorama.

nice one! love those little locos. must have a go one day at scratchbuilding one in NZ120.

a shadowbox type module with fiddleyard would be a great way to show off your collection. would go down a treat at our club show in Jan 2012. hint!hint!

regarding the Smith railtruck. i have just seen a great shot of it crossing the diamond crossing on NZR line with a loaded  log wagon . It was on the NZ-rail-geography yahoo group. good detail of the drive bogie and log wagon bogie. the photo is actually the cover photo of the 1959 NZR staff bulletin. Interesting to see the diamond as i didn't think there were that many in NZ.

Wow, this is nice stuff! Excuse my ignorance; does HOe run on N guage track but have an HO scale body?

Thanks Iddy.

HOe represents HO narrow gauge - 2' 6" gauge. OO9 represents 2' - 2' 3". Both run on N track. The reduction in loading gauge corresponds with the smaller rolling stock. I'm not sure that the Eggerbahn coach pictured above is accurate for HOe, probably close to OO9. It scales out at 26' long, about 9' high, and 6.5' wide.

There is an HOe (or HOn30 which is the American notation) set for sale at the moment on Trademe.

As to the question re. that postal van, you could get tebee at Shapeways to produce some.

It took too long to construct - I had a slight whoopsie with the Loctite when constructing the chassis, but suprisingly it does run - just a bit noisy. It's all finished and just needs a wash, painting, weathering & dull coating.

There's an interesting article on ex WW1 40 HP Simplexs, as used in NZ for rail, dam etc constuction, in the April 1992 NZMRG Journal, pps 22 - 27. They were often referred to as Tin Turtles - more like Tin Targets !