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About this blog

Modelling Diesels in P4: Stock for Wheal Imogen (China Clay in the late 80s and 90s) along with builds preparing for my next modern layout (set in either South Devon or Cornwall in 1998)


 

Entries in this blog

45072

A little more work on 45072.   Having looked at some more prototype photos it looks like 45072 had a black headstock (whereas the base model I am working on was red). So today it was out with the black paint to correct this.   Once that was dry the next job was to make a start on the bufferbeam detailing. Again working from photos the 5 pipes were added, air and vac pipes were from Heljan (Class 47 parts) and the air control pipes were Vi Trains. This gives the prototypical look with di
The Fatadder

The Fatadder

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47768, RBK

Finally got decent paint coverage on the roof grills panel on 47768.   Unfortunately it looks like the paint I have used (Phoenix RES grey) is a completely different shade to that used on the model, so its now going to need painting again once I know the right colour for a match... _____________________________   RKB The other side is now complete, will be giving it a coat of primer this afternoon to see how well the joint has come out. If I have the right paint, the plan is to get it spray
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Class 47s, 33s, 52s and a RKB

An afternoon spent watching my Horse in the office sweepstake fall at the National has given plenty of modelling time...   I've started off with more work on Class 47s. 47817 has had its buffer beams fitted (having found a set of screw links and glued them into position, the buffers were glued to the headstock which in turn was glued to the model.) I also set about attacking the roof which needs to be converted from the rectangular boiler port panel to the round Spanner type. Again I am usin
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Virgin Cross Country Class 47

Further to my earlier research on Virgin Class 47s I have come to a decision. Having researched photos of the first five locos to gain Virgin livery, I have eliminated any possibility of 4 of the 5 locos retaining Virgin XC logos into 1998 (further discussions with friends who were paying attention to the prototype at the time backs this up).   I did debate just going ahead and doing it anyway, but that would be a dangerous precedent and would no doubt open the floodgates.... As such, I think
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Virgin Cross Country Class 47s

Before I went off on to Tignes on my holls, A package from Hattons arrived containing another cheap Vi Trains 47, this time in Virgin. Given that the Seven Valley Railway name was applied well after the period in which I want to run the loco, I am going to renumber/rename to something which received its name a bit earlier.   Most annoyingly my preferred choice (47817) also received its name too late (1999) which as discussed elsewhere on the forum has resulted in a need to find another loco t
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33116

I mentioned last week the intention to start building up a small 1998 Class 33 fleet for the new layout (along with the rationalisation of my existing post 2000 33 fleet.)   The first of the new locos is 33116Hertfordshire Rail Tours in BR Blue   The planned work: - Correcting livery errors - Painting unpainted parts - New fuel tanks - Bogie spring modifications - P4 & DCC   The livery errors are concentrated on one side, (with the bodyside grill on the left hand side.) Heljan ha
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Peak detailing

A start on detailing up my model of 45072,   Having already done a renumber to 072, and fitted some screw couplings, I've started detailing the rest of the chassis starting with a set of Shawplan's new etched lifting brackets. Having cut all the parts from the fret the first job was to fold the smallest part into a U shape and then glued (they can be glued or soldered) into the main body. Once that was dry the main component was folded up (keeping the folds on the inside) and everything was
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Class 47 Boiler Variation

This evenings planned modelling has been effected somewhat by the foolish decision to go and get contact lenses (or repeatedly stick fingers in eyes until they barely work) net result is that I dont really want to be doing anything this evening that remotely requires concentration.   So I have got on with finishing off the body on 47709. Shawplan have just introduced a very handy etch of plates for plating over Class 47 boiler ports, the etch includes one of each of the common variations so w
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Nottingham Show

Having spent yesterday at the Nottingham show, I've finally got stocked up on some new projects to get cracking on.   First up the bargain of the day, a slightly damaged Hornby 1928 pullman bodyshell for £1. This is going to be rebuilt with some new etched sides in order to model Ibis for my VSOE rake. Will need to scratchbuild a new interior, and try and get hold of a cheap chassis to go under it (else scratch build one) along with the underframe and bogie modifications which were descri
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Class 50 rewheeling

A little more playing with my new back to back.   I've always found my Hornby 50s to be particularly bad runners, so I've removed the wheels of the one I have to hand here (50037 in early NSE)   Testing has shown that on this loco, 3 axles were perfect, and 3 have seriously bad wobble. Looks like the cause of this is the plastic centre deforming when the new wheels were pressed in.   My first thought was to fit Ultrascales instead, however it looks like at some point Hornby changed the d
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Gravity Back to Back Gauge

One of the biggest causes of derailments in P4 are having incorrect back to back settings on wheels, Even checking each axle in a quality back to back gauge can still leave significant variance.   A great new product designed to combat this is the Gravity Back to Back designed by Tony Sissions (modelmaker87) and available to members through the Scalefour Society's stores.   The basic concept is that you put a wheelset at the top of the incline and if it rolls down and stops between the line
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Class 33s

Given that my attention has turned to Class 33s, it seems right to get something posted here about my plans for them.   For my early period I am going for a pair of locos to share the engineers duties with my 73s, the first will be 33116 'Hertfordshire Rail Tours' in BR Blue, the other will be 33026 in Dutch. Both will be fitted with the correct style of fuel tanks, have the bogie springs modified into the correct position, and have all of the unpainted details painted. I also have a feeling
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Clan Line

