Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[Stubby47]

Since lockdown, I haven't a clue what day it is, but Happy Birthday all the same.

I hope you got some suitable presents too.

[St Enodoc]

54 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

Happy birthday John...have a great day...whatever time it is in Oz.

Just 1700 here (9 hours ahead of you at this time of year) so the sun will very soon be over the yardarm (actually, it's just gone below the horizon).

[Stubby47]

And it goes over the yardarm backwards down there.

[St Enodoc]

43 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Since lockdown, I haven't a clue what day it is, but Happy Birthday all the same.

I hope you got some suitable presents too.

Lots of after-shave - do you think somebody's trying to tell me something?

 

A Hornby Prairie should be leaving somewhere near you very soon. That will do as a present to myself.

[bgman]

Belated birthday wishes John, enjoy !

 

G

[chuffinghell]

Happy Birthday

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday!

 

The hint is about the tache mate! Remember I grew mine when the lads in your house decided to grow a tache.  Some failed...others didn't.   Have a virtual drink on us!

B & H

Edited June 16, 2020 by Barry O

[St Enodoc]

9 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Happy Birthday!

 

The hint is about the tache mate! Remember I grew mine when the lads in your house decided to grow a tache.  Some failed...others didn't.   Have a virtual drink on us!

B & H

Will do. What do you fancy - G&T, Bloody Mary or Endeavour beer (I think you had one of those earlier this year)?

[Clive Mortimore]

Happy birthday, John.

 

I will have a slice of cake and pretend it is birthday cake in celebration.

[Barry O]

15 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Will do. What do you fancy - G&T, Bloody Mary or Endeavour beer (I think you had one of those earlier this year)?

One of each.. well it is a birthday!

Baz

[31A]

Another Happy Birthday from me!

[Northroader]

 

 

best wishes.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Northroader

[lofty.ian]

Enjoy your birthday - if its a good one you might not remember it all.  Liked the card.

It is worrying when 'young' LMRS members are approaching middle-age.

[Gopher]

A belated Happy Birthday from me

[Tallpaul69]

Happy Birthday, and as a treat take a day off ballasting!

 

And as another treat, you could close your eyes and take a lucky dip out of the kits to be made cupboard?

If you accept this challenge, do post some pics of what it is you chose while you are making it?

 

Cheers and Beers,

Paul

[ian]

Happy birthday from me too.

 

Did someone mention cake?

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Happy Birthday, and as a treat take a day off ballasting!

 

And as another treat, you could close your eyes and take a lucky dip out of the kits to be made cupboard?

If you accept this challenge, do post some pics of what it is you chose while you are making it?

 

Cheers and Beers,

Paul

Thanks Paul. No new kits until the E147's finished. One step forward, two back with that this week. I'll explain when I've worked out how to sort it.

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks Paul. No new kits until the E147's finished. One step forward, two back with that this week. I'll explain when I've worked out how to sort it.

So, what happened is this.

 

As I said at the weekend, the finish on the bodysides after spraying wasn't brilliant so I rubbed them down with T-Cut to flatten it a bit. That was fine until I washed the coach body in very hot water to get the T-Cut residue off. That caused the metal sides to expand, I think. Whatever the reason, the dodgy joint between the side and van end came adrift. More seriously, the joint between the body and roof also now looked a bit suspect.

 

Fixing the end, with Kwik-Grip/Evo-Stik and then an epoxy fillet, went well enough but when I looked at the roof join and ran my fingernail along it to try to clean it up a bit the whole roof came away from the body.

 

Oh sh1t.

 

And the wooden roof, once I'd cleaned off all the filler, turned out to be about 1.5mm shorter than the distance between the ends.

 

So, what I've decided to do is to screw the roof to the ceiling rather than try to remake the failed glued joint. The screw heads won't be visible through the windows. I'll put a bead of filler along the side joints before doing this, which will squeeze out to fill the gap. I'll trim it back when it dries.

 

For the roof ends, I'll fill the gap with some styrene sheet then cut it back to the roof profile, add a little filler and make another rain strip for the van end. I think that the resulting structure should have more integrity than it did before.

 

Once all that's done, I can put another coat of crimson on and brush-paint the roof and ends.

 

After that, transfers, varnish, glazing and door furniture. Then, at last, it will be finished.

 

Watch this space...

[Oldddudders]

I feel your pain - and would be very much less able to remedy things as you propose. 

 

Some years ago I bought on ebay a brass coach from the USA. The seller made it very clear that the thing was damaged, and there were photos of the large dent caused when it fell off a shelf. I was not misled, and paid about a quarter the going rate of such vehicles, of which I'd seen 2 or 3 advertised in more than 20 years. 

 

I set about knocking out the dent, using wooden drifts from inside the coach. I had some success, but the percussive force caused a major soldered seam to rupture, so I now have a coach that is in even worse condition. Sigh. 

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

I feel your pain - and would be very much less able to remedy things as you propose. 

 

Some years ago I bought on ebay a brass coach from the USA. The seller made it very clear that the thing was damaged, and there were photos of the large dent caused when it fell off a shelf. I was not misled, and paid about a quarter the going rate of such vehicles, of which I'd seen 2 or 3 advertised in more than 20 years. 

 

I set about knocking out the dent, using wooden drifts from inside the coach. I had some success, but the percussive force caused a major soldered seam to rupture, so I now have a coach that is in even worse condition. Sigh. 

