rob94

Hi all, Welcome to my second workbench, I had to start a new one as I hadn't updated the old one in nearly five years for various reasons. It's actually quite an appropriate title as the old bench was replaced soon after strengthening the loft floor. A new layout has been under construction as well, a separate thread will be created at a later time. Pictured above is roughly where the last thread left off, A J39 being constructed from a Wills kit with a tender from the much missed Dave Alexander range of kits. Some mods were made to the Wills body but as it was compromised dimensionally to fit a Tri-ang RTR chassis, I decided to replace the engine with something more accurate, pictured here is the set of Comet frames under construction. Here's a later photo of the completed frames now complete with the Comet/Cannon motor and gear box combo which is a nice performer. The lubricator drive is formed from 0.7 mm wire flattened out and a spare speedo drive from a DJH A3 as the crank, the idea came from a BRM article detailing a Bachmann J39. Here is the nearly completed loco just need a few details adding before the transfers go on. The body is a modified/detailed GBL body acquired cheaply but took some serious work to get it even to the standard of the Bachmann J39, the first issue to be aware of is the running plate which is solid and needed plenty of material removing before it would sit on the frames correctly. The second issue is the handrails are molded onto the body and are a PITA to remove without damaging rivet detail around the smokebox in particular. A useful feature is that the boiler is a completely separate molding, making the task of removing some of the details like the sanding operating rod slightly easier, especially compared to the same job on a Bachmann model, but with hindsight I think I'd still start with a Bachmann body than go down the GBL route again. Next in front of the lens is A Nu-Cast J6 built pretty much as intended, although I did replace the original whitemetal loco chassis with the more recent etched version, the tender retains its original whitemetal chassis but with Oilite bearings and added brake gear, looking at the photos I think I'll replace the wheels with a smaller size as it looks like the tenders a bit too high. Next is a Bachmann O4 with a Bill Bedford 3D printed boiler unit fitted, it's had the usual mods; cylinders packed up to a better angle, the motion bracket also need to be modified as it is now too low, The last mod is to remove the checker plate below the smokebox door as that wasn't present when the engines were in service. Here is a long standing project A DJH A3 started in 2017 and seen here before entry into the paint shop, it is now being finished as 60046 Diamond Jubilee in BR blue as there are many photos of it in this livery on the line we have chosen to model. This model is all DJH as it's powered by a DJH/Mahima gearbox. Lastly we have a GEM LNWR Cauliflower acquired from eBay, the body was built quite nicely so I decide to leave that alone and just rebuild it mechanically, the original builder had tried to use a cast chassis, this was replaced with a etched set of frames intended for a K's coal tank by the look of them. The frames were assembled and various motor/gearbox combos were tried, before settling on a small coreless motor coupled to a High Level roadrunner giving superb performance. You can just glimpse the scratch built back head as the built up kit didn't come with one and an open cab like this really gives you no option but to model one. Hopefully it looks right as it's based on the coal tank cab which I hope would be similar to the cab of a Cauliflower (I hope it is as I don't fancy redoing it. 😬) Cheers Rob

Good afternoon Coronach here are my two Comet chassis This one has Comets Cannon motor and gearbox combo it has good pulling power but a little slow compared to the High level one below. On this chassis I chose to drive on the center axle. The second has the smaller High level 1219 coreless motor, even with 60:1 gearing it has quite a turn of speed compared to the Cannon powered example this one drives onto the rear axle via a roadrunner plus. I have also tried the 1320 motor in a J6 and with 40:1 gearing its speed is slightly slower but the motor has more grunt. I wouldn't recommend a motor any longer than 20 mm if you decide to mount the motor vertically as they are a very snug fit. I hope this post was useful to you. Cheers Rob

Thanks Tony, we certainly had an enjoyable day and was a good birthday treat for my Dad. The A3 is a DJH kit fitted with their own gearbox this particular was bought a few years ago and has a Mashima motor. Once completed it will be painted in BR blue and named Diamond Jubilee. The B1 is the usual Bachmann/Replica body on a Comet chassis, power is supplied by a Mabuchi motor very similar to what was provided in the old Bachmann split chassis, it drives through a High level HiFlier with a 34:1 ratio giving a good all round performance. The Nucast J6 was acquired with the body already built but was supplied with the white metal lump for a chassis, this was discarded and replaced with the etched frames available from the Nucast partners. The motor and gearbox are both High level the 1320 coreless motor and a 45:1 road runner. This J39 was once one of the GBL static models, now it rides on a Comet mechanism powered by a Cannon motor and the gearbox that Comet designed for it. Due to the footplate needing a lot of cutting before the frames fitted there are easier ways to get a J39. The lubricator drive was fashioned from 0.7 brass rod flattened where appropriate. The Fairburn came from Ebay it required a new motor and gear box to replace the rather noisy open framed motor it came with although this hasn't been as successful as I'd hoped and needs more work. I will persevere with it because as we agreed it has quite a good paint job. The Cauliflower is an old GEM kit on some etched frames of unknown origin, Gibson coupling rods were made up to match. The backhead is scratch built from various bits of brass. A Mashima 1024 and Comet GB5 make up the transmission in this loco. These three wagons are built near enough as they come from the manufacturer, the only additions are the superb Lanarkshire model supplied buffers. The Parkside plate wagon is the meat in the Ratio van sandwich. The final piece I brought along to show Tony was the D&S 8 wheel brake van, it just needs a little bit of work doing to it before its ready for paint. Thanks Tony once again for a superb day and hopefully next time you see these models a few of them might actually be finished..... Thank you Robin

