Hydraulic Heaven

Really nice work Andy.

 

Think the Hawksworths will look great once painted-weather permitting.  I do like the Hawksworth coach design.

 

As for the Mark 1 sleepers they are beautifully finished. The Woodhead Transfers are lovely to use-as can be seen from work. I'm down to the remenants of my last pack of 4mm sadly.

 

Totally agree with you though about constructing these with the immenent release of the Graham Farish versions. Will add a nice bit of variety to the St Ruth passenger stock.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Really nice work Andy.

 

Think the Hawksworths will look great once painted-weather permitting.  I do like the Hawksworth coach design.

 

As for the Mark 1 sleepers they are beautifully finished. The Woodhead Transfers are lovely to use-as can be seen from work. I'm down to the remenants of my last pack of 4mm sadly.

 

Totally agree with you though about constructing these with the immenent release of the Graham Farish versions. Will add a nice bit of variety to the St Ruth passenger stock.

Thanks Mark. I think that a lot of people mourn the passing of the Woodhead range. Their definition is excellent and... novel idea... they actually gave you enough on a single sheet to do a complete vehicle (or several). The big snag was their short shelf life but that can be overcome with liquid decal film.

 

I've decided it's time to stop second guessing what might appear as RTR and get on with building the things that I enjoy building. The RTR boys have some big advantages for fine detail these days but a thin etch over flat glazing still wins in terms of the appearance for coach windows in my opinion. I'm still somewhat sceptical of the current trend for 'land grabs' in RTR announcements. Basically I'll believe that a decent RTR product will be available when I can actually hand money over and walk away with one.

 

That doesn't mean that I won't be buying any Farish sleepers though. The samples at Warley looked very nice.

 

Regards, Andy

Lovely work Andy,

 

As good as the latest rtr stuff is, there is something very compelling about a well made kit such as all these above.

 

I always wanted to build those MTK/Fleetline kits but I think Farish started expanding their range so I took the easy route.

 

Look forward to see them through the paintshop...

Lovely work Andy,

 

As good as the latest rtr stuff is, there is something very compelling about a well made kit such as all these above.

 

I always wanted to build those MTK/Fleetline kits but I think Farish started expanding their range so I took the easy route.

Thanks Pete. From a personal perspective, one definite compelling aspect is the knowledge that I made the thing myself. Apart from the satisfaction involved, we all have our own ideas about what's important and can spend time getting those bits right. That's not to say that these are showcase models - they definitely are not and some bits are... well... impressionistic. Of course others may see things differently and it's hard to be objective about our own models. Oh well, when in doubt refer to rule number one.

 

I think that for their time, the MTK coach kits were superb... albeit let down by the whitemetal bits. The Farish stuff has only caught up with them in terms of appearance in the past couple of years. I still have several more kits tucked away. I don't foresee these ever getting built as intended but they can still provide a useful source for roof sections or whole bodyshells. I think this will be the last sleeper that I build this way though.

 

Regards, Andy

Nice coaches Andy. That blue/grey MK2 looks fantastic! It shows that these kits are still ahead of even todays rtr items. Think I still have an Ultima MK1 kicking around in my "box of bits and kits".

Best regards,

Jeremy

Nice coaches Andy. That blue/grey MK2 looks fantastic! It shows that these kits are still ahead of even todays rtr items. Think I still have an Ultima MK1 kicking around in my "box of bits and kits".

Thanks Jez. I'm very happy with the TSO as a model although its paintwork is rather more representative of what I could do with brushes in the early 80s than what I can do with better kit nowadays.

 

It was an interesting challenge building the FK because I often struggled to work out just how I'd done things on the TSO. The buffer collars and the gangway were the biggest puzzles. I figured most of it out eventually, although the FK has a Mark 1 style gangway so I didn't need to do the folding plastic doors again... a pity because I really like them even though I had not the slightest clue about what shade of green they should be when I did them.

 

I don't think I've actually seen anything of the new Mk2a offering from Farish yet. The image on their web site is of a 4mm model and I didn't notice any samples on their stand at Warley last year.

 

Regards, Andy

Thanks Jez. I'm very happy with the TSO as a model although its paintwork is rather more representative of what I could do with brushes in the early 80s than what I can do with better kit nowadays.

 

It was an interesting challenge building the FK because I often struggled to work out just how I'd done things on the TSO. The buffer collars and the gangway were the biggest puzzles. I figured most of it out eventually, although the FK has a Mark 1 style gangway so I didn't need to do the folding plastic doors again... a pity because I really like them even though I had not the slightest clue about what shade of green they should be when I did them.

