North Cranford

[M.I.B]

And to close this session this evening, a shot of some of the CONFLATs.  There are 2 dozen in the collection, but a few of the wagons will never run - they were purchased for their containers.  The LMS "Whitelys" one for example, or the NE ones with the "Pimm" or "Timson" and even the SE&CR one with the "Harris" container.

 

 

There is a Furniture Vault and Depository on the layout, on one of the short sides.  That will handle  lots of container traffic, and it also acts as a scenic break into the fiddle Yard.

 

At the far end of the furniture yard is the brewery, which I will cover some other time (Offload pits, GRANOs, and a selection of logo'd beer wagons).

 

Tomorrow night's activities includes a trip up into the loft and a re-stock of the display case, so that will be more photos.  Have a good week.

Edited April 26, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

I realized today that the following doesn't read the way it was meant: 

 

There are 2 dozen in the collection, but a few of the wagons will never run - they were purchased for their containers.

 

Apologies - The containers will be seen on North Cranford, but their CONFLATs won't.  I have a number of spare GW CONFLATS without containers which will carry these containers from "other regions".

[M.I.B]

Cabinet has been re-stocked and there's just enough room for something rather long , which is just awaiting a wee bit of work...........  and then it's camera time again.

 

Not quite as long as the largest CROCODILE, but no-one makes that in any shape or form          EDIT    See Nov 19..............

Edited January 18, 2020 by M.I.B
Things change.......thanks to 3d prints

[john dew]

Well don't leave us in suspense for too long!

 

Regards

 

John

[Castle]

Ahhh! - that will be a model of the legendary CROCODILE Z which was used for transporting the tall tales of fishermen and train spotters alike. It was at least this long (imagine me with my arms really quite far apart), maybe even bigger!

 

It was honest! You had to be there to see it...

 

Sort of...

 

Well, I only saw it for a second...

 

I'll get my coat.

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[M.I.B]

Sorry John a delay caused by my new employer -  sent me off on a course to learn some leadership and management techniques..........  they have forgotten the contents of my CV already.

 

Never mind.  I shall keep my head down and muddle my way through.

 

Mr Castle - making me laugh once again.

 

Please will someone 3Dprint the bogie sets for the "Big One" - I would at least try to make the top hung girder set for it then.

[M.I.B]

So, I'm back Home and ready to do some modelling to finish off the POLLEN which has a space left for it on the top shelf ( OOOOOOOh err!)

 

Here's a taster to whet some appetites.....

 

 

and...

 

Edited March 28, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Dilemma time yesterday.  I had either the time to write on here and do some photos, or do some modelling.  So I chose the latter.

 

Back in the days when I raced stupidly fast cars I was either working too much to pay for cars that I couldn't race, or  didn't have enough money to race.

 

Same goes now - I am flat out at work which is paying off the mortgage nicely, and putting me in the position to buy the place I really want ( instead of this place which will make money despite being not what I like).   But I haven't done any model work for 5 or 6 weeks.

 

So

 

The K's Dean Goods is nearing it's re-motoring work.

 

and I have made a start on 5 NPCCS projects:

 

K15 (dull brown)

K42 (Austerity brown)

K40 (choc & cream)

K36 (choc&cream)

the second K22 (choc & cream)

 

Time to do some shopping..............buffers, gangway kits, handles........

 

I hope you are all well and happy.

Edited April 26, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

...........and a pair of Comet K38 sides just fell into the online basket as I was buying roof vents and T handles this week.  There really will have to some modeller's license on that one - there are no RTR 57' bow enders to chop about and plop these sides onto  IIRC.

 

Quick edit - the Hornby 57 footers have a curved end so that'll do nicely for a starting point for the K38.

Edited April 26, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Hope that you are all well.

 

The NPCCS work is proceeding slowly partly due to work.     I have chopped the sides out of the RTR stock, and the Hornby/Triang clerstory which is forming the backbone of the K15 has had its "cut-and-shut".

 

This is tedious work, even when using slicing disks on a Dremel.

 

 

If you do go down the route of putting sides onto RTR 57' stock, be careful which units you select!  I never paid much attention in the past and luckily got stock with minimal roof detail.  In some cases, I have even struck lucky as  can be seen in the K38 body, which when the vents are removed needs only a minor fettle to get correct.

 

However I have used a Hornby 57' as a basis ( for the K40 I think) and there is just so much roof detail that I may throw the body and  go in search of a base unit such as the K38 project uses......

