Wright writes.....

[Chamby]

9 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

....The poor shade of paint in the current discussion is avoidable and I shouldn’t have to spend time correcting this. 

 

I take a different view.  Yes of course it would easier for me if the RTR colour was exactly correct, but the fact that it isn’t presents you with an opportunity to go one better than ‘average Joe’ surely?  Assuming that you are a modeller rather than a collector, a simple repaint will give you a personalised model, something that is different to everyone else’s, something that you know is correct, and achieved with much less effort than having to build your own.

 

I would much much rather improve an RTR model, especially if it is something as simple as a lick of paint, than deprive my layout of an otherwise excellent/appropriate item.

[PMP]

39 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

One question regards the couplings. I know yours is in later guise, but for a fitted (or piped) 'van, shouldn't the couplings be screw shackles rather than the 'Instanta' type? Or three-link? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Yup should have screw couplings on it. The couplings were fitted in the mid 70’s, they’re PC etchings if I recall. I’ve never got round to changing them, and I’ll add this one to the queue next time I’m batch building Masokits versions which are my preference for ease of build, strength and usability.

[Dave47549]

.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[Tony Wright]

32 minutes ago, Anglian said:

I think you're right in that the current crop of RTR stock is one aspect of railway modelling that is turning folks away from building their own. However, an alternative view is that those of a creative mindset will be directing their time elsewhere to address other aspects of railway modelling, perhaps to a higher standard than may be the case if they had needed to build rolling stock as well.

As an example, Tony has poured a lifetime into building locomotives and coaching stock. A. N. Other modeller may spend the same amount of time building baseboards, track, buildings and trees from raw materials and components but make much use of RTR stock. Both are very much railway modellers, in the truest sense of the word, they just choose to focus on different aspects of the whole.

I think modellers like Peter Denny who built every element of his entire layout from raw materials and I presume some components, have always been a rare breed. 

I think you're very right, Tim,

 

However, in my own case (and I do appreciate this), I've been very lucky to work in and with a highly-skilled group, with members bringing their own specialist skill-sets (by invitation, not by my being inclusive!). That way, we've never been RTR dependent, RTP dependent, RTL dependent (other than in the fiddle yards), generic baseboard dependent or dependent on any of the established 'shortcuts'. 

 

It's likely that 'my' approach is as rare as Peter Denny's, though far less-noble. It's also as 'exclusive' (in the truest sense of the word) as Peter's, but in a very different way. Peter set his own (high) standards and maintained them for a modelling lifetime. I set the 'standards', got the guys I know who could do what was wanted, and Little Bytham is the result. One can say, it's almost being 'ruthless'! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Beechnut]

2 hours ago, t-b-g said:

A replacement axle (why did the steel axle wear, not the brass frame, must be very hard brass) and a replacement gear wheel and she is good to go. As a slow running test I ran her for 3 minutes and she covered 1.25 inches. Dead slow, smooth as silk and responding superbly to the controller.

 

That’s quite normal, debris will get embedded in the softer material which will become a slow burn grindstone.

 

Brendan

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Chamby said:

 

I take a different view.  Yes of course it would easier for me if the RTR colour was exactly correct, but the fact that it isn’t presents you with an opportunity to go one better than ‘average Joe’ surely?  Assuming that you are a modeller rather than a collector, a simple repaint will give you a personalised model, something that is different to everyone else’s, something that you know is correct, and achieved with much less effort than having to build your own.

 

I would much much rather improve an RTR model, especially if it is something as simple as a lick of paint, than deprive my layout of an otherwise excellent/appropriate item.

My point is if the paint is that poor, then  should the model have been released in that state? I am quite capable of a repaint but would rather spend my time building and then painting something that is not available rtr. Others may not be capable but will have to suffer. I would personalise it by weathering and perhaps renumbering it regardless.

As I said I would probably buy the model then proceed to remove paint/ lettering and repaint.

