rovex

Hi guys thanks for all the responses, didn't think I was going to cause such excitement when I asked the question. I'm currently bashing together a Star from the instructions on the GWR.org site, It seemed the easiest way to do it without too much cutting up. However on ebay at the moment is the Wills finecast kit for the Saint (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WILLS-FINECAST-LOCO-BODY-KIT-GWR-SAINT_W0QQitemZ150408175178QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Trains_Railway_Models?hash=item2305069e4a), BUT it's meant to take a B12 chassis, so presumably it just replicates all the wheel base errors of the Hornby one. Any thoughts Rovex

I've been in Leeds for the last couple of weeks doing some 12 inch to the foot modelling - that is decorating my old house in an effort to make it presentable to potential buyers. My partner and I have found somewhere we want to buy here in Redditch but we need to sell the old homestead first. Hopefully all will go smoothly and as soon as I'm allowed I can start building a layout to run these trains on. Anyway having got back last Sunday I've been busy building the two dining cars for the centenary stock that I dug out of my father's garage (much to everyone's disgust - "Is that what we moved all this stuff for!!!" - some people have no understanding - lol). I also found a kit for another all third which i didn't realise I had. Once all are built I should be able to run something approaching a proper centenary train, with all coach variations provided. (God I only hope Hornby don't announce new Centenaries as coaching stock that wouldn't be funny . So for those interested here are the five new coaches after initial painting - For a change no bits of paint have come away having permanently attached themselves to the masking tape. I lightly sanded the aluminium sides of the old BSL kits which I think helped. And very little paint beleding - miracles will never cease. The two brakes are the Airfix conversions shown elsewhere on this blog. Still plenty to do - so will keep me occupied over the Xmas hols. Happy Xmas and New Year everyone Rovex

Looks good - well done

Having sanded and filled the sides for the centenary brake third and being quite please with the result I thought I'd have a go at the brake composite using the same cut and shunt methods of which more in a mo. The brake third has now had its grey undercoat, this highlighted those areas which needed some more filling and I think it now looks quite smooth. I tried taking a few close up shots but there are so blurred I couldn't tell whether it was smooth or not from the photos, so I've not bothered posting them. In the brake third it was only the compartment and guards section that was cut out so the luggage section remained unharmed. The new sections were glued together one at a time using small amounts superglue kept solely on the edges. The bottom of each side was presed against a steel rule to keep them all square, any gaps would later be filled. These pieces were sanded smooth, but not filled before gluing back into the gap in the coach side making sure that the bottom of the coach side remained in line and that the transition between old side and new section was also flat. Again superglue was used sparingly to ensure that the glue set quickly. Once solid more glue was applied from behind and allowed to run down inside and along the top edge to fill any glaring gaps but making sure it was kept off the front face. Once this was all set the sides were filled with milliput, then sanded and filled again. Sanded once again, given an initial spray. This helped to highlight where more work was needed and these areas were given a final fillering, using small amounts of milliput and plenty of spit !! It has proved easier to hide the joins then I thought (though I'll let you judge when I post pictures of the finished result), I think the reason for this has something to do with the lack of doors and extra details, so I haven't had to worry about sanding off door hinges etc. The same process was used for the brake compo, which as you see from the photos is at the pre filler stage. I used the composite as the main coach with donor parts from two brake thirds (you need two to get enough little corridor windows). Wasteful I know and so unless you happen to have lots of spare coaches lying around I would recommend either getting hold of the phoenix/BSL kits or the the Comet sides. As I am going to have a lot of coach bodies going spare when I finally build the dining car kits, I wasn't so bothered by the waste. Here are the photos Anyway Leeds next week and I will hopefully find where those dining car kits are I keep going on about. Rovex

I did wonder if there was any mileage in adapting the Bachman Hall - changing the wheels etc, but it strikes me as an expensive exercise. Rovex

Hi guys - sounds to me that improving Hornby's saint is going to be an awful lot of work for not much return - I'll get it shoved on ebay then and have ago at the Star Yes I did mean Star - and I'd thought I'd proof read it. Thanks for the link Mikkel Rovex

