Erudhalion

If it's of any help, on my 2021 I fitted the brake shoes as close to the tread as I thought I could get away with, and the wheels are removeable, although it is quite fiddly. With the newer etched chassis I had to fit the brake shoes quite far from the frames themselves on the ends 0.7mm wire "stalks" in order to clear the flanges when the wheels move side to side. This gives the shoes a degree of flexibility which eases the removal of the wheels. Looking at your chassis, it occurres to me that I have forgotten the sanding gear completely. I don't think the instructions mention it at all, and I haven't come across any likely pieces in the kit. I'll have to make something up with brass rod.

Thank you very much, I'll check my chassis and see what the situation is.

I realise it isn't exactly the same product, but I've used Bircheood Casey Perma Blue (which is also meant for steel) on brass. It sort of works, but I seem to get thick black layer that chips easily if I leave it too long. I have used a cotton bud to rub it on and that works better, but the result isn't perfectly black, although good enough for coupling hooks and the like.

Just out of interest, what's the total amount of sideplay on your chassis? I was looking at my etched chassis on my 2021 the other day and wondering what kind of radius it could get round, and if I might need to increase the sideplay on the middle axle.

I assumed that was the case, because some of the parts don't seem to need to be the way they are for the pannier version. That is a useful tip, I was thinking of ordering some wagon and coach wheels from them, I'll add some injectors too.

I finally managed to get something done this weekend. I made a throatplate/motor support out of brass and soldered it on to the top of one of the frame spacers. I'm in the process of making a curved plasticard piece I will epoxy to the front of the throat plate, in order to close off the bottom of the boiler and hide the motor and flywheel completely. The reversing rod, sanding rods, handrails and toolbox to the running board went on next, followed by all the various tank fittings. I drilled all the way through any locating dimples (like the ones for the handrail knobs or the buffers for the tank fillers) so I didn't have to solder them from the outside. The instructions don't mention the four tank supports or the handrail knobs, but it seemed wise to do them at this stage so I could solder them from the inside. As I was doing this, I realised I should have done the same for the handrail knob at the top of the smokebox (and possibly the smokebox door darts too), but at this point they are inaccessible from the inside. The photo above also reveals the other less than ideal choice I made: soldering the injectors on at this stage. The castings are very fragile and because they are mounted between the running board with the overflow pipe gping through a hole in the running board itself, they made place the tanks in place very fiddly. Ine consequence of this is that the left hand injector got somewhat mangled in the assembly process and doesn't line up properly with the hole in the running board anyway, so that will need sorting out somehow. Having done all that, I fixed the chimney, dome and safety valves to the top of the boiler, and checked the clearance between it and the motor. It is a bit tighter than I hoped, but there is a small gap, so it should all work. (The photo looks like the motor touches the top, but that isn't the case, although I did file a bit of a dimple in the underside of the top of the boiler just in case.) After soldering the tanks and boiler top on, it is starting looking like a loco. Exciting! Although now that I'm looking at this photo, I've noticed some rather messy soldering of mine around the front corner of the tank. That will need tidying up. Having said that, I think I'm finally getting the hang of soldering whitemetal. I was a bit worried of melting holes in stuff, but I realised that you can actually leave the iron in contact with the metal for a pretty long time and get the solder to flow nicely.

The boiler is now fixed to the footplate. I've opted not to go for the opening firebox door, it seemed to me it would be too fiddly and fragile, maybe next time if I'm feeling braver. Everything seems to fit like I'd hoped, although the tanks aren't fixed in olace yet. The wires are just for testing purposes, I'll replace them with something thinner and I'll route them down the sides of the gearbox. One of the things I hadn't noticed before is that the front half of the cab floor is missing, presumably to make space for the recommended gearbox. My arrangement fits enirely under the floor and in the boiler, so I'll make a new floor to cover up the gap. I'm planning to go for an open cab, so I think it would be quite noticeable otherwise.

