Signaller69's projects

[John Tomlinson]

Love Clive's pics of the Peaks, the top one looks like a line-up from when Toton Diesel Depot opened in 1965!

 

John.

 

P.S. Meant to add that it's quite easy to double motor the Mainline examples, as the bogie design allows the trailing bogie to be powered by clipping in a second drive, then a couple of wires and you're done.

Edited July 19, 2020 by John Tomlinson
added P.S.

[Signaller69]

3 hours ago, Peter Eaton said:

Martyn

Thanks.

By chance or Sods Law I found in an earlier message the

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/Prototype.html

page, previously there had been links to just individual books.

This page seems to have an major interesting library available there

The books I had previously looked at do seem difficult to relate to as the BR diagrams have no reference to the basic class we all know the units, as.

again thanks.

From just above did a Craftsman detailing kit onto a Peak to obviously get the buffer beam correct many years ago.

How times have changed regarding ready to run models!

Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Ah I see, I'm glad you found it, I have a shortcut on my phone so when I click to go on the Barrowmore site it takes me straight to that page, I hadn't considered navigating to find it sorry. 

 

Yes the Craftsman kits were great back in the day (still have their uses I think, for detailing the older models.

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

So I cut off my nose to improve the face....hopefully!

 

And fixed back in place with 40thou plasticard packing, sanded and smoothed prior to refitting:

Lower window edging fitted too, just to lift the lower edge slightly.

 

Work on the roof is now under way. Boiler water filler hatches opened out and class 45 type box thing  removed and filled with plasticard. A round (boiler?) vent needs adding to the nearer side, so I need to find a photo of the other side as I don't think the moulded class 45 boiler roof vent should be present on a 46 in that position.

 

I have also had locos running on the new micro thingy, all wire feeds fitted and insulating gaps cut, and track given a blast over with Railmatch Sleeper Grime. Excuse poor photo.

[ISW]

10 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

*snip*

 

Work on the roof is now under way. Boiler water filler hatches opened out and class 45 type box thing  removed and filled with plasticard. A round (boiler?) vent needs adding to the nearer side, so I need to find a photo of the other side as I don't think the moulded class 45 boiler roof vent should be present on a 46 in that position.

 

*snip*

Martyn,

 

Do the following photos help?

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by ISW
duplicate photo removed

[Signaller69]

On 21/07/2020 at 19:41, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

Do the following photos help?

 

 

Hi Ian,

They do help thankyou, although they show the later condition with the water fillers plated over. The first photo does show a roof vent in the same position as on the 45 (in line with the small body side vent) possibly also plated by this time? And the second shows the opposite side area (at the far end of the loco) which on some 46s at least, appear to be different to the 45 and possibly early 46s, although there is no sign of the small 'D' shaped vent which older photos (c.1970) show, such as is seen in this Graham Wareham Flickr photo:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59835095@N02/6309679314/in/album-72157628044641600

 

The BR Diagram book on the Barrowmore site shows it too.

 

I could do with checking an aerial view of the roof to see if both vents are present (see next post), or if it was one or the other as I suspect may be the case.

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Signaller69
Slight text alteration.

[Signaller69]

A little further research via a Facebook group has found that D165 ran in green with small yellow panel until late 1972, so this will become the Peak's identity.

http://www.railphotoarchive.org/PhotoViewerV5.php?img=0326020260000

 

The roof mods are more or less done, although I have a Shawplan etched grille and fan coming in the post. I think the new vent may need opening out a little more after looking at further photos.

 

Repainting of the cab fronts is in progress.

 

And new bufferbeams have been fabricated, waiting on buffers to arrive too.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Signaller69
Photo link

[Signaller69]

Whilst waiting for the 46 parts to arrive I have been looking over another recent purchase, a humble old Hornby 25:

 

Resisting the urge to go all out on a 25/0, this will be a simple 25/1 or 25/2 detailing project to be refinished probably in economy green with full yellow ends. It will probably retain the original mechanism for the time being (or possibly be double motored using a spare motor bogie, with traction tyres replaced with plain wheels and extra pickups).

 

Main areas to be addressed include moving the exhaust to the later position, reworking the fuel tank area for greater depth and adding a fillet around the base of each cab plus other sundry detail alterations. 

 

I think cheap and cheerful projects like this are my favourite part of the hobby!

