Ellerby - 4mm/OO gauge - All photos working, hotlinked.

[Jamiel]

Hi Andy
 

I am looking forward to doing my Class 124 Transpennine, and I also have a couple of Hornby Class 110’s to detail, so we have a lot in common when it comes to multiple units. I will be very interested to see the progress on your models.
 

I have used Craftsman conversion kits as both overlays in the way they were intended and also as if they were a pure etched kit. Admittedly the overlay method was my first bit of detailing on a Class 128 parcels unit, but I much prefer just using the etches on their own. Whether combined with plastic moulded cabs as I did on the Class 129, or with the etched ends on the Class 120 I find it makes for an easier build to just use the etches for the sides on their own.

 

I think a lot of the reason for this is that so much time is spent hacking the donor body back, that just a little reinforcing on the etches gives as good, if not better result in my experience.

 

The one area I am not sure about is the roof. I have used the Comet aluminium roofs for the Class 120, and have a set of lining transfers to do the ribs on teh Class 120, which will be an intersting experinment. I used roof tape on my Comet LMS inspection saloon and it is OK on that, but I feel too heavy for the DMUs. The Replica Railways coach bodies have nice roofs, and I suspect that for future builds I may strip them off the sides, and possibly the ends and use those.

 

Looking at the amount of work needed to make the Class 124 I have planned I am tempted to get the Worsley Works etches myself and use those for the sides at least.
 

For the chassis I really like the Comet etched chassis, and for the drive unit the Replica Railways powered chassis are excellent. There are two issues with them though, you are tied to their height and distance to the bogies unless you do what I did with the Class 120 which was a bit of a faff. The other issue is that the die cast chassis comes up almost to the line of the windows. As I wish to light the DMU interiors this might not look so good on the Class 120 and 124 when they are done. Not an issue on parcels units though.
 

http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/die-cast-chassis/chassis-variants

 

I also bought a load of Trix Transpennine bogies for my planned build as apparently they are accurate and the right scale, or very near, nearer than the HO scale bodies. I will replace the cookie cutter wheels though.

 

Hopefully I will get on with the Class 120 and it finished over the Easter break and also finish off a some of the many unfinished projects almost there but not quite on my shelf.
 

Jamie

[Andy 53B]

Hi Jamie,

 

it would appear you have already gone through the same process as I'm going through. As far as the Class 117 to 114 conversion, I'm initially looking at using the etches as overlays rather than as a pure etch as it will give some stability to the sides, even though I'll need to hack some of the windows out.

 

The class 110 is a bit of a slow burner at the moment as each time I look at my photos I begin to notice more and more additional bits and pieces I need to add e.g. horns below the buffers, replacing moulded water pipes, the buffers themselves definitely need replacing!

 

As far as the drive units are concerned, I've already got a replica one and fully appreciate the height issue, so I'm still thinking of replacing the existing motor with a CD/DVD motor and then DCC it to give better control. I figure for the price of the motor, it won't really be that much of a waste of money if it doesn't work out.

 

I don't intend starting the Class 124 TPU until later in the year as I really want to get the other stack of projects out of the way first. I'm in the process of trying to get a lot of the bits and pieces I will need to make a start, so the photos will be really useful, haven't had chance to go through them all yet, but thanks very much. You've obviously made a better start as you've already got the bogies sorted, everything I've researched so far indicate that the Trix ones are to scale and the best available.

 

I'll try and get some photos taken of the etches over the weekend so you can have a look at them.

[leopardml2341]

Sorry to (partially) hijack your thread Jamie, but.....

 

Andy 53B, do you have any decent underframe layout details of the DTC (actually class148) of the '114' unit?

[Andy 53B]

Hi Andy,

 

not too sure on the copyright of some of the photos I've got, but most of them are from the Railcar website, https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/class-114/all, if you need any more info, just drop me a PM,

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[Andy 53B]

Hi Jamie,

 

as promised, here are a few pics of the Worsley Works etches, if you need any more details or some better pics as these were taken on my phone, just let me know.

 

[Andy 53B]

Sorry, hit the 10mb limit:

 

[Jamiel]

Hi Andy

Thanks for the photos.
 

I think I will get a set as the work on the sides of the Replica Mk1s would take me years to move the windows around. Look at the bottom photo to see how much hacking was needed on one driving unit. These photos were posted before a few pages back.

Looking at the cabs I think I will use the DC Kits Class 303 EMU cabs to get the curves more easily and use the combination I used on Class 129 of plastic cabs with brass sides, and ends in the case of the Class 124s.

I have two spare one I got from Charlie at DC Kits in case I make a mess of these, which I am happy to let you have when I have got the driving unit together provided I don't mess them up.





I hope to have more phots of the department store very soon as I have been working on it, and then back to the Class 120, which I should get some time to work on over the Easter break.

Jamie

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

leopardml2341

No worries about asking about DMUs here, I love to see them running on layouts and especially to see them being built and detailed.

