Jump to content
 

Recommended Posts

Unfortunately it's an oft-repeated complaint about O scale. It would be easier to stomach some of the high prices if the quality matched, but somehow the old attitude in Britain that "It's O scale so it must be expensive" seems to be applied regardless. More a case of "What price can we get away with charging?" than "What price is this really worth?".

 

Another thing irks me about that sort of kit, just from looking at the box lid; okay - leave choice of wheels and coupler to the buyer (itself a bit of an out-dated notion, now, I think?), but no Transfers...???? Slaters do the same... :angry: to my mind it means the kit seems "incomplete", and also opens up a whole minefield of what transfers to get (assuming any are available) and their accuracy for the model.

All I know is, I hope no wagon experts ever check out the numbers on most of my wagon fleet ... :blink: :unsure: :P

Wagons... schwagons....

 

 

Sorry, Rant Mode OFF. :rolleyes:

 

 

I'm very pleased to have read your comments about the tank kit as I have had my eye on one from that particular range for some time.

 

I have built a Slaters one, and although it turned out well and I am very pleased with it, I had a lot of trouble (probably me) getting the tank perfectly round from all the individual panels and had to replace a few rivets along the way after a bit of filling and sanding.

Obviously wrongly, I assumed the resin tank would simplify that part of the build, so I will be following this with interest to see what you think about the effort involved weighed against the cost of the kit.

Tank wagons are lovely though, full of character.

 

The rest of the layout is coming along a treat, that corregated iron looks superb and IMHO the concrete is excellent.

I think surfaces like that are very hard to model as your mind will accept anything when looking at the prototype, because that's how it is, but I find my mind will not always accept the same treatment applied to a model.

 

Thanks again for the review.

 

regards

Stewart

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Dave,

 

Congrats on pic of the week - in fact, it brought me to your layout, which I was very happy to discover and read as I am dabbling with 7mm things at present too :rolleyes:

 

I assume all the track (not just the turnouts) is Peco bullhead?

 

The track plan looks neat and the scenic details to date are excellent - look forward to see some more.

 

Pete

Link to post
Share on other sites

The concrete may not look very good but at least the locos still run on the track.

Nonsense mate, that concrete looks absolutely great!! - you should've said you made it look like that deliberately, then we'd all be hailing your scenic genius!!! :D ;)

It's made Pic of the Week, anyway B) (which reminded me to catch up on your layout!! :blink: :rolleyes: )

Link to post
Share on other sites

Nonsense mate, that concrete looks absolutely great!! - you should've said you made it look like that deliberately, then we'd all be hailing your scenic genius!!! :D ;)

 

I'll go back and edit my posts accordingly, shall I? :D I forgot to say that I used the same polyfilla mix to cast the steps into a mould made of plasticard offcuts. I then pulled the mould apart. The steps were then superglued to the floor and some dried up mix was crushed to powder and used to fill the gap.

 

Pete - yes it is PECO bullhead except for the inset track, which is PECO flat bottom rail only.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've dug the POWSIDES 14t anchor-mounted wagon kit out again and have had a go at making my own tank.

post-494-043274900 1284401101_thumb.jpg

On the left is the tank that comes with the kit, filled, filed and primed but still egg-shaped at one end and with a diameter that varies by as much as 4mm along its length. In the middle is a piece of drain pipe that I have used to make the tank on the right. The original tank should be about 46mm dia. but the pipe is 41mm so my tank will become a chemical tank that should have a dia. of 42mm. I'll get the extra milimetre by layering it with plasticard. I've glued two layers of thick plasticard to both ends and cut and sanded to shape.

 

For HMRS Paul - length of kit frame over headstocks as built up = 123mm. Width = 48.5mm

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything about this and, to be honest, I haven't done much in the way of progress on the railway itself. I have made one more structure and have been tinkering with wagons so here's a few pics.

 

Works chimney.

post-494-065824300 1286210436_thumb.jpg

 

The tank wagon, complete with home-made tank. The transfers are from Fox. I haven't weathered it yet because I'm still thinking of having some Bury, Thorn & Sons transfers made. I initially painted the tank in the same light green as I've used on the buildings and made my own transfers, with black lettering, on the ink-jet printer. The transfers weren't too bad but the tank looked horrible in green! So I removed the transfers and repainted it in black.

post-494-037741900 1286210468_thumb.jpg

 

I've also been turning this:

post-494-079835200 1286210714_thumb.jpg

Out-of-the-box 16t mineral RTR by Lionheart Trains.

 

Into this:

post-494-038872900 1286210750_thumb.jpg

Horrible tatty mess.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

That works chimney looks big. It seems to have a certain sense of bulk. Makes a change to some of the undersize items that you see about.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

It's almost a month since I posted anything about this but I have been doing something with it.

 

First off, the 16tonner as finished. I've already posted this pic elsewhere but here it is anyway.

post-494-013493000 1288729718_thumb.jpg

 

And a general view of other things that have been going on. The backscene has a full-height building along part of it, a water column has been made and is fed from a water tank made from an old lancashire boiler (Duncan Models castings on an old silicon sealant tube). Some ballasting has also been done. The building in the foreground is the engineers workshops.

post-494-015682300 1288729711_thumb.jpg

 

And for the far end of the railway (which is still completely bare) I've started to make a storage tank for the tar when it is unloaded from the cars.

post-494-058095100 1288729722_thumb.jpg

 

It's made from foamboard and cereal packets. You can just about make out the scoring on the card to represent welded panels. It'lll show up more when the thing is painted.

post-494-020726200 1288729729_thumb.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

That tar tank is looking rather nice. Are the pins are just holding the card in place whilst glue dries, or are they the start of some riveting detail?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi, Kris No, they're only there to hold it until the glue dries. They're much too large for rivet heads and the tank is supposed to be of welded construction anyway.

 

I've added a small detail to the water column.

post-494-018264300 1289143176_thumb.jpg

I think this fellow is about to pour some petrol on the the brazier that keeps the water from freezing up (a hollow resin drum with some holes drilled in and suitably weathered and some gloss varnish around the column to represent leaking or spilled water). The staircase is made from 32 individual parts of plastruct channel, plastic rod and Slaters treadplate effect plasticard.

 

Gratuitious shot with steam effects photoshopped in. :)

post-494-009226300 1289143353_thumb.jpg

  • Like 17
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice pics Dave. I'm not normally a fan of photoshopped steam but I think that works rather well. I have to say though that the wood in the brazier looks a little too new and clean. The S2a fits in nicely.

 

I think you're right. It's not glued in so I can remove it and dirty it up a little. I'm not sure I'll leave the Land Rover in though. I can't imagine anyone would use an 88 to deliver drums of chemicals. It'll only hold 3 at the most and it would be quite a task to get them in. What I really need is a Transit-sized van or small, short wheelbase lorry. I'm not sure if a Transit fits the time period?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think you're right. It's not glued in so I can remove it and dirty it up a little. I'm not sure I'll leave the Land Rover in though. I can't imagine anyone would use an 88 to deliver drums of chemicals. It'll only hold 3 at the most and it would be quite a task to get them in. What I really need is a Transit-sized van or small, short wheelbase lorry. I'm not sure if a Transit fits the time period?

 

Nice Layout Dave, you should be fine with a MK1 Transit, but not aware of Any 0 gauge ones? Shame to lose the Series 2 though..

 

Doh - Just seen Halfwits post, that C reg one looks nice, would also be a nice project to convert it into a tipper truck as the rear end is a nice easy scratchbuild.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...