Hi everyone -
I've been off work with the man flu , but managed to do something useful with my time - namely , finishing off 47706 (nearly finishing , anyway)
The state of the paintwork on such a battered loco seems to change in every photo I look at , and finding shots of each side from the same date is difficult - but then again , you never see both sides at once. I've finished off all the paint damage using enamels and old brushes - I've also now added the large patch on the bodysides where
Goodevening -
A quick post from me as ebay doesnt want to upload my pictures this evening so i've given up on that ....
As much as I love my vitrains 47s, I've decided to give a Bachmann version a try, as the livery on their latest release looked ideal for a quick identity change. As soon as I clapped eyes on the new 47/7 'shove' model in Scotrail livery , I thought of 47706 , in its flakey NSE branded Scotrail livery.
The original Bachmann numbers, printed names and Scotrail branding ar
Hellow -
Another vitrains 47 this evening - I do like them.
Unlike 'Brunel' in my previous entry there's less so do on 787. Out of the box The model has the correct tanks, aerial brackets , plus 'Flush' headcodes both ends - and the more modern style 'Crewe' LED cluster tail lights, so some nice attention to detail differences by vitrains. There's printed representations of the plates left over when the TDM fittings were removed from the cab fronts. On the real thing these little plates bar
Good evening,
I'm amazed how long its been since I last posted, and since I last done any modelling, mainly 'cos I've been busy with my other hobby, my 1976 Alfa spider:
but now for something else made in Italy that will go rusty, is poorly assembled, unreliable, wired badly but looks great
yesI have another Vitrains 47
Its the lovely 47484.
I already had a set of brass plates for this loco and I was a little disappointed to find they didn't cover the printed versions. I ex
Hellow! Its been ages since ive posted on here -
I've been doing a 'quickie' project using one of Vitrains latest 47 releases - 47773 The Queen Mother
This being reworked into 47790 - a nice distinctive EWS machine with its eliptical buffers and snowploughs 8)
The printed names have been slowly and carefully removed with tcut - this left a little bit of a mark on the maroon paintwork but ive patch painted/feathered this in with some precision EWS maroon
Ive lightly rubbed down th
Hello -
Its been a while since ive done one of these - thanks to my day job
Ive been working through my class 50s (still) another batch are shown here with thier windscreens being remodelled - these have taken quite a while do - i started them a good few months back
bringing my class 50 fleet up to -er, i dont know how many - but when i get to 50 ill stop
Heres a close up of new shawplan window frames fitted - and the very slight reprofiling on to top of the nose. I pre
Hello
At the DEMU exhibition a few weeks back I joined the 2mm society and have now received my membership goodies plus an order of Easitrac. As I've not done much scenery I decided to make a small 'sampler' board to try everything out- doing water , buildings , landscaping etc - I've looked at a fairly topical location for inspiration, so I have somewhere to pose my Peco CDAs - which are my favorite models Im pretty sure you can guess the place in question!
The little layout is built o
Hello - This afternoon I done a little bit more to the second of the pair of Rail Express Colas class 47s '727 "Rebecca"
Ive finished adding all the standard vitrains 'bits' - the handrails , bogie guard irons and bufferbeam steps , areals and lamp irons. Vitrains have also noted the little steps at the bottom of the cabfront are painted yellow on these particular locos - and so have supplied the separate metal steps painted yellow - on other models they come painted black - nice littl
Goodmorning
I had a nie day out to DEMU showcase Yesterday - and got 37403 done just in time - It spent the day on the DEMU class 37 display - and the fuel tanks didnt fall off once! - theyre just a push fit at the moment - they fell off once it got back home
I found some numbers for the '403' on the noses , after carefully cheking all my transfers I used some RES numbers - the font isn't quite right but they look a far match for the size. The last jobs were to paint the handrails whit
Well , this little project has gone a bit quicker than I expected - so much so - that I got stuck in forgot to take any photos -
I wasnt expecting to have it almost finished tonight
But heres the loco as it stands now - quite a transformation
cranks have been fitted closer in , new crank pins fitted and the rods popped on for a photo - Im rather pleased with it - I'll have to take it all apart again one more time to put the pickups in - so i can test it properly - so Ill take some
Goodevening -
and now for something very small , that isnt a class 37 , or a 50.
I really like the Farish 08 - it looks and runs great - but Ive always wanted to do something about the con rods - which are overscale , and the cranks stick out too far - These are the only snags which would make the little 08 model much harder to distinguish from its bigger brother.
Pete Harvey Kindly produced some new rods for me - shown here sitting on top of the cranks
getting these to work pro
Hello
thanks for all the kind comments so far -
So , I'm now up to the underframe and bogies.
The Bachmann bogie sideframes have been cut off with a hacksaw and glued back on - the thickness of the saw cut narrows the bogies when they are glued back together. I use slo-zap and accellerator to re attack the sideframes.
The bogies have the missing speedo details added , from brass wire - the fittings on the actual axleboxes are turned from brass rod. The path that the cable takes along t
Goodevening
working from top to bottom , the next bit to describe on 37403 I guess - will be the noses and bufferbeams.
