…and overflowing onto the kitchen table. W locomotives. There are a number of Ws on the go at present. Just building the kit and doing something generic doesn’t seem to cut the mustard at chez NZFinescale so the opportunity has been taken to add a few additional castings for some details that were short lived…
The blog’s been neglected of late so when Peter Ross sent me photos of his completed Fell van based on the New Zealand Finescale kit it seemed like a good excuse to refresh it. The Greymouth Fell vans are, in my humble opinion, very attractive vehicles to model, being packed with character in a small…
Personally, one of the great joys and challenges of model making is to make something that is not only an accurate scale model, but also looks like the real thing. This is, I suppose, the crossover between the science and art of modelling. I have to admit with struggling a little on the artistic side,…
Whew! Major milestones hit on the F kit today. Etchings proved, castings proved – so just production to go! With the latest etching versions built, the chassis and long frame body etches are sweet. The short frame body will need one more revision, but this is very minor. Having built the etches, the next task…
The arrival of a package of etchings from new artwork is always a mix of anticipation and nervous optimism. The nerves arise from the cost and delay from any draughting or logical errors, the anticipation should be self-evident. The latest etchings for the F were revision B, so the nerves were not acute but the…
It’s been a bit quiet while I’ve been beavering away so here is a progress report on the F kit… To recap a little, the kit will be etched in nickel silver with cast bronze parts and some 3D printed plastic details. There are also some design novelties as well. Test shots of various parts…
I’ve been ruminating, as one does, on weighty matters such as the meaning of life and the state of the hobby. The hobby is comprised, at its leading edge, a group of luminaries who scratchbuild what they want, kit-building and bashing where possible. There are even loftier modellers of myth who scratchbuild pretty much everything,…
The F class is an iconic NZR locomotive. It was one of the most numerically predominant and longest lived locomotives in the country. Examples continued in industrial service after withdrawal and a number of examples are preserved. Just about any NZR layout can justify one. The Fs were built by seven builders in the UK.…
It has been a busy couple of weeks here at New Zealand Finescale, and the blog has been quiet as a result. So this is a bit of a catch up of things that have dropped through the mailbox of late. First up some nice steel dowels. I use these for piston rods and the…
When designing a loco a fairly early decision to be made is how to drive it. This is the stage I’ve being going through with the F. Decisions to be made include: Where to put the motor? Practical and cosmetic considerations. Which axle to drive? How to fit the drive around suspension, compensation and other…
With a new batch of etchings arriving I have updated the Emporium with some new products as well as some old favorites that have been out of stock for a long time. There are a number of other developments that should be added shortly. We have some new numberplate options available ex-stock. Stock items are…
In which your intrepid correspondent continues his wrestle to reconcile 150 year old draughtsmanship with rusty iron and sepia tone prints… The last week has been rather bleak weather-wise, so being tied to the PC has not been an unattractive option. A number of fellow F aficionados have contributed photo collections and drawings, and I…