High Level was my first option, but if I remember correctly when I was looking they were having some supply line issues, and seeing how I was ordering some items from Wizard Models anyway, I thought I'd try the Comet gearboxes. Anyway, I've partially assembled the main boiler components and hacked away at a few bits at the back (before soldering, as suggested by @cctransuk) and it looks like everything will fit inside as I had hoped when I did the CAD drawings in the first post.

I can't remember why, but I didn't order the motor and gearbox from Branchlines when I ordered the kit a couple of years ago. I've gone with a Comet two-stage gearbox with the extender. Unfortunatley I can't drive the centre axle because there is a frame spacer in the way. I also soldered the extender to the main gearbox yesterday evening, so rear axle it is, at this point. If the central wheelset was driven, wouldn't that limit its side play? Would you have to give the leading and trailing axles more lateral slop to make up for it? That is a much better idea than mine, which was fixing something to the underside of the motor to close the hole in the boiler casting. I'll have to use plasticard though, I haven't got any brass or nickel silver of a suitable thickness.

After a reasonably fruitful evening a couple of days ago, I have got the footplate and splashers assembled. The footplate was not remotely flat, but I have got to a poit where I think it looks all right. There was a fair bit of hacking away at the inside of the splashers to get enough clearance for the wheels and crankpins, especially on the middle drivers. It all seems to be ok and to turn smoothly, but my testing facilities are a bit limited at the moment. Once I've worked out how I want to do the pickups I'll deploy my best German and see if I can use the test track in my local model shop. Before I do that though, I need to sort out the problem I mentioned in my previous post and make some space in the firebox area for the gearbox. Ideally, I would like the lower side of the motor to sit parallel to the running plate and at least aligned with where the bottom of the boiler should be, something like this: However, the rear end of the gearbox needs to go exactly where the back of the firebox, rear tank support and front of the cab are. These three pieces all need soldering together, and form a pretty substantial chunk of whitemetal, as you can see when I hold them together with tweezers. Without modification, with the back of the gearbox as far back as it goes, the motor has to lean forward like this: All going well, I should be able to file away the lower front portion of this chunk and fit everything in. I was also thinking that I could glue a curved piece of plasticard to the bottom of the motor to act as the bottom of the boiler barrel, obscuring the motor ad flywheel from view, but I'll have to wait and see if that is feasible. I can then solder the drive extender to the main gearbox, and think of a way of holding the motor and gearbox in the correct position while also allowing the body to be removed.

It has taken a while, but I have finally gathered all the bits I needed to get started. I went for the Poppy's Woodtech jig, and it did it's job very well, I thought. I also had to resort to fashioning my own crude imitation of a Markits wheel nut driver, as Wizard models hasn't had them in stock for a while. The chassis went together much more easily than I thought, and seems fairly free rolling. I somehow managed to swap the left and right frames, but luckily that doesn't seem to have caused serious issues. I didn't have the benefit of the half-etched locating slots for the rear guard irons as they are now on the inside, but I managed to fix them in the right position. However, the half etched detail on the brake and reverser brackets is also now on the inside, while there are some markings for CSB mountings on the outside which might need filling in. Next I tackled the gearbox. I had ordered a Mitsumi motor with the other black motor as a backup. THIS was lucky, as the Mitsumi transmographied into a 4 digit LCD display on its way here, and then the replacement got lost in the post. I encountered a couple of problems putting the gearbox together. The smallest helical gear is quite a tight fit on its axle. The instructions suggest leaving it loose and fixing the axle to the gearbox sides, but at the moment I've left the axle loose and it goes around with the gear. For some reason, I was forced to file back the inside faces of the bearings i order to slot middle gear between the sides of the gearbox. Luckily the drive extender went together without issues, although I did choose to file the lower corner back a bit to ensure that it would be covered by the ashpan when viewed from the side. For the moment the drive extender is free to rotate while I sort out the clearances in the body and decide on the position. I also ended up epoxying the motor to the gearbox, which was not what I would have ideally wanted, but considering that I couldn't find suitable mounting screws and was a bit concerned about drilling holes into the motor, it seemed the best solution. Once the other chassis details went on, I mounted the gearbox and tested the whole thing out. It was a little stiff at firss, but quickly loosened up with a few minutes of running. A quick test with some of the main body castings revealed that there is a lot of metal in the area where the boiler meets the cab front, which makes the vertical motor position I talked about in my original post totally unworkable. It also gets in the way of mounting the motor horizontally, but I think I can file away enough metal to get it to fit. I also still need to permanently fit the connecting rods, and think of the best way to attach the balance weights. Im leaning towards epoxy at the moment, but I don't know if there is a better way.

