Jack P

Fantastic update @Steve Hewitt! Had you considered more videos of the layout in operation? the slow running and endless detail makes for a great watch.

In the recent Miniseries 'Masters of the Air', there are multiple railway inaccuracies, the most glaring (in my mind) being an olive green S15, lettered Great western on the tender, pulling a rake of blood and custard Mk.1's. I know that to 99% of people, the pretty train won't look out of place, but the airbase is set in East Anglia, surely that's a great excuse to use the B12 and Quad arts to (at the very least) represent something from that region? There's also an S160 dressed up to represent one of the German BR52's, against the didcot coaling stage. There's some irony there I think. Ignorance really is bliss.

It's all a compromise, my (still narrow gauge, and soon to be moved on to greener pastures) 853 has benefited hugely from the closer tender coupling and detailing pack - it will no longer run on second radius curves, but would look silly doing so anyway. I'm happy with the compromise I've struck. The next one will be in EM and i'm hoping will negotiate 3' radius curves at the very tightest!

I'd not realised that 864 was to be released with the gold letters/numerals, the pointed N in 'SOUTHERN' and painted/lined steps. Still, it looks excellent. Did this class also have the cab front painted black later in life in malachite livery? I don't have any resource to hand to check.

How many does that make in total now? I've made a start on one of my E5's. Pretty impressed with the Albion Kit, not quite like shiny lego, but not far off. I assume the D1 is similar?

Back on page 2, I asked a number of questions, and have since recieved a few answers, these might be useful to others - or they may have insight they can add. - Pre 1948, the red oxide vans would've looked as they do below, but with SR branding above the number, below the small 10T (correct?) This appears to be correct, but unless anyone can provide a photo I can't 100% confirm, can only get close with a best guess. - Aside from this, would there have been any differences in the final livery from what is seen below? the XP and WB markings would have all been the same, and in white? Plate 93 SR wagons illustrated vol 4. suggests that WB & XP in white are correct and were added before markings were removed for common user pool. - By the time Banana traffic ceased duirng wartime, (Nov 1940) these wagons were already in the common user pool (March 1940, correct?) This appears to be correct - So this would mean that the Post-1936 Stone liveried vans would've lost the 'N' from their liveries? Appears correct, light/intermediate repairs/shopping would usually result in 'Return to..' and the 'N' markings being removed. - After Banana traffic ceased, it's noted that some of these wagons were employed on other duties, what were these duties, Meat, fish, general goods stock? Lots of evidence would suggest that they were used without the steam heat as insulated vans, so meat traffic seems most likely. - When employed on these other duties, would the wagons have been re-liveried to reflect the changes? E.G would the 'Banana Van' & 'Steam' brandings have just been removed? Or would they have been removed AND had new liveries applied that reflected their intended use? Or would they just have been left as is? - Did any/many wagons go straight from Stone into Bauxite, skipping the red oxide phase? - An excerpt from one of Mike King's volumes on the subject, reads; "In 1941 it was decided to change to main body colour to red oxide, with lemon lettering, but on the basis that a wagon is normally given a heavy overhaul every seven years, it is doubtful whether all were repainted thus. The seven year overhaul period was probably adhered to fairly closely before the war. Thus one might conclude that any wagon built before, say, 1932 was probably repainted in the 1936 style, while those built later would probably have fallend due for overhaul during the war years, when probably only the essentials were dealt with" In this instance, what are the essentials? I assume that patch repainting was a thing, and that a van would not have just been repainted in a wholesale manor if there was only minor repainting work to do? Essential work would mean removing 'N' and 'Return to southampton' branding - other work likely mechanical - Say a van was still Stone coloured in 1947, what would it look like? One assumes that if the 'N' was removed, then maybe the Banana Van markings would have been too? (Am I correctly understanding what the N is for?)