 

 

So whilst I pondered the removal or replacement issue, I changed tack and decided to spend the Bank Holiday making up three of the new Cambrian ballast hopper kits.......

Edited May 5, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

So here is the Cambrian ballast hopper kit.  I have decided to make 3 of these, all loaded, as part of a PW train.  The rest of this PW train consists of 3 Cambrian sleeper carriers, a Cambrian (6ton?) crane and match truck,  2 GANES carrying rail, a 4 wheeler crew coach, and of course a ballast plough brake.

 

 

As the whole rake will be permanently coupled, I have made my first foray into the world of non RTR couplings......  using some 3 link kits.  Cambrian do not supply any couplings or wheels with the kits, but they will provide wheels for relevant gauge conversions at an extra price.

 

 

The kit is extremely detailed, to the point where I think it is too detailed.  The buffers are two piece moldings, and mine all have dimples in their heads where the mold has sunk unto the recess designed as the joint between head and the main mounting box.  The underframe is incredibly detailed and there are a myriad of tiny parts which all took 2 hours of filing and sanding to remove flash from.  This is not a Parkside kit to be made in 30 minutes............

 

I am not sure about the vacuum cylinder moldings either - They come out a bit like a mushroom where the top section is bigger than the base.  If I were to re-tool this kit, I would make the buffers and the vacuum cylinders as a single piece moldings.

 

I began by fitting the bearings into the chassis, and trial fitting the wheels.  Where this kit scores very highly, is the use of a pre formed chassis, which is extremely rigid.  As a result the wheels fit perfectly and the wagons are incredible free rolling. Not the usual tight or "axles fall out" when you have to glue your own W irons on etc.

 

I am modelling these filled with ballast, but be careful if you are modelling them empty - you have to leave some flash on the insides of the hoppers for the hopper bracing straps to be fitted to.

 

The top 80% of the hopper is a one piece casting and fits onto the chassis very well.  The lower 20% of the hopper is cast into the chassis, leaving the hopper doors to be fitted at the end.

 

 

 

Instructions are very detailed, and with so many small parts, tweezers are a must.  The under frame detailing is incredible.  This was very simple, and well explained in the instructions, but just so may tiny parts to fit, and wires to cut....... 

 

 

I have a new camera, bought after a recommendation from GWRob  "Mr ANTB"  on here who I think takes great photos of his OO set up.  Still getting to grips with it, but the G16 is way better than my tired old Ixus.  Here are a couple of test shots:

 

 

So that is where I leave the hoppers for now.  The instructions say that the GW painted them black.  BUT does this stem from the Russell statement in the GWR wagons book, which has come under lots of recent scrutiny, and after all these were probably painted dark dark grey?

 

I do have a couple of black painted departmental wagons.  so I am not averse to the Russell theory.   I will ponder this and perhaps get back to filing roofs flat and removing casting detail from the sides of RTR stock once more........

Edited May 5, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Still undecided about the colour of the 3 hoppers, I set about chopping about some RTR carriages to make a start on the NPCCS projects.

 

I would dearly love to be able to solder, and trust me I have tried and tried and tried, but to no avail, so I will continue to butcher RTR and drop on brass sides.   My Bettabitz clerestory NPCSS conversion went well a few years ago, so I have decided to do a few more.

 

Firstly take them apart.  Then realize that you have both

 

a. Purchased the correct base model ( by luck)

 

and also

 

b.   Purchased something which seems suitable, but in fact isn't:

 

My base models were a B Set, 2 x Mainline 57' LMS stock, and a brake third GW 57' (Hornby) as well as a Hornby 57' LMS compo.  This was the trouble maker.  The final item is the perennial Triang/Hornby clerestory, which I am doing more than slapping sides on - this will become a K15 so it has had a chunk sliced out of the middle to start....

 

The LMS Compo had so much detail on the roof, that removal, filling and smoothing would have taken an age.  I decided this after I had chopped out the window level section, (which is the first job when fitting brass sides), so I couldn't pop it back on Ebay and  get something back out of the deal.   Lesson learnt.

 

I noted that I had bought (by fluke) the Hornby GW 57' as a brake third, which only has one roof tank to remove, and the remainder is perfect for a couple of different NPCCS.  Pure luck!   So the replacement for the binned LMS 57' is another Hornby GW brake third 57'.

 

So Step 1 (revised).  Buy the right base model. The roof is key for GW models.  Make sure it has a s little to alter as possible.

 

Step 2  take them all apart. 

 

Step 3 - Mark the chassis and the body ( inside under the roof) with permanent pen - denote which van is being built on which body and chassis. This is important for Step 4.

