Christmas digger build

 I consider Christmas a success if my present pile includes something I can put together after lunch, while watching a good film. The kit mustn't be too taxing, and shouldn't form part of a serious project. Lego is perfect, but knock-off Meccano works well too. 

 

 

I think this Science Club digger came from The Works, and am told it cost £10 for a pair of kits - my dad has a 4X4 from the same range. So, cheap enough for a bit of fund and there might be some useful bits inside. 

 

On the bits front, the motor/gearbox unit has possibilities. At 20mm wide, it would fit in a garden railway locomotive. The 2 X AA battery box includes a switch and these aren't that cheap either. 

The metal bits are strong enough. I don't know if the hole pitch is the same as Meccano, but I bet it's not far off. Yes, I could check with a ruler, but there is chocolate to eat. 

Everything bolts together easily enough. A cross-head screwdriver and spanner are included in the box

and are good enough quality they will head to the toolbox eventually. Nuts and bolts are in reasonable metal so I didn't manage to chew the heads off any by using excess force. Three lengths are used, and these are identified at each stage of the instructions. 

You need your brain in gear as the photos for the instructions are tiny and so it helps if you can figure out things for yourself. The stage took me much pondering - it looks like the motor mounts centrally under a plate, but if you to that, the gearbox doesn't fit between the orange spacers. Offset it by one hole and everything is fine. 

The result looks like the model on the box. Throw the switch and it scoots across the floor at a modest pace. In fact, at a pace that would be good for a garden railway locomotive...

And the film I watched? Sparticus. Never seen it before and won't bother again, but I've ticked off another classic film hole in my memory. It certainly didn't distract me from building, and lasted well over an hour longer than the kit.

Santas and reindeer

 

For a laser-cut sleigh, I need laser-cut reindeer and handily, HGLW produce a couple of sets. I ordered one with and one without Rudolph. 

Assembly simply requires layering the parts with some PVA and then fitting the antlers on the top of the heads. A bit of sanding sealer, some red paint and it's job done. 

Definitely, the oddest laser-cut kits I've ever built!

Finally, some Santa's.

Resin figures that just required painting. The taller one is 16mm scale, his diminutive friend is G. 

All of this for some final festive images: 

A rail-mounted sleigh

 I fancied something interesting and festive for Garden Rail this year. Looking through the HGLW website, I found a laser-cut sleigh kit. 

The model is intended to be a wagon load, but it seemed to me that mounting the sleigh on rails would be far more fun. Assembly is easy with PVA glue, everything slots together easily.

Using a Binnie tipper chassis, I found that the legs could just fit on the frames once the skis were cut away. Glued and then pinned in place, they just make it and seemed pretty solid now. 

The skis fit on the sides of the rails and it looks (IMHO) fantastic. Sprayed red and with white trim applied after painting, it really looks the part for the narrow-gauge Father Christmas. 

All we need, is something to pull it...