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Kernow Model Centre announce weathered Dapol Westerns


Andy Y

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I can remember seeing a very occasional Western as a child when playing in an orchard at the bottom of my garden, which backed onto the Guildford to Redhill line.

This was pre BR blue and before I really knew what a Western was, but I did notice they were big, red, had names and six wheel bogies which showed their wheels.

They were usually running light engine, later of course Hymeks were common on parcels and Warships on stone, I can remember one these failing across the level crossing at Chilworth station and holding me up on my paper round, the signalman let me push my loaded paper bike over the foot crossing under the nose of the Warship.

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Superb, just as i hoped on the "Dapol western" thread that someone would, nice and faded, not really dirty as such please!! im happy..

was D1068 ever one of the badly faded ones, could of chose a better one to do, tho i guess i can renumber it. cant wait...

 

That's how I remember them too - at least the BR Blue ones. They were so frequently sent through the carriage washers that most were faded rather than being dirty. So the weathering should be a little different to the Class 22s. But I'm confident Kernow MRC and Dapol can deliver this.

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Many WR locos spent some years of their lives in what might best be described as "patchy" livery. Faded, rubbed back, badly flaked, chipped and peeling and with blue, maroon, green and oxide primer layers all simultaneously displayed. That of course included some of the Westerns.

 

It was said among spotters and some staff at the time that the concentration of Exmover used in the loco wash at Bristol Bath Road was to blame though the truth of the matter may have lain elsewhere.

 

I have every confidence in Kernow and Dapol delivering superbly weathered Westerns and I understood their announcement to suggest that the photos were to be used as the basis for how these releases might look.

 

It would take some superb degree of skill and time to represent the "Bath Road Effect" on any loco meaningfully without it looking a complete mess but I'm sure it could be done.

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That's how I remember them too - at least the BR Blue ones. They were so frequently sent through the carriage washers that most were faded rather than being dirty. So the weathering should be a little different to the Class 22s. But I'm confident Kernow MRC and Dapol can deliver this.

Basically it was - as you say - the carriage washing machines (CWMs) - which damaged the paintwork although Swindon's painting was not exactly the most durable in the world imho. There was a particular problem with the CWM at Kensal Green (near Old Oak Common) with the rinse cycle and it went on for some years although coaches and, latterly HSTs, were hand washed monthly (in theory) which meant they didn't suffer like locos.

 

I'm not at all sure if Exmover was used in the loco washers (which in any case often seemed to be out of use) as it would not have been the best chemical for removing loco dirt - but that in itself might explain a thing or two and I do recall seeing stocks of liquid cleaning chemicals in loco depot stores. But whatever they did use the loco depot washers were also pretty good at damaging paintwork.

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It would take some superb degree of skill and time to represent the "Bath Road Effect" on any loco meaningfully without it looking a complete mess but I'm sure it could be done.

 

And it seems I may have inadvertently set myself a challenge! With several spare Hornby Westerns parked up out of traffic and a rather nice airbrush kit on the workbench it would seem a shame not to at least try one of these days. Overspray a masked body with oxide, green, maroon and blue then slowly rub patches back to the lower layers and somehow induce a little flaking and rust. Hmmmmm ........

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May be Dapol Dave will let us know extent of weathering on Ltd blue western, (inc patch on front). If 22 anything to go bye its a good un, owen

 

I remember the patch but when did it appear? I'd prefer without so wouldn't have to risk spoiling the weathering to remove it when renumbering. Hence my earlier question about whether the number/nameplates would be pre-fitted (and weathered?) or not (as DapolDave has said will be the case for the standard verisons).

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The thought of a 00 guage Western graveyard with Hornby & Lima relics crossed my mind. It is one of my saddest childhood memories seeing the Laira 1000s (and Hymeks) parked along the mainline - windowless, nameplateless and doomed. Difficult for a child to compute stuff like that, particularly when passing the "runners" stood outside the shed and the Laira haze of white exhaust covering the area.

