Bachmann James - Makeover!

Hi everyone.

Recently I've been tied up with a lot of different personal life stuff, but, finally got back into doing a bit of modelling.  Recently decided to give James a little bit of work, by making his cab open and detailed.

James' inner cab was basically a chunk of moulded plastic which I carefully cut out with a sharp craft knife. Inside the cab is the curcuitboard chip, which was unscrewed and placed further inside the body, making sure not to damage any of the wiring attatched to the motor.
The cab roof gently comes away, which made it easier to paint and add the inner cab detail, which i got from a spare Hornby Thomas body.

The holes pictured here, were filled in with blu tac and then painted over with humbrol acrylic matt black. This was given two layers of matt black and left to dry one after the other, until the inner cab looked like this.

Once the paint had dried, I then looked at picking out the copper pipe detail, which considering the limited space inside the James model, was a little tricky to pick out, but, using a thin tip brush, managed to apply the sopper paint to make the inside of the cab look more realistic.

Quite happy with how the effect looks now, just a shame that the Bachmann model has an enclosed cab, whereas Bachmann's Edward loco, has an open cab, but no detail, but being a fairly new model in the range, it makes doing the conversion yourself, more enjoyable, and with careful time and patience, the results will often be what you expect it to be if you keep an open mind. :)

The Adventure Begins - How Thomas became Sodor's #1 Engine!

All new animated special coming to DVD this year, telling the story of how Thomas became Sodor's number one blue tank engine, with a few Railway Series references added in,

Thomas in his LBSC livery when he first arrives on Sodor from the Mainland, James in his original black livery with red stripes. With a noticeable effect being that Thomas's cab number is 70, indicating the 70th Birthday of Thomas & Friends since 1945 when the Three Railway Engines book was first published by The Rev .W. Awdry.

It sounds and looks very promising, it will certainly be worth adding to a collectors DVD collection.

Hornby Thomas & Friends Revival for 2015

Our friend Chris Thomson has informed us that Hornby, as part of Thomas's 70th Birthday, will be releasing a new range of products this year, it had been thought for some time that Thomas & Friends had been discontinued from the Hornby catalogue, but, this is some real wonderful news, with hopes that it will as good as it used to be.

More details to come very soon, once we know more about the release dates and what is to be announced.

Logan is now more than a 'promotional' character.

Recent news has come about that Logan, is now more than just a promo model from the wooden railway book and model feature 'Logan and the Big Blue Engines'.
A recent video by Arc Productions has given fans great expectations that Logan will possibly be part of the Thomas and Friends television stories, with hopes that he will get featured when Season 19 airs in the fall of 2015.

Close up of Logan's chassis and wheel details

There had been a lot of speculation regarding Logan's character, being just a 'one-off' like many of the other previous characters that had come and gone in the television stories between 2009 and 2012, however, this video, with it's little back story detailing Logan's shape and characteristics, gives the indication he will probably be more than just a simple promo character, all we can do is wait for further confirmation from best sources, to whether Logan will remain a permanent addition to the Sodor fleet.

Thomas with Logan at the Shunting Yard

Stephen OO - Test Video

Also long awaited is the completed model of Stephen from 'King of the Railway'.



Stephen was made using a Tri-ang Hornby 'Rocket' with a dapol tender kit, the model was thoroughly cleaned, and given odd parts from the Take 'n' Play Stephen, it runs really well, and i have recently bought a second rocket to make another version of him with his black funnel before it got broken off during the mine scene. :)

Porter & Rosie OO - Test Clips!

Long awaited videos of Porter and Rosie in OO are finally here!



Porter was made using a Rivarossi OO/HO model. Rosie was built from scratch and runs on a Hornby 'Toby' 0-6-0 chassis with motion from a Bachmann Gordon.

Hornby 2015 range reveals Den prototype!

