ECC Wheal Imogen / Rosevean Station: the expansion

[The Fatadder]

First print, there are a few areas of concern, removing the supports from the ends without damaging the detail is tricky (but I don’t see an alternative).  The base is not as straight as I would like, with a few bits a little wavy.   I wonder if the answer is to print the tank and the base as two components.  I change the orientation from 45 degrees to about 15 degrees (lowering the print time from 25 hours to 13 hours).  I do wonder if switching back to the 45 degree angle might help.  Another thought is to add a supporting sub frame under the tank base that would be removed after curing

[Siberian Snooper]

I was at Missenden Abbey, last weekend, there was a demonstration on 3d printing, something like that may print on end. Don't take my word as gospel, 2d is my limit.

 

 

[The Fatadder]

I think it would work end on, but would possibly have some issues with supports.  The bigger issue would be that all the supports would have to be on a detail face rather than the underside which would further damage the detail.  (This is a problem as it is with the end needing a few supports adding).

 

An alternative approach seems to be adding a sub frame which is connected to the wagon with a triangular section on top which connects between the frame and the underside of the wagon.  the supports connect to this sub frame, but avoids the risk of deformation in the underside due to the supports.

 

If that doesnt work, there are two further options, either print at 45 degrees which apparently is the optimal angle, or separate the tank and the frame.  (I suppose a final option would be a further redesign adding the sole bar and other detail to the model getting rid of the thin parts.   Though I would prefer not to, given it would need buffers, etched brake gear and w irons adding. 

[The Fatadder]

Now mounted to a Bachmann TTA chassis (which still needs its suspension modified).

 

I will hopefully give it a coat of primer later to finish off…

[The Fatadder]

Some progress in the structure gauging train, I want to get it painted before Ally Pally so yesterday the red was sprayed followed by the grey today.  Hopefully I will get some dry weather tomorrow to prime and spray the yellow ends, then it will just need the black bits picking out.

 

it still needs new roevac roof vents adding, and I need to determine the best way of painting the bars on the windows…

the hardest job will be getting the badly bowed underframe square again….

[The Fatadder]

Starting to come together now, just need to paint the black bits and sort out the glazing (not looking forward to painting the bars on the latter.)

 

the underframe ok once coach is badly bowed, I had hoped the interior would straighten it out but alas that hasn’t happened.  I will either need to adapt a comet etch or chop up another Bachmann mk1

 

ive already planned out my next two Serco projects, it’s all rather addictive.

first of all I need to confirm which (If any) brake force  coach was used with the STG in 1998

[The Fatadder]

Every so often I do a trawl through the 1998/99 photos on Flickr for various Devon and Cornwall locations to see if anything interesting has been added.   Last week I came across a photo of a Mainline 37/0 on an east bound Enterprise with a polybulk, a clay tiger and an ex works EWS FAA well wagon visible.  A little research highlighted these were tested on a flow from Truro in 1999.

 

circa 2006 I started a Genesis kit for an FAA at the Bristol show.  Unfortunately lacking a temp controlled iron at the time, I melted a buffer and a headstock and left it in the box.

 

today I took it out planning to get it finished (it will be in ex works condition).  The first job was to scratch build a replacement headstock from brass sheet and then fit both in place.  It will need a backing piece adding with the slot for the coupler.

 

Next it will be onto the interesting bits adding the exposed pipe work on the end platforms.  As I’m missing a buffer (and the castings are rather crude) I will draw up a replacement part and 3D print.  I am tempted to do the same with the air distributor as that’s even more crude.

 

bogie mounts are missing, so will give that some thought.  I’m tending towards soldering a bolt into some scrap brass sheet and then soldering that to the underside 

[The Fatadder]

A little progress on the FAA, which now just needs the buffers adding.  Will get them finished and hopefully the wagon primed before Ally Pally on Saturday.   Then it will need a coat of ex works EWS red

[The Fatadder]

Another long term project took a step forwards today, 47016 now has a chassis.  Sourced from eBay as a Vitrains West Coast Railways 47 which has loose bogies, I have been working to repair.  In both cases the inboard retention clip was missing. On one side the guide plate that controls rotation was also missing.  While the motor has been forced upwards and an angle pushing up the circuit board.

 

it’s now been stripped down, new retention clips added from brass strip, and all put back together.  
 

