RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted October 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2019 17 hours ago, Phil Mc said: Some that fit would be nice....... Cheers, Phil. I'm working on it! Brian has said he'll have a go at etching some - I'm just making sure my dimensions are 100% correct. Both types, long and short. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted October 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) On 24/10/2019 at 10:32, scoobyra said: I'm working on it! Brian has said he'll have a go at etching some - I'm just making sure my dimensions are 100% correct. Both types, long and short. That would be cool. He'll have his work cut-out doing all the 'Castle' plates !! Cheers, Phi. Edited October 25, 2019 by Phil Mc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted October 27, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 27, 2019 (edited) So while the HST work is on hold awaiting stickers, I've had a go at fitting sound in a couple of loco's. I've mentioned before that our DCC controlled layout is a shunting plank 'museum' type shed, so anything that doesn't really fit with the themes run on the main DC controlled layout, can be chipped to run on there ! The first loco to be done was 57315 in Arriva livery. This was a birthday present from Mum to Dad when he was 65, so he doesn't really want me to repaint it, even though it doesn't fit in with any themes we run. It seems a shame to leave it stuck in the corner of a display cabinet, so it's been treated to Bif's sound and a Rail Exclusive 'Baby Boomer' speaker. Not the biggest speaker I could have fitted, but it went in no problem, sounds pretty good, and I had one at home ! I was going to fit the other speaker shown here in the 57, but by pure good luck that fitted in the other loco I was working on. Which is a Bachmann model of 'Tornado'. My reason for this is we haven't got a sound fitted Kettle so it would be something different, Hornby produce a TTS chip for that prototype, and we already had the model. My thought process was- It could run on the 'museum' when the main layout is in 'retro' mode, or on the main layout when it's in 'modern' mode. I know the TTS chips aren't as good as full-blown sound chips for sound and functionality, but the fact that they can be used with both DCC & DC (without going through the start-up sequence every time you want it to move) works for me ! At no point did I think to check what sort of socket ( 8 or 21 pin ) was fitted, whether it was in the loco or the tender, whether everything would actually fit.......... I just thought I'll get the bits and figure it out as I went along !! Cheers, Phil. Edited October 27, 2019 by Phil Mc 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted October 27, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 27, 2019 So, it turns out the model of Tornado has a 8 pin socket in the loco, and no electrical connections to the tender. I guessed at this point that I'd probably have to run a couple of wires from the loco to the tender, and mount the speaker in there, because there couldn't possibly be room in the loco for one could there ??!! Until I noticed that the smokebox is hollow, so could I possibly fit a speaker in there ? If I fed the speaker, shown in the above pic, in through the firebox and along the inside of the boiler moulding it might just fit.... There's a plastic plate on the footplate moulding that stands up vertically inside the boiler, just in front of the worm gear on the motor. The speaker was just slightly too deep, less than 1/2mm, to pass over it and into the smokebox. I did think about filing it down slightly, but it turned out that all I had to do was loosen the screws holding the running plate, slide the speaker in, and tighten them back up ! The vertical plate now holds the speaker in position. A bit of fiddling to get the chip and wires all neatly into the firebox, and it went back together with no issues. All I have to do now is make the plastic coal load in the tender look a little more realistic..... Cheers, Phil. 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 3, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 3, 2019 The 57's had a light weathering, so is now ready for service. Cheers, Phil. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 3, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 3, 2019 Tornado is finished, well almost finished, I need to get a footplate crew for it !! Real coal load added, and a light weathering, so hopefully it looks like it's done a few miles on a railtour rather than being perfectly clean ! This is the first steam engine I've weathered IIRC. It's only been run on a rolling road so far, but I'm quite pleased with how this has turned out, the noise seems to come from the right place, (loco rather than tender) which was a fear if I had put the speaker in the tender. Not much of an issue on a larger layout, but on our shunting plank, we're up close to the loco's ! Putting a finger on the top of the funnel actually muffles the sound quite a lot. Cheers, Phil. 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 6, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 6, 2019 Back to the Power cars !! 43172 needs its grilles painting silver, so that was the next job on the list. Before and after pics. I've since cleaned up the bottom edge of the Silver. I think it makes a big difference to the overall look ! Cheers, Phil. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted November 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 7, 2019 Phil doing kettles. The world has gone truly mad....................... 