Auscision UGL Ci43/44ci part 2

To be available 2014 (maybe). Art work for the liveries has been placed on their website. Those of interest for the Adelaide to Melbourne route are below.

QRNational 6000 class

The 6000 class are operated on QR/Aurizon intermodal services.

6000 class updated livery

G&W GWU class

The GWU are used extensively on G&W grain trains to the South Australian border with Victoria.

Pacific National 93 class

The 93 class are beginning to show themselves on PN intermodal services, and are tipped to take over from the NR class as their numbers grow with new builds.

Finally caught sight of my first 93 class; only just. With the bad weather here in Adelaide, saw 6AM passing through the Mount Barker loop, 22/7/2013 at just past 9.30am. Leading was 9301, and managed a rushed photo as I had only just arrived, to await to see 5MP trailerail. (Which did not turn up as scheduled at 10.15am).

Reach stacker in OO scale

I have been holding off posting about English company; Oxford Die-Casts' up and coming model of Konecranes SMV 4542, OO scale fully 'posable' reach stacker. Due to be released before the of this year; it will be available initially in Konecranes light blue, and be the only OO scale model on the market.

In relation to HO scale, this unit would be only about 10% bigger than the Kibri kit, which therefore, could be made to represent a larger reach stacker unit.

Adelaide Model Railway Show 2013

It has been and gone for another year. A good selection of layouts. Greater Portland won the vote. been a large N scale layout, with nothing else that bid, it was not surprising. It seems that the exhibition is becoming a get together for the enthusiasts, a catch up; while the general public had a good look at running model trains, from Lego to fine scale.

Avoca, a Tasmanian OO scale layout, using HO scale track to represent the 3'6" narrow gauge track.

Demonstration on building pine trees. These are for an O scale layout. The branch/foliage is furnace filter, which is unfortunately not available in Australia. The material for these trees was imported from the USA. I seen this method written about before, and if you Google furnace material, nothing like this comes up.
Another favorite, was Stewarts: a South Australian Ho scale town with grain silos. With recent releases, there was more rolling stock running.

A new, and unfinished layout; again South Australian, was Bridgewater: running a nice 620 class steam engine.

VLEX vans

Even though this model was released during 2012, I decided to acquire a Powerline Models unit during the Adelaide Model Railway exhibition 2013. These wagons worked across the border from the time they were built, till the end of Australian National, and for SCT in Freight Australia green livery, till 2005.

  VLEX wagons stored at Dimboola.

I was actually after a VLNX, marked for news print only traffic, but none were available. These vans brought newsprint over to Adelaide for News Limited newspapers, from Tasmania, via Victoria. Powerline, currently only have these vans available, marked in VR livery. But as lettered a VLEX, it can be run with V/Line marked vans.

The main draw back with this model is that the under floor is painted black, when it should be wagon red, same as the body. As seen, in the photo, the body unclips from the floor, and will be repainted using Steam Era models wagon red. If one really wanted to model one with a door open, (sometimes seen when running) the doors are a separate piece, which clips in. The wagon is also a bit light, and could do with some extra weight.

Underfloor now painted in VR wagon red. I added a bit of black to try and match the body which was a bit darker in colour.

On Track Models, also produce these wagons. These are slightly more accurate, and also more fragile, as they are virtually an assembled, ready to run kit. (Meaning, as the Powerline body is one piece, the On Track body is made up of sides, end, floor and roof, all assembled). yet to obtain a set of these.

Victorian Grain Board Silos 2

My Victorian silo bins now have a hat. The roof structure is now complete, but not yet painted. I made the windows 'solid' behind the window framing, and will paint this black, as no light can been seen through them anyway. Still to build the discharge shoots and walkways/ladders.
I also have completed the little landing a the front. Unfortunately, I found that I had originally set the silos too far back from the track, and the silos had to be repositioned. The idea was to save as much as possible, but I had screwed down the piece of MDF that was the apron around the structure, and the screw was completely hidden. This resulted in the total loss of that area plus two lengths of flex track, which stripped away from the sleepers in the demolition process.
As seen, I have relaid the track and tested with running trains, still to be ballasted, and return of the weeds by static grass. The silo bins have yet to bee attached to the apron area, as they have yet to be fully painted, and final details to be added.