Southern Railway Modelling - Miscellaneous Project work

[mattingleycustom]

On 13/09/2020 at 21:39, Jack P said:

 

I have it on good authority (Mr Graham Muz's) that  21c122, 21c129 and 21c140 received standard length smoke deflectors in early 1947, there are a few others, but photo reference is mandatory. 

 

Which is excellent, as that fits nicely into my timeline - I did pick up some RT short deflectors too, just incase.

 

 

Gentlemen,

 

According to the good book: 'The Book of the WC and BB Pacifics', 21C108 Padstow received standard length deflectors in Jan-47, with 21C122 & 21C140 gaining them in Feb-47 . There is a photo of 21C122 in this condition on page 17.

Unfortunately with most of my library packed away I cannot confirm 21C129; although I expect Graham is correct.

 

Glenn

[DLT]

What is the origin of the replacement lampirons on the Beattie Jack?   I presume they are etched brass?

Thanks, Dave.

[Jack P]

8 hours ago, mattingleycustom said:

Gentlemen,

 

According to the good book: 'The Book of the WC and BB Pacifics', 21C108 Padstow received standard length deflectors in Jan-47, with 21C122 & 21C140 gaining them in Feb-47 . There is a photo of 21C122 in this condition on page 17.

Unfortunately with most of my library packed away I cannot confirm 21C129; although I expect Graham is correct.

 

Glenn

 

Thanks Glenn, 

 

I was lucky to find this image:

 

 

It's dated 1948, and given the location, maybe it is. but it shows the loco in the condition i'm trying to replicate.

 

The bits from fox arrived yesterday:

 

 

She's a bit wonky - but i'm happy. Some weathering will tone the whole thing down and (hopefully) draw the eye away from any imperfections.

[Jack P]

10 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

I'd completely agree about the Geoff Holt books, a marvellous read and totally inspirational.

Perhaps worth pointing out that they are primarily directed at 7mm, which of course does not rule out use of many of the techniques in the smaller scales.

 

John.

 

That's right John, primarily 7mm and 10mm, but the techniques are as you say, all applicable to 4mm. 

 

4 minutes ago, DLT said:

What is the origin of the replacement lampirons on the Beattie Jack?   I presume they are etched brass?

Thanks, Dave.

 

They are from a Brassmasters etch Dave, http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/lswr_sr_fittings.htm Listing number: E34. Very handy for replacing an item that often is the first to disappear into the depths of the carpet.

[mattingleycustom]

Jack,

 

21C122 Exmoor looks just about perfect with the etched Fox nameplates and class scrolls, well done - if only Hornby had put the original cab in their tooling it would have saved all of us SR modellers a lot of hassle.

 

One question: whose transfers did you use for the yellow bands?

 

Glenn

[DLT]

8 hours ago, Jack P said:

They are from a Brassmasters etch Dave, http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/lswr_sr_fittings.htm Listing number: E34. Very handy for replacing an item that often is the first to disappear into the depths of the carpet.

 

Thanks very much, I hadn't come across them, very useful.

[Graham_Muz]

9 hours ago, Jack P said:

 

Thanks Glenn, 

 

I was lucky to find this image:

 

 

It's dated 1948, and given the location, maybe it is. but it shows the loco in the condition i'm trying to replicate.

 

The bits from fox arrived yesterday:

 

 

She's a bit wonky - but i'm happy. Some weathering will tone the whole thing down and (hopefully) draw the eye away from any imperfections.

I’m glad you found a good reference picture to back up my own information. 
 

Note also how the new extended part of the deflector is a slight different colour to the original part as they were often fitted on shed rather than at works visits. 
 

I tried to relocate the this on my 151 below as per a similar reference image. 

[Jack P]

On 18/09/2020 at 19:37, mattingleycustom said:

One question: whose transfers did you use for the yellow bands?