Hornby's 2015 product range has recently revealed that a second version of the 0-4-0 'Sentinel' will include motion rod drive, something that was only ever available as a plastic kit from Knightwing using a Branchlines chassis kit. The new model looks superb, and although the model will not be out till next year, it now opens up some new opportunities for fans to make their own models of Thomas & Friends character, Den.

Den who was recently seen in the Thomas and Friends Television Series, is based on the sentinel 0-4-0 rod drive locomotive like the picture above, he works at the Diesel works with his friend Dart, who was made by Hornby two years ago.

Sadly there is no new Thomas & Friends characters in the 2015 lineup, but, there could well be a return of the Hornby Thomas range around 2016/17 depending on the current state of Hornby's future, it was announced recently that they were leaving Margate Works in Kent to move to new premises, but production of new products would still continue nonetheless!

Blog Update - 20/12/14

Greetings friends and visitors.

We apologize for so many updates lacking on this blog, the last year has been very stressful in everyday life that we've not had much time to get online to do any updating, but as we move towards 2015, the blog will be fully updated and hopefully will get back on track from January with new product news, updates and community happenings.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and hope that it's a good one from all of use here at the World of Thomas Modelling. :)

Homepage updated

Decided to update the homepage banner with a new look.

More updates to follow soon, but enjoy for now. :)

Back in Buisness!!

Greetings to all.

It's been a long while since we've made any new posts, but we are finally getting back on track with updating the pages after a long spell of not using media sites and blogs.

Expect some new updates to commence in the next couple days. :)

regards

Dan

Now on Wikia!

We have now created a page on Wikia.

The idea for the wikia page is to encourage more modellers to join in with our community and share their love for model railways in the form of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Stephen the 'Original' Steam Engine - Photos Here!

Completed photos of Stephen the 'Rocket' Engine are now posted in the Complete Projects Page!

The model was made using various parts from a take 'n' play die-cast model, and a second hand Triang 'Rocket' loco i won on Ebay for £38.00.

Make October a Smoke-Free month for 28 days!

As part of the Stoptober 28 day Smoke-Free month, we have made this little banner to hopefully influence others to join in and support it. We respect all smokers, but we all have family and friends who also like the odd smoke a fair bit, and would like to try and help them to quit once and for all.

 Smoking causes harm to you're health and can cause serious health problems in later years to come, possibly also leading to lung cancer, which is something we'd like to help avoid, and stop the spread of passive smoking to children and babies.

Do the right thing, put it out, right out!

Do it for our friend, Stephen.

Stephen in the works from The Sodor OO Works!

Latest edition to the OO stock, which is making good progress is Dan's OO/HO scale model of Stephen from the recent DVD release 'King of the Railway'.

Video & Images © 2013 The World of Thomas the Tank Engine Modelling™

Thomas Themed Birthday Party - How to plan. =)

Activities for a Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Party If you are on this site, you clearly are a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and if you have kids, you probably want them to be too. Here are a few ways you can throw a fun and exciting Thomas the Tank Engine themed sleep over party for their birthday.





1. Boarding Tickets


 Before the party you can send invitations themed like a boarding ticket. They can have the train’s departure time (the start of the party) the arrival time (the end) and any other necessary information. For example, because it is a sleep over party you may want guests to bring a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine pajamas Each ticket can also have a unique number on it, which can be used to assign teams when they arrive. For example, numbers 1-3 can be team Thomas, 4-6 team Gordon, etc. Periodically through out the party, the Fat Controller (an adult or older sibling) can blow a train whistle to start a raffle. Then they choose one of the ticket numbers randomly from a box. Whoever has the matching ticket can get a prize – for example a gift bag filled with train themed treats.