The Severn and Wye lines and other lines around the Forest of Dean did require low axle weights and reasonably short wheelbases, as far as I've seen, the 2021s were replaced by 16xx in BR days, and the only other classes I've seen photos of are Dean Goods and a single 14xx. I've been told by the Loco department at the Dean Forest Railway that the 57xx they've got is pretty much the limit as regards rigid wheelbase, and the current DFR line was part of the S&W main line back in the day, but if I remember correctly was relaid in preservation, so other parts of the network must have been even tighter and more lightly laid.

Thank you! That is great info, I didn't know about these books. Looking at the RCTS volume, it seems that 2024, 2032, 2041, 2068, 2069, 2084, 2087, 2093 all had B4 boilers and pannier tanks at the time, so any of them are potential identities for my kit. A quick search hasn't turned up any photos of the locos in question in pre war years, but I have found this picture, dated 1933, which has lots of interesting details. The same site actually has a couple of photos of 2021s in the Forest of Dean, but both are saddle tanks and date back to the end of the 19th century.

As I slowly gather together all the bits I need to actually start building, I have been thinking about potential identities for the loco. The Nucast kit represents an engine with a B4 boiler (RCTS classification), and my general aim over the past few years has been to build stock appropriate for a hypothetical layout set in rhe Forest of Dean in the early 20s. A quick leaf through RCTS Locomotives of the GWR volume 5 shows a number of possible 2021s whitch had pannier tanks and B4 boilers in the appropriate time frame. The kit comes with four different number plates, and of these, 2076 fits the criteria (fitted with a B4 boiler in June 1921 and pannier tanks in July 1921). It would be nice to know which engines were allocated to Lydney in this time period, but as far as I can tell, the only way to find out is consulting the National Archive at Kew, which isn't really a practical plan at the moment. I'm wondering how long engines remained allocated to the same shed, and weather it would be reasonable to assume an engine known to be in a certain location at a certain date would have been there 10 or so years earlier. This thread has some info about the 1901 allocation, but that is all I can find. A picture from the period would also help. I have found plenty from the BR period, both in the S&W books by Ian Pope et al. and online, but photos from the 20's seem very scarce.

Life, as ever, gets in the way of the serious stuff. This time it was, in rough chrinological order, a new job, a trip to Korea, a subsequent move to Düsseldorf, and marriage. However, things have now settled down a bit, and I have got back to modelling, although, alas, I had to get rid of the nice workbench I had made. Since my last post, the brakevan had progressed to the point depicted in the photo, when I was forced to stop due to the lack of handrail wire and an appropriate tube for the chimney. I have ordered the wire from Wizard together witha few other bits for the next project, which will be the 2021 pannier I ordered over a year ago. The kit went together well, I thought, and my soldering was, for the most part, not as messy as I feared, and my newly aquired glass fiber pen can probably sort out the worst of it. The fret supplied in the kit is very similar, but not identical, to the one assumed by the instructions, and as far as I can see some pieces are missing. Luckily my wife has donated some nickel silver sheets left over from her uni days to the project, so I should be able to make some replacements for the missing components. I am still missing the buffers, which will need ordering from mjt at some point. The ones supplied in the kit are nice turned brass items, but a bit generic for my liking. Hopefully, the brake van will finally come together over the next few days/weeks.

I had a look at the Hobby Holidays website, and the jig does look very good, but as far as I can see rather beyond what I can justify spending at the moment. Has anyone ttriethe Poppy's Woodtech Jig? That looks decent, and much more in line with my current budget. Alternatively, I'm wondering if I could build something myself, although I'd have to source some 1/8" bar from somwhere.

