Burton On Trent in N2

[RBE]

Here are the MUs. Difficult to photo in raw FED though.

 

[woodenhead]

Absolutely. I miss those times. Much nicer to travel on too. Modern trains feel claustraphobic and noisy compared to those.

Just remove the clag which got into the coaches and made me ill.

[Steadfast]

Oooh those MU sockets do look nice. I wonder if the heads with dimples to drill out to fit wire for the cable would print any more reliably? I know Jack's had sprues of tail lamps print fine.

As for the face of the grid, I think it's down to individual interpretation - after this hobby is art at times! I don't know if the windscreens will help, but it's something I thought I'd try. I like your idea with the roof domes, something I'll look into on mine

 

Jo

[RBE]

You wont be able to drill out the boxes as they are tiny. However you could fit wire into the front of the loco below them if necessary. As I said though they actually printed fine for me. I can print more and send them out but I cant make them available to order from shapeways direct by the customer. They are class 86/87 style though so a little different to the class 56 ones. I could do some specifically for the 56 though I guess.

[RBE]

Just remove the clag which got into the coaches and made me ill.

Better than the grotty gritty coal dust that gets in your eyes when riding behind a steamer. To be honest I never had any issue with clag in the coaches back in the day but I obviously wasn't susceptable to it like you were.

[woodenhead]

Better than the grotty gritty coal dust that gets in your eyes when riding behind a steamer. To be honest I never had any issue with clag in the coaches back in the day but I obviously wasn't susceptable to it like you were.

I only became aware of it sat behind a 37 on the Cumbrian route recently, maybe we were more used to pollution in the 80s.

[RBE]

Maybe so. I was very dissappointed a couple of years back taking the Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig to find that my eyes were being sandblasted by the coal dust when I had my head out of the window!

[Marcus 37]

No the peak is crossing over from the main to the barrow hill line going north. The 31 is southbound heading towards chesterfield station.

Your right, I need to get my glasses out. Never noticed the station in the back ground. Mind you I was looking at it on the ipad, on the computer now so much bigger. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. That's our point of no return if we're going to Barrow Hill and have been routed on the fast. Normally though its straight onto the slows at Clay Cross. 

[RBE]

Ok the 56 came today. It has to go away until my birthday but I had a chance to get a quick look and do some measurements. The model is nice but the cab does look wrong. It is certainly too wide and the bottom of the windscreens as a result is too high (proportionally the front looks correct but the extra width has therefore given extra height to it). The 56 should proportionally be the same as a class 47 however at the side of the excellent new farish tooled 47 its clear to see that something is wrong. Setting the bottom of the bodies level puts the top of the cab windows between 1 and 2mm higher on the 56. The loco then has a roof thats similar in height to the 47s only it starts higher up and is as such shallower in curve looking from the front. It all looks a bit widescreen without the aspect ratio being correctly set. The base of the windows is also not the same. The 47s starts a good 1mm lower and the side windows are noticably larger which looks correct. The 56s doesnt. There really isnt much to be done as the shape is not correct. The loco is too wide but the correct height so the proportions are off. The issue with the outcome in my opinion is that at normal model viewing angle (3/4 angle roof down) the cab roof draws a straight line from the main roof to the corner of the cab front windows. That has the optical illusion that the cab roof is very flat whereas the real loco has a very pronounced domed effect. The model isn't as flat as it looks but it 'looks' flat from normal viewing angle. Again theres nothing to be done here. The shape at the cab roof front is a little bulbous though and the corners sharper than need be so I feel it would benefit from a tickle with a file and some wet and dry to shape it a bit better.

 

Here is a cruel picture of one of my farish 47s beside the 56 (I have a wonky handrail which this pic has now brought to my attention! Oh well). Anyway the 56 should have an outline and general arrangement as per the 47 but as you can clearly see the 56 looks much wider and the roof is nowhere near the right shape head on. Oh well its the best we have at the moment but I would like better.

 

[Marcus 37]

Blimey!! That's a case of who ate all the pies. Better put it on a crash diet between now and your birthday. 

