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North Cranford


M.I.B
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As promised earlier, on the profiles, I spent a rainy |August day putting brass names and numbers on a couple:  Airfix's venerable 6110 gets a brass 6110, the 1000 County plates turned up as did those for the ROD 3803.

 

The new Hall also arrived in the form of Bachmann's BR Guild Hall,  with a Hawksworth Tender.  This will eventually become one of the un-named black Halls and therefore needs a Collett tender. Still unsure whether to finish the tender in black or lined green - Coachman unearthed a rather top photo of an unnamed black Hall with a lined green tender......,

 

But here starts another dilemma.  Do I buy a used Castle or Hall with Collett tender and do a tender swap, thus creating another engine, which I don't actually "need", or do I buy one of the plentiful Harry Potter Collett tenders and sell on the Hawksworth?

 

I'm currently plumping for the latter option.

 

Whilst blackberrying in the rain this morning I also pondered creating a proper photo plank - perhaps the two road shed from Super quick, with a third open road to allow photography of individual wagons and coaches.  But I can see this morphing into a shunting puzzle and test track..........

 

I hope you are healthy and happy.

Edited by M.I.B
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I bit the bullet and the Hawksworth 4000gal advert and photos are on Ebay and timed to start tomorrow evening.   And a Collett tender is already whizzing its way over to North Essex.

 

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

Tomorrow I'll add some  more photos of the numbering and plating and tender resprays as done last week.  Here's a taster:

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And perhaps start looking at Project BLACK HALL.......

 

NPCCS work is still waiting..........

 

3000 views today!  Thank you.

 

Now go and get some modelling done instead of reading this rubbish.......

 

Hope you are all healthy and happy.

Edited by M.I.B
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So,  photos from last fortnight's rebranding/crew fitting/brass number  work.  As a reminder - out with any pre WW2 logos and in with either "GWR" or "G**W"

 

Some factory logos came off very easily with T Cut, and some had to be riubbed right down to the base plastic to remove all traces. On some models one side "de-logo'd" easily whilst the other was a toughie.

 

The former were easy to re-logo, but where black plastic showed through I had to repaint.  After the success using the airbrush for a complete item recently, I decided to avois the paintbrush again.  Unlined tenders and tank sides were easy to sort, because I masked off whole panels or sides. Here's the ROD tender:

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and the Dapol Dean Goods

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And here are the final results:

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Not impressed with the outcome of the water slide "GWR" logos on one side of the Dan and one side of the ROD, so I have had to subsequently touch the logo edges in with a fine brush.  They have improved dramatically, and will not be seen under some heavy airbrush weathering.

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Lined engines were tougher.

 

I use Tamya 6mm masking tape for detail work because the clumsy paper tape doesn't do curve or bend very easily.  This way I retained factory lining on tenders, and also used the factory lining to hide the join between factory paint and either Phoenix or some old Humbrol Authentic GWR Green I still have.

Last night's photos show a Castle tender done this way and the difference is very subtle due mainly to the lining.  Any difference will disappear under some airbrush weathering in the future.  No issues with the "G**W" logos on the lined items - they are the HMRS "presfix" type. I will avoid water slide in the future unless I really have to, and instead stick to HMRS ones.

The results on the Castles - IKB and Tintagel:

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Edited by M.I.B
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Dapol County of Stafford became County of Middlesex as planned a few posts ago changes to cab sides, name plates and bufferbeam.  The driver's side name plate on a 1000 class is enormous because it has a large rectangular plinth.  Mine came from Fox in black to match the name section, so I had to trim the plinth off rather than painting it and then lining it with transfers.

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The two 61XXs got rebranded, and their tank top shovels painted.  

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As I was ordering Modelmaster Jackson Evans numbers for 3803, and another, I shared the postage price by buying a set for 6110.  I will continue this practice when I buy plates/numbers in the future as it does drop the overall cost, and brass plates always look better, even on a grubby unloved unlined engine like 3803 will become when weathered (the plate is "square" - another trick of the camera)

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Edited by M.I.B
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I have no idea how the (above) picture of IKB in the cabinet has attached as a thumbnail, and I also have no idea how to get rid of it.  But as it's IKB, I'll leave it be.

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So, news time.

