Signaller69's projects

[Signaller69]

31 minutes ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

No offence to your superb modelling, but your photos do remind me of a line up of scrap locos at the back of Derby Works in the late 1970s, especially with the windows missing.

 

Ian

Thanks Ian, funnily enough I was originally thinking of doing one or maybe two in 'in works' condition, possibly minus a cab (and sheeted over with a tarpaulin) or missing roof hatches/ side vents/ undergubbins etc and with patchy paintwork. As it seems to have taken forever to do the first three "runners" it is still a tempting thought! 

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

On 15/10/2021 at 00:03, westie7 said:

i know this post is from a while back, but collecting info on these wagons, couldn’t help notice the extra details on the brake linkage above the solebar. Can I ask what you’ve done there?

 

thank

mark

Hi Mark,

Brian went into more detail than I did on my wagons and hopefully he will be along to give further info. I found on my wagons the area it runs along was too tight without a good deal of fettling so I've not bothered up to now.

 

Basically the linkage was only on the one side and connected a brake operating linkage at the vac cylinders end to a similar linkage at the other end as there was no room for it elsewhere presumably.

 

This Paul Bartlett photo shows it quite well:

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brtgraincovhop/h30ca39e2

 

The corresponding area on the other side carried the vacuum brake pipe around the hopper; other photos on Paul's site show this too.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Martyn.

Edited October 17, 2021 by Signaller69

[Signaller69]

The 25 has become the first of the three rats to be completed, largely thanks to having a set of SEF flush glaze to hand, with only the new cab doors having to have glazing hand cut to fit.

 

 

 

BR blue Hornby 25 aficionados may note the familiar headcode blind at the No.2 end!

[Lowlander]

On 02/10/2021 at 22:04, Signaller69 said:

In between Class 25 jobs I have been sourcing images of the class 122 (& parcels class 131 conversions) which worked in Scotland in the late 60s/ early 70s, for another project, when I found this image on the Railcar site:

https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/3641

Allegedly c.1969 at Kilmarnock according to the caption, with 3 different liveries (Sc55011 blue with full yellow ends, Sc55013 in green with small yellow panel and Sc55000 in blue with small yellow panel) but what surprised me at this date was the Mk.1 Suburban stock in lined Maroon also in the Bay platform, which I had been led to believe was all long gone from Scotland by this point in time? Could they have been withdrawn or in process of being transferred?

In any case it is fitting these single units at the time were working the Kilmarnock to Ayr route where they had seen off the earlier 4w Railbuses.

 

Hi

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the mk1 suburbans were exclusively used for the BR Barassie workers trains.

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, ayrmrg said:

Hi

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the mk1 suburbans were exclusively used for the BR Barassie workers trains.

Thanks for that, do you know when they finished?

 

Martyn.

[sb67]

Fantastic work Martyn, the 25 looks superb. That's inspiring me to have a go and detail mine. I've got a load of bits, just need to find a prototype to model and sort some better wheels.

[Signaller69]

3 hours ago, sb67 said:

Fantastic work Martyn, the 25 looks superb. That's inspiring me to have a go and detail mine. I've got a load of bits, just need to find a prototype to model and sort some better wheels.

Thanks Steve, I have done nothing about the running gear as yet, but better wheels (and pickups) would certainly be a bonus. My plan is to run them in pairs with micro connectors between locos, which will hopefully cure any slow speed stalling.

Given the decent overall body shape, it is certainly worth upgrading these old locos I feel; lowering the body on the chassis makes the biggest visible improvement I find.

 

Martyn.

[turbos]

On 17/10/2021 at 01:20, Signaller69 said:

Hi Mark,

Brian went into more detail than I did on my wagons and hopefully he will be along to give further info. I found on my wagons the area it runs along was too tight without a good deal of fettling so I've not bothered up to now.

 

Basically the linkage was only on the one side and connected a brake operating linkage at the vac cylinders end to a similar linkage at the other end as there was no room for it elsewhere presumably.

 

This Paul Bartlett photo shows it quite well:

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brtgraincovhop/h30ca39e2

 

The corresponding area on the other side carried the vacuum brake pipe around the hopper; other photos on Paul's site show this too.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Martyn.

Hi Martyn and Mark,

 

On my Whisky Blue, I used a mixture of brass and plasticard to replicate the above solebar details with cast white metal brake cylinders. I had to remove some of the plastic (that shouldn’t be there anyway) between the side bars and lower hopper above the solebar. The angled links at either end of the linkage are from brass signal components. I used the Triang wagon for my wee project, all of the rtr Whisky Blues have faults.

Mark, PM me if you want more details so we don’t end up hijacking Martyn’s thread.

