Downendian details

[Phil Bullock]

Had the great pleasure of attending a 60th birthday party in Bristol last night. This was the cake decoration! Happy birthday Neil ….

[Downendian]

Thanks Phil, and thanks for coming all the way to Bristol and the present. it was a complete surprise to me, my lovely wife had informed me that we were attending a fireworks display at our local rugby club with our grandsons. Somehow though, information regarding the cake decoration was  inaccurate! It was thought my favourite loco was the class 47, and having spent much of the last month building replica D1001 name and numberplates, the clues were there. 

[Phil Bullock]

Probably best not to mention that if you ever want another cake!!!! 

 

Despite our best efforts to educate our lady folk it’s still a train. Could have been worse …. Thomas the tank engine cake 

[John Tomlinson]

2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Probably best not to mention that if you ever want another cake!!!! 

 

Despite our best efforts to educate our lady folk it’s still a train. Could have been worse …. Thomas the tank engine cake 

 

Best be careful there Phil.

 

Some years ago when DRS ran, for a short time, trains of spoil (?) from Teeside to Grain, they came down the MML, and as they usually had a pair of 37's a cast of thousands turned out to see. I was standing on a road bridge in Barrow on Soar, just south of Loughborough, and a middle aged lady with shopping bags stopped to ask me what was coming. It isn't steam I said, having had someone insist it was Tornado some minutes earlier, just a pair of old diesels on a freight train. Oh, she said, what sort of engines, to which I replied a pair of 37's. A pair of 37's she replied, delight on her face, I'll wait with you then!

 

John.

[Phil Bullock]

1 hour ago, John Tomlinson said:

 

Best be careful there Phil.

 

Some years ago when DRS ran, for a short time, trains of spoil (?) from Teeside to Grain, they came down the MML, and as they usually had a pair of 37's a cast of thousands turned out to see. I was standing on a road bridge in Barrow on Soar, just south of Loughborough, and a middle aged lady with shopping bags stopped to ask me what was coming. It isn't steam I said, having had someone insist it was Tornado some minutes earlier, just a pair of old diesels on a freight train. Oh, she said, what sort of engines, to which I replied a pair of 37's. A pair of 37's she replied, delight on her face, I'll wait with you then!

 

John.

Good for her ! Nice yarn John….

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Should've sprinkled the cake with hundreds and THOUSANDS...

Happy birthday, by the way, Neil.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Peter Kazmierczak

[Staffordshire]

  Having read through this very interesting thread, I hope no one objects to these photos of D9 ....., 

[Downendian]

Progress on the Lima remotoring projects. 4x47 and 1x31 with a few more to do. Test fitted the butchered bogie frames to the locos yesterday, a few adjustments needed but all now fit as sweet as a glove. All have Lima tanks/battery boxes removed (except the 31) and Bachmann spares added.  The spare Hornby body fits superbly onto the Lima chassis. All class 66 bogies (each loco will have two of them) are ready to be wired, wire has arrived and DCC sockets arrived too. All the bogies fit snugly into their new cradles Hopefully test running within a week or two. Some preliminary work on the bodies has taken place, carving off the cab front handrails ready for wire replacements, one has been renumbered 47 499. Orientation of the bodies with respect to the new tank assemblies yet to be worked out!  Still a lot of detailing to be done.

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Downendian
Image uploads

[Peter Kazmierczak]

On 11/11/2021 at 14:14, Staffordshire said:

  Having read through this very interesting thread, I hope no one objects to these photos of D9 ....., 

 

That last picture is exceptional. Brilliant! Only the PECO code 100 track gives it away that it's not the real thing. One of the best detailed diesels I've seen in a while.

[Downendian]

New Years resolution - too many incomplete projects, and reduce the kit mountain.

it’s had a bit of a bashing over the last month or so, 18 Cambrian Herrings just completed and now wafting their fumes into my dining room ready for the paint shops. A long task, a lot learnt along the way and I’m now an expert on handrail bending using the Bill Bedford jig. Wagons then will be weighted and all carry ballast loads so I wasn’t too worried about glue residues inside the hopper when fixing the handrails. Transfers obtained courtesy of my good friend and our colleague Lord Bullock of Abbotswood. 
To break the monotony I completed a Cambrian mermaid and a BBA. The BAA and BBA steel carriers just scrape in my time frame of mid 1970s, will complete a rake of 8-10 wagons. Many a rewarding,  although not swear free hour spent on these, which ones next? But the layout needs attention as do those Lima rebuilds started last year. The Mermaid rightly retains its reputation of being a challenging build, you need four pairs of hands when putting the chassis together.

