Nile's Mostly Freelance Bodging Bench - Pre-Grouping Locos

[Jack P]

The finished T9(?) Really is the business, I'm in love with how both it, and the compound look. Substantially different, but you can see the heritage. Your track-work is fantastic too!

 

 

Is there nothing you can't do, to a very high standard!? 10/10

[Londontram]

Very much enjoying your thread Nile and its giving me lots of ideas, The T 9 looks great cant wait to see what you do next regards Steve

[Corbs]

That T9 conversion is lovely, very similar to the Furness Railway K1 and K2s in appearance.

[Londontram]

That T9 conversion is lovely, very similar to the Furness Railway K1 and K2s in appearance.

I was thinking with very little work to reshape the cab cut out and add small splashers for the connecting rods a Caledonian railway Dunalastair III class

[Nile]

I think the T9 could be converted to quite a few types with a bit of work. Would the narrow cab version be a better starting point for the CR Dunalastair?

 

Here is that LMWR line up someone asked for earlier.

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Londontram]

I think the T9 could be converted to quite a few types with a bit of work. Would the narrow cab version be a better starting point for the CR Dunalastair?

 

The narrow cab might be better for the Dunalastair I and IV with the more prominent connecting rod splashers but I was thinking that the wider cab might be better for the 766 class Dunalastair II and 900 class Dunalastair  III which had smaller less prominent connecting rod splashers with no bridging section between the two, but as you say there are many types that could be converted from the basic T 9 and some of the chaps on here have already done some great conversions to the highland small bens as well. But I just love what you've done you make it look so easy building it in record ime - me I'd still be just thinking about it saying I'll get round to it one day, I really need to ge my a--e in gear and get on with something

Edited April 17, 2014 by Londontram

[WD0-6-0]

Wow they look fantastic together, thanks for the photo. Do you think anything could be done to an LNER J15 to make it look different but still see it was a J15?

Rhys

Edited April 16, 2014 by WD0-6-0

[AndyJH]

Great photo of the line up you have, this thread does certainly gives some great inspiration  

[Nile]

Thanks all. I hope a few are inspired to have a go at 'modding', whatever the model. I'm looking forward to the J15, mainly because I want a J15. But it could be useful as a small 0-6-0, although the tender may need replacing as it is very GER.

Today I have been mostly removing malware from this pc, so not much modelling. But I did recently paint the parts for the Minitrains F&C loco conversion.

 

I've since redesigned the pilot beam. I'll do a proper conversion, and repaint, when I get a new set of parts. That should be next month.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Corbs]

Nice one, on the LMWR, have you thought of a suitable naming convention for the loco classes?

[Nelson Jackson]

Great job on all locos, well done.

[Nile]

Hi Corbs, do you mean a name for each different class, such as king,castle etc on the GWR?

My limited thinking on this matter was to follow the LTSR (my local line) and use the number of the first loco in its class to identify that class. No. 110 Wye, being the first of its type, would be a member of class 110. But they could also be known as the river class, being the only ones named after rivers. I haven't worked the number series for the locos in any detail, I'm mostly making it up as I go along.

 

That's enough thinking for now, here's some modelling.

Last year I bought an assembled brake van kit.

 

 

As far as I can tell it's a K's kit of a Caledonian 15T brake van. It's fairly solidly built and isn't about to come apart. I thought it would be ideal for the LMWR.

The main body colour was ok, the paint only needing touching up in few places. I've painted the ends red oxide, the roof dark grey, and the foot boards dark brown.

 

 

A coat of Klear next, and then some transfers.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

The transfers are on. Microscale for the letters and numbers, HMRS for the 'goods brake' (from a SR sheet).

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Corbs]

Nice, yes like that sort of naming convention, or like the LNER's V2, A1, B12 etc

[Nile]

That's something I shall have to think about, Corbs. Probably when I get back to work. Lots of modelling projects are currently distracting me, such as this.

I've painted some of the iron work black and sprayed it with Dullcote to flatten and level the finish.

 

 

But that's not quite the end, as this photo shows.

 

 

Not only does it need glazing, it also needs a floor! The ribs between the windows mean 3 bits of clear plastic are needed at each end. A bit of card, painted black, will do for the floor. I'll also fill the holes near the couplings.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

I spent the weekend mostly doing other things, such as working on the layout (I'll start a topic on that soon). After looking at various bits and pieces of locos I've decided this is the next project.

