Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

19 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

I wish you well for the weekend, Tony, but I do wonder how many RMWebbers even know it is happening, as it appears no-one connected with the event has thought to post any reference to it in the “Exhibitions” section of our Website. 

Thanks for that,

 

It's advertised in the exhibitions' section of the RM.

 

Odd, though, that it's not on RMweb. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

'Budget Modelling' No. 5.

 

I've just started on another 'hybrid'; this time making an LMS BTK Dia. 105 from an old Airfix BTK and MAJ sides.......

 

 

I've removed what's necessary from the sides so far with a circular saw in a mini drill, knife and files.

 

The whole Airfix donor cost me only £5.00!

 

 

I bought some complete MAJ LMS/BR carriage kits for £10.00 each. As a cheap quicky, I thought why not use the pre-printed sides over the old Airfix donor? I'd still have all the rest of the MAJ bits - ideal for fixing Comet etched brass sides to.

 

I've just sprayed the hacked-about body satin black to make sure that no scabby interior bits will show through the windows. 

 

I'll stick the self-adhesive sides on tomorrow, reporting accordingly; if it works! 

[gr.king]

15 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

I wish you well for the weekend, Tony, but I do wonder how many RMWebbers even know it is happening, as it appears no-one connected with the event has thought to post any reference to it in the “Exhibitions” section of our Website. 

The Ruddington exhibition has been listed on the chronologically organised UKmodelshops website for a long time. I always look there for show listings, finding it more convenient than the randomly arranged "exhibitions" section (with details) on here, and obviously more informative than a calendar section that only gives the name and date of the show.

[gr.king]

16 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Why on earth did the LNER letter their catering cars so low on the bodyside?

 

There looks to be plenty of room in the waist panel.

 

The lack of panelling on the Thompson car makes the lettering position look even more odd!

 

CJI.

In the modern UK, where anybody with a chip on his shoulder can complain about so-called "discrimination", they would probably have to put the lettering low enough to avoid any possibility of being accused of "heightism" by the vertically challenged. Then of course, tall people could complain instead...

[t-b-g]

4 minutes ago, gr.king said:

In the modern UK, where anybody with a chip on his shoulder can complain about so-called "discrimination", they would probably have to put the lettering low enough to avoid any possibility of being accused of "heightism" by the vertically challenged. Then of course, tall people could complain instead...

 

That reminds me of an episode of the comedy series "The Goodies" where discrimination against people of short stature, in this case jockeys, was mocked as "apart height".

[Tony Wright]

Well, my hybrid LMS BTK 'worked', inasmuch as I've now got a fully-lined vehicle....

 

 

The sides went on all right, but, of course, the rear of the windows are sticky as well, immediately attracting every tiny bit of detritus. 

 

This would be on-going, so I applied a brush-coat of satin varnish after they'd been stuck in place. 

Door lights were just thin Plastiglaze, Evo-'Stuk' in place.

 

The corridor handrail (.45mm brass wire) was also fixed in place with Evo-Stik .

 

 

The floor and compartments were then dropped back in place.

 

 

Then the chassis and gangways were re-fitted.

 

 

Complete, apart from numbering/lettering (I'll think about the duckets!).

 

I couldn't decide whether 'opaque' windows should be white or frosted, so did both. 

 

Will I do another? No. The sides are really too thin for this process and incredibly fragile (one side 'cracked' above a window when I was sticking it on!) Repairs were effected with accompanying abusive language! That said, there's no way I could get a finish to this standard, so I'll retain it as a 'layout coach', running on the MR/M&GNR bit of LB.

 

Other conversions will be Comet brass-sided, painted by someone else.

 

One thing worth doing was improving/detailing the underframe.

 

So, for £15.00 (with all the MAJ bits still left), I think it's been worth it. Metal wheels came from stock, but there's an extra cost there. 

 

 

I have another Airfix ex-LMS BTK, again bought for £5.00. 

