Charlie Strong Metals (and Watery Lane Sidings)

[Sandhole]

37 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

A Pickford Scammell, for when you're not moving house, you're moving THE house.

I was never lucky enough to drive a Constructor or Contractor.
Just an old Highwayman, a Crusader and a Scammell badged Cruiser cabbed six wheeler.

[Ruston]

3 hours ago, Sandhole said:

Never saw a Pickfords Diamond T.
Wynns had two depots near me so I saw their Diamond T's.
I have wrestled with a preserved military one.
Wrestled is the right word. She and I did NOT get on. Guess she knew I am a true Scammell man.
Your wagons/lorries, are always a joy, Dave. I'm looking forward to see this done.
Regards,
Chris.

I once drove a Pioneer The clutch was like an on/off switch. I got it up to 4th gear and, IIRC, had to change down all the way to first before stopping. Apparently you can't stop in any gear and just put it in neutral like any car or more modern truck. Fortunately this was off the public highway. It took so much concentration just to make the thing go and stop that watching that I didn't drive over a car would have been too much to ask.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Ruston

[Ruston]

The Diamond T has been stripped down and given a coat of white as a base colour. I have also painted the insides of the wheel arches, and under the ballast box, black. The wheels have had a dark wash applied and the tyres painted Tamiya Rubber Black, followed by a bit of dry brushing to bring out the detail on the bar grip tyres.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Ruston

[Corbs]

I do love a Diamond T. Briefly drove a knackered old 969 that had a Bedford 500 fitted, absolute basket case.

 

A friend of mind has a tank transporter Scammell Pioneer, even lower geared than the artillery tractor. Think he got it up the the maximum 16mph without leaving the yard 

[Mick Bonwick]

11 minutes ago, Corbs said:

A friend of mind has a tank transporter Scammell Pioneer,

 

I have a friend, too, and he used to drive them in Germany. One tale he tells is of being stopped by the Polizei for driving through a red light. His excuse was that it was green when the cab went past.

 

Sorry Dave. Nothing to do with Diamond Ts or modelling.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Mick Bonwick

[Sandhole]

16 hours ago, Ruston said:

I once drove a Pioneer The clutch was like an on/off switch. I got it up to 4th gear and, IIRC, had to change down all the way to first before stopping. Apparently you can't stop in any gear and just put it in neutral like any car or more modern truck. Fortunately this was off the public highway. It took so much concentration just to make the thing go and stop that watching that I didn't drive over a car would have been too much to ask.

The Scammell Tractor I drove had a box like that. It got interesting if you missed a change and you had to go back to first gear!
I drove an ERF with a similar box. That was a bit of a swine.

[Sandhole]

16 hours ago, Ruston said:

The Diamond T has been stripped down and given a coat of white as a base colour. I have also painted the insides of the wheel arches, and under the ballast box, black. The wheels have had a dark wash applied and the tyres painted Tamiya Rubber Black, followed by a bit of dry brushing to bring out the detail on the bar grip tyres.

Good colour for a wrecker, Dodgy White.

[Sandhole]

1 minute ago, Sandhole said:

The Scammell Tractor I drove had a box like that. It got interesting if you missed a change and you had to go back to first gear!
I drove an ERF with a similar box. That was a bit of a swine.

The gearbox was a Scammell 'Gate Change' box.
You are right, Dave, there is a knack to them. They were phased out and Scammell started using AEC and David Brown boxes. 
The Routeman tipper I drove had an 'ordinary' gearbox. Noisy but, JINGS, it was quick.

[Mol_PMB]

I can't comment on truck gearboxes, but I'd choose a Planet over a Hunslet any time, especially when the Hunslet gearbox is poorly maintained. It's embarrassing trying to change up on the run and eventually rolling to a stop before you can find the next gear in what feels like a bowl of porridge.

[AlfaZagato]

@RustonHave you considered picking up the ICM plastic kit of the Diamond T?   Just off-scale (1/72,) but it could be a source of some finer detailing.   I think ICM also offers variants other than the ballast tractor.

