My 16mm Modelling Efforts

[LH&JC]

Despite a lack of activity in small scale modelling, I've been keeping myself out of trouble with modelling in 16mm scale. My local model engineering society has a 32mm gauge line that is effectively my fleet's home for the time being, poor university student & all that.
'River Ankh' is my first 16mm loco, & the first kit loco I ever built successfully. Although she cost £31 when new she has cost roughly £100 more as I decided to fit her with remote control, her last failure to date was the shredding of her original plastic gears in June but she now sports Cambrian brass gears. Unfortunately her haulage capacity is hampered by her light weight & her heavy support van

My second loco is 'Offler' an AnDel Ffion that initially cost £95, unfortunately it's electrics failed in September so I decided to fit it with R/C too which I finally finished last month. In total Offler cost me around £150. During her spell in the works the con rods were replaced with cosmetic axle boxes. River Ankh & Offler can be driven from the same transmitter however I have yet to master controlling 2 locos at the same time! Offler is not a museum piece but it does look like a working loco which is far better in my eyes than a sparking clean loco.

My third loco is an IP Fowler rail bus, a bargain from Ebay costing only £45 compared to the catalogue price of £92! No disasters so far for the Fowler, it's been my most reliable loco by far! The engine unit is white metal that gives it impressive adhersion. Now sold

The fourth loco is 'Ivy' a £65 Model Town De Winton 'alike' I've added detailing to her, a whistle & pair of safety valves have been made out of brass. Lining was done with trimline. She's only had 1 running day so far due to a broken wire thanks to my shoddy soldering, the next Model Rail will hopefully come in handy! The oil can reads 'Mild' I need to get another for bitter! The middle boiler band still needs to be moved.

The rolling stock I have is a mix of IP wood kits alongside AnDel & Swift Sixteen resin kits, with 5 Binnie plastic skip wagons for that industrial feel.


Everything has been brush painted with acrylics, and save for a pair of bolster wagons, built by myself, which accounts for their unreliability and poor finish! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/locomotive.gif

Sorry if that was very long winded http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/unsure.png

[PaulRhB]

Nice naming policy

Also nice to see proof that large scale doesn't have to be eye watering price wise. The swift sixteen kits are very good value, I've just built their new well wagon, and Rob who produces them has been very positive in addressing any minor problems that the G scale boys found. Off to pick up some stuff for a load on my wagon

[LH&JC]

Thanks, I'm thinking about getting an AnDel railcar, but whatever will be named next will carry the name 'Jimi', the god of the beggars. Like the gods 'Offler' has been a complete pain at times, like the 'River Ankh', mine had trouble moving for quite some time & I'm often in need of money so 'Jimi' fits perfectly!

[James Hilton]

Some very charismatic modelling on a relatively small budget there

[90733]

Everytime I see pictures of your stock posted on various forums I eny the finish you get! Look great.

[LH&JC]

Everytime I see pictures of your stock posted on various forums I eny the finish you get! Look great.

 

That's probably because you've never seen them in the flesh!

[LH&JC]

Had a couple of running days this week, during the first one Ivy lost one of her nameplates so she's been partially repainted and the remaining plate is now on the front of the tank. I've also made a stove pipe chimney from brass tube and styrene strip for her, which gives her a bit more elegance in my opinion. And the middle boiler band is still wonky!

[Dudley]

Some good modelling there. It always amazes me how others expect 16mm/the big stuff to be proportionally more expensive - it's not. In fact it's cheaper than N or 00. Come on in; it's a great scale!

 

Dudley

[James Hilton]

Lovely to see 16mm on a budget. Great modelling!

[LH&JC]

A running day today gave me a chance to give the Fowler rail bus a final fling. At the 16mm show at Peterborough in less than 2 weeks time I'm buying a steam loco, a second hand Roundhouse Millie (to be named Minnie after the late family dog) so the Fowler along with a couple of items of stock are going to be sold to partly fund Minnie the Millie and any other purchases. I'm not entirely abandoning my 16mm on the cheap philosophy, if that's the word, as Minnie only cost me £350.
I also took River Ankh with me and both ran well, neither had anything go wrong, the only casualty was a coach that might have, sort of, hit the ground and now might need reassembly! The Fowler needs some time in the works to tidy her up a bit, the lamp iron fell off this morning & some of the paint needs touching up.
I'll miss the Fowler, it's been a good performer only letting me down when the batteries die, no electrical failures, broken wires or shredded gears unlike 3 other locos I could mention! Cough! Offler, Ivy & River Ankh respectively. Cough!

The van immediately behind River Ankh needs repainting and the coach needs it's roof repairing.

[LH&JC]

At Peterborough I managed to sell the rail bus but not the items of rolling stock. I purchased a couple of coach kits from IP Engineering, another Binnie skip & AnDel industrial open wagon. The main purchase was a second hand Roudhouse Millie, in need of a repaint but apart from that she's grand. I've painted the buffer stocks red & the rear of the buffer beams black plus fitted number plates, and flexible vacuum pipes.

