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On Ravensers Bookcase

A blog by Ravenser in RMweb Blogs

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About this blog

Things on the workbench, or gathering dust on the bookcase....

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Fruits of my Labours

After a rather more protracted effort than it should have been, I've finally finished the vans and here they are: From left to right , ex LNER fruit, BR vent van, and rebuilt BR Shock. And yes , the Fruit and Shock still need couplings. Unfortunately I've noticed the chassis on the vent van is not 100% square . It seems to run fine, because it's been out on the shunting plank without trouble - it was only some time later that I noticed a fractional rock when stood on a mirror. Since

December 31, 2009

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Fools rush in

It's been a long while since anything was posted here - most of the modelling in 2011 was on the layout, where the bulk of the major work still outstanding was tackled , but some progress has recently been made on stock as I currently have a little spare time . Firstly the Ratio Van B. Work resumed last Autumn , only for me to find that that I couldn't find the etched sheet . Eventually I swallowed hard and decided to improvise. This meant fabrication of replacement door hinges from microst

March 19, 2012

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steam age coaches Finishing Off - Set 1 and the Met Bo-Bo

Just to round off a couple of projects - and prove that I do occasionally finish things as well as starting them, here are some hasty shots of the Met Bo-Bo and the Set 1 coaches at the DOGA AGT . Two coaches proved a little too much for the card loco , though one was easy enough - at 100g+ each this is not too surprising This one was taken in it's working environment before weathering and lettering - also before I fitted gan

Ravenser in Constructional

June 4, 2013

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Filed under box van

I've been building stock boxes : one last weekend and one this. And here are the results: which is the air braked box and the steam age stock for the shunting plank. There is absolutely nothing original about this - the idea was taken from Chris Ellis' book "Next Steps in Railway Modelling" , published a couple of years ago, in which it is credited to Stuart Robinson. The construction should be obvious from the photos - take one box file (price 3 quid) , rip out the spring clip and i

August 29, 2010

1

DC Kits 128 - First Impressions

Well, I've actually made a start on something . When Heljan announced their 128, Charlie Petty announced an offer on his 128 kit, pairing it with the then new Replica MLV chassis to give an easy build unit. So I bought one. And it's been sitting in its box, next cab but two off the rank, ever since. As it's now very close to the top of the to do list http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/296/entry-17246-new-years-resolutions-version-81/ I' ve got out the box and made a start. It s

February 7, 2016

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DC Kits 128 - Bodyshell

[This is my third attempt at posting this - both the previous two having been wiped and returned to an incomplete draft entry by the software correction] Progress so far is shown below . Put simply - we have a bodyshell. I'm not sure it's absolutely perfect but as this project boils down to a bodyshell on a Replica MLV chassis with trimmings, it's a decent start. Bodyshell assembly has been slow . You get four half-sides, two cabs and a roof. The roof has to be cut to length , a

February 21, 2016

1

DC Kits 128 - "If you want any more, you must make it yourself.."

I know I promised a report on the final stages of the reworked NBL Type 2 , but a start has been made on the long- stalled Class 128 parcels unit , and it's getting a little frustrating... This posting has been sitting in draft for four years with the optimistic stub "Progress on the 128 has been slow, but like BR we're getting there" Very slow indeed... . However on closer inspection I find I am in no sense entering into the home straight with this one The project ground

Ravenser in Constructional

July 9, 2020

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Damage Control 3 - Into Traffic

We left matters with a part-fixed Limby DMU and a mild crisis of conscience about details, identities and my general rate of progress on things in general. Happily the 101 does not add to the latter as it's now finished - despite all the little extras that kept crawling out. The first little catch was when looking at various photos in Morrison's DMU book and online. Whatever the faults of the former as a piece of scholarship (The Railcar Association compiled 9 pages of errata to it, and

July 17, 2015

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Damage Control 2 - Prototypes and Identities

