Suddenly the model looks a lot better for being given a new lick of paint:
Aside from the paintwork, I've built new front frames to sit just above the bogie and behin the cylinders (this looks much better than the daylight there previously), added a snifting valve to the side of the chimney and reinstated the steampipe running down the driver's side of the boiler. Following a 1925 photograph of Lord Faringdon, I filed down the tops of the tender axleboxes and then replaced them wi
Several months ago I bought somebody else's hackbash of Robinson's 4-cylinder behemoth of 1917. It was described when I bought it as being built from parts of a Triang Princess, however it was running on a chassis from a Hall on wheels from a Black 5! A real mish-mash then.
After buying it I replaced the driving wheels and the bogie, and then I put it away for a while.
Over the long weekend I started work on it again.
The model in as-bought condition.
After replac
I'm having a final push to complete my rake of GCR clerestories. The final pair of carriages are intended to be a brake third and a brake composite- the brake third can be converted fairly easily from the Hornby clerestory brake but the composite will need a little more thinking about.
I've descibed my methods when it comes to building these clerestories before- basically I remove all of the moulded beading, rearrange the compartments as necessary then add new beading in thin evergreen str
It has taken probably the better part of a week but the lining is now finished. All of it done by hand with paint pens. It won't stand close scrutiny however it does look convincing from a distance of a few feet away (like the rest of my models, really).
I've found a source of transfers for the Great Central lettering and insignia however I'm going to have to wait until later this month to actually put an order in for some.
So until then, I'm regarding this one as finished!
I'm about half-way through painting the loco so before I go any further I think a bit of an update is in order.
I began by giving the model a coat of humbrol dark grey as a base and then lightly sanding down and filling in any gaps or marks.
The first part of the model to see any colour were the frames, and following the colour plates in John Quick's excellent book on Robinson loco liveries I started with a coat of humbrol #73, matt wine. This however looked too bright so th
With work almost finished on the locomotive, attention turns to the tender.
I decided to make use of the Fowler tender and see what I could about making it GCR-esque. There are a couple of fairly big differences in the 2 designs that make a completely accurate conversion difficult, if not impossible. The bigest of these is that the frames of the LMS tender are about 3mm taller than those of the GCR type.
Wishing to keep the conversion as simple and easy as possible I decided there woul
Part 2 of the Saturday Update!
The D9 has come along in leaps and bounds this week.
I've added side frames in 0.5mm plastic sheet. I then took a piece of balsa wood and carefully cut and filed it down until it fit between the frames, and glued it in place. I cut beading for the splashers out of 0.4mm plastic and set it in place with solvent (I found that the solvent was especially useful for softening the beading, when I cut it out of the sheet it had distorted but the solve
The mogul is finished!
HMRS pressfix transfers were used throughout. I came up with a running number by finding the highest GCR loco number (1252) and adding 5001 to it. To make a change I used the 'L & N E R' decals, setting the model in the 1923- c.1925 period. Very pleased with how this one has turned out!
Back to the mogul for the final bits- lining and handrails are done!
Having waited a week for parts so I could do the lining as a transfer, I got frustrated with the method after about half an hour, and lined it out by hand with a paint pen and ruler.
On the other hand; my attempt at using fuse wire for the boiler handrail worked a treat. Unfortunately I found that the 15amp wire was too thick to fit through the handrail knobs, so had to use 5amp instead. This I think looks too
I've finally managed to get a few photographs of work so far.
Work carried out so far consists of the following:
1) All detail removed from the boiler and firebox.
2) A 3mm slit was then filed into the boiler barrel right in front of the firebox.
3) A 3mm fillet of a second 2P firebox was then inserted, and once the glue had set it was filled and sanded.
4) Model filler was used to fill the holes left behind when the boiler fittings were removed.
5) T
I've reached the point with the Gorton Mogul where to continue I really need to think about lining the model out. The way I've decided to do this is to try a method I've seen described on RMWeb previously- to scan the model into the computer and then use Photoshop or somesuch to produce the lining to print out on waterslide paper. With an order placed today for said paper, there's nothing more I can do at the moment. So I'm looking at the next project on the to-do list.
Specifically, thi
I think with the Gorton Mogul that the finish line is coming into sight. Here is the model after a second coat of matt black paint:
Work still to do on the model basically runs to lining (for which I'm going to attempt a new method- I'm going to scan the model onto my laptop, then use photoshop to trace around the outlines, then print those lines onto waterslide paper- this is just waiting on a copy of photoshop, the special paper and varnish) and handrails (another new method to try- 15a
Considerably further on with the Gorton Mogul now...
I've added a new smokebox saddle out of plastic sheet, and I then used the same material to extend the tender sheets up by 6mm to get closer to the Robinson design. New buffers have been added- cheking through my spares box I found a complete set of Robinson oval buffers which have now found their way onto the model.