My point is paying  for something which could easily have been a great deal better at little (or no)  extra cost.

On a similar note, I have a Heljan class 25 in green (O gauge) and to me the finish is plasticity. I’m contemplating repainting it but may just weather it to see if it looks any better.
Anyway Happy modelling, 

regards Eric 

 

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

It looks a lovely model, Paul.

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

I have to say I can't detect any difference between the planking on this and on the latest one.

 

One question regards the couplings. I know yours is in later guise, but for a fitted (or piped) 'van, shouldn't the couplings be screw shackles rather than the 'Instanta' type? Or three-link? 

 

I'm going to detail/weather the LMS vans, and I'm going to fit screw couplings on the fitted one. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Maybe it is the lighting or my eyesight but the planking on the new one looks to have quite wide groove lines between the planks and the planks themselves seem to have a slightly rounded edge profile, whereas the older ones have slightly narrower plank grooves and the planks look flatter. If you look at a real brake van, the groove lines are tiny in comparison. The actual arrangement of the planks looks fine.

 

I am quite prepared to hear that I am imagining things! I do that sort of thing often but I usually have a good eye for small differences in things. I once told Malcolm, after he had cut out a footplate for a loco, that he needed to square it up because it was slightly wider at one end. He refused to accept it and ended up getting his digital vernier on it. Even after he measured it, he refused to accept that I had spotted a 0.3mm difference over around 150mm length with my naked eyes but it stuck out like a sore thumb to me!

[t-b-g]

2 minutes ago, Beechnut said:

That’s quite normal, debris will get embedded in the softer material which will become a slow burn grindstone.

 

Brendan

 

I can understand that as an idea but it doesn't explain why, on other locos, the frames have worn and the axles haven't!

 

There is a scrap box of left over brass bits and some of it is very hard indeed, probably top quality clock brass, so I think that is what he used on this one.

[Andy Reichert]

3 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Dear All,

I would be happy to repaint and/or renumber a piece of RTR to suit my needs. However I would be disappointed ☹️ if I had to repaint and renumber just because the item was painted incorrectly in the first place.  SNIP

 

Having just received a batch of 10 Gresley suburbans from a couple of sources as an Xmas present here in California, I was dismayed to find that they are all red instead of maroon. 

 

My way of selecting them was to go to my big UK box shifter and search for "Gresley Maroon", and order the ones shown.  And  these items all came up as "maroon".

 

Since they were ordered a few weeks in advance and return shipping is prohibitive I'm kind of stuck (and unhappy with the supplier). Why didn't they know the colour had changed and alter their search terms? 

 

I'd love to repaint them, but the glazing is glued in and the door handles are brass. So apart from a huge job, it would seem to be very difficult to do at all,

 

Andy

[Beechnut]

5 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

 

I can understand that as an idea but it doesn't explain why, on other locos, the frames have worn and the axles haven't!

 

There is a scrap box of left over brass bits and some of it is very hard indeed, probably top quality clock brass, so I think that is what he used on this one.

It’s not an idea, it’s a fact. After a lifetime in engineering maintenance....... blah blah. There’s always the exception that proves the rule, as they say ;o)

 

Brendan

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Dave47549 said:

 

Airfix Model Trains  (the J11/3 article was in the October 1981 edition).

Thanks, I couldn’t remember the name of the magazine. I don’t think it was published for very long but I do remember it having a great influence on me. I remember buying a spare body for the conversation but got put off by the wheelbase discrepancy. What I really wanted  was the J11/1 anyway and finally got one when Little Engines brought out their kit.
Another project I remember was to build  a 009 saddle tank based on an American 0-4-0 chassis. 
regards Eric

[CF MRC]

9 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

 

I can understand that as an idea but it doesn't explain why, on other locos, the frames have worn and the axles haven't!

 

There is a scrap box of left over brass bits and some of it is very hard indeed, probably top quality clock brass, so I think that is what he used on this one.