 

Project BLACK HALL is underway.  The cab has been stripped out (side windows in bin, rail and footplate with crew removed).  Red lamps ( on a late BR????) in the parts box.  Plates have arrived from Fox.  Name plates will stay in the bag in the engine packaging because I will only require the numbers.  6944 was like her sisters of the same build Lot, all built without names. 

 

Haberfield Hall, part of my roster as an oil burner, (with its name and new oil burning number) was named just after Flodborough Hall so there is a factual inaccuraccy if I run  6944 un- named in black (as she was built).  But the photo (circa 1946/7)  which Coachman unearthed of 6944 in black with a lined green tender was too stimulating to ignore.   So Rule 1 applies in a Dr Who /time travelling manner.

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The Hawksworth tender for "Guild Hall" is already on Ebay as mentioned last night

 

A late non "Modified" Hall would have run out of Swindon with a Collett tender in black, and that's what I will recreate, tempting as it may be to have a black engine with a green lined tender, as per the photo.  Perhaps I may turn the tender out in green one day. 

 

6944 would have been a visitor to London during my timeframe, so I will attempt to chop out the plastic full bunker and refit and almost empty one, as befits a visitor to North Cranford shed, or passing through, slowing for Paddington.

 

Crew need a repaint as their overalls look a little "Village People". 

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Fireman looks to have a clutch purse in his hand - he'll come out in more ways than one, and be replaced with either a Hornby 'working hard' fireman with a shovel, or a Dapol "fireman resting on his shovel' , which would be more appropriate on a visiting engine just getting in.

Edited by M.I.B
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More news..........

 

with the possibility of a trip to sandy places about to become a reality, I have promised myself that distraction and evenings' amusement will be had in the form of planning for, and purchasing for

 

"North Cranford Shed Number 2"

 

the mused photo plank/test track and inglenook.

 

As well as functioning as a catwalk and test bed, it is also a dress rehearsal for the building of North Cranford, and thus will be the basis of experimentation and learning:

 

ballasting was not so great on the Cabinet

soldering wires will be learnt  ( I am awsome with a MIG welder and oxy-acetylene - why can't I solder??????)

fitting electric points will be tried and mastered

printable buildings will be attempted

 

What I have in mind will be cheap as I already have the track and point motors for the main North Cranford.  I think I will only need to purchase some ballast, some printable buildings and a Peco Ash pit..........

 

Any figures will be re-used on the main build later as well - I already have plenty of shed crew.

 

And to reward myself for being very patient with our Transatlantic cousins, (which really does take some doing out in the desert) I am looking for one final unlined engine to be finished also in black.    Suggestions welcome.  Currently thinking about another ROD or a Mogul............

 

I hope you are all well and happy.

 

Where's my passport gone?

Edited by M.I.B
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Castle,

 

Thanks for the input.  I see your logic, but one place where Moguls were scarce was Old Oak Common according to the Dec 47 survey.  Only 4x Moguls and 2x 2251s.

I already have sufficient of these to cover a realistic portion sub-shedded at North Cranford.

 

OOC records of Dec 47 show a plethora of 4-6-0s, 2-8-0s and 0-6-PTs for obvious reasons.   But very little of stuff "inbetween" in terms of size.

 

But a Mogul is a good multi purpose workhorse, and would look equally at home on a ballasting train as it would on an all stations stopper to Oxford.

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All the way from The Lizzard comes the final missing part for Project BLACK HALL:

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Need to do some fettling on the connectivity because the Hornby and Bachmann systems are not compatable in any way.  This would be a good time to draw them a little more close together and fit a fall plate at the same time.

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Intital thoughts are to retain the Bachmann metal bar out of the engine, but shorten it and bond a Hornby style "3/4" circle on made out of 1mm thick styrene sheet.

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The packaging will need a trim too - the tender is a very snug fit to the point where the brake handle is being bent.

 

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And Mogul it shall be.

 

OOC's 4 x 43XX Class Moguls in this period were all from the same small 9300 series, which means they were unique among the plethora of GW 2-6-0s.  They carried from new, glazed side windows.  Those lower numbered Moguls which received side windows, only got them in their BR days.

 

The 93XX numbered engines were the last  of the 43XX class to be built when they left Swindon in 1932.  The 93XXs also escaped the gas axe or donation of wheels and motion to the Granges, as happened to many older 43XXs.  So they were very young, alive and well in the late 1940s.

 

.......and also over due a trip to Swindon or Wolverhampton by the time when repaints were done in black.

