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Sophia's WKR workshop


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14 hours ago, AdamsRadial said:

Not just any old purple but Imperator toga purple !

 

I used to visit Maidstone as a lad, my grandparents lived in Broomfield. I remember how fascinated I was to see the buses change colour, they were green and cream where I lived, but in Maidstone you also saw the red and cream of the East Kent buses mixing it.

 

I lived in Hawkhurst at the time. I was always fascinated by the story that there had been plans to extend the line down to Rye or Appledore, it's one of my maybe-layouts that probably will only ever get done in Trainz.

Thinking about Sophia's earlier red and white livery trial, I'd considered the local bus liveries too, East Kent - always meant 'seaside' to me as we'd use them in Thanet when on holiday, and the 10 went from Maidstone to Folkestone. The M&D livery was nice especially the scroll signwriting on the sides, what a shame when National changed it to the lighter green. Maidstone Corporation was very good too - ginger / tan and cream, the light blue and cream they later used wasn't a patch on it. But when I see the abominations used now, a bit like some of the train company colour schemes! However I don't think the ginger and cream would translate so well to railway carriages. Now, I must find my trolley bus (a Newcastle 6 wheeler bought when my wife worked there) and pluck up the courage to shorten and repaint it to resemble an MBC one. 

No plagiarism intended, but the working name for the through station on my layout is Lower Tovil - the papermills are represented in low relief behind. Grandad worked at Lower Tovil Mill.

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3 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

Thinking about Sophia's earlier red and white livery trial, I'd considered the local bus liveries too, East Kent - always meant 'seaside' to me as we'd use them in Thanet when on holiday, and the 10 went from Maidstone to Folkestone. The M&D livery was nice especially the scroll signwriting on the sides, what a shame when National changed it to the lighter green. Maidstone Corporation was very good too - ginger / tan and cream, the light blue and cream they later used wasn't a patch on it. But when I see the abominations used now, a bit like some of the train company colour schemes! However I don't think the ginger and cream would translate so well to railway carriages. Now, I must find my trolley bus (a Newcastle 6 wheeler bought when my wife worked there) and pluck up the courage to shorten and repaint it to resemble an MBC one. 

No plagiarism intended, but the working name for the through station on my layout is Lower Tovil - the papermills are represented in low relief behind. Grandad worked at Lower Tovil Mill.

I only remember M&D buses being the lighter green and seeing the occasional East Kent bus in red, for some reason the 333 to Canterbury is still in my mind. I'm old enough to remember the blue and yellow of Boroline too as we used to get one to Dartford to watch the mighty Maidstone United play "home" games there (come on you Stones!).

 

Also I'm very pleasantly surprised to see this topic rack up a century of replies, something I never thought would be possible!

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Coach spraying has taken place and I'm very pleased with the outcome so far

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Just a bit of tidying up to do on these and give the interiors some colour. More progress on the push/pull driving coach too.

 

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Might put some primer on tomorrow

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6 hours ago, Sophia NSE said:

I only remember M&D buses being the lighter green and seeing the occasional East Kent bus in red, for some reason the 333 to Canterbury is still in my mind. I'm old enough to remember the blue and yellow of Boroline too as we used to get one to Dartford to watch the mighty Maidstone United play "home" games there (come on you Stones!).

 

Also I'm very pleasantly surprised to see this topic rack up a century of replies, something I never thought would be possible!

Maidstone United's ground was up the London Road at one time, near the Girl's Grammar School, I thought they moved up Parkwood somewhere for a while before I moved away (sorry, never much enamoured of football). I remember coming home a bit late from work one night and getting on the train at New Hythe jam packed with people and police! Put the wind up me at first. When I got off at Barracks (to go to East Station and a train to Bearsted where we lived at the time), the platform was lined with police and they were also up Buckland Hill directing everyone up that way, luckily I wasn't stopped from going right and over the high level bridge. Turned out Charlton were down to do a replay at the 'Stone's ground and trouble was expected - Charlton had a bit of a reputation. What memories.

 

I look forward to seeing the outcome of your push pull set, I bodged a representation of a Maunsell set from Farish carriages, a bit amateur but with old age you can't see the detail (or lack of it) in N anyway. That purple and cream looks very classy, you certainly get a move on with your model making.

 

 

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On 30/04/2020 at 21:09, BernardTPM said:

There was an article in the August 1967 Railway Modeller on making an 'Ironclad' push-pull coach from Farish suburbans, though the cab looks rather different to the later BR conversions. Then again the Farish sides aren't like the converted Maunsells either, so six of one, half dozen of the other!

Thanks for the link to the photos - looks as though some of those ironclads could be bodged from Farish suburbans by removing the upright between the compartment windows. The bogies might be a job though.

