Inspired by Brent June 1947

[The Fatadder]

The next step was to fold up the doors and solder in place, everything fitted really nicely 

 

this was followed by soldering each side to an end, and joining it all together to get the basic coach shell.

it still needs the droplights soldering in place, along with the solbar, before I can start gluing on the hinges. One thing I hadn’t noticed is that the holes for the handrails / door handles only go through the framing not the main side, so that all needs drilling out .  Wish I had spotted it before forming the tumblehome!

when it’s done I will do a side by side photo with an O11, it just looks so long in comparison!

 

[The Fatadder]

 I woke up stupidly early today so before work this morning a little more progress .

solebar and steps now added, went together really nicely (though it’s a shame the flange on the bottom of the solebar wasn’t included on the etch.)

 

I’m thinking gluing on a length of 20thou square Evergreen strip is the answer.

 

Annoyingly the roof isn’t a good fit, it came pre rolled (usually a good thing) but it’s 10mm or so too long and the profile is not a great match.   It also seems to be to narrow, I think this gap is intentional and is supposed to be filled with the cantrail. 
 

While the kit looked untouched it is clear someone has previously been in the box, the 7ft bogies having been replaced with American castings and a bag of cast panelled doors (which appear to be from a concertina brake) have been included.  The various plastic/brass strip that should be there are all missing (so I don’t know if there was something included for the cantrail originally. I will use more Evergreen strip once I have fitted the roof (though I wish MJT or someone did something in extruded aluminium in this profile!) 

 

I think I will solder the roof to the ends and glue wedges between the upper side and the roof to hold In place along the length. Then use a cutting disk in the Dremmel to correct the length.

[The Fatadder]

Went over to the Bristol show this evening, while there were some very nice layouts, I found the show a little disappointing.  The trade was terrible!  Far too much relative to the number of layouts and with a couple of exceptions all the same.   Box shifter, second hand, book stall and repeat…   Why on earth there were so many preservation lines with stalls there when they couldn’t find room for the usual demonstration society stands from Demu / S4 soc I really don’t know.   I was very surprised given the BRM takeover that there were no manufacturers present (particularly as Bachmann used to attend).

 

At any rate I have come away with a cheap Comet H25 kit which will replace the H33 in my Paddington to Penzance rake.  Hopefully my Hornby/Comet hybrid will sell well and cover the cost.   More importantly I managed to pick up plenty of 10 and 20 thou plasticard from squires so there’s nothing stopping progress on Brent’s buildings 

[Neal Ball]

2 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Went over to the Bristol show this evening, while there were some very nice layouts, I found the show a little disappointing.  The trade was terrible!  Far too much relative to the number of layouts and with a couple of exceptions all the same.   Box shifter, second hand, book stall and repeat…   Why on earth there were so many preservation lines with stalls there when they couldn’t find room for the usual demonstration society stands from Demu / S4 soc I really don’t know.   I was very surprised given the BRM takeover that there were no manufacturers present (particularly as Bachmann used to attend).

 

At any rate I have come away with a cheap Comet H25 kit which will replace the H33 in my Paddington to Penzance rake.  Hopefully my Hornby/Comet hybrid will sell well and cover the cost.   More importantly I managed to pick up plenty of 10 and 20 thou plasticard from squires so there’s nothing stopping progress on Brent’s buildings 

 

Thats a shame about Bristol Rich. Maybe it was put together quickly after the Covid restrictions were lifted.... 

 

As for a cheap Comet H25... I am telling myself, I have enough restaurant carriages for services to H-o-T :-) as soon as I build my H33 that is :-) although clearly I would be in the market for suitable Comet kits of they are "cheap" lol

 

Re Exhibitions in general though, it would be good to fly in for Warley this year, or maybe Ali Pali next Spring... I will have to see...

[Penrhos1920]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

 

At any rate I have come away with a cheap Comet H25 kit which will replace the H33 in my Paddington to Penzance rake.  Hopefully my Hornby/Comet hybrid will sell well and cover the cost.   More importantly I managed to pick up plenty of 10 and 20 thou plasticard from squires so there’s nothing stopping progress on Brent’s buildings 

 

 

Are you sure you want a H25 in a Paddington Penzance rake?  The H25 was a special narrow (8’6) body restaurant car for cross country services onto lines with restricted loading gauges.

[The Fatadder]

I knew I should have bought the rebuilt H15 he had on the same stand......  

 

Oh well, bit too late now.  I will eventually need a buffet for a cross country rake eventually at which point I will swap it around.  

Thinking about it given the shortage of restaurant stock in the late 40s, maybe its not so far fetched that a higher priority service would take an available coach....