[MJI]

The Hornby 25 just looks right

[ISW]

Martyn,

 

Will be watching with extra interest as I have a pair of those Hornby 25s. I might have to retain the traction tyres though to cope with the gradients on my Ramp tracks.

 

[Signaller69]

3 hours ago, MJI said:

The Hornby 25 just looks right

I think the body is excellent given its age. I'm hoping to improve the under gubbins in particular, looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

 

1 hour ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

Will be watching with extra interest as I have a pair of those Hornby 25s. I might have to retain the traction tyres though to cope with the gradients on my Ramp tracks.

 

 

That sounds sensible Ian. I'm not decided on what to do mechanically yet, I may just replace the traction tyre wheels with plain ones, add some weight and see if it will still pull say 3 coaches on the level. But if it is happy pottering about on my home layout then I may leave them on and just add extra pickups on the trailing bogie. I'm not a fan of twin motor bogies particularly but then again they may pair well - or not. If I chance upon another cheap Model Power US chassis I may even convert it as per my 24/1.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

[ISW]

25 minutes ago, Signaller69 said:

*snip*

 

That sounds sensible Ian. I'm not decided on what to do mechanically yet, I may just replace the traction tyre wheels with plain ones, add some weight and see if it will still pull say 3 coaches on the level. But if it is happy pottering about on my home layout then I may leave them on and just add extra pickups on the trailing bogie. I'm not a fan of twin motor bogies particularly but then again they may pair well - or not. If I chance upon another cheap Model Power US chassis I may even convert it as per my 24/1.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

Martyn,

 

With decent traction tyres the Hornby Class 25 will pull a lot more than 3-coaches. However, I have one with 'shiny' traction tyres and that can hardly move 2-coaches on the level, and that's after replacing the Hornby weight with as much lead as would fit. I've got some traction tyres on order ... Fingers crossed the result will pull a decent length freight up my gradients.

 

[Signaller69]

8 minutes ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

With decent traction tyres the Hornby Class 25 will pull a lot more than 3-coaches. However, I have one with 'shiny' traction tyres and that can hardly move 2-coaches on the level, and that's after replacing the Hornby weight with as much lead as would fit. I've got some traction tyres on order ... Fingers crossed the result will pull a decent length freight up my gradients.

 

Ian,

Yes the traction tyre issues you have experienced do ring a bell, they need to be in good order for decent performance, any grease and/or track residue is a real killer. As an aside, the 153 motor bogie I put in my EG 126 DMBS manages the 3 car set with no problem and no traction tyres, with a fair bit of weight added and on level track of course. It may be expecting too much to hope the 25 might shift itself and 2/3 coaches or a few wagons without the tyres..... I shall experiment with spare wheelsets in due course.

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

Today I took a scalpel to the 46's handrails, always a job I loathe. This was followed by those on the Hornby 25. As the roof fan grilles arrived from Shawplan I drilled and cut out the original on the 25, followed by adding bits of plasticard and Milliput.

 

Better dig out the wet n dry tomorrow.....

[Robert Shrives]

Have you felt the desire to make the cant rail water filler points - the steps leading to nowhere always intrigued me in my youth. The model has much to commend and for the shed layout as long it can drag itself about with stalling the pancake motor and tyres might not be a problem.

Thanks for showing.

Robert.    

[Signaller69]

5 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

Have you felt the desire to make the cant rail water filler points - the steps leading to nowhere always intrigued me in my youth. The model has much to commend and for the shed layout as long it can drag itself about with stalling the pancake motor and tyres might not be a problem.

Thanks for showing.

Robert.    

Hi Robert,

As far as I know the /0 subclass were the only 25s fitted with the large cantrail water fillers, yet all the 25s appear to have been built with the bodyside steps, which I agree always struck me as odd too. I cut out the fillers on my 24/1, which had fillers with the steps filled/plated over! 

As these locos presumably retained working train heating boilers for several years I presume the water tank supply was rerouted from a lower level access point? Someone will know I'm sure!

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

The 25 is now in primer, the roof fan grille having been added - handrails to be added later. A trip to my local car paint store is needed for an approximation of "BR Loco Green" and "Warning panel yellow".

I hadn't thought about the "clip fit" gaps in the cab doors; these may get thin plasticard kick plates added.

[ISW]

1 hour ago, Signaller69 said:

The 25 is now in primer, the roof fan grille having been added - handrails to be added later. A trip to my local car paint store is needed for an approximation of "BR Loco Green" and "Warning panel yellow".