 2. Making Trains


 Train modeling is obviously awesome, but model trains for a whole party can rack up quite a bill. As an alternative, before the party search for Thomas and Friends printables online and find ones that show side profiles of the trains. Then print these and cut them out to distribute to each team. Make sure that each team gets the character that they are named after and enough cars for each teammate. Once each team is set with the cut outs, they can compete in making the best train. They can color in the cut outs using magic markers, crayons, or any other art supplies you prefer. Then, they can join their cars together using paper clips as couplers. The Fat Controller who has been blowing the whistle can judge each team’s creations to decide which is the best. The winning team will get to decide who they compete against first in the Chug o’ War Challenge.



3. Chug o’ War Challenge


 This spin on the classic tug o’ war pits two locomotives against each other to see which steam engine can kick out the most horse power. Create a line of train tracks about 3 feet wide - these can be made out of black tape on concrete, or lines sprayed on grass with a train turntable in the middle (this can be as simple as a garbage can lid or round piece of cardboard, or as complicated as you would like). The two competing teams stand within the train tracks on either side of the turntable and must pull on a rope against each other. The first team to get derailed (step off the tracks) or to touch the turntable loses. Depending on how many teams you have, you can make the chug o’ war a tournament, best out of three, or find a different way to make the activity last as long as you would like. After all of the rounds, the team that wins can get to choose who will be the first engine in Train Tag.



 4. Train Tag

 To play Train Tag, first mark out the boundaries of a train yard (playing field) in a park or yard. The size of the yard will depend on how many people are playing, but if you make it too big, the game may take a very long time to end. For 10 people an area of about 30 feet by 30 feet should be good. For 15 people 40 x 40 may be better. The Engine (or first player) is “it”. Whenever they tag someone, that person joins the “train” and has to hold their hand. Then they must work together to tag another person, who then also joins their train. This keeps going until everyone is part of the train. The winner is the caboose, or the last person to get tagged. This game can go for as many rounds as it takes for everyone to get bored or tired. Each time the caboose is captured, that person’s team wins a point for being the last player.



5. Settling Down

 After a day of crafting, tugging, chugging, and running, most of the partygoers should have begun to run out of steam. You can cap off the party with a big Thomas themed birthday cake, giving the first slices to the birthday boy or girl, and then the next ones to the team that won the most games. After the cake, everyone can settle down by playing with model trains and watching Thomas and Friends. Before long, they should be just about ready to get some rest. Kids have loved Thomas the Tank Engine for over 50 years now, so a Thomas themed party can be a great opportunity for them to learn fun activities that they can pass on for generations. With activities ranging from raffles to chug o’ wars, everyone should have a blast at this kind of birthday party.

Diesel 10 - Completed!

My recent re-work of Diesel 10 is now complete, it has taken months to do, and with thanks to my friend Charlie, he now has a moveable pinchy.

All photos are © copyright The World of Thomas Modelling Community.

Wellsworth to Knapford - Coming Soon to the Blog!

With kind permission from Christian Brown, we will be adding his recent layout to our members gallery alongside Great Waterton, Elsbridge and more!

Keep a watch on the layouts page, as they will be added in the next couple days! :)

Bachmann Duck UK - Photos!

It has been five long months, but finally, after a good long wait, Bachmann's superb model of Duck, has finally arrived at The Diesel Works!

The model is wonderful, accurate and very well detailed, i know many will probably tweak it to make it more RWS based, but, i'm happy with my model, and i look forward to running it on my Sodor based model railway! :)

Day Out with Thomas Videos - Now Here!

Yesterday i visited the West Somerset Railway for their Day Out with Thomas themed event, and i can happily say that it was a lovely day for it, the weather was nice and i really enjoyed it.

Here are videos taken on the day, enjoy. :)


Part 1:

 

 

 

Part 2:

 

 

 

Part 3:

Sincere Apologies to all

My deepest apologies to all for not updating the blog sooner.

The last month has been a real life turner, i won't go into the details too deep, but it has changed some of how i feel towards relationships in the near future. However, in spite of everything, i still hold a good friendship with my ex, and we still talk now and again.


I have so much work to do to the blog now that it will probably take at least a couple weeks towards August to get them all sorted and added.