I paid the going price for a B16/2. After getting sort running reliably I thought while the body was off I would try and straighten the wonky running plate. That is when I discovered the thing had been glued together. I was holding the running plate and half the cab as the boiler and other half the cab was heading for my right big toe. It is sitting in box waiting for my mojo to kick in again.

[Tallpaul69]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

So, what happened is this.

 

As I said at the weekend, the finish on the bodysides after spraying wasn't brilliant so I rubbed them down with T-Cut to flatten it a bit. That was fine until I washed the coach body in very hot water to get the T-Cut residue off. That caused the metal sides to expand, I think. Whatever the reason, the dodgy joint between the side and van end came adrift. More seriously, the joint between the body and roof also now looked a bit suspect.

 

Fixing the end, with Kwik-Grip/Evo-Stik and then an epoxy fillet, went well enough but when I looked at the roof join and ran my fingernail along it to try to clean it up a bit the whole roof came away from the body.

 

Oh sh1t.

 

And the wooden roof, once I'd cleaned off all the filler, turned out to be about 1.5mm shorter than the distance between the ends.

 

So, what I've decided to do is to screw the roof to the ceiling rather than try to remake the failed glued joint. The screw heads won't be visible through the windows. I'll put a bead of filler along the side joints before doing this, which will squeeze out to fill the gap. I'll trim it back when it dries.

 

For the roof ends, I'll fill the gap with some styrene sheet then cut it back to the roof profile, add a little filler and make another rain strip for the van end. I think that the resulting structure should have more integrity than it did before.

 

Once all that's done, I can put another coat of crimson on and brush-paint the roof and ends.

 

After that, transfers, varnish, glazing and door furniture. Then, at last, it will be finished.

 

Watch this space...

Your experiences  make me glad I have stuck to my principal of never buying secondhand kit built coaches, with the exception of Kitmasters!

 

Otherwise, the nearest I have to a secondhand coach is a Python, which I bought from the club sales stool at an exhibition. The only(!) thing wrong with it is that it has a loose weight inside it, so one day I will have to pluck up courage to get the roof off and fix it! It is actually good and square in its construction and runs well on the track, but

 

What can go wrong with that, you may ask?

Plenty!!  knowing my luck with such problems!

The roof might be well glued on and the roof crack, or part of the edge break off.

The sides might crack or break.

Small parts may get lost

 

You can probably tell it is near the back of my "to do" drawer.

 

Mind you, the way this Lockdown is going it is moving quickly towards the front of the drawer.

 

Happy Days,

Best regards

Paul 

 

[teaky]

40 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Your experiences  make me glad I have stuck to my principal of never buying secondhand kit built coaches, with the exception of Kitmasters!

 

Otherwise, the nearest I have to a secondhand coach is a Python, which I bought from the club sales stool at an exhibition. The only(!) thing wrong with it is that it has a loose weight inside it, so one day I will have to pluck up courage to get the roof off and fix it! It is actually good and square in its construction and runs well on the track, but

 

What can go wrong with that, you may ask?

Plenty!!  knowing my luck with such problems!

The roof might be well glued on and the roof crack, or part of the edge break off.

The sides might crack or break.

Small parts may get lost

 

You can probably tell it is near the back of my "to do" drawer.

 

Mind you, the way this Lockdown is going it is moving quickly towards the front of the drawer.

 

Happy Days,

Best regards

Paul 

 

I wonder if drilling some holes from underneath would enable you to put a little adhesive onto the underside of the weight?

[Tallpaul69]

18 minutes ago, teaky said:

I wonder if drilling some holes from underneath would enable you to put a little adhesive onto the underside of the weight?

Trouble is, if you turn the van upside down the weight falls to the roof! When I said "loose" I really meant completely unattached! if you shake it, it rattles!!

But thanks for the idea.

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Your experiences  make me glad I have stuck to my principal of never buying secondhand kit built coaches, with the exception of Kitmasters!

 

Otherwise, the nearest I have to a secondhand coach is a Python, which I bought from the club sales stool at an exhibition. The only(!) thing wrong with it is that it has a loose weight inside it, so one day I will have to pluck up courage to get the roof off and fix it! It is actually good and square in its construction and runs well on the track, but

 

What can go wrong with that, you may ask?

Plenty!!  knowing my luck with such problems!

The roof might be well glued on and the roof crack, or part of the edge break off.

The sides might crack or break.

Small parts may get lost

 

You can probably tell it is near the back of my "to do" drawer.

 

Mind you, the way this Lockdown is going it is moving quickly towards the front of the drawer.

 

Happy Days,

Best regards

Paul 

 

 

8 hours ago, teaky said:

I wonder if drilling some holes from underneath would enable you to put a little adhesive onto the underside of the weight?

 

7 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Trouble is, if you turn the van upside down the weight falls to the roof! When I said "loose" I really meant completely unattached! if you shake it, it rattles!!

But thanks for the idea.

So when you turn it back up the right way the weight falls (more or less) back into place?

 

To be frank I'd follow the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. If the van runs well and the construction is sound, then leave it alone. How many times are you going to pick it up and turn it over in normal use, or shake it to check that the weight's still there?

 

I've got a couple of coaches where the bogies aren't fixed to the underframe properly so if you pick them up one bogie stays on the track. That's been the case for over 20 years. Solution - I don't pick them up!

Edited June 17, 2020 by St Enodoc

[Nick Gough]

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

To be frank I'd follow the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. If the van runs well and the construction is sound, then leave it alone. 

 

I went to the doctor the other day,
I said 'it hurts when I do that'
he said ' well don't do it'