They are the Comet frames for a V2 the tab in front of the cylinders is for a slot on the body. The frames are fairly old though any bought new from Wizards are nickel silver, They're very nice to build in my experience, hope this helps. Regards Rob

In the spirit of making things here is some progress on two of my current projects. Here is a J39 under construction, the tender is a Dave Alexander North Eastern example as towed by Ardsley's 64979. The frames are comet and the body is from the static model collection that was produced a few years ago. The body is has a lot of the features of the Bachmannn model just with molded on details that will be replaced. The second project has already appeared on the thread, however this time the chassis is mechanically complete it just needs some details adding and some parts painting such as the valve guide, It's my first attempt at outside valve gear and I reckon it runs rather well although I'm going to bring it along with me to York where Tony can be judge of it's running. The kit is a DJH example which will become 60046 DIAMOND JUBILEE as it was in Winter 1958 when based at Doncaster. I really need to make a start on the body I started it in September last year so by Tony's standards the progress has been glacial, but as I now have the Isinglass drawing there is no excuse for making progress so I've got at least a little more than a chassis with a running plate bolted to it to show at York. Cheers Robin

Afternoon everyone I thought I'd share some progress on a few projects Here's A DJH A3 which I have erected the frames for. I have since fitted the pickups and one side of the valve gear which seems to be running sweetly and I'm quite happy with it for a first attempt hopefully the other side goes just as well. I'll post some more updates when I make some more progress. Tony may recall tinkering with this chassis it's a comet J39 chassis which has had a replacement motor and gearbox in the form of a Mitsumi motor and a High level roadrunner plus 60:1 box. It could do with a lower ratio to be honest as it is a little slow for my liking. Here is how it fits in the frames, it replaced a drive train of a DS10 with the traditional gear mount and Romford gear set. This had to be done as the DS10 had burnt out. Apologies if I have made any language cock ups. Cheers Robin

Hello all I thought I would show what I consider to be my best effort at weathering. The model does have issues such as wheels that are the wrong size and no crew or lamps. I think I went over the top with the handrails and footsteps in retrospect, maybe a little bit too much bare metal showing that probably would have rusted. Now I really ought to get on with some modelling after I fixed my Mini got quite the stockpile of engine and wagon kits to get through before I can buy some more! Appologies for the rubbish mobile phone pics Cheers Robin

Hello Iain Regarding the chimneys on your black 5's would the comet chimney LS41 be of any use it is described as black 5 / 8F chimney. I think it is from the 8F kit and can be seen on the old website on a test build, hope this helps. Cheers Robin

Thank you for the compliments Tony they are much appreciated and I am happy to report that after the adjustments the loco ran superbly round Earlsheaton with a light load of two coaches. Cheers Robin

Hi Jeff sorry it took so long but here are the A3's allocated to holbeck sorry if you already know but here goes The first two are allocated to the shed on the 27 of february 1960 are 60038 Firidausi Non-Corridor Tender 60077 The White Knight Non-Corridor Tender Followed by 60080 Dick Turpin GN Tender 60082 Neil Gow GN Tender 60088 Book Law GN Tender 60092 Fairway Non Corridor Tender On the 14 of may 1960 And finally 60069 Sceptre GN Tender 60070 Gladiateur Non-Corridor Tender 60072 Sunstar Non-Corridor Tender on the 26 of November 1960 I believe that all the engines had klychap double chimmneys but no deflectors on them at the time. Holbeck also borrowed some of Neville Hills A3's because they were in better condition. Rob

Hi Jeff The book I was on about in the earlier post is called The heyday of Holbeck and it's locomotives by Gavin Morrison. It was published by Ian Allen in the 1990's. I'll give more details about the A3's names and numbers tomorrow when I have a look at my clubs yeadons. Rob

Hi Jeff Nice layout the S&C is one of my favourite routes, my suggestion for a loco would be one of the A3's Holbeck shed had for the anglo scottish express' from around 1960-61 for a year. Only 60038 Firidausi stayed there longer, this was transfered away sometime in 1963. There is a wealth of pictures of locos allocated to holbeck in a book about the shed, I'll find my copy because I can't quite remember the name of the book at the moment. Thanks Rob