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Sophia's WKR workshop


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18 minutes ago, Sophia NSE said:

At this rate it'll be ready for the first train to Maidstone West on Monday!!

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I do think it looks a lot better without the longer overhang at the front

Oh wow. You've certainly been busy Sophia. Very smart already. Your first one looked good enough to be recognisable anyway, but this one is already looking pretty prototype-accurate.

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17 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Oh wow. You've certainly been busy Sophia. Very smart already. Your first one looked good enough to be recognisable anyway, but this one is already looking pretty prototype-accurate.

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Shortening the front end also helps to eliminate the lift that every R1 body I've bought seems to have, some worse than others

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Not too much to report today other than sanding down filler and opening out the holes to accept the buffers. I was going to fix the cab front spectacle plates but my plasticard has gone walkies so I've had to order some more

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Adding the buffers makes quite a difference

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Looking at the works shunter it could probably do with some shortening at the front too

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Comparison between original and new Q1 bodies

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'Scuse the nails, I've just had them done again :D

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3 hours ago, Sophia NSE said:

'Scuse the nails, I've just had them done again :D

Extra care with solvents then? They're made of acrylic aren't they?

 

Nice work with the Q1, it reminds me of the loco which stood in the Tonbridge bay at MW (probably an H by that time) - my first railway memory, I particularly remember the L shaped handle in the cab - handbrake handle I suppose. Funny what sticks in your mind.

 

What filler do you use, and is it good for both plastic and metal?

 

Thanks.

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6 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

Extra care with solvents then? They're made of acrylic aren't they?

 

Nice work with the Q1, it reminds me of the loco which stood in the Tonbridge bay at MW (probably an H by that time) - my first railway memory, I particularly remember the L shaped handle in the cab - handbrake handle I suppose. Funny what sticks in your mind.

 

What filler do you use, and is it good for both plastic and metal?

 

Thanks.

Yep, the nails are acrylic and I forgot how much they get in the way. They also cost about the same as a decent second hand loco!:o:o

 

I expect the loco at the West was an H as the Q1s were gone by 1930. If it was in the bay most recently occupied by a ballast wagon that got a hot box in the 60s, it would have been in the WKR's platform

 

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This is the filler of choice, about 4 quid from Halfords and given me no problems when used on plastic. I use the Corbs method of application with the wrong end of a pair of tweezers

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12 hours ago, Sophia NSE said:

This is the filler of choice, about 4 quid from Halfords and given me no problems when used on plastic. I use the Corbs method of application with the wrong end of a pair of tweezers

Useful, thank you.

 

The Tonbridge bay at MW when I was young was the long one that ended at the gents on the Strood bound side, as the short bay that has the grampus in it was only used for parcels traffic at that time, and it wasn't electrified as far as I'm aware, though the Tonbridge bay was, having caught electric trains from there in the 70s.  I'd have seen the H just before electrification from Paddock Wood. Some 2014 photos attached, the track has since been lifted. You can just make out SE&CR 1910 on the chairs.

 

MW yard had a 350HP shunter in the late 60s - early 70s; waiting for a train to New Hythe to work on 31618 of an evening I'd see it pull a cut of wagons away towards the signal box, then the odd 1 or 2 would roll back into view to clank against ones already in the sidings - I suppose that was fly shunting, though I thought that was frowned on.

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Another memory of MW in the early 60s - there was an exhibition train parked in the yard, for the Milk Marketing Board or some such. There were live cows on board and information about milk production and processing plus a milk bar. The side of the coach with the cows in opened up if I remember correctly.

 

I've also seen photos in a magazine (Back Track?) of the experimental road-railer freight van in the sidings at MW, again as part of an exhibition. I had a plastic kit for that - road unit, trailer and adaptor wagon. Can't remember who made the kit. 

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28 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

Useful, thank you.

 

The Tonbridge bay at MW when I was young was the long one that ended at the gents on the Strood bound side, as the short bay that has the grampus in it was only used for parcels traffic at that time, and it wasn't electrified as far as I'm aware, though the Tonbridge bay was, having caught electric trains from there in the 70s.  I'd have seen the H just before electrification from Paddock Wood. Some 2014 photos attached, the track has since been lifted. You can just make out SE&CR 1910 on the chairs.

 

MW yard had a 350HP shunter in the late 60s - early 70s; waiting for a train to New Hythe to work on 31618 of an evening I'd see it pull a cut of wagons away towards the signal box, then the odd 1 or 2 would roll back into view to clank against ones already in the sidings - I suppose that was fly shunting, though I thought that was frowned on.

