Thomas Modeller - Message Board.

I am in the process of building a message board soley for Thomas Modellers around the world, the board will have strict guidelines as to what contents can be posted, and registration will be limited, meaning that only 5 to 6 people can register each week, this is being done due to my experience with these forums, so don't be suprised if your account is not accepted.
However, the Thomas Modeller will be screening all new members before they have their accounts activiated to ensure that they are between the ages of 14 and over, under 13's will need to ask permission from their Parent/Guardians before they can acess the board.

The board at current is still in the building stages, so a link will not be posted just yet, and unlike the other message boards i created in my time, this one is going to be set to private and it won't be open to guests, so you will need to register an account in order to start viewing the boards.
I have not yet given an estimated date for the boards opening, so it will be left a while till such time as i can post the link here.

0-8-0 Crane Engine - Next New WIP in OO

Recently, i have come across some interesting pictures of what appears to be a Narrow Gauge Crane Locomotive, i model quite abit of 009 stuff, and figured i could make this NG crane engine into a Standard Gauge locomotive. The design of this engine is not like our other British Built locomotives, this engine appears to be based on an American design, which is good as there appears to be a sever lack of Sodor engines from other regions, and although a debate has already started about Hank and Hiro being too large for our UK loading gauge on other 'Forums', i personally don't see any real issue with locomotives from other regions of the world running on a fictional railway.

So, this project is to commence later in the week and will be made once again, using my most favourite of all materials, plasticard and an 8F Hornby chassis.

Flora the Steam Tram - OO Gauge!

Flora the Steam Tram has been a project that was started last year after the Twelfth Series had aired completely on Channel 5s' 'Milkshake' mornings, originally, i had originally planned to use the Hornby Toby body and re-model it, but, this proved to be quite complicated. So, as always ,my method for making Flora was to use plasticard to build the body and using a Hornby Toby chassis as the donor for this model.

The body was drawn onto the plasticard using a permanent marker, i used the Toby body as a base to draw the cabsides, front and rear facing ends. The plasticard ws then cut out and stcuk together. To make the body more sturdy, i cut extra side-walls and stcuk them to the inner sides of the main body, this has helped to make Flora extra sturdy on the rails.

The main problem was cutting out the little windows to make Flora's cab 'see-through', but the windows came out horribly, so i decided to print out some computer drawn windows and glue them onto some rectangle cut plasticard strips. These have come out better than the other windows, so once this was done, i then went on to re-prime the model as the colour before, was too dull in the sunlight.

After being left overnight to dry completely, i then bought some Humbrol 'Insignia Yellow' paint and masked off the lower half of the model all the way around, i did this as the model is painted yellow and red, (Yellow for the top half and Red for the bottom half). I painted two coats of Insignia Yellow onto the model and let each coat set thoroughly, before masking off the top half and painting the bottom half in Humbrol 'Scralet Red'. Once all the paint had dried, i bought some HMRS Green lining and lined the cabsides before adding Flora's nameplates.

The cab roof was them painted in a second coat of grey and left to dry, before the funnel was then painted in Humbrol 'Satin Black'. The 'Sodor Tramways' headboards were made using two more rectangle plasticard strips, with the banners being made on the computer and printed off before being cut and glued onto the plasticard. These were then gently placed onto the sides of the cab roof and glued into position, i used Romfords 'Screw-link' couplings on the front and rear of the model and the face mould comes from a Trackmaster Flora model, which i will be using to make some new moulds in plaster and latex later in the week.

Images Copyright © Daniel Snell

Flora the Steam Tram - Almost Complete!

It's been a while since i last posted about Flora, she was put on hold due to a chassis problem, which has now been sorted and runs perfectly. The model itself like most of my other scratchbuilds, is another plasticard model with computer printed features.

The bodywork has been re-primed and the first coat of yellow has been re-applied, the only parts of the model left to do are the lower runningboard, cowcatchers, lining and the cab roof, pics will be posted over the weekend of the completed project, which also uses a Trackmaster Flora face mould.

Stanley the Tank Engine - OO Gauge

It has taken a while, but Stanley is now ready for work on the Fat Controller's Railway, Stanley is based on a hybrid of a Hudswell Clark 0-6-0ST and a Kiston 0-6-0ST No. 5459 Austin No. 1. He has two bunkers; one at the front and the other at the back.

Stanley has a tall silver funnel and a bunker that is slightly angled at the back of his cab, he is grey with red lining, silver pipework, a red running plate with a dark grey basecoat and red drive wheels.

Stanley was brought in to do Thomas's jobs while he helped to take charge of the work at the newley discovered town of Great Waterton, He is a kind friendly engine and always willing to help out no matter how big or small the job is.

Stanley also has an arched shaped face and his name on the side of his boiler. Thomas didn't like Stanley being on Sodor at first, and wanted to make him look silly, but when his plan backfired, Thomas soon realised that he was follish to think he was more important than all of his friends, and soon became good friends with Stanley.

Photos © Daniel Snell

Upcoming Projects for 2009/2010 - OO & OO9 Scales!

I have modelled alot of OO gauge stuff since last year and the year before that, and this year, i hope to model a few more OO9 projects aswel as some new OO gauge ones. So far, i hgave modelled a minor majority of 009 locomotives depicting the Skarloey Railway engines, and i do hope this year to model a few Real-life counterparts instead of painting them as Thomas characters.


Upcoming Projects for 2009/2010:


OO - Standard Gauge:

Murdoch the Heavy Freight Engine (MK II)
Boco the Diseasel
Albert the Tank Engine
Hank the American Engine
Flora the Steam Tram
Dennis the Lazy Diesel
Sixteen
Daisy the Diesel Railcar



009 - Narrow Gauge:

Sir Handel
Mountaineer
Rusty
WHR Baldwin
Dorothy
Smudger
Montague



These are some of the projects lined up between this year and 2010, if i have anymore new projects, i shall update this list as soon as i can.

Stanley - Work In Progress Pt 3

Stanley's body is finally complete and has now began the next stage, which is painting and detailing, after weeks of work building the body and making all the little details, Stanley has been given his first coat of primer undercoat. The model will be painted in his chosen livery through the weekend and detailed as much as possible, the last few details to be added are the steam-feed pipes on the sides of his tanks and the handrails on the tank sides.

More pictures of Stanley will be posted after the model has been completely detailed and painted, check back soon for more new updates.