M.I.B

I believe they did when they went into unlined Green.

There have been pictures on here of brand new Halls with no side windows in back with no names. Impney Hall is one for sure - can't find the photo yet

The early 69XX series built during the War were very different - all outshopped in black, no names and no side windows. Not to be confused with either "side windows plated over" or "Side windows with sliding shutters". Then came the next iteration - unlined green with names and side windows. So in 1947 there were three very different looking sets of hall liveries all in regular and widespread use.

I'll take two OO Saints without pausing, and possibly a third. Anyone from Dapol listening because despite being very close in terms of parts already available to them, Hornby is focussing elsewhere...

So I sprayed and painted the body cut-off from the Airfix centenary...... and let them dry by the log burner. - Not too close. The each side got an overcoating with the second product. Sprayed in the warm, dry unfinished ( unstarted) main bathroom......no dust, or grot or damp to make it bloom.... This was Dullcote with Mattcote on top: and this was Matt-cote with Testors DullCote on top Both have gone "crusty" as if some fine dust has been sprinkled on them. But there is no crazing and lifting like you get when you mix "enamel" aerosols (Railmatch and Humbrol etc) with car paints and varnishes......that goes like crocodile skin. So because the result wasn't awful, I tried Testors Dullcote on top of the coal sweepings held down with Matt-cote....as I said, I could always sculpt some sponge and make this a loaded wagon. Result is OK. It has dulled it all down. There is still a reflective sparkle, but that's from the coal not the varnishes and coatings. I hope you are all happy and healthy and avoiding the UK cold that's doing the rounds.

I remembered something like that, but not the finer detail, so I have put MattCote on a section of Centenary side and I will Dullcote that before I make my next move.......

A little experiment while I wait for: bravery level to rise before cutting up the J12 etch.... the K22 sides to arrive I will need as many coal empties as loaded wagons. I'm sure they weren't swept out and hosed down, so grot and dust needs to be seen. Using I coated the floor of a pre-prepared wagon and sprinkled aimed splats of real coal dust. It has come out a tad shiny, but Dullcote will cure that. The main thing is that the dust has stuck. I did consider using firm hold hairspray. That might be an experiment for another day. But this "works"

Excellent work Colin. I shall follow this built for certain.

While the wait for a new RTR Saint continues...........Hornby bring out.............Castles again........... I'm still a bit taken aback that after the completion of a new Saint at Didcot, nobody has released one in OO RTR.

As well as passenger traffic, Manors would have been used for fast van trains of medium length, parcels traffic (lots of "full brake" coaches and bogie SIPHONs) and mixed freight too. They were designed to be lightweight version of their bigger cousins, for coping with certain parts of the GWR network ( dictated by things like hills, curves and workload). So they tended to be found more around Wales, Hereford, Worcester etc. Go to the site at http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/ and browse around - it's very addictive. You will find when every engine was built, where it was based initially, many of the subsequent basings, major modifications, re-namings, and withdrawal from service (and place of cutting-up)

Mix and match of types is the way ahead post WW2. In very broad brush terms the following liveries of passenger coaching stock would have been seen: Dull brown - all over matt - probably on clerestories. Hornby "long" clerestories carry no moulding - panels are depicted by transfers, so these are ideal for a repaint into this livery - as previously mentioned, after so many repairs, the clerestories carried smooth panels towards the end of their days.. Austerity Brown - an odd colour used for a few years in WW2 - very much a red/brown with an orange centre stripe. "Chocolate and cream" basically glossy brown under the window region and window region in a cream colour - depending on the type of coach and livery of the period depends where the colour bands stop and start, and where any fine coach lining goes. "Lake" There were a very small number of very very old clerestories still in the plum livery of the 20s - dug out from the depths of Swindon carriage sidings when demand went sky-high. Not for regular work - things like a football special on a summer sturday when there were already extra trains on to cover holiday "change-over" day. As for "consists" ( trains) you will see that after WW2: 1. The finest named expresses had most of the coaches of the same type ( probably) but also the odd extra oddity added - known as a "strengthener" 2. The rest of passenger trains always had a mix of different coaches in different liveries. 3. There was a wide variety of loco liveries too - lined green, unlined green (even one King was unlined for a while), black express locos (!!) and even black locos with green tenders. You have picked the period where variety is definitely the keyword for stock. If you want "matching" and everything in the corporate colours - pre war "shirtbutton" era where the GWR logo looks like an art deco shirt-button.

