Wenlock's Blog

Very nice! Any plans for the four wheelers?

Lovely. I've got a soft spot for NPCS too, but there's no comparable kit or parts available for a milk van for the GE. Now, if Bill Bedford would resize his etches to 7mm...

Very nice! Any plans for the four wheelers?

Thanks! Does anyone do a 7mm kit for one?

 

Dave

Thanks! Does anyone do a 7mm kit for one?

 

Scorpio have a 4-wheel Siphon C (built1906-7) in their range.

Lovely model. This is one of my favourites too, I have five at the moment (4mm) and am looking to increase that further maybe by some scratchbuilding if necessary.

 

Jim

A lovely model, and the weathering is subtle as usual.

 

Very nice.

You should have 16" G W

You should have 16" G W

Not in my modelling period!

 

The Brown Stock followed the general changes in the sizes of letters used on ordinary freight stock, with 25" letters introduced from around 1903, replaced in 1920 with the 16" letters. 1934 saw the GWR roundel introduced, which seemed to fit this type of vehicles far better than it did the passenger coaches. Later, the small letters were used on the lower left side, as with ordinary goods stock.

 

Dave

Scorpio have a 4-wheel Siphon C (built1906-7) in their range.

Hi Adrian, have you any Idea what Scorpio kits are like to build. I've never built anything from their range, but as they make loads of locos suitable for the Edwardian period, they look very tempting!

 

Dave

Not in my modelling period!...

Dave,

 

I think what Miss P was getting at was the size of the letters used during the 1904-21 period. Although 25" GW was used where it would fit, there are many cases where there wasn't enough room so smaller letters had to be used. These siphons are one such case and the actual size of the GW appears to have been about 16". As a result, their appearance did not really change between 1904 and 1934. An interesting case that illustrates the use of different sized lettering is the Siphon C which was produced with 25" letters on the ends but 16" letters on the sides.

 

Nick

Dave,

 

I think what Miss P was getting at was the size of the letters used during the 1904-21 period. Although 25" GW was used where it would fit, there are many cases where there wasn't enough room so smaller letters had to be used. These siphons are one such case and the actual size of the GW appears to have been about 16". As a result, their appearance did not really change between 1904 and 1934. An interesting case that illustrates the use of different sized lettering is the Siphon C which was produced with 25" letters on the ends but 16" letters on the sides.

 

Nick

Hi Nick, thanks for the clarification and apologies to Miss Prism! It looks like I've been misinformed, still one of the good things about this site is the depth of knowledge amongst its participants and the willingness to share it. It looks like a bit of strategic repainting and lettering is called for!

 

Dave

Hi Adrian, have you any Idea what Scorpio kits are like to build. I've never built anything from their range, but as they make loads of locos suitable for the Edwardian period, they look very tempting!

 

No, none have come this way yet, though I could very easily be tempted by a Buffalo or the 645/655 saddle tanks, and the J8 and J9 single bolsters would be useful.

 

However, there are plenty of threads on here which show Scorpio kits being built such as here, here, here and here. With this last one, the best thing to do is open the thread, then in the search field on the top right change the drop down list to 'this thread' then type in scorpio and hit the search button - you'll get a long list of individual posts from Ken's thread highlighting wherever Scorpio is mentioned. You'll see Ken likes them very much, but you'll also find comments about certain kits within the range which need more fettling and work than others.

Sorry my comment last night on lettering size was a tad brusque. Nick's clarification is quite correct. It does however point to the need to sharpen up the generalisation of the wording on gwr.org.uk, which is not always easy, since there are, sometimes, exceptions to the 'general rule'.

Sorry my comment last night on lettering size was a tad brusque. Nick's clarification is quite correct. It does however point to the need to sharpen up the generalisation of the wording on gwr.org.uk, which is not always easy, since there are, sometimes, exceptions to the 'general rule'.

No apology needed, happy to have your interest.

 

Dave

Looks very nice, Dave. Got a thing for brown vehicles as well...

Great build. The siphon looks really good.

 

My Scorpio 14xx/58xx went together pretty well. It was simply a matter of taking my time and discovering some patience I didn't know I had. A few of the castings needed a little work to tidy them up. Before xmas last year I built a Scorpio Siphon G. That was a very time consuming kit to build. Lots of overlays to build up to make the sides. But it did go together really well.