The first box of bits has arrived, with the gearbox, flywheel, sprung buffers, handrails wire and fire irons. The motors should be on their way. I'm wondering about the axle alignment jigs, I know London Road Models sell sets, and Poppy's Woodtech do a plywood jig, but I was wondering if there are other alternatives I hadn't considered.

I'll measure the chassis I've got in the kit to see. The frets include both jointed and solid coupling rods, but it is designed to work with High Level hornblocks, so I imagine the jointed ones are for that. Luckily I ordered Markits wheels with the kit. Why I didn't also ask for a gearbox and motor at the time though escapes me... I've got a piece of glass I use for checking wagon chassis, but I'll have to get hold of some axle alignment jigs.

I think I will stick with a rigid chassis, mainly to avoid the complication on my first go at a loco. As regards the gearbox options, I've gone with the comet option. I've also ordered some sprung buffers and fire irons from Wizard. Once I've seen how the delivery goes as regards customs and paying VAT and all that, I'll probably order some crew from Dart Castings, as I also need some buffers from them for my brake van. I've also ordered one Mitsumi M15N and the open black motor, so I can try them out.

The Branchlines range looks very good, however I'm trying to keep the number of different orders I'll have to make, as I'm not sure how orders from outside the EU are handled here in Germany and what extra charges might be involved. I think for this project I'll go for the Comet GB5 and 1:50 drive extender because it gives me a few options should anything crop up as I build it. While I'm at it, I'll get some sprung buffers, screw couplings and some other bits to finish off the Southwark Models brake van that has been sitting around half built in a box. I might throw in some extra pieces to spruce up a couple of plastic wagon kits I've got lying around. For the motor I'll try one from Ebay, there seem to be a few options that would fit in the space available, such as these: https://www.ebay.de/itm/124944998650?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D248523%26meid%3Da6d4f7b2e643402ba89939ab9d1505be%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D274833786599%26itm%3D124944998650%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V4V6ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecallCPCBlended%26brand%3DMitsumi&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A124944998650a6d4f7b2e643402ba89939ab9d1505be|enc%3AAQAIAAABYClE7Rni7LPdZba0E4PpnN9sqdNIfzrngjJmhUj%2BPVGabI8X4okIddREUp4Q0zc2AzeQ%2BYWQSxoBqGa9J%2Bx35NrBHVFYUVGsflNyHmFJfvouFhcLtSal3PrT8uqN34xP8tTkRtMZH%2Bjfqn4MA7rMqmop9BlRs%2BvO0mz64h3%2BJZHB9h1QNDPPuDvygyflixZppThdaZQU2oNCfRLSQ85pPz0R5f7TqNCeur2Hfu0OBqHFMPW0Sxrw6BJd3KeMZfeXIQzXi5G4LjFDaR3lgzjzYm2hS0l%2BctCQRA7ocfU9Qo0CvK0rzMbjFPJuepWtVq61PCtXX1ssxfdBqVohI3adKNHndwzOUbKkonZ1G8dWxtyDBHCT9r57P8PpTrS9DVpsKMzWN6k33eFLU8qU0vzbGXdRZANlZI5RlxQ%2FRUDvswdXzjl0hnGM0FRuyjiXLKOm5589F1rw5wafWKhcZqT9284%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675 https://www.ebay.de/itm/274820325076?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D248523%26meid%3D4dc7b8a6927f4b98bbaa4667bac854fc%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D124944998650%26itm%3D274820325076%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A2748203250764dc7b8a6927f4b98bbaa4667bac854fc|enc%3AAQAIAAABMPzGgyhK8D4QCApcBuWVQe1qsoN395NgJVWTF7eo2rfipPwdfCio0EI4F5H%2Bx0wtS8%2Fu%2Fr%2FRUxEZ1KxNtbAGuwQqNawa9Mz45LW45pYy0nujfW8XgYGJgTk3qme2u47QNo%2F%2FxademZS4lwt9N8iNYKhomzpdknC6UQ9dveo948K2iD%2B%2FCNYKwv8sWydDhMQTjdEtfCyUWRkSFwoXEDW%2BlA1o8p5r0l%2B%2BifgQbuuuNmm3mCEVRCx%2BzZ6FxCu9lJT73euE7UIDZSMdQWBM2JeNkyHc8cvz2OoxGWACRaLD7Bi8U1W0QLOaDJ4QZmUtMJg56WZZKoJwYnHWlb6geR%2Fgfj%2FooVhn9OmqRZUDk91jAEeuLe0iq4MfudM%2Bg4ZcXxuBK7Ns%2FiM1EE9tA1LJGsNaEe4%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675 https://www.ebay.de/itm/275019466280?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D248523%26meid%3D4dc7b8a6927f4b98bbaa4667bac854fc%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D124944998650%26itm%3D275019466280%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1%26brand%3DMarkenlos&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A2750194662804dc7b8a6927f4b98bbaa4667bac854fc|enc%3AAQAIAAABMPzGgyhK8D4QCApcBuWVQe1qsoN395NgJVWTF7eo2rfipPwdfCio0EI4F5H%2Bx0wtS8%2Fu%2Fr%2FRUxEZ1KxNtbAGuwQqNawa9Mz45LW45pYy0nujQJVHyjW1NdT7Zj3Jck52%2BQXGUGYvNZfN4KkjReFtU1El%2BLmqE9cc3jdrUrKnnK0MqewYujUuXvClYL3C434acIDKftx5gW09HkStetxusowgt%2FJYPDJ6ly5i32JLMHrFhInPLXjkwUABFiRqrdyR862zEDWCktzwNT5N2M1IT7pTcfjOFfNCcbFiEVneLEreFtqZCYiEwYtVl9RGeKtEkPGCFwKZKlX7LuL26h6u%2BDF2nLGRvr%2BcjJRLHEJT1R9vpdbzxZhd%2FFlNVt7FaFs21aaUTGkTBN8dcyoPXJAmyjk%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675 Apologies for the massive links. I might order a flywheel as well, on the off chance that I can fit it in. Some drilling of holes might be necessary to fit them to the gearbox, but it should be doable. I'll place the orders in the next few days and see what happens.

