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MrWolf

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MrWolf last won the day on February 19 2023

MrWolf had the most liked content!

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  • Location
    Banjo Country
  • Interests
    The more obscure corners of Britain's railways and the remains thereof.

    Current layout in progress, Aston On Clun, a fictitious GWR backwater in rural Shropshire. Basically a collection of wooden huts in a field with pretentions of profitability. An excuse for small outdated engines and pensionable stock.

    All the usual stuff, art, music, film etc luvvees...

    Vintage motorcycles, cars, militaria and anything else related.

    Yes, that is my actual name.

    It turns out that On the buses wasn't in fact a documentary.

    Last but not least, Miss Riding Hood, who doesn't just tolerate my eccentricities, she actively encourages them, if only to deflect my attention from her own quirks.
    She also shares my belief that the world probably ended sometime around the mid 1960s.

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  1. Stonework
    Middleton Top and the C&HPR
    1 hour ago, JustinDean said:

    Finally managed to grab some time for modelling for the first time in a month. I’ve started making the coal loading dock and could do with some advice. My knowledge of colour palette and painting technique is limited so I’m wondering what is the best way of achieving realistic stone?

    Thanks in advance!

     

    285C11CC-D936-4B7A-95C7-F36C6CAE13C7.jpeg

     

     

    I would start with a base coat of Humbrol 63 Matt Sand, let it dry and then add dilute washes of Humbrol 91 Black Green until you are happy, letting each dry for a while in between. You will find that it will darken as it dries, so don't do too much at once.

     

    Here's an example using those paints:

     

    tunnel-portal314.jpg.69ac2a69dfd6f0f79ad61219d1aa9c45.jpg

     

    Al.


  2. Little Muddle
    Little Muddle
    1 hour ago, Limpley Stoker said:

    I’m looking forward to seeing a GPV that isn’t black and shiny with vivid red lettering , and I think perhaps this is where it will be found ! Weather we like it or not!

     

    I'll try my best but at this particular time it's not very shiny, also minus transfers.

     

    This is the current state of play just a few minutes ago.

     

    3746.jpg.44ae546138650c77d4f2ecdeeedf6281.jpg

     

    Roof - Light Grey, then two washes of Roof Dirt and I have now just done numerous dry brushed coats of Light Grey - leave this to dry now to see the overall effect tomorrow.

    Van sides - Black grey with the central part of the panels dry brushed with a Black Grey lightened with Light Grey to give tonal variation. Rivets highlighted with Light Mud and then a wash of Roof Dirt to them and the edges.

    Chassis - Black Grey with dry brushed Light Mud and then Frame Dirt.

     

    More to do as I can see I have caught a few places with the ferrell of the brush.

     

    Purpose of the pictures is to highlight issues.

     

    Will then give the whole lot a coat of Dullcote when happy then fit those transfers and then tone down so they are not bright and glossy.


  3. Modelling mojo and state of mind
    Modelling mojo and state of mind
    4 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

    I think that's sort of right, I readily do things for others because I feel it's selfish to do things for myself. So as long as someone needs me to help them, they go to the top of the list. 

    Know what you mean. but the downside of this apparently laudable approach is that you think that other people are more important than you, and have low self esteem.  This is a very common thing in those of us who suffer from depression related problems, and is a self-replicating, worsening, and predicatble symptom.  You are not as important as other people, who inevitably avail themselves of your subjugative actions, which makes you feel even more of a failure, engendering the concept that you are not as important as other people, who inevtiably.... and so the long night wears on!  Stop being a gratitude whore; you will rarely get the thanks you deserve, but of course you don't think you deserve them, and you didn't do it for the thanks anyway.  What did you do it for?

     

    Wanting to be helpful and useful to others is A Good Thing, but if you are depressive it can be very damaging to yourself.  Consider this; that you are actually of no use to anybody that you wish to be helpful to until you have resolved your own issues first.  As a depressive, you will tend to associate with others with similar issues, and you natural inclination is to try to help them.  BUT YOU CAN'T, until you have resolved your own issues or at least come to terms with them and attained a degree of understanding of them, you will in fact only make their problems and your own worse as you develop a co-dependent self-defeating and self-realising prophecy spiral.

     

    The most important person in your life is YOU.  You might not think this is correct, but, trust me, it is!  You are more important than your partner, than your children, than your parents, or anyone, as until you have accepted that it is you who are the most important person in your life, you are actually a burdensome bringer-downer to those peoaple.  You must of course recognise that this is the same for everyone else as wel at the same time. but that doesn't matter; what matters is that you know who Number One is and that it is the person you see in the mirror.  Realising this, I mean really realising it and not just parrotting it as a feelgood mantra. that you are as entitled as anyone to your place in the world, and to respect and consideration, is the beginning of accepting yourself as a worthwhile person, and is the bedrock of a good self image and of self respect.  Thinking this way is not selfish, your character will still be helpful and useful to others, in fact more so.