 

I don't think I've actually seen anything of the new Mk2a offering from Farish yet. The image on their web site is of a 4mm model and I didn't notice any samples on their stand at Warley last year.

 

Regards, Andy

 

Hi Andy,

 

There are some pictures of painted examples of the Mk2a here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69375-farish-progress-on-20132014-models-link-to-pictures/

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

There are some pictures of painted examples of the Mk2a here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69375-farish-progress-on-20132014-models-link-to-pictures/

Thanks. I think these look better than the 4mm model on their web site, so they are not doing themselves any favours there. Glad to see that they have not gone for the prominent roof ridges (my least favourite feature on the Blue Riband Mark 1s). Not sure what's going on where the roof joins the end - looks like a bit of a ridge or step but the real thing is definitely smooth there. The sides seem a bit 'lumpy' - lacking the smoothness of the real thing, but maybe I'm just biased by the complete absence of texture on etched sides.

 

They do have more gubbins below the solebar than I have. They are probably correct - I haven't found any decent info on what's going on close to the centre line of the chassis and it's pretty much invisible in photos.

 

Regards, Andy

I agree, the underframes do look good. Also agree on the sides too, there is some "lumpiness" going on, maybe they will rectify this by the time the production ones are released.

However, I really like your MK2a and am tempted to have a go at a kit built version myself rather than waiting for the retooled Farish offerings.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

However, I really like your MK2a and am tempted to have a go at a kit built version myself rather than waiting for the retooled Farish offerings.

Have you got a Mark 2 kit then? Who is it made by?

 

Just thinking that a Fleetline or MTK one will be quite tricky to get hold of nowadays unless you already have one stashed.

 

Regards, Andy

I haven't found any decent info on what's going on close to the centre line of the chassis and it's pretty much invisible in photos.

True. Most people will only ever see the roof properly, the sides a bit and the chassis very little. We're all giants towering over 2mm scale people and on top of that our brains are very selective about what we actually register; only those harsh larger than life pictures we've all become familiar with will show things up.

True. Most people will only ever see the roof properly, the sides a bit and the chassis very little. We're all giants towering over 2mm scale people and on top of that our brains are very selective about what we actually register; only those harsh larger than life pictures we've all become familiar with will show things up.

Yep. Although having started this conversation I did go back and look at the photos again in my Marsden book. The main thing that I can see under a Mark 2 is lots of daylight. Logic says that there should at least be a vacuum cylinder somewhere but I have no idea where.

Have you got a Mark 2 kit then? Who is it made by?

 

Just thinking that a Fleetline or MTK one will be quite tricky to get hold of nowadays unless you already have one stashed.

 

Regards, Andy

 

I haven't got a MK2 kit but if I could find one, I'd be really interested. If not, there is always CJM to the rescue with Chris's excellent Mk2's!

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

I haven't got a MK2 kit but if I could find one, I'd be really interested. If not, there is always CJM to the rescue with Chris's excellent Mk2's!

OK... well you can concentrate on your new track instead then

 

Worsley Works still list some etches for Mark 2 sides but you'd be on your own for everything else if you went for those. I think they are intended for overlaying onto the older build Farish bodies. I've never tried this route so can't say much about it.

 

One option that you may also come across is BHE. They have very similar looking mouldings to the old Fleetline/MTK ones but I'm afraid that when I bought one of their DMU kits the quality of the body shell mouldings was poor - one end being considerably thicker than the other. Having built up some more Fleetline kits after doing the BHE one I can say that the Fleetline body components were not perfect but were much better quality.

I haven't got a MK2 kit but if I could find one, I'd be really interested.

BTW, in case you were hinting... my gloat box stash does not include any more Mark 2s

I believe some of the BHE castings/mouldings and etches were originally from Fleetline and MTK. Ray should be able to tell you what will fit as a result.

I believe some of the BHE castings/mouldings and etches were originally from Fleetline and MTK. Ray should be able to tell you what will fit as a result.

I suspected that's the case given that his range a few years ago was a very close match for the original Fleetline list but I've also read stuff that suggests otherwise so I'm not sure exactly what the real history is.

 

My point though is that although the BHE MU and coach stuff is similar to MTK/Fleetline, I'm sorry to say that my own experience of the quality is that it is not as good. In particular the mouldings needed a lot of time spent with a file to sort out the uneven thickness and then re-polishing before they were usable. Things may have changed more recently but I certainly know of one person who's tried one of their DMU kits in the past couple of years with a similar experience.

 

Regards, Andy