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11 hours ago, jwealleans said:

I spent a little time this afternoon  - it's bitterly cold here as I gather it is almost everywhere - on a couple of grain vans which I've been going to refurbish for Grantham use for a long time.  One is a Parkside kit, possibly the very first one I built - it was certainly one of these, bought from the much missed R & D Models in Cambridge - while the other has a more interesting provenance.

Also pretty much complete and hopefully a less controversial shade of brown

 

Peter-K-GNSR-HB-finished.jpg

No complaints here! Very nice. 

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On 06/02/2021 at 20:28, Headstock said:

A new standard specification for a more teak coloured gloss paint, would be precured from an outside contractor. This was done in 1939 and the first recipients were the long wheelbase CCT's built in that year. My Father recalled seeing Thompson deal vans painted in this new colour scheme just after the War.

 

That's very interesting, Andrew, thank you.   One of the first NPCCS I built was the PD long CCT and I recall looking at colour photographs of one as restored at Monkwearmouth in the 1970s and taking that as a guide, on the grounds that the people who restored it would have been able to remember them, or have access to people who did.   As I then did more vehicles and acquired more photographs it became apparent that there was far more inconsistency in colour and that shade was the exception rather than the rule.   As an aside, I built a BZ and painted that with it and it looked so awful that I repainted it straight into crimson.

 

 

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3 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

That's very interesting, Andrew, thank you.   One of the first NPCCS I built was the PD long CCT and I recall looking at colour photographs of one as restored at Monkwearmouth in the 1970s and taking that as a guide, on the grounds that the people who restored it would have been able to remember them, or have access to people who did.   As I then did more vehicles and acquired more photographs it became apparent that there was far more inconsistency in colour and that shade was the exception rather than the rule.   As an aside, I built a BZ and painted that with it and it looked so awful that I repainted it straight into crimson.

 

 

 

Good afternoon Jonathan,

 

I forget the name of the LNER paint supplier, I think that they are still in existence and were based in Ripon. L H Loveless used them quite extensively, as they provided original paint specifications for all sorts of applications. I was told by an ex Doncaster painter, that the brown mix used on some carriages and NPC's, was a combination of wagon grey or charcoal and red oxide, later bauxite. A mix guaranteed to produce several nice shades of mud I would have thought. The story may be apocryphal, so I wouldn't take it as fact, however, it dose illustrate the DIY nature of what was being produced.

 

In model railway land, there is a tendency for modellers to copy what other modelers or manufactures have done. You always come across as having a more thoughtful approach, that gets closer to the truth.

 

The various paint colours of BZ's, now that's an interesting one. My Father thought the LNER painted everything in departmental traffic light sea grey! At some stage the LNER seemed to give up on what I assume was oxford blue and just left them, you guessed it, brown. Do you have any photographs of Crimson ones, I would be interested? I just found a lovely colour shot of a NE BZ, at the head of an East coast express and behind an A1, guess the colour.

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1 hour ago, Headstock said:

 

Good afternoon Jonathan,

 

I forget the name of the LNER paint supplier, I think that they are still in existence and were based in Ripon. L H Loveless used them quite extensively, as they provided original paint specifications for all sorts of applications. I was told by an ex Doncaster painter, that the brown mix used on some carriages and NPC's, was a combination of wagon grey or charcoal and red oxide, later bauxite. A mix guaranteed to produce several nice shades of mud I would have thought. The story may be apocryphal, so I wouldn't take it as fact, however, it dose illustrate the DIY nature of what was being produced.

 

In model railway land, there is a tendency for modellers to copy what other modelers or manufactures have done. You always come across as having a more thoughtful approach, that gets closer to the truth.

 

The various paint colours of BZ's, now that's an interesting one. My Father thought the LNER painted everything in departmental traffic light sea grey! At some stage the LNER seemed to give up on what I assume was oxford blue and just left them, you guessed it, brown. Do you have any photographs of Crimson ones, I would be interested? I just found a lovely colour shot of a NE BZ, at the head of an East coast express and behind an A1, guess the colour.

 

http://www.trwilliamson.co.uk/

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3 hours ago, Headstock said:

Do you have any photographs of Crimson ones, I would be interested?

 

In the specific case I cited above, it was a Thompson BZ, so pictures are plentiful.    I imagine you're thinking of the D171 BZ.  I've done one of those in Crimson for Ely club and in that case it was based on a picture in a Peter Paye book.  The caption specifically referenced the van and may also have said it was crimson.  I have a feeling there are some pictures in Dave Larkin books as well.   They seem to have been more popular and longer lasting than many of the pregrouping designs.

