NEAG October 2025 meeting

Yes, it's only the 27th September, but we got the October meeting in early! This afternoon, 18 members came to see a very informative presentation by Nick Mitchell on his watchmaker's lathe and how he uses it for 2mm work. He included topics such as where to get things, how he sharpens tools, and workholding with collets.

Nick managed to set up his lathe with live video camera so that we could see what he was doing on the screen. The only downside to this setup was that he couldn't see what he was doing himself, as the camera was in the way.

Nevertheless, he demonstrated consummate skill by creating a bogie pivot for a Nigel Hunt locomotive in front of our very eyes.

The workpiece looked nice and big on the screen, so (as often with 2mm modelling) its diminutive size came as quite a shock when the finished item was passed around afterwards for approval. We should have known from the fact that it houses a 14BA bolt and contains a captive nut – a Farish coupling spring fits around the outside. And the fact that Nick showed us his initial dimensioned drawing!

As always, it was very interesting to see how an expert does things. There was a fair bit of discussion from the audience, making it clear that there is more than one way to go about things. A good time seemed to be had by all.

NEAG June 2025 meeting

With the planned speaker having pulled out at the last minute (though still treating us to a specially crafted letter of apology), volunteers from the group stepped up to fill the vacuum and we were treated to two presentations. (The third wasn't needed!)

First up, George Falkner presented his thoughts on painting and lining locomotives, illustrated with several Great Eastern examples. His philosophy is to bring techniques and from painting wargaming miniatures with multiple shades of each colour to accentuate light and shadow. We were able to inspect several of the subjects in the flesh.

Then, Mick Simpson took over and gave a live demonstration of how he sets up his Pit Hill layout, with trestles made from the Combitech aluminium framing system. Lots of useful ideas for us to learn from Mick's experience.

A demo of actually operating the layout had to wait for tea, but continued to generate interest until we ran out of time. Here you see the underside of the layout.

All in all a success.

NEAG February 2025 meeting

A decent crowd turned out for 4mm modeller John Elliott's presentation on his approach to modelling, painting and weathering. John's interest is in historical modelling of the collieries and private railway systems of Northumberland and Durham, with a little bit of Cumberland by way of the Brampton Railway. He brought along some examples of his exquisite industrial buildings by way of illustration.

I think it's fair to say that we all learnt something (and in my case, a lot) from John's presentation. For example, his basic technique for stonework is to use B&Q ready-mixed filler spread onto a foamboard or plasticard carcass. This is then scribed once dry, albeit dampening the surface again first with water using a paintbrush.

Part of John's P4 layout project is a brickworks, and the following photo is a typical Newcastle kiln:

This engine shed shows a larger expanse of stone wall. Interestingly, John tends not to put any glazing in his windows. He thinks that this is more realistic than having a transparent film of over-scale thickness, at least from normal viewing distances where windows invariably just look dark. Indeed we didn't notice the lack of glass in the engine shed windows until he pointed it out!

I got the impression John was rather fond of the following – a signal box converted to another use. Like all of his buildings, this is based on a real prototype.

An important aspect of John's talk was the painting process. Suffice to say that a mixture of different paints are used, including acrylics for primer and basic body colour, artists oils for (mainly) weathering, and watercolour pencils. The results speak for themselves. 

NEAG December 2024 meeting

Storm Darragh failed to put a stop to today's group meeting, with a slightly depleted thirteen of us braving the wind and rain for our annual Christmas "show and tell". Here is a selection of photos for those who missed it.

Graham explains his scheme to model Hexham in the 1980s – the track plan features an impressive number of sidings:

John had a selection of coaches and two LMS loco projects on display:

I brought a selection of recent Highland Railway wagons and coaches (in varying stages of completeness), and my "Small Ben" 4-4-0 which almost runs:

New recruit Richard is building a rather nice model of Guisborough. The stonework is fantastic although this photo doesn't do it justice:

Finally, Mick brought some of his colliery wagons, recently finished by Chris with home-printed transfers:

He also showed a set of etches for colliery headgear (courtesy of Alex Duckworth), and there was some discussion of how to make the wheels turn:

The main tea eluded photography. However, one member came only for the tea and was disappointed to be allowed only some crumbs:

NEAG October 2024 meeting

Over 20 of us gathered again, this time for a "cameo double bill". George and Mick each spoke about their ongoing layout projects within the "cameo" concept, as espoused by the late Iain Rice.

Here, George is describing the thinking behind the design of his (4mm) layout "Skeetsmere" – a Mid-Suffolk Light Railway scheme with very carefully thought out visuals, along with very well engineered plywood construction. (See more on Western Thunder: https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/the-chronicles-of-canary-sidings-eastern-eccentricity-in-em.11235/page-21)

Mick then gave an update about progress on Pit Hill Incline, which started in fact as a joint project with Iain Rice himself. (The original incline concept appears in the "Creating Cameo Layouts" book.) Progress has seen a huge amount of work on timbering to cover the sleepers, work on the sector plates and off-stage tracks, as well as an initial impression of buildings and scenery ahead of Railwells. Not to mention the all-important proscenium arch, as seen below:

Mick has since rebuilt the box as he thought the layout
had too much sky.

Another unifying theme of the two layouts was that both will be in show as works in progress at WorkshopWise next Saturday at Stannington...

NEAG August 2024 meeting

 

We had a good turnout last Saturday for visiting speaker Tim Shackleton's presentation "Back in time with a camera". Tim is a well-known modeller and former editor of MRJ, and made the journey up north for the weekend. He even went home with a stack of old MRJs courtesy of our "free to a good home" table!

The talk was a fascinating journey through Tim's near-lifetime of photographing the real railway, with the unusual but rather poignant structure of starting with recent freight operations and progressing backward in time, all the way back to his schoolboy exploits with a Kodak Brownie. His overall point (as I remember it) was that he's not interested in nostalgia. Rather, he is enthused by the fact that the real railway – like the world it runs through – is constantly changing and evolving. This passage of time adds another dimension to the hobby.

As always, we rounded off by enjoying a hearty tea!

NEAG June 2024 meeting

This time around there was a bit of excitement as the planned speaker had to pull out with a week's notice. Consequently the group had to endure a presentation about backscenes by organiser Anthony. He presented some illustrated thoughts on what to think about, followed by a quick demo of how to use artist's acrylics. Not quite Turner prize material....

The general gist of the talk was that there are two extremes: keeping it simple as advocated by Lance Mindheim, or going for an all-singing, all-dancing three-dimensional visual experience à la Paul Bambrick. Since we are in the realm of "art", there is no one correct answer. But beginners should definitely consider the first approach... Copies of their respective books were on hand to have a look at too: Model Railroading as Art comes highly recommended as practical, clear advice, but there is much to learn from Creating a Backscene: A Railway Modelling Companion, albeit that the techniques are much more advanced.

Fortunately, the usual team were on hand in the kitchen to help us recover from the talk.