The underframe tanks have been swapped with the correct version from my scrap box.  The body still needs handrails fitting, a nameplate on one side and some Extreme Etchings roof grills. I also want to do something about the scratches on the side.

this leaves me with another spare body, I had planned to do 47840 in Intercity but the body has the modified RES tail lamps.  This left a choice between Res, (don’t really need), EWS or Royal Train.   I’ve always fancied one of the latter, have the paint already from my Class 67 project, and I have found a photo of the loco on a test train and another on an eclipse special VSOE set…..

 

Will sort out a set of Extreme Etchings grills and give it a respray in the summer.  It will need a chassis (either cobbling something out of my spare Heljan bits or grinding down a Heljan 47 chassis.   
 

 

I still want 47840 eventually, I think the best route would be narrowing a Heljan chassis in that I think the spare Heljan bogies would be ideal for an unpowered chassis.  My thinking is that if I source an Intercity body I can put that on the chassis that under one of my RFD machines and move that onto an unpowered chassis given it will always work as a pair.

[The Fatadder]

One step forward, twos steps back....

 

I just couldnt live with the scratch marks on the side of 47016, so transfers have been removed, the bodyside sanded down and the grey resprayed.   A couple of hours later I masked up the yellow areas and resprayed that as well.  The finish on the grey is still not perfect, but my expectation is that once I have applied the transfers, a coat of varnish should bring it all together.  Prior to that I still need to mask and paint the orange cantrail stripe, and repaint all the black bits.   The new yellow looks a lot better now that it has been painted the correct shade, the Vi Trains yellow looks a lot closer to the post 98 shade than the old BR one.

 

I think this makes for an important lesson learned before I respray the West Coast shell into Royal Trains purple.  I had been thinking about respraying directly onto the vitrains livery (after removing logos and names as per the approach on 016) but I think its a lot safer to go for a coat of primer first.  (I also need to work out the optimal way of doing those stripes seeing as I dont think anyone does the transfers). 

 

 

I have also tested the chassis to ensure all seems to be working ok with my repairs, no more bogies falling out and both ends are running smoothly.  Just need to pop it on Brent for a proper run now to double check it can handle curves. 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

Before work this morning I finished off 47016's painting, adding the black windscreen surround and headcode boxes.  It was a little tricky to mask the narrow yellow strip above the windows, however Vallejo paints are really easy to remove from a gloss finish.  So the solution was to mask up the window surround and paint up to the underside of the gutter.  Then a cocktail stick was used, pressed up against the underside of the gutter), to scrape off a narrow line above the black section revealing the yellow paint below. 

 

At this point I should have stopped to let the paint cure, before masking up again to paint the orange cantrail stripe.  Needless to say I forgot and moved straight onto transfers.

 

The transfers were mostly from Fox (bar the OHLE flashes which are a mix of Railtec and Replica), annoyingly I rand out of the OHLE flashes with one left.  (I am sure I have 2/3 of a sheet of Fox OHLE flashes, but I  have no idea where Ive put it...)

 

With this done it was varnished and put back together.  Of course it will need that OHLE line adding before I start weathering.  The next job will be adding the handrails, given this body did not come with the Vi Trains parts (nor did the West Coast shell).  It is also missing bogie steps, so I think I will have to get a set of the PHD etches eventually.  For now I am tempted to just draw up a temporary 3d printed version...  Finally I think there is some wiring / pipework missing on the underframe tanks which would benefit from being added.

it still looks really wrong having white numbers on a yellow cab side!

 

still need to source a single Atlas plate for one side 

Edited March 17, 2022 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

And now with the missing cantrail stripe added, alas the masking tape lifted one of the BR logo transfers and the ohle flashes which will now need repairing.  
 

I think adding the handrails will be my job for Ally Pally (along with detailing Class 37 bogies)

[The Fatadder]

Seems I forgot to add my Friday night work finishing off 47016 handrails, 

 

Had a good day on the Demu stand at Ally Pally yesterday, between talking to a good number of people I got a bit further on the Habfis Cargowaggon and got new brake cylinders fitted to one of the 37s.