Rakes to work on 10’ wb clayliner train, catfish ballast, red panda- Dapol banana vans, or the huge pile of 21T hoppers. 

Neil

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Downendian
Images needed reloading

[Phil Bullock]

47 minutes ago, Downendian said:

New Years resolution - too many incomplete projects, and reduce the kit mountain.

it’s had a bit of a bashing over the last month or so, 18 Cambrian Herrings just completed and now wafting their fumes into my dining room ready for the paint shops. A long task, a lot learnt along the way and I’m now an expert on handrail bending using the Bill Bedford jig. Wagons then will be weighted and all carry ballast loads so I wasn’t too worried about glue residues inside the hopper when fixing the handrails. Transfers obtained courtesy of my good friend and our colleague Lord Bullock of Abbotswood. 
To break the monotony I completed a Cambrian mermaid and a BBA. The BAA and BBA steel carriers just scrape in my time frame of mid 1970s, will complete a rake of 8-10 wagons. Many a rewarding,  although not swear free hour spent on these, which ones next? But the layout needs attention as do those Lima rebuilds started last year. The Mermaid rightly retains its reputation of being a challenging build, you need four pairs of hands when putting the chassis together.

Rakes to work on 10’ wb clayliner train, catfish ballast, red panda- Dapol banana vans, or the huge pile of 21T hoppers. 

Neil

Great progress Neil! This retirement malarkey is good fun….

[Downendian]

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

Great progress Neil! This retirement malarkey is good fun….

And thanks for all your help, advice and bits and pieces to help the shoal of Herrings along its way Phil.

Neil

[Phil Bullock]

1 hour ago, Downendian said:

And thanks for all your help, advice and bits and pieces to help the shoal of Herrings along its way Phil.

Neil

Welcome! Haven’t forgotten about instanters….

[Downendian]

Must sort a date for Heaton Lodge too Phil- my turn to drive!

[Downendian]

More kit building - this time the turn of the Catfish ballast hopper rake. Just one more chassis to put together, the fiddly bit and all needs to be square to ensure good running of course. I found that cementing the chassis components and then holding the structure securely on a flat surface (a thick chopping board) whilst the glue cured was the key to success. I will have a rake of 16 in total, one of which is already complete. Liveries will be a mix of gulf red, black and olive green, well weathered. A few experiments in adding weight as I want this rake to run as empties, lead added to the bottom and underneath the hopper, and I’m awaiting the delivery of more liquid lead. I may try some tungsten putty (nicked from my carp tackle box) but that isn’t cheap, just more easy to add under the hopper than liquid lead. Hoppers placed on some to weigh the lead additions, and some have been prepainted many years ago. The vintage (black plastic) kits had a price label of £3.52 which shows how long ago I bought them.

Catfish were not common on the WR, mostly found on the LMR, but my Midland around Bristol theme would justify them.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Downendian
Typo

[Downendian]

The Catfish fleet of 15 wagons  are approaching completion. A mixture of gulf red, black and engineers olive and lightly weathered. Awaiting transfers for most of the fleet, and I wasn’t happy with the brake hand wheels that came with the kit, so etched replacements ordered from wizard models after removing the kit versions.  Once I’m happy with the weathering they will get varnished and ready for running trials. The rake of 18 Herrings are close behind, again will be full ballast loads to weigh the wagon down. I just couldn’t get enough weight in the catfish hoppers so used liquid lead and ballast - hopefully will run OK. I’m sure some will need tweaking but I won’t know until after the run. 
Although I’ve built many kits before, but not on this scale, and the batch method I think is good because you quickly learn the foibles of the kit and correct errors along the way. Some photos I’ve seen of the gulf red livery include red solebars, so yet may need some more painting for the 5 in this livery.

Neil 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Downendian

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Thanks to you Neil I remembered I had one of these in the "looked at it, thought about it, decide to start it, wish I hadn't" pile, so I went back for a second go.

Time is not a great healer in the case of this kit, despite my careful efforts and use of my "attempttobuildasquarechassis'omatic" jig device it's got a distinct list to starboard, partly due I think to the two solebars having different wheelbases!, the black bits seem to be made from a variation on a theme of Cussons Imperial Leather, and most of what's there is either slightly in the wrong place or needs filing/cutting/cussing at until it something like lines up.