Running sweet as a nut.

Safety chains, coupling chain & vacuum pipes will make coupling these interesting!

A (now) typical RHBR working, albeit a coach lighter than (will be) usual. I've omitted glazing from the coach as I kept making a mess of it and I believe that no glazing looks better than windows covered in glue!

And yes, I do know it's utterly pointless having vacuum pipes without brakes for them to work!

[LH&JC]

Minnie's tanks, bunker, & spectacle plate have been repainted. The front buffer beam & RH cylinder have had their paint patched up, she's barely showing her age now! When Roundhouse release the lining masks they have under development I might have a crack at lining Minnie myself. The IP Engineering guard/luggage coach went together well, but painting & fitting the roof is a challenge to say the least. The coaches have been fitted with older flexible vacuum pipes, while the castings are slightly cruder they are better at staying coupled.

Before

After

 

[LH&JC]

As Minnie is named after my family's late staffy bull terrier, I've fitted a Summerlands Chuffer to make her bark worse than her bite. I've also done some more small painting jobs on the loco but works activity has waned, once my Swift Sixteen box van arrives I'll be in full swing again!

 

Chuff Pipe by williamfj2, on Flickr

 

An indifferent video of Minnie with the chuffer sorry about the blowing off!

[LH&JC]

Minnie's been repainted once again in late May in the same red, but the camera on my phone is easily thrown by sun it seems. You may notice that I've also painted the handrails and tank fillers, which in my opinion does make her look a bit more realistic. Probably the next cosmetic job on Minnie is to paint the tank tops & fillers black and fit her nameplates.

 

I've also been building a Brandbright panelled coach on and off for the last 3 weeks. It's still some way from completion as I've barely done anything on the interior, save for the inner walls, droplight straps & picture frames. The livery is based very loosely on the purple lake and cream livery the Isle of Man Railway used in the 1990s, although on this one I haven't painted enough of the outer panelling cream!

It still needs some painting, especially the exterior frame but hopefully you get an impression of what it'll look like.

 

I have made mistakes so far but hopefully I'll incorporate those lessons into the brake coach & directors saloon on the to do list

[LH&JC]

A running day yesterday ended with the newly revived Offler back in store as I have managed to shred the brass gear on the leading axle. In the works Offler has been stripped down and I've stripped the grub screw that holds the worm gear on the motor, ever get the feeling that you should just leave something deep in a drawer? On a more positive note, Minnie, with boiler washed out & nameplates fitted, ran well. River Ankh has had a replacement switch added and I've reworked the support van's roof to be a more stable and look a bit better, still needs a repaint though!

 

Minnie meets another Millie. I really should repaint those handrails.

Offler poses in the sun with the final straw, the corrugated box van is a hefty lump of resin and the open had tools in it.

[LH&JC]

Despite the lack of updates here I have been keeping myself out of trouble working on 16mm stock; Minnie's had a set of lubricators, mechanical lubricator and a set of fire iron from Locoworks (usual disclaimer), I've built another MOD open wagon, a bogie open wagon, a (working) Cleminson open wagon and a pair of coaches. Minnie is now out of action pending a boiler washout along with some tinkering with the water gauge to fit a blow down valve of sorts. Unfortunately the G van has started to fall apart, another addition to the growing works list. Quite how the IMR influenced a line set in North Yorkshire is a question that cannot be answered!

The full extent of the RHBR's coach fleet (at the moment) They are IPE freelance coaches, although the livery & numbering is based on the IMR fleet.


Pretty much my entire 'main line' fleet is in this shot


Yes those are rocks (and a brick), and her safety valve is lifting. The only problem with that load was that Minnie did tend to spin when setting off with that load.

The 'Whitby' headboard has been knocked together from scraps left over from one of the coach kits, I've since added a brass lamp iron to it. This photo also shows the lubricators, although I forgot to add the fire irons and I keep photographing the side with the bare handrails!


A couple of locos and wagons need time in the works, and I still want to line Minnie out in IMR style, I know that there are transfers available but I'm afraid of making a pigs ear of it.

[James Hilton]

The stock and engines look superb Will Great stuff! Glad to see someone out in the garden in this weather too

[LH&JC]

Thanks, I am pleased with how the IP coaches have turned out, although I think the white tyre walls are a bit much. A lifting safety valve has proven to be a very effective glove warmer, although you have to be quick putting them on again! Hopefully a couple of kits will fall down the chimney on the 25th, for some reason a cheap & cheerful switch on and go electric is appealing at the moment.

[LH&JC]

Santa brought me a IP Engineering Daisy Railcar kit and a 3rd MOD open, and some extra bits for the Railcar and Narrow Planet worksplates for Minnie & River Ankh. The Railcar (No.17 better known as The Potting Shed) is nearly finished, another evening should see it finished and ready to block traffic! Minnie has also had a replacement glass for the water gauge fitted and, more importantly a blowdown valve has been added to the mighty maroon Millie.