 

Thinking a little more, by the time I have built and painted this coach chances are I will have built the newspaper set that the O11 and M13 are going into, which will also need my slip.  So the current Paddington - Penzance that this buffet is intended for could be reconstituted into a cross country set after all....

[The Fatadder]

First side is now detailed, onto side two later today

 

still struggling with the roof, it just doesn’t fit very well.  I’m sure the brass is too narrow, it certainly isn’t rolled straight either (as it narrows in the centre).  Talking to @Southwichyesterday led to trying the brass roof up against a mk3 coach, and the profile looks almost perfect.  I have a damaged sleeper roof somewhere which I’m going to test for for a trial.  If it works I will sand off the ribs and modify it to fit. 

[Oldddudders]

On 24/04/2022 at 23:01, The Fatadder said:

Had a very good day at Taunton today running trains on Clive Mortimer’s Pig Lane.  

A stoic recollection! When Sherry and I were in attendance, just as Jam finished his photoshoot, you were knee-deep in playing cards telling you what you didn't want to hear, and buttons that didn't necessarily do what it said on the tin. Full marks for heroism!

[The Fatadder]

3 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

A stoic recollection! When Sherry and I were in attendance, just as Jam finished his photoshoot, you were knee-deep in playing cards telling you what you didn't want to hear, and buttons that didn't necessarily do what it said on the tin. Full marks for heroism!

It would have been even more enjoyable if @Clive Mortimorewould see the light and go for DCC…

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

A stoic recollection! When Sherry and I were in attendance, just as Jam finished his photoshoot, you were knee-deep in playing cards telling you what you didn't want to hear, and buttons that didn't necessarily do what it said on the tin. Full marks for heroism!

All the fun of the fair. 😉

 

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

It would have been even more enjoyable if @Clive Mortimorewould see the light and go for DCC…

We all know what DCC stands for but here is a reminder Doubt Clive Cares. 🤫

[The Fatadder]

A little progress this evening, the reinforcement plates are now added to the other side of the coach, along with the ends (which also gained corridor connections).  This just leaves end steps and lamp irons to add on the body (and various bits for the underframe)

 

roof wise I’ve  been doing more straightening out on the brass roof.  I think I’m almost there, and that adding a 20 thou spacer from plasticard (extending out by half a mm or so) will represent the missing gutter and fill the gap that’s left.  I won’t know for certain until the model has been painted and glazed though…

 

will hopefully get the ends finished tomorrow and maybe the underframe, guess I ought have a look for the bogies (else they can be borrowed from the H25)

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Looking really good and and great save on the roof and missing elements. Really quick build as well.

[The Fatadder]

40 minutes ago, Bluemonkey presents.... said:

Looking really good and and great save on the roof and missing elements. Really quick build as well.

Thanks, it’s coming together nicely.  There are certainly still a few tricky areas to get my head around working out how I will get the underframe together.  (Not to mention  cutting the brass roof to length and seeing if my roof plan actually works).  
 

really ought stop coach building and get back to work on the actual layout…

[The Fatadder]

More M13 progress, I have added the underframe parts and the end detail, so it’s now pretty much ready for painting.  

it is intentionally missing one step at one end (per the photo in Russell showing two new planks where the step should be).  The only end detail missing are the handrails, which will have to be added post paint once the roof is fitted 

 

 

just need to build the bogies and add one missing battery box (for which I need to print some more)

 

I’ve change my mind as to what’s next in the queue, it will be my Mallard Siphon J (started what must be getting on for 10 years ago), there’s not a huge amount of work needed so hopefully it ought to be a quick one…

Edited May 3, 2022 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Just painted the M13 brown (after a coat of etch primer at lunch), once this is fully cured I will paint on the black bits and add some glazing.  After which it will be time to have a go at the roof.....

 

I have also built the Comet bogies (with the Hayes etch for the bogie step added), which are now ready for fitting once the paint is complete.  Thinking about it I must make sure that the retaining bolt is fitted before doing anything roof related, it will be a nighmare to fit the bogies if I dont!

 

 

edit: just spotted another slight issue, the lamp irons are in the wrong place (fitted where the handrails should go!). Will have to fix tomorrow and respray the ends 

Edited May 4, 2022 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Nearly there, just the black and grey bits to paint now.  Would be interested to know if the M13 should have black ends.

[The Fatadder]

I printed the first version of the O5 siphon last night. 
 

Alas the printer has a bit of a failure and didn’t print all of the supports which resulted in part of the solbar not printing properly

 

 Worse still removing the internal supports was a real pain, as you can’t get the cutters in the right place so are reliant on snapping.   The roof wasn’t thick enough so it snapped a section out of the middle.

 

however the wagon looks good.

