Frappington Jct

I think I'm developing a bit of a problem as a result of Rapido - until last year I'd never pre-ordered a new loco/expensive piece of stock, yet now it looks like I'll have 4 on the go! A question though from someone who isn't overly familiar with fireless locos - of the two 'generic' liveried models (the lined maroon and Caledonian blue versions), which is more suited to the 1950s in terms of detail differences? Whilst I wouldn't personally know the difference, it would be nice to know that it is 'right'! I know little enough about these that the differences between the two may not preclude either being used for this period, but given the huge lifespan of the prototypes and the fact that Rapido have evidently gone to the trouble of tooling differences I presume these generic examples represent slightly different eras? Apologies if I've missed the answer to this elsewhere

Cab is complete - it's an odd arrangement but prototypical to Cannock Chase No 6 so I've copied it for my model. Close ups are a bit cruel but it looks OK in real life. The opposite side of the engine has a coal bunker forward of the cab which will be supplemented by the tender when I get round to doing that.

The Dean Sidings kits (or ex Dean Sidings as they are now) are decent and fairly easy to put together as long as you're prepared to do a bit of modding and troubleshooting. The L3 as linked above came warped and a bit rear heavy, both of which needed sorting but the advantage of resin is you can be quite forceful and it won't just disintegrate. (Incidentally, I did eventually finish that model and get it to work, though not until last year!) As regards chassis, I think the original Dean Sidings catalogue listed it as for a Hornby Caley Single so presumably it comes with the slide bar etc.? The other option for Singles of course is the Bachmann "Emily" - whilst this is slightly over-scale and requires a fair chunk of work on the body to make it a bit less toy like, it is good if you want to avoid chassis work. Unfortunately I don't think the Emily chassis will fit under a true scale model as its too tall.

Progress is bumbling along around other commitments, and has consisted of building a rudimentary backhead (I'm not expecting it to be very visible so basic is OK), removing the outside steam pipes and attaching the safety valves. I have also discovered that Cannock Chase Colliery No. 6 (one of the locos this is being based on) ran with a rudimentary 4 wheel tender, which I find very exciting. I'm planning on building it using a GWR shunters truck kit I've had stored away for a while - I'm unlikely to ever need a GWR shunters truck but its short wheelbase chassis will be useful for this. It'll obviously have a scratch built body, which will be a first for me so we'll see how it goes!

Whilst making plans for my next M&GN build (I'm fancying a J93), I have made use of a cheap Electrotren saddle tank that I chanced upon recently to have another go at building a Sharp Stewart long boilered 0-6-0 saddle tank that I first planned to do back in 2017. That model ended up as 'Chimera', a totally freelance loco with no real basis due to my not wanting to be too radical with the chopping. This time, I'm having a proper go at it (or at least trying to!). There will still be compromises, specifically the big firebox on this model that I can't remove due to the motor, and the wheel spacing. The former I plan to hide with some toolboxes and use of black paint, the latter I will just accept I think. It will be losing its cylinders as well so hopefully that looks ok! Work so far has seen the footplate extended, the exposed firebox/boiler made and fitted, work has started on the cab (still a load of stuff to do on this, new buffers and a new chimney done by chopping the top of the original chimney off and replacing it with one off an old Mainline J72 which donated its cab to the B3x. This gets the height right as well as the small lip at the base of the chimney as on the prototype.

Hi All, I'm currently planning my next project which is hopefully going to be an ex M&GN J93 in OO. I'm not a kit builder (beyond plastic/simple metal rolling stock) so have been looking at chassis options rtr. From my research the Bachmann J72 has a wheelbase that scales up to only 2" longer than the J93 - yes the wheel spacing isn't quite right but it's the best I think I'm going to get! My plan is to take the j72 chassis and rewheel it with wheels off a Bachmann 03 which are the right size (and you can buy spare from Bachmann), then add a pair of outside cylinders, the source of which I haven't decided on yet. I'll also need to find coupling rods etc of the right length. I've never put new wheels on rtr axles - is there anything in particular I need to do/think about or anything I need to try and avoid? Thanks in advance

Thanks both 🙂

A quick update as the Peacock has been to Grimy Times for a cleaned but in service sort of look - I think it looks rather nice (though maybe the photos don't do it full justice) 😄 For the sake of uploading pretty pictures, my Bachmann D11 also went off to Grimy Times for a much heavier weathered finish with scorch marks on the smokebox as seemed to be characteristic of the class in later years. On to the next then - I'm currently building some more coaching stock to fit with the Peacock (on the bench at the moment is a Ratio LNWR All 3rd as transferred to the M&GN), but on a chance visit to Furness Models yesterday I found myself an Electrotren 0-6-0 for an actually reasonable price so thought it would be rude not to! The chassis will go under another yet to be determined project (they're just good to have in the spares box to be honest!), but the body? Well, that's going spare, so I thought I might have another go at a Furness Railway Long Boiler saddle tank which was the original inspiration for Chimera. Slightly more long term (and not sure what I'll do about the chassis just yet), but the fact the body is spare this time gives me a bit more license to experiment!