Blacklade is in the North Midlands, with services to Birmingham, Nottingham and Sheffield via Chesterfield. The latter either extends through to Leeds or is worked by W Yorkshire units. In the 1980s this means that 3 depots would obviously supply units - Derby Etches Park (DY), Lincoln (LN) and Tyesley (TS). Oddly South Yorkshire never had a DMU depot, despite being a fully fledged PTE - their units came either from Lincoln or Neville Hill (NL). There is a minor metaphysical issue about Etch

June 25, 2015

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Damage Control - 1

I had good intentions, but somehow a 101 didn't feature in them... I've got a 101 - I've had it for years. A Limby 3 car 101 in blue/grey was one of the things acquired in the RTR buying spree when I started building Blacklade a few years ago. Being ex Lima and a dowdy Modernisation unit it was rather looked down on as a quick placeholder. After all Bachmann would no doubt displace the Limby model with a splendid state of the art model in a few years Then the power car to

Ravenser in Constructional

June 23, 2015

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Contain Yourself - Assorted Conflats

I suppose it is inevitable that I would want railway containers to feature on the Boxfile. I've spent nearly all my working life involved with containerised seafreight, in one capacity or another, and in the 1950s railway containers were a significant part of British Railways freight traffic. Since it represents an urban goods depot, the Boxfile is heavily skewed towards van traffic and as I've said a couple of times recently my wagon fleet for the Boxfile is light in vans. So the remedy is obvi

Ravenser in Constructional

November 7, 2021

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Butchering a Meat Van

I've been fairly quiet for a few months, partly because of work getting on top of me . But after finally managing 2 weeks holiday , having previously not managed more than an odd day off since I started the new job just over a year ago , I'm feeling human again , and I'm trying to resolve some of the various unfinished projects . One small project is nearly there - an ex GW MICA meat van. At present the main vehicle available for the cold store on the box file is a Blue S

Ravenser in Constructional

September 7, 2017

2

Back in Business

I've had a fairly strenuous 6 months, involving being made redundant at the end of May . Thankfully I found a new job and started work again just three weeks later, but as all my time outside work was taken up with pursuing avenues for future employment no modelling got done at all. In fact very little else got done at all , with the result that I've spent the last 6 weeks in catchup and clear-up mode, and only now am I getting to the point where I really ought to start doing some modelling agai

July 17, 2010

2

Baby Needs Some New Shoes

One of the "benefits" of a blog is that it records just how long certain projects have actually been stalled. This is a case in point - behold I bring you the world's slowest quickie loco kit! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/296/entry-14093-baby-deltic-1/ The Silver Fox Baby Deltic has been stalled and lying in the paint-drying box for a horrifying 4 and a bit years.... I am at least now making some progress One issue was highlighted here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/

October 7, 2018

0

Baby needs some new paint....

I'm feeling annoyed. As mentioned I've started work on a Baby Deltic - a Silver Fox kit I picked up cheap secondhand at a show in January. It really should have been a "quick win": just paint the body, hack and assemble some RTR components I already have and there we are - a new Type 2. I want it in 2 tone green (as it will spend most of it's time working with steam stock) and it will become D5901 - which became an RTC Derby loco, allowing me maximum excuses if it appears on a north Midl

September 25, 2013

4

Baby Deltic 1

I'm conscious that the blog has been inactive for a long time , and it certainly feels as if I've been inactive too However a certain amount of modelling has been done - I just haven't written it up. One project that has been making intermittant progress is the Baby Deltic referred to in an earlier post here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/296/entry-12459-baby-needs-some-new-paint/ Much of the progress has been painting - however despite seeing this as a "quick win"

June 29, 2014

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Baby Deltic - Released to Traffic

After a good deal of last minute panic I now have a working Baby Deltic, and here is a picture of it on the rolling road to prove it: The Mk2 stiffened chassis also developed bend, and I stiffened it with two short lengths of brass bar araldited in place. It is now rigid and more or less straight Fortunately for me the Hornby Ringfield motor bogie I had in stock is the final Chinese-made 5 pole unit with 8 wheel pickup. Not only does this pick up better and r