 

 

 

One of the first batch built for the S&DJR was given a trial run over the LMWR, with the aim of reducing congestion caused by slow moving coal trains. Considered a success, a couple of locos were ordered with a few modifications, such as left hand drive. Using the same boiler design as the compound locos helped. Delivery was delayed by the war until 1920.

 

I've already removed the numbers and logos from the sides. On the smokebox door I've removed the number plate. I'm moving the lamp iron to the top of the smokebox, so I've cut it off here and filed the hole.

 

 

Livery will be black with red lining. The boiler bands will be Microscale transfers. The cab side lining was painted using a fine brush. I removed the cab from the body to make this task easier. This shows it after a coat of Klear.

 

 

In case anyone was wondering, this is what the loco looks like without its cab.

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[AndyJH]

Great updates, will you be including any 0-4-0's or 0-6-0s? As you colour scheme would look great on a short wheel basis loco.

[Nile]

Small tank engines will feature eventually, probably. There's no masterplan I'm following, so who knows where this will lead to.

 

I said yesterday that these early 7Fs shared there boiler design with the Midland compound. I checked this by placing them alongside for comparison. This is when I noticed the difference in the domes. When built they had a much rounder dome. By the end of their lives they had a flat topped dome, which is the condition the Bachmann model is in.

 

 

As with the compound before, I felt that the dome had to be more rounded. It seemed to be firmly glued in place, but I wanted to avoid dismantling the body. I applied some super glue remover around its base and after a few minutes managed to work it loose.

 

 

Using a bit of round plastic to hold it in the chuck, I used a mini drill to spin the dome while using sand paper to reshape it.

 

 

Here it is in place. It still needs some cleaning up, but it's definitely rounder.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[WD0-6-0]

For small tank engines what about an LBSCR A?1 plenty of these were sold of before grouping.

Rhys

[brianthesnail96]

I do like the very subtle tweaks you are making to these- things like reshaped cab windows and dome- very difficult to identify unless one is an expert on the locomotive in question, but enough for the casual observer like myself to look twice and go "hmm".

 

Looking at the pictures of the partially stripped 2-8-0 I can't help wondering how it'd look with a shorter (superheaterless) smokebox as "Thame". I suspect it might look a bit peculiar with the fairly modern looking Fowler cab and large cylinders sadly- changing those too might be a little too drastic!

[Iain Popplewell]

Just discovered this thread Nile it's just tremendous stuff.Free-lancing is so liberating, more people should do it in my opinion.

[Nile]

Thanks for your comments and interest, I'm glad people are finding this stuff interesting.

Work on lining the loco continues. Meanwhile I've been thinking about the tender. This Bachmann model is of one from the second batch built in 1925, but fitted with a smaller boiler later in its life. The tender body is shorter and taller than than those from the first batch. It's also covered in rivets. I would prefer something more like the original tenders, without the cab.

This is the model with its original tender.

 

 

Last year I bought a new Hornby Midland compound for a good price. The tender is too long for that loco, but placing it on the Beattie drawing of the 7F shows it to be quite a good match. It's about 2mm too long at the back, but I can live with that. The important this is it looks right, and better than the original tender (once painted black).

 

 

It needs some work to bring it up to scratch. The chassis still shows signs of its ringfield drive heritage.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

Lining of the loco is complete, using transfers and Humbrol 60 paint which seem to match.

 

It looks like someone at Uxbridge works found an extra pot of red paint.

 

More on the tender tomorrow.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Nile]

On to the tender.

This is the starting point, which was once attached to the current Hornby Midland compound.

 

 

The plastic body is held onto the metal chassis by 4 clips and is easily removed, revealing this.

 

 

Where the ringfield motor used to be is an 8 pin DCC socket. The loco was hard wired to this, I've cut the wires off at this end. I shall be removing this socket later on.

The underside.

 

 

Removing all 4 screws allows the inner chassis to be removed, the drawbar gets in the way otherwise.

 

 

And now the real work begins. I've drilled out the metal between the brake shoes and the axle boxes. I've also cut away some of the chassis that would be visible, but isn't really needed. The metal seemed quite soft, like Aluminium.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nile

[Spitfire2865]

Was that paint stock on the tender? Around the axle boxes and springs it doesnt seem too neat.

Cant wait to see what you do to this.

Oh, and the lining looks good on the loco. 

Edited April 27, 2014 by Spitfire2865