The Never Ending Story....

I've been a bit remiss and haven't updated the blog for some time so here's a few more thoughts and ideas. I recently received an email from the co-ordinator of a group called AsiaNRail located in the US which is actively modelling various Asian rail systems. His email gave me a sort of kick in the behind to get some work done. There was an article in the US 'N Scale Magazine' about this group and the great work they are doing. The modeller's name is Paul Ingram. Thanks for your message Paul. They model Japanese, Taiwanese,  Korean and Filipino railways and are planning to have a go at Thai and Vietnamese. They model in N scale using the Japanese 1:150 scale just as I am.

At the moment I'm concentrating on getting the track finished on the module I'm building and in the process have swapped the viewing side from one side to the other and slightly modified the track layout. I should have some photos up on the website this weekend. As well I found a Tomytec (Japanese) modern 2 track loco shed which should stand in for a DSVN one, at least until I get to scratchbuild a more accurate version. So many public buildings in Vietnam are painted that yellow ochre/'poo' colour that I'll have to have the same.

The houses are going to be interesting. No other country has houses that look anything like Vietnamese ones, you know the ones, about 6 feet wide and 5 or six floors (at least!)tall, with almost invariably a shop on the ground floor. I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and build my own from photos.

I plan to visit Sai Gon and surrounds at the end of July so should get some useful photos in the process. last time I visited I took nearly 500 photos! I'm aiming for a lot more this time.

Currently I have a part finished DSVN gondola/open wagon sitting on my workbench, as well as a US single dome tank car to be converted into the similar DSVN one, and also two types of Vietnamese container wagons. I also have a can of Tamiya 'French Blue' spray paint for that pretty container flat blue colour.

Soon I will have to bite the bullet and start scratchbuilding a locomotive, probably a D18E, which is quite big as metre gauge locomotives go, and is basically all flat sides and ends. Even my lousy scratchbuilding skills should be able to tackle that one! I'm going to have to produce some N Scale drawings first. I have some outline drawings, so will use those and add details from photos.

 Wish me luck!