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North Cranford


M.I.B
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15 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Im afriad when I finally get round to building a pannier it will be a 2721

Fair enough. It's just that I've had a Nu-Cast 2021 waiting to be built for about 30 years now (it will become 2182, withdrawn from St Blazey in 1955).

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38 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I did much the same with the 47xx, though I much prefer the end result from my PDK one vs the Heljan (even if I havent quite got it running satisfactory yet).   

 

My kit built 4700 looked stunning but had no traction and no pulling power.

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8 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

So apart from that everything was fine.

 

I didn't lose any money on the purchase and resale so I can't complain about that either.

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I managed to get home for Christmas - just! 

So please excuse the delayed note of thanks  to all visitors  regular and strangers - please do come again.

 

I hope you all had as good a Christmas as was possible under the circumstances.

 

There are some parcels in the workshop requiring unwrapping but I will get round to that this week.  Moving out of the mobile home and into the House was priority #1.........

 

Stay safe

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Happy New Year to all.

 

Nothing late GWR in the Hornby offerings again......... was sort of hoping for a new Saint and dreaming of some Toplights.........  

 

They missed a trick here:

 

image.png

 

Surely that "D" should be a "P"?????

 

Here goes for some more lock-down in the UK.  7 weeks......  I feel for the smaller model shops again.   

 

Hope you are Happy and Healthy

Edited by M.I.B
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Sorry for the silence - work and house have kept me busy, but mainly it was all down to a failing very old Company laptop.  Like a frail ill person it lost abilities day be day, including the ability to be switched off, and also to see photos.

 

IT have sent me something new and whizzy and so I'm playing catch up.

 

On the day that the Oldest President of the USA (so far) gets his feet under the table, I hope that you, unlike my former laptop, are happy and healthy.

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9402 has arrived and it certainly looks great.  No need to re-number.  9402, like all (bar 9408) of the lower numbers were OOC based.  Not had a chance to run it, but the videos posted on the Bachmann thread are very positive about it's traction abilities.

 

I did promise a Dublo session when I got home.  Sadly, the fairies moved all the stored boxes from a shed to the first floor, and I arrived home to find very little free space.  I have had a shuffle around, and I have managed to sell off the surplus building materials, so space is being made available.......

 

At least the fairies moved all the modelling boxes ( including the heavy Dublo crates) (:

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I've just had a delivery from a well known small supplier.  It was a while coming, but the website at the time of order said it would be.   No problem with that.

 

In the packing was a note apologising for the delay, and explaining that this delay caused more delays because customers called and emailed the small supplier demanding to know where their orders were...........so the supplier had to spend time talking to customers and replying to emails.

 

I genuinely felt for the supplier - they do a great service, and were very open on their website about the original delay in the usual delivery schedules.    

 

On the birthday of decimalisation in the UK I hope that you all remain happy and healthy.

 

 

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I do get angry when Fahrenheit is used in the UK.

 

I'm all for keeping pints and miles, but we should have put a date on Fahrenheit usage - then we would have all been talking in the same terms by 1985 (etc)

 

I wasn't very old in 1971..........  perhaps that's why I have a different attitude to non conformers.

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I was interested to see the other day that Americans still use BTU as a unit for heat output on heaters etc,  BTU being a British Thermal Unit.

 

I tend to use a real muddle of Metric and Imperial units for measuring, mm for small sizes, feet / inches for longer.  I just sent a drawing to my father who is going to build me some display units with some parts dimensioned in mm and others in inches...   And this is despite being born long after decimalisation and having a degree in Engineering during which SI units were properly drummed into you (although in the aerospace industry there is still a  fair amount of standards which remain in Imperial due to our American cousins). 

 

Fahrenheit on the other hand is the one that I never got on with.

 

 

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Rich - same here on all those counts - I tend to do my engineering work in mm, woodwork in imperial and refuse to deal in F for anything.

 

I do work for US customers so US Gallons is normal for me as a UOM.

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Same here too on all counts. I worked in the US for a while and was glad that I learned both systems, despite being born post metric. The only time I have used metric with woodwork is when making or fixing a sliding sash window, working to 0.5mm keeps them draught proof.

It's very useful to be able to think both ways especially in the UK when working with people who don't / can't / won't! :D

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I have finished putting up all of the plasterboard partition walls, and decided that my shoulders needed a break before tackling putting boards up as ceilings...........

 

As promised, (Impney Hall unnamed) with the 8 wheel tender will be finished.........  The engine is complete and chipped.  Sadly the tender has got a little damaged through living an extended period on the work tea tray.   

1064546014_tend4.jpg.3b024b03e8bc7597180bd2358959fa5c.jpgtend3.jpg.349f40bf5eb2a8dc14dc13d97366ba32.jpg

I have sorted out the pickups underneath, and testing on a live test track with a bulb has been a success, despite it not looking super sexy under the chassis.....Next is soldering on the red and black wires to the pick up bus.  I re-used the 6 wheel Collett tender pickups and bus , which has worked well.

