Report of ASRM meeting on 1st September 2021

‘What is on my workbench’

Twelve members brought models to show to the rest of the meeting.

Stephen Duffell showed us some very nice P4 models of L&SWR coaches he had built from kits.  He also had some RTR models, also LSWR; a couple of brake vans and a GW Iron Mink.  He had bought an unfinished GW Siphon which he had completed.  As usual with Stephen, the windows of the coaches were glazed with glass coverslips.

Phil Rowe went up a few scale to 16mm to the foot narrow gauge.  He brought a part-built live steam tram loco.  The basis was a Swift Sixteen kit and Phil is making his own oscillating steam motor and boiler to power it.  The roof is adorned with a steam condenser with (I think) 40 cooling fins soldered between the two sets of parallel tubes.  Phil had made a jig to space the fins while being soldered.

Nick Coppin has a rake of four BR 16ton mineral wagons, one made from a Parkside kit, one a repaired Peco and the other two weathered Dapol models.  He also brought three wagons from his GER layout, an etched kit, a scratch-built van and a resin cast private owner wagon.

Dave Gotliffe showed us the progress he had made with his model buildings he is making for a friend’s N gauge layout.  The manufacture of the windows caused much interest.  He illustrated his talk with some A4 photos.

Sam Ryan brought a 00 diorama he had featured in a past newsletter.  He has been experimenting with weathering techniques on two open wagons and a coach.  The puddles on the lane by the track were discussed.  Sam also brought Bakewell and custard tarts which were set upon with gusto at coffee break!

Eric  Challenor is building a 7mm model of a signal box on the GN(I)R  at Pomeroy.  He has scratch built it with additions from Peco, Severn Models and York Models.  With no drawings, Eric worked from photos of the original and similar boxes.  He has included many interior details.

Graham Betts brought some cast resin dry stone walling which will adorn his new Yorkshire-based layout.  He makes a master using cork for the stones and dips it in a latex which when cured, can be peeled off, supported between two strips of wood and then filled with polyester resin reinforced with copper wire.

Michael Williams had set out a splendid layout with station, wagons and an LMS ‘Super D’ 0-8-0 which is 100 years old!  He was able to demonstrate it running up and down.  Two of the wagons were Breeze, a local coal merchant.

Andrew Vaughan had finished his new 16mm scale WDLR gun carriage that afternoon and it looked superb.  It is supported on two modified Slaters bogies and superseded his earlier model which was a modified ‘F’ wagon and carried a gun and limber.  The newer version dispensed with the limber as the Great War had become so industrialized, a limber could not carry enough shells.  He also showed us three scales of working point levers: 16mm, 7mm and 4mm, made from his etched brass kits.

Gerry Wilsmore showed us a double-fronted shop model cast in polyurethane resin in Scalecast moulds.  There was some discussion regarding types of resin and the problem of bubbles.  His resin takes an hour to go off, giving enough time for bubbles to rise to the top.

Peter Cox has been using different materials for buildings for his H0 American layout.  He had a Scalescenes boiler house he made up from downloadable sheets which looked jolly convincing.  He also had two styrene models of a fire station and practice tower.  For rolling stock, he showed us two types of timber wagon and a very short caboose.

Howard Mainwaring rounded off the evening with a Connoisseur kit of an LNER/BR bolster wagon in 0 gauge.  He described how he folded long bends without the benefit of folding bars. 

There followed a discussion about the Abbey Station in Shrewsbury.

This was a very optimistic start to our Post-pandemic Age.

Nick Coppin