Modelling on a teenager's budget in OO.

[tubs01]

32 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

 Have a look at Kadee couplings. They can be well hidden in between the sleepers.  As far as layout size? Well, a man can dream, cant he?

No offense but I'm not going to go through the trouble of buying loads of kadees and modifying all of my stock, because atm the only thing I have with a nem pocket is a mk1.

[Ravenser]

I would steer away from the "10 Hachettes for £50" offer . The problem is that Hachette only did an SK [compartment all second] , and trains would have always required a brake , as well as comprising other types of vehicle. The only train ever formed of 11 maroon SKs was the legendary BR works test train of the early 1970s , comprising some very worn and faded maroon Mk1s

 

My own efforts with the Hachette coach are here:  Hachette Mk1

 

Clearly you don't want to be paying £45 for a new Bachmann Mk1, and even the more modestly priced Hornby Railroad Mk1s are likely to be out of your budget - nice though both ranges are.  

 

The most effective solution will be found in a local model shop , or on ebay. In the early 1960s Triang-Hornby (as they then were) launched a small range of scale length Mk1s and one way and another they stayed in production for about 50 years . (The Hornby Railroad range was tooled up to replace them when the moulds finally wore out nearly 10 years ago- Hornby needed red Mk1s for their Harry Potter sets) 

 

you need a Brake Second (BSK) and arguably a corridor composite . The key coach missing from the old Triang-Hornby range was a full second : and that's exactly what you have with the Hachette coach

 

The going price for a second hand old Hornby Mk1 seems to be about 10 quid . That's what I paid recently for a maroon Mk1 BSK for a conversion. They are not flush-glazed , but vacuum-formed flush-glazing packs for these - and a lot of other things - are available from South Eastern Finecast, and many model shops stock them. I use the readily available packs of  Hornby and Bachmann wheels for rewheeling - plastic wheels are not good news , as they spread dirt

 

And in the 1970s and 1980s Lima produced a rival range of Mk1s, with more types covered. (They also did Mk2 non-aircon stock). Those too should be available second hand in good numbers at similar prices, and there are SE Finescale flushglaze packs

 

You can respray coaches - I'd advise sticking to maroon or crimson because it's much easier than doing a two tone livery. Railmatch do spray cans , which give a better finish than brushpaint. I used Modelmaster transfers for the lining on my Hachette coach - which is a bit of a problem, as Modelmaster seem to have deleted that item from their range.... The Triang Hornby Mk1s dismantle so you only need to spray the sides. Lima Mk1s are a complete bodyshell, so masking would be needed

 

If you want a diesel loco, then a good cheap punt is the old Airfix 31. When Airfix went bust in the early 80s they were flogged off at firesale prices for nearly a decade and wrecked the RTR market.. There is still a glut of them at modest prices on second hand stalls [when we have shows again, and model shops stands at them...] .

 

My efforts to detail up the old Airfix 31 I got when I was about your age are here  : Airfix 31 and here Airfix 31 - 2  (By the way the old Airfix LMS coaches are quite good too : Dapol are still selling them under the Kitmaster label , but there are plenty in old Airfix boxes in the second-hand market)

 

You might also start looking at kits. Given what you've posted I reckon you ought to be able to attempt a few plastic wagon kits. Obvious recommendations are the Parkside range , now owned by Peco (who have just put the old Ratio range under the Parkside label). The one absolutely critical thing with a kit is that the wagon must have all 4 feet on the floor. If it doesn't , and the chassis is crooked, you're stuffed - it derails. Aim to weight up to about 50g, but the chassis must be square.

The old Airfix wagon kits were always pretty buildable too (Dapol still sell them but the moulds are getting a little worm and Airfix used a better grade of plastic)

 

If yo feel a little bolder you might try the former Ratio coach kits now under the Parkside banner. The MR suburban range is worth a look - I had a go at building them when I was your age. (Not very well, I admit, but they went together, and survived for a second attempt...)  Ratio MR suburbans

 

Hope this helps

 

 

[Ravenser]

3 minutes ago, tubs01 said:

No offense but I'm not going to go through the trouble of buying loads of kadees and modifying all of my stock, because atm the only thing I have with a nem pocket is a mk1.

