Nile

Nice livery, that lining looks very neat.

Thanks Rob. I think you've correctly identified the origins of this loco. Sparkshot does both the Cambrian and Furness versions of the Sharp Stewart design, this one is a freelance development of it.

And now to the chassis. It may not be powered but it still needs coupling rods and crankpins. The Hornby wheels are tapped for 10BA, so the starting point here is a 1/4 inch 10BA cheese head screw. I fitted it into a pin vice and filed the head down until the slot disappeared. I then filed the round head into a hex shape. File across the top, then rotate the vice to its next side, repeat. This is the result. The thread needed to be shortened by a few mm to stop it sticking out the back of the wheel. This was done with side cutters and cleaned up with a file. And then make another 3. The coupling rod here was built last year as an experiment. It consists of two 10BA nuts that have had the thread drilled out, linked by some 0.7mm Nickel Silver rod soldered into holes drilled into the sides of the nuts. To improve their appearance I soldered some strips of brass to the outside of these basic coupling rods, more leftovers from brass kits. The nuts were later filed round. Final fitting.

Tank Wagons are a bit of a rarity on British narrow gauge lines, but that doesn't stop wanting some. I found a suitable staring point in the form of some old Triang TT wagons. The metal chassis has to go, that leaves these parts. I've already started on the tank, removing the letters. To the underside I've stuck the parts of a Dundas Tralee & Dingle chassis. The ends are made up from plastic card. With the tank back on. And then more recently at a show I found one that someone else had converted, using Egger Bahn parts I think. The result is a lower riding wagon than mine. I shall add some brake details to this, it will make an interesting comparison.

I see you found the food hall. Did you find the main hall, the one with the models in?

More RTR goodies from Fourdees. They have now produced a four wheeled open wagon, based on W&LLR prototypes. (also available in grey) It comes fitted with Peco couplings and Farish wheels, which are non-magnetic. Comparison with a kit-built W&LLR sheep wagon. Note that the sides of the wagon bow out slightly. I don't know if this by accident or design, but it looks a lot better than sides that bow in. Finally some photos on my layout. First is a W&LLR-esque scene with a modified RTR loco and a kit built brake van. Finally an all RTR goods train. These wider wagons are a better match to the other Fourdees stock.

Am I first? Maybe because I only ordered one. These look nice.

Does he also sell pins?

Chassis. But pronounced chasseez.

Thanks for the comments and likes. I like the idea of the lined splashers, but the cabside one wasn't working for me, it got in the way of other things I wanted to do, so I removed it (bear with me). I've repainted the tender and added lining and lettering. A black border with a yellow inner line. T'other side. Now for the tricky bit, lining the cabside and front splasher in the same style. On the splasher I kept the stuck-on beading but painted the outer half black, I think it looks better now. The rest was made up from Microscale decals and some black paint. When softened the decals can be forced into a curve.

It's been done in 2mm scale, in a 9F. I think it was in MRJ not that long ago.

As this is a passenger loco it needs some lining to relieve that plain green livery. Boiler bands first, I used Microscale striping. I started with a thin yellow line, then added an even thinner black line to its centre. This took some time, and patience. Then I had an idea about what to do with the splashers. This involved cutting circles in a sticky label with a compass cutter. These were cut to length and painted yellow, then stuck to the model. The idea is that these would have originally been brass, but have been replaced with painted ones. I wasn't entirely convinced by these and left them off the other side for comparison.

I see you've fitted a rotating launch pad in the middle, allowing you to aim your radio controlled Cathedral.

24mm.

And there's me thinking of an entirely different dogbox. https://goo.gl/images/DTxN7a