I hadn't thought about the "clip fit" gaps in the cab doors; these may get thin plasticard kick plates added.

Martyn,

 

Did you strip the Hornby paint before adding the primer? If you did, what product did you use?

 

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

Did you strip the Hornby paint before adding the primer? If you did, what product did you use?

 

Hi Ian,

No I didn't find it necessary. I'm not sure these were actually painted, other than the yellow ends; rather just moulded in BR blue plastic. All I did was to degrease the body using IPA in a small spray bottle, before using a rattle can acrylic primer. 

 

I have stripped models using "Modelstrip" though, which I found to work very well and without damaging any plastic components. Although it doesn't ALWAYS remove all of the factory finish.

 

Martyn.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Signaller69

[Signaller69]

Still no buffers yet, but the 46 has had its identity as D165 added, the Railtech blue-backed data panels and Works Plates being a real boon. Numbering in the earlier font (which lasted through to 1972 it seems) from the HMRS Pressfix sheet 15. The whole body will be sprayed with matt varnish once complete.

 

I had originally thought of doing this loco in economy green (ie no off-white band or grille surrounds) with full yellow ends, but didn't like the idea of trying to neatly remove said off-white band. At this point irony struck, having decided on D165, as during handling some of the band literally flaked away, as can be seen!

 

So now I will have to try to paint it back into place, oh joy. To be safe I will probably brush varnish over the band before spraying the body

 

The headcode panels have had new reporting numbers added (Railtech again), for the North bound "Thames-Clyde Express" and a generic class 8 freight.

These will be Matt varnished and a new clear acetate outer panel applied during final reassembly. 

[Clive Mortimore]

On 25/07/2020 at 13:43, Signaller69 said:

Hi Robert,

As far as I know the /0 subclass were the only 25s fitted with the large cantrail water fillers, yet all the 25s appear to have been built with the bodyside steps, which I agree always struck me as odd too. I cut out the fillers on my 24/1, which had fillers with the steps filled/plated over! 

As these locos presumably retained working train heating boilers for several years I presume the water tank supply was rerouted from a lower level access point? Someone will know I'm sure!

 

Thanks,

Martyn.

Hi Martyn

 

The boiler water filling point was moved for safety reasons. Not sure where without getting my books out. I bet someone will beat me to telling you.

 

On the second and third body styles the little door at the top of the body side steps and handholds was for access to the boiler water tank filler.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Clive Mortimore

[Signaller69]

13 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Martyn

 

The boiler water filling point was moved for safety reasons. Not sure where without getting my books out. I bet someone will bet me to telling you.

 

On the second and third body styles the little door at the top of the body side steps and handholds was for access to the boiler water tank filler.

 

 

Hi Clive,

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I wondered about the small door below the rainstrip having something to do with it on the later body styles.

 

Martyn.

[leopardml2341]

Earlier Hornby Class 25s were indeed moulded in the (in)appropriate colour plastic - later ones were painted.

[Signaller69]

19 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Earlier Hornby Class 25s were indeed moulded in the (in)appropriate colour plastic - later ones were painted.

Hi Andy,

I wasn't sure with this one, think it is an 80s release, where separate number transfers were supplied (and never fitted by the look of it), though the blue looked a better shade than the first release I had when I was a young teenager, so it could be a painted version.

 

Martyn.

[leopardml2341]

3 minutes ago, Signaller69 said:

Hi Andy,

I wasn't sure with this one, think it is an 80s release, where separate number transfers were supplied (and never fitted by the look of it), though the blue looked a better shade than the first release I had when I was a young teenager, so it could be a painted version.

 

Martyn.

Hi Martyn,

 

I think even the one you showed was a body coloured plastic one - the painted ones are slightly darker in colour and have a different 'sheen' to them. Also the white tampo printing is much more opaque and they have data panels. Those are the ones with the 4 figure 'R' numbers.....

[ISW]

11 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Hi Ian,

No I didn't find it necessary. I'm not sure these were actually painted, other than the yellow ends; rather just moulded in BR blue plastic. All I did was to degrease the body using IPA in a small spray bottle, before using a rattle can acrylic primer. 

 

I have stripped models using "Modelstrip" though, which I found to work very well and without damaging any plastic components. Although it doesn't ALWAYS remove all of the factory finish.

 

Martyn.

Martyn,

 

That makes my pair of Hornby Class 25s prime candidates for my initial attempts with an airbrush, whenever I get around to that activity!