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James Makin's Workbench - 1990s dirty diesels & grotty wagons


James Makin
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Very nice !

Can’t wait for the locos !

 

Incidentally, somewhere else on your thread you were listening to “ the knife - silent shout “. Great tune that if you like electronic .

 

 

Thanks Rob, yeah, I love The Knife! Also you may have heard but the lead singer's solo stuff recorded under the 'Fever Ray' name has some pretty decent electronic tunes within!

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Excellent work on the VGA James! Really captured the battered appearance some of these wagons. Have you ever thought about modelling some of the VAA/VBA wagons that were used on MOD work in the early 2000s? I've been working on a couple for an enterprise train and they make interesting variations from the bigger VGAs! 

 

Anyways always interesting to see what you've been working on! 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

 

 

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12 hours ago, Arpleymodeller said:

Excellent work on the VGA James! Really captured the battered appearance some of these wagons. Have you ever thought about modelling some of the VAA/VBA wagons that were used on MOD work in the early 2000s? I've been working on a couple for an enterprise train and they make interesting variations from the bigger VGAs! 

 

Anyways always interesting to see what you've been working on! 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Lewis!

 

Absolutely, they are awesome wagons and definitely are part of the plan! I have gathered a case of about 22 over the years of the varying Bachmann VAA/VBA/VDAs but yet to find the time to tackle any! I’ve got a folder full of hundreds of pics saved from Flickr and other websites, jammed full of faded rotters in every colour from Railfreight pink to Mainline blue that are crying out to be modelled one day! 

 

The biggest challenge is that I’ve collected lots of shiny plasticky RTR wagons over the years at bargain prices and trying to work out what would come next in the queue to be ‘ruined’!

 

From memory there’s the old vans above to do, a long rake of Seacows, some new Turbots, some red Bachmann IPA car carriers, an empty 36 HAA rake, a 30+ MEA rake, a HEA rake, another 30-odd MHA/MFA/MTAs, a set of Grampus, Rudd’s & Clams, a second TEA rake, 35-odd old Lima PGAs for ‘Gunnell’ conversions, the Ford ‘blue train’ I started on before and finally a big pile of old 16t mineral tippler wagon kits for Barbels, I’m really not sure where the time is going to come from, and that’s before any dodgy locos, multicolour Great Western HSTs, coaching stock and Thames Turbos to be done! Early retirement seems the most practical solution here..! 

 

Cheers,

James

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Bloody hell James you really have built up some gigantic stash of wagons no wonder they are so much second hand you own them all! Well your be interested in my latest wagons got a trio of 1 X VAA and 2x VBAs that are nearly finished! Totally battered faded pink railfreight your love them! 

 

Can't believe how much RTR models have gone up in price feels like not long ago they were under a tenner for almost any wagon now it's nothing under £20 for a 4 wheeler and £40-50 for any bogie wagon! 

 

Glad I was able to accumulate 25 HAAs,11 HTAs, 15 HEAs and a dozen MHA,MFA and MTA before the madness in prices set in! 

 

Your so lucky getting that VGA for a fiver literally a steal! 

 

Always following with interest mate keep up the good work! 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

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20 hours ago, Arpleymodeller said:

Bloody hell James you really have built up some gigantic stash of wagons no wonder they are so much second hand you own them all! Well your be interested in my latest wagons got a trio of 1 X VAA and 2x VBAs that are nearly finished! Totally battered faded pink railfreight your love them! 

 

Can't believe how much RTR models have gone up in price feels like not long ago they were under a tenner for almost any wagon now it's nothing under £20 for a 4 wheeler and £40-50 for any bogie wagon! 

 

Glad I was able to accumulate 25 HAAs,11 HTAs, 15 HEAs and a dozen MHA,MFA and MTA before the madness in prices set in! 

 

Your so lucky getting that VGA for a fiver literally a steal! 

 

Always following with interest mate keep up the good work! 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

Thanks Lewis, I can’t wait to see your vans coming on, they do sound right up my street, love all your wagons so far! 

 

Thats a pretty decent selection of wagons you’ve built up so far...I do miss the days of cheap stock so badly!

 

I bought most of my stock during the golden period of approx 2004-2012 when high spec current-gen stock started appearing on the market but at reasonable prices, and traders at shows like Martells used to give us stock at an absolute steal! I’d come home from a show with dozens of wagons and new Bachmann locos for like £60, those truly were the days! 

 

Nowadays I tend to get most of my stuff secondhand, often from my Loftus Road mates at the Club, it’s quite common that some shiny wagons will run on the layout for a few years, to be then sold to me and to reappear on the layout looking disgusting and filthy! 

 

10 hours ago, 37403 said:

Impressive stuff James, that is a lot of stock!

 

How many locos do you have?

Any progress on the next batch of locos you have been working on?

 

Thanks very much, it’s embarassing to admit but I don’t actually know how many locos I’ve got! I’d say maybe 150 but I’m a little worried it’s rather more to be honest..! As always, the stuff that’s been detailed, weathered and run on a layout is only a small proportion compared to the general collection filed away for years in cupboards that we all buy for that layout ‘one day’ :lol:

 

The new loco weathering batch is are getting there, slowly! It’s my fault as I keep tackling more...for another separate project I’m airbrush spraying warning panel yellow (a rare occurrence!) so it gave me the tempting excuse to add a double flush-front-converted RES 47 to get detailed up for the big weathering batch while I’m painting the yellow! 

