ian@stenochs

Scratchbuilders are not tied to mainstream/ commercial subjects either and you and can have something unique to yourself. However kits have their uses especially for the common, need a dozen or so, everyday wagons and dare I say it locos! Ian.

Yes but it wasn’t tension lock!

View from my back garden just now! Perhaps not completely white but nearly!

Rob, I think we are getting our nickers in a twist over very little. I think we both want to see examples of realistic modelling on this thread but we obviously have different ideas of what constitutes realism.. Ian.

Hi Rob, Thanks for the compliment and your well argued position. However I don’t think I mentioned scale, gauge or standards, my concern is for us to depict the railway scene as realistically as possible. We all share an interest in railways and have different skills and abilities but that common interest should unite us in our aim to reproduce what inspires us in miniature. I cannot disagree with your point re operating exhibition layouts, I have experience of that myself both using automatic couplers, Alex Jackson mostly, and 3 link. If realistic operation is the primary reason for modelling a railway then automatic couplings win every time. Exhibition layouts and the stock thereon are viewed from a distance and much of the finer detail and subtle weathering is lost and it is the overall picture one sees. Even the obtrusive tension locks become almost invisible. Pre war Hornby tinplate trains can look like real trains when viewed from afar. However this thread is about how realistic your models are so the pictures we post should reflect that. Your post #5622 where you show the same van I commented upon, with the couplings removed, demonstrates your skills to excellent effect and looks like the real thing! It may just be a proprietary rtr wagon but your weathering raises it to a different level. The pictures you have used in your post #5628 illustrate my point perfectly. The closeup of the open doesn’t work and is obviously a model, nicely weathered but still clearly a model. However the last photo with the 3f and the loading gauge captures the atmosphere perfectly and could easily be mistaken for a period photo. The couplings are still there, you can see them if you look for them, but merge into the shadows and are to all intents and purposes invisible. That is a perfect example of what we are looking for in this thread. Looking back through the thread, as you suggested, there are a great number of examples of superb modelling where it is difficult to tell whether they are the real thing or miniatures. There are also some which are clearly models and not really being shown to advantage nor in the spirit of the thread. Should we not all be striving for the former? Please continue to show us your work but select only those pictures which conform to the thread title, “how realistic are your models”. Ian.

I said "Nice weathering but completely spoiled by the couplings!" I stand by that comment. The couplings do stick out like a sore thumb. However I did complement the weathering. So not all negative!

This thread is about how realistic your models are! Surely there is only one criteria, does the model look like the real thing? Robs picture failed because of the obtrusive, non prototypical, couplings on the van. By posting on this thread one is inviting comments, both positive and negative, so if one is not prepared to be judged why post?

The title of this thread is ‘How realistic are your models? Photo challenge” Visible toy couplings completely kill the realism!

Nice weathering but completely spoiled by the couplings!

No contest! Barclays are built for heavy work while Peckets are delicate little flowers. Ian.

I Model the pre grouping scene where the majority of locomotives were quite small, even top link engines were mostly 4 coupled. The coaching stock too was shorter with little much longer than 50’ and that was main line. It is nice to be able to run 6 coach trains with a 4-4-0, which take up about the same length as 3 mark1s and a 4-6-0, and looks at home on sharper than prototype curves. Ian.

Hi Ruston, Piano tank is quite a common description this side of the border, I don't know the origin but suspect it has something to do with curvy shape found on grand pianos! A rose by any other name! This is the second model I have built of this loco, the first was in P4 a long time ago, and both were built from a drawing in the G&SWRA collection. The loco was this. The works pug of the G&SWR. When built it went on contracting work on the building of the Fairlie-Largs line and on completion of the contract was sold to the G&SWR for £350. It worked for a time on dock shunting in Greenock and them became the Works shunter at Kilmarnock. She was treated to a full lining job and kept in first class condition, works pet I suppose. The photo shows her in 1922 beside one of the last G&SWR locos, the Baltic pugs. I built my version as an industrial but fully intend another but in full G&SWR lined livery one day. Ian.

The eccentrics would be cast so the piercings would be there to make the casting less likely to suffer from contraction stress and voids. Ian.

Here my collection, All S7. 1885 14" Piano tank scratch built. 14" built from Mercian Models kit. 16" of 1906 scratch built. Jim Johnstone, the driver, likes this loco as it will pull just about anything you hang on the back. WPR 18 from the Agenoria kit but with a new scratchbuilt chassis and rods. Awaiting a bit of grime and some coal in the bunker. In the works at the moment is DICo No 17 0-6-0T on 1913.

