Bury, Thorn & Sons

[Giles]

I too filled the bunker joints and dressed down the tank sides on mine (followed by and gentle re-spray) and I've been delighted with it.... A small amount of work transforms the loco!

 

I do find that the buffer beams are rather too pink - although didn't really notice untill after I weathered mine.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Thank you, Debs. It's nice to know I've inspired someone, especially if it's to do something industrial or something other than box-opening.

 

Speaking of which, I've done a bit of box-opening myself. I have finally got around to buying an Ixion Hudswell. I'm sure it's been reviewed before but I may as well give my two penn'orth...

 

Ixion.jpg

 

As you can see, I bought the black version but unpainted would be more apt as everything that's black appears to be just the bare plastic, complete with fingerprints in the glue where one of the guard irons has been fixed to the frames and the shinyness of the glue at both sides of the rear of the bunker, which are in need of some filler in the gaps between sides and rear. The red bits are painted but the paint is a bit flaky in places with bits missing from the driving rods.

 

As you can see in the pic, the saddletank has distinct lines along its length as if it was half-etched brass that had been formed wrong and not the plastic moulding that it is. The handrails are a bit too bendy for my liking and the pipework and injectors ought to be painted and not simply left black.

 

Despite these observations it looks like a Hudswell and I'm not sending it back, as I'm a modeller and not a box opener. I'll fill the gaps, smooth down the lines on the tank and replace the handrails with scratch built brass versions. I'll then paint and weather it before it enters service.

 

I've tested it on the rollers on straight DC and it runs very smoothly in both directions, right down to under 10 on the dial of a Gaugemaster series E controller so the first job will be to fit a suitable decoder just to make sure it runs as well on a track before do anything irreversible.

Hi Ruston,

 

They are nice locos, and your comments are very valid, I wasnt aware of the lining issue along the tank top though - that is a shame, shame too about the other QC issues (which are easliy delt with) yet to have to fill, sand and repaint (weather) the tank shouldnt have to be (hope that it all goes well for you though).

 

Kind regards,

 

CME

Edited July 9, 2013 by CME and Bottlewasher

[Ruston]

I've had it apart to fit a decoder and whilst it was in pieces I rounded off the tank moulding using 200 and 1000 grit wet and dry paper then I painted the inside of the cab, the frames, the running plate and the smokebox in a matt black (33) with a hint of white (34) to make it a very dark grey. The cab outside, the tank, boiler, wheels and cab steps were painted satin coal black (85) and the rods, bufferbeams and injector operating rods with scarlet (60). The external pipework was painted copper (12) and the clacks and injectors were given a mix of gold (16) and gunmetal (53)The frames and wheels were given a drybrushing with a mixture of browns, black and white and the bodywork given a dusting of various weathering powders. All paints were Humbrol and the powders from Carrs.

 

The pipework still needs some toning down/dirtying and some of the powers need taking off. The fire iron is one of the set that comes with the engine but the oil can (that needs a touch of weathering yet) is a Duncan Models casting and not one of those that comes with it. They don't have handles on so will be used on another engine once I've made and added some handles from paper.

 

 

As I said elsewhere, I'm no Martyn Welch but I think this is better than an all-over coat of grey, applied with an airbrush, and it cost a lot less than £30!

Edited July 11, 2013 by Ruston

[Barnaby]

Very nice indeed Dave.

 

Regards

[Ruston]

Back to rolling stock...

 

At the Halifax (Cleckeaton) O gauge show I bought a kit for another tank. I'll not say what make it was but it is bloody awful and THE worst kit I've ever bought in O. Anyway, having put the frames together with solder I couldn't take it apart when I found out that the spacers and ends were way too wide and it could never be built to run! So I have salvaged the buffers, brake levers and tank filler (the tank itself has been kept for another project) and have mated them to an old Cooper Craft chassis that I bought for a fiver a couple of years ago but, until now, have had no use for and therefore no reason to build it.

 

The tank has been made from the same drainage pipe (thanks, Halfwit Paul!)  that I've used on previous scratchbuilds/kit bashes. As with the Home office tank I've cut a slice along the length to narrow the diameter and have used araldite to fix it back together. The ends are made from plasticard and filed and sanded around the edge - no need for a domed end - see picture in the Cheona book that it's sat on...