The Hornby GWR Saint - Saint Catherine, Clevedon Court etc - I've got one of these snuck away somewhere (St Catherine - I think) and to be honest I don't think its been out of the box but I seem to recall that when it was first produced by Hornby it got a very bad press. Unfortunately I can't remember why? Does anyone? Reason I ask is that I have a hankering for a saint class loco and I'm wondering whether its worth upgrading the Hornby one, getting a new larger tender etc or should I just stick it on ebay and start from scratch. If so I might not bother and instead have a go at building a Saint instead, this website http://www.gwr.org.uk/prostar.html has a good article showing how to make one from an old Airfix Castle and the 4-4-0 GWR County - which I also have stored somewhere. What do you think? Rovex

Having got a tad bored of drilling little holes in my 70 ft stock in order to attach grab handles I've put them to one side - I'm very easily distracted as well which doesn't help. I've done a bit more work on the BSL Centenary all third, it's has door hinges, handles and door handles fitted and the roof has been cut to size and the requisite vents added. Now needs masking for the blood to be added. The photo shows it next to an airfix composite to give an idea of the actual differences in the coaches. I intend using some cut up interiors from the composite to make the required seven compartments. I should have plenty as I'm going to use the frames of two coaches when I make the BSL restaurant cars which I'll do when I find the kits I've got squat away. The other centenary I've had a go at- I couldn't resist seeing if it was possible - is the left handed brake third. The Hornby (ex-airfix) model is the right handed version. Its quite straightforward to get the sides right - you cut out an equal amount of each side - I think it was about 96 mm, splice each side up to move the windows around, glue them back together in the right order and then insert back into the coach sides. The luggage section of each was identical (or seems to be). I sanded the new side pieces on the table before gluing them back in, as this seemed easier. The problem is going to be ensuring you have smooth sides (there are no door frames to hide the cuts) I think I'm getting there but I've just given the resulting coach a spray of undercoat which will I am sure reveal all. The roof was changed by splicing off the vents and putting each one on the opposite side of the roof. Effectively mirroring their old positions. Any moulded handrails have been cut off and the coach drilled to accept new wire ones. I've not added these yet pending any more sanding that needs doing. Any way here are the pictures along with some of the original coach showing that right and left handed versions are mere mirror images. I'm looking at the drawings for the brake composite and wondering if i can do this by cutting up a composite and a brake third but I'm inclined to think I'll have more success with the BSL kit, unless the Comet sides will fit the Hornby coaches - now there's a thought. And I promise I will get those grab handles on the 70 ft stock. Rovex

Only books I've got are Russell's ones on GW coaches (though all but one is in store pending buying a new house in Redditch) and Harris's. However the notes that come with Comet's coach sides are very useful and give suggested coach formations and u can get them online from their site. Rovex

The brake third is now finished, I've added the missing "W"s to the coach number, lining has all been done and the coach given a coat of varnish to protect the transfers from coming off on my fingers. The flushglazing has been added. Rather than paint round the window frames, I tried painting round the glazing before fitting, seems to work ok. Grab handles are from Comet and seem a little on the thick side, though I can imagine any finer and they would be prone to damage. Corridor connections have been added and all it needs now is a layout!!!!!! The photos show the coach alongside a 57ft all third - made from kitbashing more Hornby coaches. Really gives an idea of the length of these coaches. More photos will follow as I finish off the others. Rovex

More "W"s have arrived and so lining and numbering can continue. next glazing and grab handles. Rovex

Now that is what you call a roundy roundy layout - good work on the scenics Rovex

Since I'm out of "W"s I decided to finish off the Cornish Riviera kitchen car that I'd been renovating. This was originally bought off ebay some years ago, together with a brass toplight composite and a Centenary brake third. I stripped it and the toplight down using Nitromors which proved highly effective, so much so that anything that had been superglued on fell off (the kitchen car disintegrated into its constituent parts). I had to take the soldering iron to the toplight to remove excess solder from when it was first built and the previous owner had inserted the compartments the wrong way round. It remains on the workbench awaiting further surgery. However the kitchen car has now been reglued and painted and is I think now finished. I won the Phoenix kit of the restaurant composite on ebay recently so I might make a start on that sometime soon. So that just leaves the restaurant third to complete the set. Heres the photos In a recent auction I also won the BSL kit for the Centenary all third. I tried this out against an old Hornby composite and it fitted the sides and underframe quite well. Encouraged by this I constructed the sides and ends and glued them to a slightly modified Hornby chassis. - Saves having to make one up. The chassis just needed a couple of mm cutting off the subframe above the buffers - I forgot to take some phots of the area - but perhaps next time. I will have to sort out a few errors in the chassis (new battery boxes etc) but I think I'm off to a good start. I think I've mentioned already that I've got the first kitchen car and third diner for the Centenary stock in storage. When I'm back in Leeds in December I'm going to try to dig these out and see if I can do the same with them. Rovex

