grob1234

Splendid work there Frank.

I hadn't thought about the cylinders needing to drop as well when the body drops. I suppose it's more important for a loco of this type for the tender to be at the correct buffer height so it relates to the coaches correctly. I'd prefer a sweet running loco with a slightly high front buffer beam than a rubbish one thats the correct height... I'll sleep on it before I get the angle grinder out.

What a lovely layout that is. Very natural, and a nice selection of stock. My V2 is sitting a little high, I think. I've sorted out the fore/aft ness, so I'm happy with that. I'm just reluctant to start removing material from the Comet frames, and I'm equally reluctant to remove material from the brittle body. Trouble is, its about 6 scale inches too high by my reckoning. My intuition says I could probably 'get away' with taking a mm or so off the contact parts of the frames.

I do like to try and make things difficult for myself sometimes!

Evening All, I discussed briefly my 'plan' (such as I ever have one) to just close the gap between the footplate and the chassis frame on the Trice/Comet V2 I'm in the process of making. Here is the before (I could sometimes see the wheels behind the splasher tops) And here is the after: In order to achieve this, I simply used some old bits of plasticard to fill the gap. Although the footplate on the V2 was largely flat, as far as I can discern, I'm happier with this result than if the frames were visible. Once it's all black it should blend in quite nicely. In my opinion a worthwhile but small improvement on a lovely model. Here's the bones of the operation: Sorry for the clutter and unprofessional phone pics! It's just the mess and chaos that I like to work in. Usually about 6 sqare inches.

No contest between Gibson and Ultrascale there Frank! Super smooth on the Ultras!

Perfect, thank you Mike. I'm just going to insert a bit of plasticard to (almost) join with the chassis frames, and hide the gap a little.

Thank you Jamie, that would be very helpful. I think as often is the case the problem is that the OO frames are obvioulsy narrower than the real ones, hence my discrepancy. But if I can fudge it, so it looks a bit better that is good enough.

I think it does enhance the front view of the V2. Bit more work to do but getting there. The vacuum ejector pipe is broken, (semi-deliberately) which was a by product of me preparing the 2 halves of the model. I'll fix it before one final coat of primer to check all is well. Like you, I've moved the model forward about 1mm on the chassis, and I also need to do some work on the splasher tops as well, to fill in a few gaps. EDIT: Does anyone have any pictures of the splasher tops on a V2? Would help me greatly! EDIT2: I've found a couple of pictures in Yeadon PP43-44 and 65, did the splasher top join the top of the chassis/boiler or was there a gap so the wheels would have been visible from behind the splasher plate?

Just a little tangent from me... There was a discussion a while back about the Comet V2 chassis, and the Cylinder Block covers. I found mine to sit low by a couple of mm, so I checked against the drawing: I discovered that the comet cylinder casting was about 2mm to short: I soldered a slug of spare whitemetal on top of the original casting, and now after dressing back, it sits perfectly: Hopefully, having not altered the gemoetry of the valve gear, it'll all work without any modification, plus I think the modified cylinder block captures the taller look of the prototype: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresley_conjugated_valve_gear#/media/File:GA_at_SVR.JPG

Over to Sir Ian Rathbone....

Good morning everyone. Just a very quick request for assistance if I may? Are there any Templot wizards out there who might be able to help me please? I have a design in mind for a potential layout, and what I would like is a plan that shows all the relative positions of the points etc. I won't be building the turnouts from the Templot plan, so the timbers wouldn't need shoving or whatever. Anyway, if this appeals to anyone, would you PM me to avoid cluttering this thread? Thank you very much in anticipation.

That looks very nice indeed. Do you have a layout thread?

I’ve just stumbled across this thread whilst searching the L&BR on google. I visited this this wonderful little line the other day and I’m just reading the history of it. I’m feeling very inspired to model this but must resist and watch your wonderful rendition instead! Keep up the great work.

Tom, I fully understand your sentiment and I can empathise with it – I don’t know you personally so of course I cannot understand fully what it is you’re dealing with – but I do know how powerful our minds are. I have not sat at my workbench for a good 6 weeks or so now, despite wanting to from time to time. I know when the time is right, I will sit down again but I have learned not to ‘push it’ when I’m not fully in the mood. In dealing with dips in mood, I have gained most from being with my little boy, he’s now approaching 3. He has an incredible ability to ‘live in the moment’. I try and do the same from time to time. A silly example would be when enjoying a cup of coffee. At that precise moment in time, all is well in the world if I simply focus on enjoying the coffee. There’s nothing I can do about troublesome work situations or viruses (virii??!?) while I’m drinking the coffee, so I allow myself to just be in the moment, and I find it can really help. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling down. It’s ok. Allow yourself to do what feels good, and try and enjoy it.