 

Martyn, I really like what you’re doing to the Hornby 25s!

Brian.

 

[Signaller69]

4 hours ago, turbos said:

Hi Martyn and Mark,

 

On my Whisky Blue, I used a mixture of brass and plasticard to replicate the above solebar details with cast white metal brake cylinders. I had to remove some of the plastic (that shouldn’t be there anyway) between the side bars and lower hopper above the solebar. The angled links at either end of the linkage are from brass signal components. I used the Triang wagon for my wee project, all of the rtr Whisky Blues have faults.

Mark, PM me if you want more details so we don’t end up hijacking Martyn’s thread.

 

Martyn, I really like what you’re doing to the Hornby 25s!

Brian.

 

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your comments, please don't worry about hijacking the thread, it's all relevant stuff and the above solebar linkages are something I hope to get around to having another go at eventually in any case!

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

[westie7]

3 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your comments, please don't worry about hijacking the thread, it's all relevant stuff and the above solebar linkages are something I hope to get around to having another go at eventually in any case!

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

 

Thanks Martyn, Brian.

 

I'm going to make an effort detailing some of the Bachmann ones and Lima ones and I would like to make a decent effort on the brake mechanisms, for the Vacuum brushed ones and the Air Braked conversions. I'm looking at some of the Stenson Accessories for the AB ones.

 

Regards

Mark

[Adam]

Edit - toddler playing with the phone...

Edited October 23, 2021 by Adam

[bradfordbuffer]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

Edit - toddler playing with the phone...

Probably make more sense than some of tosh typed on MMM thread else where on this sight....by so-called responsible adults....let him type!

[Adam]

2 minutes ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Probably make more sense than some of tosh typed on MMM thread else where on this sight....by so-called responsible adults....let him type!

 

Ha! What I think he typed was something like "yjkkkkl - o". Make of this what you will...

 

Adam

[Signaller69]

6 hours ago, Adam said:

Edit - toddler playing with the phone...

Isn't that what we all do?

[bradfordbuffer]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

 

Ha! What I think he typed was something like "yjkkkkl - o". Make of this what you will...

 

Adam

Sign him up for gold membership

[Signaller69]

At the risk of slight repetition, the current Hornby 25 conversion (no.4 of 6) is slowly progressing, it will become class 24 no.5098 in blue, as it was when it moved from Holbeck to Polmadie in 1971, and then to Eastfield in 1972 when Polmadie shed closed. Chosen mainly because at that time it had lost the lower bodyside skirts, and also I found an excellent 1971 photo of it!

 

 

It has been lowered and the usual resin underframe tanks, bufferbeam fairings, exhaust panel, water filler hatches and cabside doors have been added. A full length water tank was fitted below the battery boxes on this loco so part of a short tank casting was cut off a spare and used to lengthen another casting, hence the grey filler visible.

 

 

Next up is to sand off the cab front detail and fit revised parts, along with all the rest of the body detailing as per the other locos.

 

Loco no.5 will be another more straightforward 25 in blue, probably as 5176 which was another Holbeck loco, but which moved straight to Eastfield in 1971.

[Signaller69]

Still on the subject of class 25s I'm looking to improve an elderly Bachmann 25/3 in the near future. This was bought cheaply, initially to donate its chassis to my remaining (unpowered) Hornby 29 conversion, but then I thought about just doing a quick renumber.....silly boy.

 

Although some of the later body style were initially allocated to Scotland from new, they quickly migrated south so were not widely seen on internal duties during my preferred period (1969-72), so it will have to be an interloper.

 

Although mechanically much superior to the Hornby model, the biggest let down as with the latter, is the underframe moulding, which is a work of fiction and simply isn't there in anything like the manner depicted on the model. 

 

This also seriously compromises the rather flat battery box area (which appears to be half a class 24, with a 25 style boiler tank added - itself only fitted to a handful of the later style 25s, with most having a void in this area).

 

Unlike the Hornby loco, it is not possible (or desirable) to lower the body on the chassis; helpfully, the underframe moulding apears simply secured to the metal chassis with a few small screws, so my thinking is that when the time comes, the bogies will be removed and it will come off to be replaced by a new plasticard base, with appropriate bits of the Bachy moulding cut off and added to this, plus a resin casting for the battery boxes/ fuel tank area.

 

Of course, this idea is a good 10 years too late really, with a definitive 25/3 model coming from SLW and Heljan also doing a superb model, so there is no real need for such work, unless you are working to a budget (like me) and like a modelling challenge.

 

And if it all goes wrong, the 29 still needs a chassis!

[Lowlander]

On 21/10/2021 at 06:25, Signaller69 said:

Thanks for that, do you know when they finished?

