So, the rebuild of the DJH Duke of Gloucester is moving forward slowly. It has emerged from the paint shop with it's BR Green (late) paint airbrushed over the base satin black.
Green is Phoenix Precision P101 thinned to approx 50% with cellulose thinners. Three light coats over two days and now it's resting until next week in a drawer.
Some areas of black to touch up where masking failed or was impractical to do. Once the detail painting is done then I'll move on to the lining
This week I have been looking at a NRM Limited Edition Schools class 925 Cheltenham. It was sent to me along with several other DCC locos as a non-runner and the body fixing screw was loose. Problem being it had been packed inside its box without the inner tray, wrapped in a small amount of bubble wrap. Clearly it had moved around in the box quite a bit during postman's playtime (sent Special Delivery) and this is what I found when I unwrapped it ...
After a
Progress over Christmas The main body is painted, just need to add handrails and buffers etc. Cab roofs are stripped of details and are waiting for new roof vents and air horns.
Main progress has been the bogies, pickups added and wired up so it now moves under its own power!
Wheelslip is a big issue but once I've added a couple of pounds of lead it should be fine
Quick update from yesterday's progress:
Bogies have met the razor saw and the front section that carries the coupling have been removed. A strip of plastikard replicating the rib at the other end for strength.
Pickups next and a 10mm hole for access to the new roof fixings in the undriven one.
I've also cemented in small sections to the body sides where the switches used to be and cleaned, lubed and test run the original power bogie - noisy by modern standards but at the sp
Been a while but here's the start of another budget loco build for Fourgig East - A Triang Big Big Hymek.
I bought a pretty good example for £39 from eBay and the process of converting it to a running O gauge loco has started.
First off the raised lettering on the side has been scraped off and the moulded handrails removed. I've also filled in the fixing holes on the roof and fixed a crack. The switch assembly has been removed ahead of filling in the body sides.
The plan is to r
Took a snap last night of the S9 with it's sister T34 brake coach.
it's 95% complete and ready for RMweb Live!
I've still got to make and fit the step end handrails and the couplings are just hooks at the moment, I will complete the JLTRT screw links before Wycrail, honest .......
As promised, the GWR coach brown was applied by my trusty 6 quid airbrush - which is now stripped down and it's vital parts soaking in thinners
That's all for a few days whilst the paint hardens, next step will be to flood the cream into the panels
So here it is again, I've just painted the motor and it blends in pretty well. I still might make some fill panels sometime if the small amount of daylight visible bugs me too much ....
Here's the underside showing the "gearbox"
I've also refreshed the couplings, a few have commented in the past that the 3 links were out of scale so I had a few links left over from the Ivor build which have been put to good use
I did a test run yesterday of just the chassis on a bit of
Took a few snaps last night of my new 93001 next to the original one I built six years ago. Thought they would be of interest
Shows how short 93000 was with the Stanier boiler rather than the BR3 from the 73xxx
So this build has come to an end (almost) I must say I've enjoyed this trip into GWR land, something I don't normally do. First time with a Bob Moore lining pen too. Anyway, jobs left to do are blacken the buffers and fit them properly and fit some 3-links.
So, that's it until the next one - an All Third to match, need to order seating from Slaters before I start that one though. Camping Coach next methinks ......
Those footboards were fiddly even with an 8" Hold n Fold, but they are now done and soldered on.
So, hopefully another warm day tomorrow and we can get some primer and maybe satin black car spray blown at it
So, the Crosti 9F and O1 are finished. The finishing touches are the crew - bog standard Hornby items, painted and weathered with black oil pastel.
I had to cut the driver off his molded seat for the O1 as it comes with it's own very nice item as standard. The less said about the leg and foot surgery to fit them in the better
So here's a couple of pics - I will do a full photoshoot next week as Summat Colliery is being set up for someone special to take better snaps than I, more of that
So '23 is resplendent in ex-works shiny black
Just the plates to fit, then off to Roomey for weathering.
Narrow Planet's work, painted with white enamel, left 24 hours, overpainted with matt black acrylic and immediately wiped off with a finger. Note two sets - the ones for '021 are for the similar version I am building for a member of this parish at the same time.
Roomey's going to be busy as that's two Crosti 9Fs and my Hornby O1 to deliver to him at the Doncaster show.