     

    Accepting your own prominent postion in your own existence will not solve any of your problems, not overnight anyway; self image is a thing that I have been struggling with for many years despite it, but it is a start.  There should only be one person at the top of your list, leopard, and it's feline and spotty...


  4. Point rodding
    Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

    @Nick C and @St Enodoc helped me a lot with mine

     

    I’ve got one rod operating the crossover and The FPL is at the other end of the layout because it’s only required when a train is approaching from a facing direction (I think)

     

    This is how I did mine thanks to @Nick C and @St Enodoc‘s advice


    2254ACE8-DB52-4FA4-B7E3-067172D743F7.jpeg.9694f64aa83e43e531b8d120f2dba5df.jpeg

     

    I did the ‘in line’ crank like this, I think this is how @KNP did it on Little Muddle
     

    203C84F4-86B8-4A77-8AE9-89DA10630ADB.jpeg.40815c42cec1ce6b202926ae15d6b274.jpeg


    F2F7BBD8-0D36-45DB-8296-224EB3AE2E13.jpeg.9b0a8a4deeedcf15ec26468d78f27a8a.jpeg


    I did the FPL with separate rods

     

    51708EC4-13F8-4339-A9A3-BCB53FAC625D.jpeg.ef3128af7af6d98b0533511517b0ab5e.jpeg


    hope that helps Rob

     


  5. Pannier
    Little Muddle

    Pannier update

    7750 just leaving fabricating workshop ready for final inspection prior to painting.

     

    Couple of things noted, handrail knob needs fixing, broken when I brought it and I thought I had fixed it...... obviously not!

    Front LH buffer stock been mended prior to me and not level....hope I can persuade it to move.

    Mould mark needs removing on buffers

     

    A.jpg.79db2aad6a6f1eeb6b1428c39dda5ea2.jpg

     

    B.jpg.c1ad01f8c74434b41dc1d41ca05fbf21.jpg

     

    C.jpg.2d8312ce5574e9d43a378f74916bcf7b.jpg

     

     


  6. Pannier
    Backdating a Hornby 2721 — “To saddle tank, or not to saddle tank, that is the question.” (Quotation from William Shakespeare’s Big Book of Great Western Trains, Part the Second, First London Folio, 1591)

    I have two Hornby 2721 Class Pannier tanks:

     

    i)  No. 2744 - Hornby R.059, an original Margate model I’ve had for forty years

     

    ii) No. 2764 - Hornby R.2739, a Chinese produced version I bought second-hand a few years back

     

    1851371963_HornbyGWRPanniers27442764.JPG.2e7cdb0426b511c318fb11176f5a105a.JPG

     

    As you can see from the picture, the newer 2764 (right) includes separate hand rails and coupling hooks where the original 2744 (left) has moulded ones. The chassis of 2764 is also slightly better so far as detail is concerned. And the centre driving wheels are the same diameter as the others, unlike the original Margate model, which has slightly smaller flanged wheels to accommodate set track curves (I don’t know why, there is plenty of side-play).

     

    For its part, No. 2744 has a nicely plated “brass” safety valve cover and a more “coppery” chimney cap.

     

    I acquired No. 2764 with the intention of backdating it to pre-Great War condition, as part of my growing interest in the Edwardian Great Western. At the time I was thinking about just altering the coal bunker, but leaving the rest largely as is, following knobhead’s conversion back in November 2012 (<http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64814-backdating-the-Hornby-pannier/>). However, my impression is that most of the 2721 Class did not receive panniers until after the war, and as I wanted to keep the existing number plates, there would be little point in just altering the bunker.

     

    On due consideration, I was wondering if something more drastic might be in order? I looked at the panniers and concluded that it might be possible to convert the engine to a saddle tank by cutting the tanks off at the bottom, just before they turn under, and replacing the upper part with a curved section of plastic. As it happens, I have a couple of prescription pill bottles that are just about the perfect (assuming the plastic isn’t too brittle), being just under a scale 8 feet in diameter. (I should double-check with callipers.)

     

    Before I do anything that I might regret, could someone with a copy of the RCTS’ Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part Five: Six-Coupled Tank Engines kindly check the entries for the 2721 Class and tell me when Nos. 2744 and 2764 received their pannier tanks.

     

    Also, which 2721 acquired the first full-length panniers? I know that No. 2796 was converted in 1904, but it was given short panniers tanks along with a B4 boiler.

     

    For various reasons, I would rather not alter No.2744 more than necessary. Still, I can see that it might actually be a better candidate for a saddle tank conversion, in which case, I would re-paint/re-letter 2764 to 1930 condition.

     

    Has anyone else turned a Hornby 2721 into a saddle tank? How did you manage building the tank?

     

     

    Dana


  7. Pine trees
    Pine trees tutorial.

     


  8. Tech info
    Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

    This is what I would suggest, based on the various GW diagrams I've looked at. @The Stationmaster may disagree, I'm not a GW expert!

