Graham T

Yes I will certainly give it a coat of paint Rob. Hopefully that will help to camouflage things, otherwise it will be out with the files again...

I haven't started planning in that much detail yet, but will probably use Modelu products, after seeing them put to very good use here by @Rowsley17D.

After some faffing about and occasionally wishing for a second pair of hands, the prairie's bodywork is now back together. The painted backhead and the crew are just about visible! Unfortunately this also shows up how thick the back of the cab is. Bomb-proof! Next task is to tackle the DCC conversion. Should be a doddle though, apparently there are only two wires needed...

I'll have to put some on CR Mk II as a sales pitch then!

If you do go for point rodding (and you've done everything else so why not?!) then I'd recommend using something finer scale than the Wills stuff. I wouldn't use it next time; it's ok but noticeably over-scale. And also, you have a lot of points on Dewchurch, and it's with multiple rodding runs that the thickness of the Wills rods starts to become even more apparent.

I'd love to have the space (and also time and money!) to model Kingswear.

Thanks Alex. Look forward to seeing how that works. The puddle in the second pic, next to the track, looks especially good already.

Now that’s a really interesting idea! I feel as if a 100 watt bulb just went on here 😀

How did you do them? Varnish?

I love the puddles too!

As threatened, prairie 4575 has been subjected to the far from tender mercies of the Chuffnell Regis "workbench" this evening. I wanted to add a crew and real coal, so the first game was figuring out how to take the body apart. Once I'd managed that, thankfully without breaking anything, I cut away the moulded coal with a razor saw and then tidied up with a scalpel and files. I added a plastic strip across the rear bulkhead of the cab, for a new bunker false floor to rest on, so that I could have a slightly lower coal load. The rear lamp bracket and its guard also had to be cut away from the moulded coal, and then glued onto the rear of the bunker. Since the crew in my other prairie are almost invisible, I decided to open up the rear hatches on this one. I drilled a series of holes first, then cut out the hatch with a number 11 blade, and cleaned up with needle files. So now we should at least be able to see a little bit of the crew! Since I'd opened things up a little, I thought I might as well paint some of the bits and bobs on the backhead as well (if that's what it's called?) And that's enough for tonight. I'll try to put it all back together again tomorrow. All the king's horses and all the king's men springs to mind... She will be renumbered to 5521 in due course, once I've put another order in for etched plates.

I have two, a 4575 is on the bench at the moment, awaiting surgery. I do plan to backdate the livery on them both. Very nice little models I think.

Most of today has been spent messing about with locos. I started by taking a look at the Collett Goods, with the idea of getting into the tender to see if I could beef up the output from the speaker, which is a little bit timid. But a cursory look reminded me that I'd had to hardwire the decoder from its location in the tender to the motor in the loco itself, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. I was quite likely to foul up the wiring, and then I'd have a loco that doesn't even run, never mind make any sound, so I think a loco that runs, albeit quietly, is better! Next target was to try fabricating some brake rods for the 27xx pannier. Rather than being straight, these are cranked, which complicates things considerably. I've tried making some up from plastic strip, but I suspect that isnt going to be strong enough. I also have some brass strip now, so might try soldering some of that together. Otherwise the project will go back on the shelf and 2732 will have to make do without any brakes! The last attempt was a bit more successful, although it seems to have taken a long time to achieve only a few small improvements. Bachmann small prairie 4550 needed a crew, amongst other things, so I took the body off. Not something I was especially keen on, as I remembered that when I converted the loco to DCC I'd had some trouble getting everything back inside! But as it happened things went back together without any snags (and the loco still works, too!) Shame that the crew is almost invisible, as you can see from the photos - or maybe not... I also added brass number plates. The printed ones are of course slightly larger, so I had to remove those first. I tried isopropyl alcohol but that made no impression at all, and then toothpaste, which didn't work either. The loco smells fresh now though. So I had to use a fibreglass pencil instead. The subsequent pics show that there is still some more clean-up needed! I've also managed to get a tiny splinter of the darned stuff in my thumb. Buffer beam numbers also had to be removed; I hope that Steve at Railtec soon starts making those! Then of course the loco needed re-programming for her new number. The last steps were to pop a fire iron on top of one of the tanks, and to add Alan Gibson smokebox darts.