I was 3/4 through a long post and it vapourised, so here goes again..... I managed to do some J12 running gear/chassis work thanks to recuperation time from the UK cold bug. I was focussing on a scale drawing in a Russell book and chopped the Airfix axle pivot/pedastool off the Centenary chassis....before realising that the Comet 6 wheel axle pivots off centre..... Luckily I have a spare Centenary chassis left over from the Full brake project... Once the bogies were fitted to the Airfix pedastools and spaced with some micro washers, the truss rods and battery boxes which clashed with bogie inner/rear ends were removed. Due to a lack of detail available on where battery boxes go on a J12, and some necessary compromises, boxes and a dynamo ( both from Comet) were added. This coach will be part of a 8 + coach train at speed-ish on a 4 track mainline layout 20+ feet long. Who will notice that the battery boxes on the J12 aren't correct? I know some people will be disturbed by this attitude, but I'm not. You need that sort of detail on an O gauge 4 foot long shunting plank, where every rivet, drip and detail needs to be 100%. Hats off and genuine respect to those who do attain that level of detail. Not knocking it - just explaining why my level of compromise is lower. So - after fettling the Comet bogies to accept smaller "Dapol" style couplers, and then fettling the cosmetic bogie sides to fit, all is together and well. How does it roll? On a 1 in 3000 incline it's away like a dragster - both due to the weight of all the white metal, and also testament to the building of the bogie cores by Mallard of this parish. Painting tomorrow in the workshop - Halfords rattle can (s). The body - I currently plan to leave the plastic recessed doors on and add the "flat" sides in brass. I might be brave and do the whole side in brass.... my worry about Plan A is how to cut the brass side etch without deforming it - a Dremel and a "thin-disk" may be the answer. I might have a practice on some scrap tomorrow. I hope that you are all happy and healthy.

Might be a while Rich - next task for the J12 is to remove the bogie mounts and truss rods from the chassis, and fit up mounts for the 6 wheel bogies and rebuild the trusses. OH - and I nearly forgot - I'm back at work tomorrow, so progress with everything slows down.......... Hope you are all happy and healthy.

Happy New Year Neal, and everyone else. I can't remember whether it is pre formed - I last built one 5+ years ago. I have an old wooden ruler with a bevelled edge which is a great former for tumblehomes. I treated myself to a new container wagon - "not another" I hear the cries. But I can't believe that this has not been available in RTR since the days of Triang or earlier : From Bachman. J 12 body donor was sliced up today - I use a Dremel with a super thin disk in the workshop - it spits out lots of plastic shreds so not an "indoor job". I can continue with the rest indoors. While I've got a head of steam up I may do the Centenary Full Brake............ It's going to need the same sort of post surgery treatment as all the others so it would make sense to add it to the pile.........filler, shaping, priming, painting, glazing etc..... Stay warm and safe.

Its been a busy 10 or so days. Very pleased with outcomes working outdoors and modelling too. I hope your Christmas was as equally satisfying. 5 of the "failed" NPCCS projects are now glued together for the second time, and this time there has been no warpage: Back Row: K42 K38 K19 Front Row: K42 K40 K19 needs some filing work on window apertures - no idea why I didn't slice a tall enough "window" slot in the Mainline body. The K40 , based on an Airfix "B Set" has already had corridors fitted when it was first glued. No idea why, but they can remain in place. One of 2 Mainline LMS Brake based K42s. This should have been a Hornby body and running gear but there were very few on Ebay, and lots of Mainline LMS third/brakes......and here is the second one: Hornby based K38........... A while pile of stuff to do on all of them, from roof vent fitting to filler work, hand rails, door handles, droplight windows, and end window filling on the LMS brakes. That's way before paint, glazing decals, underframe detail, weathering.......... For reasons unknown, I ended up with an extra Hornby 57 footer and so I ordered a pair of K22 sides from Worsley Works. When they arrive I will bring that up to the same level as these, and probably put the sides for the J12 onto a Centenary body. That is less worrying than it was when I bought the sides - I wasn't sue how to cope with the recessed end doors, but I have a plan for that now..... Phil "Mallard" had made me up a pair of tri axle bogies for it and fitting those is going to be easy after a bit of pondering over the last few months. That would be 7 coaches which is a bit of "production line" modelling, but I will take my time and enjoy it - doing filler work/filing down work on a few coaches is easier en-masse. On the day that we lost Pele, I hope you are happy and healthy. I wish you good New Year's celebrations whatever you do on the night and a productive and satisfying 2023.

Last working day for me and it's going to be a real struggle to get to the bottom of the "to do" list but I have the incentive of switching off the laptop for the year when it's done. Thank you for your company and your own postings through this year - it's been a tough one for most of us for all sorts of reasons and next year won't be any easier. I probably won't be online much through the festive period - I plan to be outdoors as much as possible and after dark modelling indoors with some old films on. Hopefully make a dent in these NPCCS conversions, and the J12,,,,,,,,,,. Have a wonderful time whatever you are up to. Stay warm and safe.

