Stoke Courtenay

[MrWolf]

Quite a few of his kits on eBay at the moment.

 

Not that I would want to put temptation in your way or anything....

[Sandhole]

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

If it wasn't for @Ian Kirk I'd never have modelled a china-clay line in Cornwall.

 

He's got a lot to answer for...

Mr Kirk is the reason I have my LNER train.
I love his Gresley coach kits.
The same with his Maunsell and Bullied kits.
With a bit of work, a really nice vehicle can be built.
Mike, bless him, got me into buying Monster kits for their American bogies.
Fit a set of Romfords, they run beautifully.
More power to your layout.
Regards,
Chris.

[Sandhole]

Question,
What do people think about replacing moulded door handles and grab handles with wire on plastic coach kits.
I ask, because after battling my way through replacing all of the above on my rake of Kirk Maunsell's, I decided to leave them on my Kirk Gresley's.
With a dab of dry brush I'm very happy with them.
I am of an age to remember the golden years of Derek Lawrence coaches. They were considered the Rolls Royce of coaches.
My dear Friend Mike Wiltshire amazed me by saying, on a certain price level, the doors and door handles and grab handles were painted on.
He showed me an example which was superbly done.
That revelation altered my outlook on such things.
The thread about Kirks on here has prompted me to post this.
I'm sorry if it's considered spam.
Regards,
Chris.

[checkrail]

16 hours ago, Sandhole said:

Mike, bless him, got me into buying Monster kits for their American bogies.
Fit a set of Romfords, they run beautifully.
More power to your layout.

Thanks Chris.  Were the Mailcoach kits originally from Ian Kirk?  I found the plastic American bogies with their K22 full brake to be superbly free-running once I'd got them together with the wheelsets.

[St Enodoc]

23 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Thanks Chris.  Were the Mailcoach kits originally from Ian Kirk?  I found the plastic American bogies with their K22 full brake to be superbly free-running once I'd got them together with the wheelsets.

I've used Mailcoach American bogies under Airfix Siphons. With new buffers, they make a big difference.

[Miss Prism]

25 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Were the Mailcoach kits originally from Ian Kirk?

 

I don't think so, but I'm not sure what their provenance was.

[Coach bogie]

56 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

 

I don't think so, but I'm not sure what their provenance was.

I understood than Ian did tool and produce them for Mailcoach. He did 4mm work for others as well (Westy Kits?). This was the time Ian stopped marketing 4mm himself and concentrated on 7mm. All the 4mm range was marketed by others. From memory the original Kirk range was marketed by Colin Ashby. I could be wrong - it was along time ago.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Neal Ball]

To continue the Mailcoach theme, I’m surprised that no one has offered either the K22 or Monster as a kit, or RTR….

Edited August 1, 2021 by Neal Ball
Typo

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Coach bogie said:

From memory the original Kirk range was marketed by Colin Ashby.

That's right.

[Coach bogie]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

To continue the Mailcoach theme, I’m surprised that no one has offered either the K22 or Monster as a kit, or RTR….

The K22 has been produced as a  kit by several manufacturers. Hayes, Mailcoach, David Geen, Worsley Works, and Trevor Charlton.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[MrWolf]

4 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

The K22 has been produced as a  kit by several manufacturers. Hayes, Mailcoach, David Geen, Worsley Works, and Trevor Charlton.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Presumably these are no longer produced? 

[The Stationmaster]

3 hours ago, checkrail said:

Thanks Chris.  Were the Mailcoach kits originally from Ian Kirk?  I found the plastic American bogies with their K22 full brake to be superbly free-running once I'd got them together with the wheelsets.

According to one online source the Mailcoach range originated with Ian Kirk but was subsequently sold on to another person (well before it landed where it now languishes).  I also recall seeing the same somewhere a good while back in an article about Ian Kirk.

[St Enodoc]

23 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

According to one online source the Mailcoach range originated with Ian Kirk but was subsequently sold on to another person (well before it landed where it now languishes).  I also recall seeing the same somewhere a good while back in an article about Ian Kirk.

It was owned and run for a while by a chap named Tony Brown. My two K22 kits date from his era.

[The Stationmaster]

10 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

It was owned and run for a while by a chap named Tony Brown. My two K22 kits date from his era.

I think he was the chap who took it over from Ian Kirk.

[checkrail]

18 hours ago, Sandhole said:

What do people think about replacing moulded door handles and grab handles with wire on plastic coach kits.

For me it depends on the model, and how well it's done - whether by the modeller or the manufacturer.  GWR door and grab handles are so easy to source that it would be a shame not to slice off the moulded handles from items like K's 40 ft PBV or the Mailcoach kits we've been talking about.   But recently I've tarted up a couple of old Mainline LMS period 1 coaches, and not wishing to repaint them I just touched up the door & grab handles with gold paint.  From NVD I now can't really tell that they're not separate parts.  Another example is the Hornby (ex-Airfix) B set with its recessed handles.  I steered well clear of messing with them.