What wears and what doesn’t is a black art in model railways.  I have seen both amazingly high - and low- wear on the locos on CF over the years.  Ongoing maintenance is the order of the day.  For sure, my locos are a lot simpler nowadays than they used to be, for that reason.  There will be an article in MRJ (sometime) about keeping the wheels turning. 
 

Tim

[t-b-g]

1 minute ago, Beechnut said:

It’s not an idea, it’s a fact. After a lifetime in engineering maintenance....... blah blah. There’s always the exception that proves the rule, as they say ;o)

 

Brendan

 

I am not disputing it! I have no doubt that you are right in what you say as I do know a little of such things also. It may well be a cause as the colour of the inside of the hole in the frame is anything but shiny metal.

 

I was just puzzled as to why it is the opposite of all the others.

 

I did wonder if it might be something to do with the axle being made in 1946 when getting good quality steel for such things might have been difficult.

[Erichill16]

7 minutes ago, Andy Reichert said:

 

Having just received a batch of 10 Gresley suburbans from a couple of sources as an Xmas present here in California, I was dismayed to find that they are all red instead of maroon. 

 

My way of selecting them was to go to my big UK box shifter and search for "Gresley Maroon", and order the ones shown.  And  these items all came up as "maroon".

 

Since they were ordered a few weeks in advance and return shipping is prohibitive I'm kind of stuck (and unhappy with the supplier). Why didn't they know the colour had changed and alter their search terms? 

 

I'd love to repaint them, but the glazing is glued in and the door handles are brass. So apart from a huge job, it would seem to be very difficult to do at all,

 

Andy

I can’t imagine your disappointment at opening the first box, must have been sole destroying. I’ve never really built or repainted coaches for the reasons you’ve given. I prefer making and operating goods trains, any blemishes can easily be hidden with weathering whereas coaches they always seem better cared for.

Anyway, hope that’s the last disappointment for this year!

Happy modelling,

regards, Eric

[t-b-g]

12 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

What wears and what doesn’t is a black art in model railways.  I have seen both amazingly high - and low- wear on the locos on CF over the years.  Ongoing maintenance is the order of the day.  For sure, my locos are a lot simpler nowadays than they used to be, for that reason.  There will be an article in MRJ (sometime) about keeping the wheels turning. 
 

Tim

 

I have dabbled with "fancy" mechanisms but I am with you on this one Tim. Simple is best!

 

Square, level, parallel and they tend to go and keep going.

 

Something that can be stripped down easily for replacement parts, like the Denny locos, are so much easier to sort out when they do eventually need attention.

[Ian Smeeton]

4 hours ago, PMP said:

 

Dunno about regular, however with the caveat that some modelling has been applied, here’s an Airfix van. Handrails, Shawplan windows, Rumney lamp brackets have been applied, as have brake pull rods. Wheels are Gibson’s and the chassis foot rail supports have all been significantly modified.

 

 

4 hours ago, SP Steve said:

 

 

Here's one I conveniently had to hand.

 

Here is a 12":1' scale one for comparison.

 

 

Preserved, and not certain about the correctness of the colour, but should give an idea of the planking.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[queensquare]

21 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

 There will be an article in MRJ (sometime) about keeping the wheels turning. 
 

Tim

 

Its all laid out and will be in my next issue 

 

Jerry 

[Beechnut]

Tony

 

The softer material will be the one that hosts the debris and I suppose if the steel fitted the bill....  I no longer have access to a Brinell tester.

I think I’ll be long gone by the time any of my locos reach the ripe old age of yours, just hope I can find somebody as enthusiastic as yourself to leave them too.

 

Brendan

[Tony Wright]

56 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

 

I can understand that as an idea but it doesn't explain why, on other locos, the frames have worn and the axles haven't!

 

There is a scrap box of left over brass bits and some of it is very hard indeed, probably top quality clock brass, so I think that is what he used on this one.

I've come across this phenomenon, Tony.