Ravenser in Constructional

November 24, 2018

0

At The Dawn of Time - Chapter the Second

In which the Author maketh a prosperous Journey towards Penydarren in South Wales - where he suffers a sudden Misfortune which leaves him stranded upon a remote Shore... It has been some time since my initial post on this model Part 1 when all seemed so promising. Now, like a message sent in a bottle by a castaway washed up years later on a distant beach I suppose I should write up further developments with what is currently a stalled model. After much internal debate

Ravenser in Constructional

June 4, 2019

2

At the Dawn of Time - Chapter the First

In which the Author discovereth a Cardboard Box in the Study which recalleth his Childhood; and subsequently journeys into the Western-most Parts of Great-Britain..... A few years ago I saw a reissue of the Airfix kit for Trevithick's locomotive in a shop. I had one of these as a child, when I was too young to have any real understanding of how to build it: I recall some attempt was made at it, though it certainly never got as far as any paint, and one or two cogs and bits survive so

Ravenser in Constructional

March 13, 2018

4

As I was saying before we were interrupted...

I really must get more done this year . In fact I seem to have spent as much time taking stock as making stock. However first things first , and I'm going to try to transfer ORBC from the old forum. This is because half the projects concerned are unfinished - and it's not going to make a lot of sense if I announce with whoops of triumph that the PMV is finished and you haven't a clue as to the long-running saga of distress to this point. And I have a sinking suspicion the Bratchill 150 hasn'

October 30, 2009

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1:72 aircraft And Now For Something Different - Into Battle 2

We left the 1:72 Airfix Fairey Battle here . Actually that's a slightly generous interpretation because all I had managed to do was to assemble the two cockpit units and fix them into one side of the fusilage. Several issues had already come to light, though. Since then very substantial progress has been made: in fact the kit is now assembled and part painted. By the standards of plastic kits in railway modelling, the assembly and fit of parts in Airfix kits is extremely

Ravenser in Non-Railway

February 5, 2022

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And Now For Something Different - Into Battle 1

Some years ago I was in a toyshop buying Christmas presents for young relations. While I was scanning the shelves I noticed an Airfix Gift Set in a large box marked down to the absurdly low price of 10 quid. (I think it had started off at around £30 and even that may have been somewhat below the list price.) For a tenner you were getting FOUR plastic aircraft kits in 1/72 scale. most of them interesting and unusual subjects, with acrylic paints, glue and brushes thrown in . That's an absurd £2.5

Ravenser in Non-Railway

October 24, 2021

3

A Small Parcel Arrives

A very long time ago, in my teens, I tried to build a layout. It was my first diesel layout and it was definitely modern image : not only was it BR Blue , it was contemporary. For some reason I decided I wanted some parcels vans and I duly bought a pair of Lima BGs and a pair of Lima CCTs. These things have been lurking in boxes ever since the half built layout was abandoned and dismantled (Several years in Australia, followed by university , didn't exactly help progress) Several decades la

July 13, 2012

4

A Decent 31 - The Basics

Having decided on a target loco (31 415 , MR then BS) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/296/entry-14486-a-decent-31-prototypes-and-problems/ and with an Airfix body in hand , what needs doing? Firstly, remove the numbers and symbol with surgical spirit and a cotton bud. Next , a swift appraisal. The Airfix model was state of the art in it's day, but that was 35 years ago. Still, many competent judges seem to rate the moulding highly in terms of basic shape The body sid

October 2, 2014

2

A Decent 31 - Prototypes and Problems

I have a few problems with my Hornby 31 derailing when running through the crossover at the end of Platform 2 if set to cross over. As this is part of the run round loop and as the 31 is currently diagrammed for any loco hauled trains (parcels, engineers etc) this is a problem The problem is caused by the fact that these points don't always close tight when thrown - arising from the fact that I used the wire supplied by Tortoise, instead of replacing it with something thicker and stiffer. I'

August 3, 2014

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