 

I think the solution is either to thicken up the roof to 2/3mm rather than 1mm at present, so the supports are less likely to tare it.   (I wonder if I could get away with fewer central supports and rely on the strength of the arch / the sides to support it.

 

the other option is to remove the roof completely and print as two parts

[The Fatadder]

It’s even more broken now, I had left on the garden table (the wind then caught it and blew it onto the patio smashing it some more)

 

It’s lunch I gave it a quick dusting of GWR brown (no primer) to see how it looks

[Neal Ball]

Looks pretty good Rich - the detail looks very good.

[kandc_au]

20 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

I printed the first version of the O5 siphon last night. 
 

Alas the printer has a bit of a failure and didn’t print all of the supports which resulted in part of the solbar not printing properly

 

 Worse still removing the internal supports was a real pain, as you can’t get the cutters in the right place so are reliant on snapping.   The roof wasn’t thick enough so it snapped a section out of the middle.

 

 

Rich,
How would you go removing centre bits with a dremel type tool, rather than trying to snap off with cutters?
Khris

[The Fatadder]

21 minutes ago, kandc_au said:

Rich,
How would you go removing centre bits with a dremel type tool, rather than trying to snap off with cutters?
Khris

 
 

the supports use a spherical contact area between the support and the model.   So they will usually snap off easily.

 

my usual approach is to use a knife to cut any which are close to an edge and then use xurons for as many as they can reach before snapping the rest.   In this case there were too many that needed snapping and the part was too fragile hence the brake.

 

you have 3 grades of support thickness available, for which I usually use the medium.  I think for this model using medium for the edge supports and light for the roof as it will make the latter easier to remove.  The alternate option is to print upside down and have a lot more cleaning up to so (but a stronger mode) 

[The Fatadder]

Looking a bit better on a second attempt with a new FEP.  The roof looks a lot better after sanding back, next job will be building a chassis (but that requires parts ordering)

[The Fatadder]

A start on point ridding finally, it’s fiddly, time consuming and definitely should have been done before ballasting!  So far I am using ModelU stalls, MSE square section wire and Brassmasters cranks (soldered to the wire after opening up the holes).  I had planned on using MSE stalls for the long lengths of 4 rod stalls either side of the main line through the platform (and bought several packs of them for this purpose).  Looking at the castings they include the base, making them far too high for my needs.  So it’s going to be a case of either buy more modelu parts, or draw and print my own simplified 4 rod stall for these areas where the full detail isn’t required.   I will give the latter a try first and see how it looks….  (That said I have now realised it need at least one more pack of modelu 3 stall and one pack for 4 stall for fitting up close.

I am taking a simplified approach, the aim being to have the right number of rods in the right place.  I haven’t given much thought to if they should push or pull, or expansion links.  Though a few of the latter will be used when joining lengths of rod (other areas just use a but joint at a stall)

 

 

finally added this from BGMans estate to the wall above the fiddleyard.  Eventually I’d quite like a few replica name plates to join it.

[The Fatadder]

More progress, while I am still finding the point rodding a real chore progress is being made slowly with two more lengths added.  Inspecting bathe rest of the layout I’ve noticed an area where no allowance has been made for the rods under the track, this includes 1 point and two trap points (and 3 gaps in the next line to allow access).  All will need the ballast removing and replacement sand paper adding before fitting the rods.   I also need to double check where FPLs need installing as my drawing a haven’t reappeared post RMWeb falling over yet, I must have a backup somewhere…)

 

I have now fitted the first under track run which worked ok, so there will be two more to fit later (the third can’t progress until I have the 4 rod rollers).  I’m slowly getting a rhythm to it now so hopefully it won’t take too much longer.

 

 

i need to confirm the colour of the rods, looking at photos I have seen rust (Didcot) and metal (unknown), with the cranks and tops of the rollers covered in black grease.  The problem is that I can’t tell what colour it should be in period thanks to black and white photos!

 

after getting bored of point rodding, attention moved to the lift section.  Gluing in place various foam formers which will be covered in plaster to make the rest of the hill.  This still needs tunnel mouths and retaining walls adding before I can apply the first grass coat to the final section of the layout.  Alas the phone died before I could photograph it…

 

Hopefully over the jubilee weekend I might finally get the signal box and down waiting room cut on the silhouette cutter.  Would make such a difference to finally get the card mock ups replaced  

[The Fatadder]

Almost ready to start adding plaster, the wooden top for the tunnel needs cutting to size before  adding  more foam to build up the hill a little further.   Hopefully should get it plastered either at lunch or this evening.
 

once the tunnel mouth and retaining walls have  been added it will of course need a little  more plaster to blend it all into the base, before I can finally add the grass (and ballast the last section of track)