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1 minute ago, Artless Bodger said:

Maidstone United's ground was up the London Road at one time, near the Girl's Grammar School, I thought they moved up Parkwood somewhere for a while before I moved away (sorry, never much enamoured of football). I remember coming home a bit late from work one night and getting on the train at New Hythe jam packed with people and police! Put the wind up me at first. When I got off at Barracks (to go to East Station and a train to Bearsted where we lived at the time), the platform was lined with police and they were also up Buckland Hill directing everyone up that way, luckily I wasn't stopped from going right and over the high level bridge. Turned out Charlton were down to do a replay at the 'Stone's ground and trouble was expected - Charlton had a bit of a reputation. What memories.

 

I look forward to seeing the outcome of your push pull set, I bodged a representation of a Maunsell set from Farish carriages, a bit amateur but with old age you can't see the detail (or lack of it) in N anyway. That purple and cream looks very classy, you certainly get a move on with your model making.

 

 

Ah, good old London Road. Sold the ground and played at Dartford for 4 seasons before going bust :(. I was too young for the Charlton replay, but I believe it was quite an eventful game!

 

Progress is going quickly as I'm currently on furlough and have plenty of time for modelling. The only difficulty I can see with the push/pull set is that the driving coach roof is a tiny bit too short now. The purple and cream does look good, not as dark as the LNWR but that particular director is quite happy. I have a Parkside CCT on its way for extra luggage space on hop pickers specials and parcels for nearby villages

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1 minute ago, Sophia NSE said:

Ah, good old London Road. Sold the ground and played at Dartford for 4 seasons before going bust :(. I was too young for the Charlton replay, but I believe it was quite an eventful game!

 

Progress is going quickly as I'm currently on furlough and have plenty of time for modelling. The only difficulty I can see with the push/pull set is that the driving coach roof is a tiny bit too short now. The purple and cream does look good, not as dark as the LNWR but that particular director is quite happy. I have a Parkside CCT on its way for extra luggage space on hop pickers specials and parcels for nearby villages

Will the CCT be all over purple, or purple and cream? With the coach roof - for my (ahem) representation of a 2H made from old Farish N suburbans, I ended up glueing a strip of polystyrene sheet as a continuation of the coach roof then trimmed it back to give a slight overhang, but the Bulleid EPB roofs ended flush with the end profile, so maybe a bit of filler would do the trick. You might cut the roof over the guard's compartment and put the infill there and disguise it with the periscopes?

 

Sorry if I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs - I think on the evidence above your skills are somewhat in advance of mine.

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2 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

Will the CCT be all over purple, or purple and cream? With the coach roof - for my (ahem) representation of a 2H made from old Farish N suburbans, I ended up glueing a strip of polystyrene sheet as a continuation of the coach roof then trimmed it back to give a slight overhang, but the Bulleid EPB roofs ended flush with the end profile, so maybe a bit of filler would do the trick. You might cut the roof over the guard's compartment and put the infill there and disguise it with the periscopes?

 

Sorry if I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs - I think on the evidence above your skills are somewhat in advance of mine.

I'll probably have the CCT in plain purple and see if that looks good.

 

I might just go with a piece of thin plasticard for the roof, I've got some 5 thou somewhere and the roof can have a slight overhang over the cab. Imagine if the WKR had bought a Thumper and painted it purple and cream! :jester:

I've only been bodging for a short while and have been very lucky with my projects so far so any hints and tips are very welcome!

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1 hour ago, Artless Bodger said:

Thanks for the link to the photos - looks as though some of those ironclads could be bodged from Farish suburbans by removing the upright between the compartment windows. The bogies might be a job though.

Some Ironclads were on a more conventional looking bogie. I think there was some mention of that in the article.

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Oh I like that! Shame the WKR would be unlikely to have anything as fancy as that. Purple and cream Pullmans anyone?

 

One thing I have been wondering about is the colour of the cab on the push/pull set. The model of the Maunsell sets have them the same colour as the body and I hardly think the WKR would be allowed to get away with that. So most likely it will end up being black

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Now, you're not just here for funny coloured coaches. What's going on with the Q1 and R1? Fret no more!

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I only noticed the Q1 had some red paint prints on it after I took a picture. A quick wipe later and we should be all good. The push/pull driving coach should be finished tomorrow with a final spray.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that the red on both locos and the black on the Q1 are brush painted with some cheap acrylic paint

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No reason why WKR couldn't have a thumper, or a derivative. The thought of the SRKT thumping up the Loose valley gives me goosepimples. A couple of those Farish coaches would form the base, perhaps use 3 if you want proper 64' length. In OO you are better off in obtaining a motor bogie or DMU chassis than in N gauge. I used the chassis out of my old Roco ET90, not ideal but it's what I had. Actually you'd only need a motor coach and use the p&p driving trailer to represent the modernisation of the rolling stock in the late 60s. 