 

I also got a very close look at the Cavelex CDA, which looks fantastic.  Putting my heavily rebuilt Hornby model

against it showed just how bad the earlier model is (every dimension is wrong, most by several mm).  Looks like my 6 will need to be rewheeled back to OO and put on eBay as there is no way on earth you could run the two together.   Will just need to get the ECC logos removed from the sides….

 

their BBA looked incredible as well, the etches see through etched mesh deck is something else.  If only there was a reason to justify it in Cornwall…..

[dj_crisp]

Your 47 is looking good.

 

Nice to meet you yesterday at Ally Pally! Agree the Cavalex CDA is on another level and really shows how wrong the Hornby Version is but yours is still a good effort.

 

cheers

Will

 

[The Fatadder]

On 20/03/2022 at 12:01, dj_crisp said:

Your 47 is looking good.

 

Nice to meet you yesterday at Ally Pally! Agree the Cavalex CDA is on another level and really shows how wrong the Hornby Version is but yours is still a good effort.

 

cheers

Will

Good to meet you, seeing my CDA alongside the Cavelex one certainly makes it an easy decision which way to go.  I will but putting another 6 of the Hornby ones for sale on the Classifieds once the forum is working properly again, followed by my 6 rebuilt ones (and hopefully replacing the lot with 8 Cavelex).

 

The 47 is looking a whole lot better now that is finally got a BR logo on the other side.  Of course with Dediserve killing all the images, I am left with a lot of projects where there is nothing shown.  Alas most of these I dont have backups for (unless I posted it on DEMU or Facebook) both of which are at a lower image quality.)  I dont think I will be uploading most of what was lost, however the completed stock posts on the blog will be redone...

 

I am getting ready for the next layout build, which will either be a rebuild of Wheal Imogen (just slightly longer and not touching any steel rail) or a small chunk of Laira to play with my HSTs etc.  Just cant decide which plan I am going to go with.... 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

My other project while the forum has been down has been working on some OBAs 

 

the plan is a set of 4 added to my engineers fleet (along with 3 salmon) based on photos of a train on Tim Horns Flickr.

 

the first is in exworks EWS (for which I haven’t included a photo).  All 4 run on Bill Bedford suspension units, while a couple still need axle boxes on one side.

 

the next was in Railfreight red/grey.  The wagon was repainted in light grey / pink before picking out planks in different colours and giving an overall wash.  

 

next up I wanted a wagon in Dutch, again with a failed yellow.  I had two of the EWS release so one had the branding removed and was painted with a failed yellow / grey, again adding planks in different colours and a dirty wash once done.  It still needs a tops panel to finish of 

 

 

finally another Railfreight, this one has part of the branding remaining and a slightly less pink finish on the red. It needs a small Mainline branding to finish off.

The grey backing of the number/tops code was a simple overpaint having scraped off the surrounding black.

[James Makin]

Looking good Rich! Got to love an OBA project, always thought the state of them in their later years makes them a modern version of a trashy old Private Owner coal wagon and no two the same 😄

 

Cheers,

James

[sb67]

Love the OBA's too, giving me some ideas after I've finished my collection of OAA's. 

[The Fatadder]

20 hours ago, James Makin said:

Looking good Rich! Got to love an OBA project, always thought the state of them in their later years makes them a modern version of a trashy old Private Owner coal wagon and no two the same 😄

 

Cheers,

James

Having done a lot of the latter over the years, it was good fun to have a go with the same techniques on a modern wagon for a change.  I have been looking at the 5 OCA I have in the same stock box, trying to work out what I will do with them. Probably one for ebay as I dont think I can live with the thickness of the bodies. For that sort of wagon I am pretty sorted with Sea Urchin's (or at least will be once I finish adding suspension units / tops panels to them)

 

I have been making progress on the clay TTAs, the additional frame added below the tank has partially worked.  It keeps base straight but its really difficult to remove.  The answer appears to be a reduction in the contact width from 0.3mm to 0.15, along with using a razor saw rather than a scalpel for removal.   The second issue was a blow out in the frame between the two tanks.  I have two things to try to resolve this, swapping the orientation of one of the tanks and playing with the support structure so that it is slightly narrower.   The final change I am going to look at is to print the rollover proctor bars as part of the main print rather than separate (as I think the extra thickness will help at the most fragile point. This will be fully dependant on whether or not I can make the supports work with it in situ.   Hopefully I can work my way through all these changes this evening and get the test print in the morning...

