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About this blog

Tales from my workbench and progress on my layouts.

Entries in this blog

46444 Blog

London Transport Sentinel Tender by CDC Designs

Recently Hornby have released their 6 wheeled Sentinel in the guise of L81 which represents the first of three Sentinel's acquired second hand to replace the venerable LT Pannier tanks.     Unfortunately with the prototypes their wheelbase was insufficient to operate track circuits on the main line. To address this a tender was attached fitted with a trip cock.      The tenders were manufactured from 'Q' stock bogies. The tender and Sentinel carried co
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Dapol/Airfix BR Prestwin Wagon Build. The Raunds Apprection Society....

'Hello. Welcome and Good Evening' as a well known TV presenter who once lived in Raunds, Northamptonshire might have said.   Sat on my workbench for a number of years have been two partially completed Dapol/Airfix Prestwin wagon kits.   These kits stem from Airfix, being released in 1964. However, Rosebud/Kitmaster originating from Raunds had been taken over by Airfix in the early 1960's.   From memory the current incarnation of this kit from Dapol has soft recycled
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Western National-Tavy style. EFE Bristol LS detailing.

Lurking on the work bench have been two EFE Western National, Bristol LS' which I have been detailing. Both were picked up for less than £10 each secondhand.   Inspired by the Lincolnshire Road Car Bristol LS on Tony Wright's Little Bytham I asked Ian Wilson at Pacific Models to make me up some printed destination screens for this pair.    I supplied Ian with the dimensions of the screens, destination and route numbers. In this instance services which would have originated fr
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Part 2: Wagon Miscellany. Including BR/WR/GWR ballast wagons x 3.

Bit of an update on the wagon building miscellany.    The Three Peaks Models, Lancashire & Yorkshire Low Goods Wagons are coming on well. I must say how pleased I am with these kits.    Following on from reading Jonathan's West End Workbench, I decided to drill out the axle boxes to receive Alan Gibson brass bearings.         One is finished in BR unfitted grey. The other is in late LMS livery. Sole bars are to be painted brown on th
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A Red Pannier and a BR Brake Van....

In the background I've been working on a number of projects including a few London Transport protoypes.   Here's a snifter of what's in store.   The venerable Bachmann GWR/BR 57xx has been available in London Transport livery over the years.          Railtec Transfers do a LT Pannier number set and I was able to renumber one of my Panniers to L89.   Essentially a very simple job. The existing numbers were removed carefully usin
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Wagon Miscellany. GWR ballast wagons x 3 and a Ratio Huntsman Ales kit.

Tonight's blog entry is an eclitic mix of wagons I am working on that are currently on the workbench.   The kit below I am working on is an excellent Chivers GWR P17 permanent way wagon. As with all Chivers kits the quality is superb.    It's just waiting for some of Mr. Frank's finest buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies (LMS).     The Cambrian GWR P18 is enhanced with Lanarkshire Model Supply buffers and Chivers door bangs.    
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The Ultimate Driving Machine. Brighton's BMW...

Some of you will know I do like the 1950's/1960's micro cars and courtesy of Oxford a Messerschmitt three wheeler often appears on my layouts.   Recently I was researching Southern Railway push-pull coaches and came across the excellent Blood & Custard Southern/BR Southern Region reference site.    This article was of some interest:   https://www.bloodandcustard.net/BMWIsetta.html   It appears BMW built their Isetta micro-car in the old LBSC/SR/BR rail
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Bachmann 7327 Detailing Continued. A Cheeky Little Rascal.

Eveventually I came across some pictures of Collett cabbed Moguls with lining which answered my previous question.   Using Fox GWR/BR passenger loco lining I have finished the lining out including the wheel splashers.     The lining transfers were fixed with Johnson's Kleer when in the correct place. Once dry a couple of light coats of Halfords Laquer varnish was applied. To tone things down a misting of Halfords Matt varnish was then applied    
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Asking for a friend?...Bachmann 'Old School' GWR/BR 2-6-0 Mogul detailing: 7327

Recently a good friend of mine picked up a fairly decent 'old school' Bachmann split chassis GWR Mogul.   In this instance the Collett cabbed later prototype version.     I said I would give it a service and make good any problem areas.    Initially the model came in unlined economy BR green. Something 7327 carried in later life. The Bachmann green was a bit flat. I decided I would give it a makeover for him.    I carefully removed the moulded
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Hornby BR M7 30107 detailing project. A reconversion of a conversion!