 

NIR used thumper based dmus (classes 70, 80 and 450) and also had the MPV - a double ended motor coach which could run with coaches, driving trailers, multiple with other motors, and at night in multiple work goods trains too - just the sort of thing that would appeal to Colonel Stephens.

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9 hours ago, Sophia NSE said:

Oh I like that! Shame the WKR would be unlikely to have anything as fancy as that. Purple and cream Pullmans anyone?

 

One thing I have been wondering about is the colour of the cab on the push/pull set. The model of the Maunsell sets have them the same colour as the body and I hardly think the WKR would be allowed to get away with that. So most likely it will end up being black

Why not red - same as your loco valences perhaps? SR brake vans had venetian red ends. Hmm - maybe that would clash! I think yellow replaced red as the warning colour because too many males are red / green colourblind - similar to the changes in wiring colours.

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What would the Loose Women's Institute have to say about a Thumper in the valley? (A joke that will never get old :lol_mini:)

 

Any yellow on the end would probably be too early but I could always have the ends purple with cream around the windows

 

 

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On 08/05/2020 at 17:52, Sophia NSE said:

Made an attempt on lining today before starting a bottle of prosecco :D:D

 

I think we need to see the after-prosecco lining pictures for comparison.

 

How are you doing it? You mentioned a marker pen in an earlier post. This looks to me as though you might have used carefully applied masking tape.....

 

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5 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said:

 

I think we need to see the after-prosecco lining pictures for comparison.

 

How are you doing it? You mentioned a marker pen in an earlier post. This looks to me as though you might have used carefully applied masking tape.....

 

Masking tape and acrylic paint. I'm obviously a glutton for punishment as I'm adding red lining too!

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In between lining both the Q1 and R1 I managed to get the J83 I've had for a while running again and I think I've discovered the issue with the 14xx. Some of the wiring has come adrift from the motor, which could explain the reverse running but no forward running. One major problem though; I've never soldered anything in my life! 

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Not too difficult, especially if your hands are steady enough to do the lining you showed earlier. Be careful of the smoky fumes that the flux gives off, I'd suggest putting the work on a board on the cooker and running the extractor fan, it's all too easy to lean in to get a closer look at what you're doing and breathe in a lungful.

 

Clean the tag you're going to solder to and the wire as much as you can, a glass-fibre brush is the best thing but a sanding stick will do at a pinch.

 

Use plasticene, hair clips and whatever to hold all the parts together in the exact position.

 

Melt a little solder on the bit of the soldering iron so there's a nice shiny blob there.

 

Touch the iron to the parts and wait until you see the shiny blob spread. If necessary have some solder in the other hand and add to the blob but don't overdo it.

 

Let it all cool before poking or pulling. If it's gone wrong just melt the blob and separate the pieces and try again.

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A thought: if it runs in one direction then there's unlikely to be a wiring fault. The failure to run in the other direction is more likely to be one of the following:

 

Sloppy motor bearings that allow it to move to and fro, when you go to reverse it the movement breaks the good contact between the commutator and brushes.

 

Worn pickups that shift slightly from a clean to a dirty patch on the wheels with the change in direction.

 

If you have a couple of those wires with a crocodile clip on each end, I would suggest attaching them direct to the motor connections, bypassing the pickups, and attach each of the other crocodile clips to the rails, then play with the power to bypass all the pickup stuff, so you're assessing the motor itself.

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4 minutes ago, AdamsRadial said:

Not too difficult, especially if your hands are steady enough to do the lining you showed earlier. Be careful of the smoky fumes that the flux gives off, I'd suggest putting the work on a board on the cooker and running the extractor fan, it's all too easy to lean in to get a closer look at what you're doing and breathe in a lungful.

 

Clean the tag you're going to solder to and the wire as much as you can, a glass-fibre brush is the best thing but a sanding stick will do at a pinch.

 

Use plasticene, hair clips and whatever to hold all the parts together in the exact position.

 

Melt a little solder on the bit of the soldering iron so there's a nice shiny blob there.

 

Touch the iron to the parts and wait until you see the shiny blob spread. If necessary have some solder in the other hand and add to the blob but don't overdo it.

 

Let it all cool before poking or pulling. If it's gone wrong just melt the blob and separate the pieces and try again.

I agree it is not difficult. Many years ago I got dropped in the deep end when helping operate a layout at the Central Hall Westminster. A point blade came loose on one of the sidings and the owner took over operating the layout with the comment that he would keep the trains running while I soldered the point back together. Handed me the iron and solder and just said "don't look so worried, that sort of thing happens all the time". 

 

Well, I did the job as requested and then asked if I could go back to operating as it was less stressful than learning to solder in front of a crowd on someone else's layout. The owner went sheet white and just said "you did a good job". I was never worried about soldering things after that!

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