Leaderboard

It was inevitable that I would also need a stone built Engine Shed to match what has been completed so far...... I should mention that I used the Invertrain Models Abbotsbury kit as a base model. The kit as supplied will not make up into the final assembly described here. I used the same method to begin by re-engraving the resin moulded stonework into a more pleasing appearance and used some reference material to make a more convincing looking GWR structure from photos of the original shed. Bearing in mind the original shed was taken out of service not long after it was built and had the roof windows and doors removed. It was therefore a dilapidated shell in the 1930`s and no one knows so far what the roof style looked like back then. I used Slaters stone moulded plasticard to add some rudimentary detailing on the inside walls and I decided to remake the shed doors, sill and hinges from scratch. Careful attention in squaring up the sides and end mouldings before final assembly was required. And I re-sized the overall roof and vent to give a more finer look which was made up into a separate stand alone unit to aid painting and interior detailing later on. Much thought and use of the trusty Milliput has been essential in changing the stone work to hide the corner joints and making the windows more prototypical. The guttering parts of the kit and the external chimney stack were replaced with scratch built parts. some of the roof vent parts were used but have been suitably re-sized to suit the new roof shape. A coat of Halford`s Acrylic Primer hides a multitude of sins....... To be continued..............................................................

So far the only coaching stock that I've built to use on Sherton Abbas, are a rake of 4 wheeler's along with a solitary all 3rd bogie clerestory. To add a bit of variety to operating sessions I've decided to build some more passenger stock and thought I'd document their build in my blog. The Slater's kits comprise of really well moulded plastic components for the majority of the coach body, accompanied by lost wax castings for for detail parts. The coaches run on etched brass bogies, that incorporate individual sprung suspension for each wheel. The instructions suggest starting construction of the kit by building the etched brass bogies, so I tackled these first. The main frames are a simple fold up exercise, with the corners reinforced with solder. A little judicious filing was need on the etched brass cusped edges to enable the hornblocks to slide freely and then the wheels could be temporarily fitted to allow the set up of the brake shoes. Etched brass bogie fold up The brake gear was fitted with the wheels in situ and once happy that I had adequate clearances was soldered into position. Fitting the step supports was the final step in the bogie's construction involving heat, so once that had been completed the plastic components could be glued in position using 5 minute epoxy resin. Brake gear and leaf springs The bogie was then sprayed with acid etch primmer to ensure the paint would have a good adhesion to the brass. I don't like the idea of putting acid etch paint through my airbrush, so used an aerosol can from Autotek https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005JCRF8Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which seemed to give excellent coverage without masking out any detail. Bogie after priming The hornblocks and wheels were then fitted back into position, along with the tiny coil springs that provide the bogie's suspension. Wheels and springs The bogies were then painted in their final colour with enamel paints. Painted Bogies Now the bogies are complete, I plan to make a start on the coach body. One of the advantages of a plastic kit is that the sides can be painted before assembly of the body. Painting complex liveries is so much easier if the sides can lay flat on the work bench! Until next time.... Best wishes Dave

Bullfinch is just about done, apart from some small but enjoyable final touches such as crew, glazing and some suitable lamps. Here it faces off against City of Truro! The plates are from 247 Developments and It's numbered for the post-1912 numbering scheme. The kit has been terrific fun and while the end result is more impressionistic than anything else, it does look different enough to the City to represent the small-drivered 4-4-0s and is certainly a nice runner. I can't remember if the City was sprayed with a rattle-can or airbrush, but it would have been done using Railmatch's later shade of GWR green, whereas for the Bird I opted for Precision's 1906-1928 shade, and applied it with an airbrush. The black bits were then brush painted with Lifecolor "weathered black" which dries quickly and is a very matt, almost dark grey shade. I've still to give the tender a good going over. There are a few things I'd do differently if I was building another one. My rivets are rubbish - must try harder - and the boiler bands are a bit on the heavy side, albeit matching the ones on the Airfix firebox. A job I might get around to sometime is moving the cranks in-board a bit as they don't need as much clearance as they've got here. However, I'd be loathe to alter the quartering so that might be a job that waits until there's some other reason to take apart the chassis - hopefully not for a while! Of course I would like a curved-frame Bulldog but I have to be realistic and say that I'm already at capacity with GWR engines - not that there aren't a few more in the kitbuilding queue, including such lovelies as a County Tank, 2021 class, Armstrong goods, a De Glehn compound and a few others. Better get cracking!

