JamieR4489

Guilty as charged, m'lud.

I told myself that my next project would be a Kirk Restaurant Triplet and that I wouldn't start it until I'd finished the B7, so what did I go and do? Start working on a pair of A4s, of course! The first started as a second-hand Hornby Mallard and is well on the way to being finished as 4463 Sparrow Hawk. I was lazy when I renumbered it and just turned the 8s into 3s through strategic scraping. One of Graeme King's resin single chimneys was fitted and most of the front lamp irons were replaced with scrap etch as the originals had snapped off. I started fitting some of my A4s with full-length drain cocks a few years ago but decided to take this a step further and replace the guard irons. The A4s originally had two pairs, one on the bogie and one attached to the frames but Hornby put both sets on the bogie. I sawed off the front of the bogie and filed the remains to look like mudguards. New guard irons were filed from nickel silver scrap etch and attached to a t-shaped arm that is held in place by the main body screw. Drain cocks were soldered together from 0.45mm brass wire and then soldered onto the guard irons. They locate into holes drilled in the bottoms of the cylinders but aren't glued in so that I can remove the drain cocks and guard irons as a complete assembly when disassembling the loco. I've had to set the drain cocks slightly wider than they should be to allow the loco to negotiate a 2' radius curve and I also had to limit the bogie swing by soldering bits of wire across the pivot slot so that the wheels can't rub on the cocks. This may not make a lot of sense so hopefully the pictures will explain it better than I can. Nameplates from 247 Developments were fitted and the loco given a few coats of Humbrol Clear. I've made a start on repainting the wheels using Humbrol 20. The second A4 also started as a second-hand Hornby Mallard but the previous owner had changed it to 4903 Peregrine. I'll be turning it into 2510 Quicksilver as I was keen to have one of the original four in blue, and every man and his dog seem to have 2509 or 2512 (2511 was in the Plant during the period I'm modelling). Garter Blue Hornby A4s with 1935 tenders aren't easy to come by but I had a spare 1928 tender from a Railroad Flying Scotsman that I turned into Minoru. I decided to have a go at converting it to a 1935 type but if it went pear-shaped I'd get a spare Hornby body. The 1928 tenders had beading on the sides, a flat back and no streamlining whereas the 1935 ones were flush-sided, had a bowed end to match the Silver Jubilee stock and (from 1938) had a reduced streamlined fairing around the bunker. Between 1935 and early-'38 they also had fairings over the water space. I started by filing the beading off and the stuck 2mm plasticard inside the rear corners to reinforce them while I was filing the corners to the correct shape. I also shaped and stuck some triangular pieces of plasticard inside the rear corners above the top of the tank. Once I had drilled out the corridor porthole, using the original moulding as a guide, I attacked the tender with a selection of files, comparing it to my Hornby 4491 as I went. I finished it off with fine sandpaper and filled any deep scratches. Handrails, steps and lamp irons were then fitted to complete the rear end. The 1928 tender was in its original condition without extra streamlining so I had to extend the side sheets upwards using 20x40 (I think) thou Evergreen strips and I then traced around the front fairing of 4491's tender and used it as a template to cut out a piece of 10 thou plasticard. I stuck it on top of the tender bit by bit, starting at one side and then allowing the glue to harden before sticking the next 10mm or so down. The moulded coal was cut out and a false-bottom for the bunker made, along with the top of the corridor. I've used a 1936 non-corridor chassis so the rear steps needed replacing as the ones on 1935 corridor tenders were a different shape. The tender body is now ready for painting and I'm hoping that I'll be able to match the Hornby paint on the loco body, as that will save me a job trying to reinstate the parabolic curve. Then I'll need to make all the same modifications I did to 4463. Finally, when I was working on 4463 I was about to put the whistle back on when I realised that it wasn't a chime whistle. I assume the previous owner had lost the original and fitted whatever they had to hand. Rather than buy a replacement, I decided to pinch the whistle from my Hornby 4489, which is wrong for the former but correct for 4463. 4489 had a CPR 5-chime whistle, which was shorter and fatter than the standard A4 chime whistle and was divided into 5 'segments', each a different height. I pushed a piece of brass tube inside another and then filed the tops to approximately the right shape (I think I only managed a 4-chime rather than 5), cut the tubes down to about the right length, soldered a piece of wire inside the inner tube and soldered a crankpin washer underneath the tubes. Tim Watson probably could've knocked up a much better version in 2mmFS in about half the time but from 3' away it looks sufficiently different to a standard A4 chime whistle to make it stand out, so I won't lose any sleep over it. I know this is a very long post so thank you if you've made it this far! Regards, Jamie