 

Step 4 - Lay the brass side gently on the RTR side.  With a fine perma pen, mark the extent of the window to be cut out.  You could waste hours and cut individual windows out, but I just cut one long slot.  Not all Slots are the same size depending on which model of NPCCS , hence why the bodies and roofs are marked in Step 4.

 

Step 5 - Get the Dremmel out!!!!!!!!!!  (Other tools are available in many outlets....)  I popped a slitting disk onto the Dremmel and whizzed out the marked up window slots'

Step 6.   De-burr.  I used a sanding drum on the Dremmel to remove not only the burr made by the cutting disk ( it melts more than cuts).  But also I had to knock down all of the surface detail such as hinges, handles and other protrusions.

 

On the clerestory body, there was a ducket to remove as well as all of the raised panel moulding.    It took hours to do this by hand when I built the L10s, but with a Dremmel - seconds.

 

While I was At it, I buzzed off the water tank on the roof of the GW 57' - I think this is slated to become the K40  or the K42 - the roof is perfect when you take this tank off.  Well done Hornby.  The sides are left in a rough state, but the gouges on the roof will either get filled with milliput or car body filler and rubbed smooth by hand.

 

This is as far as i have got, as I await the replacement Hornby 57' and bring that up as far as the rest of the pack.

Edited May 25, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

In case the "brass sides onto RTR" gets confusing,

 

Here is a list of my current full brake projects using this method:

 

K15   Worsely Works kit starting with a Hornby short clerestory, shortened....  . Dull brown finish.

K19   Dart Castings sides.  Modified Hornby 57' chassis.  Finished Choc & Cream

K22  Worsely Works sides on to Mainline 57' body ( modified)  Chocolate & Cream

K36  Dart Castings sides onto Hornby 57' body  Choc & cream

K38  Comet bodysides onto Hornby modified body  All brown finish.

K40  Comet sides onto Airfix B Set body/chassis   Choc & Cream

K42  Comet sides onto Hornby 57' body/chassis.  Finished dull brown

K42  Comet sides onto Mainline Body/chassis.  Austerity Brown

 

 

The replacement body for the K36 turned up today so the last of the body chopping will be done by sunday evening.

 

 

 

The bullion van and O13 milk brake are full brass kits - I may have to save to pay someone to solder and fold these up for me.

Edited May 28, 2015 by M.I.B

[john dew]

You sure put me to shame.........I am afraid that I just shy away from the idea off cutting and shutting and then painting the new sides properly........net result .....I run totally unrealistic Hawksworth brakes.......do we have an embarrassed emoticon?

 

Regards from Vancouver

[M.I.B]

John,

 

You have an inspiring layout and great stock.

 

This sort of modelling is even easier than it looks.  

 

I am always super impressed by anyone who can make up a brass kit.  I will never be able to do that I feel.

 

Then there's those who make things with live steam: everything knocked up from strip and bar and plate..........WOW!  To me that's mind-blowing.  But I have skills and training which is niche, and mind-blowing to other people.  I'm glad we aren't all the same.

[M.I.B]

I had planned a mammoth carriage weathering session this weekend but events conspired against me.  I weather by airbrush in the garage, but  with the walk in door open and the table pulled up to the door, so the fumes all exit nicely.  Dry sunny weather, nothing else to do......

 

After sorting blown tyre on the car, and horse with a severe bleed which wouldn't stop, it was 3pm before I realized. 

 

Plan B.    Catch up on stuff instead.

 

Firstly I finished chopping out the RTR carriage side for the final K series NPCCS - the K36.  This is the toughest one to do, and the remaining  RTR side is very flimsy because this K van has more windows than any other cousin.  It has top lights at the top ( not all "top lights" have toplights.....) and it also has a large amount of larger windows.

 

As I was working my way through all of the K series vans I forgot to add the following tip:  as well as marking the underside of the carriage roof with the type of van ( K42,  K40, K19 etc), also mark the brass sides and carriage sides with an "A" and a "B" respectively.  Not all of these types of carriage are symmetrical side for side.  Same goes for corridor coaching stock I suppose.

 

 

So Catch-up task 1 completed.  All "RTR with brass sides" projects are at a stage where the sides a can be glued on.

[M.I.B]

Catch Up Task 2 - bring the ballast hoppers on....

 

Firstly some paint.  Autoshop rattle can red oxide primer in the hopper, and a bit over sprayed on the sides.  I never mask the sides of hopper stock when I spray the inside with red oxide.   I do the same with tenders too.