On the noses ive replaced the Bachmann lamp brackets with vitrains versions - a little work with a new scalpel blade tidies up the vitrains brackets nicely (they sometimes have a little 'flash' on them' , and they're a bit finer than bachmanns own - plus being moulded in bendy plastic - theyre harder to break Like most small fittings I secure them to the body using PVA.
Goodevening -
Ive recently dusted off a long term project - the last of my class 37 fleet - 37403 Ben Cruachan.
This started life as a Bachmann collectors club loco - 'Caerphilly castle' which has been renumbered, renamed, and had the orance cantrail lines repainted further up the body where they should be for '403. The warning flashes have also been replaed for earlier pre 1998 style. I just need to find suitable white numbers for ther '403' on the noses - so far I've drawn a blank.
Thanks to the forum I recently aquired the Rail Express/vitrains class 47s in Colas Livery.
Im really pleased I treated myself to these locos - I've spent a week or so gradually adding all the bits , which is most enjoyable - I've added some extra pipework on the bufferbeam associated with the ETH gear - and changed a few detail parts for Heljan/Bachmann alternatives.
Vitrains have done a lovely job of these models - Demelza is finished - Rebecca is taking a bit longer - as it has a d
Nothing to do with trains I'm afraid, but a rare little moment I thought I'd share , from early this morning while most folk are asleep.
Most of the time , when I get home from work im not in the mood or too tired to do much modelling - I work in a Marina in london, so my shifts vary with the tides - anything from 04.00 to 21.00 Being out in the fresh air amongst the boats in all weather takes it out of you!
Locking out onto the Thames early this morning was an RAF Seaplane Tender - w
Good evening -
I have a fleet of 14 Hornby HST power cars for Laira , and need a bit of variety in the fleet -
so to break things up a bit , I have already modelled a buffer fitted DVT conversion , and have a Mirrlees engined example on the work bench aswell.
To add to these two I'm modelling 43183, which, thanks to some help from you guys last year, I found out was one of the last Exectuve livery power cars , (on the western region anyway). The paintwing work is done - I've retained
Goodevening - heres that 50 with the big logo again - and infront of it is the second set of Extreme Etches - Brian really does spoil us!
A complete new panel is provided for the roof grille, as the panel on the model is not positioned quite correctly, and neither is the big round hole in it!
Also included is a new roof fan , with a lovely detailed hub
the mesh - ive never seen anything like it not only does it have the weave etched into it , but also the 'wiggle' on all the stra
Goodevening -
At Alexandra Palace Brian Hanson gave me some new class 50 bits to try - first up , a set of etchings for the exhausts - this corrects the panel on the Hornby model which is too long - theres also a pair of surrounds for the other two exhaust ports.
heres the panel rolled to shape and fitted with Devcon - theres two small etches to add which I've attached with gloss varnish.
The replacement exhauts ports , fitted again with varnish. To remove the moulded p
I had a nice day at Alexandra Palace today - and spend a few quid , but one of the smallest things I bought (for all of £1, thankyou Missy!) is the most interesting - a sample of 2mm association easitrack . As my N guage layout of Bodmin Parkway only has 1 set of points (there are others but they arent required to work) I cottoned on that modern farish and Dapol stock will run on easitrack without having to change wheels - , just in time , as i was about to start laying Peco 55. Now I
There was no way I was going to be able to resist these - way out of period , but I've travelled on HSTs down to cornwall for a good few years , so a set for the archive would be nice.
In the products thread , Magic Monkey and others mentioned/showed how to tint the windows using Tamiya smoke paint - so ive had a bash at that - and it works
I used the non hairy end of a paintbrush to draw the paint over the glazing , which stops any bubbles.
while the bodyshell is off , theres another
Goodevening -
I've been working on a model of 47580 'County of Essex' in large logo - I've started with a vitrains 47401 - (vitrains are my preferred 47s)
a quick look on fotopic showed there was only a couple of major differences between 401 and 580 , which id have to cover:
47401 had white lenses at the no1 end and sealed beam headlights at no2 end. 580 had sealed beam lights at both ends.
Looking at the headcode boxes again , 47401 had a black headcode box at no2 end , 580 had b
Goodafternoon -
Just before christmas i treated myself to (another) Vitrains 47 - as my loca shop had them on special offer - so it was hard to resist. I came away this time with the RES version.
I decided not to change the name or number , and finish off the loco with as many of the supplied Vitrains bits as possible , rather than changing them for other parts - in order to get my moneys worth, and to see just what results you get from vitrains - I have lots of vitrains 47s already but they
Goodevening - ive just finished 50007 this eveing - the final hurdle was glazing the new windscreens which is a job i hate doing - i think i managed to put it off for about a year. Along with the new windscreens this loco also had new bodyside louvres, has been lowered and converted to P4 to join its classmates.
Hornbys first release of 50007 was finished as preserved but for my collection I need it in early 90s condition - so no snowploughs unfortunately - to backdate the model the
Goodevening -
this afternoon I finally weathered the chassis of the two class 08s shown earlier - so theyre now finished - I cant even remember when i started them - most of the colores used are derived from mixtures of Rail Grey, humbrol rust and executive dark grey.
lucky i have these two locos out the way now - as thw workbench is clear for a nice new 50015
tfn
Jon
