Recently Oxford Diecast introduced a range of traction engines in their OO gauge range of vehicles. The Fowler steam roller called 'Lord Jellicoe' caught my eye. I thought it would make a nice change on my proposed Teign Valley quarry based layout set in the late 1940's.
Here we see John Luscombe of 'Luscombe Contractors Kingsteignton' making his way up the Teign Valley towards Ashton for a spot of road repairs. He's pulled over and talking to the fireman on GWR Pannier 9717 shunting wagons
Work has commenced on detailing a number of Bachmann GWR Toad brake vans as I mentioned in my previous entry. These are not meant be exact replicas but representations.
Some of them will be finished in late GWR livery as Newton Abbot variants suitable for working on the Teign Valley line. Others will be finished in unfitted grey livery as brakes that worked in the Forest of Dean using some excellent decals produced by John Isherwood.
Of the two ready to run GWR Toads the old Mainline now
Bit of an eclectic mix in this entry with a number projects on the go at present.
The Hornby Railroad Harry Potter 'Olton Hall' is well known as a good conversion project and was documented by Chris Leigh recently in Model Rail. I've two of these and the first one is to become '5993 Kirby Hall' named after a residence near Corby in Northamptonshire. Here's a link:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kirby-hall/
Being a Railroad model there's a few compromises along the wa
Recently I've looked at reworking my model of 7802 Bradley Manor. It's been sat in a box having developed the dreaded uneven running associated with these split frame locos.
Having acquired a more recently made working chassis the project can begin. I've never been happy with the finish on this loco. The Bachmann GWR green doesn't look right and I sprayed it with Humbrol satin varnish from a can in the days before I possessed an airbrush. To me it lacks that lustre found on a working locomot
Over the weekend I had a chance to crack on with working on 7802. He she is completed and I'm really pleased with the finished result:
The main focus of attention has been in the cab area where I made new flush glazing from an Oxford Diecast clear plastic box. The cab interior received the cut down David Geen screw reverser and scratch built ATC bell. The cab tarpaulin/sheet was made from a piece of blue masking tape rolled up with tapes made from the same source, This was painted with
I've started to build 2 of the kits I recently received from PoW Sides . For those not familiar with the make up of the kits they come ready painted and lettered requiring wheels, bearing and couplings of choice. The kits are from either Parkside or as in this case Slaters. The wagon transfers are available separately and are rub on ones.
These are finished in a later period of the company's history with the Trusham address and Roads Reconstruction panel on the doors. The Teign Valley Granit
Sometimes partners go together quite well. There's been Cagney and Lacey and Morse and Lewis for example.
Now we have Phoebe and Teign who will be the industrial motive power on my Teign Valley project. Phoebe will also migrate to the East Midlands for work on Juniper Hill when required also.
I've discussed the build of Phoebe in other entries but she was all but finished except for her name and works plates. These are custom made ones from the excellent Narrow Planet team and are works
Been a while since I posted on the Teign Valley Project Blog. Whilst sorting out my stock boxes this evening I came across 9717 which is a detailed Bachmann 8750 with RT sanding rods. It's shown here in the company of a modified Bachmann 64xx to represent Newton's 7427.
The Teign Valley Granite wagons are courtesy of PoWSides and the AA13 Toad is a Bachmann/Airfix alliance
Nice finds.....
Bit an update on the progress of my model of Newton Abbot's 9717.
Following on from a discussion in the last entry regarding the position of the sandbox filler lids on the Bachmann Pannier here's the real thing on the South Devon Railway's L92.
As we can see on the prototype the lids are actually in line with the front of the smokebox as opposed to the Bachmann model that has them situated closer to the buffer beam.
Here's my model of 9717 progressing nicely showing the sandbox
Yesterday I received two pairs of finely etched 57xx sandbox pull rods from RT Models.
They come complete with instructions. Along with the the two external rods is an internal linkage rod as well. I'm going to omit this on this 9717 and on 5798 too. The instructions supplied are self explanatory and I added the 90 degree bend in the etch at the sandbox filler end. Following a coat of primer I brush painted some Precision GWR green to finish.
Looking at prototype photos of 57xx's it look
Evening.
A quick update on 9717's progress.
Following on from starting the weathering yesterday I muttered a few words about opening rear cab doors and adding lamp irons etc,
My mind was made up when I re-read PMP's blog for Albion Yard set in the Forest of Dean capturing the works of Ben Ashworth nicely in model form. Other than the rake of Berry Wiggins tank wagons which kind of encapsulates the Forest is the close attention to detail Paul has applied to the ubiquitous Pannier tank
Eventually I've got round to posting an update on some of my completed projects. Earlier in the year I set about converting my Bachmann 64xx to Newton Abbot's 74xx for use on the Teign Valley project. Here is the completed model from the fireman's side. Numberplate from Modelmaster. Crew from the Airfix/Dapol set. Fireman's shovel from a DJ Models fire iron set.
