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About this blog

Tales from my workbench and progress on my layouts.

Entries in this blog

YMR BR MK1 SK. A quick project.

Yesterday I managed to pick up two of these Your Model Railway £3.99 MK1 SK coaches from ASDA in Rushden for a friend of mine. He asked if I'd put numbers on them and weather them for him too.   Thanks to David I was able to source a suitable number for an Eastern Region example. Here's the link to David's in depth posting on the SK number series:   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75546-br-mk-1-sk-coach-number-series/&do=findComment&comment=1143408   If you've got
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What a Wonderfull Wagon! First build of an O Gauge Kit

Whilst in Devon recently I popped into Express Way Models at the South Devon Railway. Being a member of the SDR you get a discount in the shop. Pauline the shop manager is very helpful too. Having a browse around the shop I saw one of the PECO O Gauge 16T Mineral wagon kits for sale and treated myself.   On getting home and opening the kit up I was impressed. Everything you need bar glue and paint is included. In this instance some PC Transfers so I've a feeling this is an old kit-though I may
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Conversion of Dapol BR 20T brake van kit to earlier LNER version

One project that has sat on the work bench for a while are a couple of the old Airfix/Dapol BR 20T brake van kits I've been been detailing. One of them I decided to back date as an earlier LNER version which I've now completed.   This particular kit had banana shape sole bars so a bit of manipulation was required to try and staighten them. I cut off the concrete end weight mouldings and made new ones up from plastic sheet. The moulded handrails were removed and replaced with brass wire and
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Manning-Wardle 'H' Class. Part 3 of a Pug Bash

Over the past few days I've managed to get the component parts together and we're now at this stage.     I painted the inside of the cab before assembly with a Revell green acrylic applying washes and dry brushes to finish. This was masked off with tissue paper when I sprayed the loco.     As you can see various bits of wire have been used for detailing along with parts from the Pug including the reversing lever. One thing I did do is remove the sandboxes from the chassis. Luckily i
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Manning Wardle 'H' Class. Or a Pug Bash. Part 1

Last year in the August edition of Hornby Magazine Phil Parker converted an Hornby Lancashire and Yorkshire 'Pug' into a resemblance of a Manning Wardle 'H' Class. I thought this would be a nice little conversion to undertake that I could use on my layout Juniper Hill based on a Northamptonshire ironstone line. It could also be used on my proposed Teign Valley project as well.   Here's the link to Phil's website with plans and pictures of his completed model:   http://pagenumberone.co.uk/dow
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Dapol Stanier Coach Detailing Part 2

Following on my my previous entry about detailing these Dapol/Airfix Stanier coaches here they are near enough completed. Both are running on Romford 14mm wheels I had to hand.   First up is the D1905 Brake 3rd which has come out the better of the two.     I've added flush glazing to the rear windows and new rear hand rails. The corridor connection board is a spare from a Hornby Stanier coach. The non-brake end has received separate water tank filler pipes although I've kept the moulded p
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Oxford Rail Weathered 7 Plank ex-Private Owner Wagons

I'm a real fan of the Oxford Rail 7 Plank RCH wagon. I realise it's not perfect but it is has a number of merits including price.   I've a few of these including a couple I've weathered for my 1947 Teign Valley project. Some of them where bought with a view to repainting them into scruffy 1950's/1960's BR ex-private owner wagons. Paul Marshall Potter (PMP) on his excellent Albion Yard blog wrote an article on converting them to this state.   https://albionyard.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/nine-
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LNER/BR B17/6 61633 Kimbolton Castle

I'm not normally an Eastern Region modeller although a few classes do stand out. The big Pacifics don't interest me as such and it's the more humble classes like a J15 that appeal to me more. One class that I've always thought had really graceful lines was Gresley's LNER B17 with a short GE tender.   Earlier on in the year I brought a BR version and I really must say this is a beautiful model that Hornby have produced and captures the protype welll. It doesn't have the robustness of a Bachm
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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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Strict (Low) Machine (Wagon)-An Airfix Lowmac gets a make over.

With apologies to Alison Goldfrapp for the title of this entry   Been sorting quite a lot of bits on the workbench of late and making space for other bits and pieces. I've been off for just over a week and have fired up the airbrush for the first time in ages. Next week I need to get on with completing the fiddle yard for Juniper Hill.   Here's a few photographs and descriptions of some of the stock that will be seen running on Juniper Hill.   First up is the ready to run Airfix/GMR Low M
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Manning Wardle 'H' Class. Part 2 of a Pug bash.

Managed to do a few more bits on the 'H' Class over the past few days including fitting the cut section of tubing under the saddle tank to represent the boiler. Thank's to Ruston's measurements of his Ixion 7mm version I was able to work out a rough figure for the depth between the bottom of the saddle tank and the running plate. The photos below show the model held together once more with Blu-tac.       Thankfully, I managed to make up the smokebox door straps fairly successfully with M
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Hornby Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0. Finished!

Here's a few shots of the Hornby Ivatt finished except the crew insitu.   Alex (Wiggoforgold) came up trumps with a Comet chimney. I was going to do Cambridge shed's 46466 in unlined black with late crest but had a change of heart.   Instead I finished this loco as 46483 another Cambridge engine in lined black with early crest.   The model was primed with Halfords grey primer then Halfords satin black. Tamiya NATO black was then sprayed on the smokebox and roof. Lining and decals are fro
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Dapol Stanier Coach Detailing-Part 1

One of those projects I've had sat on the workbench for a while were a couple of those Dapol Stanier coach kits which I wanted to detail. The composite offers the missing link in Hornby's range of Stanier coaches. I'm no expert on LMS coaches but hopefully these modification will bring these 1970's models up to date.   I think I'm right in saying that Airfix/Dapol got the battery box on the wrong side of the Brake 3rd so I modified this as per one of Coachman's threads on modifying/using the
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Dapol/Airfix 16T Mineral Wagon. We have the technology to rebuild them...