 

HMRS Pressfix, I know they do a specific sheet for this, but I used the general yellow lining it was the same width as the lines on the model!

 

On 18/09/2020 at 20:54, Graham_Muz said:

Note also how the new extended part of the deflector is a slight different colour to the original part as they were often fitted on shed rather than at works visits. 

 

Ah, ok - so the standard length deflectors were simply the short ones with an extra bit bolted on? that makes a lot of sense.

[Jack P]

I made some progress over the weekend Exmoor is now 'finished'

 

 

 

 

 

The BWT is nearing completion also, and I decided to properly gloss varnish the H2 and N15x while I had some in the airbrush. I'll try and get some photos of those in the coming days.

 

We had a big cleaning day on friday, part of which involved me packing everything away off the bench, and trying to generally make space again. This meant that last night I got the DJH L off the shelf and made a start on marking out the bits for the frames. Updates to come in due course.

[Bulwell Hall]

On 20/09/2020 at 22:19, Jack P said:

I made some progress over the weekend Exmoor is now 'finished'

 

 

 

 

 

The BWT is nearing completion also, and I decided to properly gloss varnish the H2 and N15x while I had some in the airbrush. I'll try and get some photos of those in the coming days.

 

We had a big cleaning day on friday, part of which involved me packing everything away off the bench, and trying to generally make space again. This meant that last night I got the DJH L off the shelf and made a start on marking out the bits for the frames. Updates to come in due course.

 

I just love that Bulleid!  Very well done indeed.

 

Gerry

[Daddyman]

On 20/09/2020 at 22:19, Jack P said:

I made some progress over the weekend Exmoor is now 'finished'

Very good job! (I see no wonkiness.) 

[Jack P]

On 22/09/2020 at 20:08, Bulwell Hall said:

 

I just love that Bulleid!  Very well done indeed.

 

Gerry

 

Thanks Gerry! It was awesome working on something different to the usual.

 

On 23/09/2020 at 20:47, Daddyman said:

Very good job! (I see no wonkiness.) 

 

Excellent! - now if you could continue to not look tooooo hard that would be appreciated!

[Jack P]

I've spent the last few days feeling a bit dejected. I had a go at cutting the replacement frames for my DJH L, and in typical fashion, I expected these to be perfect on the first try. They weren't (Terrible infact). I'm well aware of my fault(s) but there isn't any way for me to mentally move past this quickly, and i've gone into a bit of a modelling slump. I thought to take my mind off it I'd tackle a project that my Club's treasurer asked me to complete.

 

Repainting an O gauge sentinel into GWR green with a red bufferbeam. It was actually a lot of fun, it's been a long time since I've worked on any O gauge stuff, and I think the end result was OK!

 

 

I also decided it was time to start a project that has been waiting in the wings for a while.

 

 

Any guesses for what it is?

 

 

 

[mattingleycustom]

Hartland Point perhaps, as butchered by Bulleid?

[Jack P]

7 hours ago, mattingleycustom said:

Hartland Point perhaps, as butchered by Bulleid?

 

Ding ding ding - that's the one. Photos are scarce, but there are some excellent photos of the front end detail in; Leader and Southern Experimental Steam by Kevin Robertson.

 

I've purchased a donor H2, and will use the tender, chassis, cab and probably the boiler assembly. Will have to see how it all fits together.

 

Oh, I also completed this over the weekend:

 

 

I'll take some still photos at some point. Hopefully making my way out to the club at some point soon, so I can get some video of it running. 

[Jack P]

More gratuitous photos of the 'Queen'. Please excuse the fact she's dropped her leading driver...

 

 

 

 

And Beachy Head, because why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RAY NORWOOD]

Hi Jack. Beach Head is be restored at the Blue Bell Railway. I saw it in the shed last August.   

You have done a fantastic job on those locos.

Edited September 28, 2020 by RAY NORWOOD

[Tony Teague]

13 hours ago, RAY NORWOOD said:

Hi Jack. Beach Head is be restored at the Blue Bell Railway. I saw it in the shed last August.   