 

6 hours ago, rob D2 said:

That’s a lot of stock.

Id love to see 30 MEAS behind anything really.....I should think weathering those would see you needing some head therapy ...

 

Cheers Rob, the MEAs will eventually be filled with aggregate and are booked to run behind some classic Class 58s! A lot of the cheap MEAs I bought have the horrible old style chassis needing brake lever & buffer upgrades too, I’d better get the therapy booked now I think! 

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Thanks alot mate glad you like my wagon work got alot of inspiration from seeing your work to be honest. Oh I do too I remember getting MFA and MTA wagons for £6 each! Now they are more like £19 each! Also got a MOA one of the bogie EWS ballast wagons from Hattons for £14 in 2015....same wagons sell for £38 now! 

 

In addition to the fleet I mentioned before also got half a dozen VAA/VBA/VGA, a trio of old MEAs, pair of TTAs, 3 BDAs, 3 SPAs and currently working on a OAA! 

 

What will you be using for the brake lever upgrade on your MEAs? Id love to improve mine but they seem too much of an integral part of the chassis moulding to simply cut away 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

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1 hour ago, Arpleymodeller said:

Thanks alot mate glad you like my wagon work got alot of inspiration from seeing your work to be honest. Oh I do too I remember getting MFA and MTA wagons for £6 each! Now they are more like £19 each! Also got a MOA one of the bogie EWS ballast wagons from Hattons for £14 in 2015....same wagons sell for £38 now! 

 

In addition to the fleet I mentioned before also got half a dozen VAA/VBA/VGA, a trio of old MEAs, pair of TTAs, 3 BDAs, 3 SPAs and currently working on a OAA! 

 

What will you be using for the brake lever upgrade on your MEAs? Id love to improve mine but they seem too much of an integral part of the chassis moulding to simply cut away 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

That’s ok though, as all our salaries have doubled in that period.......anyone ??!

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19 hours ago, James Makin said:

 

Thanks Lewis, I can’t wait to see your vans coming on, they do sound right up my street, love all your wagons so far! 

 

Thats a pretty decent selection of wagons you’ve built up so far...I do miss the days of cheap stock so badly!

 

I bought most of my stock during the golden period of approx 2004-2012 when high spec current-gen stock started appearing on the market but at reasonable prices, and traders at shows like Martells used to give us stock at an absolute steal! I’d come home from a show with dozens of wagons and new Bachmann locos for like £60, those truly were the days! 

 

Nowadays I tend to get most of my stuff secondhand, often from my Loftus Road mates at the Club, it’s quite common that some shiny wagons will run on the layout for a few years, to be then sold to me and to reappear on the layout looking disgusting and filthy! 

 

 

Thanks very much, it’s embarassing to admit but I don’t actually know how many locos I’ve got! I’d say maybe 150 but I’m a little worried it’s rather more to be honest..! As always, the stuff that’s been detailed, weathered and run on a layout is only a small proportion compared to the general collection filed away for years in cupboards that we all buy for that layout ‘one day’ :lol:

 

The new loco weathering batch is are getting there, slowly! It’s my fault as I keep tackling more...for another separate project I’m airbrush spraying warning panel yellow (a rare occurrence!) so it gave me the tempting excuse to add a double flush-front-converted RES 47 to get detailed up for the big weathering batch while I’m painting the yellow! 

 

 

Cheers Rob, the MEAs will eventually be filled with aggregate and are booked to run behind some classic Class 58s! A lot of the cheap MEAs I bought have the horrible old style chassis needing brake lever & buffer upgrades too, I’d better get the therapy booked now I think! 

That's incredible amount of locos you have. Look forward to seeing your latest developments

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On 14/02/2019 at 22:45, Arpleymodeller said:

Thanks alot mate glad you like my wagon work got alot of inspiration from seeing your work to be honest. Oh I do too I remember getting MFA and MTA wagons for £6 each! Now they are more like £19 each! Also got a MOA one of the bogie EWS ballast wagons from Hattons for £14 in 2015....same wagons sell for £38 now! 

 

In addition to the fleet I mentioned before also got half a dozen VAA/VBA/VGA, a trio of old MEAs, pair of TTAs, 3 BDAs, 3 SPAs and currently working on a OAA! 

 

What will you be using for the brake lever upgrade on your MEAs? Id love to improve mine but they seem too much of an integral part of the chassis moulding to simply cut away 

 

Cheers

Lewis 

 

 

Haha yes, I still feel a bit mugged inside if I’m paying more than £5 for a little 4-wheel ballast open wagon, you never quite forget the prices of how things used to be! It just means nowadays for your £5 you’re getting a tatty cast-off instead of a nice boxed new wagon!

 

The OAAs will be fun, I’ve been watching yours come on, I’ve got some Hornby bodies filed away somewhere, I’d planned on a lazy conversion using a Bachmann (VAA I think, it’s one of the trio!) wagon chassis as they look similar design, with the Hornby body bodged on top!

 

For the MEAs, I’m still yet to give it a go but I reckon the brake levers can be ground off with a minidrill sander and then replaced with etched brass ones - if this doesn’t work out, my backup plan is to grind down the depth of the Bachmann plastic original - but it’s all theory at the moment, I’m tempted to dig some out soon though having talked about it! 

 

Cheers,

James

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