Whilst perusing a well known auction site I came a cross a rather sorry looking Hornby M7 which had been converted quite crudely to a Caley 439 Class.    Now I have seen conversions of M7's to 439's that have been rather good such as Ben Alder's of this parish.   Like many I would like to see a Class 439 produced to complement the Rails/Bachmann Caley 812 Class. No doubt we will eventually see a ready to run version.   The badly converted M7 was purchased and arrive
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Two out of three ain't bad. And the one about the soup can!

In the 1980's as an impressionable teenager Ratio produced a number of special pre-printed kits based on their venerable GWR 12T box van.    As far as I an aware the three kits available came in Badger Beer, Huntsman Ales/Elderidge Pope and BOCM liveries *.    When they were available in the 1980's I never built them. I remember they were advertised in black and white images in the Railway Modeller from Ratio when they were based in Sturminster Newton.    However a
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Airfix Siphon H detailing. With added Conflat

Like many of us we often have numerous projects on the go.   From a personal point of view I have the BR Clan's and Dapol BR Manor Class to complete. See my previous blog postings. All being well these should soon be completed.    I have had an old Airfix Siphon H in my 'to do box' for a while. A quick strip down and prototype research reveled that Airfix had fitted the wrong bogies which on a Siphon H should be 9ft American Style.    The existing bogies where put t
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In a Manor of speaking...Dapol 78xxx Manor Class detailing.

Some of you may know that the GWR 78xx Manor Class is one of my favourite engine designs.   Perhaps this comes from the Mainline model of the 1980's and seeing 7808 Cookham Manor at Didcot as a teenager.   Believe it or not I never owned a Mainline version. Just the reblown Bachmann version with updated chassis.    I remember trying to detail and renumber these as well as putting a correct profile chimney on them. Infact gwrrob of this parish and ANTB fame may have
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Clan'tastic!...Detailing a recently released Hornby BR Standard 72xxx Clan Class.

The recent re-release of the Hornby BR  Clan Class was a blessing for many especially with the price of previous issues becoming prohibitive. The model had not been available for a number of years to compound this.   Like others I was surprised to find the running boards and rear of tender not painted black on either the late or early crest variations. This has been debated on the Hornby Clan thread.   Other issues have concerned a missing top lamp bracket on the smokebox doo
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Bachmann/Rails Caley 812 Class Detailing

As promised my take on the Bachmann/Rails Caley 812 Class.     I chose the late crest version as the prototypes worked from Oban on the Ballachulish branch before closure.    57566 was a Corkerhill/Ardrossan shedded loco and there are some nice colour snaps of the prototype online finished as per the Bachmann model.    As for 57566 working to Balla' I'm not sure? However, I thought would keep the running number and address a few of the Bachmann/Rails dis
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Oxford Rail J27. Finished as Percy Main's 65802.

The Oxford Rail J27 is an excellent model and something of a bargain to boot.   I picked up an Early Crest example when they first appeared. It ran smoothly and had no problems when running in.    Looking through The Last Years of  North Eastern Steam by Tuffrey I found a suitable prototype to model in the form of 65802 of Percy Main shed photographed at Blaydon in fairly clean condition.   I wonder whether Oxford Rail will offer versions with modified boiler domes
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Maintaining a Standard...Hornby Railroad 9F detailing..

The venerable Hornby 9F has quite a provenance as we all know. Obviously the announcement of a new model brings the story up to date.    A couple of years ago I purchased a loco drive Hornby Railroad 9F.   Looking through my well thumbed copy of Steam Railways In Colour Around Northamptonshire by Coleman & Rajczonek I found a photograph of 92231 hard at work at Desborough in 1965. At this time the locomotive was allocated to York.    The Hornby model captures th
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Hornby 6 Wheeler Engineer's Coach. A quick project.

