Wright writes.....

[Sam*45110*SVR]

 

Happy New Year to one and all.

The opportunity to open up another angle in the debate about what counts as "real" modelling provides me with a half baked excuse to post some images of some recent work of my own on here. A few years ago BRM carried an article showing how I has cut-and-shut some old Margate "Gresley" coaches to make more authentic models of coaches corresponding to true coach diagrams. I recently had a go at rearranging some more spare bodies for such coaches in order to create some models that would satisfy my own desire for more variety at low cost, and which would also provide models to bolster the fleet for "Grantham" when it appears at Barrow Hill in February. There's plenty of room for argument about the results (shown in the following pictures still wearing only undercoats as opposed to grained, varnished, lined teak finish, which WILL follow) since none of the converted coaches corresponds to an actual coach diagram! 

 

Let the debate commence.....

 STA79071 ensemble.jpg

 

Hi, sorry to hijack as well but I feel my project also adds to the "real" modelling debate. My own recreation of preserved ex LNER pigeon van 70759 is interesting in that I'm modelling a pigeon van that is mid way through a "non authentic" rebuild into a brake third, hence no diagram number. The real thing is destined for life in 1930s varnished teak on the SVR, however my model will be BR maroon on my (barely started!) 1960s era layout ! The model was made using a Hornby gresley donor with Ian Kirk sides hacked together and slotted in, interior made, then the thing painted and lined. The last things that need doing are replacing the roof vents and glazing it.

 

Hmm lets think

 

Lima DMU £30 S/H

DMS bits £11

Spare trailer to slice up £5 about

MJT vents and door handles about £5

Buffers couple of quid

Transfers about £5 worth

Paint - say £1 or so out of big tins

Glazing will be nearly £30 using laserglaze

 

So nearly £100 for a 3 car DMU, using a second hand set off Ebay

 

I can see where you are coming from

 

I've had a similar thing happen....

 

Donor Gresley Buffet £15

Kirk sides £9

Paint £13

Transfers £4

Interior parts donor £1 !

Roof vents £2.50

Glazing £3

Total so far £47.50, almost as much as Hornby are trying to charge !  http://www.Hornby.com/shop/2014-range/coaches/r4531b-br-ex-lner-61ft-6in-full-brake-coach/

 

 

I wanted a Bulleid set that didn't look ridiculous next to my Hornby and Bachmann coaches and the cost hasn't put me off. They gave me a real sense of achievement commensurate with the time and effort expended and I have a couple of LNER ones that Hornby don't make on the go at the moment. 

 

Well detailed coaches don't come cheap, however you achieve the end result.

 

John

 

I agree wholeheartedly with this, I don't care how much my model has cost (in fact I never considered it until now !) it just feels good looking at it thinking "I built that" well some of it !

 

Sam

[chrisf]

While you guys are talking about coaches, may I interrupt again to draw attention to the second of Tony Wright's series in BRILL, " A Cestrian Urchin's Tale".  The pile of stuff awaiting my return from holiday means that I've not read it yet but it will go on my insomnia pile which accommodates much quality reading matter.  To save me butting in again, though I may do it anyway, I did notice that there will be at least one more instalment.  This is good news. 

 

Chris

[Tony Wright]

While you guys are talking about coaches, may I interrupt again to draw attention to the second of Tony Wright's series in BRILL, " A Cestrian Urchin's Tale".  The pile of stuff awaiting my return from holiday means that I've not read it yet but it will go on my insomnia pile which accommodates much quality reading matter.  To save me butting in again, though I may do it anyway, I did notice that there will be at least one more instalment.  This is good news. 

 

Chris

Thank you Chris,

                            So far it's been very well received, and my memory has not let me down too much. I think the next instalment will be in a couple of months' time. Still to come are memories of North Wales - Mold Junction, Shotton, Rhyl, Abergele, etc, then Crewe, Manchester, Liverpool, Hartford, Weaver Junction, Warrington, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the mag' folds!

I've also written a book on BR blue ('70s/'80s) for Irwell using pictures I've taken (to be published this year), and a further modelling book is in the offing.