Not teaching granny to suck eggs Neal, but prices for anything used (apart from used cars at the moment) tends to be a fair bit lower after Christmas - if you can wait until March you'll do better. Years ago a publican told me that the third week in January is the most miserable week of the year: wages aren't in yet, Visa bills are, and Christmas is usually an overspend. Anything where cash is paid (antiques, used car parts etc), are all worth making a silly low offer on: the trader still has bills to pay ( rent, wages, lighting etc) but fewer punters coming through the door. I've had some good antique furniture deals that week over the years...........

Good to have you back John.

Murphy's Law: the Full Brake announced by Dapol as part of their corridor Toplight releases will be........... the K22! It couldn't be one that isn't available as a kit/brass sides....... never mind. I have a few K22s, from Mailcoach (plastic kit) and two from Worsely Works (Brass sides): so I may focus on a couple of each Compos. If you aren't aware, six Diagrams will be released now: D56 (Brake Third) left and right versions C32 (All Third) E98/103 (Composite) left and right versions K22 (Full brake) Possible future releases could be: E95 (Brake Composite) E88 (Composite)

I'm back from the depths of Eastern Europe, spending time in railyards and seeing horses and carts go by....... I haven't stopped on the K series rescues: I was away for a while, and also Royal Mail was slow to deliver a few body donors. 11 days for one "2nd Class Small Parcel"! Just seen the Hattons blurb on the Accurascale Siphons. Very nice but north of £50 made me feel odd - but I would pay that for an RTR Toplight if made to today's super detailed standard. Do I feel happier about a passenger coach because it has windows and is a bright colour scheme? Not sure. They certainly look great, but I'm awash with my detailed-up SIPHON Gs and a fair few Hs as well. So I will give it a miss. I've bought a new barn find car project (my last one at this depth of repair), so I'll ask Father Christmas for body panels instead. I hope that you are all happy and healthy

We've had every "major" class as a new model, and some have had 3 or 4 iterations since the 80s, but the early 80s Hornby Saint is by far the oldest GW RTR out there. I know there are calls for rare Victorian Broad gauge saddle tanks, but a Saint goes right through the liveries into BR........ come on someone - a new Saint in OO please.

A Saint at last?

More brass than a good day on the ranges............. During a 2 hour Zoom call (listening with no input or need to take notes) , I decided to do something constructive. Bodies for the K series repairs have not arrived so I decided to make the interior for my kit built restaurant. All the hard work and credit goes to Mallard of this parish for the soldering and folding etc. This needed an interior, and the kit comes with the wonderful Wizard interior kit. This makes up into tables and seating for either First or Third . However I had a spare interior from a Hornby RTR restaurant. All I needed to do was add another 2 rows of seats and 2 tables...... I nibbled a tiny D out of the floor in the First section to act as a locator hole to sit on top of a body/chassis mount screw. Then the end bulkhead of the Third section came out. Doors were added to the Scullery and Kitchen sections, After a quick final shuffle of the Hornby section to confirm the tables lined up with windows etc, I added a floor extension to the Third end, and the Wizard kit provided the tables and seating. To make a false wall and to help support the new seats, I made a basic interior bulkhead and added a door shape for strength and template to paint in at a later date. It all looks a bit rustic with the roof off, but by the time it's on, and glazing is in, with curtains........ Fitted it looks like this: Again a huge credit to Phil "Mallard" for his excellent work. Zoom call is over - time used wisely. I hope you are happy and healthy.

ebay was kind on the pricing and also a few offers accepted for a variety of things this weekend. So replacement 57' coaches are on their way. And I finally got the K40 to stick on the 3rd attempt: It does look like the top left edge is unstuck or proud, but it isn't in reality. K40 and K42 complete with sides. K38 K19 and a K42 to go....... I hope that you are happy and healthy.

It's been a bit "Groundhog Day" today. I took the Dart/Frogmore sided K19 out and the Hornby body had warped on one side - exactly the same as the K42 with the Hornby body...... So I then took out the last "offender", the K38. And guess what?........ So inbetween Zoom calls for work, and also during very dull Zoom calls, I carefully removed the sides from the K19 and the K38. They will have the glue and filler removed from them, and handrails removed too. I have put eBay bids in for three replacement base coaches. So out of the 5 "offenders", one K42 was recoverable, the K40 is not warped, but it isn't adhering on one side, and three (based on Hornby bodies) required new bodies. I will complete these.......... Stay safe. I have put three eBay bids in for replacement base vehicles.