 

 

The tank was then covered in 10 thou plasticard that has had rivets pressed into it using a scribe. The whole thing is a bit impressionistic, rather than an accurate model.

[Ruston]

Construction complete bar couplings. I'll paint it matt black before numbering and weathering. It doesn't look too bad for something made mostly out of junk.

[asa]

Nice work Ruston well done.I always enjoy your offerings.

[Ruston]

[81A Oldoak]

I've had it apart to fit a decoder and whilst it was in pieces I rounded off the tank moulding using 200 and 1000 grit wet and dry paper then I painted the inside of the cab, the frames, the running plate and the smokebox in a matt black (33) with a hint of white (34) to make it a very dark grey. The cab outside, the tank, boiler, wheels and cab steps were painted satin coal black (85) and the rods, bufferbeams and injector operating rods with scarlet (60). The external pipework was painted copper (12) and the clacks and injectors were given a mix of gold (16) and gunmetal (53)The frames and wheels were given a drybrushing with a mixture of browns, black and white and the bodywork given a dusting of various weathering powders. All paints were Humbrol and the powders from Carrs.

 

The pipework still needs some toning down/dirtying and some of the powers need taking off. The fire iron is one of the set that comes with the engine but the oil can (that needs a touch of weathering yet) is a Duncan Models casting and not one of those that comes with it. They don't have handles on so will be used on another engine once I've made and added some handles from paper.

 Very nice job.

Ixion-001.jpg

 

As I said elsewhere, I'm no Martyn Welch but I think this is better than an all-over coat of grey, applied with an airbrush, and it cost a lot less than £30!

Construction complete bar couplings. I'll paint it matt black before numbering and weathering. It doesn't look too bad for something made mostly out of junk.

Tank102-002.jpg

[Debs.]

I love the 'spillages'...........a dirty-detail so often overlooked by others and yet so true to reality!

[potterb68]

I am new here - registered today. I have been musing on O gauge in retirement.

 

Thank you so very much for your exquisite and (awe-)inspiring work.

 

Ben

Edited July 31, 2013 by potterb68

[Barnaby]

Hello Dave once more your efforts are brilliant. 

You inspire me not only to shift my butt and get some modelling done but also you create the desire on things that were subliminal to me.  eg your attention to detail like waste, spillages reading the newspaper all create that lived in for real atmosphere which is something that strikes a real accord with me.  I'm mainly a RTR out the box modeller but do build most of my rolling stock and some min soldered locos.  Your ideas & how to's on finishing are helping me to have a go at enlivening my stock and will follow on through the layout when built.
Always trying to remember less is MORE while acknowledging doing nothing is soulless. 

 

Once again many thanks for sharing your efforts.

 

PS do you ever take your layout to shows I've not spotted any but I would very much like to see it come alive.

 

Regards

[Ruston]

Hi Barnaby,

 

Thanks for the nice words. I haven't exhibited it and doubt that I will, although I have been asked to twice. It all seems like such a hassle and I get enough stress during the working week without adding to it at a weekend.

 

Then again, never say never...

[hartleymartin]

I'm afraid you can't buy a 44/48HP shunter. I wanted a 48DS, which is very similar, but no kit was in production at the time (I don't think one is available now either) so I scratchbuilt the 44/48 as something slightly different.

Front.jpg Chassis.jpg

The bodywork is plasticard and plastruct, the buffers were turned in a lathe, as were the wheels, and the chassis itself was milled from brass. A small Mashima motor drives through a 45:1 worm and wheel, which is further geared down 2:1 by delrin chain and sprockets. The chain arrangement is more or less like the real thing but the chains are overscale. This doesn't really matter as the only way they can be seen is from the side and so the depth isn't an issue from that viewpoint.

 

Where did you get the drawings for this model? I've been interested in one for a while, but have been waiting for Karlgarin models for years and I'm starting to think that this would make a good scratch-build project.

[Osgood]

Where did you get the drawings for this model? I've been interested in one for a while, but have been waiting for Karlgarin models for years and I'm starting to think that this would make a good scratch-build project.