[The Fatadder]

Another little update of progress over the past days:

first up here is 47016 awaiting weathering having had some paint repair work before Ally Pally and repairs to the BR logo on one side (having lost it  while masking for the cantrail stripe)

 

next some progress on the DRS 20, having sourced a Bachmann 20/0 chassis for it the body has now been fitted.  This just required the removal due the inner lights along with their mounting brackets.  Not an issue when it will always run as a pair.

The Bachmann 20/3 body does still need the lighting wiring up (and marker lights fitting), while the rebuilt Bachmann model it runs with needs new WIPACs (to the same thickness as the new model) and the exhaust rebuilding.  They will then need some weathering to hopefully match the different paint shades slightly better.

 

as the new chassis had the holes in the bogies they have been swapped under 20302, 20303 will eventually need fabricated bogies rather than the cast one sit currently sits on.  Something which will eventually be corrected….

[The Fatadder]

The other week I came across a photo of 59104 ex works in Hanson livery in January 1999.

 

having long ago started a Bachmann / Lima hybrid 59 using a Lima 59104 as a basis, this caught my interest.  Particularly as one of the main reasons for not finishing it was that I couldn’t motivate myself to paint it in ARC mustard….

 

The body had already been modified to fit the 66 chassis, and the underframe tank modifications had also been completed.  
The roof has been modified to correct the radio pod locations.

Other than paint and plates, the main work remaining was to convert the bogies, which was completed last night.  
Lima missed out a large chunk of the bogie at one end so this has carefully been formed from plasticard and filler.

 

it now needs paint matching for the orange roof  and off white on the ends) I am debating whether or not I repaint the blue so that I can replace the Hanson branding with a transfer that has a more dense white.  Finally I will need to eventually do something about the roof grill, the other two locos have the A1 grill but sadly nothing better has been produced since!  

Maybe a scrap 66 body might provide something 

the earlier conversion for 59004, this needs a little finishing work (handrails, the exhaust outlet is on the wrong side, lights, and modifying the bogie)

 

Of course I could save all this effort and buy a better Dapol one, but until I decide exactly what I am doing long term layout wise I don’t want to buy more non core stock.

 

The only chance to justify (other than a railtour) is the stone flow (mostly PTA) to Exeter and Painton), but that doesn’t get to Cornwall (option 1) or the south hams (option 2).  But does work for a layout between Exeter and Taunton (or a bit of modellers licence stretching the flow further west…….)

[The Fatadder]

Some CAD work over the past couple of evenings, working from photos I have drawn up a step and ETH socket for my Hornby and Lima mk3s.  The first set has already been fitted with Kaydees in the buffer beams, I need to get some OO wheels fitted and test that they are ok with the curves on Brent (seeing as their only testing to date was on DRAG's old test track running in P4.)

 

The plan is to fit some of Mark Seaward's card gangways to close the gaps, detail the corners of the chassis (and the bogies) and then decide what I will do gauge wise.   The Virgin set (which I think is still in OO) will be next, along with the second GWT, however I think for both of these I still need to buy a whole load of couplings (and Kaydees are no doubt a lot more expensive now).  I am giving a lot of thought towards using my usual Tony Wright style couplings (complete with the 4 hoses) for the other 4 sets.

 

The final area of work is on the powercars, bizarrely no one makes any conversion parts to change the cooler groups on the powercars, this is a bit of a problem as I have one Lima model which has a Marston and needs a Serek, a Hornby model with a Serek which needs a Marston (and a few more Lima which could really do with a better Marston to match up with the Hornby.)  So I have started drawing up both types of grills, although the Serek would need etching so who knows when I will get around to actually making it....

 

 

The plan is a very large fleet of HSTs, given the plans to model a chunk of Laira wont go away.  This will include Hornby pairs in Intercity, Virgin and Merlin, and a pair of Lima bodies on Hornby chassis.  There will also be a number of Lima powercars for which I aim to 3d print improved underframe details to use along with the aformentioned 3d printed / etched roof grills to bring up to scratch.  Some of these will be modelled with the nose open to run with barrier coaches / dead with a loco on the front, while others will be without their cooler group panels (one in a very sorry state).   Just in case I ever build that partial model of Laira I keep designing....