 

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24 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

 

In the specific case I cited above, it was a Thompson BZ, so pictures are plentiful.    I imagine you're thinking of the D171 BZ.  I've done one of those in Crimson for Ely club and in that case it was based on a picture in a Peter Paye book.  The caption specifically referenced the van and may also have said it was crimson.  I have a feeling there are some pictures in Dave Larkin books as well.   They seem to have been more popular and longer lasting than many of the pregrouping designs.

 

 

Good evening Jonathan,

 

it's not something that I've looked at too closely, being a bit later than my main era of interest, though I am aware of it. The impression that I get, and it's only an impression without research, is that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason as to what went crimson and what didn't, even amongst the same diagram of BZ. There could be a connection to vehicles that carried specific branding. There's a really good article on the NER types that was published many years back but I forget what it was published in, or who by.

 

The NER types almost lasted for ever. There was so many of them and there geographical spread was so wide, it is fair to say that every LNER, ER/NER, ScR and many layouts of other regions could have one.

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Thank you Andrew (and good evening),

 

Those D 171s seem to have been popular on the LNER, they are seen all over the place.  Much like the Southern vans very quickly after 1948, people seem to have hung on to them.  The Framlingham branch example was used for milk traffic, so maybe there was more emphasis on keeping them in good order and a greater appearance of hygiene?  When the mood takes me I'll have a flick through the Larkin NPCCS volumes and remind myself what's in there.

 

I think I mentioned the 51L GC Loco Coal wagon not too long ago.  It arrived on Friday.

 

51-L-gc-loco-coal.jpg

 

Pretty straightforward but one trap for the unwary - the brakes have to go on the opposite way round to usual.   Unlike a Morton fitting, the lifting link goes on the same side as the brakes.  I didn't spot that when I read the destructions and by the time the penny dropped they were too firmly fixed to remove without risk of destruction.  So feel free to get over that pitfall by walking on my prone form....

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A question if I may about your "short" Gresley coaches for  East Anglia, the 52'6'' type featured in the first posts on the thread back in 2007.

 

I am in process of building a rake of these from old Kirk kits, as you did, and wonder how you did the Composite? It did occur to me that this might be a carve up of the 61'6'' Composite, bearing in mind that on the "short" version the single coupe is 2nd rather than 1st class, alternatively you might have carved up 1st and 2nd class sides from the "short" version.

 

Many thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

John.

Edited by John Tomlinson
2007 not 2009
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Evening John,

 

2007?   I can't remember what I was supposed to do this morning. 

 

There was a whole thread dedicated to these which vanished in the archive at some update or other.   Luckily I do seem to have taken pictures and the build ran on into my thread on the LNER forum, where you can see how I finished them off.

 

Not having the accompanying text, I cant remember what the donor vehicle was, but if you have the sides to hand you'll be able to tell.

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

I hope that tells you what you need to know.

 

 

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Extremely useful, thanks. It is the top picture with the 61'6'' vehicle that gives the start, and that picture is not on the LNER Forum thread. I think it is the Corridor Composite, obviously with outside doors to the compartments.

 

You made a great job of getting neat joints, and I can see from the lower pic that you reinforced inside with a strip of plasticard, which I'm sure was a very sound idea.

 

Thanks again,

 

John.

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15 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Completely vile day here today.  In between picking my fence panels up from next door's garden, I braved the cold in the workshop and made this.

 

DS-D358-small.jpg

Lovely lovely, i think I might rebuild mine after seeing this. 

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1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

Grain hoppers are painted and awaiting transfers (on order from Powsides).   In the meantime some more wagons came my way as birthday presents, so naturally I at once pulled them apart and started chopping them about....

 

oxford-carless-tanks.jpg

 

I'd seen pictures of the Oxford rail tank wagons and been impressed as well as hearing good reports from people who's opinion I'd take seriously.  I have to say these are very good.  I've done very little to these except complete the lettering over the strapping and fit Smiths couplings before weathering.   They come with 3 link coupling loops but these are firmly closed so you can't use them with the Smiths hooks except by cutting them.  I gather the Oxford hooks are functional, but I prefer the larger Smiths version.

 

oxford-milner-thomas-2.jpg

 

oxford-milner-thomas-1.jpg

 

Oxford's 7 plank minerals have been criticised in the past but they do make adequate layout vehicles and credit to them for producing liveries which no-one else seems to have done.   I'd not seen this particular one before, but a set of 4 came my way.  The incorrect capping strip clips have been removed, LMS buffers, Smiths couplings and renumbering.

