[Class 47 detailing project. Conversion of Bachmann 47. "A P4 Brush 4". Part 2]

Great detail work as usual Jon, I should have kept the Heljan 0 gauge Brush 4 for you to work over!

[LSWR 735 (10)]

Very nice work, your comment about the rear toolbox is correct - it stays shut by the weight of the heavy wooden lid on a full width leather hinge (what you have called a weather strip).

With regard to lampiron fittings, any reference photos that I have (including some rarely published) tantalisingly don't show this fixing, so they might not have even been fitted?

The two considerations I think would be practical, can you get the lamp on with the overhang lip of the bunker and do they foul the toolbox lid?

I think that the vacuum ejector pipe may be carried closer to the boiler, although on te photos that I have it varies at different stages of its life and in Southern days there are two pipes into the cab - but at the earlier stage it is carried tight to the smokebox and then straight back. Will you be fitting the pulley system on top of the cab roof? This seems to have arrived with the Drummond boiler which started with a flared chimney but got changed to a stovepipe by early Southern days. The detail on this engine seems to be ever changing through its life.

[LSWR 735 (9)]

Nice work with the lamp irons, I look forward to progress on this alternative Terrier, I did a profile of this in LSWR livery. It was one of my early efforts, so not sure if I got all this detail.

I think that companies tried to make sure that their lamps didn't fit other companies ones, so they didn't get nicked.

[Here's looking at you]

I remember a return to Eastbourne in the winter of 1977 with a 4 vep crawling along by Berwick in the dark sending electric arc flashes out across the snowy fields, as the driver tried to keep the train moving with a frozen third rail. Your story brought that memory back to me, well done!

["Defrocking a streak! 60022 Mallard"]

I've been contemplating this livery instead of the BR express blue on my 0 gauge A4 project, if I can't get that blue right might well return to this as it's looking pretty good.

[Transfix disaster]

You could make a patch repaint part of your weathering process, Many sheds undertook patch repainting and when weathered down it will add that bit of extra interest !

[A4 in Primer, now to get the right Blue]

Any thoughts on trying some colour samples - sprayed onto primed sheets of plastic/brass etc... to try outside in daylight to see what "looks" right.

I seem to have a myriad of test pieces and am not really confident of any them and having looked at several models in this colour there does not seem to be a consensus on the colour. Even when they painted the full-size King, which I think looks superb, there is even criticism of that, with some saying that there is a paler blue used by the Western region which may or may not be true!

Anyway I shall finish it to what I think looks nice, if not absolutely right!

The problem will be that any photo, even digital, seems to have colour rendition problems, so when I take pics for this blog, I shall do them in daylight and take whatever flak gets thrown at me!

[Old Sox]

As a kid I never needed a nightlight as a sodium light blazed through my window, leaves me somewhat nostalgic, as where I am now is down a pitch black country lane, did think of putting up an old gas light, until I worked out the cost!

[Great Northern]

I agree with the need to tone the paintwork down with a bit of weathering. This BR blue seems to have more interpretations than almost any other colour as the colour was not very well picked up by some colour films at the time. The Thompson rebuild of Great Northern seems to hold a strange fascination for a lot of people, including me and I've often thought of doing a model of it in 0 gauge, but instead I've asked a friend of mine to build a Peppercorn A1 in BR blue instead. Well done on a really good effort though!

[P4 Class 55 "Deltic" conversion: (hopefully not) An end..?]

Hi Jon, sorry to see you in such a pickle, I'm not keen on precision paints either and found Railmatch fine, definitely no gloss painting on models tho' a satin finish is as shiny as it should get I feel. Good luck with stripping, but be prepared to lose the lot paintwise, tho the primer may hang on at least partially. Its a bit like riding a bike - if you fall off, don't delay just get back on quick, so get stuck in and get the paint off pronto, before it hardens any more!

[Midland Elegance but with the Dexterity of a Hobbit]

A superb scene, you could almost walk into it!

[The story begins ...]

Brave man!

 

Glad that you have discovered the wonderful world of Pre-group railways, whilst I have mostly LNER from 1935 to 53 I have always kept some pre-group LBSC locos as their style and livery are beautiful - but in 0 gauge not N. It will be very interesting to see how you get on. I have seen an N gauge RTR LBSC terrier, and was very impressed with that and took a pic of it sitting on the tank of my 0 gauge terrier, which I should post in my gallery.

 

Anyway good luck and enjoy Pre-gouping, but perhaps as a sideline build a small 0 gauge model of a Terrier, P or other dinky engine and I think that you will have a lot of fun with making it.

[2-8-2 after a couple of weeks]

Now that engine type certainly should have been built, but wasn't it Riddles that stopped it and suggested a development of his WD 2-10-0?

If we had this on the Bluebell it would not be sitting about, but would be a popular engine, as it is the 9F suffers from rear driver flange wear due to having to spend half its time going backwards. Also the ashpan is difficult to clear properly and clogs up fast and this design would have been better. One of the great might have beens, still I hope that someone will build a P2, but this Standard would be almost as interesting!

[Detailing a Deltic - Buffer beams and slowly getting the look right - P4 Deltic Pt 10]

Great work Jon, are you going to keep this unpainted for the Burgess Hill show so that you can show what has been added? I look forward to seeing the models.

[A day enjoying twin Napier Deltic haulage on the East Coast Main Line]

Good photos of what must have been a great day, even the overall blue (my least favourite livery ever) looks good!

[Project 2010 - the Mikado]

This is what I suggested the Bluebell does with its 9F it would be far kinder to the track going backwards! Good luck with the project I am kitbashing a Bachmann brassworks '0' gauge A3 into a P1 myself, so I might post pics of progress on that too! Matthew