Work and a house move have slowed progress on the Peacock down somewhat, but I think I've now got it to a stage where I can, maybe, call it finished bar weathering, coal and crew (the first 2 probably to be done by someone else!) Since the last update the loco has obviously gained transfers, as well as a tender drawbar, replacement tender buffer beam, vacuum pipes and the reinstatement of the front buffers from the original radial (I'm not too fussy about them being slightly different!). Very typically for this project I had a small varnish based disaster on 1 side of the loco which I've since sorted, and then when I went to glue the rear tension lock onto the tender I discovered it was missing a hornblock. Bit of a pain but after attacking the original model's radial truck I've managed to get a new one on. Never-mind it's a slightly different length, you're never going to notice that on a layout! I'm really proud of how this has turned out despite seemingly my best efforts at times - it's possibly my most ambitious model to date and I reckon it has turned out OK! Now, what next...?

Few jobs cracked on with - most obviously a coat of paint has gone on the loco which seems to have pulled it together and I'm rather pleased with how it has come together. I've also started experimenting with the tender drawbar - I've drilled a hole into the void in the chassis where the radial truck attached to the main chassis, where I've inserted a 3mm rod. This will be epoxied in with the drawbar on once I've confirmed I'm happy with it. The drawbar is out of my spares box, but I'm not entirely sure whether I'm happy with the loco-tender gap - any views would be appreciated. The tender has started gaining bits on the fireman's side - namely some extra panelling detail and a tablet catcher. I did have another look at the Bachmann 7F parts suggested by Corbs above, but on closer inspection I think they would have taken a bit of chopping to make right. My Grandad found a few white metal examples in his spares draw which whilst also not right were easy to modify to look vaguely acceptable and crucially weren't costing me anything! The 6 wheeler from two Hornby 4 wheelers is also finished - I didn't reduce the height so it's a bit tall and thus may not go in a train with the other 6 wheelers, but I'm really pleased with the finish and it should make a nice layout display coach in a siding somewhere. Don't know if the photos do it justice but hey ho!

Added a few more more handrails around the cab - I've used a different design for the rearmost ones as I wasn't confident how well I could replicate them fully prototypically. I've also added cab footsteps (taken and modified from my donor Airfix 4F), extended the cab roof (because I decided it was definitely too short) and a reverser linkage out of styrene strip. The model has now had some primer to show up points to tidy up - happily not too much to do (except the big patch of filler on the fireman's side which will need sorting), so I'm very happy. Starting to come together, just need to crack on with the tender now.

Boiler handrails are on the loco (and the smokebox door only fell off once during the process!), but most importantly, I've gotten new cylinders on and the chassis runs! Little bit temperamental as to how well it runs after the body goes on, but with tweaking it works pretty well. After so much faffing and a lot of time spent worrying that I'd ruined everything I am very relieved! https://youtu.be/8jM6pyI5AmQ

Due to a house move and a busy period at work progress has been slow recently, but a trip to Ally Pally yielded a few bits to let me get at least something done. I'd been trying to work out how to model the ejector and more specifically its control linkage, which ran through handrail knobs but was considerably larger than the handrail wire. Through comparing with RTR models, I reckoned the linkage would scale to approx 1mm (though I bought 0.9mm to adjust for my dodgy measuring!), which is waaaay too large for any 4mm scale stanchions. The solution? 7mm stanchions! Specifically, the smallest stanchions I could lay my hands on, and even these needed drilling out with the pin vice. Not sure exactly how scale they are truth be told, but they look pretty good when combined with the ejector, associated (simplified) pipework and the stretch of actual handrail on the smokebox. From the 1 picture taken from a useful angle, it looks like there is also a handrail underneath the linkage but I really couldn't work out how to do that, so I've left it for now. All a little rough and ready, but I'm fairly happy with it. Not the best photos below (you can't really see the interface between the pipework and the handrail due to the light reflecting off the glue), but they give the flavour.

Corbs you are a life saver - will have a proper look later but looks ideal!

Slow but steady progress - the splashers have been extended out and I've made a start on the boiler fittings, though I'm now waiting for the next bag of goodies before I can continue. I might start working on the tender in the interim, but I'm moving house at the end of the week so I suspect everything's going to have to go on pause. I also thought I would make a start on sorting the cylinders out today - having managed to break the original cylinder block in half whilst attacking the chassis, I bought another set from Peter's Spares (turns out it was the last set they had...). What I have discovered is that they are a VERY tight fit, and if you push in slightly the wrong place they will do this: Oh well... I have tried gluing them back together but it just isn't strong enough annoyingly, so I have now ordered a 3rd set from Lendon's which I thing I will widen ever so slightly with a file before fitting to help the fit. Hopefully 3rd time the charm etc. etc...