 

And the NEM socket on the Hachette is far too high. I ended up having to buy Keen Systems close coupling cams for a Bachmann Mk1 to replace it with one at the correct height. Even then I had to file the wretched thing to get it to fit right (and I really don't like filing resin- strictly an out of doors job, as the dust isn't good for your lungs) .From memory I only did one end , and used one of Bachmann's "NEM plastic steampipes" as the internal coupling within the set of 2 coaches.

 

Kadees are not cheap, and as someone who seems to spend a good deal of every project wondering "so how am I going to get the Kadees into this ??" , I would suggest you stick with tension locks for the moment

[tubs01]

2 hours ago, Ravenser said:

I would steer away from the "10 Hachettes for £50" offer . The problem is that Hachette only did an SK [compartment all second] , and trains would have always required a brake , as well as comprising other types of vehicle. The only train ever formed of 11 maroon SKs was the legendary BR works test train of the early 1970s , comprising some very worn and faded maroon Mk1s

 

My own efforts with the Hachette coach are here:  Hachette Mk1

 

Clearly you don't want to be paying £45 for a new Bachmann Mk1, and even the more modestly priced Hornby Railroad Mk1s are likely to be out of your budget - nice though both ranges are.  

 

The most effective solution will be found in a local model shop , or on ebay. In the early 1960s Triang-Hornby (as they then were) launched a small range of scale length Mk1s and one way and another they stayed in production for about 50 years . (The Hornby Railroad range was tooled up to replace them when the moulds finally wore out nearly 10 years ago- Hornby needed red Mk1s for their Harry Potter sets) 

 

you need a Brake Second (BSK) and arguably a corridor composite . The key coach missing from the old Triang-Hornby range was a full second : and that's exactly what you have with the Hachette coach

 

The going price for a second hand old Hornby Mk1 seems to be about 10 quid . That's what I paid recently for a maroon Mk1 BSK for a conversion. They are not flush-glazed , but vacuum-formed flush-glazing packs for these - and a lot of other things - are available from South Eastern Finecast, and many model shops stock them. I use the readily available packs of  Hornby and Bachmann wheels for rewheeling - plastic wheels are not good news , as they spread dirt

 

And in the 1970s and 1980s Lima produced a rival range of Mk1s, with more types covered. (They also did Mk2 non-aircon stock). Those too should be available second hand in good numbers at similar prices, and there are SE Finescale flushglaze packs

 

You can respray coaches - I'd advise sticking to maroon or crimson because it's much easier than doing a two tone livery. Railmatch do spray cans , which give a better finish than brushpaint. I used Modelmaster transfers for the lining on my Hachette coach - which is a bit of a problem, as Modelmaster seem to have deleted that item from their range.... The Triang Hornby Mk1s dismantle so you only need to spray the sides. Lima Mk1s are a complete bodyshell, so masking would be needed

 

If you want a diesel loco, then a good cheap punt is the old Airfix 31. When Airfix went bust in the early 80s they were flogged off at firesale prices for nearly a decade and wrecked the RTR market.. There is still a glut of them at modest prices on second hand stalls [when we have shows again, and model shops stands at them...] .

 

My efforts to detail up the old Airfix 31 I got when I was about your age are here  : Airfix 31 and here Airfix 31 - 2  (By the way the old Airfix LMS coaches are quite good too : Dapol are still selling them under the Kitmaster label , but there are plenty in old Airfix boxes in the second-hand market)

 

You might also start looking at kits. Given what you've posted I reckon you ought to be able to attempt a few plastic wagon kits. Obvious recommendations are the Parkside range , now owned by Peco (who have just put the old Ratio range under the Parkside label). The one absolutely critical thing with a kit is that the wagon must have all 4 feet on the floor. If it doesn't , and the chassis is crooked, you're stuffed - it derails. Aim to weight up to about 50g, but the chassis must be square.