 

Quieter than River Ankh and easier on the eyes to boot, although the radiator surround was initially brass but,

 

The valve is worked by a nut spinner that conveniently fits in her fire-iron rests, Beyer-Peacock was chosen as my dissertation is on the history of Belle Vue stadium which was near Gorton.

 

After losing some enthusiasm later on last year I'm now looking forwards to going back to Drighouses to play with my trains!

[LH&JC]

A dose of flue prevented me from going to the January running day and a dose of various alcohols tried to prevent me from going to the February running day but I managed it, and only forgot my lighter! Minnie & the Shed performed well, although the Shed's cheap batteries proved to be a false economy, buy cheap buy twice springs to mind.

 

It might have been the booze still in my system but double heading a very slow electric and a loco not too keen on slow running seemed to be an attractive idea.

 

Crawling past some greenery, causing a traffic jam!

 

I find it quite amusing that my camera's phone refused to focus on the electric, focusing instead on the Mighty Minnie

 

For once I also took some videos, the growling sound in the first one is the sound the Shed makes when being pushed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamfj2/8484393097/
 

And a second, sunny clip

http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamfj2/8484385101/
 

Sorry, I haven't figured out how to embed Flickr videos here.

[LH&JC]

A quick clean of the pile of junk I've accumulated recently has seen 2 of the Brandbright coaches I started building reorganised and work on the 3 comp has restarted with more painting and I've made another couple of seats for it, admittedly it's not much to shout about compared to what many on here can do in an evening but it's nearer completion now that it has been since August! I've also been building a pair of box vans from Busted Bricks that fall together and are a lot cheaper than other kits, and the quality is just as good if not better with no wobbly wheels and warped wood to contend with. The only concern I do have at the moment is the couplings, although it doesn't look too difficult to fit replacements should I want to.

[LH&JC]

I could have sworn that I posted a reply yesterday, I'm losing my marbles!   And may I add, wibble.

 

Back to the fleet, Sunday's running day wasn't exactly a classic, Minnie's burner is playing up and once she was withdrawn and I sent the Shed out it started raining so I gave up pretty quickly after that. On the bright side the pair of Busted Bricks box vans look rather good and seem to run well (Minnie didn't even do half a lap so I don't really know yet!) and the Cleminson wagon was running better than it did last time it was out so it might avoid being sold at the Peterborough 16mm assoc show.

 

The RHBR's version of express freight, sans loco.

 

A closer shot of the Busted Bricks vans, these flew together with little effort and the only additions are lamp irons & vacuum pipes

 

The Shed with 3 of the RHBR's lesser lights

 

Finally a very light freight working, and I do intend on getting another small brakevan to replace River Ankh's rather garish one.

 

Still the next running day is Easter Sunday and alongside Minnie I think River Ankh will be out to deafen people and cause some traffic jams again!

[LH&JC]

Last week Minnie & Offler were in the works, Minnie was in for attention to her burner and Offler was fitted with Ivy's chassis. Both ran well yesterday with Minnie having no trouble lighting or brewing. Offler if anything seems to be a bit more powerful now that he's fitted with a metal chassis, although until I get some brass gears Offler is rather limited.

There's a sight I haven't seen for some time, Minnie's safety valve lifting.

 

Minnie clatters past

 

More of a moving photo rather than a video of Minnie topping the summit of the line

 

At the end of a successful and tiring day Offler lurks while Minnie's boiler is drained.

[LH&JC]

Another sunny(ish) Sunday another running day, Minnie was in fine fettle hauling a heavy load for much of the day. Much of the stock is in need of attention, few need more than paint touching up but a coupling that needed repairing was forgotten about, and I also forgot that I removed a coupling from one of the curved end open wagons so the brakevan could run at the last running day. I blame the attention needed to finish my dissertation, celebrating handing it in and then replacing an ex-laptop.

 

Minnie on the move, not that you'd know from her exhaust.

 

That's better!

 

Looped waiting for a top up of water & gas while an Accucraft Ragleth passes by with a passenger train. Another rock was added to the train later

 

Minnie waits to be overtaken before setting off with her heavy freight, slow speed is scale speed!

 

A pair of moving pictures of Minnie on the balloon loop.

You can clearly see the open without a coupling at the back, whoops.

 

 

 

 

[LH&JC]

Posting here is definitely not a means of avoiding revision for my final exam.

At the Peterborough 16mm Association show I got a few kits although only 1 has been released to traffic (a Brandbright 4 plank open) and 1 is still waiting for its roof to be painted & fitted (IPE 'Ezee' brake van) and the others are either still untouched or have had a token effort made to work on them. I've fitted Minnie with a new regulator as the old one was worn out and since I ordered a proper headboard from ELR Engineering I've added lamp irons to the running plate. I intend to fit one in the middle and on the one day where its sunny and warm I plan on stripping and repainting the bunker then adding lamp irons to that.

 

Standing proud on Mount Dowd, clearly not lit as there isn't a bucket under her blow-down valve in the middle of a pool of water!