rowanj

The B16/2 is almost there- close enough for pitwork, as they say in these parts. It needs buffer heads, cab glazing, crew and coal, and some further weathering to finish it off. My next build is what I suspect is the last Dave Alexander J26/27, which I'll construct as the last to lose its superheater but kept the long smokebox. I think it also had the later tender frame cutouts. - see the photos. The build looks straightforward, so there is no point in postings, but thanks for the comments and likes. There have been several posts about the DJH D20 tender inaccuracies, esp the incorrect cutouts, and I had considered sawing them off the tender sides - it is a single casting,- and using them on the J27, The last batch of superheated locos had this style. However Dave provides both sets in his kit, along with the option for a long or short smokebox. So, in theory, if a Worsdell framed D20 turns up on Ebay, I can keep the DJH tender using Dave's parts. He is going to be a great loss if he finally does throw in the towel, and it is to be hoped someone will pick up his range.

Lovely work, Jol, ..those scrapers look much better than those I bought a few years ago. I laughed (at myself) about the way to post photos in text,as I'd been puzzling it out too. The way the thread works is just the conventional way to put pics into text documents, yet it seemed as if I'd cracked a mystery of the universe when I worked it out. It's an age thing... John.

This loco was "Happy Knight". I'm sure it got to Newcastle from New England, but only occasionally. As I already have a pair of A2's with MLR, I was set to dispose of it. However, my first ABC had a photo of Pearl Diver, which I always wanted to see as a result, and finally spotted, late in the day, standing in Heaton Yard. As it happens, it seems the loco was a reasonably frequent visitor to Tyneside, often on prestige trains from 64B . So here she is, happily renamed/renumbered, on what seems to be a Saturday relief. The BCK is an early attempt at a Kirk kit.

As this layout is essentially a diorama to run my kit - built or modified locos, here is a sample of the stock. More will follow. The G5 is an old Nu-Cast kit, originally built out of the box years ago. as my "skills" improved, I dug it out, replaced the motor with a Mashima/High-level combination, fitted brakes and added detail. The D20 is a DJH kit with Dave Alexander tender - the frame cut-outs are incorrect for a D20. I lengthened the smokebox to reflect those carried in BR days. The J71 is a modified Mainline body on a Mainly Trains chassis. The main change is to shorten the bunker by about 2mm and added new splashers to accommodate the larger 18mm drivers.. The first run of J72's were also "shorties" and I have a few bodies and a MT chassis kit in the "to-do" pile when I get some 16mm drivers. This one runs with a cheap Mitsumi motor in a High-level gearbox, and runs well, though I'm not sure how reliable those motors would be if pressed into service on long heavy trains. None of my locos work very hard. The B16/1 is a PDK kit, and was the first etched kit I built. The chassis always ran well, but getting the bogie to stay on my dodgy track took some doing. It is a Neville Hill loco, and will be re-named to a more appropriate Heaton B16/1 when I get round to it.

I'm drawing my contributions to this thread to a close as, frankly. I'm just repeating myself with kits all of a similar construction method, and so have nothing new to say. The B16/2, which completes my trilogy of PDK B16's, is in the paintshop. and I will stick a final pic once it is lined and numbered. The body went together without any issues, so nothing to report, other than PDK don't seem to provide a whistle in their B16 kits. As I was playing with the zoom feature of the mobile phone, I'll share the results here. The building of the D20 has been described earlier, the J71 is just a modified Bachmann on a Mainly Trains chassis, the B16/1 is my first effort from a few years ago, and the G5 is an ancient Nu-Cast kit which I re-visited to fit extra details based on my kit-building experience.

I thought you might be interested in my 62396. The main differences from your version are the Dave Alexander tender with the correct shaped cut-outs in the frames, and the extended smokebox which all BR locos seemed to finish with. Mine has a "conventional" chassis with the motor driving on the leading drivers, extra weight above the motor, which has the rear shaft cut, and the tender-loco coupling adjusted to keep the rear drivers on the track. I agree, however, that none of the changes are vital and conveying an atmosphere can be just as satisfying as trying to produce absolute accuracy, and it's your model to do with as you wish. The important part of loco building, as far as I'm concerned, is to enjoy doing it and seeing it running at the end of the exercise. John

When we "spotted" at Little Benton, known locally as The Powder Monkey, the signal by the bridge was our guide for "down" trains. Usually, only the Home was pulled off, and a J27 would trundle by. When the Distant was also pulled, we assumed an express was due, and excitement reigned. Here, we spotters were in luck, and the train is head by 60086 Gainsborough, from Neville Hill. I often saw the loco at Newcastle, where Leeds locos invariably turned round and went back south. On this occasion, it is heading The North Briton to Edinburgh, and possibly on to Glasgow. Apparently the timing of this Leeds-Glasgow service was so poor, it was known as the Ancient Briton. The loco is a re-named Hornby from Sandwich. Like many folk, I accumulated for too many locos, and now I am trying to make them suitable for the location, I have been disposing of a number. Sandwich was due to go to Ebay, when I noticed it was missing the dummy front coupling and vacuum pipe. As I already had plates for 60086, I decided to just repair it and renumber it to a more likely visitor than was Kings X's original. Why people pay other folk to do such simple tasks is beyond me. The 9- coach rake includes a number of etch sides on Hornby donors, and includes the 3 coach dining set of Kitchen Car, FO,and SO, operating as unbranded dining cars.