Below is a rear view with a Bachmann fire bucket adapted to hang of the year with fire irons from the above named source.
Recently I've been building a few wagon kits up including these two Parkside GWR 10T gunpowder vans which represent the diagram Z2 wagons built between 1913-1926. From 1934 they were fitted with Morton brake gear and became diagram Z3 wagons which I would imagine would be a simple conversion. I've already built one of these kits and finished it as a BR version which runs on Juniper Hill. They are lovely kits to put together.
These two have been finished with Tamiya acrylics (German Grey) a
This morning the replacement chassis I purchased from eBay arrived in the form of an unboxed 7811 Dunley Manor. I believe this model was only available in the Cambrian Coast set and other than a broken shaft to the vacuum pump was immaculate. Lucky I will be able to replace this with the one from 7802. Otherwise it would have been a case of soldering up a replacement. Additionally it had also seen little use.
This particular model of 7811 appealed because it was one of the later releases so
I've started working on a few wagons for my proposed Teign Valley project. These two LMS wagons were ones I had to hand and have tried to represent them in a post war condition.
First up is an unpainted D1927 medium goods wagon that I've just found out having applied the numbers last night was in fact a D2101 built in 1945 and rated at 13T. This is a standard Ratio kit finished with Tamiya/Valejo acrylics and HMRS decals.
Next up is a D1892 unfitted wagon finished in bauxite with a
At the weekend I picked up one of the newly released Oxford private owner wagons in the livery of Weymouth Co-op. I'm not going into the the pro's and con's of this wagon which can be found elsewhere on this site.
All I will say is I'm impressed with the build of it wagon and how easily it breaks down into it's component parts. For example if you remove the buffer shanks and pop out the handbrake levers from the 'W' irons the chassis comes away easily. In it's out of the box form it is a bit
With the weather being good here yesterday I was able to fire up the airbrush in the workshop so work on the Manor has progressed nicely.
One thing I did want to make sure was I got the chimney on straight because originally when I fitted it there was a distinct 'wonk' on! In order to combat this I used a 4.5mm HSS drill bit and turned it with my fingers to enlarge the existing hole. The size was determined by the piece if plastic tube I had to hand which would fit inside the DMR chimney. Th
Some progress on my model of 5993 Kirby Hall. Here's a photo of the loco ready for lining with all the detailing complete:
I've painted in the back head detail in the cab as well as replacing the lamp irons with staples. Cylinder drain cocks were made from small handrail knobs and scrap brass 0.45 handrail wire.
The screw reverser housing/handle has been refinished and the reversing lever has received a coat of Valejo gun metal.
A couple of questions as well regarding
Well I've finished a number of the Bachmann/Airfix mated Toads I've been working on. Here's 56541 which represents an AA15 Diagram allocated to Taunton.
As a comparison of the chassis here's a shot of the standard AA19/20 Bachmann model next to the Airfix chassis equiped AA15. The 'J' Springs show up nicely in comparison:
As I mentioned previously the GWR grey was Tamiya German Grey applied over preshading. Decals are by HMRS and are sealed with Valejo satin varnish.
T
I'm in the process of detailing a number of Bachmann GWR Toad brake vans. Two of them will be numbered as Newton Abbot's Diagram AA13 vans. There's a bit of modellers licence here but the Bachmann van based on an AA20 I believe is not far off an AA13. Major discrepancies include metal sheeting on the guard's accommodation and the lack off J leaf springs.
Looking at photos of Diagram AA15 brake vans the actual body has the metal sheeting on the guards accommodation like the AA20. In addition
A new blog for a few things Great Western.
My current project Juniper Hill-based around the Northamptonshire ironstone quarries is getting to the point where the number of jobs to do is becoming less but it is by no means finished. It is booked for a few exhibitions so will continue to be part of my layout thread.
Somewhere I wrote about having a few core interests one of them being the delightful Teign Valley Line in GWR times that ran between Heathfield and Exeter and closed to passen
Here's my take on 3717 City of Truro. I've always been a fan of the prototype as well as the Bachmann model and have fancied a model of it towards the end of it's career. A photo on the excellent Warwickshire Railway website shows 3717 in 1930 at Snow Hill waiting to pilot a train spurred me on and with the release by Bachmann of 3708 Kilarney the seed was sown.
Here's the prototype photo:
http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh43.htm
The main difference between the Bachmann m
A bit more progress on the Hall over the past week.
Managed to airbrush the Precision post-war GWR green last weekend which went on nicely.
I then hand painted the cab roof, smoke box and tender coal space etc with Valejo black acrylic which covered nicely as ever:
The copper cap to the chimney, safety valve cover and splasher beading were painted in using Games Workshop colours:
I plan to add cylinder draincocks using handrail knobs and use staples for the lamp ir