You have done a fantastic job on those locos.

 

It's not actually a restoration, its an almost completely new build, excepting the boiler which was located as a static GN Atlantic boiler and recovered, and a few other sundry parts.

It was hoped it would be complete by Summer 2021 but then Covid came along....

[Jack P]

 

23 hours ago, RAY NORWOOD said:

Hi Jack. Beach Head is be restored at the Blue Bell Railway. I saw it in the shed last August.   

You have done a fantastic job on those locos.

 

Thanks Ray! 

 

10 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

It was hoped it would be complete by Summer 2021 but then Covid came along....

 

I was hoping to come across and see it + meet many of you wonderful people in person. Eventually!

[Tony Teague]

18 hours ago, Jack P said:

I was hoping to come across and see it + meet many of you wonderful people in person. Eventually!

Well that should be OK, because eventually, it will be finished!

[Jack P]

A few more sporadic updates, 

 

A slow burn project of mine is to modify everything RTR to include small details, One major thing that slightly older RTR locos struggle with is the fallplate. In the past i've devised a solution (shamelessly borrowed from @Nile) but have run into issues with the fallplate coming loose, especially when transferring the loco from the bench to the stock box, or the stockbox to the track. 

 

So I came up with this:

 

 

 

It allows the fallplate full up and down movement while retaining it. The retainer isn't as prominent now that it's been painted black, crew will further help to hide it, and I doubt it will be visible once everything is finished. In hindsight, I think i'll make the retainer from thinner wire and add two, one each next to the splashers inside the cab, this should help with disguising it further.

 

I also made a start on the next kitbuild - the L has taken a back seat again. This is a 4-4-0 though, the SECR E class and will hopefully be finished in time for the Rails D.

 

I spent most of the weekend building up the chassis - more on that in another update. I wasn't happy with the face of the loco. The rivets were really poorly formed, and there was heaps of flash inside the opening that the smokebox door is supposed to fit into. The loco I'm choosing to model only had the rivets in a ring around the door, and at the back of the smokebox. So I sanded them all off and made this;

 

 

It took two engineers to explain how to create the ring of rivets. But I got there in the end, unfortunately I knocked one of the knobs right at the end, so the last 3  rivets at the top right started to wander. I decided to call it there and by some sheer event of luck, the space where there were no rivets was the right size to take the smokebox door bracket. Not perfect, but better than It was before. I'll add the lower smokebox rivets with archers transfers when the body goes into primer.

 

 

I pinched the chimney and dome from a spare C class I had. There wasn't anything glaringly wrong with the WM castings, but they just weren't as crisp as I wanted. I'm in the throes of adding the all important details now, I think the majority of the castings are all in place. I'm working on a representation of the inside valve gear too.

[Daddyman]

Very well done on the rivets! Next job is to teach yourself resin casting, so you can make moulds of all those lovely crisp RTR boiler fittings. 

[Jack P]

10 hours ago, Daddyman said:

Very well done on the rivets! Next job is to teach yourself resin casting, so you can make moulds of all those lovely crisp RTR boiler fittings. 

 

Thank you! Yes Resin casting is on the list of things to learn, I think i'd like to figure out how to build points next though!

[Daddyman]

33 minutes ago, Jack P said:

 

Thank you! Yes Resin casting is on the list of things to learn, I think i'd like to figure out how to build points next though!

No point (!) learning to build turnouts if you model 00. Spend your time on something that's useful - and not evil. 

[hayfield]

14 hours ago, Jack P said:

 

Thank you! Yes Resin casting is on the list of things to learn, I think i'd like to figure out how to build points next though!

 

 

Jack

 

Compared to building locos, building turnouts (even in 00 gauge) will be a walk in the park. Plus if you use Templot (or any other prototypical plan) for the plans, the turnouts will look so much better