I've been busy with a PDK B16/2 (and a dose of shingles) so not much time has been spent on the layout. However, the laying of another storage track in the fiddle yard means the oil train can leave the storage sidings behind the Hornby Q6. I've done nothing to the loco, but will re-number it one day. The wagons, however, were a motley bunch of colours from Bachmann and Mainline, painted black and lettered with Modelmaster transfers to be suitable for trains which ran through Little Benton. After one more siding is laid, I'll concentrate on more scenic work to try to get the basic layout completed, befre thinking about detail such as point rodding, telegraph posts, barrow crossings, etc. On another thread, I posted a link to a pretty dodgy video of loco kits on the layout, so I'll copy it here too. It's not very long, you will be relieved to know. John

Thank you for the tips. At some point, I must actually see what my 'phone camera can do!. I did have a stab at a better photo, which is attached, The boiler is soldered , but not to the footplate, - it, the cab roof and chimney are just "perched". The chimney is one of the worst I have seen for quality of casting, and I'll see if the spares box has anything better. The dome is almost as bad.

That last picture looks suspiciously like a PDK B16/1, Mr Wright. If so,will you illustrate how to organise the leading bogie to go round curves. It took me about 3 attempts. Best wishes

Brian -what are using to "bush" the frames for the thinner axles, or do you find that Romfords do the job? John

I take Jol's point, so include a better photo. I'm afraid my "camera" is simply a Pay As You Go mobile phone. I think taking pics indoors without appropriate lighting doesn't help. it has been so cold in Newcastle that I've needed along-sleeved T-shirt to go out. A dose of shingles hasn't helped with the LH side of my face resembling Elephant Man, and an eye like a post box slit. But I'm better now, and so is the photo. Cheers, Jol. John

I enjoyed my trainspotting by video at Little Bytham and congratulate all concerned. Mo is an admirable engine driver. I was interested in the Blue Spot Fish, which has been seen before, with the two added vans behind the brake van. In the commentary, Tony suggested they could have been added at Arbroath. This may be possible, but I am sure I have read that it was permissable to add no more than two vans in this fashion to give the gaurd a mor stable and comfortable ride. Or am I dreaming?

I took Mick's advice and tweaked the footplate. On the photo, it looks like the cab is leaning slightly, but, for the life of me, I cant see it in the flesh. I'll keep an eye on it as the body construction continues. Anyway, the LH side of the chassis is almost completed, and the RH just needs the bits and bobs around the cylinder block finished. The balance weights were a problem, as no 2 rebuilt locos seem to have the same pattern, I found a photo in Yeadon which I used as the basis for my model, but it meant I couldn't use one of the etches on the PDK fret. I now try to use stiff rod from the motor to chassis when the chassis is live, as this one is. Apart from giving the return to the track, it Prevents the gearbox flopping around. In this case, I used a small length from the rod supplied for the vacuum ejector pipe, which I think, in any case, is a bit underscale. I've tested the loco on the layout and it does what I'd hoped on all my curves. Whether this is a result of narrowing the chassis, or just that I'm getting better at this loco building malarkey, I don't' know. But the additional work doesn't take long, and re-assembling the sides is no harder than any conventional etched chassis kit. Unless I hit any further snags, I'll wait until the loco is in glorious grey primer before posting again. John

You are right, Mick . penalties of taking a photo with the footplate just sitting on the chassis top, The PDK and Crownline kits provide 2 sturdy etches which incorporate the loco valances, pierced to include, below the long series of holes which will be the valance bottom edge, more metal to provide reinforcement. The instructions tell you to leave this intact while assembling the footplate-- good advice as they allow you to make accurate footplate curves and keep the footplate rigid while working on the loco superstructure. However the valance etches are so long that they wont fit over a cylinder block or clear crankpins on wheels, so if you want to build the chassis, loco body and tender roughly simultaneously, which I think is good practice as it allows you to check fits, etc. the metal below the pierced holes needs to come off a bit sooner . Once the boiler is fitted, the footplate becomes reasonably rigid again, and as Mick says, can be gently tweaked. In my case, as I'd assembled the LH valve gear and fitted it, all bar the last soldered part to the driving wheel, I actually screwed down the footplate and it looks OK. There will be some final tweaking when the boiler goes on, as this will pull the cab slightly forward. I've more or less decided that, rather than cut the bolt coming up through the smokebox saddle, that I'll drill a hole in the smokebox/boiler and add a second nut just for extra security. The instructions all show the fixing bolts going down and then the nuts fixed from underneath, but I prefer the other way with the nut soldered to the loco body. I suppose the kit's way means there is less chance of gumming up the threads with solder.

