Jump to content
 

Blog- Johns' Blagdon Blog - A mixed bag. Expo EM-GWR 4 wheel coaches-Mainly Trains-Dapol 'O'


Recommended Posts

Firstly apologies as I haven't looked at the blogs for a while. After the late snow the weather here has been great and the modelling has taken a back seat. My son and I walked the Limestone Way in May and I've been organising our next walk, the Cleveland Way in September.

 

I went to Expo EM mainly to hand over the SEF 517 to Geoff James for painting. There were a number of layouts there but one that did impress was Tim Venton's Clutton. There is a trend today for layouts the area of a Corn Flakes box but here was one, 24ft x7ft, built to the same high standards as these much smaller ones; clearly requiring a great deal more time to construct. I particularly liked the fact that it was based on a prototype location so there is little opportunity to use commercially available items. What was also good to see was that features in the landscape (I recall a particular farm) were identified by notices around the baseboard edge. I can only marvel at the dedication required, the trackwork, for example, comprised individual chairs glued to plywood sleepers. I think that would have driven me insane!

 

I also wanted to see David Geen's stand as I was hoping to purchases a couple of his wagon kits but regrettably he wasn't able to attend. It is interesting to see the trade stands though and see what is available. It's also useful to check up on the trader's websites. I hesitate to mention this as I was taken to task the last time I strayed into this field but I notice that Wizard Models, one of the traders at Expo EM, have a selection of Mainly Trains parts available. I don't know whether they have taken over and are now manufacturing them or whether this is old stock but bearing in mind that MT sold a wonderful selection of parts that no one else does I thought others might be interested. I see for example that the Cambrian 2-4-0T chassis is available, I have a vague thought about getting another to compensate it as the fixed chassis doesn't perform spectacularly well.

 

One of the effects of visiting a show with high quality layouts and rolling stock on display is that it prompts you to have another look at your own stock to se if that passes muster. Mostly I thought it did (I was able to correct some glossy weathering on some of my 1902 wagons - solution - stir the paint THOROUGHLY!).

 

One obvious candidate for refurbishment was a GWR T49 brake third. Last year I had a spare Ratio chassis and wanting something different purchased the sides from Shire Scenes last year. Unfortunately my painting looked as though it had been applied with a tar brush and, having Araldited the body to the chassis, one of the brake door windows fell off and rattled about inside. I manged to prise the body off the chassis, applied paint stripper to the sides and had another go at glazing, this time using Araldite rather than Superglue. This time I opted for chocolate and cream rather than all over chocolate and although still not perfect, the finish was better. The metal sides mean the surface needs priming which, for me, makes it harder to obtain a decnt finish. Glazing Shire Scenes sides is an absolute pig as the door droplights and hinges are seperate etchings that fit on the inside which therefore means that each pair of windows and every droplight has to be glazed separately. I still managed to get some Araldite on the glazing but as it is dark inside this shows up only as a dirty window (surely that happened even on the GWR!). Using chocolate and cream meant I had to apply the lining between the two which, I read, is not gold and black (that was only used on prestige stock) but a single yellow line. Fox transfers supply a suitable decal.

 

Lettering is a bone of contention. I have tried using Pressfix but just cannot get on with the smaller transfers. Every time I tried to apply the class designation to the doors, the individual letters floated away when I wet the tissue paper. They work for the larger items such as the coat of arms but for class designations and numbers; hopeless. I've varnished the sides and will apply the class designation and numbers once I can find transfers that do work, unfortunately Fox Transfers only do the later post war style.

 

I detailed the chassis with brake gear (Mainly Trains did a very useful etch) and the photo shows the result.

 

 

 

Not brilliant but it's an interesting change from the usual GWR 4 wheeled brake.

 

To show what a difference a decent paint job (by Geoff James) can make, attached is a photo of Ratio composite sides on a Mainly Trains chassis. I have to say I like the lake livery which to my mind looks very dignified.

 

 

 

Finally, those who read my blog may recall how taken I was with the Dapol 'O' gauge range, in particular the Stroudley Terrier. As a GWR fan though it wasn't too difficult to put this aside, the only GWR loco they did was a quite expensve 64xx 0-6-0PT. However the range is being extended with that old favourite, the GWR 48xx/14xx/58xx 0-4-2T at the same price as the Terrier. No photos at the moment but it's bound to be excellent and also tempt a lot of people, including myself to the senior scale.

 

i hope all RM Web users have a great summer, I'm putting the modelling away for now. See you all in the Autumn.

Attached thumbnail(s)
  • blogentry-27632-0-08402200-1529499032.jp
  • blogentry-27632-0-25479500-1529499094.jp


View the full article
Link to post
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...