They all look brilliant, so it's difficult to choose, but I would want mine to work on a fictitious light railway in the pre-preservation age, so I was wondering how easy it would be to remove part of the RTR decoration, eg. removing the name 'Pioneer' but leaving the rest (so I could substitute an etched nameplate, for example).

 

Thanks.

It should be relatively easy to remove things such as the lining/name/number etc as they're applied using tampo printing.

Hopefully it'll be easy to fit a crew....an aspect of design many 00 tank locos and diseasels are lacking in.....

Here's a photo showing the body and cab removed from the running board which would allow you to install crew if required.

There's 4 screws to remove the body from the chassis. then 4 more to separate the running plate from the main body.

Hello Dave,

 

Will you be asking for the red below the running plate to be changed to the correct darker shade?

 

Also can you tell me if the coal load will pop out of the bunker or is it part of the body moulding?

 

I have one on order – I may yet stretch to a second.

1. This is currently under review. For reference, this is the front of the colour layout for 178.

2. The coal load is glued in to two locating lugs in the bottom of the coal bunker. Following the above steps to remove the body/cab from the running board will allow you to approach it from underneath and allow you to remove it without risking damage to visible parts of the loco.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Dave

Good morning(!) to you all!

Yesterday, well Saturday at any rate, I bought myself a set of Bachmann ex-SECR 60ft Birdcage coaches in SR Lined Olive, and very nice they were too. However, by some extra trading I managed to have some money left over, which I didn't expect! And on one of the shelves in the shop, this caught my eye...

Being a modeller of the early years of the Central and Eastern Sections of the Southern I thought, given the price and the fact that the kit was new and unbuilt, still properly wrapped, I'd go for it. Now, this isn't the first brass kit I've built (I've previously managed a 7mmNGA Slate Wagon with success but also with assistance), nor is it the first I've owned (I have a set of Rod Neep MS&LR Coach bodies sat in a drawer that I picked up for £6 and have kept for practising such things as curving tumblehomes - more on that later), but it is by far the most advanced and complex.

I thought I'd create this separate thread in what may be a more visible area of the forum to see if I can get some help as I go along, indeed my first question is if anyone has any advice before I make a start? The kit's (1984-dated!) instructions recommend the use of solder paste, which will be a first for me, and I can see why, looking at some of the finer bits. I certainly intend to solder the kit together, by the way (other than the plastic bogies and whitemetal castings...  ).

Now, my main concern currently is how I go about forming the tumblehome, and this I will practise with the MS&LR 6-Wheelers before I look to try it on the LBSCR Tri-Composite. One idea I have had so far is to photograph or scan the coach ends, import them into CAD software and use them to draw a hollow cylinder with the same radius as the tumblehome. I can then 3D Print this cylinder and use it as a former to curve the brass. Another version of this was to make a sort of jig/former that the side sits in, with a curved section matched to the radius of the tumblehome and a corresponding piece that applies pressure and thus creates a smooth curve. However, people have been building these kits for years so I assume that there must be a perfectly good way of doing it as it is - I would be interested to hear them!

Another thought I have had is to build the basic coach body and then spray it into SR Olive Green, before adding things like the droplights in the door windows (which I would paint brown separately) and the door handles. Is this a sensible idea or not?

As will no doubt be clear by now, I am very new to this brass kit-building lark, but I hope to learn as I go and having spent £30 on it I also hope to have a usable layout-worthy coach by the end of it!!!

Here is some interesting prototype roof detail I found on the edge of a negative.

This is taken in 1952 and is not of some decrepit specimens in a disused siding.  They are at London Bridge in service.  I have never seen roof boards so prominent on coaches.  If you modelled them like this and did such a poor job in painting them you would be, quite rightly, criticised,  Shows there is a prototype for everything.

Anyone know what vehicles they would be?

Tony

1 hour ago, 46444 said:

Hi Steve, 

 

If I want some custom OO Scale Sentinel Y1/Y3 transfers making up what is the best way of contacting you?

 

Regards,

 

Mark 

 

 

Until I've made time to re-code the contact form on the web site, just IM me here. That said, feasibility of custom jobs depend entirely on what's being asked. Some modellers are extremely explicit in what they ask for, which vastly increases chance of me being able to help, e.g.

- "My Station Name", white, BR font, qty 6, max length 30mm.