 

But my quandry for tonight, is whether the 93xx numbered engines then lost their cab-side windows when they were painted black.  Halls built in WW2 were turned out with no side windows and black painted.  Others received shutters for side windows.

 

So my first thoughts were to cut side windows into the Mainline model and renumber it as one of the OOC 93XX engines.  Or do I cut the windows in and then re-plate them ( ie leave them un-cut?)

 

I have plenty of time to ponder this, and it is not the most pressing worry in the World tonight.

 

I hope you are all happy and healthy, and have enjoyed this scorching hot August weekend.

Bank Holiday next week, then English schools go back, then it's Guy Fawkes and HoHoHo....................

Edited by M.I.B
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There are upsides to rainy days like yesterday.

 

I dragged a set-track box or two down from the loft and re-planned the Fiddle Yards and shed area and the side section which contains the brewery and the furniture warehouse.

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Two reasons for doing this:

 

1.  The old shed didn't really flow well in terms of activites:  in, coal, drop fire, water, shed.

 

2.  The photos and measurements from the first session like this have all disappeared(!)  I have 2 laptops and a PC and could not find the photos on either.

 

I know I could have done this with Templot etc, but I have the time and space to do it in 3d temporarily.

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TT in the main yard is the Heljan one, and in the fiddle yard, it is the venerable Horrnby item.

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I will now try and do a track plan to post up.  But to put these photos in perspective:

 

A 4 track mainline (2 up 2 down) with a semi scenic'd fiddle yard.

 

Across the long scenic side, beyond the 4 mainlines is the main shed, with coal drop, oil fill point, 6 road shed and turntable,  The ramp to the coal drop acts as a scenic break behind the yard backscene and is a non functioning dummy.

 

Along the short side to the West (left), beyond the mainlines again,  is a brewery and furniture warehouse.

 

The Shed is fed with traffic from the fiddle yard, and the brewery and warehouse from the other side of the fiddle yard.

 

The scenic mainline has no pointwork: all cross overs from Up to Down and Mains to Reliefs are in the yard.

 

 

 

 

Edited by M.I.B
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The shed and also the Brewery & warehouse complex are intended to be capable of being run as seperate layouts for multiple operator running, as well as adding scenery, depth and interest.

 

Here is the shed area looking East to West.    Entry is by single track from the upper left of the fiddle yard, running in plain view along side the 4 mainlines.

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There is a compromise between space and functionality ( coal, ash, water, shed):

 

a.    The upper 4 bays can be used by engines entering via the turntable, before going through the post-run cycle.

b.    The lower 5 bays can all be entered or exitted directly.   The top track cannot exit directly unless it uses the table.

c.     There is space for ash wagon storage (spur to the W of the turntable).

d.     Space for a sand van, dropped tenders etc is available (headshunt opposite Bay 5).

e.     Beyond this short headshunt is room for a sand drier, oil tanks and an oil filling area.

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f.      Oil tankers can sit on the same loop.

 

Back in my ISO container in Afghan, with my pieces of paper on the floor, I tried so many permutations to get an authentic length coal ramp, and could not do it satisfactorily.  So I have gone the other way and now have an "over length" ramp, which is currently planned to be non functional. That doesn't mean that I won't in future power it up and have the occaisional 0-6-0 puffing up and down it with some LOCO coal wagons.  Perhaps I have just foiund a role for MIB Snr's Wills/Triang 94XX........................

 

I have yet to do the final measurements, but the depth in 99% of the layout does not exceed 1000mm, for reach purposes.  Hornby's Law number 3:  " If it's going to de-rail,it will do where you can't get to it."

 

All track is Code 100 ( gasp horror silence) and operation is Old School DC.  So it'll be a couple of "stud and pen" boards with section power feeds.  One for the Shed, one for the brewery and warehouse and another for the fiddle yard.

 

Will it be mobile?  Will you see this at a show - "no".  Making this permanent will be hard enough for me.  I struggle with woodwork, depsite having the coordination and skills to work in metal.   

Edited by M.I.B
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I'm some-what house-bound at the moment, and reticent to start anything, so I have been doing research for the Shed 2 project.

 

I have mainly been using Mr Lyons' shed book, and rooting through the large box of scenic items, putting one or two aside things.

