In which your scribe continues his narration of the construction of We198… In the first thrilling instalment of this little exposition, I presented a CAD render of the cylinder and motion. Those parts have since been refined, printed and cast. The cylinder/slidebar/motion bracket were cast as a single part, as this simplifies construction significantly and…
Here on the blog, I’ve pontificated on all manner of matters relating to Rewanui (real and model), but it has been a while since the line’s raison d’être has featured. The extraction, movement to the bins and loading of the coal is outside the scope of the model (taking place ‘off scene’ as it were),…
After a number of teaser posts, here at last is the finished 1:64 BP3688 30′ van pilot model. Like all pilots it has suffered the odd reversal and a number of parts have been remade and redesigned. There are one or two things about this build that will be altered for the kit release, and…
The Addington car Many of my blog posts offer some philosophical insight (I hope) or practical dodge that I feel a burning need to share with the modelling fraternity. In contrast, this post is a shameless promotion for an upcoming kit that I’m super excited about, having just completed the assembly phase of the pilot…
There’s been a bit of a burst of activity at Chez Finescale of late. While it’s all been pretty good stuff it probably looks a little random and scattergun from the outside. To be honest it feels like that on the inside too sometimes, but really the soft focus approach has been driven by two…
When a bunch of bits arrives in the mail there’s always the choice of what to work on first. In this case it was the Q hoppers, but once they were out of the way it was the turn of the La-2 and the various wooden Ls (L1/L2). As readers on the blog will know,…
New product update: Q1 and Q4 hopper wagon kits. These kits have been promising for a while. Final test builds have been completed, instructions are nearly written and stock is on order. So here’s a preview… The Q1 and Q4 were both unbraked iron bodied hopper wagons that could be found in both the Westport…
One of the really attractive features of the old NZR cars was their open verandahs. Great to hang off for railfans wanting a full sensory experience, not so easy to model the railings and gates convincingly… The venerable NZFinescale car gate etch (code number ES001) was the first etched part I did way back in…
I’ve been contemplating the next steam locomotive project, now that the F kits are done. The Wa is a fairly obvious candidate as it appears to have so much in common with the W. With that thought nestled cosily in a corner of my mind, I optimistically set out to discover what might be needed…
In which your correspondent actually finishes something for a change, and the travails of doing so… F154, my final test build for the F kitsets has been lingering at the point I typically get my models to before putting them in a box for ‘later’. I.e. all the soldering and construction done, but little of…
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,…
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…