Very true Kevin. Having been a modeller for more years than I care to count I know that many of the ‘big names’ are/we’re very good at absorbing innovations, ideas and techniques from others and passing them off as their own. Bit like the honour system where the M.D. gets the knighthood while the ones who did the real work go unrecognised! Ian

I have a completely untouched 7mm kit in my stock. It is complete with Slaters wheels but no motor or gears. I bought it when Pete brought it out. It is a pretty little engine but it is not really appropriate for my area of interest so I am open to offers. Ian.

Yes that is the boiler off Polkemmet No8. All of the loco was/ is in very poor condition and of use only for spares. Ian.

Hi, Dunaskin NCB shed, on the West Ayr Area Waterside system, was among the last new shed to be built to house steam locos. It has 4 roads each with a full length pit and long enough for 3 x 4 coupled pugs at a squeeze. It is still in use by the Ayrshire Railway Preservation group and apart from replacement doors is virtually as built. Ian.

Industrial pugs will go round very sharp curves. Scale 7 models will do likewise. On my old S7 Layout, Auchlin, I ran industrial pugs with short trains round an S curve of 24" radius on a gradient of 1 in 12 to get the colliery branch under the main line. It did have a check rail on the visible part but not on the reverse which was on the operators side. The trains were restricted to 3 loaded wagons, but that was fine from an operating point of view, and kept the action moving for the spectator. At the exchange sidings there was a loop used to run round and permit the wagons to be left for the main line locos to remove. The industrial sidings were very tight, turnouts were A switches curved to suit the restricted space. Wagons were pushed and pulled without buffer locking problems. On the 'straight' sections of the industrial line each length of track was joined with a kink just like so many real life pit lines. This never gave us any trouble but did look good. We never had any problems throughout the 10 years or so the layout was on the show circuit and we used to run at prototypical speeds, quite fast actually. Most of the pugs were 4 coupled but there was a 6 coupled diesel which worked just as well. I regret that I took so few pictures, it was just at the start of the digital photo revolution, but here are a couple of views which have been scanned from rather poor prints, the colour looks a bit washed out too. This shows one end of the run round loop and the Tally mans hut. The turnout under the Barclay has been curved to fit and is a Y. The Barclay on the curved gradient just coming out of the underbridge with 3 loaded wagons. You can just see how sharp this curve was. Regrettably I no longer have the layout having sold it on. Ian.

No don’t. The scale thickness is just fine unlike the great thick footplates on David Andrews Kits. My Jubilee has been stalled for a long time while I contemplate replacing the footplate and a few other bits for scale parts. I had hoped that the next Finney kit would have been a Jubilee rather than that B thing! Ian.

I found these two pictures of the bunkers of 1614 NCB West Ayr Area No19 A 16” built in 1918 for Dalmellington Iron Co. and now at the Scottish Industrial Railway Centre at Dunaskin. The pictures were taken when She was having her boiler removed to put onto No 10, 2244 of 1947. You can see there is a bit of rust round the bottoms, they are sitting upside down!. The scale is inches. Hope this is of use. The bottom picture is upside down. Ian

Kind of, DICo no14 is a 16”. I don’t have access to my pc just now where the prototype photos are stored but this is my rendition of the livery on a model. The full size engine is in the museum at Dunaskin and can be viewed on open days. First this year is on Easter Sunday. This model was painted with the same paint as we used on the full size loco but it doesn’t look dark enough. I have been intending to repaint but just not found time yet. Ian.

When Dalmellington Iron Co no 16 was being restored at Dunaskin we also found the original dark green underneath. The frames were the same colour but the lining is a straw/yellow not white and black. Ian.

Hi It is best to do the spectacles before erecting the cab This is a method which works. For spectacle surrounds, of any shape, cut out or file two pieces of thin brass to the shape of the outside of the frame. Solder two pieces of brass together before shaping, 4 if it’s a tank loco cab and the back is the same as the front, and they will all be the same. Solder to the cab front in the correct place and drill through. Saw, file etc to give the inside shape. If the spectacle is round and you can find a bit of brass tube the correct diameter just cut a slice and solder in place. File to the correct thickness and open out the centre. Ian.