Welcome to the first Friday update of 2025. Wherever you are, however you have spent the holidays, grab yourself a hot drink and take a few moments away from your day to find out what I’ve been up to since we last spoke…
I’m not quite sure how I managed it, but there have been four main projects underway here on the bench on and the shelf behind me. Progress on layouts and repaints - Coalbridge Street, Denton Road and a pair of Farish 37s. The models are ready for weathering and will in time feature on their own, the layouts both substantially further forwards - lucky to have materials to hand and the headspace to sit and create.
In other years, I was excited to read about the new model proposed by Rapido trains Inc. Regular readers may remember I built a CF7 from the old Athearn model with some lovely KV etched parts and a repaint into Florida Central Pinsly paint. The CF7 really are the enabler of many short line railroads and so it seems fitting to find that a HMLX version has been proposed in this first release!
Of course the above graphic has been doctored by me and sent and shared with my good friend Cris in Canada who is then suggested that perhaps we should try and make this happen. We both have contacts at Rapido and I understand they are open to small batches based upon existing artwork. Would you be interested? No details or promises yet but an idea of the number of potential purchases will give Chris and I a better idea as to whether this is something we should pursue. You can get in touch using the contact form, my email is also on the Facebook page linked from Modelmaking Commissions on here or just leave a comment. We originally teased with the yellow as that is always the colour we imagine from the logging roots, but if a patched out SantaFe would work better for you we are open to ideas!
It was slightly sad to witness the last steam on the railway of 2024, and the last train for a few months whilst it goes in to hibernation. Whilst other preserved railways manage to run weekend services, here in the valley things don’t get going again until half term.
I’m sorry if you’re not a dog person, but I did have a nice few days down in Pembrokeshire seeing my mum and my miniature dachshund. Ronwen came with me for a break from the new labrador puppy that I’ve mentioned before. She really is tiny, but always enjoys a visit to White Sands Beach!
The middle of the Christmas break did mean a distinct lack of modelmaking but I had planned for this with the purchase of a number of new railway books (as seen on my Christmas Day post) and that I saved reading until I was in Pembrokeshire. The Beaten Track is another wonderful collection of unseen images and I can feel some of these may become layout schemes in the future. However, it is the Scottish diesels book that has really captured my imagination and rekindled plans, as if they need any more wood on the fire, for the Lochdubh branch - more on that later this year.
Whilst Denton Road in Coalbridge Street have seen posts over this holiday period, here is evidence of more progress on the former. I have been focusing on constructing the scenery in styrene around the wooden substructure, this is proven to be a sensible move as it allows me to tessellate and almost build a 3-D jigsaw of parts to minimise unsightly gaps. On this left-hand side you will notice the mill building just peeping around the left-hand side and the canal under the railway. There are a few more structures to fabricate in the dying days of this break and then a whole heap of painting! Exciting to see this sketch, dream almost, coming a reality.
You’ll also notice one of the repainted class 37s posed here - no prizes for guessing what motivated this creation! Slowly working its way through the workshop for weathering now. I look forward to being able to share more soon.
I hope you’ve enjoyed returning to the Friday update format. I will continue to put these together, a blend of personal and commission modelling and perhaps a nice way to start your weekend. Until next time, thanks as always for reading and I will write again soon…