Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[MrWolf]

We had a Romesse stove in the workshop when I was young, the chap who my father fetched it from said it had come from Leicester engine shed. I remember it being like two big iron plant pots with an iron ring full of holes between the two halves.

There's some trendy antique dealer wanting £400 for one. But when you see the new woodburners and the prices, that's a lot of stove for your money 

 

 

 

[MrWolf]

More progress and a bit of a rethink about the goods yard area of the layout. I took a sideways look at the plan for @KNP's Little Muddle and realised that I could add a tapered section 150mm wide which would make the goods yard area more spacious. 

As I share the spare room, I put it to SWMBO that I needed a little bit more "land" so having assured her that her wardrobe wasn't going to end up like Czechoslovakia at any point, I set about using the offcuts from building the layout in the first place. It will make a big difference and has been permanently attached.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by MrWolf
Stupid autocorrect

[MrWolf]

Back to that pagoda hut:

 

The doors, such as they are, are the least bit convincing part of the model. Having said that, the mouldings date back to around 1982 and as far as I know, there's nothing similar available.

The door sits unprototypially inboard of the frame, thanks once again to the curse of the big ugly flange.

 

 

So it was unceremoniously removed and the door glued in about 5 thou proud of the surrounding frame.

 

 

Four small pieces of 5 thou plasticard 2mm long make the back plates for hinge pins, then more bits of 5 thou make up hinge straps and a latch.

 

 

Once the haze of MEK clears, I'll get some paint on it before it bothers me that the hinges should have a rolled end and bolt heads...  

[Mike 84C]

Yeh!,that's the stove I  remember the loco cabin one had a piece 6"+ deep between the two chambers  with some holes in it but not very many maybe 4? and a sliding chimney damper.

  Its a lot of stove for £400, not sure the memsahib would go for it in the front room and it would double or treble my winter fuel bill!

Funnily enough I was mooching around the village of Clun earlier this year, our third visit in about 10yrs so we must like it and the area very much. For the caravanners on here theres a lovely little site just outside the village. PM me if you want details. No more hijacking, promise!

   Mick

[MrWolf]

No worries, this thread meanders like it's namesake river. It wouldn't be right for me to complain as my mind doesn't just wander, sometimes it b****rs off altogether. 

I think that the seperate ring between the two halves of the stove varied in design, ours was about 2-1/2" deep with lots of 3/4" holes which were shrouded by the main shell.

I miss having open fires, I had gas to heat water and radiators, but seldom had the heating on, why would you when firewood is free? 

[MrWolf]

Only done a bit today, but I think that the pagoda hut looks a little more convincing.

 

[1722]

8 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Only done a bit today, but I think that the pagoda hut looks a little more convincing.

 

Absolutely. I did this to my Wills Pagoda and thought it made it more convincing too. 
 

It’s very ‘Lawley Village’ on the Telford Steam Railway. 

[MrWolf]

The crossing keepers house now has a roof, ridge tiles in this case being raided from Wills country station kits that are being repurposed. 

I now have several thousand bricks to paint, which HAS to be better than Christmas TV! 

 

[chuffinghell]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

The crossing keepers house now has a roof, ridge tiles in this case being raided from Wills country station kits that are being repurposed. 

I now have several thousand bricks to paint, which HAS to be better than Christmas TV! 

 

that looks superb Rob

 

[MrWolf]

Thanks. Once painted, all it needs is barge boards, gutters, downpipes, vague interior details, lead flashing, probably an aerial and earth cable for a cat's whisker radio..........

[chuffinghell]

On 17/12/2020 at 22:23, MrWolf said:

Only done a bit today, but I think that the pagoda hut looks a little more convincing.

 

Copycat (just kidding )

 

I cut the moulded gutter off mine and used some leftover Peco guttering

 

[MrWolf]

That looks great, mine definitely needs a little weathering followed by matt varnish, what did you use?

 

I see you left in the outer franes when you cut down your windows, I filed everything off.

 

Also the Railmatch light and dark stone I have used look rather brown to me.

 

 

[chuffinghell]

49 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That looks great, mine definitely needs a little weathering followed by matt varnish, what did you use?

 

I see you left in the outer franes when you cut down your windows, I filed everything off.

 

Also the Railmatch light and dark stone I have used look rather brown to me.

 

 

I mixed my own version of dark and light stone using Vallejo Air acrylic airbrush paint and Vallejo matt varnish.

 

I’ve got the ‘recipe’ written down somewhere, I’ll dig it out and let you know if you like?