Its been a while since I've done any modelling, a combination of starting work, the amount of sport on tv and starting studying again has eaten up free time, coupled with loosing motivation on the projects I had ongoing. This is all compounded by being not able to get back down to Devon any time soon to pick up new things to work on.   Having spent much of the last week spending work thinking that I'd like to get on with some modelling, I've finally done some.   I have decided that for t
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Class 150 Improvements pt2

Car problems have got in the way of getting to Stafford today so not been able to buy any regional railways blue paint, so wont be able to paint up the etches until I next see Brian to pick some up.   Next job will be working out how I am going to repower it, The choice at the moment being between one of Bill Bedford's underfloor chassis which is due later in the year, or a black beetle. The black beetle option would be an easier installation, however the lack of etched bogie spacers avai
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66705

Finally got some new nameplates fitted to my model of 66705, and made a start on the weathering. Not very happy with the affect that I ended up with on the sides, so started trying to wash it off, the Tamiya powders just arnt working very well over the ribbed sides so its going to need a different method. the sooty roof did come out a lot better (although the silencer looks awful...)   Comparing with photos it looks like the flag is completely wrong, in length, hight and colour which is ra
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Class 150 Improvements

Today I have received a pre production pack of Shawplan's new mk3 unit windows intended for use with Bratchell's multiple unit kit range (and Jim SW's etched windows). Deciding to be awkward I have set about fitting them to a Bachmann 150 instead. I have discussed before the advantages in accuracy that Jims etch brings over the Bachmann part, so see my old workbench thread on RMweb3 for more details on that. The first thing you notice is how thick the new windows are compared with the Bachm
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Something of a block & Clan Line

Going through something of a modellers block at the moment, the projects I have on the go either aren't capturing my interest, or are stuck awaiting components....   Clan Line is now once again hold up awaiting components, having realised that I dont have the right grade of wire for soldering up the con rods. I also havent managed to separate the long rod from the cylinder assembly, so will probably just live with the Hornby part there. I am also thinking about soldering some washers onto th
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More work on Class 59s

Firstly returning to 59004, I mentioned in an earlier blog that for 59104 I had modified my method for constructing the new fuel tank so that it reuses the Bachmann detail for the gauge and filler cap. The end result of this was that I was not strictly happy with the part fitted to 59004 that had scratch built gauges/filler caps. As a result I turned to the Lima moulding that was left over from 59104's original chassis, while this was a bit too wide for the new chassis (by approximately 1mm) t
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59104

The roof is now finished, New roof pods were formed from some evergreen strip filed to shape, and then fitted with 10thou square plastruct strip on the end and groves across the top working from http://newimages.fotopic.net/?iid=ykqh3x&noresize=1&nostamp=1&quality=95   These were then glued to the recesses at each end, again working from Martyn's photos.   I have also turned my attention back to the underframe with the new fuel tank is now glued into position, and the Lima bat
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Class 59 & 66

A quick update, I've now picked up the rest of the bits so can get on with 59104. The body needs a little more work to get a perfect fit on the chassis, This is a result of the Bachmann WIPACs being mounted about 30thou lower than those on the Lima 59 body, (rather than just filing a hole to match the wipacs, I carved them off as a complete unit for reuse elsewhere...) a couple of short lengths of 30thou strip cut to fit will sort it out nicely.   Other than that its going to be a case of
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Class 325 conversion

After being given a Hornby Networker shell by a mate on Friday, yesterday I got back to work on my 325 conversion.   First off I repeated the process removing the end, side and roof detail on the other 3 doner coaches. With that completed the next step was to replace the glazing strips, I had originally planned to use plasticard for this (thinking it would be a more consistent base for paint than the clear strips), but when taking the dimensions off the Hornby strip I realised that it actua
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Stock Storage Boxes for Mk3s

My usual stock storage boxes are formed from box files with foam inserts, with one box holding a single rake of stock. Annoyingly these will only hold 6 Mk3 coaches, meaning that a rake of Mk3s has to be split over 2 boxes. Yesterday I found a great solution which best of all was free! Wine crates. Best of all they come full of wine (though sadly you have to pay for that bit!)   The crates that I am using (6 bottle), will each hold 2 full HST rakes of 8 Mk3s and a pair of powercars lie
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VSOE: Type K Pullmans

Having come up against something of a brick wall with the work on my 1951 U stock, and not having the funds to start buying up the kits for the 1935 D stock, I've gone back to working on the K stock.   As mentioned before this includes 1928 built Parlours Lucille and Zena, kitchen Ione and the 1925 Ibis (rebuilt in '28 to a similar design).   Lucille, Zena and Ione are all converted using the Comet sides, unfortunately though their design they have left off the raised beading (so that the
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Clan Line's Tender

Dont you just hate it when you spend absolutely ages looking for a photo, and then when you find it realise that theres a lot more work to do....   Came across this photo last night, http://www.jason-cottage.fotopic.net/p51561520.html, which gives a pretty clear view of the top of the tender. In the process confirming what I was afraid of that the recess cut into the back of the tender does have an open top (all be it with a grill over the top). The problem is that with a thick sided plast
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