 

My apologies for this self-promotion.  

[Grafarman]

Thank you Chris,

                            So far it's been very well received, and my memory has not let me down too much. I think the next instalment will be in a couple of months' time. Still to come are memories of North Wales - Mold Junction, Shotton, Rhyl, Abergele, etc, then Crewe, Manchester, Liverpool, Hartford, Weaver Junction, Warrington, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the mag' folds!

I've also written a book on BR blue ('70s/'80s) for Irwell using pictures I've taken (to be published this year), and a further modelling book is in the offing.

 

My apologies for this self-promotion.  

 

Tony

If there's mention made of a certain resort town just east of Rhyl I may well be tempted to obtain a copy when available...?!

Either way, any book on BR Blue will be welcomed on my bookshelf, for research or just for pleasure, so I look forward to its publication.

 

Thank you for the advanced warning!

 

 

David

[Tony Wright]

Tony

If there's mention made of a certain resort town just east of Rhyl I may well be tempted to obtain a copy when available...?!

Either way, any book on BR Blue will be welcomed on my bookshelf, for research or just for pleasure, so I look forward to its publication.

 

Thank you for the advanced warning!

 

 

David

I can't remember the exact locations for all the pictures but they're spread from as far afield as Ayton, Berwick, Newcastle, Durham, York, Selby, Doncaster, Retford, Newark, Grantham, Peterborough and Kings X on the ECML (plus locations east and west of it), Birmingham, Dudley Port, Wolverhampton, Madeley Junction, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Norton Bridge, Swinnerton, Crewe, Chester, Flint, Rhyl, Helsby, Frodsham, Warrington and points around the WCML, Burton, Derby, Nottingham, Trent, Barrow, Syston, Leicester, Market Harborough and locations on the Midland, Paddington, Sonning, Reading, the Berks & Hants, Cogload, Taunton, Wellington, Whiteball, Exeter, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot and beyond on the WR, Liverpool St to Ipswich and the East Suffolk, and locations on the LSWR in Hampshire/Wiltshire, plus lots in between.

I'll let readers know when it's published. 

[Paddy]

Hi Tony,

 

Sorry to but in but I have a quick question for you. In one of your Right Track programmes you have extra long cotton buds - could you please tell me where you bought them? I have searched and cannot find them anywhere.

 

Happy new year.

 

Paddy

[Tony Wright]

Hi Tony,

 

Sorry to but in but I have a quick question for you. In one of your Right Track programmes you have extra long cotton buds - could you please tell me where you bought them? I have searched and cannot find them anywhere.

 

Happy new year.

 

Paddy

Paddy,

            Sorry but I've no idea. They came from a box of odds and sods from the estate of a late friend eight years ago. Where he obtained them I don't know. 

[Dunsignalling]

Hi Tony,

 

Sorry to but in but I have a quick question for you. In one of your Right Track programmes you have extra long cotton buds - could you please tell me where you bought them? I have searched and cannot find them anywhere.

 

Happy new year.

 

Paddy

Hi Paddy,

 

If you enter "extra long cleaning buds" into your search engine, you'll get plenty to choose from.

 

Regards

 

John

[robmcg]

Far too much BR Blue period material here John, so in the interests of balance I thought I could remind you and readers of your successful effort in encouraging 12-spoke wheels for the Hornby Sandringham , which really does look like the cat's whiskers in LNER colours.

 

We won't mention the Churchward thing... as in 12-spoke wheels on a model of a Swindon product.

 

Edited January 5, 2014 by robmcg

[Theakerr]

I get my long cleaning buds from the local electronic store (in Ottawa Canada).  They have them in two formats a) the traditional bud and b) a pointy bud.

[t-b-g]

I get my long cleaning buds from the local electronic store (in Ottawa Canada).  They have them in two formats a) the traditional bud and B) a pointy bud.

 

Thanks bud.

 

Well, somebody had to go for it, didn't they?

 

Tony

[Paddy]

Thanks Tony and everyone else. I will warm up Google.