At the other end of the scale I get moon-on-a-stick type requests to reproduce what might be very ornate markings accompanied with a poor 3/4 angle b/w grainy photo from the 1930s and a "Steve - I'll let you sit down and figure out everything I need from the photo" approach - the required research for which I just don't have the resource for. And everything in between so it's a sliding scale.

For very simple alpha numeric requests I did create this custom item a while back:

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3641

...which gets some people out of a hole.

According to Brian Haresnape's book "Drummond Locomotives" the origin of the term "Black Motor" is unexplained. Hornby are modelling the loco as superheated by Urie, the first of which was modified in 1921, and the remainder between 1922-9. So most were therefore done by the Southern Railway and made a substantial difference to the loco's appearance.  I cannot therefore see Hornby producing one in pre-grouping livery as their current form only goes back to 1921. Pre-WW2 livery was black with fine green lining, but subsequently (from 1941) they were plain black with Sunshine lettering, which was in golden yellow with malachite green shading.

Not quite

The initial SR livery (up till the early 30s) for goods engines was black, with green lining. In the mid 30s the lining was done away with and the numbering changed (although the font and colour stayed the same)

so as to drop the E, B or A prefix (with LBSCR engines having 2000 added, SECR locos having 100, and SR / LSWR engines keeping their three digit numbers). Therefore if Hornby are doing a E prefix number the loco should have the lining (as Bachmann are doing for one of their forthcoming C class releases)

12 minutes ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

My order from Modelu was accepted. They also gave a discount off my next order as an incentive.

 

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/

Excellent.

Be aware that, if used as intended, the 'hub cap' is attached to the extended crankpin of a kit-built model - that way, there is less danger of getting adhesive into the crankpin / coupling rod interface, but the 'hub cap' rotates with the crankpin.

As the RTR model will not come with extended crankpins, you will need to plug the central hole in the 'hub cap'; (I used styrene rod); and make good the dome of the cap.

Having done that, you come to the perilous stage of attaching the 'hub caps' to the rods!

Good luck.

John Isherwood.

7 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

In my opinion the firebox glow of the B4 is more realistic, that of the Terrier being a bit ‘in your face’. 
 

Roy

Agree with that. When I took the body off mine, I found the circuit board is actually under the cab floor with the LED's close to the front, rather than the LED's pointing out the firehole as per the terrier. Which I think helps give a much softer glow. 

Also I think the Yellow/Orange colour is better than the mostly red of the Terrier. You could probably put some coloured film or something over the firehole doorto make it softer. 

CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK - Sorry

I'm pleased to announce the availability of my brass bearing tool suitable for 4mm modellers, following approval from the moderators.

The tool allows easy and accurate fitment of any 2mm brass bearing in RTR stock. Due to its design it is suitable for OO, EM and P4 gauges.

The 8mm hex body allows ample clearance between the W-irons and the chassis.

It is supplied complete and ready to use with simple instructions.

They are priced at £13.00 plus £1.50 p&p (Royal Mail)

Regards, Tom

7 hours ago, Ventnor said:

IOW Terriers are a minefield of detail differences probably no different to their mainland counterparts.

That's an understatement! As far as I can tell from photos, by early BR days, all of the surviving terriers were different - varying combinations of chimneys, bunkers, A1/A1x boilers, sandbox positions, toolboxes, coal rails and lamp brackets.

7 hours ago, Ventnor said:

 

As for black painted cab backsheets vs green painted? The two preserved examples on the island today in Southern livery have black painted rear cab sheets (or at least they are in the photos and video I've seen). There are very few clear images of the rear of these locos in Southern Railway days to determine which livery detail is correct unless a painting specification exists. It could be that W9, W13 and W14 which were overhauled and painted at Brighton works prior to shipping to the island had green cab backsheets but those painted in Southern livery at Ryde or Newport works on the island had black rear cabsheets!! Or, the green was painted over black after operational experience with the green paintwork becoming ruined by coal and coal dust. So both could be correct.  To be honest I have not done that research. If anyone else can confirm this detail that would be welcome.

There are very few clear photos of any SR tank locos, IOW or otherwise, clearly showing the cab backsheet.

The best I can find is This one on Getty, showing W11 at Ventnor West in early SR livery, clearly unlined and looks to be black.