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 7, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 7, 2019 28 minutes ago, newbryford said: Phil doing kettles. The world has gone truly mad....................... ‘Just the one, to prove to myself I don’t want to do any more !! cheers, Phil. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 10, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) Thanks to a delivery from Railtec, these power cars are now at the same stage. There's still a couple of Green ones we haven't decided on the new identities of... Names/numbers (& big Dragons !!) added to suit, data panels & electric flashes moved to appropriate positions, the lovely little 'BRUSH' plaques added to all (except 43187, the prototype hasn't got one). While doing this I noticed a peculiarity on 43179, the nameplate and crest have at various stages had different size spacing between them, no idea why this would be the case but it is !! The Railtec transfer has the 'narrow' spacing, but, of course, my personal pics that I'm working from have the 'wide' spacing ! Just a case of cutting between the plate and the crest, and applying them separately instead of in one piece. It's random things like this that must drive Steve (Railtec) mad, and makes me all the more appreciative of what he does !! All have now been varnished, Johnson's Klear on the Green ones, acrylic satin varnish on the Purple ones. I don't really like the cab lights to be on in the direction of travel, it just looks wrong to me somehow, so on most of the power cars I've simply cut the wires to the LED's, but on a couple I've messed with the wires so the cab light will be on when the power car is travelling on the rear of the train. Just a case of cutting the cab light wires at the plug and soldering them to the same terminals below the cab that power the Red lights, which are the outer 2 of the 3 wires. If it's a powered car the wires need to be crossed, if it's a dummy car the wires need to be parallel, from the cab light terminals to the rear light terminals. Next up is weathering. I also need to top-up my supply of drivers, so far only 43155 has got one !! Cheers, Phil. Edited November 16, 2019 by Phil Mc 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Nice work as always Phil,im too fitting all my Bachmann locos out with rail exclusive speakers there great!! thanks neil. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradfordbuffer Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 On 10/11/2019 at 22:28, Phil Mc said: Thanks to a delivery from Railtec, these power cars are now at the same stage. There's still a couple of Green ones we haven't decided on the new identities of... Names/numbers (& big Dragons !!) added to suit, data panels & electric flashes moved to appropriate positions, the lovely little 'BRUSH' plaques added to all (except 43187, the prototype hasn't got one). While doing this I noticed a peculiarity on 43179, the nameplate and crest have at various stages had different size spacing between them, no idea why this would be the case but it is !! The Railtec transfer has the 'narrow' spacing, but, of course, my personal pics that I'm working from have the 'wide' spacing ! Just a case of cutting between the plate and the crest, and applying them separately instead of in one piece. It's random things like this that must drive Steve (Railtec) mad, and makes me all the more appreciative of what he does !! All have now been varnished, Johnson's Klear on the Green ones, acrylic satin varnish on the Purple ones. I don't really like the cab lights to be on in the direction of travel, it just looks wrong to me somehow, so on most of the power cars I've simply cut the wires to the LED's, but on a couple I've messed with the wires so the cab light will be on when the power car is travelling on the rear of the train. Just a case of cutting the cab light wires at the plug and soldering them to the same terminals below the cab that power the Red lights, which are the outer 2 of the 3 wires. If it's a powered car the wires need to be crossed, if it's a dummy car the wires need to be parallel, from the cab light terminals to the rear light terminals. Next up is weathering. I also need to top-up my supply of drivers, so far only 43187 has got one !! Cheers, Phil. Leicester scrap yard 2023? 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 16, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2019 (edited) All done. On some of them I've tried to replicate the striped effect to the dirt on the cab roof, which was apparent on some of the pics I was working from. The brake disks have been coloured Silver and the fuel gauge's coloured White. ( The body's haven't been screwed back on the chassis' yet, waiting to fit the drivers !!) Cheers, Phil. Edited November 16, 2019 by Phil Mc 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 16, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2019 Next pair. Cheers, Phil. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 16, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2019 Some more ! Cheers, Phil. 