Kensington Olympia in n scale

[acg5324]

Don’t worry Jeremy, current Vauxhall’s all seem very plasticky, the Mokka was so gutless even with a 1.6 litre engine.

[acg5324]

...and so to to 25083. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loco will need some weathering and then a satin varnish.....otherwise its finished, pleased with the results. Shame that any further conversions to a 25/3 will involve chopping the frame as there were only five boiler equipped class 25/3. Come on Farish you know you NEED to make one.

[acg5324]

I'll have another go at the Interfrigo decals later...well maybe....its too nice to be indoors on a PC.

[acg5324]

It’s been far to nice, over the last few days, to do anything in doors so I’ve had to resort to drinking Gin and Tonic and the bottles of Proper Job that Sainsbury’s delivered on Friday. In between this I’ve been weathering my 45ton TTA tanks. I managed to get six brand new ones for £35 at the Brighton MRC Exhibition which brought my total up to 19.

15 have been weathered so far which I managed to do out in the garden. The last 4 have had the first run through on the underframes but bodies untouched other than lightly sanding the BP and Shell logos to show wear and tear.

 

Pictures to follow.

[acg5324]

Some TTA 45 ton oil tanks.......................

 

 

[acg5324]

Bonus picture tonight of the complete Olympia bus fleet......for the moment. I'm thinking of using the spare Leyland National body to do one with the doors open, as I pinched the other set to dual door its sister.

The National is still awaiting blinds as is the RT driver trainer.

 

[St Enodoc]

It’s been far to nice, over the last few days, to do anything in doors so I’ve had to resort to drinking Gin and Tonic and the bottles of Proper Job that Sainsbury’s delivered on Friday. In between this I’ve been weathering my 45ton TTA tanks. I managed to get six brand new ones for £35 at the Brighton MRC Exhibition which brought my total up to 19.

15 have been weathered so far which I managed to do out in the garden. The last 4 have had the first run through on the underframes but bodies untouched other than lightly sanding the BP and Shell logos to show wear and tear.

 

Pictures to follow.

HOW MUCH?????

[acg5324]

HOW MUCH?????

Australia 1 UK 0

[grahame]

Bonus picture tonight of the complete Olympia bus fleet......for the moment. I'm thinking of using the spare Leyland National body to do one with the doors open, as I pinched the other set to dual door its sister.

The National is still awaiting blinds as is the RT driver trainer.

 

 

I like the detail in the hotel foyer and car shop. The pic is rather similar to one I took of my LT bus fleet eight years ago:

 

 

G.

[acg5324]

I like the detail in the hotel foyer and car shop. The pic is rather similar to one I took of my LT bus fleet eight years ago:

 

LBS 001.jpg

 

G.

Thanks Grahame......That’s the disadvantage of doing buildings with large windows they need an interior. TWA building has yet to get any.

 

Wish I’d managed to get some more of the Cars Workshop DMS,s and of course the TPM conversion kit.

Your LH RM isn’t a ODC is it?

[grahame]

Wish I’d managed to get some more of the Cars Workshop DMS,s and of course the TPM conversion kit.

Your LH RM isn’t a ODC is it?

My sister is an air stewardess and was able to pick up a few, at a nice cheap price, from shops in Hong Kong some years back for me. I don't think they are available anymore - which is a shame. I did convert one to a B20 'white top' variant.

 

The LH RM is a BHE white metal kit. In some ways it is better than the ODC version especially in not having an incredibly thick rear platform and centre pole. The ODC version is also missing the front drivers screen lower light glazing bar and is not flushed glazed so it looks like it has window sills wide enough to put flower boxes on them.

 

G

[acg5324]

I’ve added glazing to the lower deck rear window on some of my RM,s.. Is the BHE one whitemetal? Might make stretching it to be an RML easier.

[acg5324]

Nothing much to report as I’ve been busy taking out a Holly tree stump. The tree was about 25ft tall when we moved in, I think I’d got it chopped down within the month. Nearly a year on decided to take the stump out......two days later it finally gave up its grip and came out. Whilst this was going on I’ve popped the second Leyland National in the Superstrip for its LT make over. Looking at the bus fleet picture further up the page I thought the paint job on the DMS was a bit poor. I had hand painted it. That’s also been popped in the Superstrip for a rebuild.

[acg5324]

Yorkshire area NGS meeting today, 25083 is now weathered and had a run with the oil tanks. I’ll get a picture of the finished loco posted later.

The second Leyland National had some more surgery to fit the doors. I will need to mask up some clear plasticard and spray the doors as my attempt with a paint pen didn’t work. The construction of the doors worked OK so just another method required.

The third Transfesa van finally got its decals added about two years after its siblings. The only other work I managed was on the Interfrigo van which has the start of some underframe details.

 

As always pictures to follow........

[acg5324]

I was thinking about the next ferry van project yesterday and trying to source a suitable chassis......then remembered that I have about a half dozen Arnold European vans as ferry stand ins...Doh! Use the chassis from these!

 

Not sure what wagon will come next, something common that I can batch produce.

[acg5324]

I was thinking about the next ferry van project yesterday and trying to source a suitable chassis......then remembered that I have about a half dozen Arnold European vans as ferry stand ins...Doh! Use the chassis from these!

Not sure what wagon will come next, something common that I can batch produce.

Well the Arnold wagons won’t be the donors as the method of construction appears to glue them together and the middle part of the chassis which is screwed on contains the close coupling system. So it’s back to searching for cheap wagons at swopmeets or eBay.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

 

This is the method I use for my Ferry Van chassis any use? If so I can supply further details.