 

With detailed underframe and metal wheels, this'll run on Bourne as it is. 

 

 

 

[LNER4479]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Well, my hybrid LMS BTK 'worked', ...

I couldn't decide whether 'opaque' windows should be white or frosted, so did both. 

 

Ah, I'm glad you mentioned that. I've always laboured under the impression that the LMS used frosted rather than opaque glass; however, in some photos the windows have 'caught the light' and appear opaque.

Could it be the case that, by BR days, there might have been some opaque glass as windows were changed?

[Willie Whizz]

3 hours ago, gr.king said:

The Ruddington exhibition has been listed on the chronologically organised UKmodelshops website for a long time. I always look there for show listings, finding it more convenient than the randomly arranged "exhibitions" section (with details) on here, and obviously more informative than a calendar section that only gives the name and date of the show.

I don’t doubt you’re right - but a website explicitly named as being about “UK model shops” wouldn’t personally be the first place I’d look for information about forthcoming “model railway exhibitions”.
 

And with RMWeb supposedly the biggest and best-known generic railway modelling site, it seems a curious omission that neither the promoters nor (as sometimes happens) an exhibitor, retailer or even a prospective attendee has mentioned it on here in the “Exhibitions” thread, where most such events do seem to appear and are widely anticipated and discussed, even if not in strict chronological order. 
 

But there we go; I’m only a mere

punter; I “receive” marketing and promotion, I don’t “generate” it, so what do I know …

[gr.king]

20 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

I don’t doubt you’re right - but a website explicitly named as being about “UK model shops” wouldn’t personally be the first place I’d look for information about forthcoming “model railway exhibitions”.
 

And with RMWeb supposedly the biggest and best-known generic railway modelling site, it seems a curious omission that neither the promoters nor (as sometimes happens) an exhibitor, retailer or even a prospective attendee has mentioned it on here in the “Exhibitions” thread, where most such events do seem to appear and are widely anticipated and discussed, even if not in strict chronological order. 
 

But there we go; I’m only a mere

punter; I “receive” marketing and promotion, I don’t “generate” it, so what do I know …

I agree in some respects, but it was only a basic Google search for a particular model railway exhibition that first took me to UKmodelshops. I didn't get there by divine inspiration or cryptic thought processes. I then saw how helpfully organised the lists are on there, in date order, with information about the show accessible without having to look in a different place.

 

Maybe the RMWeb Exhibitions section could be arranged to list shows in date order too, rather than according to which one has most recently been updated or received comment? Then there'd be no chance of missing an imminent show that had actually been listed but had received no recent comment so had slipped down the lists onto another page...

Edited June 28, 2023 by gr.king
Clarification

[BMacdermott]

Hello everyone

 

If you go to the 'Events' heading on UK Model Shops, you will find a box in the top right hand corner where you can sign up to get the Newsletter every Friday. This gives details of exhibitions for the forthcoming two weeks.

 

It's free and you can 'unsubscribe' anytime.

 

Brian (I have known the owner, Adrian Hall, for many years but have no other connection than 'satisfied customer')

[Iain.d]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Well, my hybrid LMS BTK 'worked', inasmuch as I've now got a fully-lined vehicle....

 

 

The sides went on all right, but, of course, the rear of the windows are sticky as well, immediately attracting every tiny bit of detritus. 

 

This would be on-going, so I applied a brush-coat of satin varnish after they'd been stuck in place. 

Door lights were just thin Plastiglaze, Evo-'Stuk' in place.

 

The corridor handrail (.45mm brass wire) was also fixed in place with Evo-Stik .

 

 

The floor and compartments were then dropped back in place.

 

 

Then the chassis and gangways were re-fitted.

 

 

Complete, apart from numbering/lettering (I'll think about the duckets!).

 

I couldn't decide whether 'opaque' windows should be white or frosted, so did both. 

