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Weathering Locos Without An Airbrush, Quick & Easy Oceans Plus This Weekend's New Releases

By Justin, 23rd March 2024 | Weekly Newsletters

Morning Gang!

How's things? It's gonna be a bit windy down here this morning! And quite wet again by the looks of it. But hey ho… Ideal modelling weather though. Tina's hoping summer is going to be nice and warm, with plenty of long sunny days, but the weather is certainly doing all it can to tell us it might not be so.

What have you been up to this week? It's been all go down here again as a couple of team members have been on holiday this week (not together I might add). But with a bit of luck, we should have at least 90% of the crew back together next week as we approach the Easter break. Lots going on again behind the scenes as always, with a million and one admin jobs, lots more sorting out in the laser room and on the shopfloor, plus lots more new product lines to get listed on the website.

And shock horror… I managed to get the lawn mown last weekend. There was finally a break in the persistent precipitation that allowed the lawn to dry off just enough for me to at least get the length reduced from about a foot to three inches! But now we've had a bit of sunshine and warmth this week it now needs doing again. So, we're back in the endless loop of lawn mowing and weeding.

Work wise though, it's been a very productive one overall though with plenty of product development activity…

Product Development - Latest News

This week, Stu's managed to completely finish the new row of N gauge terraced houses (UW2007), so they're now live on the site and available to order.

Sam's been back on the texture sheet development again this week. We'd had a few requests over the last few months if we could do terracotta and concrete pantile roofing texture sheets. We used to do them many moons ago, but they were in need of a proper revamp, so he set about creating a set that were properly scalable so we can actually do them in more scales than just OO. He's done a cracking job of them and they are of course available to order now (and download in the Railway Modellers Community too). Links in the new products section below.

I've been pushing on with the Police Station build and it's finally done! Really enjoyed working on it and it's a nice easy kit to build, with pre-weathered brick & wood cladding wraps for a modern appearance. It's got fully glazed windows and has the option of open or closed main entrance doors, and we've also included a sheet of vertical blinds which you can use behind the windows for a little extra finishing touch. We’ve also included English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Police signs too.

Tina and I worked on the prototype build (I didn't do as neater job on the windows as Tina would have liked) and it's come together really nicely. The roof was quite a challenge to design, but as with other kits, now it's designed and all the angles are right, it's quite quick and easy to assemble.

And I've started work on the revamp of the KX005 Victorian Country Pub kit. It's been out of stock for ages as we can't print the windows, so it's being given a complete overhaul, with laser cut windows and all that jazz. I managed to get the main walls, windows & key roof components done this week. So it's ready to do a basic test cut next week to make sure it all fits together, before I get stuck into the paper wraps.

In the meantime, it's over to young Sam for this weekend's videos.

Good morning! It's the weekend so hopefully, you have had a good week and make the most of the weekend. As mentioned already, I've reworked TX103-OO Terracotta Pantiles and created a new texture TX301-OO Concrete Pantiles. I'm a massive fan of these textures and they look brilliant. Both can be found our the website. Last week, I got a comment saying I should feature more layout videos - so that's what we are going to be focusing on in this newsletter.

Weathering Locos On A Budget

To start, we have a video from Budget Model Railways. I'm a big fan of their YouTube channel and Instagram. In this tutorial, Mike discusses how you can weather your locos without an airbrush. This method is nothing new but it's a great technique to learn. Once he shows a comparison of the non-weathered vs the weathered model it highlights how you can easily add realism to your locos ready for your layout! And as the name of the channel implies, this is also a cheap method. If you are new to modelling or want to learn more techniques, I'd highly recommend checking out Mike & Douglas's channel.

An Incredible Welsh Model Railway

Next, we have a Welsh Narrow Gauge layout called Bron Hebog. This video comes from That Model Railway Guy. I'm sure many of you know him. He is part of the RailwayModellers.com community where I spoke to him briefly to let him know I'm a fan! Anyway, this footage is from the Warley Exhibition in 2023 at the NEC. Bron Hebog is a model of the Beddgelert station on the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway based in 2009/2010 when the railway was re-opened from Rhyd Ddu through Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass to the south. That Model Railway Guy does a great job at covering this layout. For more information, you can visit their blog here.

