Elmore

[Andy Keane]

John, also curious about your actual track - is this Peco finescale bullhead you are using? If so how do you find laying it - it seems very floppy to me and I don't find it very easy to lay true curves with it.

Andy

[Johndc120]

We’re usuning Exactoscale fast track bases which you then slide the rail through, you have to chop the webs out on the outside of the curves and just be careful on the joints as it can look a bit like a curve of straights.

 

we fix ours down with eco stick but just a little bit wet so you have a few minutes to play with it and even any kinks

 

john

[Johndc120]

Last night I had several modelling hour available so cracked on with the modified Hall. I’m adding the brassmasters detailing kit which focuses around the incorrect area infront of the smoke box saddle.
 

It’s not for the faint hearted as there’s a lot of cutting away of the running plate and also some on the chassis block. I think it looks the part though

 

 

 

[Johndc120]

Now all of the track is painted we have now moved on to some of the other bits which are around the track which need to be finished before we can ballast, the first of these being the catch pit which sits adjacent to the cattle pens. Our standard method of painting is to cover the whole thing in stone grey for the mortar. We then dry brush the brick colour over the top. From there washes of dirt and grime can then be added. For now this is all the weathering we’ll do, we’ll airbrush some more once it’s ballasted and the station is in place

 

 

[Johndc120]

A little bit of paint makes a huge difference, this time it’s the turn of the yard point levers which have had all but the handles painted white and the safety bars also all in white

 

[Johndc120]

Progress last night including the basic painting of all of our location case (signalling equipment cases) to be dotted around the layout, these are our own design and print as there’s nothing available of the right size or shape

 

[5BarVT]

Luuverly!

Paul.

[Johndc120]

Bars added to the back of the location cases and now stuck in place dotted round the layout in appropriate places

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Johndc120]

A loco which won’t come out with us at exhibition (as it’s a tad on the big side!!!) but I couldn’t resist having one for our own running days.

 

A 2884 class brings in the ballast train, this is made up of a ballast plough next to the loco, 9 herring hopper wagons and a Pway brake on the back. In 1955 these were the last few years left for this classic GWR pway train before catfish, dogfish and sharks came into use

 

 

 

 

[Johndc120]

My Warley balls up!!

 

I’ve recently finished weathering a 56xx which is still sporting its old GWR livery, quite a typical thing to see in 1955 especially on goods locos. I particularly like this and it certainly adds a little bit colour as most of our other locos are br plain black!

 

seen here placed on Shwt

 

so…. At warley wondering round having a nose I come across the model rail stand! The 16xx has always interested me as Gloucester had several and at £130 I was very tempted!! 
 

snap choice out of several, I ended up thinking we could do the same as the 56xx! So I purchased this one

 

got it home and converted it to EM gauge and running happily enough. 

unfortunately I’ve subsequently found due to my own stupidity and lack of research, the 16xx only carried this livery in preservation. They were produced by BR and of course came straight out in BR black!! Doh!!!

 

 

so what to do with it now…..??

 

I could just dirty it down the same and test people’s knowledge, remove the GWR and leave it weathered green with no emblem or go for a complete repaint. It definitely can’t be left pristine like it is now

 

[MrWolf]

In the words of the Rolling Stones ... Paint it black.

 

Or perhaps plenty of muck having removed the GWR insignia.

 

If I was going to be utterly pedantic, I thought that the balls up was picture one. If it's 1955, the Bedford van in the background would have a split windscreen and a body coloured grille. That design was the upgrade introduced in September 1958. Or actually a step further looking at the rear wheel arches, March 1959...

 

Do I get this week's Golden Anorak Award?

 

 

[5BarVT]

Bin there, done that and I’m now the owner of a Met-Cam 3 car with speed whiskers not small yellow panels!  And I had it out of the box to check the motor and wheel sets!

Paul.

[MrWolf]

Rule One it, on the grounds that speed whiskers are prettier and the paint shop has a yellow panel backlog?

[MrWolf]

I have to admit that I have several locos lettered GWR when they should be GREAT WESTERN or the shirtbutton. But they were used bargains, have T-Cut, will travel.

[Pannier Tank]

I'd be interested to know what was involved in converting the 16xx to EM gauge.

[Johndc120]

31 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

In the words of the Rolling Stones ... Paint it black.

 

Or perhaps plenty of muck having removed the GWR insignia.

 

If I was going to be utterly pedantic, I thought that the balls up was picture one. If it's 1955, the Bedford van in the background would have a split windscreen and a body coloured grille. That design was the upgrade introduced in September 1958. Or actually a step further looking at the rear wheel arches, March 1959...

 

Do I get this week's Golden Anorak Award?