 

But of course one advantage of a roundy-roundy layout is that trains emerge from the fiddle yard, chug through then disappear offstage again before anyone's had the chance to examine the detail!

[Coach bogie]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

Presumably these are no longer produced? 

Worsley Works available to order. Hayes full body/underframe etch available from David Geen (I am sure a complete can be made up from stock castings)) and David has also recently produced his own high spec complete kit.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[checkrail]

Lost my mojo a bit in the spring, when a 25 year old skiing injury came back to haunt me.  (Fractured scaphoid bone in right wrist - they never heal.)  This made my measuring, marking, cutting, drilling and filing even less accurate than usual and has delayed current projects.  Hence the dearth of posts here from the end of March until last week. 

 

Then the layout had an attack of the gremlins, including heatwave-induced expansion probs with the lift-out access hatch, for only the 2nd time in its 9 year life.  Needed new track re-laying across the joint, soldering and cutting through.

 

But, hopefully, everything back to normal now (or at least 'norbal', for those who remember Mad magazine). And our 3 year old grandson and family have just returned to Sweden and I can get in the loft again.  Yippee!

 

One model affected by the gremlin attack was my 28xx, seen below at the head of returning coal empties.  It started seizing up and making strange noises (yes, I had oiled it) until finally I gave up and fitted a new chassis.

 

While I was at it I realised it needed renumbering.  I could have sworn blind that I'd seen a post-war photo of 2819 in this condition, but I was mistaken.  I've since seen it pictured in one of the 1930s GWR albums with curved footplate front end and outside steam pipes.  So 2819 has now become 2818, as per the original Hornby/NRM model of the preserved version.  I admired that loco at the NRM a couple of years ago.  Mine is a little dirtier.  Like 2819, 2818 was at Laira in 1938 according to Beck & Copsey.

 

Before long 2818 is going to meet 6027 coming the other way.

 

John C.

[Sandhole]

2 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Lost my mojo a bit in the spring, when a 25 year old skiing injury came back to haunt me.  (Fractured scaphoid bone in right wrist - they never heal.)  This made my measuring, marking, cutting, drilling and filing even less accurate than usual and has delayed current projects.  Hence the dearth of posts here from the end of March until last week. 

 

Then the layout had an attack of the gremlins, including heatwave-induced expansion probs with the lift-out access hatch, for only the 2nd time in its 9 year life.  Needed new track re-laying across the joint, soldering and cutting through.

 

But, hopefully, everything back to normal now (or at least 'norbal', for those who remember Mad magazine). And our 3 year old grandson and family have just returned to Sweden and I can get in the loft again.  Yippee!

 

One model affected by the gremlin attack was my 28xx, seen below at the head of returning coal empties.  It started seizing up and making strange noises (yes, I had oiled it) until finally I gave up and fitted a new chassis.

 

While I was at it I realised it needed renumbering.  I could have sworn blind that I'd seen a post-war photo of 2819 in this condition, but I was mistaken.  I've since seen it pictured in one of the 1930s GWR albums with curved footplate front end and outside steam pipes.  So 2819 has now become 2818, as per the original Hornby/NRM model of the preserved version.  I admired that loco at the NRM a couple of years ago.  Mine is a little dirtier.  Like 2819, 2818 was at Laira in 1938 according to Beck & Copsey.

 

Before long 2818 is going to meet 6027 coming the other way.

 

John C.

I know how you feel. My mojo had come and gone, mostly gone over the pandemic and my furlough.
It's only just coming back.
Love the 28xx.
Regards,
Chris.

[snailpace]

It’s good to “have you back” John! Inspirational as always…..

[checkrail]

6027 King Richard I continues its majestic westward progress .....

 

 

 

.... as 2818 drifts through Stoke Courtenay's up platform.

 

(Now, while I was taking these shots i used a Peco track rubber once or twice to prop the camera up, but while tidying things away I couldn't find it for the life of me.  So if you see a dirty great dark grey rectangular thingy in any of these pics please let me know!)

 

John C.

[TrevorP1]

I loose my track rubber all the time - and usually find it in the drawer where it should be!!

[KNP]

My trick is pencil rubbers as camera lens supports, I have had to scrap many a picture because one can be seen in the end result.

As I have said many times before funny what you don't see until you look at the picture....!

Edited August 2, 2021 by KNP

[checkrail]

Glamour meets grime: two aspects of the Great Western Railway.

 

 

 

John C.

[Ponthir28]

Personally I like the grime. Give me a heavy freight train anytime.

[checkrail]

Final shots in this sequence as 6027 powers away towards Plymouth while 2818 disappears into Stoke Courtenay tunnel. 

 

 

 

 

John C.