 

Kind regards

 

Paddy

[jwealleans]

Leaping back a couple of pages, how dimensionally challenged is the BEC J11? I have one lying about which I will probably build in due course as I want to use it as a test bed for a tender mounted motor. I'm interested to know how ridiculous it will (or maybe won't) look against a Bachmann one?

[Tony Wright]

Leaping back a couple of pages, how dimensionally challenged is the BEC J11? I have one lying about which I will probably build in due course as I want to use it as a test bed for a tender mounted motor. I'm interested to know how ridiculous it will (or maybe won't) look against a Bachmann one?

Jonathan,

                I think the splasher centres are/were compromised because it is/was designed to go on top of an original Tri-ang 'Jinty' chassis, BEC never offering (as far as I know) a chassis for the model. Perhaps the wheelbases are the same, but I doubt it. Unless the kit changed over time (I built mine over 40 years ago, and it's long gone now), the loco was very Great Central in what was supplied. By that I mean, Robinson boiler fittings, Ramsbottom safety valves, wheel and handle smokebox fastening and coal rails on the tender. Even doing a later LNER version would mean some alteration/substitutions.

[t-b-g]

Leaping back a couple of pages, how dimensionally challenged is the BEC J11? I have one lying about which I will probably build in due course as I want to use it as a test bed for a tender mounted motor. I'm interested to know how ridiculous it will (or maybe won't) look against a Bachmann one?

 

I recall seeing a BEC J11 once, that had been quite dramatically improved by the builder cutting out sections of footplate incorporating the splashers and swapping them from left to right sides to correct the wheelbase.

 

It would take some careful measuring and cutting, plus the provision of new frames.

 

I am pretty sure John Quick has a BEC J11 modified and improved and it may have been his that I recall being altered in that way. His ended up looking really nice.  He models GCR period so the kit parts were quite appropriate to him, as covered by Tony W.

 

One of the worst aspects of the BEC kit was the tender. There was very little about the tender that even vaguely resembled anything the GCR had in terms of detail.

 

Tony

[jwealleans]

Thank you to both Tonys for that advice.  Frames are not an issue as I have a set from the Alan Gibson kit which Alan sold me a number of years ago.  I will make enquiries about John Quick's improvements  - at the end of the day having an accurate model wouldn't be the primary aim of building it, but it would be a nice bonus if it would make one as well.

[coachmann]

 

One of the worst aspects of the BEC kit was the tender. There was very little about the tender that even vaguely resembled anything the GCR had in terms of detail.

 

Tony

I cannot see this mysef. As I remember it had good representation of a coal railed GCR tender.

[Tony Wright]

I've just received the two Dukes of Gloucester (not Duke of Gloucesters for the pedants of correct English) from Hornby for photography and the writing of a review. 

 

Initial impressions are very good, insofar as performance and overall appearance, with no quality issues. The difference between the two is only in the level of decoration, the add-on bits and the separate handrails on the deflectors of non-Railroad version. 

 

The loco is representative of the later BR period when it received the coal-pusher tender. As such, it is not correct for current preserved condition because I think the tender she now has is ex-9F, but I'll do my reading up in the next few days.

 

Any comments, please........

 

 

Here are the two together. The front steps have been added, and are a real fag to get straight. The offside deflector on the full-decorated sample is a bit out of plumb, but that might be due to the tight packaging, and removal from it. It looks as if the smokebox front protrudes a twitch too far forward but I'm not sure.

 

 

With all the bits added on, quite impressive in my view, though I'd prefer it if the handrails were body colour.

 

 

The fully-decorated DoG was part of the heritage set, including three of Hornby's full-detailed Mk.1s. They now have full branding and interior signage, but I think there are too many NO SMOKING signs - one in every compartment.

 

 

I've also recently received the Hornby LMS CCTs, which also look very good.

 

Full reviews will be appearing shortly in BRM.

[Nimbus]

I've just received the two Dukes of Gloucester (not Duke of Gloucesters for the pedants of correct English) from Hornby for photography and the writing of a review. 

[...]

The loco is representative of the later BR period when it received the coal-pusher tender. As such, it is not correct for current preserved condition because I think the tender she now has is ex-9F, but I'll do my reading up in the next few days.