 

I don't know how hard Romford crankpins are, but I've experienced two different sets of circumstances. 

 

Years ago, Tony Geary built an A1, and, after some running, its rods effectively 'sawed through its crankpins! The rods are nickel silver. He replaced the crankpins, and since then it's been fine.

 

I had the opposite thing happen years ago with a B1. Its rods were also nickel silver, and its crankpins were also brass. It started behaving 'lumpily'. I investigated, and the rods had oval holes in them, yet the 'pins were hardly worn. 

 

Both locos have very-heavy bodies. 

 

I know there must be different grades of metal, all sharing the same generic name, but I always thought nickel silver was harder than brass. Where do both come on Moh's hardness scale, I wonder? (I think that's the spelling of Moh). 

 

I've also noticed brass frames 'biting' into steel axles. Weird!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Coach bogie]

On 03/01/2020 at 14:19, woodenhead said:

Do they still have trains serving there, I thought they had ceased.

 

Also this line before 1981 was also the line which the Fiddlers Ferry MGRs used after having left the Woodhead route at Godley and Peak District limestone trains to Northwich, so it was a nice place to park up and watch freights 

 Cement trains not currently running. The site is still listed under Northenden Blue Circle. It is a couple of years since I saw a train in there, though I am an infrequent visitor these days, living in North Yorkshire. At the time it was Saturdays only with a class 66 and couple of bogie cement wagons.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Lecorbusier]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

..... it's almost being 'ruthless'! 

 

Completely off topic but ......

 

If you can be Ruth ... less  I wonder what it means to have Ruth - or more of Ruth?

[Tony Wright]

More photography today.

 

All of the following items will receive full-coverage in BRM.

 

A Dapol O Gauge Sentinel. It's actually chain-driven, or a representation of the chain drive! 

 

 

A Hattons' Class 66.

 

 

Two Hornby Pugs.

 

 

And the Hornby ex-LSWR brake van in BR unfitted grey. I assume this colour is correct? 

 

 

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, Andy Reichert said:

 

Having just received a batch of 10 Gresley suburbans from a couple of sources as an Xmas present here in California, I was dismayed to find that they are all red instead of maroon. 

 

My way of selecting them was to go to my big UK box shifter and search for "Gresley Maroon", and order the ones shown.  And  these items all came up as "maroon".

 

Since they were ordered a few weeks in advance and return shipping is prohibitive I'm kind of stuck (and unhappy with the supplier). Why didn't they know the colour had changed and alter their search terms? 

 

I'd love to repaint them, but the glazing is glued in and the door handles are brass. So apart from a huge job, it would seem to be very difficult to do at all,

 

Andy

Hi Andy 

 

Hornby have found a red that is not maroon or crimson but somewhere in between. 

[Anglian]

1 hour ago, t-b-g said:

 

Maybe it is the lighting or my eyesight but the planking on the new one looks to have quite wide groove lines between the planks and the planks themselves seem to have a slightly rounded edge profile, whereas the older ones have slightly narrower plank grooves and the planks look flatter. If you look at a real brake van, the groove lines are tiny in comparison. The actual arrangement of the planks looks fine.

 

I am quite prepared to hear that I am imagining things! I do that sort of thing often but I usually have a good eye for small differences in things. I once told Malcolm, after he had cut out a footplate for a loco, that he needed to square it up because it was slightly wider at one end. He refused to accept it and ended up getting his digital vernier on it. Even after he measured it, he refused to accept that I had spotted a 0.3mm difference over around 150mm length with my naked eyes but it stuck out like a sore thumb to me!

 

I agree regarding the planking.

The human eye is capable of detecting a difference of 0.05mm, perhaps even less. I wonder how thin or slight a blemish our finger tips can register.

[Theakerr]

Andy, Perhaps a light to medium weathering using a matt black wash might tone them down so that they don't look too bad.   If using a light wash airbrushed on windows can be cleaned or not as required.  I have done this on a number of 'red' coaches.