 

 

By the time you add top coat on the outsides, you get a good rusted effect to the inside of the hopper, and a bit of rust bloom on the outside.   After the red oxide rattle can - Hornby H67 tank grey from a rattle can.

 

 

As stated earlier these will be loaded so no cross braces were fitted internally.  The wheel sets run as good as the best RTR, but 10g of wheel weights (cadged from the tyre fitter's shop earlier) were UHU'd in place

 

Then for the load.  I didn't want this load sagging so I made a base out of very thin plasti-card sheet.  Slightly too long, but the correct width.  I then bent the plasti-card to help give the ballast load some "heaped-ness".

 

 

Next comes the "buttering" of the card with UHU and sprinkling of ballast.  I am using "Green Scene" new ballast as opposed to some of the browner offerings available.  Makes sense to put pristine ballast in a hopper going to the job in hand.

 

 

Then once this stage was dry ( didn't take long in the late afternoon sun) I then went back to track ballasting techniques.........The "heaped-ness" needed some help, so spray bottle of water and Fairy, syringe of PVA and water  were used on a carefully coiffured heap of fresh ballast on each wagon.   

 

 

I think I have the size and shape of heaps sorted now.   Lettering next and then, they go onto the weathering pile...These are still a bit wet from the water sprayer.  Nice effect tho.

 

(other glues, washing up liquids and ballast suppliers are available....etc etc etc )

Edited June 7, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Third and final task - prepare carriage stock for weathering.      One or two items will never be weathered ( will explain why when I get back to the current cabinet descriptions).     But the majority will.    The internally framed SIPHON Gs were done last year, and the 7 new NPCCS are in the build phase.  I have 3 of the new Hornby Colletts on order to drop into rakes to mix it up a little in true GW style.  That explains some of the absences.

 

I loaded up 3 storage crates from the loft, and shifted them down to the garage.This is about 1/2 of the North Cranford carriage stock, which is about the max amount I can handle at one time for weathering.  I am very conscious when bulk weathering that all could turn out out the same, so I make a conscious effort to mix it up a little so that they don't all come out the same level of dirtiness.

 

 

As well as un-boxing, which took longer than I thought, there were a few minor repairs and updates to be done.

 

All of the items are at the same readiness stage:  paint complete, wheels blacked if required, transfers/re-logo-ing done, gangways fitted, and for those carriages in fixed rakes:  lamps added, close couplers added.

 

 

So what do we have in this little lot?     (detailed photos to  follow when they are complete):

 

B sets

2 MONSTERs

 a couple of different externally framed SIPHONs

TPO and TSO

Hawksworths - these have had some "license" applied in the form of backdating the BR(W) livery and adding late GW logos.

at least 3 Collett restaurants

More B sets

Mainline Collets

most of the LNER pigeon train (discussed a while back)

LMS NPCCS

garter logo clerestories - for a bit of time travel behind St David

More B Sets (an urban railway can never have enough commuter stock)

And some Hornby late logo long clerestories.

 

 

So the vast majority is late logo GW, with a tiny bit of license in one or two cases, and one rake of Garter logo clerestories.    But not one single shirt-button logo to be seen anywhere.  Not on North Cranford.

 

The stock is now awaiting some time next weekend.........

 

 

Hope you are well and happy.

Edited June 7, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

I decided to switch-fire back onto the PW train. 

 

The GANES were fitted with 3 links, and the RTR couplings pulled out of their pockets.  The bogies were then rotated 180 degrees so that the NEM pockets are fairly unseen.

 

 

Painting 3 link is annoying and fiddly unless you have a dental pick:

 

Poke it in the end link, draw the chain tight and apply paint by brush.

 

 

When you are done, don't forget to dip the pick in some brush cleaner, and pop it's plastic tube/sleeve back on. 

 

Otherwise when you rummage in the tool box,  the pick end will find your finger

 

Happy modelling for Fathers' Day to everyone out there this weekend.

Edited June 19, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

The 3 Cambrian ballast hoppers have been lettered up.  A difficult task for GWR but simples for BR(W) - CCT have done a stunning set of decals for BR(W).

I did my best with a couple of HMRS sheets, but exact and perfect they are not.  They lack:  "15 Cubic Yds" and "Return Empty to (name of quarry)"

Buy they'll do. (just noticed a tiny square of decal carrier paper.....) The ballast as before is Greenscene new grey ballast.  The first coat of red oxide inside the hoppers stands out a bit more now that they are weathered and finished. 