Not much done over the weekend, more kitchen hard labour and a trip to Alton Towers water park yesterday. We do however have the beginnings of the left hand side motion
Valve rod has been modified to have the forked end into the expansion link and seperate lifting link added within the fork. The valve rod is free to slide in the "forward" slot of the expansion link. in fact the whole lifting mechanism works as prototype at the moment
Return crank and eccentric rod next to see if
So the crew climbed aboard (driver needed his right leg amputating below the knee to clear the motor) and I've added a little coal around the door bottoms and chassis ledges to simulate spillages during loading.
Not sure how prototypical this is but is made me smile last night
So here's some snaps ahead of the photoshoot for the MR article
So, that's it, on to the next project - rebuilding the L&Y Pug I bought from Scanman ages ago - the chassis is already s
Well, spring seems to be a popular time for my random scribblings.
The 2-8-2 is scheduled to appear in the next Model Rail - May issue out April 19th and yesterday Mike at Hornby Magazine confirmed the Duke of Gloucester will be appearing in the June edition (HM60) out 11th May
Heard from Model Rail yesterday that the 2-8-2 will feature in the next issue!
Can't wait now until next month, there's also going to be a superb pic of it taken by Chris N on Catcott Burtle too
I received the plates for the Duke of Gloucester Saturday morning, Narrow planet have done a fantastic job, etching using thinner brass than for the 2-8-2 which has allowed a much better detail for the works plates etc.
Here's the nameplates fitted
I'm still trying to get the rest painted with white raised text etc, might not work due to the thinness of the etching, but I'll give it my best shot.
My large tin of pre-thinned PV72 satin varnish went off, maybe in the cold of the o
One of the reasons for lack of progress on the Duke is that I've been distracted constructing what has turned out to be a multifunction rig for shows and home.
I've been wanting a programming track when exhibiting for some time, as I have at least one loco still running an R8215 decoder that resets itself to 3 when a short occurs. I have had to seek out a friendly trader or other layout who can reprogram the chip for me. Sociable though that is, I really wanted to be self sufficient.
I'v
Whilst waiting for the urge to do the lining I've continued making the crew's quarters a little more like the real thing.
Working to this pic
I've finally arrived at this:
Oh and the crew are painted too, just need some black pastel to grubby them up
Grey primer that is - it's a lovely sunny day really
Various chassis parts have been stripped down and given a coat of Hycote grey primer ready for some satin black
The loco and tender bodies have also been treated to a coat or two, but are hardening off in a darkened room
Detailing has started on the bodyshell, the Comet Britannia/Clan/Duke detailing pack has been opened and the following added so far:
Smokebox dart
Safety valves
Clacks and feed pipes
Vacuum ejector
Steam manifold
Carriage warming valve
Injector steam valves
Here's a quick shot of the right side of the firebox showing the pipework so far.
A few more evenings to go with this one then it's the deflectors and footsteps. Once these are done then I think I will be in a position
Take one bit of 1/8" diameter tube (bought at Trains4U last Sunday), drill a 0.6mm hole through the end, elongate this hole with the drill so that two 0.45mm brass wires will pass through. Bend said wires inside so that a 0.7mm wire will pass between them axially down the tube. Repeat at the other end and solder up. Afer cleaning up the ends of the 0.45mm wire you get this
cut excess 0.7mm wire off the long end and flatten with a pair of pilers. Solder to RHS weighshaft bracket (burning
OK, I admit it, I played with the 2-8-2 for a lot of the day at Trains4U and it behaved itself quite well. Stuggled over the "hump" that appeared at one baseboard joint and proved that 14 wheel pickup isn't necessarily enough
Lots of questions from customers about what/why etc it has been modelled. Anyway here's a few pics
So now it's on with the bodyshell detailing. I bought some brass tube to fabricate the counterbalance spring for the RHS weighshaft bracket and some
To say the least, the cost of the 2-8-2 has just jumped up with the addition of a Loksound 3.5 with my own customised sound scheme
It all fits in the firebox area behind the motor, all I needed to do to get the standard speaker in was to cut one of the mounting lugs off, file a couple of flats on the outside of the case an fix the other lug to the frame with a 12ba Triang valve gear screw B)
I've not cut off the spare function wires yet as I've not decided on lights etc yet..
