Rodders

Ahoy 1960s-built monoblock railtank fans, Attached here for your perusal are pictures of the almost finished vacuum brake fitted tank wagons. I think I may have gone a bit too far on the weathering, but the photos of the prototypes on Paul Bartlett's excellent website do show considerable filthiness. My very grateful thanks go to Grahamrfd who provided a pdf of the Algeco and Esso logos, to Paul Bartlett for his excellent website and to Stenson Models for the awesome etched brass details, without all of whom this project would have been rather more difficult. I hope this project will inspire you to get on with some modelling. Regards, Rodders

Ahoy rented-tank fans, Just some progress on the vacuum fitted tank project. I think that under TOPS these would be TTF because of the AFI brake, but I digress... Thank you Graham RFD for e-mailing the Algeco and larger size Esso logos. I'm not completely happy with the print quality, but that's down to my printer. The photographs on Paul Bartlett's excellent website show a degree of fading and scratching anyway, so I shall attempt to hide the worst of it under the weathering. These tanks are booked into the consist of a trip freight via Bere Banks at the Barrow-in-Furness Model Railway Club's 57th annual exhibition next weekend, so I'd better stop jibber-jabbering and get on with some modelling! Regards, Rodders

Ahoy tank fans, Thanks for getting in touch Phil, I'm off tomorrow so the plan is to get this pair top-coated and ready for decals. Hopefully by the weekend they'll be ready for a decal-applying modeling demo along with some Parkside wagons I've been working on. See you at Ayr. Cheers, Rodders

Ahoy freight fans, Hopefully attached is a photo showing one model in primer and the other yet to be washed before priming. I have still to source the Algeco logo. The traffic stars and labels such as the commuted charge and the "No naked lights etc" I have on an old Modelmaster sheet and I'm sure I can dodge up the numbers. These models and some others like them will be on display on the Scottish Modellers stand at Ayr Model Railway Groups annual exhibition this coming weekend, 21st and 22nd Septmenber 2019. If you are going to the show, please stop by and enjoy some wagon-based jibber jabbering. Regards, Rodders

Ahoy Wishaw-built tank fans, A couple of hours careful work with the hold and fold and the soldering iron, followed by marking out using the downloaded and printed template has produced a pair of walkways and end platforms. The locating tabs on the end platform will need trimmed to clear the replacement buffers and coupling hook. Still a bit of work to do, but it's starting to come together. I hope this will encourage you to get on with some modelling. Regards, Rodders

Ahoy Tank fans, I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this topic as I currently have the very things on my workbench. Attached is a photo of progress so far, showing my representation of the Norbrit Pickering built diagram TT043A owned by Algeco and hired to Esso. Some examples of the prototypes can be found here: https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/algecoa/e28a95594 Recently released underframe kits from the excellent Stenson Models have made conversions to this type much easier, the walkways in particular kick all previous garbage out of the playing field. I have still to source the "Algeco" branding and labels stating, "In service with Esso Petroleum Co Ltd". If I am able to find this topic again I will post up photos as the project progresses. Regards, Rodders

Ahoy Tank Fans, Since Accurascale announced their upcoming model of the CFPM built PCA, it occurred to me that my as yet unbuilt 51L kit may now be obsolescent. I then began pondering the possibility of using the solebars, headstocks and suspension bits from the 51L kit as a starting point to have a go at modelling one of the CFPM built chemical tanks, diagram TT087A, number series STS 53345 - 53366. The following link should hopefully show an example: https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/stschemicaltua/e19651e54 The Metro publications books show the length over buffers for PC017A and B as 8255mm and for TT087A as 8870mm. Somewhat frustratingly, the diagram books on Barrowmore MRG website skip over TT087A. Does anyone have access to this drawing? As I said, only pondering the possibility, I have enough TTAs to be getting along with, without distracting myself further with more chemical tanks. Yours hopefully, Rodders