Seven of us (8 if you include Diego the dog!) made it to the pre-Christmas get together online, with apologies from Tim Williams for the late start, as without his logging on to start the meeting nobody else could get in either!
Mac Strong had fitted an N-Drive chassis into the Hudswell diesel body shown last time, and was surprised to have learnt something after a suggestion on NGRM-Online about using a permanent marker pen to blacken the wheels.
Ben Powell’s workshops had been busy, with work on the Sena Estates 0-6-0 Peckett progressing well though a little delayed awaiting delivery of handrail knobs, alongside a Kerr Stuart Tattoo using a mix of Meridian and RT Models parts to fit working Hackworth valve gear to an N-Drive chassis. This had been laid aside until Ben’s acquisition of the latest “Wheels of Industry” bookazine inspired work to resume.
Ben had also been working on his industrial layout with the development of card buildings.
Tim Williams had been working on the incline section of Bryn Tegid, with replacement carrier trucks (3d printed with better detail, finer supports and blackened wheel sets) and a new arrangement at the base of the incline involving a sheave incline to take trucks up from the layout level to the main incline loading dock (similar to the set up with inclines V1 and V2 at Dinorwic).
Tim had also been working on his 3D prints of the new Bala coaches with the addition of LED lighting powered by coin cells, and he had also been giving some thoughts to a revised track plan for Insulation Lumber (Tim’s HOf layout).
Julien Webb had not been up to much actual building, but recent purchases included a Bachmann WHR Baldwin with factory-fitted sound (due to donate it’s chip to one of his War Department locos) and a Triang “Dock Authority” OO gauge 4-wheel shunter for nostalgic reasons that he plans to fit up with a 9 mm gauge chassis made up from some Worsley Works chassis etches for a 3 mm scale 03/04.
David Churchill had managed to obtain one of the new Bachmann N-scale ‘Percy’ locos. David reported that it ran very well and seemed to be smaller than the Tomix version, but his plans to use the chassis to make an 0-4-0 Bagnall saddle tank have ben somewhat scuppered until David can obtain a second one after his young grandson caught sight of Percy during a Zoom birthday party !
Seasonal best wishes from theWest Midlands 009 Group, and here’s hoping that the New Year sees us being able to get back to meeting as normal.