 

Jamie

Edited April 6, 2019 by Jamiel

[Andy 53B]

Hi Jamie,

 

I just had to burst out laughing, I also got the Class 303 EMU cabs from Charlie as I don't think I'd be able to get the curves correct either, but I also got 2 spares as I'm sure I'll end up butchering at least one of them

 

I have to agree with you about DMUs, I don't think you see enough of them or enough variations on green/blue layouts. I spoke with John at Silver Fox models, he was hoping to get some class104s this year using the Hornby class 110s as a basis,

 

Andy

[Jamiel]

 

As promised earlier some photos of the progress doing the interior and lighting on the department store. Hard to add any explanation beyond what you can see in the photos. Apologies that some are a little shaky, they were long exposures and I did them just resting on a box as I didn’t want to get the tripod out, and they are probably too near the ground to use it.

There is a row of Maplin LEDs behind the first floor windows, which show the difference in brightness between those and the Digitrains ones, they are barely visible with the naked eye let alone getting a camera exposure.

There is a little light bleed on the left under the first floor windows, but I am happy to live with that.
 

Not my choice of carpet I must add, one of the problems of renting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah just called me 'Petrocelli' since I am always working on a building and never finishing it. You know how old you are if ypou get that reference.

More soon.

Jamie

 

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Along the side where I removed bay windows which I felt were too chunky for the store, I made it look as though an old high door with a winch had been bricked over.
 

I found the following image of an old winch on street view (near Carlisle station) and decided I wanted to add one.

 

I had a hunt through my brass off-cuts box, and found what looks like an EM bogie body, and also some L girder and a wheel from an etch and got underway.
 

 

Here it is just propped in position by the holing wire at the back.
 

 

 

 

 

Now waiting for the primer to dry.
 

I am planning to use the bay windows for the kind of bays they often had at ground level on LMS stations like the one I am modelling, so those will be used for that. Here is an image from Disused Stations to show what I plan.
 

 

I have also been adding in black behind some of the windows, so it doesn’t sit right against the windows and to give a sense of depth I make this sort of box to glue behind.
 

 

I also printed out some office interiors and put them behind the top floor at the front. Curtains were added before gluing in the office print. I then got the gaffer tape out and did some blanking out of light seeping around edges.
 

 

 

A couple of view of how the outside is looking now.
 

 

 

Nice to get some time for modelling this weekend.
 

Jamie

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

More on the department store. The winch has been glued in place and painted, although will need a little touching up. Some filling of the rather roughly cut brick lines near it has been done and layers of paint added, although this side will have more layers of weathering and blending to come. I want this side of the building to look as though a fair bit of rebuilding has been done over the years.


 

No very obvious but I have been running dark chocolate and black washes into crevices, edges and areas where it needed darkening. I have done this along edges where the mortar course was showing up edges and joins which does make the building feel a lot less ‘bitty’.

 

 

A light has been made for the goods delivery area. It is a LED (Digitrains 3mm) bent into place, a bit of a sleeve from some wire slipped over (with pliers, it resisted a lot) so the two wires can be bent together through the hole. I cut a round piece of plasticard to make the shade, and a little gaffer tape to cover the top. All has now been painted black and looks good, but needs some toning down/weathering.

 

 

I have begun work on the roof. Making a thin ply base. I have used cardboard pieces cut to shape to test how the bits fit together as cutting the ply takes much more than just scissors. I cut the ply with a Stanley knife, but I does go through blades doing it that way.

 

 

 

More soon.

Jamie

Edited April 14, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

Oh dear (although not exactly the words I used) I have put the big central chimneys on at an angle so they look a bit like those on an ocean liner.

 

Here is a spirit level to prove it.

 

The far chimney is out by 3mm/bricks, and the near one by 2mm. I will over skin the chimneys with more brickwork to level them out. I will also use a bit of plasticard as spacer as necessary.

Off do some repair work.
 

Jamie

[Bogie]

Well I am glad you noticed.  As for the rest of use well . . .

[Jamiel]

16 minutes ago, Bogie said:

Well I am glad you noticed.  As for the rest of use well . . .

You know when you sit back to look at what you have done and something feels a bit wrong. I was sat with a shelf right in line with the model and it acted like a grid to show up what I had done, once I had seen that I knew it would annoy me and although I doubt many people would notice it, I always would.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Jamiel

[St Enodoc]

52 minutes ago, Jamiel said:

Oh dear (although not exactly the words I used) I have put the big central chimneys on at an angle so they look a bit like those on an ocean liner.

 

Here is a spirit level to prove it.

 

The far chimney is out by 3mm/bricks, and the near one by 2mm. I will over skin the chimneys with more brickwork to level them out. I will also use a bit of plasticard as spacer as necessary.

Off do some repair work.
 

Jamie

Would some more trimming at the bottom (ooer missus) do the trick?

[Jamiel]

11 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Would some more trimming at the bottom (ooer missus) do the trick?

I did look at that, but I think skinning over the brickwork is the better option and it will allow me to put more detail into the chimneys using two base layers of bricks. The other problem with cutting back the bottom is that the roof fits into a surround that will show any issues. I did try putting some cardboard under the bottom to even out the chimneys but didn’t like how it looked.
 