[Ruston]

On 27/01/2021 at 16:06, AlfaZagato said:

@RustonHave you considered picking up the ICM plastic kit of the Diamond T?   Just off-scale (1/72,) but it could be a source of some finer detailing.   I think ICM also offers variants other than the ballast tractor.

I considered it. There was something about it in the last issue of BRM but I dismissed it because it is 1/72 scale. I would be around 6mm longer than the 1/76 model and that would be very noticeable if put next to a 1/76 vehicle.

 

The livery, if it can be called that, takes parts of several wreckers that I have seen in photos. The bumper will receive blue stripes and the fuel tanks will also be painted blue. I will add a number plate lower down on the radiator grille and the existing one will be lettered TOWING. I've drilled some of the holes in the doors to take the mirrors and the corners of the bumper have been drilled to take some upright lengths of wire to represent the bars that the driver would use to know where the corner of the bumper was. The exhaust silencer is going to be mounted transversely under the bumper.

The decking around the cab has been painted silver as if it is covered in aluminium diamond plate. The windscreen divider has now received some paint, too. I think it needs a suspension lift.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Ruston

[Firecracker]

On the subject of Duamond T’s, a lot of years ago neighbours of my parents received a gift of a tyre services ford transit pickup when it landed (literally) in one of their fields, having left the main road and soared through the air for quite an impressive distance (the driver was shaken but fine, however tyre services dispensed with his services in the aftermath).  Anyway, this beast (not my photo, full credit to original photographer) arrived (Hudson’s have since gone bust, their workshop in Arnside is now flats, but their Diamond’s preserved at L&HR)

It was crewed by a double act, one youth full of vim and vinegar, who would have dragged the van out of the field on his own and an older gaffer, who wasn’t to be rushed, they’d need a tractor to drag it to the gate (the diamond would have sunk over its axles if it had ventured into the field) so stop rushing about lad, dig the gas stove out of one of the lockers and put the kettle on.

 

On the OO version, a lot of companies ran their wreckers on trade plates then, just an idea...

 

Owain

[Ruston]

7 hours ago, Firecracker said:

they’d need a tractor to drag it to the gate (the diamond would have sunk over its axles if it had ventured into the field)

This beast wouldn't have sunk. Pioneers are awesome off-road.

I think that's actually an Explorer 6x6 but never mind...

I decided that one wrecker isn't enough, so Charlie Strong has also got a Pioneer. I feel that turning the steered wheels on any road vehicle model automatically adds that bit of realism, so I have done it here. I had to cut the mudguards off and re-attach them to the wheels.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Ruston

[Barry O]

I was offered one of those by a friend (a full size wrecker) but couldn't afford to pay the fuel bills!

 

Baz

[AlfaZagato]

Another modified die-cast?

[Firecracker]

4 hours ago, Ruston said:

This beast wouldn't have sunk. Pioneers are awesome off-road.

They are.  Oh yes.

4 hours ago, Ruston said:

I think that's actually an Explorer 6x6 but never mind...

 

Yep, that’s an Explorer.  Radiator and engine bay’s different, plus it’s got a driven front axle.

4 hours ago, Ruston said:

I decided that one wrecker isn't enough, so Charlie Strong has also got a Pioneer. I feel that turning the steered wheels on any road vehicle model automatically adds that bit of realism, so I have done it here. I had to cut the mudguards off and re-attach them to the wheels.

Nice, very nice.  Agreed on turning the front wheels, it really makes a difference.  Also (which you didn’t) don’t forget the bicycle style mudguards (fitted on a wide variety of Scammels, including Mountaineers, Constructors and the baby Contractors) turn with the wheels.

 

Lovely work as always, keep it up!

 

Owain

[Ruston]

The Pioneer is ready for decals.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Ruston

[Ruston]

21 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

Another modified die-cast?

Yes. Oxford.

[Barry O]

I have a kit to build one of those.. it is in my roundtuit pile.. along with a Scammel Commander. These lorries do look the part on the layout Dave. And the people I know who owned similar ones kept them spotless.

 

Baz

[Sandhole]

18 hours ago, Ruston said:

The Pioneer is ready for decals.

 

That is a work of art Dave.
I know this company is hard nosed, but it would be great if she was named by the crew.
Chris.

