Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Away from D.210s, I’ve been finishing off my D.307 Tourist Twin. This you may remember was the subject of some debate 100(ish)  pages ago about whether it should have domed or straight ends to the roofs. The conclusion, sadly, is that it should almost certainly have straight ends, but as the kit came with domed ends and I already have several straight ended plywood twins (which are otherwise identical in model form), I decided to keep this with domed ends as a might/ should have been (as this is consistent with the drawing but not the photographic evidence). 

 

Here is the finished twin.

 

The interior was built from Southern Pride tables and Isinglass open seating (which Andrew has just released). The seats look very good to my eyes. They may be slightly over scale as I ended up with an almost non existent corridor down the centre of the coach. Alternatively it may be the thickness of the sides and side fixings which push the interior towards the centre. Either way, it doesn’t show with the body on and I’m pleased with the result.

 

Good evening Andy,

 

I've found on most of my open carriages (where the body/roof comes off, rather than just the roof) that the central passage between the seats becomes very narrow.

 

That said, as you've observed, with the body/roof in place, that narrowness is invisible.

 

The coaches look fine, and I'd leave the roofs as they are as well.........

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[polybear]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I just hope the hype lives up to the reality!

 

It really is an excellent V2 body, Mike.

 

Many thanks for giving me (literally) the opportunity to test it. I hope to have it all finished before too long.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I can see it now....manufacturers supplying their products with a coveted "Awarded the Tony Wright Seal of Approval" stamped on the box.....

You could have a double decker shed....

[Tony Wright]

54 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I can see it now....manufacturers supplying their products with a coveted "Awarded the Tony Wright Seal of Approval" stamped on the box.....

You could have a double decker shed....

It used to happen far more often than it does now................

 

Though I don't know about 'Seal of Approval''. 

 

In my days as a professional loco builder/photographer/writer, almost every month a new kit would arrive via the post with a request to 'Please build this and review it.' Being freelance in those days, I could  spread the reviews around, and they've appeared down the years in all the model railway magazines (some now gone - is there a link?) with the exception of the MRJ (though I've had articles published in that, but not reviews) and Hornby Magazine (too new).  

 

The new kits (locos/rolling stock) would be sent FOC (I never asked for one), and my aim would be to build them within a month of receipt, with all the photographs/words in the editors' hands within five weeks (later than that and they're no longer current, especially with the lead time up to publication). Normally, the review would be in the magazine within five/six months, sometimes earlier. On some occasions (particularly in BRM's early days) a review would be planned-in before I'd built the model, causing much burning of midnight oil on occasions! It was all very exciting times, though such is the paucity of new kits compared with 25 years ago, they'll never return again. Indeed, complex, large metal loco kits (in particular) are not really BRM's material any more; such is progress. A corollary of the inexorable rise of RTR? 

 

I've mentioned this before, but I've been frequently asked 'How did you get into this 'lucky' position?'. Abstracting myself from the situation, the answer is quite simple.

 

All one needs to do is................

 

1. Build quickly to a professional standard.

2. Photograph the work (in stages) to a professional standard.

3. Write to a professional standard.

4. Make sure all of the above are with an editor in no more than a month and a half, preferably quicker! 

 

Where, say, the model was subsequently painted by a professional (though I did paint models myself in the earlier days), a photo of the completely finished model would appear another month or two later. Naturally, the manufacturers got all the sets of photos FOC, and, in some cases, I'd be requested to write instructions. It was all rather symbiotic, which is a good thing in my view. 

 

It was a similar situation when reviewing RTR products, only this time the assessment had to be within a fortnight of receipt. Ideally, more than one reviewer is required (to spread the opinion base) for the various products, with an area of particular expertise being desirable. However, it only worked if the deadline was met - new RTR products are particularly time-sensitive, and this is often linked with advertising. 

 

I once handed over a new RTR model to a younger (potential) reviewer (who appeared to be as keen as mustard), including the photographs I'd taken. After a month, nothing by way of a review had appeared. On questioning, all I got was 'Sorry, I've been too busy'. That was not good enough, especially as the model was part of the fee for writing the review! Never again.

