So far I've built one and I have 7 more to go, the good news is they go together quite easily however the first one took a while due to the vague instructions. Nevertheless it went together very well.  

The plan is to film a 2 part video on building and painting the models as well as methods for installing couplers and adding weight to the car to bring it up to NMRA standards. 

• PART 1 - This will encompass the preparation of the kit as well as the actual build and finally painting the model with an airbrush to make it look like a brand new hopper.
• PART 2 - This video will be specifically focused on weathering the car to make it look like it has been well used on the railroad.

Filming of the video will start in the next couple of days and depending on the weather (The shed gets very cold!) part one should be finished in just over a week from now.
I'll post some updates here and I'll also post a written tutorial for this build detailing all the tools and materials so should you wish to build the same Hoppers as me you'll have all the information you need.

So stay tuned for the first video :)

I'm always looking for cheap ways to get great effects on my models... and adding lights to a police car is a perfect example! This was probably one of the easiest modifications I've tried and I'd bet anyone can easily do the same.

So after posting my latest video on making hedges I found I had a bit a spare time, so I embarked on an idea I'd had for a long time which was animating a police car. It wasn't until I went to a recent model railway exhibition that I saw a guy selling blue and red alternating LEDs... Perfect! I already had the police car so this was the perfect time to have a go at adding lights.

I know it's certainly not perfect or prototypical by any means however it gives of a great effect and is very easy to do. 99% of viewers will appreciate the special effect and their imagination will begin to run wild as they contemplate they scene and why the police are there with the lights on?

I thoroughly enjoyed installing the lights and making this modification and I decided to make a video tutorial showing the basic process of adding LEDs to a police car.
The products I've used are

•  Bush Police Car - Busch vehicles are absolutely fantastic, they are put together so well and come apart very easily which makes it very easy to make modifications to all of their vehicles!
•  3mm Red/Blue LEDs - I wired these up in series, due to the timing of the red/blue alternations the alternating effect cycles. They start of blinking red and blue together but then one LED flashes slightly faster than the other, so after 30 seconds or so they start alternating in color and eventually sync up again. The overall effect still look quite good.
• Thin Electrical Wire - For wiring to the LEDs, I used red and black. 

​
Basic tools used will be shown in the video tutorial.

To power the lights I used the Woodland Scenics Just Plug Light System, I had a spare plug due to cutting of an old Nano LED and I now use the spare plug to connect other lights into the system. It had a resistor already attached to the plug.
You can also use a standard 12v power supply or something similar however you'll need to remember to add a suitable sized resistor to avoid blowing the LEDs!
I demonstrate both techniques in the tutorial which should be done in the next 4 day.

Stay tuned for the video which isn't far away :)

Cheers
​Luke

It's been quite a while since my last video but the drought is about to end. 

In the above photo you can see an old diorama, it's actually the diorama from 'Realistic Scenery Vol-3' but whats new is the hedge! 
I've been experimenting with some of the Coconut Fiber Basket Liner material that I used in the 'Tall Forrest Pine Trees' video and the results have come back looking quite good. I think it will take a little more practice to get the exact results I'm after but this was attempt number one and I have to say that I'm quite happy. 

As for the other materials, I basically spray the coconut fibers with a spray adhesive once I have teased the fibers out a little and achieved the basic shape I want, next I sprinkle the hedge with Javis Scenics Medium Green Scatter, then again I give the hedge a light spray with the spray adhesive and finally I coat the hedge with MP Scenery Products Falling Leaves - Medium Green. 

A few different companies do the leaf material, I think Javis Scenics do some, Noch have a good range and Treemendous scenery do a good range as well. 
They are a fantastic product and I'm still quite new to the leaf material but I'm finding it to be fantastic and helps really add a level of realism that's hard to get with simply ground foam.

Above is the diorama I'm building to display the house I built and the hedges that will be the focus of the next video. That big patch in the road was actually a mistake that I'm trying to cover up!

Before I sprinkled the dirt texture over the diorama I masked the road using standard 'masking tape'. Unfortunately after applying the dirt and spraying it with glue, I peeled away the tape and chunks of the road paint peeled up with it. The big patch you can see was a little to big to fix so it turned into an actual road repair patch :)

And here is the house. The diorama has a slight hill on it so the house will sit on top of the hill above the road and the hedge will surround the house. I have some fancy gates to use on the driveway so overall I'm hoping it will look quite good. 

The video itself shouldn't take long however I plan to finish the diorama first so it might be a little over a week before I get the video finished.
So stay tuned :)