 

Like many others - spent hours in scrapyards amongst the dead - Swindon, Crewe etc, but think it slightly morbid to model it.

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I can see the day (later this year if Dapol get things moving) when a Hornby Western, suitably begrimed and sullied, sits forlornly on the road outside the shed while its Dapol and Heljan counterparts continue in daily service on the main lines above. And if I actually carry out my self-imposed threat to treat one to the so-called "Bath Road Effect" as per my posts above it may look just right in that spot.

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All this western talk on the model which is great news but sadly see the hydraulic thread has,nt had a post for some time.

Please lets see your pics and read your memorys which make a hydraulic fan stay in and read at nite.

As for a weathered version i too was suprised that D1068 is to be done as always in good condition wene i see her.

The choice of D1015/D1022/D1041/D1058 or D1065 now there were in very run down condition.

richard.

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I can remember seeing a very occasional Western as a child when playing in an orchard at the bottom of my garden, which backed onto the Guildford to Redhill line.

This was pre BR blue and before I really knew what a Western was, but I did notice they were big, red, had names and six wheel bogies which showed their wheels.

They were usually running light engine, later of course Hymeks were common on parcels and Warships on stone, I can remember one these failing across the level crossing at Chilworth station and holding me up on my paper round, the signalman let me push my loaded paper bike over the foot crossing under the nose of the Warship.

You are quite correct about 52's over the Reading-Guildford-Redhill line. There was an early evening freight from Severn Tunnel Jct routed this way, not sure about the destination but it was running in 1965 when I started as a box boy at Guildford Yard and South boxes. I can still vividly recall the day it became derailed right outside Yard box, not the loco but some wagons which, I believe, had become 'buffer locked' and rode up over each other when going over what was back then a very strange track layout.

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Rather more than a few years ago, my duty road journeys required me to use the A420 twixt Oxford and Swindon, where I would change roads for the A361 for Devon and the welcome return to red soil. (No such thing as M4 or M5; these were just the nightmares in smoke-filled offices).

 

On the approach to Swindon the tarmac road ran alongside the iron road, and my introduction to diesel recognition was based almost entirely on the Westerns. I must confess that I rather liked them, and if I were to be denied spotting kettles in Brunswick Green, the Western was just about acceptable.

 

So the race is on, I guess. Will Kernow be offering me my O2s and Gate Stock before I am tempted by this alternative? Kernow Enterprises wins either way.

 

PB

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And here's a real one with a few weathering challenges: Druid at St Blazey in June 1974. See my image (TX0997) on the parallel Dapol thread for a far dirtier example.

 

post-7291-0-17249800-1331119941_thumb.jpg

 

This was a fantastic visit. Not only were we allowed the run of the place, but the staff were very friendly. As a bonus, we cabbed Druid and I was allowed to re-start its engines when it was due to depart. Happy memories.

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Personally I prefer the weathering of Druid (Post #46) to the exceptionally bleached out look of Stalwart (Post #42) or Champion (Post #48). I want to run my Westerns with Dapol's Class 22 plus the Hymeks and Warships. I don't remember seeing really badly weathered ones until after the Class 22s at least had gone.

 

I've now pre-ordered Reliance and will wait and see just how weathered they're going to be. But if D1068 looks like the photo posted by KMRC I'll be happy.

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I see Chromatic blue is being mentioned again.

 

Now I don't have any personal knowledge on this apart from what I've read, but the Yahoo WRDH group knows more about the WR hydraulics than anyone else I know and includes respected hydraulic expert and author Hugh Dady. Concensus on the group is that chromatic blue never existed as an official shade or unofficial experiment. Musketeer was, I believe, spray painted rather than brushed, but with standard BR blue. The poor wearing qualities of the early batches of BR blue paint, combined with the spray finish and the WR 'acid etch' effect carriage washers may have caused the paint to weather differently, but it wasn't a separate colour. After all, the whole point of the corporate image was to have consistent standards.

 

How are Dapol choosing the shade for this model ?

 

STEVE

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