When Hornby released their generic 4 and 6 wheeled coached I picked up a 6 wheeler to convert to an Engineer's Coach.    The coach was broken down into its component parts almost immediately.   I made a scratch built solebar footstep from a piece of  Microstrip. This was held in place with brackets made from staples fixed into thd solebars.       The original Hornby footboards had their stays removed and holes drilled for strong piano wire in their
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The Tailor of Gloucester. Part Two. Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46526 of Gloucester 85B Barnwood Shed. Detailing a Bachmann Model.

Eventually I've completed my take on Gloucester 85B resident 46526 using the excellent Bachmann model as a starting point.      The DMR chimney has bedded in nicely on the smokebox. Pacific Models provided the source of the  smokebox door number plate. A Fox Transfers 85B shed code plate transfer was applied as well.      Usual weathering techniques using Tamiya NATO Black/Brown airbrushed for frame dirt. A dusting of NATO black was used on the boiler
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Stanier Fox. 42446 of Leicester 15C. Another rebuild.

Whilst searching for an Hornby Fowler 2-6-4 on eBay for a good friend I came across this Hornby Stanier 2-6-4. It was a reasonable price so I thought it would make a nice project. There were a few areas on the model I could see needed repairing.    When it arrived and I examined it it became clear the motion bracket was broken on one side. This resulted in some rather lumpy running.    The other area of note was on the fireman's side the cabside steps and the injector pipewor
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Ivatt Rescue Part 3. A tale of an eBay resurrection. Oban Cambridge Blue

After a few months my unlined 46468 is now ready for service.   Using the photograph I was made aware of by Jamie of this parish in the previous entry it would appear the engine was in a fairly clean condition. Here's the photo:   https://www.transporttreasury.com/p814816928/hbce61ac6   As a prototype it is quiet a useful engine as it covers two areas of interest.      46468 was originally a Cambridge 31A example so would more than likely worke
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Part 2: Can we borrow your Pug please? Detailing a Hornby Lanchashire & Yorkshire Pug. Modelling a Wellingborough 15A visitor on a removal job....

Over the Festive period I have managed to almost finish a number of current projects. More in the next few entries on these.    Yesterday I fired up the airbrush and started the weathering on 51235. This is a model of the  Derby L&Y Pug borrowed by Wellingborough shed to help move some equipment from Finedon Ironstone Quarry in the 1950's.   Trusty Tamiya acrylics were airbrushed on. Satin black on the top the saddle tank and a mix of NATO Black\Brown for underframe dirt.
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Part 1: Can we borrow your Pug please? Detailing a Hornby Lanchashire & Yorkshire Pug. Modelling a Wellingborough 15A visitor on a removal job....

Now if you have a large piece of equipment to move you need to borrow a Pug no less.    According to Tonks in his Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands-Wellingborough Area book this was the case in the early 1950's when Wellingborough 15A borrowed a Derby 17A Pug to help move machinery from Finedon Ironstone Quarry to the Wellingborough exchange sidings for onward transfer to Blisworth Quarry near Northampton.    Due to the RTB Finedon Quarry system no longer having motive power
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Corkerhill Corker... GBL Black 5 finished as 67A's 44706

Richard of a Far North Line fame on here recently detailed a number of GBL static Black 5 models.   I must say I was inspired to have a go myself at a quick project. It's not all beer and Ivatt 2MTs on the 46444 workbench.      The GBL Black 5 is ultimately a copy of the Hornby Black 5. This was confirmed when a spare Hornby Black 5 fall plate literally fell into place when I fitted it.      With the GBL model I removed the cabside number wit
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The Tailor of Gloucester. Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46526 of Gloucester 85B Barnwood Shed. Detailing a Bachmann Model. .

My workbench has a number of ongoing projects involving  Bachmann Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0's which will appear in various future blog entries. Watch this space....   Reading and perusing the photographs of the excellent Volume 4B: Gloucester Midland Lines Part 3: South * by Neil Parkhouse the Dursley Branch has always held a fascination since I read Ben Ashworth's Last Days of Steam in Gloucestershire.         Now to me an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 looks best in lined BR b
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