Setting the Bar

As I mentioned in the previous post the newest prototype of my Hudson-Hunslet diesel locomotive wasn't behaving very well and so spent most of it's time at Rainford last weekend in the Narrow Planet display case. This meant though that I didn't need to leave the first prototype on display in the same place. Instead I put it on display in the 009 Society display case which meant it was entered into the modelling competition. Unfortunately I had to leave before the results were announced, although after the judging had taken place. It turns out that people really do like it!

I actually found out earlier in the week that it was awarded runner up in its class (Internal Combustion Locomotives) but it was nice to have the confirmation arrive in the post today. Given that this is only the third locomotive I've finished, in any scale, and the first one I've designed myself I'm really impressed that people seem to like it so much. It does mean that I've set the bar rather high though for any future models I build or design. I'm hoping it wasn't just beginners luck and that I'll be able to hone my skills and maybe one day produce an even better model for the competition.

Snug as a Bug

So having received the updated etches I started to build up the second Hudson-Hunslet body. This time I had a deadline as I wanted to take them to the 009 Society AGM held at Rainford last weekend. Unfortunately with pressures of both work and family that didn't actually leave me very much time for modelling. By Friday night though I had a second assembled and painted prototype. Unfortunately when fitting the body to the chassis I managed to mess up the pickups (I actually drew blood by stabbing myself with the end of the pickup wire). I did my best to quickly sort them out and packed both locos nicely in a box for the Saturday.

Unfortunately the damage to the pickups was worse than I had thought and while it did run briefly on James' Creech Bottom layout (thanks James) it didn't behave well enough to earn itself a place on the layout for long and it spent the rest of the day in and out of the Narrow Planet display case as a steady stream of people came and admired it. Many of them also gave lots of useful advice regarding the pickups so I've a few more ideas to try. If you were one of the people I chatted with thanks for taking the time to talk to me. It was a really great day and by far the friendliest model railway show I've ever been to.

I did get the chance to wonder and take a few photos (although somehow I managed not to buy anything) so hopefully there will be another blog post at some point.