[RBE]

Indeed. Nothing to be done though as its a basic shape issue. I'm just hoping that once I've tickled the roof a bit and worked my magic with the repaint and weathering it will hide its misgivings.

[Marcus 37]

If any one can managed I'm sure you will.

[RBE]

I hope so. I need a 56 for the layout and thats the best out there but it does grate me a bit when I can see somethings not quite right arrrgghhh.

[cornish trains jez]

Didn't realise just how oversize the 56 was. Could it be possible to upgrade the old Farish model using the 3D printed MU cables and the etched grill. Then reprofile the cab roof.

[Marcus 37]

In all fairness though, apart from being a bit porky, it looks far better than the old Farish offering. I could do the opposite picture. park my Hornby 56 next to one of my Heljan 47s which are also well known for being a bit portly.

[RBE]

Yes true. Its a million times better than the farish version. Maybe in a few years farish will do a retooled 56 based on their new 47 and the cycle will start again. For now its still pretty good. I'm sure once painted up and weathered it will be fine.

[spenc]

Hi

They used to be on route 14 to Stretton or route 3 to winshill that went past the station.also trent buses did have nationals on there villager service to Derby that also went past the station they was in red livery I think with a cream strip.

Steve

Edited October 26, 2015 by spenc

[RBE]

Cheers Steve, good info. I'll have to research the liveries and see what I need. Where did the buses stop for the station? On the main road beside the car park?

[spenc]

Hi

Heading towards town hall the stop was in between station and station hotel. other way facing town on top of bridge if you know what I mean.

Steve

Edited October 27, 2015 by spenc

[RBE]

Looking on Google maps and assuming that the bus stops have remained in a consistent place it appears that the bus stop going towards the town hall would be just off of the modelled scene. I couldnt spot a stop going toward the town. There is a zebra crossing though which would be a nice item to use as a way to realistically stop traffic flow.

[spenc]

Hi

Forgot about the crossing the stop was between the steps down to lower car park and crossing but on top of bridge you look over and saw the two lines to derby it did have a shelter don't know if it's still there.

Steve

[RBE]

Doesnt look like its still there on google street view. I will certainly add it there for my time period though.

[richierich]

That explains why the Dapol 56 doesn't looks quite right, because it's a tubby 56 (like a Heljan 47). That said the performance is pretty good and great slow speed control.

 

I have quite a few of the lovely Hornby 56s and it a reason why the Dapol one just doesn't quite do it for me. A shame because I'm a big 56 fan.

 

The Farish mk2s are very nicely detailed. The TSO (374-710A) has sold out once again (even Hattons). The Bachmann web site suggests another batch is due Oct/Nov. The first run was priced at 18.25, but the latest run, the cheapest price I've seen is 24.61 at Hattons. However I bet the next run (374-710B - if it happens), will be even more expensive, £30+! :-(

 

I'd love to buy ten to create two typical Transpennine North set from the late 1980s, which run up to July 1991. But £250 quid is a lot of cash.…

[richierich]

Here are the MUs. Difficult to photo in raw FED though.

2015-10-26 11.32.21.jpg

These look similar to the MU cables used on the front of Class 56s?

 

I know this is off topic, but how practical would it be to produce these in 1:76 / 4mm? Reason for asking is I have acquired a few Hornby 56 which are in need of MU cables and sockets. One thought I have had is to try and reproduce these (along with sanding boxes, and air compressors in resin). But maybe 3D printing is an option (although not sure what software you'd use on a Mac).

[RBE]

To be honest Rich they would be even better in 4mm as these are on the limit of what can be printed in 2mm.

 

It would be pretty much a case of me simply scaling the artwork and then adding a finer cable probably. In fact in 4mm I could do the MU boxes with a hole pre-made in it to take some fine black coated flower arranging wire if the cable came out too thick, not so easy to do that in 2mm.

 

As I said though these are based on the AC electrics so not quite the same as the 56 but it would be easy enough to do the correct ones if necessary.

 

If you are interested in doing some 3D modelling of your own you can download google sketchup for the mac I believe. I use AutoCAD as that is what I use in my work day to day but a lot of the guys on here model in sketch up as its free and quite straight forward to use.