Jon, that looks great. Words fail me at the moment... but will come back once I've got the gardening done. Glad that yesterday's show was good. Will try to attend next year. Just hope that it wont clash with another Deltic on the main line trip... the sight and sound of RSG pulling the train into Kings Cross yesterday morning was superb - a sound that I've not heard for about 33 years... that deep napier throbbing growl. The hairs on the back of my next stood on end. (shame I'd left the video camera in by rucksack and was snapping stills (live and learn)

great work on 403 jon B) you've inspired me to give my Caerphilly Castle a run now may i ask what year you have modelled it in? as i beleive it ran for a while without its Plaque before it was officially stored i also recall it attending an open day at Toton without it.

 

sadly it had long been withdrawn by the time I got into photographing locomotives and remember it mostly for sitting at the back of Margam Knuckle yard with smashed windows and peeling paintwork

Hello

Thanks Pete - Ive been meaning to join for a long time - I really fancy a bash at the association class 08 kit -

Already have a layout plan scribbled on a knapkin so to speak (involves lots of CDA hoppers)- Hopefully someone will do an all new N gauge 50 - the old Farish one has definately had its day. It doesn't look great - CJM had one on his website , all done up with separate handrails, new bogies etc - but its hard to look past the dated farish bodyshell - even with the CJM treatment.

 

Jon020 - Ive never seen or heard a Deltic in action myself - other than on tv or computer - but I guess thats not the same. If we had taken a more convoluted route to the DEMU show , we could have bumped into the deltic on the way It would have been good to combine the two.

 

I've modelled 403 roughly as it was in late '94 early 95 - fairly clean - I haven't got the heart to weather it - theres a few painted details that i havent managed to figure out dates for - It had silver buffers at some point - and also yellow axleboxes.

Nice to see the real thing is now being restored - I think its got its original name back aswell

Jon quick question - where did you get the ETH sockets from for the buffer beam (not the one you scratchbuilt) as I've tried bodging one out of scraps but it doesn't look anywhere near as good as that moulding? Is it removed from a model or bought as a spare?

 

 

PS - thanks for the elastic at Showcase!

Jon, I might need to backtrack a bit here...

what did you use for the brake chains?

Did you scrap the existing brake cylinders and fit some new ones (class 50 you mentioned?) Where did you get these from? The ones you have fitted are such an improvment over the basic fit ones - and the Deltic ones (same bogie (fabrication and casting asides))... and I realise that the class 50s are also the same bogie - good design, why change it!!! Some details on what you did and how/where you got the bits would be great.

 

I love the single brake lever pulled forward. I have some of these levers, and will have to make sure the hole stays clear when painting to get the chains through.

 

And I've just dropped the height of the bogies on my spare deltic and yes, a great improvment, but will need to watch the radius with those brake levers... time to limit these beasts to code 75 track only me thinks.

 

I love all the tank pipework - must look at this area more closely.

 

 

As for the sound of the Deltics... well... It's very special to me as it was a sound that I experienced so many times when I was small (between 3 and 10 years old)... it'd so difficult to descibe if you've never heard it... and at full chat, the sound just carries for miles. To give you some idea, this link is of a clip (2 actually) of the weekend's run. The second clip is just wonderful... give it time, she hoves into viuew eventually... but that sound... oh.., I'm so glad that I experienced fleets of these beasts. 37s, yes they're great; 50 are too, I'm sure... but oh my! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVzk7Iybb2k Have a listen... maybe you'll see what I mean. Do as the clip says - and turn the volume up.

 

 

James, I scratch built some ETH units - check my workbench and you should see this as the Baccy Nimbus doesn't come with them, so I needed to scratch build them... They're not to hard to knock up with thinned 2mm rod and plasticard, with a seperate base...you can get them closer than Messers Bachman's offering if you try... but they are a little fiddly.

Evening - James - Nice to bump into you at showcase - have fun with the elastic - it has millions of uses! Do you mean the ETH fitting on the bufferbeam on the drivers side? that was scratchbuilt too - theres isnt really any off the shelf part ive found thats correct for it. The ETH bits that come on the Hornby 50 should be suitable- ie the same pattern - they look underscale to me.

 

Pete - I think the only way to get a new 2mm 50 is to do the tried and tested extensive rebuilt/superdetail job on the old farish model - someones bound to announce a new one as soon as its done .

...fancy scanning the napkin and posting it?

I'm afriad my layout drafting/planning isnt as elegant as yours - anyone who knows thier 'clay should be able to guess where im looking at - basically the opposite of your layout - in particular the board youve most recently shown.

 

Evening Jon - the brake chains are from A-line but i had to order it from the states - its nice if you can get hold of it - they do a blackened version too. Backwoods also do a very fine chain ready blackened - i think , like A-line its about 40 links per inch.

Ive changed all the brake cylinders on my 37s for class 50 parts - unfortunately you can only get a complete class 50 bogie as a spare - not the cylinders on thier own - You can sell on the remaining bits to recover some cost - of of course use the rest fo the bogie to remotor something else. Another american detailing parts manufacturer - Details West make brake cylinders that are similar - but dont look quite as good as the Hornby 50 parts. Fitting the parking brake brackets/chains does reduce the bogie swing , but only by a small amount - as , in the case of the 37s , I have narrowed the bogies - Im not sure if the deltic bogies are too wide or not?

Your ETH bits do look much nicer than Bachys! I work with boats and weve had a few classic vessels come to us with thier original napier engines - so ive probably heard the origins of the deltic sounds without realising it- very similar to your clip , but much lower revs, and water cooled, with 'wet' exhaust - plus they cant really open the throttle right up in our marina! Some of the modern powerboats do sound remarkably like class 20s/37s , which makes for a very unusual sight/sound combination

 

tfn

 

Jon

Jon, thanks for the info. I've searched for the chains through the links (no pun intended) suggested but realise that it might be difficult to get hold of these. hmmm. might try a show next time and have a good look. Warley's a way off, but might be best hope... will start a list now .

Deltic engines in boats - well, yes that's where they came from... should sound nice. The loco fit was a downrated marine engine, so I can only imagine what you regularly hear.

Thanks again for the info - must try to search out those brake cylinder parts too - rescribing those on the 55 chassis may be too tricky.