Stoke Courtenay

[martin_wynne]

Hi John,

 

Here's another go at that image. By fiddling about with the program controls I added a patch of sunlight catching the ground disc and the locomotive front buffers. Probably a bit overdone:

 

 

This utility program is now available if anyone would like to try it (for Windows).

 

Here is short video guide to the basics of using it:

 

 https://flashbackconnect.com/Default.aspx?id=aXCjica0yZIHqSoVfgEC5A2

 

The program can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this post:

 

 http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=3638&forum_id=5

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[checkrail]

Thanks Martin.  I do rather like that, including the patch of sunlight!

[checkrail]

During lockdown I've finally run out of displacement activities on Stoke Courtenay, screwed my courage to the sticking place, and started to address my current stash of coach kits and conversion parts.  On the workbench at the moment is a Hornby D29 corridor clerestory van 3rd.  It's being fitted with a pair of brass sides formerly made by Bettabitz/247 Developments, which I was lucky enough to pick up on eBay a while back.  Here's the coach as it was until a couple of weeks ago.  Over the years it's had some paint and transfer alterations as well as Keen Systems ends with a representation of the correct scissors-type gangway, but the lack of relief panelling always bugged me, especially when seen adjacent to a Slater's toplight for instance.

 

Here's the donor body after a bit of work with a drill, mini handsaws and files/sanding sticks.

 

And below are the sides.  The droplights were soldered in, then I came across the problem of the window bolections - the etch doesn't have any, so if used as is you'd be painting a recess rather then a raised moulding.  Then I remembered a set of D47 toplight sides from Frogmore which arrived a long while ago as an unexpected item in baggage area, as part of an eBay purchase of PC coach kits 'n' bits.  So I robbed Peter to pay Paul and nicked the separately etched Frogmore bolections.  The smaller ones were a good fit, but the large ones were for larger toplight windows and needed trimming, then applying in two parts.  This wasn't as hard as it seemed (at first).  I wasn't confident of soldering them neatly enough, so glued them in with Roket Rapid.  Then a mini-disaster involving LMP solder meant I had to rip them all out again and re-do them, and they've not been so straight and true since!  The guard's lookouts were also subject to two goes, what you see here having since been removed and replaced using the Hornby part as a template and a backing piece.

 

Finally, a coat of Halford's primer covered a multitude of sins, or at least some of them.  

 

John C. 

[The Fatadder]

Looking very nice so far,  The extra relief makes such a difference on those sides.  Are you going to be needing to give it full lining for your period?

I certainly would not want to be doing that!

 

Its a shame that the ex 247 sides disappeared, Eventually I need to do a few clerestories still (and need to do some Hornby conversions to get a mail van and the dyno car for which my logic is to apply 10thou plastic overlays cut with the silhouette.  The only thing stopping me is the price people seem to be wanting for 2nd hand Hornby models!

 

[checkrail]

4 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Are you going to be needing to give it full lining for your period?

Absolutely no way Rich!  By my period this would most likely have had the shirtbutton totem, but I've chosen to do mine in the earlier 1928-34 livery for a bit of variety, and because I think it suits the coach.  Fortunately, on either of these options lining is restricted to the gold/black waist line  - I find that difficult enough!

[The Fatadder]

10 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Absolutely no way Rich!  By my period this would most likely have had the shirtbutton totem, but I've chosen to do mine in the earlier 1928-34 livery for a bit of variety, and because I think it suits the coach.  Fortunately, on either of these options lining is restricted to the gold/black waist line  - I find that difficult enough!

I know what you mean, I have a massive backlog of coaches awaiting double central lining.  My Toplights are being finished in Shirtbutton purely because it’s even worse lining on top of the raised lines.

[checkrail]

It's a day of bright sunny periods at Stoke Courtenay, or at least it was until I climbed on a chair and closed the blind on the Velux window!

 

 

I don't know, the best spring in years with day after glorious day ideal for mountain bashing, and us all under house arrest.  And though I have the layout to keep me busy, every time I go up to the loft I have to shut the blind and obliterate the lovely sunshine in case my scenery fades to grey.  Will have to compromise and go for a brisk walk in the park once I've finished the last few twiddly bits on the clerestory van third.

 

John C.