 

On another occasion, the review arrived in time but was all hand-written (I'd taken the pictures). Not only was the actual handwriting poor (almost illegible in part) but it was written in an English way beyond my understanding. The punctuation appeared to have been applied by a metaphorical blunderbuss!  As for the spelling.................

 

So, I hope it's clear; all one needed to do was satisfy the four imperatives listed, and any editor would grab whatever one produced. Granted 'professional' is open to qualification, but, in this context, I think the meaning is understood. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

[CUTLER2579]

Breaking News :-

 

"Heinz Baked Beans" awarded the " " Tony Wright Seal of Approval"

 

What like this mate !!

[Northmoor]

Nowadays you just need to claim you're an "Influencer" on social media to ask for free stuff.

 

I did like the story of the restaurateur (in NW England I think) who was so sick of Influencers asking for a table, posted on his social media account, words to the effect, "Even my own family pays for their meals at my restaurant.  I don't care who you think you are, I don't give away free meals.  If you want a free meal, please dine elsewhere".  

[t-b-g]

I would dare to suggest that any "luck" that Tony Wright has been granted in this hobby has been more than earned by his hard work and is more than outweighed by what he has contributed to the hobby.

 

Wasn't it a famous golfer who said " The harder I work at it, the luckier I get".

 

I think that applies here.

 

If Tony had stuck to teaching up to normal retiring age and just built things for his own amusement, the hobby would be a lot poorer.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Nowadays you just need to claim you're an "Influencer" on social media to ask for free stuff.

 

I did like the story of the restaurateur (in NW England I think) who was so sick of Influencers asking for a table, posted on his social media account, words to the effect, "Even my own family pays for their meals at my restaurant.  I don't care who you think you are, I don't give away free meals.  If you want a free meal, please dine elsewhere".  

Isn't it interesting how some now become 'celebrities' through social media? 

 

I'm not claiming to be anything but a 'journeyman' in this hobby, taking a route (after teaching) by which it eventually became my source of income. 

 

In case my acceptance of kits might be perceived as 'corruption', the kit manufacturer did get a review published (fair, I hope) which highlighted his/her new product (where my opinion of a kit would have been wholly negative, having started it, I would then send it back), plus a full set of pictures (for advertising purposes) and, in some cases, a set of instructions.  

 

And, in many cases, where particular completed locos were of no use to me, they were either sold-on for charity or offered as prizes (my being paid for the review, of course). 

 

I hope I'm not perceived as being 'precious', but the interweb does catapult some into 'celebrity' status, which, in my opinion, isn't always deserved. 

 

I also hope I'm honest enough to admit that, during a particularly difficult period of my life where I saw nobody, could not model and avoided shows, the setting up by Andy York (bless him) of Wright Writes enabled me to keep in touch with the hobby; as I'm glad to say, it still very much does, especially in lockdown. I had, however, previously done plenty of the 'hard yards' in the hobby, and, I hope, still do. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Tony Wright

[Tony Wright]

11 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

I would dare to suggest that any "luck" that Tony Wright has been granted in this hobby has been more than earned by his hard work and is more than outweighed by what he has contributed to the hobby.

 

Wasn't it a famous golfer who said " The harder I work at it, the luckier I get".

 

I think that applies here.

 

If Tony had stuck to teaching up to normal retiring age and just built things for his own amusement, the hobby would be a lot poorer.

You're too kind, Tony, 

 

But many thanks for your generous words.

 

'If Tony had stuck to teaching up to normal retiring age........'

 

Had I stuck to teaching, I doubt if I'd have reached normal retiring age - I'd have been in jail! Some odious little squirt would have told me to f**k-off once too often, and I'd have swatted him!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[t-b-g]

52 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

You're too kind, Tony, 

 

But many thanks for your generous words.

 

'If Tony had stuck to teaching up to normal retiring age........'