 

Martyn.

Hi Martyn

 

Sorry I just noticed this post.

 

The wagon and carriage works at Barassie closed in 1972.

 

I'm sure there's an image of those coaches in use at Barassie station in a book by the son of Derek Cross which is based on Ayrshire.

[Signaller69]

6 hours ago, ayrmrg said:

Hi Martyn

 

Sorry I just noticed this post.

 

The wagon and carriage works at Barassie closed in 1972.

 

I'm sure there's an image of those coaches in use at Barassie station in a book by the son of Derek Cross which is based on Ayrshire.

Many thanks for that.

[Signaller69]

Having put it off for too long, I have finally glazed the 24 and 25/0.

 

 

 

 

Not that the poorly lit photos show it particularly well! Each piece was cut out and is held in place with a bead of satin varnish, it didn't take as long as I thought to be honest. The 25/0 had my last set of MJT Windscreen wipers fitted (severely cut down), more will be needed for the 24 and the 3 other locos "in works".

 

So along with the other 25, the first 3 (of 6) class 25 conversions are more or less done thankfully.

 

Couplings and wiring for the functional MW cables still need to be sorted out too.

[Signaller69]

As a break from Type 2's, I am wanting to tackle that most obscure of DMU types, the class 131 next.

 

*Edit - Class 131 on hold for now as the following posts will explain, this unit will become a ScR class 122 instead.*

 

Several class 122 Single Car units were transferred to the Edinburgh area in the late 60s, with some being designated for parcels traffic with passenger seating removed, windows whited out, with security mesh fitted internally and an extra door (to form double doors with an existing one) grafted into the Passenger compartment on each side, these units being reclassed as 131's.

 

Not being in passenger use, they didn't get repainted during conversion it seems, with the reworked areas just getting painted whatever colour the unit was in at the time (hence at least one was green with yellow panels and another in blue with small yellow panels and white cab roof into 1971, whilst others were in plain blue with full yellow fronts. 

 

This could lead to interesting combinations as seen in the Railcar.co.uk photos here:

https://railcar.co.uk/images/181

 

And here:

https://railcar.co.uk/images/9894

This photo shows the modified area directly behind the nearest cab door (slightly different shade as noted), with the existing guards compartment double doors being used for unloading at the opposite end. On the opposite side the modified area was slightly further back from the cab.

 

A Hornby Class 121 provides the starting point, along with some scrap sections of Lima 117 body sides to provide the extra doors.

The headcode boxes will need removing and replacing with destination blinds too, which will probably be the most challenging aspect.

 

Martyn.

 

Edit: one for the coaching stock fans:

whilst looking on the Railcar site, this photo of a standard 122 in Scottish use caught my eye for the Gresley Brake 3rd(?) it is buffered up against; it appears to have the passenger windows boarded over, so presumably in parcels use? Might make a nice unusual vehicle in a late 60s parcels train.....

https://railcar.co.uk/images/108/?id=108

Edited November 17, 2021 by Signaller69
Add extra info

[MJI]

I have made those before for my 116 conversions.

 

AFAIR 9.5mm wide across and two sides, the DC one is wrong, compare to photos.

[Signaller69]

9 minutes ago, MJI said:

I have made those before for my 116 conversions.

 

AFAIR 9.5mm wide across and two sides, the DC one is wrong, compare to photos.

Thanks Martin, yes the measurements look quite critical as the exhaust pipes are an important factor too. I'm just trying to work out, once the headcode boxes are sawn off, whether to build the roof profile first and fit the new box after, or make the box first and then use Milliput to sort the roof shape once it is fitted in place?

 

As an aside I've only just noticed the Lima 117 body side detail looks better to my eye (door hinges, handrails etc), Hornby have made it more "low profile" picked out with silver paint, removed the door stops altogether and added beading around all the doors which the Lima 117 didn't have (nor the real thing as far as I can tell,) unless of course Lima made that change on their class 122, but I can't recall.

[Signaller69]

The first obstacle on the 131 conversion has been found; the rather nice flush glazing (probably the biggest single improvement over the Lima 117)  is glued into place with copious amounts of very strong adhesive....

 

Forcibly removing it is almost certain to damage the glazing and/or body shell. My plan involves spraying the outside of the glazing white to simulate the treatment on the real thing, which obviously requires it to be removed, so this is a fairly major setback......

 

I may have to rethink this one.......

 

It could just remain as a class 122 by replacing the headcode boxes with destination blinds of course, but I feel that would be a bit of a cop out!

[MJI]

I cut away the old one, fitted the box then filled.

 

Now I tape on my mould and fill with resin, used for my 119