Cwm Bach - A South Wales Branch Line

[81A Oldoak]

And here's a peek into ERNEST's office. 

[south_tyne]

6 minutes ago, 81A Oldoak said:

Cwm Bach was recently visited by ERNEST passing through on  the way to a new owner. 

 

Fantastic stuff Chris. Your skill at weathering locos really is superb; so realistic without being over the top. That blue livery is lovely on the MWs, I hope that sales are going well for Minerva - there seem to be a lot of very happy and satisfied customers in these here parts. 

[81A Oldoak]

Just now, south_tyne said:

 

Fantastic stuff Chris. Your skill at weathering locos really is superb; so realistic without being over the top. That blue livery is lovely on the MWs, I hope that sales are going well for Minerva - there seem to be a lot of very happy and satisfied customers in these here parts. 

Thank you. I was a little apprehensive about doing this to the beautiful blue livery, but I and, more importantly, the customer are very pleased. 

 

Sales are going well and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the seaborne shipment at Southampton next week as most of the air-freighted Manning Wardles have been sold.  

 

Regards,

 

Chris 

[south_tyne]

6 minutes ago, 81A Oldoak said:

Thank you. I was a little apprehensive about doing this to the beautiful blue livery, but I and, more importantly, the customer are very pleased. 

 

Sales are going well and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the seaborne shipment at Southampton next week as most of the air-freighted Manning Wardles have been sold.  

 

Regards,

 

Chris 

 

It's first class Chris, highly impressive. I hope you don't mind me asking, and apologies if this is not the right place, but do you offer the weathering/custom finishing service as a regular thing or is it only a one-off? 

 

Really pleased that sales are going well and hope that boat turns up soon! They are lovely little locos and you should be really chuffed at how they have turned out. 

[81A Oldoak]

2 minutes ago, south_tyne said:

 

It's first class Chris, highly impressive. I hope you don't mind me asking, and apologies if this is not the right place, but do you offer the weathering/custom finishing service as a regular thing or is it only a one-off? 

 

Really pleased that sales are going well and hope that boat turns up soon! They are lovely little locos and you should be really chuffed at how they have turned out. 

I do offer a customising service, but it's case of joining the queue as I fit in jobs between everything else. Send me a PM if you want to discuss further.

 

Chris

 

[81A Oldoak]

A few days ago I volunteered to build a waiting room for one of the station platforms on my club’s 0 gauge layout. It is an old fashioned scratchbuild from plasticard and 0.8mm 3-ply wood.  I have been building in between fitting DCC sound units and weathering Minerva Manning Wardle Ks. Painting will start tomorrow. The photo shows the unpainted building temporarily placed on my Cwm Bach layout. FYI, my club is the Southampton Model Railway Society and we welcome prospective members and visitors so if you in live the area feel free to visit any Monday, Wednesday or Friday evening at our clubroom at Kemp’s Quay in Southampton.

 

Regards,

 

Chris K

 

 

[Father Dougal]

Hello Mr Klein,

 Are you going to produce any more wagon kits? Your Iron Mink wagon was lovely.  Maybe something more modern this time, a few silver bullets perhaps?

Dougal

[Barnaby]

Hello Chris, just to be clear when you say …. it's in tooling and you hope to have it later in the year, is that the tooling or the RTR wagon itself ready later in the year? 

If it's the latter I'll be ordering myself a couple as an early Christmas treat.  Will they be just in one style or will there be variant options even weathering?

 

Best

Edited April 15, 2019 by Barnaby

[Hal Nail]

I cant attach the link for some reason but there are full details in the products and trade area.

[Barnaby]

Thanks Hal I hadn't noticed any forum details and even worse I've not yet been to look at their Home page which I will do now.

 

In my  defence I am a little bit mystified by this new forum it doesn't run as smoothly as the old one did.

 

Regards

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by Barnaby

[81A Oldoak]

The crew for HAWKESBURY, an Ixion Hudswell Clarke, has at last signed-on. The figures are by ModelU and painted by the excellent Claudia Everett. 

 

Regards,

 

CK

 

 

[Barnaby]

Quality work Chris. 

 

[81A Oldoak]

A brace of Minerva GWR Iron Minks that I have weathered over the last couple of days in between jobs.

Chris K

[Deano747]

Fantastic weathering, Chris! I think you and Jinty are in competition?!

Keep up the excellent work.

 

Regards, Deano.

[81A Oldoak]

2 hours ago, Deano747 said:

Fantastic weathering, Chris! I think you and Jinty are in competition?!

Keep up the excellent work.

 

Regards, Deano.