The PW train crew van was completed over the winter, including gangers inside.  It's the venerable Ratio kit, and inspiration was shamelessly stolen from "Castle" of this parish, who makes a finer model than I will ever achieve.  It got a weathering today to finish off.

 

They join the GANES and a recently arrived Bachmann 20 ton TOAD in the cabinet.  The TOAD arrived unpainted, and is now 4 shades of grey, lettered, weathered and marked up for the PW train as a result of my PW train thread elsewhere on  RM Web.

 

The final PW train piece this week was the re-lettering and weathering of a Bachmann van as a tool van. 

As with everything else in the PW train, it has 3 links and hooks instead of RTR couplings.  The exception is the Bachmann TOAD which has a standard RTR "harpoon and Volvo bumper" to allow the train to join its traction at the head of the train.  The ballast plough TOAD will brake at the rear.

Edited June 19, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

And now for something completely different:

 

3 Dublo GRANOs.  About as close to a GRANO as you used to get anyway.  Purchased before the current GRANOS were available, these have had a repaint, change of coupling to "Hornby" at the outer ends, leaving the Dublo "claws" in the middle.   

I could dump these on Ebay and buy something newer now, but as my first train set  in the early 70s was MIB Snr's Dublo set from the 40s and early 50s, I'm just going to leave these be as a happy reminder of my huge three rail tinplate circuits...............

 

 

Why the sudden burst of modelling activity? - unemployment has raised its ugly head once more.  So instead of getting maudlin, I have had a week's "holiday" and will start the turgid task of finding new employment on Monday.  2 Masters Degrees, CIPS and deadly with a 9mm - anyone got anything going?

 

 

Hope you are all well and happy.

[Castle]

Hi MIB,

 

The P/way train looks great - very nice work. Thanks for the honourable mention too!

 

I hope the employment situation sorts itself out soon.

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[M.I.B]

Back to the cabinet as promised in Post 32:

 

The parcels rail car and "Parcels Only" BLOATER. 

 

Once upon a time there was a 14XX and auto coach in the stock box, but I doubt there was much call for this anywhere near North Cranford apart from the Brentford Branch, which isn't a million miles away, but despite this possible proximity, they went off to Evilbay.  I also dismissed the idea of a railcar at the same sort of time.    

 

The stock and traction remained firmly steam until I spent a terrific day at Didcot courtesy of Castle.  I saw many wondrous things, and rode a couple of footplates, and the rail-car (passenger type) really caught  my eye and imagination when seen up close and personal.

 

So I purchased the venerable Lima parcels railcar, removed the shirt-buttons, and weathered it using the old fashioned "dirty thinners" method.  I took the RTR couplings off as I didn't think I would ever use this to haul, until I thought of an additional parcels van.  That would be something very often seen ( at night) but rarely modeled.

 

Here is the result:

 

 

The BLOATER is the Parkside kit, the brown is Pheonix "dull" GW Brown and logos on it and the railcar are from the HMRS sets.  The two are joined by a set of three link couplings.

 

 

Hope you are all well.

Edited June 22, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

An now for some NPCCS - the pigeon train returns........

 

As part of the big carriage weathering session, the pigeon rake got finished off - or so I thought:

 

Three of Hornby's fine Gresley 61' brakes have been weathered quite heavily with a fairly black mix through the airbrush.  This time it was black with some beige and a tiny hint of H62 Leather.

 

 

Roofs got differing amounts:

 

And the ends got a fair smattering of sooty grubbiness.

 

The Thompson full brake was done some time ago (Post 3 )  and this session saw the final piece, the Thompson Second brake for Club Officials, being weathered.  Sadly I have noticed in the photos that the end sections have begun to come away from the sides following the stripping apart before weathering.  I will rectify this soon.

 

Only some of the corridors on this rake have had "Great Little Gangways" corridor bellows added. This rake is coupled fairly clodsely so one bellows per two cars looks fine when coupled despite looking odd when apart.

 

 

Underframes and bogies were done with the remnants of the black and beige, which was spruced up a little by the addition of some matt olive green and some more Humbrol Leather.

Edited June 23, 2015 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Staying with "foreign" NPCCS, the three LMS CCTs got the treatment at the same time.

 

A Mainline 50', a Bachmann 50', which has much better paint and decals/finish, but uses the same mouldings as the Mainline,

 

and the Lima 40' CCT.   

 

 

These form part of a mixed owner parcels train, along with some SIPHONS and a Toplight full brake (when its finished).