 

Rather than chop up the existing Hornby wires and plugs and sockets to the DCC board and chip, I will just fold them all up.  By cutting them I'm just adding in a number of places for wiring to break at a later date.  The standard black wires will run from the loco, under the fall plate and into the slot above the drawbar.  (pointed out by the scalpel in the photo) 519919232_tend1.jpg.8c5f15bb724302cd6f0c291b32e2ba6c.jpg This has been padded out with BluTak to stop any abrasion and make the curves/transition smooth.  (BluTak is over-paintable with Humbrol as you can see!) 2063141909_tend5.jpg.438d01ac5dc8f280cfc0275aef02d6c7.jpg

 

Once those jobs are done = and the top and chassis re-united, I will tackle the repairs to the front handrail and tender brake handle (Again).  That then leaves a squirt of Testors and some weathering when it's outdoor airbrushing weather.

90402518_tend2.jpg.81a2b7507e5d1daf8a3b5fda19d08f88.jpg

I will do a completed shot........

 

 

Edited by M.I.B
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In the meantime a couple of purchases that caught my eye whilst looking for building materials......

971559491_milks1.JPG.e4c9e58a5ce403db036426295d157226.JPG

The red UD milk was a Buffers limited edition run a while ago, and another 6 wheeler for my collection.  The green liveried UD SR 6 wheeler is a current Hornby(!!!!!!) and I couldn't resist.  I have over the winter parted company with a couple of the BDMRC Dapol milk tankers whose livery I never liked, despite trying.  So I think I have space for these two.

 

1184857696_toadandvan.jpg.d169bb2ae6e87fde772363edfd0e7421.jpg

 

the PARTO for the same treatment as the milks - blackened wheels and that will be it.  I liked this PARTO because of the "Return to" script.  I don't have this version, so this just happen to come up on a longstanding automated EBay search for Bachmann vans.....The TOAD was for a project that has been on the backburner for a little while........

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This was more of a morale job the other night - I really had lost my mojo for working on the house so I got stuck into this and felt a whole lot better afterwards:

 

coupling removed

Hook and Instanter fitted (Smiths)

Tail lamp (Springside?)

New allocation logo - (RailTec)

Roof (Halfords)

Dull (Testors)

 

1006693497_toad1.jpg.c13991055165755dd211052336b3b9f2.jpg614338177_toad2.jpg.01ccb802e3031a3a01ac12f7ac0ac231.jpg

 

 

Then pop it into the box - and noticed the original pricetag: (!!!!!)

 

173578140_tod3.jpg.b4912132ca10aa0856a2a8a6d3ac5b95.jpg

Edited by M.I.B
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There is an amount of BR logo'd stock in the work pile (!!!!!) including at least two castles, and a Dapol Mogul.............. but nothing so late as...............

1268574585_fruit1.jpg.3b8cac39fc74e22dab29902de68157a4.jpg

 

a blue BR two way arrow 1970s FRUIT D!   But it's currently the cheapest way of buying a FRUIT D if you are going to modify it.

1537305954_fruit3.jpg.7a0f10f0bb89b7e3f3c9f30f85b9df2d.jpg

 

60851548_fruit4.jpg.3b1c7cf6e5742c440e2f42bb345ef393.jpg1057746332_fruit5.jpg.b0a027be8ea415db4239be2feefa3f0e.jpg

 

and then add one of these at each end:

739941315_fruit2.jpg.6838e6ef5d12f35c4b2da74c937bd07e.jpg

 

Drill a hole in the roof and add Evergreen rod for an exhaust  - for an internal combustion engined pump.........and get the grey paint out:

 

1033949785_fruit6.jpg.89a8a4c151f05372a0b09bdd5bdbbc38.jpg

 

The Weedkilling train requires a "long van" but accurate details are scant.  From the late 30s these trains featured a tanker of concentrated "nasty" which was pumped by an independent pump (in the long van),  and mixed/thinned with water from one of three old tenders.  This mixing may have been done at  the "control cab" on one of the old tenders.

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Early weedkilling trains were pre loaded with "premixed" solution.  Where, how and when - who knows.

 

2913 is marked up to form part of the London Division train.  I have lost the photo on which the tanker for the concentrate was based on. It's very unlike the GWR, where you would expect to see a properly painted tank, with lettering etc.  But this just had it's branding crudely and scruffily painted over in black......849435647_fruit9.jpg.47be2f7f4375ee293929bb1c23da2481.jpg

 

Mojo is back.  So much so that I want to do more modelling, and "stuff the ceilings"......

 

I hope that you are happy and healthy as Eastern Europe is swept by "The Third Wave"......

fruit 7.jpg

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Thank you all for the "likes" especially on the Departmental FRUIT D.

 

I put on the brave trousers yesterday and fired up my new soldering iron........  the test piece was/were two short wires from each bus under the 8 wheel tender, through a hole in the chassis to the "chip side" (inside the tender).  This then allowed the connection of the "red and black wires" .

 

It's not pretty, so no photos, but the test went so well that I decided to also do the "red and black wire" joins as well.  Same thing - not pretty but it works.  The loco performed on the programming track so I consider this a success.

 

The soldering iron ( a Draper 40W  variable with stand)  was recommended by someone on here, as was the leaded solder.    Whoever you were - thanks - I think both made a big difference.

