Friday, 16 August 2013

The latest delivery from Auscision...

I received a delivery from Auscision today - a whole bunch of Victorian hopper wagons! 

GH Hopper Wagon

VHSF Sand Hopper Wagon

VHQF Quarry Hopper Wagon

Brake Detail on the Sand Hopper
I also got some VHCW Cement Hoppers, which unfortunately have been printed with VQDW Dolomite Hopper boards. Other than that though, I'm happy with these. The detail is excellent, as is the finish. All up, I got 10 packs in total, the only bad thing is the effect on my bank balance!

No question, it's a great time to be modelling Victoria in HO scale...

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Specials at the Malkara Exhibition

I picked up some Austrains items on sale today at the Malkara exhibition here in Canberra. 

The first item is a CL class locomotive in AN Green livery. This is the 3rd AN loco I've added to my fleet, joining a Trainorama 930 class and an Austrains DL class. I don't think the CL spent much time in Victoria, but they were on special for $200 each, so I figured now was the time to get one before they sell out.

Austrains CL Class Locomotive CL 2 W

I also picked up a pack of ribbed-sided VOBX wagons in V/Line livery, which were also on special for $110. I already have a pack of these, but I'm hoping to build up a larger collection of these wagons. They were widely used all over the Victorian Railway system, and transported a wide range of products, including containers, gypsum and briquettes. 

Out of the box, the wagons have the V/Line signage installed in the incorrect position. The factory have glued to sign in the centre of each wagon, whereas the prototype model has this sign offset slightly to the left. 

So this evening, while I was watching the footy, I decided to remove the sign and glue it in the correct position. There wasn't much to it really, taking about 20 minutes all up. There is a spot on each side where the sign was glued previously, where the paint has come of when the sign was removed. At some stage I'll paint over this spot, but I'll need to find the right paint for that. It's not too noticeable, so I'm not really worried about it at the moment.

Austrains VOBX Wagons