Riverside

Yes - these Stores Vans grew on me. At first I thought they would be rather uninteresting but I now find them fascinating. The build took longer than anticipated due to the number of handrails, gas pipes etc. All I need now is an elderly passenger loco to haul the train. Perhaps I'll get on with that D22 test build this year.

My posts are very random and I don't have the time to delve too deeply into construction but I thought I'd share these images of a pair of NER Stores Vans I've just completed from a D&S kit. As always with Dan's products the kit was a pleasure to build. It was I believe the very last kit of these interesting vans and had etches with some slight faults - nothing insurmountable - just needed to scribe some of the missing detail. The chimney for the H2 van with the birdcage was also missing so I turned one on my ancient Unimat. They will be finished in NER Crimson Lake which should look smart.

Thanks for this great demo Paul. I have one of these Petrol Electric Autocars and model in EM. You may want to forward this conversion to the EMGS - they like putting conversions in the newsletter.

Well done Paul - such a lot done in a short time. Is the Petrol Electric Autocar converted to EM? If so - how easy was it?

What a find! They look surprisingly accurate and detailed for a 'corn flakes give-away'. Like the combination with the NER open carriage truck.

Mike, When I built the LNWR horsebox I was puzzled by the 4'3'' description in the Micro Rail instructions as 4'6'' seems to have been the length. Reading through the scalefour forum topic it looks like this 'mistake' was carried on when David Geen produced the kit. I assumed by the 1890s these horseboxes would have had some sort of brake gear although the kit has none! Friend gave me some details from LNWR publications showing the evolution of their brake gear for such vehicles - sorry but I can't find the drawing now - and I opted for a single brake block and lever on one side arrangement. I decided to fit the vehicle with through piped Vac and Westinghouse but can't say if that was accurate. The brake gear was scratchbuilt from metal strip and bar. Pete, The NER 'green' locos are professionally painted by Paul Moore who uses his own cellulose colour which I believe he has mixed by one of the automotive suppliers. If you are looking for an enamel version the Precision Paints range one is good.

What's not to like about horseboxes? That LNWR chassis looks great Citadel. Is it a home-etch? The safety chains are a nice detail. Lovely teak finish on the GER box.

Hi 'Citadel', If you have a copy of 'Historic carriage drawings vol 3 - non passenger coaching stock' by Peter Tatlow you will find on pg. 85 a useful couple of photos of a very similar M&SWJR horsebox with the odd fold down arrangement for the side doors.

Thank you Chas and Citadel, The W class or 'Whitby Willy'! was a lovely kit to build and there's plenty of space inside those tanks for added lead and a flywheel on the motor. My personal preference was to built one as the rebuilt version rather than the original 4-6-0T as I think they look better balanced. It depends on the period you're modelling as I think the class remained as 4-6-0T s until around 1917. The LNWR horsebox was built from a very old etched kit (Micro Rail I think) and the end detail did cause me some concern as the instructions referred to an image of one of these horseboxes in 'LNWR Miscellany' which I borrowed from a club member and that showed an interesting rod arrangement for lowering the sides. There was no provision for this in the kit nor for brake gear which I assumed they would have by the 1890s. I'll attach some more images of the horsebox which hopefully will explain but I have to say I'm no authority so hope I got it right!

I do finish kits ---eventually. Here is the LRM BTP finished and coupled to a pair of D&S clerestory Autocoaches (this lot took up most of my kitbuilding time last year). Plus the NER W class built from one of Arthur's kits. Locos were painted by Paul Moore who did a lovely job as usual. I painted and lined the coaches I heard Arthur is unwell and back in hospital - so wishing him a speedy recovery.

Thanks - seems to brush on very well. I like the open door on your model with guard!

Been making some progress on finishing four NER scratchbuilt wagons in EM. The body shells were started by Richard Lacey and I added the underframes and details. There is a V1/2 outside framed birdcage brake, 2 x R1 coke wagons and a diagram P6 coal hopper wagon. The outside framed brake van has a lot of character I think. I am now working on some transfers for these. Of course - just as I finished the P6 Accurascale announced they will be doing it .. oh well at least the R1 coke wagons are unavailable commercially ... so far.

What paint are you using for the 'Indian Red' Paul? I have one of these ready to paint. It's scratchbuilt though in plastcard.

Sorry to hear that Arthur has been admitted to hospital. I hope he's soon back to good health. As I read the news I received these pics of the R class I built from one of his kits, sent by Paul Moore the painter who has done a great job. I hope that Arthur can see them.

At last the BTP is complete and running sweetly after a marathon testing session. There were some very tricky details to add including the spring hangers which were brass castings. No advice in the instructions about how one is supposed to attach these. I had misgivings about fitting them at all but decided to give it a go as they are a prominent feature of these locos. I ended up cutting the exposed parts of the springs and hangers from the castings and soldering them to the splashers. Any excess solder was removed by filing and a burr in the drill. It worked and there were no issues with shorting onto the wheels. I did experience problems with shorting of the bogie wheels onto the frames as the engine traversed curves - this was remedied by filing away more of the frames in the relevant areas. As kits go - this is my fifth etched loco kit - I think the BTP is one of the harder kits I've attempted but it does capture the look of the prototype and is worth the effort. Now on to the pair of NER clerestory Autocoaches.