Felixstowe Area “N” Gauge Group
FEBRUARY 2021 NEWSLETTER




MEMBER’S ROUNDUP
Trevor - Events update
Those of us in the group who help organise our events have had email discussions regarding what we can do for 2021. Whilst the vaccine rollout is going well it is clear that it will be some time before things start to return to normal and there is still much uncertainty.
Therefore, we have decided the following.
Open days.
March – cancelled
October – we hope that this will be able to run as a normal open day, assuming restrictions allow. We have not yet booked the venue, but our target date would be Saturday 30th October.
Exhibition.- we have decided to cancel this as a public event. It is impossible to predict what restrictions would be in place at this time (June), but looks like there will still be masks, distance and number controls. This would make it unviable to organise / manage a show. Checking other modelling events around the same time they have either been cancelled until 2022, a few are suggesting an event in the autumn whilst others say ‘Details to be updated’.
However, we do recognise that members will want to get together to run layouts etc so we will try to organise a members (+ invited guests) event instead. Again, this is dependent on restrictions so we don’t know when / where at the moment, but I would hope before September when the local model show season kicks off. This is much easier for us to manage / make changes last minute. We feel that this is the best compromise.
The clubroom remains closed, but as soon as restrictions allow we will open up. I suspect initially this will be with limited numbers. If so, we had a proven booking / registration running last year so this can quickly be started again. I will email you all when we have news.


PROJECTS (1) by Richard
I have finished making my class 23 (Baby Deltic). It's a resin body sitting on a class 25 Graham Farish chassis.




NEW TOYS (1)
I finally received two limited edition Westerns, that seem to have been on order for years!
The weathered desert sand version is from Osborn’s Models, and the Ochre edition is from the Cheltenham Model Centre.
An expensive start to the new year!




NEW TOYS (2)
My wife got me a Merchant Navy class engine for my Christmas present, which I am now looking to get some Pullman coaches for to make up a boat train.




NEW TOYS (3)
Being stuck in over the Christmas and new year, we have been looking around online for any bargains and found a nice few.
BLS Cab-coach (New Hobbytrain) for the car transporter train.



2 K.Bay wagon (Secondhand Minitrix) a open ended boxcar and a Tanker, both pretty rare.



A K.Bay S3-6 4-6-2 steam loco (As new Minitrix).



A Kpev BR39 2-8-2 passenger set (As new Fleischmann).



And add-on Kpev passenger coaches (As new Fleischmann), a rare kpev sleeper, 1st-2nd coach and a 3rd end coach with tail boards.



SBB Gotthard wagon set (As new Minitrix), a very rare set of five wagons.



DRG bogie hopper set of three (Secondhand Minitrix) a rare set in the DRG livery.



K.Bay BR56 2-8-0 freight loco (Secondhand Minitrix).



K.Bay BR92 0-8-0 tank engine (As new Minitrix).



SBB Crocodile (Secondhand Minitrix).




FROM RUBBISH TO SCRAP By Chris



Whenever I make a model, kit bash or scratch build, I always end up with a few odd bits of sprue, off cuts or shavings that would normally just go straight into the bin.
But I have had the desire to make some scrap loads for my wagons for a long while, and rather than cutting up perfectly good bits and pieces I decided to save all the little bits from my projects and keep them in a zip bag.



I have many different wagon types, but I settled on my Peco 5 and 7 plank wagons as the starters for this project, as I have quite a few.
Now as we know you don’t want to fill your wagons with whatever load you are going to put in/on them, as some N gauge locos are poor pullers, so my plan is to have just a top layer showing, with a void underneath.
To begin with I got out about half a teaspoon’s worth of bits for each wagon, and it looked about the right. I tried to make sure none of the bits were longer than about 12mm in length, unless they were thin, in which case up to about 20mm long.



Moving the bits aside for the moment, the ‘tables’ come next that this top layer load will sit on. For this I have used 0.5mm plasticard.
To fit snugly in the wagon the table tops are just a fraction under 34mm x 14mm, for the 7 plank wagon the legs are 5mm plastic strip and for the 5 plank wagon the legs are 3mm.



I used Mig 2025 extra thin cement to glue the legs to the table tops, and after a few seconds these were set.
Next, I had to cut/file away two notches on each long side of the tables to allow for the bracing in the wagons.
And then a test fitting, at this point I did give them a little bit more sanding as they were a bit too snug a fit.



Once the tables were done the next part was making the load itself.
Using a small box lid I poured in my off cuts, those I set aside earlier, adding some of the really tiny bits from the bottom of the bag, and poured on about 30-40% again the amount of PVA glue (you can use white or school glue) and mixed it around with a cocktail stick until all of the bits were nicely coated, but not soaked.
I have seen some folks use plastic glues for this, but they tend to melt the pieces together and I wanted some sharp edges and roughness to show, so a thin coat of PVA was right for me.



Now for the sticky part. Before putting the mix on the table, I scored the table tops with a blade to give the PVA and bits something grip to.
Then using the cocktail stick and fingers I put half on each table. You have a good 20 to 30 mins to work with glue before it sets, and you need a good few minutes to spread out and flatten the mix over the tables so that they look right, and not just like a plastic hedgehog that has been pulled through a bush backwards.
It was by far the trickiest and stickiest part of the build, and a tad frustrating when you can’t get a piece to stay where you want it to.
But once they were done, I left them to dry overnight.



Next morning, I gave the loads a light spray with Humbrol 27 Sea Grey, and left them to dry until later.
That evening I was able to start the paint layers: Beginning with some bright/strong colours as a base, I chose a Red, Brown, Green and Yellow, the idea being that some of these colours will show through at the end, hinting at the old paint the scrap was painted in during its working life.
Next, I gave them a heavy dry brush with a bright red-brown, to show the rust. Then a generous wash with a dark brown getting it into all the nocks and gaps and darkening down the loads.
This I had to leave to dry overnight again. Next day I finished them off with a light dry brush of dark silver, to show the fresh metal under the rust where the rough bashing and moving around has scratched them up as the wagons were loaded.



And that is the loads completed, I did lightly sand the edges on the tables due to the thickness of the paint layers that had built up, but other than that they fit perfectly and are easy to remove when not wanted.
I hope you would agree that they look pretty effective in the wagons. I am certainly pleased with them and have made another six, so I have four each for my 5 and 7 plank Peco wagons.



This has been a fun project and I plan to use the same process to make other loads for different sized wagons.


PROJECTS (2) by Mike
As Weston, my exhibition layout, is pretty much finished and ready to go, I’ve been taking a look at rebuilding Wookery, my home layout.
It was my first bash at modelling, and quite frankly the carpentry on the first board is appalling! I also made the classic beginner’s mistake of cramming too much in, including vast sidings – when I have since realised that I just like watching long trains run round!
Club members kindly built me two extension boards for it, and I am now thinking about scrapping the first board and replacing it with two more boards to create something 16 feet long.
The idea is for just two mainlines, running through a large covered station, which will incorporate two passing loops long enough to hold two full length trains for extra storage.
I have built the large Scalescenes station, shown in the picture below, but am now in the process of trying to replace the overall canopy with something MUCH larger – twice as wide and eight times as long in fact!
It will be forty inches long, and cover eight coaches. I’m not sure how prototypical it is, I’m not sure if I will even be able to actually fit it in, but it’s keeping me occupied during lockdown!