Not really. So far, my weathering commissions have been for Minerva locos and wagons. I recently bought a pair of Accurascale 0 gauge hoppers that Jinty advertised on Facebook and was so pleased with them that I immediately ordered another two from him. Basically, the extra cash I earn from weathering is recycled into purchases from other craftsmen and -women. 

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[Hal Nail]

The fun and satisfaction of doing it and some cash for the next project - isn’t that the very definition of modelling utopia?!

[81A Oldoak]

Here is my latest Minerva Manning Wardle K. It is fitted with DCC Sound and is for personal use. I wanted a cleaned effect on this specimen so I polished the red parts with T-Cut and cotton-buds. I then applied black paint with a brush that was immediately removed with cotton buds to leave deposits of dirt around the rivets, joints etc. She awaits a pair of the new ModelU Edwardian loco crew figures, which are with Claudia Everett for painting. I'll post more photos when they sign-on for duty. If you want to see the rest of the suite of photos go to Facebook, Western Thunder or the G0G Forum. 

 

Chris K

 

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by 81A Oldoak

[Bob Hordern]

Splendid weathering Chris.

I am new to this site but will post a few 'uptodate' things from Kirtley Bridge now and then. Seems a much 'gentler' world than GOG

Bob

[pauliebanger]

On 29/04/2019 at 15:39, 81A Oldoak said:

Here is my latest Minerva Manning Wardle K. It is fitted with DCC Sound and is for personal use. I wanted a cleaned effect on this specimen so I polished the red parts with T-Cut and cotton-buds. I then applied black paint with a brush that was immediately removed with cotton buds to leave deposits of dirt around the rivets, joints etc. She awaits a pair of the new ModelU Edwardian loco crew figures, which are with Claudia Everett for painting. I'll post more photos when they sign-on for duty. If you want to see the rest of the suite of photos go to Facebook, Western Thunder or the G0G Forum. 

 

Chris K

 

 

 

Chris,

 

Lovely work which enhances an already highly desirable model.

 

Can't wait for the video.

 

Best regards,

 

Paul

[Nick Morgan]

Hi, this maybe worth a look - someone has recreated Abergwynfi in the snow via a SIM..
 

Cheers, Nick

[81A Oldoak]

8 hours ago, Nick Morgan said:

Hi, this maybe worth a look - someone has recreated Abergwynfi in the snow via a SIM..
 

Cheers, Nick

Nick,

That's actually rather good and the only howler was the train of empties being signalled into Abergwynfi station platform rather than Avon Colliery. Thanks for posting.

 

CK

 

[81A Oldoak]

“What can you do with a general when he stops being a general?” asked Bing Crosby in Irving Berlin’s song in “White Christmas”.  So inspired and with some mental gymnastics, I found myself asking  the somewhat less snappy question,“What can I do with a redundant, pre-production Minerva 0 gauge K Class Manning Wardle 0-6-0 saddletank locomotive?” The answer, of course, was to convert it to something different.

 

This is a simple conversion inspired by ABERNANT, a Manning Wardle copy of 1921 that had found its way to the BMC Longbridge factory by the early 1960s. A new fully enclosed cab was built from plasticard incorporating the vestigial remains of the original bunker. The safety valve bonnet was removed and replaced with cast whitemetal safety valves from the spares box; a hole was cut into the cab roof for blowing-off. The spectacles are refugees from an Ixion Hudswell Clarke and the extra tool boxes behind the front buffer beam are from the Minerva accessory pack of tool boxes.

 

And that’s pretty much it. She needs a name and I may yet fit some coal rails to the bunker and more modern brakes and cab steps. Otherwise, it complies with the Claude Monet school of impressionistic modelling encapsulated in Rule 1. She will be weathered after naming and I will post photos when complete. 

[keefr2]

I guess it's too obvious to call it Thomas?

 

I've got my coat, and I'm off...

 

Keith

[Happy Hippo]

Why not call the loco after your favourite military paymaster?

[81A Oldoak]

A new arrival at Cwm Bach colliery. My conversion of a Minerva 0 gauge RTR Manning Wardle is completed apart from the fitting of DCC sound. I decided to add some bunker coal rails made from phosphor-bronze strip. The KING GEORGE nameplates are leftovers from an etch supplied with the first edition of the Ixion Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST. The manufacturer’s plates are from Narrow planet and the crew are ModelU painted by the talented Claudia Everett. The toolboxes are from the Minerva toolbox accessory pack. Weathering is a combination of brushed enamel paint and weathering powders. One of the photos shows KING GEORGE next to PALMERSTON, one of the rare Ixion RTR brass Manning Wardle H 0-4-0STs. A Charles Atlas “Before and After” photo is shown as well as the basic conversion.

 

Regards,

 

Chris K