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About this blog

A blog of the various locomotive and rolling stock projects that will be seen running on my South Brent layout, covering the Great Western in 1947

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PDK 4707 part 7

The plan last night was for some painting, followed by the completion of the soldering on the tender.   I started with the painting, the chassis was sprayed Halfords Satin Black while the body was sprayed in Halfords Rover Brooklands Green. Unfortunately the latter ran out half way through so I need to buy more before I can finish it off. I will also need to have a look at how best to angle paint onto the model, as I am struggling to get coverage of a couple of areas behind detail (lower fir

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Restoring an Oxford Rail Dean Goods pt2

The first job for this project was to completely strip the existing awful paint finish from the model, it was stripped down to its component parts.  This included the removal of the chimney, splashers, smokebox door, fall plate, whistles, handrails and buffers.   The removed parts were stuck to a length of masking tape to keep safe, somehow it has disappeared in the garage.  Thankfully this only contains the whistles, pipes along the footplate and buffers, so nothing irreplaceable.   W

The Fatadder

The Fatadder in Locos

Mitchell Manor Build pt5

As ever the first week of the month is crazy busy at work, leaving not a lot of time for any modelling once I get home.   However over the past few nights I have managed to do a little work, progress on the Bird is now fully on hold pending Spring and warmer weather to allow for painting.  (it will be green, but I have yet to confirm the tender branding, with a fair few photos showing Bulldogs/Birds with G W R that is looking the likely choice.   This lead to a revisit of the

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

A Bird for Brent pt 8 ready for paint

Not a lot more to report.   first up the bogie has been almost finished, the frame needed to be lowered by about a mm vs the sub frame.  It does still need a tidy up of the inner end of the frames which are not square at the joint between the front frames and the deep part.     I have now given it a final coat of etch primer to seal in the rivets (as an aside I am very impressed with the Archers product   So the model has gone from this   to th

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

SEF Mallard Build pt2

A lot more progress on the A4   first up the body, lots more fettling has been completed (although there is still a fair bit to go marked in red).     The lower fairings have been soldered in place, these were prepared by cutting and filing the original fairings to shape.   Some A1 models sprung buffers have been fitted to the front   Remaining body tasks include the pipe on the drivers side, a little more filler, and the cab roof detail.   I'm s

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Mitchell Manor pt6

Last night the build finally reached the stage I am much less comfortable with, the firebox / boiler.  While I am happy forming angular components, or those with a continuous arc, forming Belpair fireboxes or boilers is a lot more worrying.  Its one of those jobs that I wish the kit would come with a set of spare wrappers so I could have a second go…   Anyway, yesterdays work started off adding more small components (snifter valves), and working out which part was the sandbox filler li

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Mitchell Manor pt4

Thanks to a last minute change in valentine's day plans (with my wife having to work) instead of going out to dinner I have managed to get a little more done on the Manor, starting with the flanges on the motion bracket.  A fairly easy job once I worked out what part needed to be used (no thanks to the instructions!)  The next job was the fire iron tunnel, sweating together 3 parts was a bit of a pain (as it kept coming apart when I added the third layer).  After a little fettling it was soldere

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Mitchell Manor Build pt3

Another hour's work on the Manor last night and more progress.   First up was the cab, the etched beading was completed (adding the mm or so up to the roof) before bending to shape and test fitting the cab floor.   Once I was happy with the cab it was soldered into position on the footplate.   Next up was an attempt to try and finish off those parts which were missed off in earlier stages, so on went the lamp irons (along with resoldering the joint between the bufferbeam

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

More coach painting H26/H33

Last night I finally made a start on a job that has been awaiting attention for far too long, painting the roofs of coaches.   At last count I currently have 7 Centenaries, a H26, a H33, a Large Window first, 5 Mainline sunshine stock and 8 Hornby Colletts that all need the roofs painting grey. The centenaries etc. painted earlier in the summer being the most pressing (which also need the ends painting black and lining / windows added.)   So I have started with the roofs, it has taken me a

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

GWR Beetle + Centenaries

Yesterday while visiting the East Somerset Railway, I picked up a Parkside kit for a W7 diagram prize cattle van. Its been a fun build, all be it not Parkside's finest work. The floor is rather below what you would expect (with no location marks for the gas tank or breaks) and lots of parts for the break gear are missing.   I have worked from a prototype photo from 1947 in which the groom's compartment has been replaced (so instead of the 1907 panneling it has flat doors), so I have modified t

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

More wagons

A lot more wagon work this evening,   First up a bunch of wagons from my Cheddar valley project that have now been rewheeled for Brent, most of these were missing buffers (given that they were originally going to get sprung buffers.) I have now temporarily fitted them with fixed steel buffer heads, however the diameter is too large for most of the wagons so they will eventually need replacing with the correct size. I am seriously thinking about temporarily fitting with spare tensionlock coup

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Slaters Dean D14 Clerestory

Today I have been trying to tidy up the workshop today (which has become a total state over the past few months). As part of this I have been trying to sort out unfinished projects, one of which was the D14 break van needed for my workmans train on Brent.   After painting it last year it has sat waiting for final fittings. So today I set about adding the very nice castings for the grab rails and door handles. Along with a tidy up of excess glue on the glazing.   Really impressed with the ca

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

6829 a tender correction

Having had it pointed out that the tender for my model of 6829 In wartime black should probably be in G crest W rather than GWR as I had modeled. A bit more research later and I found a photo on colour rail of the loco in question taken in 1947, one ‘modellers scan’ later and it was very clear that the model should have the crest not GWR. (It also proved that it should have the white X above the number plate).   So after removing the original transfers with water I replaced them with a set o