    1325725189_AstononClun.png.54732bb83e2935224b85cee0dff8b408.png

    Note that the homes are a coach length from the points, to allow for locking bars. The starters are at the fouling points, so if a train is standing at one, it doesn't stop another entering the loop. This means the one at the LC end will be some way down the platform. Distants are well off scene, and fixed (they'd be worked by 1 and 15 if they were working). The yellow ground signal allows movement in and out of the headshunt without the signalman getting involved. The advanced starter 4 is optional, as most shunting movements would use the headshunt and so not need to go onto the main. If movements into the loop are more common, you could add subsidiary signals to the homes as so - these would be short arms I think:

    64430881_AstononClun.png.cf2bddf9f48ecc972e99a27f8dfac54a.png


  9. Pannier 2721
    Is the time right for a new Pannier? If you think so, please add your support and ideas to this thread
    11 hours ago, The Johnster said:

    Maybe worth a moment's pause before binning your Hornby 2721s, Longchap.  Firstly, while there is only so much you do to a model with such fundamental problems, what you can do is a good bit more than nothing!  Mine has had the risible chimney and safety valve bonnet replaced by items I happened to have on hand from a scrapped Westward 64xx, which also provided the dome, and with replacement buffers, etched number plates, cab window glazing, lamp irons, real coal, smokebox dart and a Modelu crew, she looks a good bit better than when I bought her.  I've also made a canvas weather sheet (painted aly foil) for a reason I'll come to i the next paragraph.

     

    It had the later type of Hornby generic Jinty chassis with front axle drive and sprung rear axle, but I failed to get the required level of decent slow running and smooth stops and starts whatever I did to fettle this chassis, so I gave up and replaced it with a Bachmann 57xx chassis from the Bay.  I also cut away as much of the plastic boiler skirts as possible; you have to trim this in order to clear the Baccy motor but it improves the appearance and allows daylight beneath the boiler so is worth doing from that point of view as well.  This has transformed the performance, and she is now as good a runner as any Baccy pannier, but Baccy drive their panniers on the rear axle through a worm and two-stage reduction cog setup which requires clearance to be cut on the backhead for the worm in the area of the firehole.  In order to hide this, the crew are positioned in the cab doorways and the canvas sheet deployed, not an unlikely situation in the South Wales climate of Cwmdimbath.

     

    A minor drawback to this is that my chosen prototype, 2761, had parallel fluted coupling rods which were correct as Hornby made the model, though of course the axle, and hence crankpin, spacing was wrong for a 2721.  The Baccy 57xx chassis has the correct axle spacing for a 2721, but plain fishbelly coupling rods.  Some 2721s were given such coupling rods at various stages in their careers, even as saddle tanks, but 2761 in her final period at Tondu (withdrawn 31/3/1950) did not, shown by photographs of her at Swindon on the reception roads and the dump shortly afterwards.  I've decided life is too short to worry about this.

     

    Secondly, the way in which the Hornby have tooled the bodyshell of the 2721, at least the later version that I have, means that the top of the tanks including the smokebox, chimeny, dome, top of firebox, and safety valve bonnet, and the top part of the tank sides can be separated from the bottom part of the tank sides and the rest.  Tomparryharry of this parish, with whom I have discussed this matter over a beer or three, reckons that this gives it potential as a complete replacement top piece for Bachmann 57xx or 8750 if you want a model without a top feed, and lining the two models up against each other suggests that he is right.  The 2721 has no top feed an none of the associated plumbing, and you would still have to remove the pipery just about the injectors, but it is a vaible alternative to carving off the top feed and the plumbing and, worse, making good the scar to an accepctable standard, which is what I did with 5797, and might be worth considering if you have an old 2721 lying around in a scrap box that you have no other use for.

     

    Despite the improvements I've made to my 2721 pannier, and my current level of satisfaction with it,  I'd replace it in a heartbeat if some kind RTR firm were to make one in 4mm to current standards of scale, performance, and detail; I'd replace it in a heartbeat with an 1854 pannier to similar standards as well.

     

    I can see that these classes are potentially a problem for manufacturers, though.  There were so many variations and combined permutations of cabs, bunkers, coupling rods, lamp iron positions, coal rail/no coal rails, saddle tanks, pannier tanks, reversions to saddle tank on acquistion of round topped firebox boiler after period spent as saddle tank, and liveries, that any model that was  produced would invite criticism from those who wanted one in a different form, and the wait for the exact combination of features you want might be considerable as all the other ones are worked through.  The classes were long lived and went through all sorts of rebuildings and alterations, despite being small in number compared to the 57xx/8750s that followed  them.  I believe some even had top feeds, though not as sadde tanks...

     

    Thanks Johnster and far from dismissing my two 2721s, I fully intend to update the newish Railroad version having the modern drivetrain and finer detail and finish and will be using the Swansea Railway Modellers Group’s "how-to" as a good starting point: https://srmg.org.uk/detailing-hornbys-ancient-opencab-pannier

     

    I also have a similar, as yet unidentified white metal open cab body from an auction job-lot and this will eventually sit on a suitable chassis.

     

    Also being a fan of outside framed Panniers, I should be able to build my 1076 Buffalo Pannier before an RTR version hits the market.

     

    Bill


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