I'm inferring from your tone that you have some more recent kits, are they any better?, I wouldn't mind a few more, but life's too short to do battle with these things!

 

Mike.

[Downendian]

Hi Mike,

yes the more recent catfish kits are certainly made of a better quality grey plastic, the same type as Herring kits if you’ve built any of those. I had around 5-6 of the black “imperial leather” plastic you refer to ;). Getting the solebars square is of course the key to success, and the newer kits have locating “pips” to make this a bit easier, although a light tack with polystyrene cement with wheels in place and holding the chassis on a perfectly flat surface until the solvent cured  I found worked well with practice. A couple of my early attempts had to be broken down and reassembled because all was not square. The dogfish kits have an identical chassis.
The catfish kits were much easier to assemble than the mermaid, of which I have 7 more to do, that has been moved down the to do list due to this! 
Neil

Edited May 5, 2022 by Downendian

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

My chassis jig, (on a Chivers kit, if only all kits were as good as this!), Bill Bedford axle spacer, bits of 2mm rod and Twinky hairclips, but even this was defeated by the Catfish!

I'm emboldened by your comments to have a go at a few more, although my Herrings weren't exactly a walk in the park, Mr Cambrian seems to have gone from soap to brittle in the plastic consistency.

 

Mike.

[Downendian]

I know what you mean Mike, one of my Herrings suffered from the brittle plastic syndrome, snapped off one of the W-irons when inserting the wheels. They are a very tight fit, and the brake shoes and associated underframe gubbins  gives little room for manoeuvre. I fixed it fine, so much so I don’t know which wagon it was.
I like the look of the chassis jig a lot, a bit more to purchase from Mr Bedford. 
currently applying decals to all the Herrings and Catfish, obtained from CCT, model master, Fox and Railtec. Taking a huge amount of time to do this. 
Neil 

[Phil Bullock]

One thing I discovered when running my Herrings last week was that on one end … the same end… of a few wagons the W irons were too far apart and the axles could just drop out of the bearings. It’s a one piece chassis moulding of course…

 

Could have solved this when building if I had realised by not setting the bearings in fully but decided to try gently warming with Teris Dyson hairdryer (with permission!)  with the axles removed and gently exerting inward pressure on the W irons whilst warm to narrow the distance between them. Seems to have worked but need to try running them again….

[John Tomlinson]

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

One thing I discovered when running my Herrings last week was that on one end … the same end… of a few wagons the W irons were too far apart and the axles could just drop out of the bearings. It’s a one piece chassis moulding of course…

 

Could have solved this when building if I had realised by not setting the bearings in fully but decided to try gently warming with Teris Dyson hairdryer (with permission!)  with the axles removed and gently exerting inward pressure on the W irons whilst warm to narrow the distance between them. Seems to have worked but need to try running them again….

 

One trick I use in wagon construction is not to glue the bearings into the axle boxes at all. It sounds like total heresy, but remarkably enough works fine. Ideally the bearing is a reasonable push fit into the bearing hole otherwise it's one of those three handed jobs to get the axle in without the bearings falling out!

 

The idea wasn't mine, I think it came from Geoff Kent in one of those wonderful wagon building books that he did.

 

John.

[Enterprisingwestern]

To answer a couple of the above observations.

With a triangular file, I file a V in the bottom of the top hat brass Bush, saves springing the W irons apart more than necessary.

I glue the top hats in, but leave a smidgin of play/slop in the axle to give a degree of compensation.

 

Mike.

[Downendian]

A bit addicted to these Herring things, decided to go for a full rake of 20 by adding another two, and to break up the monopoly of the black liveried wagons, added two in gulf red, but yet to receive decals and weathering. Whilst the phoenix gulf red tinlet was out I completed it by respraying two mainline light blue Sharks which I’d picked up a few years ago for £13 each. All are awaiting slight tweaks with a fine brush (amazing what is picked up in photos), weathering, gloss varnish - decals - Matt varnish, followed by ballast loads. 

it’s a shame Hornby haven’t rereleased their mighty fine Sharks or Trout hoppers. The early BR black and engineers olive liveries are now hard to come by, and gulf red was never done as far as I know. The ballast fleet are now approaching completion and attention now to more routine wagons. 

Neil 

[Phil Bullock]

Totally agree with you regarding wagons Neil…. Hornby don’t seem very interested in them these days unless they are private owner liveries. You will have an impressive fish collection for sure….