[Ruston]

On 30/01/2021 at 11:13, Sandhole said:

That is a work of art Dave.
I know this company is hard nosed, but it would be great if she was named by the crew.
Chris.

All the decals are designed and I'm just waiting for the paper. It is getting a name.

 

This evening's play session included the testing of a loco for White Peak Limestone & Tarmacadam Ltd. The driver had a bit of a prang,

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Ruston

[Sandhole]

50 minutes ago, Ruston said:

All the decals are designed and I'm just waiting for the paper. It is getting a name.

 

This evening's play session included the testing of a loco for White Peak Limestone & Tarmacadam Ltd. The driver had a bit of a prang,

 

The romance of Scammells.
The Pioneer tank transporters got names off their crews. The Highwayman tractor I drove was called Jennifer.
The Rustons are JOYOUS.

[Ruston]

The one and only main line loco is now fitted with sound. It wasn't a straightforward fit.

 

I bought a speaker that is specifically for the Bachmann 08 but there was no way it would fit. In fact there was no space for the decoder if the speaker did fit as the small space that was there was occupied by the non-sound decoder that I put in it. I can only assume that my loco is an older model and was never designed with DCC sound in mind. I stripped the loco down to the chassis block and milled part of it away so as to fit the speaker in the space behind the body's radiator moulding. It went a bit titsy and I milled too deep and the front of the block fell off.  Araldite and super glue to the rescue!

There was still the problem of where to put the decoder. I could have put it in the cab but as the cab space beneath the windows is already full of chassis block, it would have been visible at window level. I removed the motor, which is huge, and cut down the plastic mount that it clips in to. I have one of those Chinese 6-pole motors, with a 2mm shaft, which was bought to fit an Austerity and so I have used that instead. I couldn't get the worm off the Bachmann motor but I had a nylon worm that looked like it would mesh with the 08's gears. The motor was packed to the correct height to mesh with the gear using plasticard and superglued on.

 

With the new motor being around two thirds smaller than the original there was now space for the decoder. I am not a fan of flywheels and have never found them to be of any use, so the space that the flywheel occupied was filled with a larger flywheel, only one that isn't connected to the motor and is there only to provide weight. Other spaces around the new motor were packed with lead.

 

Despite all this bodgery, and much to my surprise, it actually runs better, and more quietly (as far as the mechanism and loco itself, without DCC sound) than before. It is also heavier

 

 

[Markmiller2008]

Hi Dave 

 

That 08 is superb, who’s sound chip is it?

 

Keep up the good work on the layout. 
 

Mark

[Ruston]

I have one Bachmann anchor-mounted 14-ton tank wagon. It was a lucky find and at a bargain price at my local model shop. Someone had already fitted 3-links to it, which meant it had been ignored it and I got it for just £8. The plan is to have a fuel oil storage tank, and discharge facilities in the Metal Box compound. The Bachmann Class B anchor-mounted tanks seem to be like rocking horse poo as I can't even find another on ebay...

 

So... I tried to sell my last Hornby TTA at Wakefield exhibition in 2019 but it failed to sell. I've had it for about 30 years and it is the only one that I never altered. Others were fitted with etched walkways and ladders, some even being given cast whitemetal conical ends to become bitumen or acetic acid tanks.

 

The last TTA was dug out of the big cardboard box of junk, this morning, and pulled apart.

 

Firstly I sanded the thick base off the bottom of the tank. Then the seams. The underframe were sanded to remove the strange curves in the buffer beams. The wheels belong in the bin and wouldn't run on my layout even if I wanted them to.

 

There is no brake gear on the underframe and there is no evidence of my having hacked off any in the past, so I assume Hornby thought they didn't need brakes.

 

It's not going to be some marvellous and detailed rebuild but I hope it will look better than when I started. It's really just a pointless exercise in turd polishing.

 

One thing I do need for it are some better ladders. The originals are awful but I have no idea where to get any from.

 

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Markmiller2008 said:

Hi Dave 

 

That 08 is superb, who’s sound chip is it?

 

Keep up the good work on the layout. 
 

Mark

It is one of Paul Chetters, via Digitrains. Zimo MX649N with a speaker that is made especially for the 08.