Evening all, Around a year ago I bought a Nu Cast Partners GWR 2021 pannier tank kit, which has sat on various shelves and in various bags while we moved house, then country. Now we are sort of settled down in Germany, at least for the time being, I was looking at it and trying to work out what bits I need to buy to get building. I am a complete novice at loco building, I have build a few Cambrian and Cooper-Craft wagons and am well on the way to finishing a brass Toad kit, and have built a white metal Peco Dennis, but that is about as far as it goes. I originally was going to go for a High Level gearbox and motor, as that would avoid the need of finding a motor and gearbox from separate sources, but noticed on their website that at the moment they are not shipping outside the UK. A Comet gearbox from Wizard models is the obvious next choice, as I need other bits from them anyway, so I cranked up the CAD and tried out a few things. As far as I can tell, there is no chance I'll be able to fit the standard Comet two-stage gearboxes in, so it seems I'm left with either a single stage GB2 or 4 with the motor mounted vertically, thus: a GB5 with a drive extender and the motor mounted horizontally: This second option seems more appealing to me, as I can get a higher ratio (50:1 rather than 38:1), which I imagine would be more appropriate for this kind of engine. I'm assuming that the drive extender can be rigidly fixed to the main gearbox. The motor (in red in the sketches) is just a rough approximation, I've been scouring Ebay for suitable motors, the main limitation being that the firebox and boiler cavity are at most just over 12mm wide. I have heard good things about the N20 motors, and the size is right, but I can't seem to find one for sale without a gearbox. Most of the other options I've seen on various threads appear to be too wide for my application. On a related note, I was wondering on the wisdom of attempting some sort of springing/compensation, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to pull it off successfully and if it would really be worth the added complication in 00. Also, has anyone tried the Comet chassis jig? Or is it better to order something like Poppy's Loco Builder Box?

