Helston Revisited

[Andy Keane]

I fear I am becoming a stamp collector: I have just preordered a Dapol 28xx for no other reason than it was there. Combined with the 47xx kit I have ready to build, poor old Helston’s permanent way is in for a bashing. So far I have resisted a King but if Accurascale did one I am sure that would arrive too.

[Harlequin]

33 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

I fear I am becoming a stamp collector: I have just preordered a Dapol 28xx for no other reason than it was there. Combined with the 47xx kit I have ready to build, poor old Helston’s permanent way is in for a bashing. So far I have resisted a King but if Accurascale did one I am sure that would arrive too.

Hmmm, I love the old twenty-eights but I'm about to cancel my pre-order for a Dapol 28xx because I have no faith that they will get them right!

Too many mistakes on recent items.

 

[Andy Keane]

4 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Too many mistakes on recent items.

I find I am able to overlook these for the sake of yet another green loco - mad I know.

Meanwhile I have gotten the guttering and downpipes onto Godolphin road and weathered the front garden walls. I just need the window frames to arrive before pushing on to completion. Then I will have to tone down the building itself as it looks rather freshly painted, although one could leave it as is and claim they just had the decorators in!

[Andy Keane]

While doing this I am continuing to work on the 517. these shots are before and after priming.

It always amazes me what the priming reveals - that bulge at the bottom of the tool box casting was not at all obvious before painting.

Also adding the little wires to the sand-boxes now seems much more worthwhile. But my soldering is still clumsy compared to the work people like Tony and Jerry do.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

Hmmm, I love the old twenty-eights but I'm about to cancel my pre-order for a Dapol 28xx because I have no faith that they will get them right!

Too many mistakes on recent items.

 

I'll stick with my Hornby one.

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

I'll stick with my Hornby one.

I guess there are a variety of Hornby versions dating back over thirty years. Which one do you have - are the more recent ones improvements? I see there is a Finney kit on the bay for over £400 if one had the skills and patience.

[Andy Keane]

I have been browsing gwr.org.uk on loco liveries and I notice it says that 517's could be painted crimson lake when coupled to similarly coloured auto-coaches. Given I have a lined crimson lake auto-coach on order I am now wondering about a matching paint job for my Mallard kit. The 517's that ran to Helston were 569 / 1158 / 1163 / 1481 and I suppose one of them might have been painted that way. What is not so obvious to me is if the 517 would have been lined as well - does anyone know? Also which of my four numbers might most likely have had this done?

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

I have been browsing gwr.org.uk on loco liveries and I notice it says that 517's could be painted crimson lake when coupled to similarly coloured auto-coaches. Given I have a lined crimson lake auto-coach on order I am now wondering about a matching paint job for my Mallard kit. The 517's that ran to Helston were 569 / 1158 / 1163 / 1481 and I suppose one of them might have been painted that way. What is not so obvious to me is if the 517 would have been lined as well - does anyone know? Also which of my four numbers might most likely have had this done?

I guess the question is, which depot supplied the engines for Helston? And then do you have details about loco overhaul for the correct period.

 

Let’s assume locos for Helston were supplied from Truro and that 1158 was based there in 1918. The bonus would be that it visits Swindon for a heavy general in Sept 1918 - which would include a full repaint - and that come Jan 1919 it is released back to Truro - the chances are it would arrive back from Swindon in the 1919 livery.

 

Looking at loco history details they were in and out of Swindon all the time, so the chances are a loco would get all liveries relevant to that time.

 

Does that help?

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

I guess there are a variety of Hornby versions dating back over thirty years. Which one do you have - are the more recent ones improvements? I see there is a Finney kit on the bay for over £400 if one had the skills and patience.

Andy, it's the most recent Hornby (2010) version, R2919. I'm very happy with it, both appearance and running.

[Neal Ball]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Andy, it's the most recent Hornby (2010) version, R2919. I'm very happy with it, both appearance and running.

Surprising that it’s now 14 years ago. That’s the same version in my photos at Henley and it has always been a good runner. 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Surprising that it’s now 14 years ago. That’s the same version in my photos at Henley and it has always been a good runner. 

It seems Hornby can get it right when they try. I may see what they fetch on eBay to compare to the £300 for a new Dapol.

[Andy Keane]

9 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Does that help?

Yes, thanks. Though I am still unsure if a humble 517 would have been lined when painted crimson lake.  While I can paint locos ok I have never thought of trying to line one.

[Harlequin]

13 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

It seems Hornby can get it right when they try. I may see what they fetch on eBay to compare to the £300 for a new Dapol.