 

I spoke with Karlgarin today at the Waveney Valley MR exhibition and he showed me a newly received wheel which he had commissioned from Slaters to replace the incorrect wagon wheels which were originally specified in the Impetus kits. Looks very good.  He hopes to make some serious progress soon towards getting these kits available.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Osgood

[Ruston]

Where did you get the drawings for this model? I've been interested in one for a while, but have been waiting for Karlgarin models for years and I'm starting to think that this would make a good scratch-build project.

I didn't get drawings. I went out with a tape measure and a notebook. IIRC it was at the railway at Telford. If you want to model a 48DS there are plenty of them about to measure but a more or less original 44/48 is a rarer beast. The frames on the 44/48 are the same as a 48DS and the engine covers are the same but the cab is different. The wheels are also smaller diameter, 2ft. 3in against 2ft. 6in.

 

Here are two drawings, from RH sales leaflets, that I have adjusted to be as near the same size as possible. You can scale them off the known dimensions.

 

 

[hartleymartin]

Thanks - It is a little more difficult for me, being in Sydney, Australia to get access to one of these for measurement. Just to give you an idea, there are two "Hibberd Planet" locomotives in preservation. One is a 5-hour drive out west and the other is an 8-hour drive north of where I live. I don't think any of the Ruston 44/48 or 48DS made it into preservation here.

[Dava]

Thanks to Ruston for the drawings which are really helpful, for when I get started on building mine, which is the 'electrifrying trains' clone - having also given up on Karlgarin!

 

Dava

[Ruston]

Thanks to Ruston for the drawings which are really helpful, for when I get started on building mine, which is the 'electrifrying trains' clone - having also given up on Karlgarin!

 

Dava

This one? http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/42289-ruston-48ds-in-7mm/

[Dava]

Yes, that's the one. I've seen your helpful critique & ways of improving the kit, so will be guided by this when I start building it - a project for the autumn/winter. Once the garage-to-workshop conversion has been done & the layout has done its october shows.

[Ruston]

One of the first scenics/buildings that I did on this layout was the frontage to hide the fiddleyard. I never finished the downpipes or added the collectors so, today, I have done just that and have also added, and blended in, some lettering.

It was done by first making the words in MS Word and then printing them onto ordinary printer paper. The print-outs were made into stencils by cutting the letters out with a Stanley knife and the stencils were then stuck on using a spray mount adhesive and the finished lettering dabbed on through the stencil with cotton buds dipped in Humbrol enamels.

 

I think next on the agenda is to make some stop blocks for that siding before that office and the Vespa are destroyed in a shunting accident.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

One of the first scenics/buildings that I did on this layout was the frontage to hide the fiddleyard. I never finished the downpipes or added the collectors so, today, I have done just that and have also added, and blended in, some lettering.

BTSL-002.jpg

It was done by first making the words in MS Word and then printing them onto ordinary printer paper. The print-outs were made into stencils by cutting the letters out with a Stanley knife and the stencils were then stuck on using a spray mount adhesive and the finished lettering dabbed on through the stencil with cotton buds dipped in Humbrol enamels.

 

I think next on the agenda is to make some stop blocks for that siding before that office and the Vespa are destroyed in a shunting accident.

 

Very nice work as always!

Edited August 10, 2013 by CME and Bottlewasher

[81A Oldoak]

One of the first scenics/buildings that I did on this layout was the frontage to hide the fiddleyard. I never finished the downpipes or added the collectors so, today, I have done just that and have also added, and blended in, some lettering.

BTSL-002.jpg

It was done by first making the words in MS Word and then printing them onto ordinary printer paper. The print-outs were made into stencils by cutting the letters out with a Stanley knife and the stencils were then stuck on using a spray mount adhesive and the finished lettering dabbed on through the stencil with cotton buds dipped in Humbrol enamels.

 

I think next on the agenda is to make some stop blocks for that siding before that office and the Vespa are destroyed in a shunting accident.

A simple method to end the siding is to bend the ends of the rails up to about a scale 2' above rail level. 

[Osgood]

A simple method to end the siding is to bend the ends of the rails up to about a scale 2' above rail level. 

 

 

[81A Oldoak]

 

Trip Hazard.jpg

Nice one. Fortunately this layout is in the days before hi-visibility jackets and infantile announcements on the train advising us to carry a bottle of water in hot weather and when boys played conkers.