The old Airfix wagon kits were always pretty buildable too (Dapol still sell them but the moulds are getting a little worm and Airfix used a better grade of plastic)

 

If yo feel a little bolder you might try the former Ratio coach kits now under the Parkside banner. The MR suburban range is worth a look - I had a go at building them when I was your age. (Not very well, I admit, but they went together, and survived for a second attempt...)  Ratio MR suburbans

 

Hope this helps

 

 

I have actually built a few kits, and I had experience going into as I used to be in building plane kits. As for the unrealistic rake that would be formed by a few hatchette mk1s, it doesn't bother me. I'm not really educated on all the different types and what they mean so it doesn't matter to me, even it it should. As for repainting I have thought about what livery. My favourite era is sectorisation to early privatisation, but all the sectorisation liveries with multiple colours look like they could be difficult. Not going to bother with br blue, I hate it, so for the meanwhile I'll just stick with crimson I guess. Unfortunately it seems to be quite hard to get mk1s for a cheao price on ebay without resorting to bidding, which is why the hatchette ones caught my eye

[tubs01]

Can anyone recommend a good manufacturer fir handrail knobs and the like? Preferably brass, as I don't use whitemetal under any circumstances 

[JinglingGeordie]

Hi tubs,. Can I draw your attention to "what loco have I bought" in Modelling questions... Thread. The writer has bought an ancient 060tank, southern R1 which is ...dated and cheap but has reconstructed it to look a great deal better. A number of the 040and 060s at budget prices are of good interesting prototypes and if small locos are your thing then a lot of variety. Your work on the GWR Holden tank shows this. 

 

Good luck! 

[Barclay]

7 hours ago, tubs01 said:

Can anyone recommend a good manufacturer fir handrail knobs and the like? Preferably brass, as I don't use whitemetal under any circumstances 

Alan Gibson - they do short, medium and long types.

[Ravenser]

11 hours ago, tubs01 said:

Can anyone recommend a good manufacturer fir handrail knobs and the like? Preferably brass, as I don't use whitemetal under any circumstances 

 

Markits (supply erratic at present) or Alan Gibson. You'll be glad to hear nobody does whitemetal handrail knobs

[Ravenser]

12 hours ago, tubs01 said:

I have actually built a few kits, and I had experience going into as I used to be in building plane kits. As for the unrealistic rake that would be formed by a few hatchette mk1s, it doesn't bother me. I'm not really educated on all the different types and what they mean so it doesn't matter to me, even it it should. As for repainting I have thought about what livery. My favourite era is sectorisation to early privatisation, but all the sectorisation liveries with multiple colours look like they could be difficult. Not going to bother with br blue, I hate it, so for the meanwhile I'll just stick with crimson I guess. Unfortunately it seems to be quite hard to get mk1s for a cheao price on ebay without resorting to bidding, which is why the hatchette ones caught my eye

 

You always need a brake coach in every train. Also you normally need both first and second class accommodation on a train. 

 

When the model shops are open , I strongly advise a hunt through their second hand piles to pick up an old Hornby / Triang -Hornby BSK and CK . Turning them from self-coloured plastic into maroon via an aerosol spray can will give you some experience 

 

Here's a Hornby CK : (Southern Region coaches in green did escape the Southern)  ebay - Hornby CK

Here's  Lima Mk 1s (2 x BSK, 1 x SK, 1 x FK) ebay Lima Mk1s

 

And if you have plastic kit experience and ever see one of these at an affordable price , grab it:

ebay - Kitmaster BSK   In the 1960s these were the bee's knees in Mk1s , and they do have flush glaze

 

You are right about sectorised and privatised liveries being a tough job for a repaint. They are pretty much an airbrush job - which is why people tend to obsess about RTR being available on a particular livery. . Even two-tone liveries like blue/grey are not necessarily easy, so plain maroon is a good place to start learning. (So are plain blue diesels) You don't need to mask for stripes

 

However that doesn't mean your maroon Mk1s have to be discarded later. You can always designate them as a railtour /charter. Quite a few maroon liveried Mk1s around doing that kind of work

 

[Reorte]

19 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Modelling the current railway sadly has almost all the features that your situation and budget mitigate against; locos and stock. espeially goods stock, are longer, more complex, and take up more space than 'traditional' railway stuff does, and are also a lot more expensive.  Passenger trains come in sets and beyond the world of Sprinters and Pacers are 4, 5, or more cars long.  OTOH there are 5 car HSTs these days...