I enjoy doing decorative brickwork and a lot of chimneys have that so some would have to be done anyway. Hopefully I can post the corrected chimneys later.

[calvin Streeting]

42 minutes ago, Jamiel said:

I enjoy doing decorative brickwork and a lot of chimneys

 

so do i  looking good  

 

[Jamiel]

8 minutes ago, calvin Streeting said:

 

so do i  looking good  

 

 

That sets the bar pretty high for craftsmanship. Lovely work.

[Jamiel]

Padding and over skinning the chimneys has sorted out the poor alignment. I took a photo of the padding done with .4mm plasticard at one end then skinned with the brick sheet, but I accidentally deleted it.

I based the detail on the side on part of the detail on the edges of building.
 

 

 

I am also adding a third chimney as I wanted to break the symmetry on the two big chimneys and make the roof look as though changes had been made over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am going to have a look at chimney pots at the York show this weekend as I feel the ones I have might be a bit small for chimneys of this size, or buy more and have double rows on the two big stacks.

I hadn’t posted an image of the goods entrance light one it had been painted.

 

Jamie

Edited April 18, 2019 by Jamiel

[calvin Streeting]

2 hours ago, Jamiel said:

 

they work well  ver well

[Jamiel]

More work on the roof and third chimney. All following the previous methods. I have put a couple of strips of wood to locate the roof into the centre hole. No more painting as yet, I want to leave that to a final session.

 

The back roof has a much lower pitch. I made it the same at first but it didn't work. I presume being a smaller area a shallower pitch would acceptable in real life?
 

Since there was sunshine I took the opportunity to take some photos with good light, I hope this isn’t getting too repetitive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The back roof will have a raised vent and a small metal tube chimney/flue. I will be going to the York show tomorrow with a shopping list that will include some chimney pots for the two big chimneys, I might even go small O gauge ones if they give the feel I want. I will do some measurements and take the ones I have which are a bit small.

Then there will be down pipes, inlets in the roof edge and sewage pipes and anything else I think I have forgotten. Getting near to being finished though. Then back to the Class 120.

Jamie

Edited April 20, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

After a lovely day out at the York show yesterday, I got down to trying to finish off the roof.
 

I based the back roof on those on Beehive Mills in Bolton. The vent pipe/metal chimney is just made from bits of plastic sprue, and I hope will look less phallic when painted. The raised vent at the top is plasticard and an A1 brass grill from their assorted packs.
 

 

 

I took off the skinny scene setters chimney I had on the single stack, and replaced that with a Dart Castings L67A set of large Chimney pots, which fit the size of the department store much better.
 

 

I also decided to try making my own slates rather than using the York Models lazer cut ones. I do really like those, but since I use thin plywood for my roof construction I thought that card (220gms) would bond better to the wood with PVC glue and make a very strong construction. I made a grid in photoshop, 30% grey and then printed that on the card.

I tried a couple of different blades to cut out the slates, the lines do not matter but the scores have to have some width. A scalpel made a too clean a cut, but my Stanley knife with a very blunted end to the blade (as in missing the point) made a much wider cut which I think is working really well. Cutting the thin ply with a Stanley knife really takes its toll on the blades.

It does take about an hour to cut and score the tiles, but once that is done adding them with PVC is easier than using the York pre-cut adhesive tiles as the paper, PVC and wood really bond strongly. There is also a cost difference, probably 30p a sheet plus 10p of toner as opposed to around £7.00 for the York tiles.

Were I using plasticard for the roof construction I think the York tiles would be better, but given the extra time and the paper. Wood, PVC blend I do prefer my method for this construction. I would always recommend using the York tiles if you are a beginner to building roofs though, they save a he amount of time, repetitive work and frustration.

 

 

 

I enjoyed the York show, was pretty well behaved this year, a motor and gearbox for the London Road Class 23. A few Cambrian wagon kits, South East Fine cast brick sheet plus a couple of Slaters ones. A few bits from Replica Railways for the DMU constructions (Class 120 and upcoming 124). I resisted buying an Alan Gibson Austin 7F kit which I couldn’t afford, but there are only a few left so I might regret this in the long run.

No really any really big set piece layouts, but some very nice and very detailed smaller layouts this year. Some layouts were fairly big, but not Gresley beat size. Some really helpful advice from traders and a couple of ‘Hi’s’ to old friends. The Easter sun seemed to have taken a toll on family outings with very few of those at the show, so numbers seemed down, and the majority of visitors looks more like the dedicated, and often older, modellers rather than the casual viewers.

Jamie

 

[Jamiel]

Someone I follow on Ebay for the odd bargain. £5.70 on average for the kits, but £343 is a big outlay. Someone is going to have fun building these I suspect.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Jamiel

[Jamiel]

More on the roof. Finishing off the tiling and then undercoat, Halfords grey is fie for buildings and then initial coats of paint as per the usual on bricks. I am tempted to use LMS roof grey rather than the Humbrol slate which is very green (matt 31), or maybe a mix.

 

 

 

 

 

I am also going to add a couple of aerials after asking in another thread for advice, a H and a cross barred ITV type.

Jamie