 

I can post some photo's of the Siphon G if you'd like.

Great build. The siphon looks really good.

 

My Scorpio 14xx/58xx went together pretty well. It was simply a matter of taking my time and discovering some patience I didn't know I had. A few of the castings needed a little work to tidy them up. Before xmas last year I built a Scorpio Siphon G. That was a very time consuming kit to build. Lots of overlays to build up to make the sides. But it did go together really well.

 

I can post some photo's of the Siphon G if you'd like.

Hi Kev, glad to hear the Scorpio kits go together ok! Along with the siphon, there are a number of their loco's I'd like to build, in particular I like the look of their Armstong Goods. If anyone out there has built one of these i'd be really interested to hear their views on it.

 

Would love to see some pics of your Siphon G, seriously big beasts, very impressive looking stock.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

A question for Buffalo, Miss Prism, or anyone else in the know!

 

Am I right in thinking that when I re-letter this Siphon, I need to use 16 inch letters on the ends as well as the sides? Or should I have 25 inch letters on the ends, as on the previously mentioned Siphon C?

 

The period I'm modelling is circa 1907 and I'd appreciate help to get it right this time!

 

Thanks guys

 

Dave

The ends of these were not lettered GW. Some were lettered for fish traffic only. There is an excellent photo of this lettering in plate 26 of the HMRS book on a vehicle that is being loaded with milk churns. This vehicle happens to be dual braked and so bears the legend Westinghouse brake on it's end also. Incidentally some of this diagram had destination board brackets. I deliberately numbered one of the models I built accordingly so that I could model this feature.

Thanks Rich, I'm glad I checked first. As the wagon stands it hasn't got any end lettering, I wouldn't have been happy if i'd applied the letters, weathered the ends and then found out they shouldn't have been there after all!

 

Thanks again

 

Dave

Sorry, Dave, I should have made it clearer that the C was the only siphon type with this style of lettering. None of the others have any GW lettering on the ends. Apart from the Fish Traffic and Westinghouse lettering on the ends that Rich mentioned, at some point some siphons had their numbers on the fourth or fifth plank up at the left side of the ends. I'm not sure of the dates for this, though, and have not seen any examples with both the number and the Fish Traffic label, so it may be later than your period.

 

Incidentally, your number 1623 was an O5 built in October 1903 with both vacuum and Westinghouse brakes as well as a through steam pipe. This lot were originally designated as fish vans, but were referred to as milk vans after 1908. As in the photo that Rich referred to, this might have no impact on what they actually carried. Though some of this lot had experimental floor materials, fish vans appear to have been built with floors sloping down from the centre towards the sides for drainage, rather than the flat floors of milk vans. Fortunately, the difference is probably not visible on a model.

 

One last point for now, I assume the body height of yours is 7'6" which would be correct for an O5. If it is 6'8" then it would be an O4 and would need a different number.

 

Nick

Hi Kev, glad to hear the Scorpio kits go together ok! Along with the siphon, there are a number of their loco's I'd like to build, in particular I like the look of their Armstong Goods. If anyone out there has built one of these i'd be really interested to hear their views on it.

 

Would love to see some pics of your Siphon G, seriously big beasts, very impressive looking stock.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

 

Photo's here:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1151/entry-9961-7mm-scorpio-outside-framed-siphon-g/

One last point for now, I assume the body height of yours is 7'6" which would be correct for an O5. If it is 6'8" then it would be an O4...

 

I'm reasonably sure it is an O5: giveaways include the position of the door handles and lamp irons in relation to the slats. I didn't look carefully enough (or check the number) before to notice that it wasn't an O4, to which some of my comments referred, sorry.

I'm reasonably sure it is an O5: giveaways include the position of the door handles and lamp irons in relation to the slats. I didn't look carefully enough (or check the number) before to notice that it wasn't an O4, to which some of my comments referred, sorry.

Hi Rich and Nick, I've measured the ends of the Siphon and they are 52mm high. Divide by 7 gives us near as dammit 7' 6", so happy days I've got an 05!

 

Thanks for your advice on all this, I'm learning a lot as I go along.

 

Dave

Hi Guys, I hope the lettering is now correct!