 

I decided to list the Dec 47 basing locations for my Motive Power, again using the Lyons' tome.  And this in turn has led to a couple of changes:

 

1.   My 45XX is departing the collection because the closest 45XX to North Cranford is way further than a bunker of coal can carry it. 4589 was Southall based in 1933, but by 1947 it was a Truro engine. I

The model is headed to the same place as my small County went. 

2.  The vast majority of engines are OOC/Southall based.  Fine to be sub-shedded at NC.   Some 4-6-0s and 2-8-0s have come to Town from the edges of the Empire such as Oxley, Chester, Bristol, Newton Abbot and Laira.   Acceptable.  The black 28XX, based in Aberdare will be renumbered to become an OOC engine.

3.   Oddly enough, my intermediates (Dean Goods, 2251s, Tanner-One-rs, 66XXs and 56XXs and my 72XX) all seem to be based too far away from Nth Cranford to be realistic.   So new sheds within a realistic radius have been selected and numbers chosen.  Out with Oswestry and Truro and in with Didcot, Oxford, and Slough.

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Thanks to the inspiration of RM Webbers, I have in the last 18 months, set out standards for North Cranford:

 

I have gone firm on the location (In-between Langley and Southall).

I am set on the type of layout (DC Code 100 track and big roundy roundy).

and timeframe (1946/1947).

 

My oddly dated, and broad range of engines has become realistically focussed down to the plausible in terms of type and running number.

Same goes for coaching stock and NPCCS.

 

My complicated track plans and ideas are now very simple.  Some excellent layouts on here have very little mainline pointwork, but beautiful sidings.

Sidings can be left as "scenery" or alternatively, sidings can be operated as mini layouts.  With enough operators, both can happen concurrently.

A fiddle yard can also be scenic'd successfully.

 

There are lots of outstanding layouts on here which are simple but the standard of paint, detail or weathering is what has "made" the layout stand out.

 

I know my limits in terms of trackwork and scenery, but I am prepared to "stretch".

 

I fully intend to keep improving on the airbrush both for repaints and weathering.  This is inspired by many on here.

 

I have improved at compromise.  There is a happy medium to be found between "compromise" and too much "rule 1 applies". 

For every one of us there is a happy point somewhere between whizzing Thomas around on set track on the carpet, and someone spending 500 hours getting the rivett detail perfect on a live steam O guage King.

 

Thanks All.

 

I hope you are all healthy and happy.

Edited by M.I.B
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Hope you all had a good constructive Bank Holiday.  Due to the pouring rain in North Essex, I managed to get some modelling done.  I had hoped I would be elsewhere, or  that if I was here, it would be sunny enough to be out walking an old railway line or East Anglian airfield.

 

I chopped the coal out of the tender for Project BLACK HALL.  If you have never done this, this is how I do it:

1,  Drill 2mm holes with a pin vice ( finger tip powered drill) in every corner of the coal. 8 holes in total.

2.  Join the holes using a cutting disk in a Dremel.  The holes ensure you don't go too far and slice into the parts you want to keep.  Cut leaving about 0.5mm of coal left attached.

3.  Use a hand file to take the remainder off leaving the sides of the coal hopper.

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I am going to partially fill the tender with real coal, so the exact shape of the hopper is not required.  It will still look fairly empty befitting a Bristol engine getting into Paddington.

I made templates out of lined paper to begin with and then made the sides and rear section out of thin plasticard.  The sides are made of one piece folded twice to dog-leg around the toolchests at the front of the hopper. I attached them with liquid poly cement.

Once the floor was set in ( after a check that the floor would clear the weights hidden inside the tender), I beefed up the seams with some left over Araldite.

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I will close the rest of the bottom seams with some masking tape before I paint and add coal.

 

The Araldite was left over from fitting the rear coupling.  I ditched the Hornby push fit one, and replaced it with a smaller one, shortened to fit snugly:

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Because this will connect to a 7 coach rake, it was Araldited into place to ensure a solid and permanent fit:

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Whilst I was on a roll with the tender I looked at the draw bar.  Using the trusty "Super 4" track (I will cover why later) |I played about selecting the right length. 

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It was at this point, with the tender top off, I worked out how to use the strong Bachmann draw bar on a Hornby tender:

Hornby use a C shaped connector with slots around a tube through which the front tender to chassis screw runs (the route of the screw shown here with some white strip):

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So I sliced out the flanges inside the tender:

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drilled the Bachmann drawbar and used the Hornby tender-top to chassis screw as both a retaining screw and mount for the drawbar:

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The drawbar has sufficient swing to cope with tight curves, and also allows for some hieght difference between tender and engine.