 

[The Fatadder]

I have mentioned the future plans a couple of times, 

I am picking up a new 3 ft traversed at the RMWeb members day which should be more reliable then my home made one (which will probably end up converted into baseboards) for the new project. 
 

as mentioned previously I’ve yet to make a decision as to whether I will go with OO or P4 for it.  While a question mark remains around whether or not the current layout can be returned to service.  
 

 

I have shown the first plan previously (but lost the templot file) in essence consisting of Wheel Imogen but with the missing points connecting it to the through branch added (along with a headshunt).  

 

the other concept I am considering is completely different, building a depot layout focused around the heavy overhaul side of Laira (and heavily inspired by Weston Road and Steadfast’s little Laira).  It would be compressed loosing a few roads, and a bit of geography moved around (I would want sets of coaches as a backscene).  HSTs along with passenger 47s and the depot 08 are all in the current collection, as are plenty of mk3s.   In an ideal world if I can get Wheal Imogen running with no rust, both would be the ideal situation (giving both mg clay fleet and my HSTs a reason to be…)  

 

both concepts allow for the eventual expansion into a continuous run for exhibition purposes (the depot would need the width expanding to add the main line allong the front).  Other than another attempt at Wheal Imogen repairs later in the year, I doubt much progress other than design will be made until the winter at the earliest while I concentrate on finishing off Brent.

 

meanwhile for the next couple of days I will be down at the Bath and West showground helping out behind Oldshaw at the Heston Lodge Junction show.

Edited April 7, 2022 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The next step of the Marston HST upgrade, here is a drawing for the new roof grills.  I need to change the FEP before I can print, so it is not going to get printed until Sunday once I am back from the show.   My concern is the fine lower flange (intended to overlap the hole in the powercar.   One potential solution is going to be replacing the whole panel rather than just the grill.  The hole needed for the Marston is bigger than the Serek, and it also has a raised lip around it which is not present on the Serek panel.  The plan is to add this from Evergreen strip, but an entire panel would be an alternative

 

Next it will be onto drawing a replacement for the Serek grill (given I need 2 more locos worth than I have spare Hornby ones.)  The plan is to have a go at printing a direct copy of the Hornby grill, if that fails plan b would of course be etching.

[The Fatadder]

 

After a weekend spent operating on Oldshaw at the Heaton Lodge Junction show, I think I now have a better idea as to what I want to achieve from the layout’s expansion and from future projects.  First off it rather reinforced the fact that given an option I am far more likely to run the through line end to end than shunt (not exactly surprising as I cant remember the last time I actually did any shunting on Brent). It also rather confirmed that the ideal size for an exhibition layout is about 16ft end to end, anything less being a bit dull to operate over a two day show, while anything bigger just becomes too time consuming to really enjoy as a solo project.  The fiddleyard of Oldshaw is of similar construction to that which I have used on Wheal Imogen (just with a much better alignment method).  So this will be upgraded on mine in due course.   I really didn’t get on with having fixed uncoupling spots, so I will be progressing with my original plan of magnitising the top of the Dingham coupling loop to lift up with a magnitised uncoupler stick.

 

Back to Wheal Imogen the next steps are clear, I have a new fiddleyard being picked up at Taunton.  It’s a bit shorter than the existing one, so will probably end up used for the left hand end (allowing the branch to finally start being used). As mentioned previously the right hand yard will get some attention, I want to get locking pins added and then test to see if the alignment issues can be sorted…  (I will also add check rails to the start of each line).

 

Once again work is needed to repair the rust damage, I am still debating whether or not to buy new baseboards and completely start from scratch.  I have now finished the plan for the extension board (naturally I am really looking forward to building the double slip).  It is currently drawn as an extension (working with the existing track constraints.) however should it come to a rebuild, there are a few extra tweaks I will likely make (particularly to the canal route).

 

I also have plans for another layout (again previously mentioned) based around a small segment of Laira in about 6ft by 18inches) which is intended to allow me to play with HSTs.  It will reuse the same left hand fiddleyard as Wheal Imogen, depending on the success of mitigating the rust on W I, this may jump the queue. (the logic being Wheal Imogen could continue in its current form for a little longer and then get a full rebuild once the second layout is built.

 

Maybe there isn’t much more clarity after all….

Edited April 11, 2022 by The Fatadder