 

With no other considerations but not much space I'd say go old if you want freight (for the shorter trains and the shunting) and modern if you want passenger - whilst there are certainly long passenger trains plenty of places don't see more than 4 car units, which might've handled much longer trains in the past. In my neck of the wood there's Hazel Grove for example, which has sidings (used), a junction, electric and diesel, passenger trains from three different TOCs, and before TransPennine started running doubled up 185s recently none longer than 4 cars, and no two TOCs using the same stock. Can't help thinking that you could base a varied modern and compact layout around that (sure, the real thing isn't that compact, but that's why I'm saying based on).

 

[tubs01]

49 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

 

You always need a brake coach in every train. Also you normally need both first and second class accommodation on a train. 

 

When the model shops are open , I strongly advise a hunt through their second hand piles to pick up an old Hornby / Triang -Hornby BSK and CK . Turning them from self-coloured plastic into maroon via an aerosol spray can will give you some experience 

 

Here's a Hornby CK : (Southern Region coaches in green did escape the Southern)  ebay - Hornby CK

Here's  Lima Mk 1s (2 x BSK, 1 x SK, 1 x FK) ebay Lima Mk1s

 

And if you have plastic kit experience and ever see one of these at an affordable price , grab it:

ebay - Kitmaster BSK   In the 1960s these were the bee's knees in Mk1s , and they do have flush glaze

 

You are right about sectorised and privatised liveries being a tough job for a repaint. They are pretty much an airbrush job - which is why people tend to obsess about RTR being available on a particular livery. . Even two-tone liveries like blue/grey are not necessarily easy, so plain maroon is a good place to start learning. (So are plain blue diesels) You don't need to mask for stripes

 

However that doesn't mean your maroon Mk1s have to be discarded later. You can always designate them as a railtour /charter. Quite a few maroon liveried Mk1s around doing that kind of work

 

Thanks! I thought about the railtour idea too, as the railroad tornado is surprisingly quite cheap if you look in the right places.

[tubs01]

1 hour ago, Ravenser said:

 

Markits (supply erratic at present) or Alan Gibson. You'll be glad to hear nobody does whitemetal handrail knobs

I thought so, but I thought I'd say just incase 

[tubs01]

What's this? A new fleet member you say? I ordered this a few days ago on ebay for just under 20 quid, the main reason being that I have wanted this loco ever since I saw it on a flyer for the collector club in a Hornby set I got for christmas 2013. It comes with brake pipes but I probably won't fit them as I've seen a listing for 50 more realistic Dapol ones, at around the 4 quid mark. Might also attemp at fitting handrails at some point. This model doesn't have any moulded handrails because, as you may know, it was Hornby's poor attempt from the late 90's to make a cheaper Thomas for trainsets. Strangely, in my opinion at least, it looks terrible done up as thomas, but with a lot of the fictitious liveries Hornby has slapped on it throughout the years, it looks alright in a way. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by tubs01
edited because I wrote 'eet' instead of 'fleet'

[Reorte]

On 01/12/2020 at 19:09, The Johnster said:

You might have skeletons in the cupboard as a result of this as well; I do not look back to my teenage 56xx with any pride, a Triang Jinty chassis and a bodged body which was mostly an Airfix construction kit large prairie, and a 42xx which had another large prairie and the boiler of a City of Truro.  My non running 63xx, prairie chassis with CoT body, didn't look too bad. 

 

Very few of us will have early attempts we're still proud of, what matters is whether we were at the time, and enjoyed them at the time.

 

I think the best way to go at it is not to worry what we'll think about it in the future, and if we're hoping to be doing brilliant top-notch modelling some day then our early stuff is a necessary step in that direction. Enjoy what you can do now and if you want more use it as part of the process on learning how to do more.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Reorte

[33C]

Get yourself round the bootsales, jumble and table sales, and charity shops do get all sorts of "toys" that i have put to use. Ask your relatives, "whats in your attic". I recently found an early Triang/Hornby "Evening Star", boxed, with slight damage to the cab and a Wills J69 needing pick-ups. Price? £2 each.....why, "because they are broken".......About 75% of my stuff has come from these sources and at these prices you have nothing to lose and/or a bulging spares box!