And, up until recently, '19 had a Kylchap exhaust designed by Chapelon for the owner, Charles Newton (no connection to the namesake of 60005) and a RH&DR style chime whistle! I, too, visited the GCR gala and had a fantastic time. Even though I'm an LNER man, I couldn't deny that the Modified Hall made the best noise. 92214 will be withdrawn on the 25th February. Jamie

It's fair to say modelling took a back seat last year. My motivation was very low, I think caused by various problems I encountered with the B7 and O4. My interests have moved towards 12" to 1' railways but, now that they're closed for a few months, I'm hoping to get back into modelling. The Tiny is now finished and the end is in sight for the Black Pig, although I do want to replace the coal plates as I'm not happy with my scratchbuilt plasticard versions. They'll be replaced with brass which should make them much sturdier. I've had to replace the bogie wheels with some under-scale ones as the originals kept fouling on the cylinders and motion bracket. That's not the fault of the kit, the instructions say that it is designed for a minimum radius of 2' 6" and a lot of my layout is tighter than that. @65179's thread on GCR tenders alerted me to the fact that the steps should curve inwards whereas I'd made them straight so I carefully bent them to approximately the right shape. At the start of November, Kernow Model Rail Centre were doing a flash sale that included Hornby's revised A1s. These had been on my radar since they were announced but I could never justify the price. For £100, it was a bargain. The smokebox lamp iron was very wonky and firmly glued but I've extracted and reattached it without pinging it across the room. I've added the parts from the detail bag, painted the smokebox hinge straps silver and toned down the firebox LED (which I see as being a gimmick, anyway) with a blob of black paint. It will eventually get renamed, weathered, etc. Hmm, I've just noticed that the front bufferbeam is dropping, I'll have to take a look at that. Regards, Jamie

The most obvious difference is that the bell wasn't fitted until March 1938. Other than that the only modifications would be to paint the handrails silver. DoC's were painted blue in 2013 because to take them back to bare metal would have required the removal of the asbestos lagging.

I really like that second photo of '28. The M&GN train on the left frames it nicely and disguises the end of Spital Bridge. Jamie

Thanks for sending that, it gives a good idea of the colours of the embankments and the station building. I would guess that the Down platform was taken out when North Junction was remodelled around 1962/63 but the Up platform appears to have been demolished a few years before then. I'm not sure when the station building disappeared. Regards, Jamie

One of your wagons loved the trip to Ely so much it decided not to go back home with the others...

Many thanks for an excellent day, yesterday, Tony. We all certainly enjoyed ourselves. Thanks, also, for your kind comments, constructive criticisms, and new pony wheels for the O4 and for the Flying Pig kit. I read the instructions last night and quickly put everything back in the box! It was very selfish of Mr Ivatt to design a loco that is so difficult to make a model of. Regards, Jamie

A very enjoyable day's operating and nattering. Here are a few snaps I got while being Shedmaster. 5429, 3276 and 2580 wait to go off shed with 4498 now taking coal, having just arrived and been turned. Red Leader was hopping between Yard and South boxes at this stage and Jonathan is in his usual spot in South Fiddle. Plenty of wagons to see, here, and no less than 3 C1s. Adam was manning North Box in the afternoon while Neil and Graeme worked North Fiddle. Jamie

Good evening Tony, My surname is Rands. FWIW, I was 14 when I made the K2. I'm looking forward to visiting you next week. On the subject of metal/woodwork, I was fortunate that my secondary school had an excellent variety of tools and machines that we could use as well as teachers who were genuinely keen to help me and push my learning a bit further. When it came to picking my GCSEs, Engineering wasn't originally an option for me as it was seen as being a course for 'less academic' students. It took a fair bit of pushing to get me and several other students of similar ability on the course. Regards, Jamie

Ah thank you! I should have known that as I had a good look round 506's tender at Barrow Hill last year. The first one is about 3mm deep and is plain on the rear. Jamie

Right, here's your starter for 10: A fairly nondescript piece with half-etched lines about 5-6mm from each end. I thought this would be easy to identify as it's a more complex shape but it's stumped me so far. Jamie

I'll see what I can do tomorrow... The kit certainly provides the wider bulkheads, tank rear and front coal plate and the hopper shaped bunker for the self-trimming tenders.

One sudden brake application and the crew are met with an avalanche of coal! Mind you, at least I wouldn't have to bother with any bunker details. I had a feeling I'd read that it was supposed to cover all types of Robinson tenders, so thanks for confirming that. It's hard to tell how accurately the kit could represent each type because, as I've mentioned before, the one I got was incomplete. There are also a few parts where I have no idea what they represent! Such are the joys of not having the instructuons. Regards, Jamie