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 16, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2019 Last ones of this batch. Suppose I should get on with the coaches to go in between all these !! Cheers, Phil. 9 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 18, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 18, 2019 (edited) Been doing some research over the weekend, as to what to do with the 8 GWR Green coach set we have. I want a 'Low Density' seating rake because, as far as I can tell, they were the most common to visit Cornwall. Luckily, the standard Railtec transfer sheet (2478) has 2 complete rakes worth of numbers for these, so I don't need to bother Steve to do me a special sheet !! The sheet has numbers for rakes LA 15 and LA 16, as well as the coach lettering details. LA 15 is the rake that includes the coaches with the running numbers that Hornby produce, so I figure most people will probably pick that rake..... .....so I'll do LA 16 ! I was planning on detail painting the interiors, adding passengers, and putting lights in them, but for some bizarre reason Hornby have put 2+1 seating in the TSO's instead of 2+2 seating, so I don't want to highlight this !! The interiors can stay as they are until I find some replacements. As the coaches need to be in a particular order and orientation, I sorted that out first. Working through the rake from the TGS to the FO, the plan is- TGS 44086 coach A- renumber. (number not in central position on 1 side !), add coach 'A' decals (even though are coach 'A' already, it will help the look of the whole rake to match. TSO 42250 coach B- renumber. (both numbers in central position), add coach 'B' decals. TSO 42200 coach C- the end next to coach 'B' has half of the first full window painted Green on each side. This is in the 'Gloss' Green on one side and the 'Matt' Green on the other side, just to make it more difficult !! - the adjacent toilet windows also have the White sections painted Green. - renumber, add coach 'C' decals. TSO 42129 coach D- renumber (number not in central position on 1 side), add coach 'D' decals. TSO 42581 coach 'E'- renumber (number not in central position on 1 side), add coach 'E' decals. TSO 42245 coach 'F'- renumber (number not in central position on 1 side), add coach 'F' decals. TFKB 40743 coach 'K'- remove Silver stripe above passenger windows. - paint the half size window on the buffet side White. - renumber, add coach 'K' decals. FO 41158 coach 'L'- renumber (number not in central position on 1 side), add coach 'L' decals. (The wheelchair decal on this coach is adjacent to the buffet coach, not the power car.) Also, all the coaches need the buffers removing, the extra printed Green circles (emergency door opening handle?) and a box lid painting Orange on each bogie. Now I've got a plan, I better make a start !! If I've missed anything, let me know !!!!! Cheers, Phil. Edited November 18, 2019 by Phil Mc 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Nice work on the HST's Phil, very subtle weathering, I like that Steve. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2019 All the detail work listed above has been completed. So it's just a case of weighting the chassis' and putting them back together before weathering. Cheers, Phil. 8 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steadfast Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Nice work with the HSTs Phil, something on my to do list in N. Although it won't necessarily help with the colours Dapol used, out of interest what paint did you use to match the Hornby GWR green on the disabled loo windows? Jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted November 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2019 (edited) Hi Jo, The window paint is a mixture of Humbrol Enamel Gloss Green (number 3) and Phoenix Precision B.R. Railfreight Grey (P182), mixed roughly 2:1. I was literally counting the drops of each into a plastic bottle top before mixing them, it's such a small amount needed. So for N gauge you'll waste more than you use !! They had a few coats, and each time I mixed a new batch, so I just varied the mix slightly to make it lighter or darker depending on how the previous coat dried. Finally they all had a coat of 'Klear', to give them a gloss finish, except the half window on one side, that had a coat of satin varnish, so it matched the diagonal stripe that it sits in. There was nothing more technical to the choice of colours used than having a guess, and using what colours I happened to have. HTH Cheers, Phil. Edited November 25, 2019 by Phil Mc 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steadfast Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Top stuff, cheers for the reply. Gives a good base to start working from! Jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted December 8, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2019 Looks like I've created a gang of legless Zombie drivers for the HST's !! They don't look quite as bad in-the-flesh as the pics appear. They've been cut & filed to fit in the cab seats, around the armrests, then painted in FGW or GWR uniforms. Cheers, Phil. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradfordbuffer Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 7 minutes ago, Phil Mc said: Looks like I've created a gang of legless Zombie drivers for the HST's !! They don't look quite as bad in-the-flesh as the pics appear. They've been cut & filed to fit in the cab seats, around the armrests, then painted in FGW or GWR uniforms. Cheers, Phil. Ring ring....ring ring...hello is that ASLEF headquarters?....I would like to report a rmweb member for falsely claiming gwr drivers are leg less!.... (May be accurate if you where doing a retro 80s hst...and the railway clubs where still open!....but then you would need twice as many drivers coz of 125mph double manning) G 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted December 9, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2019 All the power cars have now got a driver. To me, a driver in the back cab looks less weird than no driver in the front cab !! I've finished the coaches, but forgot to take any pics before thy went to Dads Will take some next time I call in. Have remembered to put the Extreme Etchings GWR letters on 43187 & 43188. Pic of one with & one without, for comparison. Also been painting the Modelu driver & fireman that will go in the cab of Tornado. Cheers, Phil 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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