 

Had I stuck to teaching, I doubt if I'd have reached normal retiring age - I'd have been in jail! Some odious little squirt would have told me to f**k-off once too often, and I'd have swatted him!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

I walked away from my "proper" job in the Building Society for similar reasons, so I see where you are coming from. New bosses, who were out to make life difficult for me because they wanted to appoint their own chosen person to the role rather than keep somebody on from the previous regime.

 

I had little fight left in me at the time, going through a similar (but slightly less extreme than you) experience with the mental health side of things. So I walked away and started earning a living from model railways.

 

My income plummeted and my enjoyment of life went in the other direction completely. Just being able to choose who I do things for and being able to say no to things I don't want to do is worth every lost penny!

 

I would stick by what I said though. If you get the odd freebie kit or bit of help with the layout, you have earned it through what you have done for the hobby.

[60027Merlin]

I understand your reasoning about your Building Society troubles with the new management who dropped in on out of the sky.

 

Another reason for them wanting the existing management/senior staff out was that they, most of whom were qualified by passing the Institute exams plus having decades of the necessary financial experience, knew more about the business than the new bosses. This was looked on as extremely dangerous especially at meetings when salient questions were put to them about the new business direction. The events of 2008 proved how hopeless the new bosses were.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by 60027Merlin

[t-b-g]

20 minutes ago, 60027Merlin said:

I understand your reasoning about your Building Society troubles with the new management who dropped in on out of the sky.

 

Another reason for them wanting the existing management/senior staff out was that they, most of whom were qualified by passing the Institute exams plus having decades of the necessary financial experience, new more about the business than the new bosses. This was looked on as extremely dangerous especially at meetings when salient questions were put to them about the new business direction. The events of 2008 proved how hopeless the new bosses were.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most meetings seemed to consist of them telling me what new ideas they wanted to introduce and me telling them why I thought they wouldn't work. They would introduce them anyway and when they didn't work, it was my fault for approaching them with a negative attitude!

 

I used to be quite willing to stand my ground and stick up for myself and I even caused one or two people to either be moved sideways to a job where they could do less damage or even end up being dismissed for gross incompetence. A combination of looking after my poorly other half and becoming a single dad after she died knocked the fight out of me. When they put a manager "whizz kid" half my age and with a quarter of my experience into a job where she was way out of her depth and I got all the flak for her failings, I walked away first and then wondered how to pay the mortgage second. Somebody at a show said "Will you build me xyz? I will pay you" and I was away!

 

I probably only got through the bad times because of the support of the superb friends I have made through this wonderful hobby.

 

 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

The latest RTR model for photography................

 

 

I have to say this Heljan Class 33 does look very good. 

 

However, my knowledge of the prototype is very limited (other than watching pairs of them dash through Retford on a block cement train - interesting, because, prior to their appearances, the cement trains were singly V2- or 9F-hauled; yet the diesel pair constituted a Type 6! Was their reliability questioned?). 

 

I shall not be writing the review for BRM. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

21 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

 

Most meetings seemed to consist of them telling me what new ideas they wanted to introduce and me telling them why I thought they wouldn't work. They would introduce them anyway and when they didn't work, it was my fault for approaching them with a negative attitude!

 

I used to be quite willing to stand my ground and stick up for myself and I even caused one or two people to either be moved sideways to a job where they could do less damage or even end up being dismissed for gross incompetence. A combination of looking after my poorly other half and becoming a single dad after she died knocked the fight out of me. When they put a manager "whizz kid" half my age and with a quarter of my experience into a job where she was way out of her depth and I got all the flak for her failings, I walked away first and then wondered how to pay the mortgage second. Somebody at a show said "Will you build me xyz? I will pay you" and I was away!

 

I probably only got through the bad times because of the support of the superb friends I have made through this wonderful hobby.

 

 

 

 

Good afternoon Tony,

 

'I probably only got through the bad times because of the support of the superb friends I have made through this wonderful hobby.'

