North Cranford

[The Fatadder]

1 minute ago, M.I.B said:

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.

If you would like a challenge have a look at their "Mermaid" ballast tipper, which can be backdated to the GWR version with the addition of a set of Parkside brake gear from their Grampus kit.   Cambridge Custom do the transfers.  

 

I think Eileen's have a fair bit of the range in stock. 

[M.I.B]

Thanks Rich.  CCT only cover BR(W) transfers sadly.

 

Good tip on Eileens though - might add a couple of ballast tippers to the PW train....

[The Fatadder]

 

22 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

Thanks Rich.  CCT only cover BR(W) transfers sadly.

 

Good tip on Eileens though - might add a couple of ballast tippers to the PW train....

Not quite

 

He does one rather brilliant sheet for GWR wagons which covers everything Cambrian make that is Great Western.  It is expensive, but includes a vast amount of wagons (including the crane), the side tippers, Herring, Starfish, sleeper carriers etc.  I used it on my side tippers and drop side ballast wagons, and while they are a lot more fragile than normal transfers they look really good once done.

Quote

Sheet C89 - This provides GWR period lettering for all of the 4mm. scale GWR wagon kits in the Cambrian range; (including the side-tipping ballast wagon which is easily adapted from the BR Mermaid wagon kit).

Where appropriate, several period styles of lettering are included. There is lettering for 24 wagons, and all of the principal diagram variations within the basic design are covered. In the case of the shunters' truck, no less than 30 different number / allocation sets are supplied.

4mm. scale price is £25.50

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by The Fatadder

[M.I.B]

Hope you are all well - it's been a while..........

 

I'm digging wooden fence posts in (20 of them to do this weekend - 6 foot x 4"....) so I need distractions to get a break.  There are another 60 posts to do over the next few years.....

 

So I headed off to my "local" modelling shop:  John Dutfield in Chelmsford.  There is a Hornby re-seller much closer to me, but it is literally a toy shop.  

 

It was so good to go into a model shop, have a social interaction with the great staff (Ken and Heather) and as usual walk out with something which wasn't on my list.  One impulse buy once saw me leave on my motorbike with a boxed 38XX stuffed down the front of my leathers....

 

I am as guilty as others of buying from shifters and resellers and sometimes forgetting my "local".  The often do have deals better than the interweb prices, and if I don't use them, just like pubs and Woolies, they will be gone.  

 

Found a lovely LNER Banana van from Dapol which I couldn't resist.  (It needs a heavy weather.)  I haven't seen it elsewhere.  Plus a couple of open wagons from Hornby.  Both will get "replacement planks", and one will get coal.  

 

I hope that you are all happy and healthy.

[M.I.B]

I promised to do this, and now that ceilings are up upstairs, and floors are reasonably clear...........

 

This is where NC and I got started on the inevitable hobby:  MIB Snr like most lads of his generation has trains, spotted trains, visited sheds, and he continued modelling right up until we brats spoiled and absorbed all of his free time.    So it was a certainty that I too would become interested...

 

After a little dabble with a 4th hand and very broken Triang trainset of sorts, the loft was  opened and some brown boxes came down..

I got the use of Bristol Castle and Sir Nigel Gresley, the WR coaches and some goods wagons.  With the aid of a Triang "converter" horsebox, I also ran modern (late 70s and early 80s) stock.  Along the way I managed to convert a coal wagon and a van so that the Triang horsebox didn't have to appear in every train.

 

Time went on, 80s Hornby took over than these items were put away for safe keeping.  A couple of years ago I had all three engines sent for "remag" and they all work beautifully.

 

There are quite a few pre War items: the tank engine, some GW goods stock, some oil tanks, and the Sir Nigel Gresley train.  All packed in those light blue boxes.

Lots of dark blue boxes for post war tinplate, and some cast 16t minerals, and a few red boxed plastic later Dublo/early Wrenn items like the UD 6 wheeler, the SR luggage van.

 

It was great to see it all out and brought back lots of happy memories.  The buildings and structures have outlived the Airfix engine shed and SuperQuick structures by a long time.

Some of these items are pushing on 70 years old.  And they still but a huge smile on my face as I think they would have to MIB Snr.

 

Dublo is a world away from rivet counters - you can't do that with tinplate ironically.  It's a land where facing points don't matter - you build as much as you can with whatever track you have,  Engines of all eras and company branding run side by side - you can't pick and choose.

 

I hope you are all healthy and happy.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by M.I.B
Poor typing

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, M.I.B said:

I promised to do this, and now that ceilings are up upstairs, and floors are reasonably clear...........

 

This is where NC and I got started on the inevitable hobby:  MIB Snr like most lads of his generation has trains, spotted trains, visited sheds, and he continued modelling right up until we brats spoiled and absorbed all of his free time.    So it was a certainty that I too would become interested...