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

More castle renumbering: Spitfire pt 1

While I wait for my latest order of plates from Modelmaster, (this time covering King George V, Beenham Grange and of course Spitfire, once again taking advantage of their 22% off code.   So having received another Wellington as a Christmas present, it's time to start the renumbering.   The actual renumbering can wait until I receive the plates, but I have made a start on the tender. Clearly Spitfire needs to be modelled with a 4000gl Collett tender rather than the Hawksworth supplied. Th

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

PDK 4707 part 5

Given that the 47xx body is now complete (with the exception of the top feed pipes which I keep forgetting to add!)   My original thought was towards making a start on the cylinders assembly in order that I could finish off the chassis. However given that it will require shortening the lead crankpin, a task I do not want to do until I have soldered the washers into place to hold on the con rods) the cylinders will have to wait until I paint the chassis. Which reminds me I must go to Halfords

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

More centenarys

Last night saw further work on the Centenaries, which are now rapidly approaching priming.   The first task was to fill the joint between the doors and sides with a couple of applications of Squadron White Putty.   Attention then moved to the ends of the Restaurant pair. Unfortunately when working with the sides I based the conversion on minimising plastic removal, and didn’t read the instructions. Net result I have put both on the wrong way round! So the next task was to carefully carv

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

County of Sommerset: Now running

Yesterday was something of a milestone for the county,   The first job was to make a start on the pickups, I found some coppercald board (purcahsed years ago as a part of a home etching kit). This was cut into two small squares which were gapped and glued to the chassis with epoxy.   While the glue cured, I finished off a couple of jobs on the loco body. I added a Markits smokebox door dart, sprung buffers and the bufferbeam number. The body now just needs handrails adding.   Back to

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

DJM 14xx renumbering - 1470

Time to finally finish off my 14xx from DJM 58xx conversion, fitting the replacement plates.   I started by removing the DJM plates (I used a new scalpel blade to flick them out), I then checked the replacement Modelmasters plates in the hole (if anyone s interested they are a direct fit). I ended up fitting the plate on top of the original, tidied up the gap between the two and then reglued into position.     So with my 14xx converted from a 58xx now complete (with the exception of a de

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

County and 58xx in the paint shop

A little time in the paint shop this evening has seen the first coat of Rover Brooklands green on both the 5813 (P4 for Kites Croft) and 1004 for Brent.   The only slight issue with the car paint is that it is difficult to get into the corners, my logic now is to spray some into a cup and then brush paint into the tight bits.   Hopefully should get them both masked tomorrow and spray the black for the running plate / smokebox / roof  

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

A tender for a Saint pt2

Not a lot more progress on any real modelling this week, motivation is rather lacking in the post holiday lull.   The other day I picked up a can of Rover Brooklands Green from Halfords, described in the RAF Kinloss list as being a good match for GWR green.   The first two items of stock have now been sprayed, 5108 and the tender for Saint Dunstan. Both have now had the green sprayed (2 coats) and the black hand painted (I think next time I will probably spray the black as well.)   The ten

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

A wartime 4500

Over the weekend I picked up a reasonable priced Bachmann 4500 (with decoder fitted) which arrived today. Unfortunately the TCS decoders as fitted in the cab, so has been chopped out and will be replaced with a smaller zimo chip (with the TCS decoder a good fit in the boiler of my 42xx)   The intention in buying another 4500 was after seeing a photo of 4547 in period which appeared to be in wartime black. The model was dismantled to seperate body from footplate, remove the cab roof and to r

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Castle renumbering: Spitfire pt4

Spitfire is now (finally) finished, I had real problems with the HMRS transfers not sticking. Eventually after a couple of failed attempts at using varnish to stick them down, I removed the problem transfers and replaced with a new set.   While I was at it I also got on with the final major job, eliminating the green solebar from the former BR 4000gl tender, which was touched in with some Vlajio weathered black paint.   I still havent actually tested the DCC installation, but its posed her

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Dave Geen Fruit C - Part 1

Back in 2012 I purchased a Dave Geen kit for a GWR diagram Y3 Fruit C, at the time I opened it up and had a quick look (identifying an issue with the lack of floor) before putting it back in a box for another day.   In the following years I have completely forgotten about it (and managed to lose the instructions). Last night after running out of work to do on my County (given I still cant find the wheels), Instead I dug out the kit for the Fruit C.   First impressions were that the white met

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Spitfire part 2

The missing toolboxes were added from a Southern Pride tender, with evergreen strip forming the plate under it. (As an aside the tender chassis currently under the white metal body will probably be reused with the unpainted 3500gl shell that I have in the spades box.   All that remains to be added now is a single missing step, I see PDK list an etch of GW tender steps, so given I need to order a bell for 6000 and a chimney for the 42xx I will add this at the same time.   Now it's just a wait

The Fatadder

The Fatadder

Brent: 2016 in review / Plans for 2017

Apologies for what is a rather long post, with no photos to break things up. I want to briefly summarise the progress made in 2016, and more importantly outline the state of play of the current work in progress projects going into 2017. Ideally when I review this again this time next year, most of these projects will be complete.   On locos there has been a lot of progress, both increasing the size of the loco fleet, and ensuring those purchases are DCC fitted and have the appropriate name

The Fatadder

The Fatadder


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