Thanks guys for the kind comments. Yes, Bernard TPM, the restaurant car should have sliding vents by the time modelled. I did consider cutting the vents off and squaring up the windows and fitting sliding vents, but when i looked more closely at the coach sides I decided that this was going to involve a lot of work, especially since the vents extend beyond the windows below and so would require filling. Then there was the question of how to represent the sliding vents. Do you glue microstrip onto the glazing and if so how do you paint it to without getting paint all over the glazing. In the end I chickened out and just went with what I had, after all its not meant for Pendon. I'm meant to be modelling very early 1950 BR, and so I can get away with a few choc'n'cream, but until I started making these coaches all my previous attempts at lining and numbering have been thoroughly dreadful and so I went for the simplest livery. As and when I can start building a new layout I'm going to try and run a mixture of early BR and late GWR liveries to try to give that "just after nationalisation" feel. I'm currently wondering whether it is possible to make a passable attempt at the Clifton Down set using the Triang clerestories - adding a compartment to both the composite and the brake to get the correct number, some cutting round the brake compartment and some windows in the end - Oh and of course lose the clerestory. Its only a thought, I know I've got some of these in a box in storage and will have to dig them out and do some measurements. If built these will be painted all over chocolate as they didn't last long enough to see blood and custard. Got loads of flushglaze in and I'm going to try to thin the edges of the coaches with a bit of black, I was wondering whether to try black marker pen for this rather than black paint - I'll report back. I just need to order some more HMRS lettering now since when I checked last night I'd used up all my "W"s. Suppose it gives me a chance to build a few other things and then do all the lining at once - won't that be fun. Rovex

They're not kits coachman, but made by cutting and shutting the Hornby colletts. Though I'm flushed that you should think they are. On the subject of transfers again> I've also got a lo of maroon lining and blue'grey period lining if anyone wnts to do swaps for more blood and custard era. lol Rovex

These are the coaches after the first visit to the paint shop, lining and numbering to be done. Have you noticed they don't give you enough "W"s on the transfer sheets. I'm gonna be left with tons of left over lettering and numbering from these transfer sheets. I wonder if I can sell partly used sheets on ebay . Rovex

"It couldn't have been have been to suit the LMS coach as LMS Compos were longer so that was never going to be right anyway" I've just checked the Hornby website and the ghastly LMS coaches are still available in their Railroad range and are given as being 242 mm long. The GWR coaches currently in "carmen/cream" livery (their spelling - perhaps someone with an operatic spin has been working on their site) are also given as being 242 mm long. So it could have been to re-use the interior. Only thing that makes sense to me. Turning the compo into one with the correct spacing is going to require quite a bit of work. Both sides would need to be cut out as the windows will need to start nearer the ends and have bits spliced in. I tried comparing the model to the plans in Russells' excellent books and thinking given the compromises i've accepted in making the 70 ft stock and the other coaches I've bashed together from the Hornby coaches (see old RM web) i'll learn to live with it Rovex

Apropos of nothing in particular I was wondering why Hornby decided to model the 57ft GWR collett composite coach and get the compartment dimensions wrong. For those not in the know it is supposed to have four first class compartments and three third class. Now, whilst the division in the corridor side is in the correct place in the coach one of the first class compartments is actually the wrong size. Its got third class dimensions. It has occured to me that this coach shares the same chassis as the old (rather ghastly) LMS corridor composite. I wonder if the internal piece that represents the compartments was actually made for the LMS coach and rather than manufacture a new interior, the GWR coach was fiddled to fit the one already available. This would also explain the toilets at each end - yes I know the GWR coach has toilets at each end - but it doesn't have end vestibule doors and the interior is obviously meant for a coach that has. Well there it is - not exactly earth shattering and probably not news but it has puzzled me why a manufacturer would go out of its way to make a coach with such an obvious error. Hopefully Hornby will take pity on us Western modellers and give us some new state of the art coaching stock, I'd rather have that then a new all singing Castle (I seem to havea few of these already and have no intention of replacing them). Is it too early to start the New Year wishlist - hehe Rovex