 

I also made a flexible fall plate at the same time, using some super thin plasticard.  The sharp eyed among you will notice that the fireman doing "YMCA" is absent as promised.

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So all it now requires is paint coal and logos.

Edited by M.I.B
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The BR(W) Guild Hall began it's transfomation. 

 

Cabside single handles came out as did the side windows which were filled with plasicard. 

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This has been overfilled with Humbrol model filler.

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This does take some time to go properly hard, but any filler which is speeded up tends to need more work - I learnt this working on car bodies when i tried to speed up the job by adding extra hardener or using heat to set it quicker.   Never worth it as it makes for brittle filler which pops out under load or pressure.

 

Smokebox number plate is off courtesy of filing and a scalpel.  Nameplates are off and mount holes filled.  This will be one of the un-named Halls.

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In the meantime, I cut cabside windows into one of the Moguls.  Corners first using a drill to get the curved corners, and then a Dremmel, and finally a file, much like the method used for cutting the coal out of the tender.  The other 9300 series Mogul will be black so no side windows required. But the cabside rails are different so pliers and filler time.........

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Both will need outside steam pipes though, and I'm still not sure how to go about these just now.

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The lever reverse rodding is off the Moguls,  I may be able to salvage some of them for use as screw reverse mechanisms.

 

I hope that you are happy and healthy.

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So after a little thinking, I set to on the Moguls' other structural modifications:  both need outside steam pipes, a bulkhead addition to the front of the drivers side of the cab ( for the cab end of the screw reverser mechanism), and the centre splasher.

 

   I have made a credible job on the bulkhead and steam pipes so I am turning a blind eye to the splasher shortening.  A year a go I would not have been brave enough to tackle the steam pipes or bulkhead, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the splashers will get a re-visit.  I know how I would do it if it were steel and full size: perhaps that is the attitude to take when attempting, but use liquid-poly instead of weld!

 

First job was to source decent reference photos of late 93XXs.  There are a few on the brilliant website of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire steam photos.

 

Then I scoped materials, and went for plastic box section for the bulkhead and tube for the steam pipes.

 

The box section  was cut with a fine tooth saw to gice the upper sloped profile and the bottom square profile.  After this, it was just a case of filing.  I removed the splasher rivet detail on the rear of the rear splasher.  This allowed me to file a step in the bottom of the bulkhead and get it flush with the body.  The rest just took time, filing, coffee and lots of Radio 4.

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Once as tight as I could get it, I attached it with liquid poly and added some car body filler to fill and shap the top, and any gaps in the joins.

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Edited by M.I.B
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The steam pipes were bafling me for a while.  Drilling through from underneath was not an issue, and the angle of the pipes and other dimensions were easy to sort from the photos. I also have Project BLACK HALL on the bench as a reference as well.

 

The toughest part was the flange detail where the steam pipe meets the smoke box.  I had already decided to use super thin plastic card; the issue was how to cut the right shape and size oval flanges.

 

Under the footplate above the cylinders, there is a mark on the moulding unseen when the chassis is affixed.  These mouldings are in the perfect place for steam pipes!  I drilled and filed and then cut plastic tube to fit through. Using a fine scalpel mark as a reference line on the smokebox, I kept positioning the pipes whilst filing one end round to meet the smokebox.  It was at this point that the solution came to me:

 

When the pipes were cut to 2mm overlength, and shaped to meet the smokebox, I affixed them to the thin plasti-card with liquid poly.

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Then using fine scissors I cut the correct oval shape and filed it.    Flanges already on the steam pipes! 

 

All I had to do was drop them into the holes from above, apply poly, and position them.  Once they were set hard, I used car filler from underneath and  by sanding that smooth, I removed the overlength from below the footplate. 

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I am very pleased with the results.

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Edited by M.I.B
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So a quick trip to the paint shop.  The lower cab-side, new bulkhead addition and a touch up to a splasher were brushed onto the green Mogul.  Humbrol Authentic Colour 104 "GWR Green" was closer than Pheonix for Mainline models.  I will do the steam pipes with a mix of Revell "Tar Black" and Humbrol Metalcote black tomorrow, as well as touching up the footplates with matt black.  Then a rinse in panel wipe when it's all hard and dry to get rid of filler dust clining by static.