The Hornby version has a slightly dodgy firebox but, yes, it's a pretty good loco even allowing for the age of the tooling.

 

I might still get a Dapol version but I'll wait to see what they're like this time before committing.

 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

Though I am still unsure if a humble 517 would have been lined when painted crimson lake.

Perhaps @Miss Prism could advise - given I plan to use a crimson lake auto-trailer for the immediately post WW1 era, should I paint the 517 to match, and if so is anything known about lining on a loco painted this way?

[Andy Keane]

3 hours ago, Harlequin said:

The Hornby version has a slightly dodgy firebox but, yes, it's a pretty good loco even allowing for the age of the tooling.

 

I might still get a Dapol version but I'll wait to see what they're like this time before committing.

 

I think I am more critical of the kits I am building myself than the RTR stuff I buy. It is the same with decorating at home - if the decorator does a less than perfect job I shrug, while I am harder on my own efforts.

[Miss Prism]

On 16/03/2024 at 09:01, Andy Keane said:

Perhaps @Miss Prism could advise - given I plan to use a crimson lake auto-trailer for the immediately post WW1 era, should I paint the 517 to match, and if so is anything known about lining on a loco painted this way?

 

I have never seen a picture of a crimson lake 517 with lining. Apparently, crimson lake for a few 517s was tried in 1919, by which time, lining on tanks had fallen out of fashion. I sometimes wonder if this pic of 828 (Swindon, 1921, looks like it is just out of the shops) is in crimson lake, and there is clearly no lining on it.

 

[Andy Keane]

27 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

 

I have never seen a picture of a crimson lake 517 with lining. Apparently, crimson lake for a few 517s was tried in 1919, by which time, lining on tanks had fallen out of fashion. I sometimes wonder if this pic of 828 (Swindon, 1921, looks like it is just out of the shops) is in crimson lake, and there is clearly no lining on it.

 

Many thanks - very helpful. I will paint the little tank in crimson lake but no lining - it will be a nice change from green and go nicely with the crimson lake Dapol auto-coach I have on order. I will go for gold as opposed to yellow lettering on the side tanks. I have a polished safety valve bonnet but unfortunately not dome so it will also have to be painted. I may pop it away until the coach arrives so as I can ensure the paints match.

I assume that tank tops would still have been black along with the footplate, but what about the splashers? they look to match the tanks in your picture along with the tool boxes and sand boxes in crimson?

regards

Andy

[Miss Prism]

Yes, tank tops, footplate and splasher tops in black, tool boxes and sandboxes in crimson. Here's a Lee Marsh chocolate 517 for a guide (except for the lining of course!!)

 

[Miss Prism]

(I've got quite a bit of catching up to do on this thread - can't remember where I last left off.)

 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Miss Prism said:

Here's a Lee Marsh chocolate 517 for a guide

Thanks - that's a really helpful aid memoir for my painting.

[Miss Prism]

Ooooh, just a thought - on a crimson lake 517, there is a question over the colour of the valence. My guess is probably black.

 

[Andy Keane]

3 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

My guess is probably black.

OK - black it shall be.

[Andy Keane]

@Mikkel I am working up a little horse drawn GWR delivery wagon and wondered if you could advise on adding the lettering to the sides? Do you make up custom waterslides or some other cunning scheme? I see Fox make one set of transfers but suspect they may be too big for a horse wagon. Thanks in advance.

Andy

Edited March 17 by Andy Keane

[t-b-g]

8 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

 

I have never seen a picture of a crimson lake 517 with lining. Apparently, crimson lake for a few 517s was tried in 1919, by which time, lining on tanks had fallen out of fashion. I sometimes wonder if this pic of 828 (Swindon, 1921, looks like it is just out of the shops) is in crimson lake, and there is clearly no lining on it.

 

 

The loco doesn't look quite as dark as the carriage behind it but the carriage that appears behind the bunker looks the same sort of shade as the loco. So I am wondering if the carriage at the front end is crimson lake but the loco and the carriage at the rear are chocolate brown? 

[Andy Keane]

5 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

 

The loco doesn't look quite as dark as the carriage behind it but the carriage that appears behind the bunker looks the same sort of shade as the loco. So I am wondering if the carriage at the front end is crimson lake but the loco and the carriage at the rear are chocolate brown? 

It’s really hard to know of course. But I rather fancy a change of colour since I got a crimson lake top light as a gift. Hence I updated my preorder on the autocoach to crimson and so the 517 will follow suit. But I do wonder how closely matched these colours would have been in real life.

These will all form part of stock for a slightly “earlier” Helston, set around 1920.