Newton Regis. Workbench wanderings through the 1920s and 30s the Great Western Way

[Graham T]

I just ordered one for myself.  Just in case I ever feel the need to remove something from a loco, you understand 🥸

 

[longchap]

On 05/11/2022 at 22:42, Graham T said:

I just ordered one for myself.  Just in case I ever feel the need to remove something from a loco, you understand 🥸

 

 

Quite understand Graham. I've also ordered the 1mm and 2mm versions from my usual EU model shop, Passion 132, in Belgium.

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by longchap

[Graham T]

Just now, longchap said:

 

Quite understand Graham. I've also ordered the 1mm and 2mm versions from my usual EU model shop, Passion 123, in Belgium.

 

Hadn't heard of them, I assume they must be good or you wouldn't use them!

 

[longchap]

5 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Hadn't heard of them, I assume they must be good or you wouldn't use them!

 

 No Brexit tax !!!!!!

 

I get Vallejo paints, tools, brushes, etc from them, as I'm resisting ordering things from the UK unless absolutly unavoidable.

[Graham T]

1 minute ago, longchap said:

 No Brexit tax !!!!!!

 

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

[St Enodoc]

On 15/01/2022 at 07:49, 2ManySpams said:

Hi Bill,

 

You got me all excited for a minute... Newton Regis is about a 20min walk from where I live in the East Midlands. Yes, it's a real place, but not in the South West...

 

Not quite walking distance from where we lived at Polesworth but always worth the drive to the Queen's Head (likewise to the Bird in Hand...).

[Neal Ball]

On 05/11/2022 at 23:04, longchap said:

 No Brexit tax !!!!!!

 

I get Vallejo paints, tools, brushes, etc from them, as I'm resisting ordering things from the UK unless absolutly unavoidable.

 

On 05/11/2022 at 23:06, Graham T said:

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

 

For that reason, I use mail order to a model shop in the North of Spain for a whole host of bits - they even sell Kadee couplers.

 

https://www.eltallerdelmodelista.com/en/  Their mail order is very good and quick. They also are able to correspond in English, which helps when things go wrong.

 

But I am also fortunate that a model shop in Alicante* and also Murcia also sell Vallejo** paints (**They are of course a Spanish company).

 

* https://mecamodel.es Lovely general model shop, ideal for paints... although I have struggled to get blades in there (My usual Swan Morton no 11) 

 

Plus of course there is the model shop in Paris who is a Modelu agent. Although of course they only sell HO products.... people were smaller in the 30's weren't they!

 

Anything to avoid any Brexit tax issues.

 

 

[longchap]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

 

For that reason, I use mail order to a model shop in the North of Spain for a whole host of bits - they even sell Kadee couplers.

 

https://www.eltallerdelmodelista.com/en/  Their mail order is very good and quick. They also are able to correspond in English, which helps when things go wrong.

 

But I am also fortunate that a model shop in Alicante* and also Murcia also sell Vallejo** paints (**They are of course a Spanish company).

 

* https://mecamodel.es Lovely general model shop, ideal for paints... although I have struggled to get blades in there (My usual Swan Morton no 11) 

 

Plus of course there is the model shop in Paris who is a Modelu agent. Although of course they only sell HO products.... people were smaller in the 30's weren't they!

 

Anything to avoid any Brexit tax issues.

 

 

 

Thanks for the additional EU modelling suppliers Neal, always very useful and good to to be able to compare availability when one is needy.

 

Passion 132 has proved to be very reliable and their website is in several languages, https://www.passion132.com/gb/ , I ordered a pair of small chisels from them yesterday, Sunday, received an auto-confirm mail instantly, then an email this morning informing that the order was being processed, followed 30 minutes later by another saying it had been posted. No complaints there.

 

I get my Swan Morton supplies from Distrimed here in France: https://www.distrimed.com/advanced_search_result.php?formid=f436b495fffa27b2f445ce58e4f0fb3b&keywords=Swan+Morton&p_a_ch=&f_t=6368f7b1

You usual blades cost less than 2 cents each, as I recently paid 17,85€ for a box of 100.

 

Best,

 

Bill

 

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by longchap

[MrWolf]

I was having similar problems twenty years ago. You should try importing car parts in from the US, though postage has doubled now. Whatever the price was in dollars, it would be the same number in pounds by the time it got here, plus another £28 if the customs people spotted it. It was haphazard though. I bought a pair of windscreen wipers for a fifties Buick, they cost £11. But customs charges brought that up to £39. A bumper that cost £200 and took two men to lift was ignored though!

As for Brexit, I wasn't even in the country when voting took place. My thoughts were that the voters couldn't win. All of the politicians were convinced we would stay in. If the public voted remain, they knew that they could ride roughshod over the electorate and push through any punitive legislation they desired. 

If they had the gall to vote leave, they would be punished with price hikes, taxes and blatant profiteering and the number of illegal immigrants would be encouraged to snowball.

[longchap]

I too was out of the UK, but made a special trip back to vote, as it was likely that a grossly misinformed electorate would believe at least most of the blatant lies being spouted by Johnson, Gove and Farage, about how much better the UK would be by leaving the EU. Well they did and we left and are now up the creek with no visible means of getting to a place of sanity/safety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[longchap]

Back to the safe world of model rilways: the 57xx having lost the top feed, is being piered for various detailing parts such as handrails, grab handles, hooks for fire irons and lamps and then will have a coat of primmer to reveal the areas requiring more sanding!

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by longchap

[Neal Ball]

41 minutes ago, longchap said:

I too was out of the UK, but made a special trip back to vote, as it was likely that a grossly misinformed electorate would believe at least most of the blatant lies being spouted by Johnson, Gove and Farage, about how much better the UK would be by leaving the EU. Well they did and we left and are now up the creek with no visible means of getting to a place of sanity/safety.