My last post featured two Coopercraft wagons which were looking a bit sad after about a decade sitting on a shelf. I decided it was time to reassemble and repaint them, and make some improvements along the way. The first thing I did was disassemble them as much as possible without causing damage and removing some of the old paint. The open wagon body came apart completely without much fuss, while the mink's roof came off, but the rest of it stayed together, which made removing the paint a bit tricky , although I did manage to clean up the area where I had originally managed to spill a drop of solvent when I originally built it. I then started putting them back together and Improving them. Underframe After a bit of research on the Coopercraft website and on the GWR wagon book, I determined that what I had were a V4 mink and an O4 open. These two diagrams had the same underframe featuring DCI brakes, at least initially (the V4's were upgraded with vacuum brakes at some point after construction). Having looked at some photos of the real things, I realised that the underframe as supplied in the kit was lacking the prominent swan-necked lever which actuated the brakes, as well as the quadrant sitting behind the brake handle. I decided to have a go at making a representation of these out of plasticard. Luckily there is a space between the V-hanger and the brake rods which is just wide enough to slot in a lever. Using a diagram of a DCI brake as a guide, I stuck some masking tape onto a piece of plasticard and sketched out the shape. Once cut out, I ensured that it didn't interfere with the wheels. Next I had to fashion a piece that looked vaguely like the DC brake quadrant, which was quite fiddly considering the size, but I think I succeeded in crafting something that looks ok on the finished wagon. I glued the swan-neck lever to the V-hanger and the back of the W-iron, glued the quadrant to the back of the bracket holding the brake lever and then added the pair of links between the two with10 thou plasticard. This is what it looks like on the open wagon, the mink had the same treatment. Buffers A couple of the buffers had long ago snapped off and disappeared, so I decided to replace them all. My first plan was to turn replacements on the pillar drill from 4mm brass rod, but after a couple of attempts I decided I couldn't do it consistently enough to get the results I wanted. The two I turned looked fine on their own, but one was actually 1mm longer than the other, and with files and a drill I decided I couldn't turn a complex shape like this accurately. After pondering the matter for a couple of days, I decided the solution was turning the buffer head and shank from the brass rod, and then thread a buffer body made from plasticard onto it. I glued up a few different stacks of plasticard, as you can see in the photo (which also features the two attempts at solid brass buffers): - 8 buffer bodies (3 layers of thicker plasticard) - two stacks of 4 layers of 10thou plasticard to form the raised lip at the end of the buffer body - two more stacks of 4 layers 10thou to form the lip/radiused edge between the buffer and the headstock (in hindsight I don't think these were necessary) These last two stacks were only lightly glued together, as the plan was to separate them into 8 of each component. I then turned the end of a piece of rod to form a spindle 1mm in diameter (the same as the buffer shanks). This was heated with a small blowtorch and pressed through the centre of each of the stacks of plasticard in turn, melting through them to create an appropriately sized hole and also to enable me to turn the plastic components tu the right size and shape. After a few hours of work, I had two of the following kit of parts: It turns out my clever plan wasn't quite as clever as I thought, as the turned plastic parts were not quite as concentric as I was hoping, as well as incredibly fragile. however, I managed to get them all superglued together in the end. I must have slightly underestimated the thickness of the plasticard, because the new buffers are a little longer than the originals, but visually at least, I think they are fine. Reassembly and Painting I now put the open back together. I had to fabricate some new door stops to fix to the solebars as the ones provided in the kit didn't seem to look much like any of the ones I could see in period photos, and I had also put them in the wrong place when I first build the wagon. I crafted some new ones by heating strips of plasticard in boiling water and forming them around a file handle. I then cut some spacers and glued the lot on the solebars in line with the oblong plates of the door. Well, nearly in line as it turns out. The four sides of the body were then glued on. On the mink, i glued one of the two hefty hex nuts i had put inside back to the floor, added a piece of plasticard to stop the sides from bowing inwards and put the roof back on. I then built up some couplings and this was the final result: (You can see my soldering improving as i tried out different flux, techniques and solder) Primer was then brushed on (still no access to an airbrush, but I get decent results, I think), and a good quantity of GWR goods grey was mixed. I managed to get the proportion wrong (9:1 rather than 7:1), but it looks alright. I added a bit of white for the mink, as I wanted the open to represent a recently repainted wagon with 16" letters, while the mink would still be sporting the old 25" letters, so I wanted a more faded look (which I definitely didn't get). I then applied methfix transfers and very carefully cut them with a scalpel while still damp so they would follow the shape of the planking. The mink was then drybrushed all over in light grey and I tried to add some slight spots of peeling paint and rust, which were unfortunately both obliterated by the light grime wash I applied to both wagons. Here is the finished result: The mink especially is a lot smarter than I would have liked, but overall I am quite satisfied, they are definitely much improved, I reckon. The inside of the open has been drybrushed a bit, but it suffers from the unusually high floor and lack of detail these Coopercraft kits seem to feature, so I might provide it with a load or tarpaulin at some point to mask it. Except I managed to set up some ancient Lima track on the floor and run them around a bit, and it tuns out that my new buffers prevent them from going around the bends. I think it is simply because the curves I have are pretty tight (384mm). They should be alright on more sensible radii. If not, I will have to move the couplings outwards a bit. Oh well, you live and learn. Talking of learning, I have made a start (with much concern and trepidation) on the brake van!