[cypherman]

Hi all,

I agree with 33c on this. I have picked up quite a few engines from 2nd hand shops and car boot sales very cheaply because they were supposed to be broken or ran very badly. One of the biggest reasons I found for this is that the average toy train owner and I use the term toy train owner to represent the type of person who has bought little Johnny/Jennifer a Hogwarts castle train set for birthday/christmas and after a year or so it stopped running. The owner adult or child do not realise that things wear out and need replacing such as carbon bushes and believe it has broken. Then it is off to the car boot sale to get rid of it. You can guess where this is going can't you...... :). And that's how I got my Hogwarts castle.

Edited December 4, 2020 by cypherman

[tubs01]

Some pictures of the queen elizabeth II loco. I added synthetic coal and did some paint detailing. I would like to add lamp irons at some point plus dome safety valves and a whistle.

[tubs01]

Some pics of a loco I call Jack. Full repaint plus some rubbish weathering, (It's alright for me but I put rubbish because I don't want to say it's good if it's mediocre) synthetic coal and painted cab details. Need vacuum pipes, crew figures, a 3 link coupling at the front, some lamp irons or maybe just a lamp.

Edited December 5, 2020 by tubs01

[tubs01]

Some pics of a pug. No name yet. Needs a new chassis, 3 links, vacuum pipes, lamp irons, crew figures and synthetic coal. I painted the cab interior plus some other things

[tubs01]

So I've acquired a yellow submarine eurostar and I've got a class 92 on the way plus some LWB boxvans (one of my favourite wagons that Hornby have ever produced) and I really want some container wagons for the 92, but I'm not rich, so has anyone got any cheaper alternatives?

[DK123GWR]

6 minutes ago, tubs01 said:

So I've acquired a yellow submarine eurostar and I've got a class 92 on the way plus some LWB boxvans (one of my favourite wagons that Hornby have ever produced) and I really want some container wagons for the 92, but I'm not rich, so has anyone got any cheaper alternatives?

Modern freight wagons are generally quite expensive. My first rake of freight wagons was a set of old Hornby tank wagons which roughly resemble TTAs for £3-£5 each. You can just about get away with them for early modern image, but I don't know about 92s.

[tubs01]

11 minutes ago, DK123GWR said:

Modern freight wagons are generally quite expensive. My first rake of freight wagons was a set of old Hornby tank wagons which roughly resemble TTAs for £3-£5 each. You can just about get away with them for early modern image, but I don't know about 92s.

Yeah I do want to get some more TTAs (I have seen videos of them in long rakes from the 90s- early 2000s, which is the era I'm going to base my layout on) but I want something other than boxvans for my 92

[cypherman]

On 05/12/2020 at 16:10, tubs01 said:

Some pics of a pug. No name yet. Needs a new chassis, 3 links, vacuum pipes, lamp irons, crew figures and synthetic coal. I painted the cab interior plus some other things

 

On 05/12/2020 at 16:10, tubs01 said:

Some pics of a pug. No name yet. Needs a new chassis, 3 links, vacuum pipes, lamp irons, crew figures and synthetic coal. I painted the cab interior plus some other things

Hi Noticed that one of the rear buffers on this engine is damaged. An easy fix for this is to get some plasticard and use a hole punch to make a new buffer head. Cleanly cut off the damaged one and glue the new one on. I have done this on a few older wagons with very good results. I used a good quality gel super glue to stick them on. It helps keep them in place while the glue sets. If it is slightly out in size you can always replace all the buffer heads. Or the other thing that can be done is to remove the buffers all together and made dumb buffers from balsa. Just paint them up when stuck on.

Edited January 1, 2021 by cypherman

[tubs01]

Some photos of my class 92, which arrived yesterday. Needed a bit of running in, since it likely hadn't been run since the 90s, but I love it.

[tubs01]

In other news, my mum said that she's going to pre-order me all of the Hornby beatles wagons as a birthday present. Expensive, but I'm not complaining!I'm also planning on pre-ordering the new Thomas recolour. I know 50 quid is a bit steep for a railroad 0-6-0, but the livery is just beautiful, and I have the money.