 

 

your completely right although Shwt is actually based on 1965, so slightly later based layout. It just happened to be up and provided a good demo board for a photo

[Johndc120]

23 minutes ago, Pannier Tank said:

I'd be interested to know what was involved in converting the 16xx to EM gauge.

I used the existing axles and wheels just pulled out to 16.5 back to back, they still fit within the splashers and breakgear, infact the breakgear helps reduce any side play.

 

the biggest issue was the pickups, they use a plunger pickup arrangement rather than a brass wiper like Bachmann. 
 

I replaced the pin on the plunger pickup with my own brass ones which I made up using some scrap brass. Something I think rapido should think about supplying for conversions. But then a lot of RTR manufacturers don’t bother

[MrWolf]

27 minutes ago, Johndc120 said:

your completely right although Shwt is actually based on 1965, so slightly later based layout. It just happened to be up and provided a good demo board for a photo

 

It really does look at home sitting amongst the complex of trackwork, I can picture rows of coal empties in the background, the soot stained look is beautifully done.

[Pannier Tank]

1 hour ago, Johndc120 said:

I used the existing axles and wheels just pulled out to 16.5 back to back, they still fit within the splashers and breakgear, infact the breakgear helps reduce any side play.

 

Thank you that, much appreciated.

[Johndc120]

Eddington adventures,

 

we had a lovely weekend at the Eddington show (SDJR trust), nice to be next to Rob (NHY 581) with his beautiful layout sheep dip.

 

we were running a layout called Quarry Lane which is a modern image EM gauge layout which did okay, no major issues with it and kept people entertained. 
 

one difficulty we had was trying to load the cassettes all the time, trying to put the stock into the cassettes and then railing them is not always easy as you can’t see the wheels. Also the stock doesn’t bump down the track on the sleepers if it’s off.

 

so this ended up being designed during the show on paper and drawn up in CAD then on Sunday night.

 

it’s a railing ramp which slots into the end of the cassettes so you can just run them in instead of placing stock in, hopefully this should make life easier

 

 

 

 

the design needs the corners filed off to get it to fit into the cassette further but already it works really well

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Johndc120

[Johndc120]

Back to work on the layout and the first job is to redo the platforms as they were plasticard and the heat had got them causing them to warp and we just weren’t happy

 

so version 2 has now started, these are solid wood platform which we are now starting the cladding process with 40 thou plasticard

 

 

 

 

[Johndc120]

A couple of bits of progress this week, firstly the platforms have had the plastic cladding cut down to the correct profile. This is now ready for the top surface to go on and then we’ll start adding the brick

 

 

an old kit for a 54xx has now had a chassis built for it, this is an Alan Gibson chassis and wheels, it really does look different with the 5’2 wheels, this loco is intended to go on the autocoach working when finished

 

 

also under construction is a Jidenco models of the later twin tank gas wagon. This will be used for filling horse boxes and just another wagon to be shunted about on a mixed goods

 

[Johndc120]

This evening I’ve had fun a Bachmann Wickham trolley! 
 

First challenge was to convert it to EM gauge, not too much trouble on this one as the existing wheels could just be pulled although under the cab there are wheel protectors which have sadly had to go, along with some of the footboards. I’ve had to 3D print some resin packing washers to stop the sideplay.

 

The next challenge was where to fit a DCC decoder, I’ve chosen to fit it above the motor but to gain the room I’ve 3D printed some sleepers with a cutout made for decoder which will be a TCS Z2. They were simple shaped sleepers which I’ve glued some C&L chairs to (keys removed)

 

The last jobs have been to weather the model plus just give the ballast a bit of wash with black and dirty brown 

 

now to fit the chip and a modelu crew 

 

 

 

 

 

[Johndc120]

More progress on the platforms this week

 

Since the last post the tops were clad in 40 thou, the sides then had the first layer of English bond added. I then realised I’ve completely cocked up the measurements and the platforms were 2mm too narrow!! So a bit more cladding to each side to bring out the platforms nobody will ever know!!!!

 

so after the brick sides were stuck on the edging could then be added, on the bay we are using bullnose stones which would have been the originals however on the main platform we gone for a rebuild using large edging slabs. Once these are all in we can then add the stepped courses to support underneath the edge

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve only added 3 of the edging slabs so far just to check for clearance 

 

 

the other project on the go at the moment is a rotank wagon. This was a nice little project thought up because we don’t have any milk facilities on Elmore but we do have the end loading dock. It’s a Hornby chassis with 3D printed too. It’s not perfect especially on the tank as I’m really struggling to find detailed pictures or diagrams but hopefully it’s a good representation 

 

 

 

 

[geoff]

Is this of any assistance? Taken at Didcot GWR last year.

 

Geoff

Edited March 14, 2023 by geoff
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