The only major bits left for the loco are footsteps and handrails- of which more anon pending experiments later
Meanwhile work continues on the neverwazza!
Since last time quite a lot has gone on. The new boiler has been firmly fixed into the running plate (twice, as it happens- the first time I then dropped the model, and broke it).
I took a tracing of the Robinson cab cut-out from a drawing of the B5 class in one of my books of loco drawings, and then transferred it onto the cab sheets, which I then filed down to the new shape.
New splashers have been fabricated from 0.5mm pla
Whilst I look for "City of Lincoln" name and numberplates (I've found the nameplates at Kings Cross Plates but can't find the numberplate at present), I've started on the Gorton mogul.
The first thing I had to do was cut 7mm off the firebox of the D11 boiler to get it to fit the 43xx frames.
I was then able to remove more metal (from the firebox top and the front end of the boiler, and the underside of the smokebox) to get it to fit over the motor in the 43xx (a massive metal lump...) B
I don't like throwing money at my hobbies. There, I said it. To my mind there is always more satisfaction in building something that looks good and doesn't cost too much than there is in going to a store and opening my wallet.
So, for once I've surprised myself and spent some 'proper' money on myself and bought a few little beauties from Ebay. None of them perfect (that is probably why I got them at such a bargain price), but they'll do me.
First up we have a GCR 9F (LNER N5) 0-6-2
I first became interested in the GC thanks to one book and two photos in that aforementioned book.
The book was JC Healy's "Echoes of the Great Central" and the two photos were, well, one was on the back cover and was Butler Henderson sitting at Rothley resplendent in GCR green and the other was Sir Sam Fay again in GCR livery at Annesley.
To an impressionable 12-year-old mind there isn't much difference between a Sam Fay and a B12/3, and I'm sure you can well imagine the response of m
Not all of my progress this week has been of the 'sat at the table doing modelling' sort.
My GCR all-first has had its roof reinstated, after I removed the ventilators, blocked out the clerestory lights and fabricated some small vents for either side of the clerestory. It is now sat on the table waiting for the first coat of paint to dry before I can go over it again, touch in the teak effect and add the transfers and varnish.
My neverwazza Gorton mogul has gained a boiler- a whitemet
Before Christmas (if I'm honest, long before Christmas...more like November...) I briefly mentioned I'd been reading "Great Central Steam" and been quite taken with a drawing of a proposed but never built mogul mixed traffic loco. I then said that I'd gone out and bought an old Mainline 43xx as a donor model to convert.
To be honest although filled with enthusiasm for such a project (I think, much like the B5 Fish engines, it would have a certain elegance about it) I kept being put off bec
Well, halfway to completing my planned rake, at any rate.
The all-third is finished....
And the all-first now isn't too far behind...
A little more work on the interior and then I can start on the roof.
I've also made a couple of decisions about when it comes to the brake thirds. One of them I think I will keep in the Hornby 'as manufactured' configuration of a long(ish) guards compartment, side duckets and 5 third class compartments. However, the other I think will
Work on the next pair of ex-GCR clerestories continues apace.
Starting with the basic Hornby bodies, the first step was to dismantle the carriages. There is a screw through the carriage which when removed loosens the roof, and it is then possible to gently prise it free from the body. You can then access the interior of the body and using pliers or tweezers gently squeeze the lugs holding the bogies in to release those. The buffers can be gently pulled loose just with the fngers- no need
A week into 2014 and already I've finished the first of the year's projects....
.... the new B5 has joined the loco roster!
I'm very pleased with this result.
In other news, work continues with the pair of GC clerestories. I've sanded down the beading and started on the interiors. One of them now has a blue floor (this will ultimately be the first class carriage) and the other has a red floor with cream walls. Both need partitions and seats adding, which will be the next jo
The B5 'Fish' engine has come on in leaps and bounds the last few weeks. Now all it needs to finish are a crew (sitting in the bits box) and some footplate steps (always the parts I struggle to make). There would be a photogrpah at this point, save for the fact that I foolishly let the batteries in the camera go flat....
So the question of course has to be, what to start next?
I would rather like to make a start on the planned D9, but I still need to order the appropriate boiler fittin
Time for an early Christmas present I think- my planned build programme for 2014!
I'm quite happy with how much I've managed to build this year- I would have liked to get further along with my carriage rakes but on the other hand all of the locos I had planned did get built in some form or another, and a few unplanned ones too.
So, first off will be the overflow from the 2013 programme- four GCR clerestories and a pair of GCR full brakes, from Hornby clerestory stock.
Keeping with th
Sometimes things don't quite go to plan.
In this instance, the plan was to use a pair of 2P bodies to build a B5 'Fish' engine. Last time, I had gotten as far as hacking one body up and splicing in a length of boiler from the second, and beginning to look at welding the new boiler onto a running plate from a Patriot.
Unfortunately what then happened was that it all went wrong. The new boiler was from plastic so thick that it didn't sit at proper height, and then the new running plate