I had to search my conscience before posting this, because I quite enjoy seeing the "likes" when I put up an example of my work. I've convinced myself it is because its good to know that folk have actually looked and either seen some merit, or at last something of interest in my work. If a comment, either good or bad, is forthcoming, then so much the better. I'm certainly not a master modeller, nor will ever be, but if I have, on my own threads, helped others to have a go, then I have achieved what I set out to do It would be a shame if only gifted builders felt able to post their work. But, other than the number of views, use of the buttons or an actual comment is the only way for a poster to gauge whether carrying on is worthwhile. Perhaps a button which means "why on earth are you posting this rubbish" would be helpful? John

Rich - I suspect you are not managing to get enough heat from your iron directly into the joint - looking at the pics, there is a lot of brass which will be dissipating the heat around the boiler and tank sides, You need to clean out the existing solder then try again with at least a 50watt iron, probably running at 450 degrees. Do it slowly along the join from the inside, make sure that the solder passes through the join, and don't go mad with flux, which will bubble away. It's the old story - repairing is always harder than doing it the first time. I've seen references recently to a "gas pencil" which would be a handy addition to a toolbox. Antex do a version which seems to heat to 400 degrees. Best wishes John

I've been picking away at the B16/2, and now have the chassis carcase complete. The valve gear will just be the normal Walchaerts fight. Other than completing the work around the cylinder block and fitting pick-ups. that will be that. the motor is my last Mashima 142o matched with a Highlevel Compact+. As the photos show, I'm going to need to remove dome metal from below the boiler to get it to fit. I hope it wont be too visible once the loco is painted, but we shall see. I also completed the tender sub-chassis and footplate to check relative ride height, Finally, another photo shows how the boiler design allows the smokebox etch to be fitted maintain the same diameter over the full length.

As the new layout seems to need a post to get it into the Activity list, here is a Class 40 heading back to the Midlands. The split code versions were rare beasts in NE England, and I was going to dispose of it. However, it's posted here because I weathered it having re-watched Tom Wright working on a Deltic with chalk pastels on one of the DVD series. In my case, I used Tamiya products, but basically the same stuff as Tom.

I'll be interested to see if the motor location works. I don't see why it shouldn't, on the face of it. I'm currently building a B16 with the motor driving that way round, albeit on the rear wheels, and previous builds of the class worked out fine. You may have trouble getting the body on and off with that big motor in the boiler. I suggest you drive off the leading pair as per Mike's photo,cutting off the rear shaft. For extra balance, I replaced the awful bogie swing arm with an etched pivot from Wizard/Comet to provide greater adhesion. That, alongside using the tender connection to keep the rear driver's on the track, was enough. The kit is heavy enough without packing more lead into it, in my view. Hope all goes well..there is no right way to build locos,..just the way that works. John

I may have missed it, but has the previous features of "number of views" and "people currently visiting" been lost on threads with the update (which I actually think will be an improvement, once I get used to it} ?

I built a DJH D20 recently, and enjoyed it. You can follow my build on the link, including the mods I made to fit my BR period. John

My first entry for "Best Director" At least it shows some of the kits described here running, The locos in question... J77 North Eastern Kits Q7 Dave Alexander N5 SEF North Tyneside MPV Dave Alexander B16/3 PDK A8 DJH J25 London Road Models

Class 40's were common at Little Benton, though the split-headcode versions tended to be to the West. I was going to dispose of this one until I saw it had been painted at the front to back-date the full yellow nose to the half -yellow version. As I'd been watching a Right Track DVD where Tom Wright used artists chalk for weathering diesels, I thought I'd have a go on this one - using Tamiya as the base. So the loco heads south on a fully-fitted freight from Edinburgh back to the Midlands.

They are.. The smokebox on the photo is just pushed over the boiler front ,Pebbles The difference on the final version will just be the thickness of the etch,and should be hidden by the boiler band..a trick I took from Mike,s build. John Edit - just had a look at the boiler and, where the smokebox etch slips over, it is thinner than the rest of the boiler, and the smokebox etch rests against a ring around the boiler. I'd forgotten that from my B16/3 build. I filed the ring down to flatten it, and it becomes the boiler band. When I get to that part, I'll take a photo on the basis of a picture/thousand words