With aging hands and eyesight this will be the last kit build for me as I`ve now got quite a selection of builds to play with, plus it`s time to start playing with them all.
I`ve been wanting to build one of these for quite a while and took the plunge just after Christmas. £ 400 gets you a complete kit including wheels and a motor/gearbox kit plus all the detail parts in either lost wax or white metal including seating parts for the passenger saloon. Scorpio supply three instruct
This project is another part of my lockdown efforts.
Warren Shepard`s small prairie kit was the only kit of this type available at the time of purchase and I`ve needed to replace the heavy whitemetal kit of the 45XX that I constructed back in 2009.
I`ve never made this make of kit before and was encouraged in my research regarding the quality of his lost wax castings supplied with each kit. I also studied P A D`s 2017 build of this very kit and was made aware of a few o
Well tis` all done.
She left the paint shop on Friday and just needed the cab details painted up
Then Saturday saw the arrival of her etched No and builders plates from Severnmill products.
Not one of my absolute best builds and there were a lot of self inflicted problems along the way.
But she does look the bizz....
Any how , this month is a ten year anniversary of joining the Gauge O Guild. In 2008 I purhased a brass RTR GWR Pannier Tank from Tower Models.
Sh
I did consider putting a speaker in the bunker, but that should have been planned for earlier in the construction.
So after deliberations I settled for in between the chassis frames. Thankyou to the sugar cube !!!!!
I simply made a couple of plasticard platforms......................................
As Zimo decoders have protective covers I will disguise things further with black paint.
As this is the very last loco chassis I will be painting, I think I will write it all up.
I`v already mentioned to you that I prefer to make everything easy to assemble and unassemble despite the brakeblocks and rodding all soldered into their respective places. I like using Tamiya low tack masking tape to protect the hornblocks before painting
I`ve discovered since modelling in 7mm that Closterman etch primer provides a quality finish to the modelled chassis and does not require an
My schedule has over run by two weeks , but today completed fabricating the cab work....................................................................................
Some of the lost wax parts look overscale to me, however, I was lucky to have some of the GWR castings from my MOK autotank assembly as spares and used these to base the cab work on preserved pannier 7714.
I`m happy with the result which will provide a `busy` looking interior.
So, at last, the kit has all be
Spent all of last evening with two fingers and a thumb in a bowl of ice cubes!!!
Never, NEVER pick up a soldering iron by the wrong end...........
Told you me eyesight was getting bad........
Current modelling progress delayed.......
John
Making model loco handrails is not one of my favourite builds. It has`nt helped that the handrails supplied were (a) not enough usable examples in total, (b) a few were innacurately drilled through. Luckily I had a few in the spares box.
My method works for me so I make boiler and pannier handrails in two halves.
Using an easily bendable wire. The version supplied in the kit seemed to be brass/nickel mix and was easy to work with.
Obviously the two halves are joined and s
I like to build a chassis so that wheels and motor are removable for painting and chemical blackening. Once you know you have a sweet running motion It`s just a case of adding all the brakes and details.
I like a robust brake gear set up and use slightly bigger gauge rods to achieve this aim. The cast springs supplied in the kit are nicely detailed and perhaps slightly over scale if I was to be really pernickety. There are lots of etched brake rod washers supplied in a very heavy gauged nick
I was hoping to have completed construction this week, but there has been a few re-fashioning delays from the kit and some errors on my part .
The buffer faces as supplied have a very noticeable `dome` head `their all domed`!!
Easily sorted with the trusty carborundum disc.................................................................
Other modellers have noted that the cast injectors as supplied are cast incorrectly and need a lot of extra work to become prototypical.
Nice kit so far with some innovative ways of constructing a square footplate. One complex area the pannier tanks is a quality heavy resin moulding more of which later.
There are very good detailed etched overlays which saves on the riveting front. The footplate sub-unit keeps the work nice and square and is an easy fold assembly.
I chose to remove the etched lamp irons and replace with the nice lost-wax cast versions supplied with the kit.
I think these look better
Eyesight has dictated that this loco kit will be the last one as I must save my sight for easier tasks-like building a layout!!!
I felt I should add this last kit build to my GWR collection of constructs to complete the journey as it were.
Fortunately, I purchased the kit six months before the collapse of JLTRT and further fortune has been that there are no missing parts.
As always my preference, beginning with the chassis first, I planned for sprung hornblocks. These are supplied as
I find it such a stressfull slog blocking out and painting each area on a GWR livery................
But she is finally liveried up without too many dog hairs in the finish. I`m glad I added a Badger Anthem dual-action airbrush to my paintshed kit as being able to adjust the flow of air and/or paint has helped no end.
The paint is fully cured now (three days) so today will see final reassembly, the transfers applied and then the final finishing coat o
The chassis is virtually complete and has had it`s first powered bench test.
The body has been primed with Clostermans etch black and then all green livery areas undercoated with Humbrol very old stock No80 to highlight any blemishes etc.
I`m happy with how the push pull gear looks
And will be using a quality masking solution and Tamiya low tack tape to seperate colours as I proceed.
This is a Modern Outline Kit but I`m not going to give a blow by blow constructional account as it has already been done by many others.
However, my version will be based on No 4851 in 1939 when the rear left hand side steps and access handrail was fitted and also still had he original auto-gear which I have never seen modelled.
I bought the kit in April 2013 with my long service cash award for 40 years at the sharp end in the NHS.......... so thankyou tax payers !!
This is a t
No longer available so lucky to have snapped this one up on Ebay.
This project is to be a gradual enterprise as it was really an impulse purchase during 2014 when I had committed myself to building a GWR modular diorama/layout.
The layout is going well but by the end of the year I needed a break from it as I have always been a solo railway modeller.
This kit was calling ou
A most awkward and troublesome kit. I can understand now why I spent those years in the early 1980`s trying to make all those 4mm etched Jidenco loco kits, it was to prepare the way for making this model in 7mm.............
I had previously seen a few made by others and felt there was some potential for the kit and I had always fancied a 1930`s GWR diesel railcar also known as a `flying banana`. I knew it was likely to be a challenge and I had never worked with resin in a kit before, partic
At the time I started this kit, no one else made a 93XX Mogul. From what I had researched other modellers had made quite a decent example of the type.
I was aware that the etches were well researched and produced but lacked a lot of rivet detailing. With the exception of the chimney and sefety valve, I replaced all the white metal detailing parts with those produced by HobbyDevelopments, including the tender springs and axle boxes.
As is my preferred modus operandi , I started with coupl
I always wanted a Dukedog when working in 4mm, so this was a kit I could`nt resist. I`ve based her on 3216 in 1945 condition as the kit had a plain tender and matched the picture I had found.
I purchased replacements for the dome and safety valve and leading driver chassis spring detail , together with all the cab detailing parts from HobbyDevelopments. I hate etched lamp irons so replacements were obtained from Laurie Griffin Miniatures.
I chose a Slaters enclosed gearbox and Mashi
The very first 7mm etched brass effort. Snapped up on Ebay complete with Slaters wheels.
Certainly for locomotives , I am a follower of the principles of sprung hornblocks as a means of maintaining good electrical contact with the track, smoother movement through pointwork and track joints between baseboards and more importantly for me at least, springing enhances the `weight and shear presence` of a loco on the track by drastically reducing the wobbles of a fixed cha