 

After a little dabble with a 4th hand and very broken Triang trainset of sorts, the loft was  opened and some brown boxes came down..

I got the use of Bristol Castle and Sir Nigel Gresley, the WR coaches and some goods wagons.  With the aid of a Triang "converter" horsebox, I also ran modern (late 70s and early 80s) stock.  Along the way I managed to convert a coal wagon and a van so that the Trian horsebox didn't have to appear in every train.

 

Time went on, 80s Hornby took over than these items were put away for safe keeping.  A couple of years ago I had all three engines sent for "remag" and they all work beautifully.

 

There are quite a few pre War items: the tank engine, some GW goods stock, some oil tanks, and the Sir Nigel Gresley train.  All packed in those light blue boxes.

Lots of dark blue boxes for post war tinplate, and some cast 16t minerals, and a few red boxed plastic later Dublo/early Wrenn items like the UD 6 wheeler, the SR luggage van.

 

It was great to see it all out and brought back lots of happy memories.  The buildings and structures have outlived the Airfix engine shed and SuperQuick structures by a long time.

Some of these items are pushing on 70 years old.  And they still but a huge smile on my face as I think they would have to MIB Snr.

 

Dublo is a world away from rivet counters - you can't do that with tinplate ironically.  It's a land where facing points don't matter - you build as much as you can with whatever track you have,  Engines of all eras and company branding run side by side - you can't pick and choose.

 

I hope you are all healthy and happy.

 

 

Super stuff. I was a Tri-ang boy, never Hornby-Dublo (a bit like Beatles/Rolling Stones, or Mods/Rockers I suppose).

 

I do like the two junctions with the diamond crossings.

[M.I.B]

4 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I do like the two junctions with the diamond crossings.

 

I still don't understand frogs and point reversing polarity etc........  but I worked out by the age of 8  that you can't put in an odd number of diamonds in a Dublo layout.  Something  goes wrong with the current.    

 

There is a set of motor points to be fitted and some light signals.  Might get round to that this week.  I have put a board over that doorway so the stuff can be left out all week.   The pair of  motorized points were a good way to change running lines on the far  side of the room or under a bed........

[M.I.B]

The LMS coach behind the two pre-war teak ones, is a brake compo from the same period.  Its a bit of a "friday afternoon job" because it has two identical sides on it - the Guard's compartment is always on the right hand side whichever way you see it.

 

I have bought a couple of items over the years - mainly in the early days of car boot sales, when people didn't ask a fortune for everything they sold.  I definitely bought 2 more NE Brick bogie opens, and a WELTROL I think.    I'm sure I picked up a Dublo Mail coach as well, but it doesn't seem to be here.  Not to worry - my local model shop has a couple on the "pre-loved" shelf for reasonable money.

[M.I.B]

When I type "I hope that you are all happy and healthy" I do genuinely mean it.

 

Sorry to hear that one of our bretheren in Canada has not been well.  I wish John Dew a speedy recovery - his building making skills are very much envied here in Nth Cranford at the opposite diagonal to Granby.

[M.I.B]

Dublo has been packed away after a good noisy session.  With hard floors and plasterboard walls, the not inconsiderable noise generated when running Dublo was accentuated.  

 

Instead, and in between Zoom calls I have managed a sort out of kits and work in the projects boxes, and then got stuck into chip fitting and programming.  I have one more "plug and play" engine left to chip - 3031.    After that the soldering iron needs to come out.  There are about 15 to do.

 

Some have plenty of space inside (Parcels Railcar) and some are incredibly tight on space (panniers and Airfix/GMR Castles), but by selecting the easier ones first, confidence and ability will grow.

 

Scotland are playing England at the "other game" tonight, and the weather certainly favours us - I don't ever remember turning out for school rugby practice when it was dry or sunny - unless there was a frost involved.  There was no football played at my High School until you got to 6th form, and by then most footy folk had been converted to rugby (:

 

On Monday the nights start drawing in............

 

Regards from North Essex.........

Edited June 18, 2021 by M.I.B
Poor typing

[M.I.B]

Marmite time again......3d printing.      Love it or loath it I am a convert, with reservations.......

 

From AmandaLee of this parish........actually of "DownUnder" some more GWR rarities to join the supersized wagons in the POLLEN and CROCODILE classes.

 

Some of these are available as a brass kit, but I don't have the skill....  some of these are just not available at all.    3d printing has nicely filled that that gap in the RTR inventory.

These arrived as "RTR" needing some modelling:  wheels couplings and "small" items not attached.  Especially with the Dyson milk tanker trailer, this meant that access to paint the tank was so easy because ladder and walkway were added after.

 

I still have some (tiny) lettering to do on these but last night these took a dive off the mantle piece in the office after the black furry beast became "interested" in them.    Repairs done and packed away - they will come out for final lettering and weathering.