 

For weathering I used Humbrol dark earth powder on the body and Humbrol smoke, white and chrome oxide powders on the roof

 

But for weathering I would recommend asking a master like @NHY 581

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by chuffinghell

[MrWolf]

I think that a number of people would be interested in that recipe to be honest!

 

Minor bodging this afternoon meant finding this old Dart castings LK1 lamp hut (still available) glazing it and applying some paint.

I'm going to have to check my books and see if the gutters and downspouts were painted dark stone as well as the door.

 

 

[chuffinghell]

4 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I think that a number of people would be interested in that recipe to be honest!

 

I’m happy to post the recipe but I wouldn’t want to mislead others into thinking it was all that accurate, it’s more an approximation

 

All Vallejo Air

 

Dark Stone

20 drops Tan Earth 71.079

4 drops Mahogany 71.036

1 drop white 71.001

1 drop red 71.269

 

Light stone

50:50

Tan Earth 71.079

Beige 71.074

[MrWolf]

Thanks Chris, I think that it gives people the opportunity to experiment and judge for themselves rather than take it that the results are set in stone.

 

This shot from the GWSG book Great Western Railway Structure Colours 1912-47 by Richard North got me thinking. It was taken in the 1960s but in a corner that saw little sunlight.

 

 

This shot of a triple fronted pagoda hut is closer to the colours that I have been using, but the picture was taken in the 1950s, so possibly two decades since the last GWR repaint.

 

[Mikkel]

Any open cab panniers yet? 

[MrWolf]

A few. They have just been shunted into the mileage siding for our photographer.

 

 

At the front of the line is one of the rare "More open than usual" open cab pannier. I was initially wondering what to do with it until I realised that it could be remodelled into an early version or one of the crane tanks. The toolbox is from a damaged Bachmann shunters truck that I have cannibalized for wheels, buffers and DC brake levers.

 

 

[Mikkel]

An imposing line-up! 

 

The crane tank conversion should be interesting, is it a different version from Matt's (aka @Bluemonkey presents....) that you are aiming for?

[MrWolf]

Thanks, I have picked them up here and there, they're all later ones with the seperate handrails. All will make decent models so I have been watching your work and Matt's with interest. I'm quite taken with the 0-6-4 he's building, especially as I have found a Cambrian GWR crane in my kit stash. I just fancy building one!

It would be interesting to see what other crane tanks were built though. 

Not that any would have been likely to visit my branch line, I just like making things...

[MrWolf]

I thought it might have disappeared, but it is still extant and you probably know it better than me, but I have always found this site useful:

 

"A Beginner's Guide to Pannier Tanks" http://www.gwr.org.uk/nopanniers.html

 

 

[MrWolf]

Whilst I was digging through the small box of bits that I had squirrelled away over half a lifetime ago for that Dart castings lamp hut, I pulled out the components for today's distraction. 

The running in boards are a mixture, old Cooper craft boards (with a 99p price tag on the header card) were adapted with a couple of small letters from their signalbox nameplate kit. The posts for the boards look like nothing, ever, so went in the spares box. The posts I have used are Dart castings L59, GWR station name board posts.

I'm quite happy with the result, though the white will be getting another coat. 

The other item I have put together is a GWR wooden post loading gauge, something quite appropriate for a backwater branch. It would probably not have been replaced with a steel version unless it rotted and toppled over. 

It's an ancient Roger Carpenter kit in white metal and etched brass that I found in a pound bin at an exhibition only last year.

Whilst I think that we are fantastically well served nowadays with some exquisite RTP resin buildings and 3d printed items, it seems to me that we have lost a lot too. Especially detail parts for locos, stock and scenery. 

On the flip side, I can't wait to try static grass and if @chuffinghell hasn't felled an entire rainforest of the stuff, seafoam trees.

 

[Mikkel]

On 27/12/2020 at 01:54, MrWolf said:

I thought it might have disappeared, but it is still extant and you probably know it better than me, but I have always found this site useful:

 

"A Beginner's Guide to Pannier Tanks" http://www.gwr.org.uk/nopanniers.html

 

 

 

Yes, Jim's intro is very useful, as are the photos that I think Russ has added.

 

Google seems to think so too, it keeps throwing that page and those photos at me in searches. Now imagine if the browser could tell that I had already read and digested it - that would be intelligent software  

 

[Simond]

1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

if the browser could tell that I had already read and digested it 

and tagged it and added it to an index of “that kind of thing” so you can easily find it again...

[DonB]

But, Mikkel, our intelligent software would also have to account for advancing years and fading brain power....Or, at least, it would in my case!