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The black mogul got a blast of Halford's aerosol Satin black, and it too will get the same smokebox and footplate treatment as it's green sister.

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You may have noticed the appearance of reversing rods.  I trimmed and tweaked the horizontal lever rods and repositioned them as per the screw reverser rod photos.  Very close but not 100% perfect.  Until someone makes some 93XX seriesreversing rods, I won't cut them out of card, and these will do.  If someone does make some in future, they won't be hard to add.

 

Here's how I do filing of "plod"  I tend to use either some Draper mini files, or I use new cheapo emery boards.  The ones your lady tells you are not right to use on your nails. (they tend to be course on one side and fine on the other)  I cut to the right width with scissors, and for flat surfaces, I tend to put a curve in the board so that I don't hit too much other detail when I am sanding. 

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It's inevitable that some cab side rivets will be sacrificed on these moguls, or Project BLACK HALL, but personally I can live with that.

 

Filler - I use either Humbrol, Squadron, or Upol car filler - the two-pack type with red hardener. I prefer car filler as it never has soft pockets in the centre, and if properly applied, seldom has air bubbles on models.  But like all filler work, you probably aren't going to get it perfect on the first go.  The Hall cab windows are on their third filling and filing.

 

So the moguls just need:

 

cabside glass (green one)

cab inner detailing ( copper pipes and guages and red handles etc

a pair of single rails to make an "L" shape by the new windows

new brass numbers

tender coal

crew

weathering

 

I hope to get get most of this done tomorrow, with the exception of crew, numbers and weathering.  Bag of crew are in the post!  I am putting a bulk order of 12 sets of cabside plates from a new supplier.   

 

I will also get on with Project BLACK HALL.

 

On the day before Her Majesty becomes out longest reigning Monarch, I hope you too are happy and healthy.

 

 

 

Edited by M.I.B
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It's arrived..............while I was away whizzing around the Nurburgring in an Audi Quattro.     There I was doing some modelling on thursday afternoon and the phone rang,........ and I was packed and en-route within the hour.

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OOC had 8 of these on loan from the War Department in Dec 1947,still with WD numbers (77005,77015,77130,77184,77291,78521,78632,79234).  Some of these would have been sat on North Cranford shed.

 

I need to finish off the Hall and Moguls first, and this is a simple one - renumber and de-logo the tender, rust the bunker, add a little coal and re-weather. Hats off to the blue-box team - the "coal" pops out leaving a very detailed bunker.   Another "nearly empty" tender I feel.


 

Edited by M.I.B
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So what did I manage to do before I was forced against my will to go and do silly things in cars?

 

I finished off the tenders for the Moguls and the Hall.   I had issues when I Dullcote'd the coal in the tender of one of the Moguls - it left a white bloom on some of the lumps.

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So when I did the Hall tender I made a mask out of a "post-it" before spraying:

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(the missing, and then bent handle on the Hall tender has since been corrected as has the UHU "spiderweb" on the Mogul tender)

Here are the results on the display stand

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The display stand was made out of part of a broken War Department oak desk back in the days when footballers drank pints not cocktails and smoked Park Drive filterless fags, and when preserved railways were a dream.    The rails are held onto extremely thin sleepers with soldered pins.  The height from the top of the wood to the top of the rail is less than Set-track, and therefore some wheel flanges sit on the tops of the pins and not the wheel on the rail.

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This stand is poor for setting up wheel sets, or bogies, or coupling heights for that reason.   That explains why I have a tatty piece of early 70s Super 4 set-track as seen a few posts back.  This is extremely chunky track, so no flanges come close to the sleeper tops and levels can be set incomparison to another wheelset without false readings.

 

I hope you are all happy and healthy as the Autumn weather begins.....

Edited by M.I.B
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Apologies for no updates.  Just as they were getting regular again.    I had managed to almost finish the Moguls and Project BLACK HALL but I got called away to see family in Edinburgh.

 

I should be back onto finishing them next week, apart from the brass numbers which I will order as part of a bulk order.  If I do not hear any news about going somewhere hot and sandy I will dig into the WD.  I am told that departure is imminent, but that has been the news for the last 6 weeks.  I have put off any planning orposting queries for the "Shed 2" mini-project as this will kep me same in my downtime out there.

 

I hope you all remain happy and healthy in the week where Scotand trounced Japan in the West Country.

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