richard i

They look stunning. If the project in the other thread comes off to have a way of ordering prints of these, I would be interested. the one where you were looking to contract out printing to a third party. richard

I will finish the carriages soon so must decide what to work on next. I can’t decide so am open to others views. should I work on: a couple of cars/ steam lorry scratchbuild a fire engine and its wagon to be carried on. another three match board suburbans a rake of Robinson cove roof suburbans a simple loco like a j10 a medium loco like a C14 or D9 a more difficult Atlantic/ two as I have bits to make one and a half and could scratch the missing bits. voting is open and will stay open until I need the next project. richard

Get comfy there is a lot to do on the class 3. richard

How many wives of other nationalities do you have?

For the gcr there is a big hole for the bogie fish van in original condition as etching is not good at replicating the side vents. nudge nudge. richard

Gcr stuff. I wait patiently. richard

Template is a good idea and I do batch build but have no more than 6 of any family of carriages so would need to build a batch of templates. Something which could be shared around as others build their kits of the same type? richard

JW: I did not split at the solebars as the extruded aluminum roof fit was really good and it was al designed to fit around the floor plan and be strengthened by it. what is in the kit went together really well. there are fine details missing which can be added at the builders level of ability/ desire. GK: I too have come to the opinion that the lavatory carriage had roof fittings as the photo of my Sketches show. all dimensions taken off photos as ratios. also steps and grab handles on the brakes so back into the shops to really be finished. So many false dawns. It seems the full third just had lower lamp brackets only as no roof access was needed. having said that the barnum thirds needed roof access but the assumption seems to have been that this would have been achieved from a brake Carriage. We had a similar discussion about the Barnums at Warley when I was building them. Thank you. these were built without the rain strip along the full length of the roof but gained it during gcr days so I may leave that off as those are never my neatest work. Round wire to a curving flat roof never goes quite to plan. richard God bless anyone who can read my writing or make out what numbers apply to. Top down look at roof in bottom right corner.

Done. I do have a question. They are said to have had nothing on the roof when first built. However, this one has four lavatories so surely it would have filler caps on the roof and then a way to get up there. Steps on the end? Does anyone know/ have an idea one way or another? happy new year richard

Her is the completed recreation21 gcr directors saloon. it goes together really well as a model. Though be careful the drawing shows battery boxes in the centre. They were not and the other side was a gas cylinder. the hardest part was the handrails as the roof refitted meant a drill could not be used to make pilot holes for the bottom of the handrail knobs. richard

I have not tried to clean them up. They have rivet detail which would be lost with cleaning them up. it will be a while as I only want to spray in the warm and dry. richard

They are a 3d print from thingiverse. Either buy through the site or download the file and print on your own home printer they are really very good. They come with buffers too. As a bonus. shared for free by the designer, who has huge thanks from me for their generosity. the do need a sub frame to sit on. this one has a brass end step fitted by me as it will go at a brake end. let me know if you want more views. richard

Feeling less exposed with sides to the bogies on and couplings sorted just steam heat pipes, roofs and guards duckets to fit. they will wait on painting for better weather. they will need a test drive to check if they need tweaking to get consistency in their running. richard

The three have got to the stage of plonking the bogies, bodies and roofs together. the build will slow as the kit pieces have been exhausted. Bogie sides are a 3d print. The vacuum cylinders are a casting I am doing. 2 at a time, as I need them for a further 25 coaches it will take most of the month to cast enough for the carriages I need to build. They are green in the picture as the are made with a 2 part setting clay. richard

Hope you pull through the worst of it quickly. richard

It is 2mm finescale. So I would expect seats and armrests ashtrays and mirrors and….. richard.

Did you break wind whilst on his lap? That is a definite no no.

Next carriage. I have tried a new method ( for me) of adding all detail before putting it together i had come round to splitting at the solebars as the better approach, but this kit does not lend itself to this approach. So I am questioning whether to build it as intended or convert the ends so it can be built so it splits in the middle. richard

Partial solution would be to file the steps back. Not all the way but some of them. Then they are less out of gauge but to the eye the steps are still there. It is what I ended up doing on my SEF one. Still needs a wide gap to platform, but not ridiculously so. now who is brave enough to test the theory on a Hornby one? richard

Great shots of gcr trains. Keep them coming. That’s Christmas present enough for anyone.

We could speak to Keith but you would need a juggernaut to shift it, it weighs a ton. richard

They look great. Some companies had prize cattle vans too. richard

Matchboard this time. I think they will be quicker to build. That’s the theory anyway. richard

Looking good. The filler cap on the side tanks needs moving to the middle if not done already. richard

End of the year is always busy. That is why it took a while to finish Here it is, as close as I could work out it should be. next up some Robinson suburbans. Designed by John fozard just before he passed away. A true gentleman in all his correspondence with me. They look well designed but came with no instructions. I can work out what all bar one type of piece does. I will start the build and see if what they are comes to me. anyone lucky enough to have built any of his kits? richard