 

 

 

[checkrail]

Some pics of the revised underframe from clerestory van 3rd 3352.   It struck me that by the 1930s these would all have been converted to electric lighting and have had the long lower footboards removed,  In spite of careful carving I was unable to keep the horizontal part of the truss rods in one piece when trying to remove the central supporting pillar for the footboard, but new bits of trussing were soon fettled from some brass rod, with a bit of masking tape wound round in the middle to represent the gizmo that I think must be a tension adjuster (?).  Some Comet V-hangers, brass wire, and white metal battery boxes and dynamo were added from the spares box to provide a sketchy suggestion of brake gear and electrics.  The positioning of these elements was a combination of Russell and a bit of guessology, so may not be quite right.  Gives the flavour though, I hope. 

 

 

 

The guard's steps were made from short sections of the old footboards suspended from just behind the solebar by a couple of Claire's Lace Pins (last used in point construction.  I had to take care when marking out the position for these as the guard's door on the brass etch is in a different position on one side to the simplified Hornby version.

 

Of course, I managed to break a buffer off when handling, and was about to order some metal Dean oval buffers when I remembered an old broken clerestory coach and did a bit of cannibalisation.  Meanwhile the superstructure awaits a few final details before I re-unite it with the underframe and bogies.

 

John C.

[AlfaZagato]

The thing you made with tape is called a turnbuckle.   Fancy name for a tensioner.

[checkrail]

Put the final touches to the D29 clerestory earlier today.  Here are the 'official' photographs.

 

 

 

Final jobs today were to touch up the paint here and there ('Oops, there's a bit of Indian Red on the cream - oops, now there's a bit of cream on the brown', etc.), to add the lamp irons (Brassmasters) and to convert the original lavatory droplight to the later pattern fixed unit with an inwardly opening toplight, as per photos in Russell etc.  (Done by adding a little piece of microstrip and painting it Indian red.)

 

The very last thing was to snip the now redundant lamp brackets off the Keen Systems gangway end plates - three brackets per coach end seemed a little excessive!

 

Hope the vehicle now looks a bit more 1930s-ish. Currently processing some pictures of it in service on the layout, so a bit more to come about how I got on with this conversion.

 

John C.

[A Murphy]

That looks very good John. It has the presence (and the mouldings!) which the Hornby 58 footers lack.

 

Best wishes,

 

Alastair M

Edited May 8, 2020 by A Murphy

[Clearwater]

Hi John

 

Looks good to me but how did you achieve the thin chocolate line?  Did you make either side of the cream and spray /paint the chocolate as a single coat?

 

Thanks

 

David

[TrevorP1]

2 hours ago, checkrail said:

Put the final touches to the D29 clerestory earlier today.  Here are the 'official' photographs.

 

The very last thing was to snip the now redundant lamp brackets off the Keen Systems gangway end plates - three brackets per coach end seemed a little excessive!

 

 

Hope the vehicle now looks a bit more 1930s-ish. Currently processing some pictures of it in service on the layout, so a bit more to come about how I got on with this conversion.

 

John C.

Very, very nice John. Interesting you’ve used Keen Systems gangways. I’ve just ordered a couple of sets to try out.

[checkrail]

A couple of pics of 3352 in service on a Newton Abbott - Plymouth stopping train headed by 5975 'Winslow Hall'.

 

 

Looking at photographs shows up things you hadn't spotted in reality.  I noticed that in all my photos of this new coach the body didn't seem to be sitting properly on the underframe.  My necessary butchery had removed the spring-loaded plastic tags of the Hornby original and I was relying on a body-to-chassis push-fit.  Problem was soon sorted.   I'd glued in three 40 thou Plastikard cross pieces - fore, aft & centre -  to stop the bodyshell falling too far over the solebars.  The middle one was a bit too low, causing the body to rock slightly fore & aft.  Bit of plastic carved off and all sorted.  I might end up tack-glueing the body down.  I'm always reluctant to fix coach bodies to underframes permanently because in my experience the minute you've glued them you see a minute bit of white material that's statically attached itself to the inside of the glazing!

 

John C.

[Coach bogie]

Great work John. I do like to see the relief of panels on clerestories.

 

I have been doing similar whilst stuck at home. It has been a really hot day, here in Yorkshire and the perfect opportunity for varnishing various Worsley Works etches. Too bright to get a decent picture. The top is a D33 and then 3 sets of C16 (not all for me). The latter is what the Hornby clerestory should look like for the 1930's with the two centre toilets replace by a further compartment. Much to the family's annoyance, I have four Hornby shells all cut and waiting for the painted sides in the house.