 Detail is incredible, but there are also "downsides" - small micro "spiders web" is found in gaps and cracks - it is the 3d print version of "flash" that bad Airfix mouldings had.     This is easily removed with tweezers.   Look at the ladder on the Dyson trailer and you will see a black  bit I missed.

Also the texture of 3d is a little "grainy"- the tanker got a rubdown with wet-n-dry and a healthy coat of Halfords spray primer and that cleared it up.   I'm no 3d expert, but from experience I think 3d is probably great for panels with texture , but items that have to be faultlessly smooth, like a tender side, or cylindrical tank - these need sanding and filling and heavy primer-ing

 

the AERO (above) and the PARROT ( below) come with crates pre coloured - all I did was treat them to some Dullcote and they were good enough to fit.  The PARROT crate was tied down with saddler's thread.  That took patience.......

 

 

These come in great boxes with bubble wrap/sponge paper etc inside - and the boxes will fit the finished article too - incredibly well thought out.

 

The MOREL came with a flywheel which is removable.

 

Some of these have a limited lifespan on NC - carriage gas was seldom used in my period - CORDONs were on the way out in the late 40s, and hence no running boards any more on mine - much like my clerestories.    AEROs were about to go back to being OPENs......

 

Hornby/Dapol/Bachmann/Oxford are not likely to ever make wagons with limited appeal , due to limited running life or geographic restriction etc, but 3 D printing makes running these possible.

 

On the day that the West formally left Afghanistan to the un-elected Taliban, I hope that you are happy and healthy.  I have spent at least 1000 nights in many parts of Afghanistan and met so many wonderful people - I hope things can be sorted out for them somehow.  There is no easy solution sadly.  

[M.I.B]

Nearly 4 months after my last post on here.......

 

I have been working away in Somaliland and doing rather a lot of work on my house in order to make it a little more habitable.  So appologies for no updates.

 

I am in the middle of doing a SIPHON conversion - from F to C using the old tried and tested method.  Nothing outstanding or challenging, but it will fill a gap in my inventory, and has so far been a pleasure to do.

 

I tried to get hold of an unbuilt SIPHON F kit but couldn't at a reasonable price.  So I bought a finished one and broke it apart.  Luckily it was well built with a minimum of plastic cement and Mekpak.  The donor also came with two good white metal fish belly bogies which will go into the bits box for another project.

 

Slicing the centre section out of the  body sides was simple as the chunk to be removed requires cuts down door lines.  A thin skim of filler will hide the joins. 

Sides were re-united to each other with a strengthener of plastic card, and a brace joins the  sides to the Ratio chassis, which slips underneath very easily.

A Ratio 2 wheeler coach kit (unmade) donated the chassis, which means I have a 2 wheeler body to turn into a Mess van for the  shed or the brewery shed......

 

I have added some brass bearings and some metal tyred wheels form the bits box.  This plus some tyre weights should help it roll better than the Ratio kit ever did. 

This will be added as "tail traffic" so at the rear a lamp will be added and a Smiths Instanter will be inserted, along withthe correct "drop down" Vac pipe, to clear the end doors and drop flap.

The roof came off clean and is a simple conversion - just pare off the rain strips with a sharp knife and rub down with fine emery cloth.  Cut to length , glue and make a new rain strip out of fine Evergreen rod.

 

I hope to get this finished over Christmas - I need a break from decorating and fitting skirting boards....

 

Not the most technical of tasks on RM web, but it has kept me entertained.

 

I hope that you are all happy and healthy - if I don't post again this year, I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas season.

 

 

[The Fatadder]

Interesting to see the siphon conversion, I have a Ks siphon F with a damaged roof next to my work bench that I keep thinking about making into a C.  Given I already have an F in service on the layout two seems a little overkill for a diagram with so few built. I think I will have to have a go now…

[M.I.B]

Rich,

 

I too have an F in service, and also believe that to see two together is beyond my realm of acceptability, hence the C conversion.

 

It really is an easy one to do.  Compared to some of the things you have acheived this would be a doddle!     Hoe broken is the roof?  if it's just one end then that's ideal because you are going to chop an inch or so off it anyway.

[The Fatadder]

2 hours ago, M.I.B said:

Rich,

 

I too have an F in service, and also believe that to see two together is beyond my realm of acceptability, hence the C conversion.

 

It really is an easy one to do.  Compared to some of the things you have acheived this would be a doddle!     Hoe broken is the roof?  if it's just one end then that's ideal because you are going to chop an inch or so off it anyway.

Looks like the crack in the roof is pretty close to where it needs cutting, so fingers crossed it’s on the right side of the cut… 

the floor is also pretty mashed up which will need a repair removing the ribs to allow the new W irons to fit, but looks a pretty quick project. 