Much like John, mine is now converted, but to EM. Like Wickham Green Too, I used Gibson wheels and had to use the pinpoint axles cut down to size to hold the gear. I used 3mm Top hat bearings as axle spacers as it's all I had to hand, these work a treat though, with axles 1, 3, 4 and 6 having limited sideplay, and the middle axles on each bogie being (relatively) free. Other modifications so far are the removal of all sandboxes except the ones at the ends of the bogies to represent 1947 condition. I also cut off the locating wings on the bogie and converted the whole affair to a 3 point system, as others have done. The result being all 6 axles sit extremely flat. The loco ran fine on 00 wheels, but the smaller flanges and thinner profile of the gibsons may have presented issues down the track (pun unintentional). I'm tossing up replacing the pantograph with one of the Judith Edge ones - it must be said there's nothing wrong with the EFE one, but I don't need it to have the ability to move up and down, so a slightly more detailed one would scratch my itch. A cracking model. I'm so so impressed and I can't wait to see what else EFE/Muz bring to the table in future!

Any photos of the finished article? (or as you went along?)

Have you embarked on the great conversion to a wider gauge yet? Any tips if so?

A shame these appear to have been cancelled in the 2024 catalogue, is there a decent kit out there instead?

A bit of a shame that the GWR Macaw was cancelled, thanks for the heads up Andy.

I have a lot to thank Hattons for. My return to the hobby started on a long, hot, dreadfully boring Thursday afternoon at work in early February 2017. I still don't really know how I ended up on the website, but before I knew it, i'd ordered an S15. That was that, I was hooked, life sentence. Thoughts go out to those impacted by the announcement. The french say: "Le bonheur n’est pas quelque chose de prêt à l’emploi." (Happiness is not something that comes out of a box), but I don't know about that, those rectangular brown cardboard boxes always brought me happiness.

I feel like this helps massively in getting the correct pressure, and thus a wheel square to an axle. Thanks for sharing the picture, i'll be updating my design in the new year to mimic yours.

Genuinely no, but lets see if anyone 'in the know' likes the comment...

Yet..!

I did a bit of looking at what was used for the Stewarts Lane crane, Happy to PM you if you'd like some of the info? I'm looking at a 3D print/scratchbuild hybrid to get it out of my head and into real life.

Very off topic, but these look smashing in unlined olive with the Bulleid lettering/numerals! Did they run in unlined olive with Maunsell lettering?

This is a fantastic bit of modelling! Really embodies the full gambit of the skills that I think are so important to creating a cohesive scene. The scenic modelling really grabs me. Has there been any recent progress you can share?

Are the Rapido ones made by Modelu? Appreciate your frustrations with standardising!

I suppose if 1 and 2 are popular they might consider 3, but i'm pretty sure 20003 has a longer chassis, and at that point it'd probably be an entirely new tooling - so not quite as easy as just doing a new shell for the existing chassis. Photo of 20002 at Three Bridges for thread relevance!

It does! Do you know the width of the narrowest point between the splashers at any location (where the wheels need to go)? That was an ugly stumbling block for me in the SECR D and D1 conversions to EM.

I'd speculate that if this first batch does well, there are a number of other liveries that could be done in a second batch - Malachite CC2, 20001 in BR black, transitional liveries previously discussed etc.

I had completely forgotten about this one - would absolutely recommend it!

There are some really interesting livery variations that came about as a result of the war, Olive wheels, black uppers, cab and boiler different colours, etc. I'd strong recommend picking up a copy of Brian Haresnape's "Southern Railway : Railway Liveries". To answer the question a little more though. You'd be far more likely to have a large proportion of olive green and maunsell goods black liveried locos than you would Malachite ones, there was an early malachite that had white and black lining, that was changed later. Wartime black repaints did happen though, and there were some subtle variations to the Sunshine lettering that was applied. Hope that helps!

CC1 In Malachite duly ordered. Would love to see CC2 in malachite also, but am grateful that Graham and the team have brought this Loco to life, as kits are rather elusive!