 

Any comments, please........

 

Disregarding the tender period, I notice the loco is carrying modern (yellow) warning flashes.

 

The Nim.

[HAB]

 

 

The loco is representative of the later BR period when it received the coal-pusher tender. As such, it is not correct for current preserved condition because I think the tender she now has is ex-9F, but I'll do my reading up in the next few days.

 

 

It is my understanding that it does have a coal pusher:-

 

http://www.71000trust.com/old/image/Duke3.jpg

 

 

http://www.71000trust.com/old/History.html

 

Cheers,

Edited January 8, 2014 by HAB

[Tony Wright]

It is my understanding that it does have a coal pusher:-

 

http://www.71000trust.com/old/image/Duke3.jpg

 

 

http://www.71000trust.com/old/History.html

 

Cheers,

Sorry,

          My comment was ambiguous to say the least. 

Originally, 71000 was paired with a BR1E tender (by implication, according to the RCTS - page 146 of Volume One of the series - not fitted with a pusher, though I think it probably had), then in November '57 she got the BR1J tender (unique to this loco?) with much smaller rear cut-out and coal pusher. This tender was subsequently sold and scrapped and she now has an ex-9F BR1C (No.1344 from 92134), with coal-pusher, again according to the RCTS. As such then, does this tender have the larger rear cut-out (which it had from new) or has it been modified?

Help!  

[RedgateModels]

Hi Tony, the rear raves on the preserved tender were extended when the water capacity was raised to 5000 gals.

[Tony Wright]

Hi Tony, the rear raves on the preserved tender were extended when the water capacity was raised to 5000 gals.

Many thanks,

                     Information published 20 years ago is, at best, 20 years old.

Such is the power of the web!

 

With the new style flashes and 'polished' handrails, it would appear the model is in as-preserved condition. If so, should it have raised cabside numerals?

Edited January 8, 2014 by Tony Wright

[robmcg]

I've just received the two Dukes of Gloucester (not Duke of Gloucesters for the pedants of correct English) from Hornby for photography and the writing of a review. 

 

Initial impressions are very good, insofar as performance and overall appearance, with no quality issues. The difference between the two is only in the level of decoration, the add-on bits and the separate handrails on the deflectors of non-Railroad version. 

 

The loco is representative of the later BR period when it received the coal-pusher tender. As such, it is not correct for current preserved condition because I think the tender she now has is ex-9F, but I'll do my reading up in the next few days.

 

Any comments, please........

 

Hornby DoGs inc R3168 02B.jpg

 

Here are the two together. The front steps have been added, and are a real fag to get straight. The offside deflector on the full-decorated sample is a bit out of plumb, but that might be due to the tight packaging, and removal from it. It looks as if the smokebox front protrudes a twitch too far forward but I'm not sure.

 

Hornby Heritage Express R3192 DoG 02.jpg

 

With all the bits added on, quite impressive in my view, though I'd prefer it if the handrails were body colour.

 

Hornby Heritage Express R3192 Mk.jpg

 

The fully-decorated DoG was part of the heritage set, including three of Hornby's full-detailed Mk.1s. They now have full branding and interior signage, but I think there are too many NO SMOKING signs - one in every compartment.

 

Hornby LMS CCT 01.jpg

Hornby LMS CCT 02.jpg

 

I've also recently received the Hornby LMS CCTs, which also look very good.

 

Full reviews will be appearing shortly in BRM.

 

Although I cannot offer advice about the history and details of 71000 I would like to thank you for making the pictures available, and I look forward to a review of both models.

[t-b-g]

I cannot see this mysef. As I remember it had good representation of a coal railed GCR tender.

 

Perhaps I am confusing it with the McGowan or Millholme tenders. I did a lot of hacking about to make GCR tenders from bad kits and they did get a bit of "mix & match", not all ending up behind what they were intended for.

 

My recollection is that the BEC one was roughly the right size and shape but that things like the water filler behind the coal space, axleboxes and tender front detail were a bit generic rather than GCR.

 

But it is a long time since I saw one close up and perhaps it is better than I remember.

 

Tony