[M.I.B]

the floor and running gear can be discarded -  buy the Ratio 4 wheeler coach kit and you will have a "true and square" platform to fix the chopped up body to.  If the body goes on to a "true" chassis a tiny bit wonky, you wont notice it.  But if a chopped up body is to be mated with a "cut-n-shut" running gear, the potential for something quite wonky increases.

[MrWolf]

I did a similar thing with some sections of Tri-ang clerestory brake thirds on a Ratio chassis to make a V5 PBV. Used the Ratio roof to finish it off, both helped to keep things square.

I think that I have a Ks Syphon F minus bogies and falling to bits, I might just have to set about that myself. I wasn't aware until now that it could be turned into something else.

[M.I.B]

On 16/12/2021 at 01:01, MrWolf said:

. I wasn't aware until now that it could be turned into something else.

 There is an old article (possible from the Railway Modeller) giving you details on how to make the conversion.

 

The only critical info in the article is where to make the cuts in the sides - you are taking the centre section out of the side by cutting  down the gap between two pairs of doors.  You should be left with:

 

Left half section= pair of doors and a single left door

Right half section - pair of doors and a single right door

 

The two single doors  make up the centre pair of doors for the SIPHON C.

[The Fatadder]

Just about finished mine now, very pleased to have been inspired to have a go.  While not perfect (the missing grab recessed are a bit annoying on both the F and C). It’s certainly a very passable model,  just need to work out how I will letter it now…

 

[M.I.B]

I still need to do a little filling, add the vac hose and alter the rain strips.  But it's firmly on the Ratio chassis (even if the running boards need re-gluing at one end)

My "F" only had "GW" on it so I will continue with the fibre glass pen until it's gone.  HMRS will provide the replacements and other lettering.

 

As it is the late 1940s,  the roof will definitely be a grubby black shade of grotty black.

[The Fatadder]

Be careful with the transfers, if I recall correctly the wording Siphon x needs to be smaller on the C to fit in the available space between the framing.  There was a thread on it a while back (the same applies to the F if done to scale, but from memory as the Ks one is too long on the centre panels it avoids the issue).   Railtec do an adjusted transfer which is smaller sized for the F but not the C.  https://railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1649  I wonder if they would be prepared to do a custom version with the C added?

 

[railtec-models]

6 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Be careful with the transfers, if I recall correctly the wording Siphon x needs to be smaller on the C to fit in the available space between the framing.  There was a thread on it a while back (the same applies to the F if done to scale, but from memory as the Ks one is too long on the centre panels it avoids the issue).   Railtec do an adjusted transfer which is smaller sized for the F but not the C.  https://railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1649  I wonder if they would be prepared to do a custom version with the C added?

 

 

Is it literally that sheet linked to but with Siphon C the same size as Siphon F? I'd also need guidance on one or two vehicle numbers specific to the C, as well as if there were any difference in tare/ton values.

Edited December 21, 2021 by railtec-models

[The Fatadder]

Just now, railtec-models said:

 

Is it literally that sheet linked to but with Siphon C the same size as Siphon F? I'd also need guidance on one or two vehicle numbers specific to the C, as well as if there were any difference in tare/ton values.

@railtec-modelsYes it is that sheet but with:

10 Tons

Tare 11.4.0

 

example numbers 

1539

1520

1493

1541

 

(The sheet included end numbers for the Siphon F, where as with one exception according to Slinn they didnt have the end lettering on a C so I have listed 4 numbers).

 

As an aside, if at all possible to have  2758 as one of the Siphon G numbers instead of one pair of 2926 that would be really handy for me when I repaint one of the Accurascale models when they arrive. 

 

Having also just built a Siphon C i would definitely be placing an order for a set of transfers if available. 

 

 

 

[M.I.B]

C numbers:

 

1525 - 36

 

1515 - 22

 

1503 - 1510

 

1482 - 1501

 

Pre 1930s many of these had brandings including:

 

RETURN IMMEDIATE:Y TO PENZANCE  

 

1511 was branded "Return to Stourbridge" as it was a pigeon van.

 

Post 1930s many of these were used for Harris' traffic out of Calne - snorkers and pork-pies......

[railtec-models]

11 hours ago, M.I.B said:

C numbers:

 

1525 - 36

 

1515 - 22

 

1503 - 1510

 

1482 - 1501

 

Pre 1930s many of these had brandings including:

 

RETURN IMMEDIATE:Y TO PENZANCE  

 

1511 was branded "Return to Stourbridge" as it was a pigeon van.

 

Post 1930s many of these were used for Harris' traffic out of Calne - snorkers and pork-pies......

 

Thanks all. Are there any images of the "return to ..." brandings specifically on the Cs? If I were to consider including them in a new pack then I'd need to get a good feel for what they look like, as well as any critical dimensions within which they would need to fit.