First of all, new modelling bench! We've been rearranging things about the house after our flatmate left and left a Black & Decker-style workbench behind. I promptly commandeered it and made a work surface which is held in the vice using a piece of MDF and various left over bits of wood, mainly from Ikea shelving. The lamp was salvaged from the cupboard of disgrace in my violin making workshop. Overall I'm pretty happy, it certainly beats the small table I was using before. (If you are wondering what Darth Vader's head is doing there, its a phone holder). Second of all, an update on the PO wagons: Cannop and Pates & Co are basically done, although I might still do some minor adjustments to the weathering. Pates & Co turned out grimier that I was hoping, I was aiming for a lightly weathered wagon, with some coal dust around the side door and a bit of grime on the underframe, but I overdid it a bit. Still, I don't think it looks unprototypical. The other thing I'm not totally satisfied with is the colour of the grimy wash I mixed up, which ended up a bit too red for my liking, a sort of rusty colour. It looks alright on Pates & Co, but the white letters on Cannop have gone a bit of a weird colour, although I notice it is not too apparent in the picture. I might try to rectify it, but I'm not sure how at this point. Another thing which isn't obvious in the photo is the absolute pig's ear I made of one of the couplings on Pates & Co, where I assembled the S&W coupling with mounting plate as per instructions, only to discover that the plate wouldn't fit between the headstock and wheels and that the paddle was resting on the axle so it would occasionally prevent it from turning. A bit of filing and bending and touching up and adding blobs of solder sorted it, but I'll check next time before assembling everything. On a side note, as I was looking for photos of wagons as a reference in the Severn & Wye books, I came across the views of the then new footbridge at Lydney Jcn in 1908 in the first few pages of Vol. 5. They features rows of PO wagons under the bridge, I was surprised at how clean most of them were: the majority appeared to be pretty much spotless, at least on the actual body sides. The underframes seemed to be a bit dusty, but still in a very good state compared to pictures I've seen of similar vehicles in the '40s or '50s. I wonder if this was typical in the pre-WWI period. The shunting truck is almost done, I've been trying to work out how to fit couplings to it: one side is going to have and S&W coupling, the other a loop of wire for tension locks to hook on to, but I've also fitted hooks for instanter couplings, as you can see below. A bit overkill maybe, but I'll see how it works in practice. I was also thinking that some lamps and other assorted bits would give it a bit more character, so I might at some point order some. I recently discovered two of the first wagon kits I ever build, about 10 years ago: a GWR OPEN (possibly diagram O4), and a MINK, both from Cooper Craft. The quality of the kits is pretty good, lots of nice crisp detail. Unfortunately, that can't be said about my workmanship. As you can see, the open is literally falling apart. I'm in the process of disassembling them as much as is reasonable, removing the yellowed decals and stripping the paint (Humbrol enamels dissolve in alcohol! You learn something new every day). The open also has weird door stops hanging off the solebars which don't appear in any of the photos of similar wagons in the Big Book of GWR Wagons, so they are coming off and I'll fabricate some new ones. Both will then be repainted in GWR livery (not the weird greenish tinge I had decided looked like BR freight grey). I will also need to turn some new buffers for them from brass rod using my Ultra-pro lathe (pillar drill and an assortment of needle files). Finally, look what arrived in the post (after the customary month of waiting for Italian customs to actually do their job): A Nucast Partners 2021 kit and a AA1/AA3 Toad kit from Roxey Mouldings! As excited as I am for these, the more I look at them the more I think that I will need to do a lot of research (both on soldering technique, chassis building etc and on prototype) before I even think of getting started. Anyone know where to find Lydney shed allocations from around 1920? I hope I'll be able to do them justice. Exciting stuff!