I like what you’ve been doing with the scenery, especially the pond.

Those are useful tips Ric, thanks. I’ll try to remember them when I start on the next batch of kits!

Thanks Rob, very kind of you. I like the Cordon too, and decided to model one after seeing one living at Lambourne, which Chuffnell R bears some passing resemblance to. It was a bit of a devil to build though... The decals are all from Pressfix, and have just been applied according to the instructions provided: Place decal in position (easier said than done with the smaller ones, which have a habit of pinging off in all directions) Press down gently. In theory, the decal can be re-positioned if required... Then press down firmly. I used a cotton bud for this, but need to come up with something better, as I noticed very small threads of cotton stuck behind some of the decals once I'd finished. Wet the decal, just with plain water. Again I used a cotton bud for this. Wait 20-30 seconds then remove the tissue paper covering the decal. A cocktail stick works for this. I sometimes found that the decal would still move at this point, which is something to watch for. Another firm press down seemed to fix them. Use water to wipe away any excess gum from around the decal. In practice I rarely saw any of this. Dry the decal - I used paper towel for that. And Robert's your mother's brother 🙂 I'm a big fan of Pressfix. They're a bit fiddly, but no more than waterslides, and there's no need to varnish before applying them, as there's no glossy carrier film.

The weathering mood has now passed, I think. Nine wagons completed, save for another spray coat of matt varnish. All of them had a light spraying of frame dirt on their chassis with the airbrush (which I had to strip down, clean, and re-assemble before it would play nicely). The steel opens and the Cordon had a bit of rust applied here and there, with a couple of different shades of acrylics, and then some black powder on the bodywork. The wooden opens also had a touch of rust added, and the Dapol five-planker, which looked very plasticky before, has also benefitted from some black powder. The vans had their roofs darkened with powder. Surprisingly I remembered my own advice about fingerprints, and so gave them a very light sanding first. Unfortunately I can see that the edges of the roof on the cattle wagon still look a bit lighter than the rest - doh! I also put a few small touches of graphite on some of the axleboxes, to simulate wear and/or oil, then put some rust powder onto the w-irons and so on. I think that was about it. Time to do something different now though!

While I was in the weathering mood I decided to darken the roof of the Dapol Fruit D (the rest of it had already been dirtied up). I used black powder for the roof. Note to self: clean roofs before powdering them. I shouldn't really have been surprised to find that the powder shows up any fingerprints rather well!

There a quite a few RMweb members based in the US, perhaps one of them would help you find what you’re looking for?

That all looks very neat, and I like the labelling. I have a Dymo gun, so I'm going to pinch that idea for CR Mk II if you don't mind!

I’m very honoured Monsieur Vark, I’ve never had anything named after me before!

A closer look at the fish van, just for fun 🙂

Another sitrep on the wagons. I attacked the lettering on the cattle wagon with a fibreglass pencil, and overcooked it slightly! We now have a slightly truncated E... I might replace it, but probably not 🙂 I'm quite pleased with how the fish van is looking at this stage though. The GWR steel opens have also had the Mig dark wash applied, but as you can imagine it hasn't made very much of an impression. I'll try some black powder on the loco coal wagon, and am thinking about applying a little bit of rust on both wagons as well.

That looks very good. I need to give some thought to the transfers on my wagons; some of them should be looking a bit more distressed than they are at the moment (apart from the NE cattle wagon, where I was a little - ahem - over-enthusiastic with the fibreglass pencil. Pic to follow shortly...) I should add some rust here and there too. Thanks for the photo.

Good idea Andy, thanks. I'll give it a try.