Well with all this discussion regarding HL boxes, I did wonder how long it would be before my ugly mug appeared on the discussion. I made that video a while back, and there's a fair bit of waffle on my behalf, I admit. I thought Chris' product was excellent so I offered him the video to try and show that it was an easy build. I also made the video during the very early stages of making models - the point being, I felt comfortable enough to film myself making one with relatively little experience. How long does it take to make a HL box? I have literally no idea. I've never timed myself. I find making the 'mechanics' of the loco quite pleasing, especially when it runs silky smooth. All personal preferance, there is, in my view no right or wrong way to approach this hobby. Having said that I would say anyone could have a go at an HL box, they aren't too much money, and you might enjoy it - why not have a try? With regards to cutting the shafts, I would probably use a rotary tool, with the stock held in a vice. Edit - I would also add that I have exclusively used HL boxes on all my builds. I see no reason to change, so, Tony I can understand your preferance for DJH boxes. 6 to one and all that jazz...

I don't know about the splasher tops, I'm also unable to find anything concrete about their colour, and of course, it's a difficult area to photograph in real life. Maybe the next one I make I can finish in green.

Apparently, that smoke deflector fitted to the V2 worked very well. As you say, why it was fitted is a bit of a mystery. We talked the other day about GN Atlantics - specifically how the DJH version is incorrect proportionally. May I say also that the C1 is a beautiful engine, they are so graceful, and although lack the pure power of an A1/3/4, their lines give them a wonderful bearing on the railway. The forerunner of the ECML's beasts! Well here is my version of 3283. Bearing in mind I made this about 3 years ago, when I was still (I still am) in my loco building infancy. There are a couple of discrepancies on my part which I have only subsequently realised. This loco may have had the lubricators on top of the splashers removed. Also, the pipe run on the RHS of the smoke box may also not have been present. However, I was aware of the height issue, and have lopped about a mm off the tops of the frames, to help it sit a bit better. It is still too high because I think the boiler is too fat. However, and this is just my personal view, when this is on a layout and you're looking at it from 3' or more, could anyone reasonably notice that it is about 2mm too long, or (unless there are bridge clearance limits) that it is 1.5mm too high? Surely the only way to tell is by comparing it to a drawing and measuring it? So, my priorities when I build a loco are as follows? Does my model instantly look like a C1 (or whatever I've made)? Does it work (well, or better than RTR)? Can it haul a prototypical amount of load at scale speed? Did I make it? Did I paint it? Is it the best model I have built to date? (always looking to improve)? Finally - has it given me pleasure? If I can answer yes to the above then I have achieved my aim. There will be a little more information on my own thread WRT the methods used and so on, but the next time I show this, it'll be 100% complete, weathered and ready for action.

Hello all, Just a quick question for you RE Markits wheels, before I place my order. What do people use for 3' 8" 10 spoke LNER bogey/pony wheels? There's a 3' 9" MR version that's 10 spoke but I can't remember what I used to order! I can't see an LNER 3'8" 10 spoke wheel on their website. It's for the Mike Trice V2 I'm making.

Thanks Rich

Well at last the Silver Jubilee goes in the finished pile. Sort of. Curtains to fit, ride height to adjust, and silver railings to expose, but other than that, the mammoth project is at an end. I'll get some better photos in due course. I have applied the lightest of weathering. Many models I have seen are pristine. After turning at Newcastle, and heading back down the ECML, these would have picked up a little grot. I wanted to post a quick teaser as to my next project but I have reached my upload limit for the day. It will be very much a 'mixed-media' build. More to come

Thanks Geoff, its the windows and behind the ross pops that are the tricky bits. I'm getting there slowly though

Thank you Tony, I'd love that. This set might even work, I cunningly fitted OO wheels instead of P4...

Iphone panorama... wasn't sure how this would display but turns out its OK!

My Silver jubilee rake got a good dunking in cola prior to painting. I’m not tight enough to drink the coke after though!! Edit: I hadn't completed the ride height adjustment here. Sorry for the 'kitchen' photo. It's too long to fit in my studio!