 

Keep well all

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

 

[Miss Prism]

Bogie footboards still in place on 10' bogies after 1930??

 

[checkrail]

And two more taken before the body/chassis fit issue was sorted.  (Although of course on the second one you can't see it!)  

 

John C.

[Coach bogie]

7 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

Bogie footboards still in place on 10' bogies after 1930??

 

They were still around. White roof clerestory has a roundel on it

and even later

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

[checkrail]

13 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

Bogie footboards still in place on 10' bogies after 1930??

 

To be honest Miss P. I hadn't given the bogies a thought but your post sent me back to Russell.  So I can add to Mike @Coach bogie's recent post.  In Vol 1 and Appendix Vol 1 I found at least 12 post-war photos of clerestory stock still with bogie footboards, inc. one coach in BR days with a 'W' prefix to the number.  Perhaps the best is Appendix, Fig. 282, of a pretty well maintained E69 in brown & cream with the 1942/1943 lettering, marshalled into a main line express in 1949.

 

Was glad to find these (even though I guess they'd be the exception rather than the rule by that date), as I'm not sure one could carve the footboards off the Hornby bogies all that successfully - They're such an integral part of the moulding. 

[gwrrob]

If the bogies offend you John you can always replace them with the Shapeway's 3d ones that are available without step-boards.

 

https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/trains?type=product&q=dean+bogies

Edited May 9, 2020 by gwrrob
info.

[checkrail]

17 hours ago, Clearwater said:

how did you achieve the thin chocolate line?  Did you make either side of the cream and spray /paint the chocolate as a single coat?

I had yet another go with black/gold lining transfers, but with no success. As @The Fatadder has rightly observed in a recent post, it's even harder when you have to put the lining on the raised part of the panelling (which might be narrower than some transfers!).  So I used my usual method of ruling a black line with my Pilot V5 pen onto some orangey-yellow Tamiya masking tape, cutting out a thin black/'gold' line and applying to the coach, sealing it, after lettering, with Dullcote.  Not ideal but within my capabilities!

 

[checkrail]

14 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I have been doing similar whilst stuck at home. It has been a really hot day, here in Yorkshire and the perfect opportunity for varnishing various Worsley Works etches.

Thanks for this Mike. You've got a regular production line going!  They look good.  After your recent 'heads up' over on ANTB I bought a pair of the C16 sides from Worsley, so that's the next project.  Any hints or tips welcome.

 

I also realise that you commissioned the D33 sides from WW.  What was your source of pics and info?  Russell (Part 1, p.186) says that D33 was originally described as a 'brake 1st kitchen car' (?!) and going by the 1900 picture (fig. 170) a heck of a lot of alterations had been made by your period.  Might have a go at one of these once I've worked my way through the rest of my stash of unbuilt kits.  (I note that like the D29 it's heavy on luggage space at the expense of passenger seating, so might not be appropriate at the other end of the M set.)

 

 

[checkrail]

16 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

Interesting you’ve used Keen Systems gangways. I’ve just ordered a couple of sets to try out.

They're ok, but to be honest I only got them because the clerestory ones come as complete replacement end units (the Hornby ends just slot out) and provide a representation of the scissors gangway.  The outer end of this coach, next to the loco, has the floating end plate glued solid.  Only the inner end uses the floating plate as intended, where it works well buffered up to what's coupled to it - at present a Hornby Collett compo with folded paper gangways.

 

I do still have some of the Slater's exquisite scissors gangways from their toplights to make up one of these days, but they scare me to death!  

[chrisf]

19 minutes ago, checkrail said:

I do still have some of the Slater's exquisite scissors gangways from their toplights to make up one of these days, but they scare me to death!  

 

You are not alone ...

 

Chris

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, checkrail said:

I do still have some of the Slater's exquisite scissors gangways from their toplights to make up one of these days, but they scare me to death!  

 

I sat down to make a pair this afternoon, only to realise I dont have the instructions.  That was a good enough reason to put them back in the box!  I think it will probably get a pair of the ebay sourced folded paper gangways I use between plastic mouldings on RTR coaches (With the logic that one of these + the gangway on the next coach will fill the gap.

 

Just need to get the roof fitted now, a task that I hate even more than lining when you cant build it integrated with the sides.