Apologies to Steve Austin/The Six Million Dollar Man and reference to the cult 1970's TV programme.    Likewise BR started a rebuild programme of its venerable 16T mineral wagons later in their lives. This entailed new build body work and removal of the top flap door amongst other things.   For more indepth knowledge it's probably best to consult a suitable reference resource.    From my teenage years long before the likes of Parkside/Bachmann the Airfix 16T Mineral
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Motive Power for Juniper Hill-A micro layout based around a Northamptonshire ironstone quarry line

Evening,   After my 009 diversional therapy (see previous entry) I thought I better get back to the micro-layout I'm building called Juniper Hill (JH) which is based on the ironstone quarry lines of Northamptonshire around Kettering/Corby.   I really need to get in the garage and start the track laying and wiring. Once this is done I can at least start playing trains   However, there were a few bits on the workbench to finish including these two locos that will form part of the motive pow
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Lima LMS 42 ft CCT.

Inspired recently by Alex (Wiggoforgold) and Dave (Max Stafford) I thought I have a go myself at modifying one of these CCT's using Bachmann LMS bogies as a replacement for the incorrect BR ones that Lima fitted.   The moulding is trypical Lima and is quite fine. Even the undeframe is reasonably detailed.I manged to strip off the paint using Mr Muscle oven cleaner. Moulded handrails were cut off, as well as the roof vents and buffers.   Paul Bartlett's site came up with a suitable victim t
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Hornby Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 rebuild-Finescale it is not!

As some of you may be aware a mate of mine was given a box of tat-namely old 1970's/80's Hornby and Lima stuff. One of the locos was a badly repainted Hornby Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0. Now I'm fully aware of the misproportions of this model and it can never be compared to the current Bachmann RTR offering or the Comet kit but I thought using some bits and pieces I had to hand a few cosmetic adjustments could improve the look of this loco.   Also I have a real soft spot for these little Moguls and the
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Dapol Fruit 'D' detailing project.

A while back I ordered 3 un-decorated GWR Fruit 'D' wagons from Dapol. As you've previously guessed I do like Dapol for a source of modelling projects.    I understand the bodyshell for the Fruit 'D' has a venerable past and there are some dimensional inaccuracies. However Dapol have breathed life into it with a new chassis. With this I feel it makes suitable layout NPCS vehicle offering a bit of variety.      These 3 have received Lanarkshire Model Supplies buffers an
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A few LMS wagons and a Ruston Bucyrus 19-RB

Over the weekend I picked up two very cheap Airfix/Dapol wagons. Both of these had LMS origins and as I had two Ratio 10ft RCH underframes in my spares box I thought they'd make a nice couple of projects. So off with the original chassis' and the wagon bodies were put in a plastic bag with copious amounts of Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and the paint speedily stripped off in less than an hour.   First up is the Dapol LMS three plank which I believe is based on a D1927 wagon. I think Mainline and
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Juniper Hill Stock. Stewarts & Lloyds wagons and a visiting Pug

A good friend of mine in his 70's who worked on the railways told me of a story where a L & Y Pug was brought down from Derby to take a large piece of equipment up one of the ironstone quarry lines around Wellinborough. The rationale being that it's short wheelbase would be suitable for the job and once completed the loco was returned to Derby shed.   In homage to this story I've taken a few shots of my Pug which isn't Derby allocated I know.   One of the reasons for these photos is to i
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Following Halfwit's advice and completing an Hornby J94 industrial conversion

In one one of my last post's concerning stock for Juniper Hill-my Northamptonshire Ironstone micro-layout I posted some pictures of the Hornby J94/Hunslet I'm working on called 'Cranford'.   Paul (Halfwit) suggested I could improve around the injectors by cutting and drilling away excess plastic as he had done. I think he mentioned Chris Nevard had done something similiar.   The easy way out would be to just cut them off and use some RT cast injectors but I went with Paul's advice and was im
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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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Some Iron Ore wagons and other bits.

It's been ages since I last posted and truth be known my modelling motivation isn't brilliant at the moment.   Before I go into full on Leonard Cohen mode I'll write about a few positive bits that have sprung from the work bench of late.   One of my modelling interests is the Kettering-Cambridge line which is fascinating. Although a very rural line and one which closed to passenger traffic in 1958 the western end of the line was deep in Northamptonshire iron stone quarrying country. Pits aro
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Juniper Hill

As some of you may be aware Juniper Hill lays of the A43 south of Brackley-unfortunately this entry has no relevance to this Oxfordshire village. I drive down the A43 to Oxford on a regular basis and pass the sign for Juniper Hill and am always enchanted by the name. Infact I've decided to call my latest project after the village although it's not set in Oxfordshire.   Infact it is set no where in particular and could almost be generic. Ideas have centred around ironstone quarrying in Northam
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Resurection of Lima BR brake van completed.

Here's a couple of shots of the completed Lima BR brake van from my previous blog entry seen at the buffer stops on Juniper Hill.   The brake was finished and weathered with Tamiya acrylics. Again the pre-shading technique was used. Decals are Fox or HMRS and the bodywork was given a coat of Kleer. As you can see I've replaced the huge Lima tension lock coupling with a Parkside NEM coupling pocket and Bachmann coupling.   The veranda glazing is made from microscope slide glass. The door and
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