 

I will finish the repairs to the tender top today and take some photos in the sunshine.  The next long term resident in the work pile is "Project "Shut it" (aka Sweeney Hall) in unlined green.

 

Then I really should be putting ceilings up.....

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I spoke too soon:  I thought I had made a start on Project "Shut It" but I hadn't done anything "constructive" other than source components - chip, painted crew, fall plate, and brass plates.   So as it wasn't unfinished it has gone back into the crate.

 

6951 was finished after the successful chipping and soldering.  913300464_69511.jpg.c16c584fbe436dc7d2b43364b518e34c.jpg

 

The different blacks used are discernible but subtle.

 

I am yet to see a photo of the 8 wheel tender with 6951, but I am extremely confident on this combination of liveries due to detective work on shop dates, allocations of the 8 wheeler etc.      The full and correct history of the unique Collett tender still has a few small gaps and unknowns.  But thanks to RM Web it is more correct than it was a few years ago.

905606358_69512.jpg.9121d9e835dc02a20c68ffc9f87731f8.jpg

 

Tender still needs airbrush weathering...... the box was carved out to accommodate the extra axle, and additional height - the original tender top for the base engine was a 3500gal item.

 

I think one day this tender may get a new top - this one has had a few too many minor repairs and a hard life on the tea tray during a time when my workshop has been busy coping with a house build and supporting the equipment broken or needing serviced during the process.

 

I did say a page or two back that the best way to eat an elephant ...... I achieved it in the end and my modelling confidence has grown as a result.   So much so that I have been hunting down my chips today, and looking at which ones need to be soldered to which engines.........

 

A big thank you to John Dew once again.

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As I was putting Project "Shut It" away, I chanced upon an iphone box which I had not noticed in the rummage around the other day.  It contained the PW crane made from the Cambrian kit.  I made and painted this in Dubai a few years ago, but somehow had missed a few spots during painting.  A note in the box listed them, and so this was rectified. 

1052372347_crane1.jpg.cbc6a711b5d15889a3f08c261bcf1154.jpg

This was a very fiddly buy very enjoyable kit to make. And it looks stunning in the flesh.

611693242_crane2.jpg.2591888fc51c62c3f7968348599c2d35.jpg

 

So I didn't need much of an excuse to post these.

 

And like all the Cambrian kits I have built ( sleeper carriers, and ballast hoppers etc) these just run away on the slightest of slope - the wheels and bearings, and "fit" of all the parts makes them roll so beautifully.

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Last post for this evening, and maybe for a few weeks - house work mojo is back.  I have a digger and dumper in tomorrow to dig some deep drainage pits in the field: drains the rainwater coming off the stables, hides lots of brick and tile off cuts, and gives me a few tons of topsoil to complete a protective bank.  I will barely lift a glass by Sunday night let alone a scalpel.....

581472844_weed3.jpg.d1a2c9416e292b013f7e0ad9fd64c254.jpg

 

I have made a start on the "central" part of the weedkilling train....

weed1.jpg.486616f439d996f21865431df3868746.jpg

 

Three Mainline tenders.  Two were definitely from 2251s and one I'm not sure about - the coal rails/fender are a little shorter than the 3500 Gal ones towed by Mainline's 2251s.    It' 3+ years since I started buying items for this consist, and they did come in ones, twos and fours!   So please excuse the lack of detail from memory.

 

Out of the whole package of bits and pieces purchased I ended up making one working detailed 2251 for sale, another I kept, plus three tenders, and a rather tired broken bodyshell, which donated the  cab you see.  The sold item paid for all of the above and a set of Modelmaster numbers for the "bonus" Collett.    That's the best way to come out of a deal like that.

 

weed2.jpg.322de8136adc9f01db8fd36e50e84847.jpg

 

I have some white-metal buffers ready to fit on the engine end of each tender, as per the real thing.  The only unknown at the moment is how to replicate the hose and pipe that ran over the top of the tenders.  Metal guitar string was suggested by someone, and that's the best idea so far.  Probably a low E looking at the thickness......

 

Tender tops will be plated as per real life, as will the cab windows.  I am determined to do this one to completion before anything else.

 

Must drop RailTec an email about the logos...........

 

If you have given something up for Lent, there's not long to go.  I gave up beer and biscuits and cakes.  I have not lost any weight at all!!!!

 

On what was Burt Munro's birthday (a distant relative) I hope you are all happy and healthy.

 

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You've reminded me that I have a Cambrian crane which needs finishing. As you can see, it needs a fair bit of work.

 

IMG_20210325_215928.jpg.cd31e10cc3699af19889697aac91a161.jpg

 

It's tempting to bump it up the queue as a change from making buildings.

 

As for the world's fastest Indian, that's a seriously impressive man to be related to, however distant!

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Following on from my comment about how nice it is to build Cambrian kits, I thought I would see what their latest offerings are.......   just about all of their kits are listed as sold out.

 

So keep hold of your crane - even half built there is a market for it!!  As well as miscreants stealing  dogs, puppies and kittens, there may soon be break-ins with herberts looking for Cambrian kits.

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