There's not a lot of progress to report on the layout this week, although the wiring is now in place (except for the traverser: at my current rate of progress I will probably write about that in a couple of weeks). The underside of the baseboard is now taking on rather a Heath Robinson-ish appearance with wires running over the point rods and held in place with blutack. So I thought I'd bulk up this post with a few notes on the Bachmann Norris locomotive. Actually Bachmann made two versions of the model, and either would suit a Birmingham & Gloucester layout: Lafayette (1837) is in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad livery of green boiler with black chimney, cylinders, wheels and firebox. It comes with a typical early US chimney with spark catcher. Watch out if you get a chance to buy the Lafayette train set, as it often comes with US-style bogie coaches that don't suit British practice. (In addition buying the train set version can mean you are paying for track and a 120 volt transformer / controller as well). Prussia (1838) is in Berlin-Potsdam Railway colours: red and green boiler and lots of brass-coloured fittings. The matching Prussia coaches are the ones that can be seen in earlier posts. The small motor is in the haystack firebox, powering the driving axle below. All six wheels on the locomotive pick up current from the rails, with wires running beneath the boiler from the bogie to the motor. Despite the short wheelbase I’ve found the unmodified model can run reasonably slowly over a run of three adjacent short radius Peco Electrofrog points without any problems at all. But the model's light weight (only 64 grams, including the tender) can lead to wheel slipping and loss of traction. I’ve added weight to the bogie to improve the leading wheels’ contact with the rails, and the hollow boiler and tender can also be used to add weight if desired. Personally I like the loco's slight tendency to wheel slip when starting off with a rack of coaches; it gives the impression the loco really is struggling to overcome inertia. The prototype had an interesting story. At a time when railways around the world were buying locomotives from British manufacturers like Stephenson and Sharp Roberts, the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway stood out as the only English railway to import locos from abroad. While the BGR really did need three of Norris's powerful locos to bank the Lickey Incline, the unscrupulous builder also manoveured the BGR's naïve directors into buying eleven less powerful engines as well. Designed for American conditions, the heavy British rails quickly damaged the locomotives’ cast iron wheels while their fireboxes, built for burning wood rather than coke, also caused problems. The B&G's inexperienced enginemen put several out of action during their first few months in service, and the situation only improved when James McConnell became loco foreman at Bromsgrove in July 1841. Most of these smaller locos were sold to smaller railways, collieries and contractors in the mid-1840s, although the bankers remained in service until the mid-1850s. The full story of the locos, including the one-sided negotiations with Norris, is given in Peter Long and Wilber Awdry’s 1979 book The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway.

Eh I just decided to call it this for no reason other than I live here ANYWAY moving on. I haven't posted in a while for what ever reason so I might as well tell whoever reads these what will be happening within the next month or so as not to make anyone who may be keeping up with this die of boredom. 1. Tugboat fleet. I am continuing work on a tugboat fleet I have and I will make a whole blog entry about that. (if I am not lazy) Here is an unfinished one 2. Castles. I built a tiny part of a castle on one of the corners of my railway and am planning on building a full one that I can plonk down at any time to break up the background. (once again I should make a blog entry on this but I will do it in a couple weeks. 3. Class 47. I have a Lima class 47 coming in the mail and I might share my thoughts on that once it gets here. (it will probably be a tiny post as it is my favorite class of diesel) 4. EXCITING Alright. This is the big news. I have recently become a volunteer at my local preservation society (its not a railway as much as it is a ring of standard gauge track chucked around a huge field with museums , Historical buildings, workshops, lots of pine trees and an engine shed. I don't know if I should give out its name as for reasons other than it is the only "railway" close to where I live that I can drive to. BUT it has a couple of steam engines and in the museum there is a group (two people) building a model railway and they are looking for members. So yah boy (never going to say/write that again...... probably) is going to ask if I can help out. and as I have a school break coming up I will be able to head down there for every day they are in. (they are only in on Fridays and on open days for the railway. But of course school is on Friday) So I will be able to go there for three days and work on the model railway and get into the workshops to help work on and run the engines on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So yeah. Stuff. Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly. Oh and one last thing. I will be making a Topic thingy for modelling so I can post little random things that I am working on without having to take the time to make a blog post and whoever reads these and wants to do or is already doing something to do with models in general can post on. If that makes any sense.

Being pleased with the William Clarke style station based on Portesham..... I`m having a go at his Portesham small goods shed........................................... Invertrain resin kit again but this time no replacement parts, just as it comes but with a lot of reworking. The stone work casting is in need of some re-doing. I like the all the parts that make up the see through roof but the whole roof needs changing...... ...much work in progress......

All liveried up....... Just the roof slates to do tomorrow................... ....but is she too Great Western ? ...is there such a thing ?

I think I`ve done all I can for painting the stone work. The plan was to keep it all light. I used acrylic paint mixed with plaster of P for the rendering... splodged on and wiped off.

You know how it is, you`re quietly numbing your brain spending endless hours trolling through ebay sites and then you suddenly make an impulsive purchase.......... The expected parcel arrives and then, of course, the guilt sets in........ Should I have made such a rash decision? It looked good from the pics on ebay and, to be fair, it looks good now it`s in my possession. I need to upgrade it a bit , and repaint it here and there, but overall it`s a good build. But I`m not going to show any of you until I`v finished what this parcel has started. Tucked away in the attic there are a number of railway building kits. One of those is an Invertrain 7mm kit of Portesham Station a resin complete kit in the GWR style of William Clarke. When I bought it back in 2008 I thought it had potential for some improvement, and still do, so spurred on by my mystery ebay purchase I`ve decided recently to assemble the kit and upgrade as I go along using easily availble parts from the O gauge trade. The first thing I elected to have a go at was remodelling the stonework with a dental burr to correct the `skew-wiff ` appearance of a couple of areas ....and to get rid of the `jelly mould ` look of some of the stonework. The next episode was to square up the resin slab sides and assemble the parts using Gorrila Gel superglue rather than the long established use of Araldite. Then to correct some of the offending stone work with Milliput and then engrave the new levelled off stonework. I also plan to use individual roof slates so I replaced the resin roof with plasticard. Next up was to completely replace all the canopy parts starting with the canopy support brackets. For these I sent a way for some 3D printed parts from Yorkmodelmaking. ....and then more engaving with the dental burr to bed them in...... I refashione the support timbering to raise the height of the canopy to make a more accurate fit. The three chimney stacks are plaster mouldings and these needed a lot of work to re- engrave and tidy up....... The it was time to bring it all together with a heavy spray session with Halfords Acrylic Primer.... Then last evening I spent a pleasant 5 hours scratch building a new replacement canopy and skylight using Yorkmodelmaking Acrylic glazing sheet. Now comes the real work of hand painting the stonework.... this will take a little while me thinks......