Armoured Train progress - 3

The gun wagon for my O Gauge train is now complete.  Here it is being crewed by gunners from my 1/32 scale Naval Brigade.  They get around, don't they?

The Thunderbox - part 2

Not only is the mighty Thunderbox complete but it has seen action in a game!

Here it is being powered by my horrible Wild West train and crewed by members of my Anglophobian brigade.

Armoured train progress 2

On now with the armoured open wagon for my train.  Here are the sandbags propped into place.

The 'armoured panels' were then attached with rivets.  Or rather I drew them on with a pen.

Coming next - a gun and varnish!

Armoured train progress 1

Last weekend I finally managed to do more work on my O Gauge armoured train.  The loco, boxcar and brake wagon had already been spray painted a dark gloss grey so I retouched the red paint at each end. 

 The open wagon was 'armoured' with balsa - glued on with PVA.

The armoured wagon was to be lined with sandbags - here they are mounted on a plastic card frame.

The sandbags were then painted.  The two smaller clumps are to be used in the door apertures of the boxcar.

The Thunderbox - part 1

Before we delve into further detail I would like to take this opportunity to allocate blame where it is due.  This all began a couple of years ago when all-round good chap the notorious David Crook gave me a plastic toy mortar.  A spring (or rubber band?) loaded device, this lobs round plastic 'shells' to a range of 2-3 feet.  So far so good.  But hang on (I thought recently) - hadn't I seen pictures of similar mortars mounted on railway cars during the American Civil War?  Well yes I had - and so defying all logic and without the aid of a safety net  I set out to recreate such a thing.

I selected the scruffiest of my O gauge flat wagons, dug out a sheet of balsa and with a fresh blade in my Swan-Morton craft knife, set to work.  Clearly the overall size of the thing was limited by the dimensions of the wagon.  This did little to add to it's aesthetic appeal.  The 'shield' and sides were pinned together before being glued.

The aperture took a bit of trial and error before the shells would fire through it without incident.

While the PVA was drying I used a ballpoint pen to draw on the 'planks'.

My reference work - this splendid book from the Blandford series is highly recommended.

Coming soon(ish) - the 'finished' Thunderbox!

Who was that masked train?

As the time approached to spray paint the train, it became clear that there was a fair amount of mechanism to be shielded from the paint.  Two options therefore presented themselves:
1. The competent modeller's method - carefully dismantle things to separate the shell of the body from the moving parts.
2. The lazy man's approach - cover the oily bits in masking tape and hope for the best.
If you've visited this blog before my solution will come as no surprise.  More news when the spray paint dries!

Third boxcar, midnight train....

Work on my O Gauge train continues at a gentle pace.  This rather battered boxcar wagon was next to receive my attention.  Having sanded impressive quantities of rust from the roof I slapped on a coat of primer.  While this was drying I turned my attention to the 'armour'.  As the wagon is missing it's doors I decided to fill the gaps with piles of sandbags.

"A sandbag?"

Well several actually Lady Bracknell.  While I'm sure theyre pretty easy to make, I remembered that Tamiya do a useful set of 1/35 scale sandbags and a box was duly procured.  As I only needed to cover the door openings I was able to save on the number of sandbags used by cutting some in half.  The glued together stacks will fit inside the wagon when it's finished but for now it is off to be spray painted.

Another town, another train

Well another scale.  Regular readers will have noticed the O gauge train in my most recent Funny Little Wars report.  The more cynical among you - and those who know me well - will have suspected that there was more still to come.  There is.  While O Gauge is actually 1:43.5 scale, so rather smaller than the 1:32 scale toys, I thnk they work really well together.
The full 'fleet' (is that the correct expression for trains?) will be revealed in time, but I'll start with this disreputable looking specimen - by far the scruffiest of my locomotives.  Why?  Because its in such a sorry state that I'll be (lightly) converting it into an armoured train.

More news of this nonsense soon....