Hi,

ive had great success with my elcheapo airbrush AS18, with railmatch and tamiya acrylics .

i’ve got some specific rail colours from Phoenix I want to use but I can’t seem to get them to spray well. I’m using PQ8 thinners, not the -9 air drying version - is that the problem ?

17 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Shouldn't have a problem with DCC. They are designed for it.

 

Trying not to be too technical as I'm far from knowledgeable about electrics. But the gist of the problem is some old controllers and some feedback controllers can damage the coreless motors. 

 

They can also be damaged by High Frequency track cleaners.

 

 

Personally I wouldn't be using a controller that grandad got with his Triang train set in 1965 with them. If so, time to get a new one I reckon. Your models will probably thank you. 

 

 

Jason

The thing coreless motors don't like is any non-rectified or incompletely rectified AC current getting through to them.

The DC that comes out of old controllers is seldom fully rectified, sometimes intentionally, I.e. when you operate the half wave switch on H&M units.

Feedback controllers are designed to ramp up output in response to current demand.

Coreless motors (AIUI) "fool" them into increasing output when it's not needed and the result is overheating. Track cleaners do the same, but the output is momentary strong and pure AC spikes designed to vaporise dirt between wheels and track which have an even more drastic effect on these motors.

As others have indicated, coreless motors are becoming an industry norm for small motors with the sort of characteristics model trainmakers want. Over the next few years, mass market cored motors are likely to disappear and we will increasingly have to work around coreless ones or pay much more for the sort of high grade cored units that  MAY still be produced for medical or military applications.

John

If you want to do away with traction tyres altogether, there is a video on YouTube explaining how to replace the metal tyres on the wheels. It will haul 8 pullmans round a train set oval without any noticeable slipping and runs freely on curves which it cannot do with rubber tyres on

OK.  You should have:

1.  2 Draw hooks in black with associated 3 link coupling, one for each end.  These will need filing down to fit in the hole in the draw bar.

2.  2 steam heat pipes.  See available photo's as to where they fit.  See below for options.

3.  2 vacuum brake pipes.  See photo's and so on.

4.  You need to decide if your model is for display or use.  You have 2 hook and bar couplings and these cannot be fitted to the bogie vacuum cylinders as well as the drawhook, steam heat and vacuum pipes.  You pay your money and take your choice.  I have chosen to fit a kadee to to one end and the full hook and pipe set up at the other.

5.  You have 4 (small) foot steps in silver, 2 silver 'U bend' bars', and 2 U bend bars with bolted joints between the vertical and the horizontal, yes it does make sense.  Look carefully at the drawing on the front of the box.

6.  I have had the opportunity to look both at the picture on the front of the box. best books and the locomotive itself.  If you look at the underneath of the model there are, in the dummy silver bogie, 2 holes at the front (outer) end and 2 at the back (inner) end, left and right.  Further there are 2 holes in the body frame on each corner where the leading axle is.  So:

     A.  The long simple silver U bend goes in the holes in the inner end of the bogie.  These remain on the locomotive to this day but needless to say are now black!

    B.  The U bend with a bolted joint go at the other or outer end of each bogie.  The holes can be seen.  On the locomotive today these have been replaced with conventional guard irons.  It is clear that these guard irons are an after market 'weld on'.

    C.  The 4 small square, silver, U shapes are the foot steps for the cab and fit into the holes in the model in line with each which match each outer axle of each bogie.  The straight face goes to the outer side.

More interestingly you may wish to dismantle the model to ensure that the power pickups contact the inside of the wheels at all times.  I would not wish to give instructions to do this, it depends on your skills, but I strongly recommend it.

The centre battery? section of the body seems to be a pain in that the screws which hold it on are too short or lacking in diameter/thread.  My solution was to glue a bit of cocktail stick in the hole, drill the cocktail stick to give a start to the screw and go for it.  Worked a treat.

This is in no way a criticism of the model, it is a cracker.  Just a steer to get to the finishing line. 

On 19/07/2020 at 18:43, Corbs said:

 

Hmm maybe, but KRM are making some unusual locos like the GT3 and Fell.

Maybe one day they will do the long-lived GRCW/Met-Camm/BREL Bo-Bo BELs, plenty of liveries to go at... I wonder who will be bold enough? Surely that would fall into the 'more unusual locos' category? They are numerous (about 59 from memory) and span a long time period (with variations)...