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Those pics are very useful thanks. Obviously the parcels bay is far too short for the WKR to have ever used, but the track furthest from the platform looks to have some promise to have been long enough for a decent platform length. Perhaps with a station building behind the buffers... Plenty to think about there.

 

As my dad worked at the West, Barracks, and New Hythe stations in the 80s I spent plenty of time on the Medway Valley line. I visited Maidstone a few years ago and travelled home from the West. Even 30 years later the inside of the building smelled EXACTLY the same!

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Short passenger trains could use the bay, there's a photo in the Middleton Press book, Strood to Paddock Wood, with a 4MT tank and a Mk1 3 set plus SR CCT in the short bay, destined for Reading, the loco and much of the front coach are off the platform though.

 

There's also a much better version of the Manning Wardle tank on the temporary bridge at Tovil in this book.

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50 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

I've also seen photos in a magazine (Back Track?) of the experimental road-railer freight van in the sidings at MW, again as part of an exhibition. I had a plastic kit for that - road unit, trailer and adaptor wagon. Can't remember who made the kit. 

 

They were made by a company called Scalecraft, distributed by Peco.  There is an RMWeb thread on them :

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54465-scalecraft-roadrailer/

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Careful about putting weight in the bunker, you will tend to lift the drivers off the track, much better if you can fill the front of the side tanks and smokebox with weight (sheet lead is the best, the stuff roofers use for flashing. Try flirting when you see a roofer next, you might get him to pass you some off cuts!). The more weight you can get into it the better it will pull and pick-up. I would also try and fit pick-ups to the bogie. Short the insulation out on one side (the same side as the driving wheels so no short circuits!) and then fit wipers to the other side. To short out the insulation drill a hole through the insulation and insert a bit of brass rod (if its got a plastic collar in the centre and the spoky bit is metal and live to the tyre, if the spokey bit is plastic you might have to resort to wipers on both sides).

Having the bogie pick-up will make a huge difference to the running. Also make sure that no vehicle has plastic wheels, only run metal ones, that will stop the track getting dirty.... (oh and get rid of traction tyres too!)

 

Andy G

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18 minutes ago, uax6 said:

Careful about putting weight in the bunker, you will tend to lift the drivers off the track, much better if you can fill the front of the side tanks and smokebox with weight (sheet lead is the best, the stuff roofers use for flashing. Try flirting when you see a roofer next, you might get him to pass you some off cuts!). The more weight you can get into it the better it will pull and pick-up. I would also try and fit pick-ups to the bogie. Short the insulation out on one side (the same side as the driving wheels so no short circuits!) and then fit wipers to the other side. To short out the insulation drill a hole through the insulation and insert a bit of brass rod (if its got a plastic collar in the centre and the spoky bit is metal and live to the tyre, if the spokey bit is plastic you might have to resort to wipers on both sides).

Having the bogie pick-up will make a huge difference to the running. Also make sure that no vehicle has plastic wheels, only run metal ones, that will stop the track getting dirty.... (oh and get rid of traction tyres too!)

 

Andy G

Its a fairly old Hornby chassis so from the tanks forward its a solid lump of metal. If anything I needed the weight in the bunker to get it to sit down on bogie. I'll definitely look into fitting the bogie with pickups and making sure the coaches have metal wheels

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Spent the morning playing with paint pens for lining out my locos

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I think the gold might be a little bit garish against the green but the white doesn't look too bad. The red is the wrong shade completely, though it could be a decent base for the darker acrylic red

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It's interesting you are prepared to take the risk and try out on the model, I'd be too wary I'd make a mess and ruin a good paint job (thinking here of lining out a Union Mills SR T9). Which paint pens do you use? I've tried the Uni Posca ones which were suggested in the NGS Journal but even the thinnest - 0.7mm tip - give me lining 1' wide :o. I tried them on a couple of wagons first and decided not to risk the loco. Looks like you use a straight edge or do you have steady hands?

 

Like Nile I think the white version looks good, if you lighten the green in the centre panels but leave it dark round the borders, it would show off the red lining better too I think.

 

 

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

It's interesting you are prepared to take the risk and try out on the model, I'd be too wary I'd make a mess and ruin a good paint job (thinking here of lining out a Union Mills SR T9). Which paint pens do you use? I've tried the Uni Posca ones which were suggested in the NGS Journal but even the thinnest - 0.7mm tip - give me lining 1' wide :o. I tried them on a couple of wagons first and decided not to risk the loco. Looks like you use a straight edge or do you have steady hands?

 

Like Nile I think the white version looks good, if you lighten the green in the centre panels but leave it dark round the borders, it would show off the red lining better too I think.

 

 

 

 

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I used the Uni Posca pens too and I think its a mix of a steady hand and using the natural lines and ridges on the body

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