An old Highway Miniatures Marion Steam Shovel kit tackled.

I started work on this model some years ago and put it back in the bin as it was too daunting. Absolute scale parts, few mounting guides and construction instructions written by someone who never finished the kit were enough to put me off.

I took it out the other day and determined to either build it or assemble some useful detail engineering parts.  The moulding work was classy but delicate, tiny and flimsy.

I persisted with the build, painting sub assemblies as I went and fixing tiny broken parts too. Here are some pictures of the process.

An old time piccy.

Crank's safety update

Named for a model making friend in Canada (alias Mr Eccentric Crank) another Trainlife denizen who is of an engineering bent, he quickly picked up on the lack of pressure relief valves on my tank farm.  So one upturned HO scale oilcan and a tiny piece cut from a brake part from an old Airfix Rocket kit later we comply with safety regs!

Petrol driven pumping gear shack installed

Oilcan safety valve

Airfix safety valve

A change of tree.

The more I looked at the fallen tree on my Christmas card picture the more I disliked it.  I found a suitable twig in my collection of things magical and replaced the original. I think it looks much better.

The Rio Bozo under the Plughole Falls bridge.

A few snaps. The water needs a fresh coat of pledge but that'll have to wait until some dusty work is finished.

Season's greetings

Just playing

I really do have to finish replacing the backscene and its mounting board on the long wall but keep putting it off till later.  In the meantime I've been having fun on the Rio Bozo down in the Plughole Falls gorge.

Finally got me a bear! He's not interested in the ceanothus he's looking for honey

I decided to model a fallen tree down in the gorge.  A suitable twig with some distressing by an Exacto saw blade then some paint and away we go.

A twig and some seafoam,

The wildflowers are enjoying the early summer micro climate in the gorge.  The fir tree is a cheap n nasty plastic one dressed with flock "needles" I think it's pretty good for something I'd normally throw in the junk bin.