Well, December got a bit hectic, I didn't get much modelling done. However, progress is being made: The lettering on this wagon was much more of a challenge than the Cannop wagon, but from a distance it looks ok, I think. Close up it is a bit of a mess, but I hope that weathering will make it less obvious. The tiny curly lettering unfortunately spells "Empty to/ Uorgreens Colliery/ Forest of Dean" on one side, as the tinyness and the curlyness made it rather hard to tell a U from a W. But still, I am reasonably happy. I've had a bit of an issue with the lettering on the shunting truck. My original plan was to have "S&W. Joint Shunting Truck" as per the photo so kindly posted by @Western Star a few blog posts back. However, as I only have the HMRS wagon transfer sheets at hand, this entails doing a bit of cutting and rearranging of letters. However, it turns out that although all the letters are there, they aren't in the same condensed typeface you can see in the photo and so don't fit on the side of the toolbox. As it isn't the same design of shunting truck as the photo anyway (M4 rather than M3), I applied rule 1 and it is only going to have "S & W Joint" on the side (assuming I can craft the "&" out of something). In other news, I might be ordering a 2021 class kit from NuCast Partners in the coming days. Exciting stuff!

After a mere seven months later, I have almost finished the first of the two PO wagons. The lettering on the side was not too difficult, although one side took two goes. I had real trouble getting nice sharp corners on the letters, especially the wagon number, but I think it looks all right from normal viewing distances. The spacing and shape of some letters is a bit wobbly, but looking at the photos in the S&W books, the lettering on various wagons with nominally the same livery is less consistent than I imagined, so my inaccuracies turned out to be prototypical (luckily). The lettering on the wagon side was assembled one letter at a time with HMRS methfix transfers, which is how I discovered that acrylics are alcohol soluble. It took about a week to letter the first side, but by starting all three lines of text at the same time I was able to cut down the time significantly for the second side. This lettering is in keeping with the rest of the wagon when it comes to regular spacing and correct alignment, as I found the process rather fiddly. The transfers on the solebars are by Fox. I am a bit uncertain about how to weather this wagon. Pre WWII PO wagons seem to be in unexpectedly good nick in many photos, so I think I'll keep it relatively light. S&W vol. 5 has a photo dated 1908 of a rake of PO wagons in Lydney with what appear to be almost spotless sides but considerably dirtier running gear, which struck me as a bit odd. While I think about that, I have started lettering the next PO wagon. As you can see, the lettering is still very much in the wibbly-wobbly phase, I hope I'll be able to tidy everything up and add the proper black shading to the letters. The completed wagon side should read PATES & Co / college coal exchange/ 22 Cheltenham, plus the various "Return empty to" and so on, which I'll do with transfers again. I have also painted the shunting truck and added some transfers. I think I will have to be a bit inventive with the HMRS GWR transfer sheet to assemble the writing on the side of the toolbox. My plan is to use this as a conversion wagon between coupling types, but I an not sure whether I want S&W on one end and tension lock on the other; or S&W and 3 link, considering the amount of brake detail I'd have to remove to fit a tension lock. Lots to think about, but at least things are moving again.