I suppose it’s normal to go through times of not posting, and letting life commitments get in the way of modelling.
In my case, letting modelling get in the way of documenting anything rather noteworthy, but nonetheless a majority of things have been done and slowly becoming complete on other fronts.
So, let’s cut to the chase shall we?
In late 2021 I started building what I deemed to be one of my more ambitious projects, modelling the NSWRTM/THNSW running set. The difficulty of this is the cars are so modified and altered from both government service and heritage service it made the process difficult.
My first hurdle was constructing GMS 1. GMS 1 was an RBS carriage rebuilt by Northwest Coachbuilders from the early 2000s until its completion in 2004. The car has since operated with 3801 Limited, NSWRTM and now THNSW. This was achieved by using a Powerline BS car as the basis for the conversion, following photographs to create the car. Not a massive project, but one that cemented a lot of my early learning with the further development of my skill set. I learned how to use a bow pen as a result of this, and this has become something I’m rather interested in now.
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| GMS 1, Powerline conversion. |
The next hurdle was the N cars. THNSW operates 3 N cars ex Set 131 being HN2197, CN1747 and RFN2187. The cars were a massive effort to complete being a mixture of 3D printed sides courtesy of Mitch Bailey of Ctrl-P Models, floors from Infront Models and the original Bergs kits. The Bergs kits leave a lot to be desired, and their design is rather rudimentary compared to other kits of the NSW prototype. These cars were built, assembled and 95% completed. They look complete, so it makes me rather happy.
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| HN 2197. |
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| CN 1747. |
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| RFN 2187. |
I then took the plunge into building MBE62. This car operated with 3801 Limited and now with THNSW. The base model was a Lima MBE with some serious cutting into. The crownlight were removed, the matchboard below the belt rail was removed and new upper and lower body sections were made. Not up to my personal standards, so I may yet redo this car in future when I construct the TBC to go in with the rake.
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| MBE 62 |
I finished up with VHO1816 which was a very simple cut and shut using a Powerline KB guards van and a Lima 12 wheeler parts donor. The measurements were made, and body was cut to allow the fitting of the door. Some minor adjustments made including a basic underframe were done and we had the VHO finished.
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| VHO 1816. |
The reasoning behind doing this rake is the majority of cars have operated with many many different locomotive combinations. Most notably in my mind is 3642 hauling these cars around in the early 2010s, and even in the odd occurrence 3801 would be seen hauling the cars in the 1990s (have only found one such instance in 1996 but hey, evidence is evidence and you can’t beat it without better evidence of the contrary).
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| 3642, SWT 5, VHO 1816, HN 2197, CN 1747, RFN 2187, FS 2093 and FS 2122. |
I’ve also managed to squeeze in a few custom jobs for myself and friends, and I hope this update does speak a thousand words in the photographic format, not my waffling in the word department.
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| Auscision Models G513, weathered to depict G513 circa 2023. |
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| 42107 was a custom renumber job from an Auscision 42109 in Interail. |
I’m hoping to have a few more things on the go by the end of this year to compliment my current direction of modelling, but one will eventually find out won’t they?
Thanks for reading and enjoy the semi irregular posting schedule I have employed of late.
Cheers.