 

DS-colwick-lswr-open.jpg

 

More Oxford, the Coventry Climax trailer pumps were also a nice little item which I'd seen used elsewhere.   Matted down and with a dark wash they look very good.  The crate by King's of Grimsby and the Colwick open which was looking for a load has been seen on these pages before.  The LSWR open was in a job lot of wagons and had been scratchbuilt, probably in the 1970s if the date on another in the same lot is to be believed.   The body shape was good but the brass strapping was awful - about 1.5mm wide, creased, with attempts at rivets randomly spaced and no attempt to chamfer or shape corners or joins.  I did wonder about just binning it, but that goes very much against the grain so instead I repaired and reworked the bottom half and then applied a sheet as you see.   It'll pass muster and can carry on running for another 40 years or however long the plastic lasts.

 

That leads me on to the next item.   One of the regular posters on the LNER forum mentioned last summer that he'd created a kit of parts for a D 358 GNR CCT using a Silhouette cutter.   I've seen Rob Pulham do this in 7mm, but hadn't seen anything in 4mm which had caught my fancy before that point.   Anyway, after some correspondence Joshua kindly sent me a sheet of parts and it's been awaiting my attention since shortly before Christmas.  I built the D & S ones first to become familiar with the prototype as there are no instructions and I haven't yet found a picture of this particular diagram.  The first photographs are of the white plastic so apologies for the lack of contrast but hopefully you'll get the idea.

 

GNR-CCT-01.jpg

 

This is the sheet of parts as it arrived.  The parts are scored into the (20 thou) sheet but need tracing round with a sharp knife then popping out.  The roof was separate so I assume there's just a little too much for a single sheet.

 

GNR-CCT-02.jpg

 

As you'd expect with plastic as thin as 20 thou, the parts all laminate together for strength.   Here I've started with the easily identifiable bits, the sides and ends.  To the right are the 3 layers of the sides, with a completed side on the left.   Ends are above, two thicknesses to bind together.  I used Limonene on all these parts and left them overnight under a weight to keep them flat.   

 

GNR-CCT-03.jpg

 

Here we're assembling the body against square blocks, again leaving 24 hours to dry at each step.   The floor can be seen in the foreground, again 3 layers laminated together.

 

GNR-CCT-04.jpg

 

Finally the body, complete and with the roof formers stuck in to add rigidity.  The floor, now the right way up, is to the right.   Joshua has mirrored the D & S kit by designing this to split apart at the solebar.  There are floor sections in the body with cut recesses for 8BA nuts and matching holes in the floor to pass screws up and secure the two together.  It's now on wheels and has been primed, but the camera decided to screw up the last photo so you'll have to stay in suspense for a while.

Cracking stuff JW, the Oxford hooks work but don’t last long all mine seem to break within one turn around the layout. I replace them as they break. 
 

I’ve seen Josh’s stuff on the Facebook group, might have to send him a message! 

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53 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

You failed to win first prize in a beauty competition at an online exhibition.

 

Really?   I wasn't even aware I'd entered one.   I might have at least combed my hair and changed my kecks if I'd known.....

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21 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

You failed to win first prize in a beauty competition at an online exhibition.

 

I've now had this explained to me, having been in complete ignorance of the whole thing.   I have to say I'm more than flattered to be mentioned in an adjacent breath to modellers of the calibre of Keir Hardy, Dave Hall and Mikkel, not to mention Lord Wright of Bytham, of course.   My thanks to whomever nominated me and those of you (I have to assume you're readers of these pages) who then voted for me.  Had I known I'd have been and voted for myself as well.

 

There are some people on that list with whom I'm not familiar, so I shall now look forward to reading and learning from their work.

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57 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

I've now had this explained to me, having been in complete ignorance of the whole thing.  

 

It surprises me that nominations could be accepted for a competition such as this without the nominees' permission being asked. 

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4 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

I've now had this explained to me, having been in complete ignorance of the whole thing.   I have to say I'm more than flattered to be mentioned in an adjacent breath to modellers of the calibre of Keir Hardy, Dave Hall and Mikkel, not to mention Lord Wright of Bytham, of course.   My thanks to whomever nominated me and those of you (I have to assume you're readers of these pages) who then voted for me.  Had I known I'd have been and voted for myself as well.

 

There are some people on that list with whom I'm not familiar, so I shall now look forward to reading and learning from their work.

 

It'l be a bob to talk to your exalted self now then mate :D

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