Western North Carolina Railroad

Heading over to the other side of the pond, we have a video from Jimmy Lambert. The Nothern Virginia Model Railroaders has existed as an organisation since 1949! In this video, Jimmy provides a quick overview of the club's history and a tour of the club layout, the Western North Carolina Railroad. Work on this layout started back in the mid-70s after the club lost its first permanent home. He follows 3 trains as they traverse the mainline between Asheville and Salisbury. You can visit their website at: www.nvmr.org

Easy & Low Cost Way To Model The Ocean

For the final video, we have Marklinofsweden showing us how to create a realistic ocean easily and at a low cost. A couple of my close mates are from Sweden and I love the Swedish accent which makes it even better. Also, Luke Towan commented on this video saying to keep up the great work! I don't want to spoil the video too much but the method is to use watered-down glue on some toilet paper and then layer it up, paint with acrylics and then apply some clear coat. Marklin has some great videos, still uploading to this day and the quality never disappoints. Check out his channel for some more great tips.

That's it from me for the week. Fingers crossed that you've enjoyed these videos. Like every week, feel free to send me a message about these videos or even videos you think I should feature. You can contact me via the Railway Modellers Club (my username is @sam) or the help desk. Here's a little bonus video which I thought was funny:

New Stuff

Right then… it's time for links to the new stuff… and we do actually have some new stuff this week… so here goes!

KX109-OO Low Relief Modern Police Station/Hospital - OO/4mm/1:76
My new favourite kit (again). Perfect for modern image towns scenes on your model railway layouts and diecast dioramas. It's a nice, straightforward build which includes English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Police signage, hospital and office signage. So, you can choose what you'd like it to be!
UW2007-N Row Of Three Terraced Houses - N/2mm/1:148
A delightful little kit for creating realistic street scenes on your N gauge model railway layouts & diecast dioramas.
TX103-OO Terracotta Pantile Roofing Texture Sheet - OO/4mm/1:76
A versatile roof texture for your scratch-building projects. Professionally weathered to give you a realistic appearance to your houses, shops & sheds.
TX301-OO Concrete Pantile Roofing Texture Sheet - OO/4mm/1:76
And a concrete version of the above. Again, these are professionally weathered giving you a professional standard finish to your roofing. (These are identical to the ones on our bungalow actually!).

New Accessories Streamline & Set Track

And we've had another delivery arrive from Peco with a good handful of street detailing accessories.

Gaugemaster GM1670 Hay Bales (Pack of 18) - OO/4mm/1:76 - These are brill!
PECO Model Scene Red Telephone Boxes (5006) - Can't get the Gaugemaster ones for love nor money so we got these instead
PECO Model Scene Dustbins (5083) - As above!
PECO Model Scene Assorted Pallets (5081) - Another choice of pallet & great value
PECO Model Scene Traffic Cones 5008 - These are really nice and don't need painting
PECO Lineside Kit LK-23 Milk Churns - Modelling a dairy? You're gonna want churns folks!
PECO Streamline & Set Track - I think we've listed it all… we’ll almost!

PECO Guides to Railway Modelling - Special Offer

These are a goldmine of railway modelling inspiration and guidance. Whether you're a newcomer to the hobby, returning to the hobby after a few years break, or just wishing to brush up on a few skills… these are a worthwhile investment. And we're doing them at the bargain price of £3.99 (RRP £6.99).

Right… that's about it for this edition of the weekly news. I shall continue revamping the pub kit. There's a lot of work still to do on it. And this weekend I think we'll probably be doing some DIY of some sort as the weather's looking a bit chilly and drizzly!

Have an amazing weekend folks… And of course…

Keep on shunting…

Justin, Tina, Elizabeth, Lola & The Team

P.S. This weekend's header image comes from Mark over on the Railway Modellers Club with his trio of Gronks… Who doesn't love a Gronk?

P.P.S. Missed a newsletter? You can read all of our recent newsletters online here.