I remember seeing this on the GWR Modelling site and thinking, what a great idea for a layout and secondly how good the shot under the canopy looked. Definitely an entry for the "How realistic are your models" thread - if anyone's going to start one. Well done Rovex

Thanks for that Mikkel rovex

Not the best quality photo, I think the enlarging hasn't done me any favours but then its difficult to know what to expect when you're trying to get fout foot of model carriages into one photo - but anyway I'm posting it for what its worth. Please excuse all the mess on the mantelshelf. Rovex

Not been upto much lately, but have given the latest two coaches an undercoat of grey primer, which is brilliant for showing where you need to do more sanding and filling . Added all the end details handles steps etc. I've got the underframes built (just need some more vacuum cylinders) and the interiors bashed together from Hornby remnants. The brake third just needed a luggage compartment building, the all third was made by cutting and splicing the four third class compartments from the brakes (you lose the guards compartment as its too large) and a further two compartments came from a spare composite interior. The photos show the coaches mocked up with bogies but these still need fitting. I'm gonna fit some new grab handles (etched ones from comet) but I'm wondering if I could make a jig up to make these from brass wire. I'm gonna fit flushglazing. When originally built these ran in rakes of seven, two brakes, two thirds, two composites and a restaurant car, and its very tempting to make another three coaches (i've already got two spare composites) however by the time I'm modelling, the original sets had long been broken up and it would probably be more interesting seeing these coaches mixed in with 60ft and 57 ft stock and whatever Hornby eventually decide to grace us GWR modellers with. So heres the photos Some rather fuzzy ones of the underframes and the interiors but I think they give you the idea of how the compartments were put together. The underframes themselves were made of 80 thou plasticard, edged by two strips of 20 thou. Running boards were added from more stips of 20 thou. Be careful with the glue - I'm always a little heavy handed and its easy to end up warping the whole thing. This is why I glued the compartments on with small dobs of superglue. In fact I used this for gluing the coach bodies together, its very good for filling gaps and gives a stronger bond then liquid poly. Now two of the all third and finally the brake third.. Oh by the way i didn't win the auction on ebay for the BSL kits of the 70 footers, but I did get a centenary all third (I've got the kitchen first car and third diner in store somewhere) and I also got the restaurant composite to go with the kitchen car in the Cornish Riviera stock. One thing you can say my passengers will be well fed. Rovex

Now thats a thought, i was thinking of somewhere a little more manageable - How about Birmingham Snow Hill Rovex

I have been a busy bee today and have got the carcases for both the 70 ft brake third and the corridor all third roughly cut out and glued together. The brake is made up from three of the Hornby 57 ft brake thirds - it could probably be more economically done, the only real difference is that the luggage compartment is bigger - having three sets of double doors and a greater space between them. However nothing has been wasted as the bits left obver from the compartments from two of the brake thirds where just right for the all third. On the corridor side I opened up the two small windows between the compartment doors and the guards door (does that make sense) One of the photos shows the various cuts I made for the brake third. Next job is filling and sanding, also the brake third ends will need squaring off as I believe that these had flat ends rather than bowed. The work never ends. It has suddenly occurred to me that with all this coach building I'm gonna have to have a lot of room to build a station big enough to handle all these cross country services - Oh dear rovex

Just thought I'd post a few more photos of the restaurant and corridor composite now they've had a coat of undercoat and the underframes have been put together.This is the underframe for the composite, the trussing is made from 60 thou square plastic strip. This shows the extension of the interior by adding an extra first class and third class compartment. both sides of the composite. the restaurant car underframes for both vehicles, showing the six wheel bogies on the restaurant car. Well today I'm gonna start of on the brake third and possibly the all third - if the cat will keep off the workbench Wouldn't you just know it, someone is selling all these coaches on ebay as old BSL kits. Rovex