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Pre-grouping stock


buffalo

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2009-11-29: N6 horsebox added at end of this entry.

 

Progress on the Buffalo and Dean goods awaits a warm weekend suitable for painting in the garage. At least that's my current excuse :unsure: In the meantime, I thought I would show some of the other items that have served to fill in gaps in locomotive construction over the past few months. You can blame Mikkel for this icon_wink.gif he has recently shown a selection of pre-grouping stock on his blog illustrating various approaches to kit building/bashing, etc. I mentioned that I had a W1, inspired by his on gwr.org, and had used some brass angle to replace the Ratio plastic footboards. Most of these are experiments in getting to know the materials and the parts and etches available from different suppliers. As you will see, painting is not one of my greatest skills icon_sad.gif but, hopefully it will improve when I summon up the courage to complete these.

 

 

W1 from Ratio T47 parts

As I said this was inspired by Mikkel's original write-up on gwr.org. I decided to replace the stepboards with 3x1.5mm brass angle as all of my old Ratio 4-wheelers, built nearly 30 years ago, had suffered here. Various other parts including Mainly Trains etches and ABS brake cylinder and buffers were used to finish it off underneath. The buffers have had their heads cut off and are drilled for fitting Gibson sprung units. The W-irons are Bill Bedford sprung units. The livery is not a previously unknown GWR variation, but one of my painting experiments. The idea was to paint the black first, then brown and finally fill in the panels with cream. Whether it works, only time will tell...

 

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T20 from Ratio T47 parts

After the W1, I searched through Russell in the hope of finding something I could make from the remaining parts of the Ratio 4-Wheel T47 brake thirds. The best fit seemed to be a T20, a 4-wheel brake third with central luggage and guards compartment. The basic body has been built, though using Mainly Trains brass ends. Much work remains to be done here...

 

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Parkside Dundas W7 Beetle

 

More recently, I've put together a Parkside Dundas W7 Beetle. As with the W1, I've replaced much of the underframe with brass parts and added sprung buffers and white metal piping. This time, the spring units and the couplings are Masokits. I really enjoyed putting these together and am very pleased with the results. The spring units work very well and I find them easier to get working properly than the Bill Bedford type. The springs stay in place without extra packing and there is no need to try to straighten short lengths of wire.

 

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IKB U28

Not content with all these unfinished projects, I started another one this week :rolleyes: This is an IKB kit of a U28 6-wheel clerestorey luggage composite. The etch says U16, but I think that may be a four wheel arc roof variety :unsure: So far, I have rolled and folded one side and added all the brass detail. The photo shows this together with an untouched side and one of the ends that has also been rolled to get the tumblehome matching on side and end. Much more work to do here.

 

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Sometime, I'll get around to posting some of my goods stock. I've made more progress with painting thse, and some even have transfers :) But, then, painting GWR goods stock is a little easier, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking grey is always the same colour :rolleyes:

 

51L N6 horse box

Here's one I forgot to include when taking the photos for this entry. It's an N6 horse box built from a 51L kit. This was my first attempt at a brass kit after gaining some experience with white metal wagons, etc. I built it last year as I thought I should get a bit of practice with brass kits before embarking on something like the Dean goods.

 

At present, it has been painted, although the roof needs toning down a bit, and is awaiting glazing, transfers and blackening the buffers and chains.

 

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I remember using the same approach of painting Ratio GWR four-wheelers many years ago...

 

If you get the cream colour to the right consistency - thick enough so the the black doesn't shine through, and runny enough so that it flows right up to the corners - it works extremely well. It's helped by the fact that the Ratio panelling is a little over scale depth.

 

You may also find a blunt cocktail stick works better than a brush in teasing the paint up into the corners.

 

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the results.

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  • RMweb Gold

Nick you are obviously taking kit-bashing to the next level icon_thumbsup2.gif Great stuff ! The extra detailing/ replacements clearly pays off here. Now I??

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I quite like IKB kits, but they are getting a bit long in the tooth, the panneling on some of them is a little variable in width which can make lining an adventure!!

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If you get the cream colour to the right consistency - thick enough so the the black doesn't shine through, and runny enough so that it flows right up to the corners - it works extremely well...

Thanks for that, it gives me the confidence to carry on and try to get it to work. What I didn't show was the other side where I'd tried this method but the paint was too runny...

 

Are the oil lamp tops on the W1 from IKB?

Yes, they are. I also have some from ABS, but the IKB ones look much better to me.

 

the panneling on some of them is a little variable in width which can make lining an adventure!!

The widths look fairly consistent on this one. Just as well, lining will be an adventure for me anyway :unsure:

 

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

 

Nick

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Yes, they are. I also have some from ABS, but the IKB ones look much better to me.

 

Rummaging through my coach bits box this afternoon I discovered that this was completely wrong :icon_redface:

 

The ones which will appear on the U28 are the IKB variety included in the kit, but they came without separate filler caps. Those on the W1 are in fact MJT components from Dart Castings (Item no 2947). These do come with the fillers.

 

Nick

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  • RMweb Gold

Nice to see an N6 here! I'm amazed this was your first brass build! So nicely done, not least the detailing on the ends.

 

Got a half-built one in a drawer that's missing half the bits by now, but now you've provided an impetus to give it another go. Thanks!

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Thanks, Mikkel. I'd had quite a bit of practice with adding brass brake gear and underframe parts on plastic and white metal kits before I tackled this, but it was my first complete brass kit.

 

btw. if your half-built on is in a drawer, what is the origin of the horsebox that appears in several of your Farthing Bay shots?

 

Nick

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  • RMweb Gold

That's an N5 from the old Colin Waite kit. Also bought in half-built condition, at least I managed to complete that one.

 

Horseboxes do have that special attraction don't they, I wonder what it is about them that makes them so popular. Am hoping some day to get around to converting the Parkside Dundas N13 to an earlier diagram (eg N9), there was a thread on RMweb 3 here.

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Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that thread before and it looks like an interesting possibility. Yes, I do like horseboxes and intend to add a few more. After all, it was not uncommon to see trains with several of them, and not just for the obvious reasons like hunts or race meetings. At least it is more prototypical than my rather unbalanced preference for brakes, luggage and parcels stock over the straightforward all-passenger vehicles.

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