 

 

Thankfully I was in the UK at the time... but the day of the result I woke up in a Holiday Inn in Birmingham* and thought OMG what have we done.

 

*My company had just bought a few new offices in Birmingham - about 6 months before I joined the acquisition team.

 

Anyway, as you say Bill, back to modelling - lets see the progress of your GWR 0-6-0PT.

 

Regards, Neal.

[MrWolf]

I just figured that the majority of people would lose no matter which way the vote went. I also thought that if we voted out, the powers that be would deliberately make things as problematic as possible and create the mess we're in and fiddle their expenses while Rome burned.

Given the heritage of the British, I think that a genuinely united Europe would be a good idea.

 

No point complaining, it's already been proved that your votes counted for nothing.

 

Back in the possibly safe world of model railways, the 3mm chisel I ordered has arrived and I wanted to say thanks for putting me onto the existence of such a device. I must remember to use it only on plastic models and probably hide it before someone pinches it and gives it a pet name... Not really, that's just an in joke with the memsahib. 😉

 

 

 

[Graham T]

I'm hoping that mine will arrive tomorrow 🙂

 

The chisel, that is.  Given up on votes and memsahibs.

 

[longchap]

Well done chaps, I've found that with just a little practice and a deal of patience, one can get even part of the cutting edge into quite small nooks and crannies. For anything trickier, there are two smaller sizes available.

 

Quick progress report hot from the workbench where everything has been removed from the bodyshell of the now numberless 57xx and the front RH step glued back on and drying before a warm soapy wash to remove grease, etc before the primer rattle can is deployed.

 

 

Thanks to @NHY 581 of Norman Lockhart fame, I have a Bachmann 57xx backhead on its way, together with some other useful goodies.

 

I now need to do a little research to find an appropriate period related number and order some plates. What does the jury say about who produce the best ones and in a decent time frame? Also @Graham T did you find someone to print custom buffer beam numbers on a single carrier sheet for you?

 

I’m looking forward to spraying the shell, as I haven’t used the airbrush since installing a new larger more comfortable trigger. Simple things really can please easily satisfied minds!

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by longchap

[Graham T]

I get my plates from Light Railway Stores and am very happy with them.  Cost a bit but they look the part.

 

If I remember rightly Railtec mentioned that they're planning to do buffer beam sets in the not too distant future...

 

[MrWolf]

I get my plates from 247 Developments in Wales, they have a very quick turnaround and plenty of plates in stock.

[Neal Ball]

My plates come from Fox Transfers if thats any help. Personally I would avoid ModelMaster.

[railtec-models]

2 hours ago, Graham T said:

If I remember rightly Railtec mentioned that they're planning to do buffer beam sets in the not too distant future...

 

Absolutely. The 3d cabside plates, 3d smokebox and 3d shedcodes (for later period) are already available, but something is already in the works to offer a customisable offering for a complete GWR steam loco pack including branding and buffer beam numbers on the same pack or individually too. These will be all made to order but, if the complete BR steam loco packs are anything to go by, I frequently have them on their way sometimes even same day.

 

As for shipping outside of the UK, the UK VAT is taken off at checkout so technically oversea-ers pay less and, whilst the packages are of course labelled correctly for export as I'm obligated to do, my understanding from customers in non-UK territories is that the packages are so small and of such relatively little value that it's pretty rare that they ever catch the attention of local import officers. It may also help that where I have the linguistic capability, I also write "Do not bend" in the target language of the recipient tongue so perhaps they think it's from a native 😄. And there's the missus thinking I'm only fluent in English and Rubbish...

Edited November 7, 2022 by railtec-models

[Graham T]

Thanks for that 🙂

 

Rubbish I have mastered, English is still a work in progress.

 

[longchap]

Was just rummaging in a box not expecting to find any surprises, but came up with my first (and only) loco kit build, assembled and hand painted over 40 years ago.

 

 

Sat next to the Bachmann factory finished 57xx, the Precision Paints colour rendition seems to still be effective.

[longchap]

Not much time doing railways today, shopping and car stuff took over. Some primer did find its way over the ex-top feed to show the scars. Here’s a photo, scary enough, but essential to indicate where more effort is needed. I never used to give this a thought, but the camera is now part of the modelling toolkit.

 

 

. . . . and I see that fried egg is still very much there @MrWolf

 

Busy with an old car tomorrow, but hope to find some quiet time with small chisel and fine abrasives.

 

Tally ho !!!  

[MrWolf]

It's something that I find useful about posting on here, you can see the model how others might, improve your work and hone your skills.

I've got a 1963 Morris Minor to look at on Saturday morning. It's been quite nicely restored, none of the usual tack one edge and batter the metal until it fits type of repairs. The original engine has been rebuilt, but the carb and distributor are well worn out, which lets it down when the engine is under load.

 

What will you be swearing at whilst banging your head on the bonnet latch?

[longchap]

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

What will you be swearing at whilst banging your head on the bonnet latch?

 

It's the 1936 Austin Ulster, who's fuel pump is not doing much, so off with the engine compartment side panels to give free access to it and out it comes. I will just see if it pumps with the pipe to the carb disconnected, but otherwise see what's doing inside. It was rebuilt only a 3 or 4 years ago, so hopefully just a blockage.

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by longchap

[MrWolf]

Hopefully it's just good old tank sludge from not having a regular thrashing.

I learnt to drive around my neighbour's garden in his 1929 Austin 7 tourer. After I passed my test I got to drive an Ulster, which was real fun, best way to describe them is like a cross between a motorcycle and a WWI biplane.

I learnt tin bashing and welding by rebuilding a 1947 Austin 8 when I was 16, structurally that was like a VW Beetle with the engine out front, way different to the 7 and I don't think that there's many left now.