 

Will I do another? No. The sides are really too thin for this process and incredibly fragile (one side 'cracked' above a window when I was sticking it on!) Repairs were effected with accompanying abusive language! That said, there's no way I could get a finish to this standard, so I'll retain it as a 'layout coach', running on the MR/M&GNR bit of LB.

 

Other conversions will be Comet brass-sided, painted by someone else.

 

One thing worth doing was improving/detailing the underframe.

 

So, for £15.00 (with all the MAJ bits still left), I think it's been worth it. Metal wheels came from stock, but there's an extra cost there. 

 

 

I have another Airfix ex-LMS BTK, again bought for £5.00. 

 

With detailed underframe and metal wheels, this'll run on Bourne as it is. 

 

 

 

 

I think the Airfix LMS carriages make excellent donors for improvement.  I've done a fair few, although I've not used the stick on types of sides as you have - they turn up quite frequently on eBay and I've often wondered about giving them ago. Like your donor, all of these donors were cheap, often damaged (other than the roofs) purchases from eBay or the second hand section of model shops when I've seen them.

 

All the ones I have done have had Comet Models sides added and I've scratch built underframes from 1mm brass angle and so on. The fittings come from a variety of sources, mainly Comet. Not to everyone's liking, but I made a conscious decision to keep the roof ribs. The bogie frames are Comet and in most instances below you can see I used the plastic sides of the original Airfix bogie. Not much of the original remains visible.

 

 

An LMS D2159 Corridor Composite (Porthole)

 

 

An LMS 2117 Corridor Composite

 

 

An LMS D1968 Brake Third Corridor

 

 

An LMS D1913 Brake Third Open

 

 

An LMS D1850 Brake Composite

 

 

An LMS D1905 Brake Third Corridor

 

 

Looking at my records, I've done about a dozen Airfix ones (a similar number of Bachmann, a similar number of Mainline and about 30 Hornby 1980 era Stanier's). I'm a bit over them now, I think it unlikely I'll do any more as compete kits are easier to do and overall there's not much difference in price between a Comet Models (standard sort of) carriage kit (VAT free for me) and buying all the bits to upgrade an old RTR one - but I did enjoy doing them.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Iain.d
Spelling

[Tony Wright]

This shows how I built the O4/8................

 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiRP3jVN2v0ppn8zpilg_mWWLKCR?e=JpTYts

 

As mentioned, it'll be on my stand at Ruddington over the weekend. 

[Tony Wright]

The hybrid LMS BTK is now complete...........

 

 

As I said earlier, I'll not do another such conversion.

 

The duckets were included in the kit. I cut them out carefully and fixed them in place with Evo-Stik. Big mistake. The glue ate away the duckets, and also the surface of the space where they fitted! Fortunately, there was some spare material of the same printed colour, so I cut ducket-sized pieces from that, then fixed them in place with PVA to hide the mess. 

 

 

Now in service at the rear of an LMS train on the MR/M&GNR bit of LB.

 

Definitely a layout coach!

 

This will also be on my display stand at Ruddington over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Beechnut]

This picture appeared on FB and I thought Tony might like it, assuming it’s one he’s not seen before.

The date on the caption is 20/05/61, the loco being 60135.

 

 

[Barclay]

Seeing this coach reminded me of the Mopok BR CCT I built many years ago. The self-adhesive sides have their limitations but I could never do lettering and lining that well!

 

[Barry Ten]

16 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

The duckets were included in the kit. I cut them out carefully and fixed them in place with Evo-Stik. Big mistake. The glue ate away the duckets, and also the surface of the space where they fitted! Fortunately, there was some spare material of the same printed colour, so I cut ducket-sized pieces from that, then fixed them in place with PVA to hide the mess. 