 

I'd say exactly the same, though I did, of course, have Mo. 

 

Many thanks,

 

Tony. 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Tony Wright
to add something

[t-b-g]

4 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Tony,

 

'I probably only got through the bad times because of the support of the superb friends I have made through this wonderful hobby.'

 

I'd say exactly the same, though I did, of course, have Mo. 

 

Many thanks,

 

Tony. 

 

In that respect, you did indeed get lucky!

[Metr0Land]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

The latest RTR model for photography................

 

 

I have to say this Heljan Class 33 does look very good. 

 

However, my knowledge of the prototype is very limited (other than watching pairs of them dash through Retford on a block cement train - interesting, because, prior to their appearances, the cement trains were singly V2- or 9F-hauled; yet the diesel pair constituted a Type 6! Was their reliability questioned?). 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it was more a case of regional control centres being nervous about single diesels failing on their patch, when they had no fitters or or suitable knowledge/traction in their area.  Western Control were always very anti 73's and to a lesser extent 33's - hence Meldon-Tonbridge  stone trains were 2 x 33 ie 2nd loco was more for insurance than power per se.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Metr0Land

[Daniel W]

This is a bit of a long-shot, but i know there are quite a few MRJ readers here. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Geoff Kent wrote an article in MRJ about building the Dave Bradwell 13 ton BR hopper kit. If I did indeed not just imagine this in some manner of fever dream, would anyone happen to have the issue number for this article?

[Compound2632]

@Daniel W, using the on-line index with "Kent" as author turns up his series of articles on building hoppers.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Compound2632

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

I think it was more a case of regional control centres being nervous about single diesels failing on their patch, when they had no fitters or or suitable knowledge/traction in their area.  Western Control were always very anti 73's and to a lesser extent 33's - hence Meldon-Tonbridge  stone trains were 2 x 33 ie 2nd loco was more for insurance than power per se.

I think they must have sorted out any issues, because the last time I saw a BR&CW Type 3, on a cement train at Retford, it was alone. That was in the summer of 1965.

 

During the autumn of the same year, one came off the train at York and went on to the depot, where (like the other) I took its picture. It, too, was single. Presumably they came off/on the train at York, because its northern destination/starting point was Glasgow. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[polybear]

6 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

When they put a manager "whizz kid" half my age and with a quarter of my experience into a job where she was way out of her depth and I got all the flak for her failings,

 

Any idea what became of the "whizz kid"?  Hopefully they were found out by those upstairs.

[Headstock]

23 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Thanks Andrew,

As I said in your own time. I’m suffering from a different type of fatigue, I’m refurbishing an old loco and at every step there appears to be something in the way. I’m ready to put transfers on it and having three sheets of transfers I thought there should be plenty of what I need. Wrong, no number 5s. Damm I wish I’d checked earlier.

Regards Robert

 

Good evening Robert,

 

I hope you get your bunch of fives, if you see what I mean.

 

On 19/06/2020 at 21:09, Erichill16 said:

I like the finish on your wagons and I’m particularly interested in the wooden effects and wondered if you could tell us what you used. Enamels acrylics powders paint numbers etc. In your own time of course. I never seem to get the wood look and think it’s probably that I don’t use enough gray.

thanks in anticipation,

Robert

 

I don't use acrylics, I'm mostly a wet painter, acrylics dry too quickly for me. I've seen some nice powder work, but sometimes I think it looks a little overscale and you can always tell it's powder work. In the grand scheme of things, I don't see myself as an expert at wagon weathering, It's too time consuming on a forty wagon train. Keep it simple, you can always do a bit more, However, it you can't tell if it is acrylic, enamel or powders, then that is quite pleasing to me because you are seeing the finish and not the materials. I've currently got twenty wagons on the go, most with bair wood visible, so I wanted a technique that gave relatively fast and predictable results. So this is what I did.