 

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

Yes please Paul.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

 

Parts

2-041 Brass top hat bearings

2-027 N Gauge Profile wheels on 12.25mm axles

or

2-047 Axles to convert RP25 Farish Wheels 

2-313 BR Standard W-Irons etch

2-315 W-Irons for Chivers Finelines NPCCS kits **

2-346 Turned brass vacuum cylinder

2-480 4'0" spring with roller bearing axleboxes (Belgian Ferry Van E266)

2-482 5’0” spring with roller bearing axleboxes (VIX Ferry Van)

 

** This is only required if you want to add the brake shoes either side of the wheels.

 

I also used the following from Taylor Precision Models though they could be made from plastic rod

1827 100T Tanker detailing kit for the Westinghouse cylinder and distributor

 

Method

Solder the bearings into the W Irons (2-313) and fold them up. If required the brake shoes should have their front faces attached while still attached to the main fret. These parts are quite small and can be left off. Once this has been done the brake parts need to be broken off from the etch at the fold line nearest the bearing hole. This leaves one fold line which should be bent at 90 degrees with the etched line on the inside. The four brake shoes can then be soldering into each corner of the W Iron as shown below.

 

 

A piece of 0.33mm brass wire is then soldered between the brake shoes.

 

Cut two pieces of 0.75mm plasticard approximately 85.00mm long and exactly 14.00mm wide. The length will depend on the overall length of the body minus 0.50mm to allow for the buffer beam thickness. These two pieces should then have the holes cut for the W Irons [9.50mm x 12.50mm], using the built up ones to check the size and coupling pockets [3.50mm x 6.00mm] in the positions  shown in the diagram below for the VIX Ferry Van. If using the Dapol NEM coupler pockets the hole shown dotted [5.00mm x 6.00mm] should only be cut in one of the pieces.

 

 

The two pieces can then be glued together and left to harden overnight under a weight. You should then have the centre piece of the chassis as shown below with cutouts for the Parkside coupling pockets.

 

 

Cut two pieces of 0.25mm plasticard approximately 1.50mm wide and the same length as the chassis core. These are glued to the edges of the chassis core to cover the joint between the two layers. Once dry they should be sanded level with the faces of the chassis core. A further two pieces of 0.25mm plasticard are cut again the same length as the chassis core but this time 16.00mm wide. Glue the first of these to one face of the chassis core leaving an equal overhang each side. This forms the bottom flange of the solebar. Cut through this layer where the holes are for the W-Irons and coupling pockets. If using the Dapol NEM pockets then the hole for these will need cutting out before gluing to the chassis core.

 

Once the holes have been created the second piece is glued on the opposite face creating the top flange of the solebar. Again this should be left overnight to harden. Add the buffer beams from 0.25mm plasticard to each end ensuring that when the chassis is placed on the body the buffer beam faces are flush with the ends. The image below shows the finished chassis base from the underside.

 

 

At this point it’s a good idea to check the ride and coupling height of the chassis. If they need adjusting then you can insert pieces of 0.25mm plasticard into the holes to raise the chassis. If using the Dapol NEM pockets then you should insert between one and two packing pieces of 0.25mm plasticard into the hole.

 

If you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

Many thanks for that Paul, where do you get your parts from are they 2FS items?

[acg5324]

Longrail of this parish kindly offered to print my decal set using a laserjet printer, this arrived today and what a difference it makes from the inkjet equivilent. They are so much thinner than the inkjet ones as you don't need to spray varnish them.

 

Here is the Interfrigo van now with decals.......the INTER and FRIGO were done using the font Bolts SF on word then made bold and italicised.  This is very close to the correct typeface.

 

The rest of decals were just resized from a set of downloaded pictures of the wagon which can be found HERE

 

To fill up the sheet of decal paper the bus adverts were rerun but it looks like I've cocked the sizing up as they are a bit too big, but they did trim down OK and now adorn the RM's

 

Once again many thanks to Longrail for the doing the business.

[PaulCheffus]

Many thanks for that Paul, where do you get your parts from are they 2FS items?

Hi

 

Yes they are from the 2mm scale association.

 

That Interfrigo van looks very good.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

Sunday the second of the Leyland Nationals got its red paintwork. Yesterday I went to refit all the windows as they hold up the now modified seating unit. All the side windows and the rear window went in without a hitch, the front screen dropped through the body and vanished into thin air.........thirty mins scrabbling around on the floor, checking the baseboards, my clothes no sign of it.....B*gg*r!

Lots of muttering by me I walked into the lounge and passed my dilemma on to Mrs G......no sympathy there....have you checked your clothes......yes says I. She gets up to walk to the dining room and bends down in the Lounge and says is this it! FFS!!

 

The windscreen is now where it should be in attached to the bus.

 

I’ll try and post some progress photos later but my PC is yet again trying to load a windows 10 update.....gets to about 80% usually then locks up.....currently at 39%.

[acg5324]

The Interfrigo van has had its underframe details and brake details added, plus some pipe work on the ends that I presume adds coolant. Long Rail is kindly doing the decals I missed the first time round so these should be added by the weekend....another NGS meet too.

 

I’ll get photos of that posted later along with the finished 25083.

[St Enodoc]

Sunday the second of the Leyland Nationals got its red paintwork. Yesterday I went to refit all the windows as they hold up the now modified seating unit. All the side windows and the rear window went in without a hitch, the front screen dropped through the body and vanished into thin air.........thirty mins scrabbling around on the floor, checking the baseboards, my clothes no sign of it.....B*gg*r!

Lots of muttering by me I walked into the lounge and passed my dilemma on to Mrs G......no sympathy there....have you checked your clothes......yes says I. She gets up to walk to the dining room and bends down in the Lounge and says is this it! FFS!!

 

The windscreen is now where it should be in attached to the bus.

 

I’ll try and post some progress photos later but my PC is yet again trying to load a windows 10 update.....gets to about 80% usually then locks up.....currently at 39%.

How would you manage without her???