 

 

 

 

I'm not saying I spend too much time on RMWeb... but I had a dream about those duckets last night! 😂

[polybear]

Can anyone suggest where I might get a replacement Smokebox Door Casting to suit a Nu-Cast LNER V2 kit please?  I've recently obtained the kit and after checking the contents against the instructions (a task that I never look forward to) I've discovered the casting is missing ☹️

Many thanks

Brian

[30368]

9 minutes ago, polybear said:

Can anyone suggest where I might get a replacement Smokebox Door Casting to suit a Nu-Cast LNER V2 kit please?  I've recently obtained the kit and after checking the contents against the instructions (a task that I never look forward to) I've discovered the casting is missing ☹️

 

I am sure that Tony will know of someone. In the past I have found PDK Kits very useful. They supplied a number of realy good castings for the V4 that I am building.

 

http://www.pdkmodels.co.uk/

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

Edited June 29, 2023 by 30368

[Tony Wright]

13 hours ago, Beechnut said:

This picture appeared on FB and I thought Tony might like it, assuming it’s one he’s not seen before.

The date on the caption is 20/05/61, the loco being 60135.

 

 

Thanks for this evocative picture.

 

Judging by the Pullman formation, it looks to be the Down 'Tees-Tyne Pullman'.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

Can anyone suggest where I might get a replacement Smokebox Door Casting to suit a Nu-Cast LNER V2 kit please?  I've recently obtained the kit and after checking the contents against the instructions (a task that I never look forward to) I've discovered the casting is missing ☹️

Many thanks

Brian

Good evening Brian,

 

I'm sure I've got a suitable cast 'door for a V2.

 

I'll look one out and post it to you. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Brian,

 

I'm sure I've got a suitable cast 'door for a V2.

 

I'll look one out and post it to you. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

That would be excellent - many thanks Tony 🙂

 

[uax6]

Some years ago I hoovered up a fair few of the MAJ LMS sides, intending to use them for carriages. I part assembled one, and discovered that for the droplights the clear sides would need drilling and opening out to avoid the supplied droplight layer creating a raised portion under the top layer. This was a step too far at that time (I've not re-visited yet). But I also investigated making some other sides for the body's. I got a friend to draw up bodysides in full LMS livery, and then found a printer who used the old style vinyl printing process (in heat formed layers, rather than by single layer printing) that allowed the base to be brown (which shows as the interior panelling, the MAJ ones are printed on clear, so you can see the red bodywork), yet reproduced the crimson lake to the same colour as the MAJ sides, but with the added bonus that the windows were actually cut out, so that you get the definition between the frame and the glass. The only problem was the glossiness of the sides, but I guess satin varnish might sort that, although I'm not sure how it would stick to the vinyl.

They came out well, well enough that I spoke to 'the black hole of Poole' to see if there were still any MAJ bits left over. This was confirmed to be true, (everything except the vinyl sides) but I could never work an agreement to purchase these bits. The wagon parts were there too, apart from the chassis bits, as the moulds had been lost.

 

A bit of a dead end really. 

 

Andy G

[Tony Wright]

All set up at Ruddington.

 

Nice to see Deepcar again, and South Town.

 

Some interesting second-hand stuff, including some GWR kit-built locos in OO for £20.00 each! I've checked, cleaned and oiled them and, apart from a couple of duds (which can be workshop-fixed) they're not bad. If interested, I suggest getting there early.

 

There are also some other second-hand loco kits for sale, mostly LNER prototypes, some made-up others untouched. Certainly worth a view. 

 

See you there.............

[Tony Wright]

I don't know whether my video of building an O4/8 worked properly earlier.

 

It's now on Youtube.............

 

 

 

It'll be on my display stand at Ruddington today and tomorrow.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Tony Wright
to add something

[30368]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't know whether my video of building an O4/8 worked properly earlier.

 

Good Morning Tony,

 

Hope all is going well at Ruddington. We have a "Railex" at Buxton this weekend so off to that later.

 

The video of the O4/8 is very good and thanks for going to all that trouble. I hope it encourages more modellers to have a go at kit bashing - it can be a cheap way of obtaining a decent model of a different prototype.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B