 

1, find a base coat that is both light but warm, perhaps like freshly sawn timber. I seem to consistently use lighter base coats than many. Humbrol 121, was airbrushed on to the areas I wanted to be bair wood. To be honest any warm cream colour will probably do. You can of course brush the paint on, it takes forever. I allow 48 hrs to dry.

 

2, pick out a few individual planks, a mix of Humbrol 121, Railmatch frame dirt, Humbrol 79 or and Humbrol 32 in different mixes to produce warmer or cooler, darker or lighter planks. Many years ago Humbrol 32 was an awesome carriage roof colour, it's changed so much, it is now a very acceptable pre war LNER wagon grey. Again, any substitutes will do, a weathered or subdued brown and mid to dark greys. You will be mixing your own colour and tonal applications anyway. The mix is more of a wash but still paintable, so that you are using the colour of the basecoat, not obliterating it. leave it 24 hrs to dry.

 

3, application of the first wash. You have a number of choices, Frame dirt will give you a warmer brown finish, Humbrol 32 a cooler look, or you can mix the too or use a lighter grey. The most important thing is that your brush is clean, your white spirit is clean and you paint mix and the surface that you intend to apply the mix too is also clean, no bits, bits will kill it.  A generous wash of thinned paint is applied from side to side, in the direction of the floor planks, Working down the length of the wagon from one end to another. Paint out the mix until you are happy with the consistency of the effect and don't let the paint start to bite. If you need to add more white spirit or paint mix, do so .The crucial thing is that the the wash is kept wet on the area of application, so you are painting all the planks at the same time. Thus, they are allowed to dry at the same time. This will produce a consistent finish without tell tail brush strokes or other grot that looks like slap dash workmanship. If happy, paint the wagon sides and ends in the same fashion and leave the lot to dry for 24 hours.

 

4, repeat with second wash, you can vary the tone or colour of the individual washes, a second wash may be pure dark grey for example, to pick out the groves in the planks. If you are not happy with the look of the washes, remove with damp cotton buds, this in itself can produce some nice effects. You can keep adding washes if you so wish, there was no one wood finish, though modelers worship the grey fashion at the moment. One of the grey worshipers posted a photo of wood recently and declared it grey.  It was alive with subtle yellows and browns ............. pinks ........... blues ...................... creams ............ greens .............funny how some can look an not see a darn thing. The important thing is to build up a subtle effect, don't go to dark too soon and obliterate the base coat, let it to do its job. 

 

5 Finally, I finish up with the airbrush, I can work wet on wet with this in a way you can't with a traditional brush. I set up a higher pressure to get a nice dusty dry  effect that gives more cohesion to the whole thing. Adjusting the pressure down, I will touch in darker areas, were dirt will collect around strapping and door edges. Then leave to dry, an important note here, the rest of the wagon is still in undercoat. I will not touch the rest of it until I'm finished with the bair wood areas that I am working on.

 

Lots of drying time, but the time spent actually painting the wagon is reasonably brief. most of the time goes on picking out the planks, don't go mad on that, keep it understated like the colour palette.  Remember that tone and contrasting tones will do a lot of the heavy lifting, rather than colour and brushstrokes. If I chose to go back and add more detail, you can at any time. I hope that has all been of help.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Headstock

[jamie92208]

Good evening all from The Charente.  Can I echo some of the comments above about the support of the hobby. The Police also suffered badly from managers with little or no experience.  I had a very bad time in my last couple of years and I only got through due to the support of my family, my church and my fellow Model railway Club members who helped me enormously.

 

Anyway, some of you may remember me posting pictures of some lovely Midland locos on a friends Gauge 1 garden layout a few months ago.   Today there was a meet at Richard's house ( with a limit of 10 people) and a mixture of French and ex pat Brits turned up to play trains. Some of them came a day early so came over to my place and we also played trains.  I even wrote a layout guide in French and English. One of the ex pats was Eddie Castellan who new Bob Esssery and Dave Hunt.  Eddie brought a lovely Manson G & S W 4-6-0 as it hadn't had a run out for 1bout 15 years  He scratchbuilt it.  I worked beautifully and here it is complete with working valve gear. It did have a run with a rake of Midland coaches but I didn't photograph it.

Today I had some errands to run bur came past Richard's house so called in to see how things were going.

There seemed to have been an LNER takeover#

It was interesting that when there was a slow speed derailment of the bogie, how careful they had to be handling the loco.

Anyway there were more LNER locos. These two were getting up steam.

 

L

Once the A3 had got steam up, Mallard was stopped and shunted off into the platform loop and Harvester came off shed and took over.

It looked fine in the sunlight.

The coaches are all scratchbuilt and painted by Richard. One of the French guys, who had been over to see Green Ayre the day before had this lovely Aster model of an Etat 4-6-0 with some more of Richard's stock. 

My only regret was that Richard's Duchess wasn't running but a special Midland/LMS running day is being arranged.

That's two days of playing trains in good company.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by jamie92208

[t-b-g]

21 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Any idea what became of the "whizz kid"?  Hopefully they were found out by those upstairs.

 

A short while later, another change just above them saw the same tactics used on her. She left saying that she had been Bulleid out of the job.

 

3 times I have altered Bulleid into the correct spelling without a capital b and three times it has changed back when I hit save. I promise I know the correct word but I give up trying to change it.

Edited June 20, 2020 by t-b-g
Autocorrect beat me

[Tony Wright]

16 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Good evening all from The Charente.  Can I echo some of the comments above about the support of the hobby. The Police also suffered badly from managers with little or no experience.  I had a very bad time in my last couple of years and I only got through due to the support of my family, my church and my fellow Model railway Club members who helped me enormously.

 

Anyway, some of you may remember me posting pictures of some lovely Midland locos on a friends Gauge 1 garden layout a few months ago.   Today there was a meet at Richard's house ( with a limit of 10 people) and a mixture of French and ex pat Brits turned up to play trains. Some of them came a day early so came over to my place and we also played trains.  I even wrote a layout guide in French and English. One of the ex pats was Eddie Castellan who new Bob Esssery and Dave Hunt.  Eddie brought a lovely Manson G & S W 4-6-0 as it hadn't had a run out for 1bout 15 years  He scratchbuilt it.  I worked beautifully and here it is complete with working valve gear. It did have a run with a rake of Midland coaches but I didn't photograph it.

Today I had some errands to run bur came past Richard's house so called in to see how things were going.

There seemed to have been an LNER takeover#

It was interesting that when there was a slow speed derailment of the bogie, how careful they had to be handling the loco.

Anyway there were more LNER locos. These two were getting up steam.

 

L

Once the A3 had got steam up, Mallard was stopped and shunted off into the platform loop and Humorist came off shed and took over.

It looked fine in the sunlight.

The coaches are all scratchbuilt and painted by Richard. One of the French guys, who had been over to see Green Ayre the day before had this lovely Aster model of an Etat 4-6-0 with some more of Richard's stock. 

My only regret was that Richard's Duchess wasn't running but a special Midland/LMS running day is being arranged.

That's two days of playing trains in good company.

 

Jamie

 

 

Great stuff Jamie,

 

Thanks for showing us. 

 

However, are you sure the A3 is HUMORIST? The drive side is wrong, the boiler is wrong, the tender is wrong and the number is wrong if it is. 

 

Still looks lovely, though...................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[MarkC]

10 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

 

Wasn't it a famous golfer who said " The harder I work at it, the luckier I get".

 

 

It was Gary Player, I believe .

 

"The more I practice, the luckier I get". Makes perfect sense

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Great stuff Jamie,

 

Thanks for showing us. 

 

However, are you sure the A3 is HUMORIST? The drive side is wrong, the boiler is wrong, the tender is wrong and the number is wrong if it is. 

 

Still looks lovely, though...................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

You're quite right sir as always my forgettery is obviously on form. She is Harvester 2573.  I've corrected the original post. Thanks.  All green engines look alike to me.

 

Jamie

Edited June 21, 2020 by jamie92208