A Southern Workbench in the frozen North. Current projects; 00 Gauge LB&SCR Balloon Coach, N Gauge Stroudley 4 Wheelers

[SR Rich]

The yard crane is now finished, here are a few pictures before it is put in position on the layout.

 

 

 

 

[Norwenglish]

Well it's now my turn to once again add an update.

 

The rolling stock pictured in my last post has now been identified thanks to the kind fellows over on A Nod to Brent. So I have given them a fresh coat of paint (or in the case of the Mogo a complete tear apart and rebuild), and some new transfers, although I won't add numbers, tare weights etc until I have sourced a good book on GW wagons.

Here we have the Monster, which really lives up to it's name!

 

The Mogo and Mink D.

 

A Macaw G. This came with the wagons above, and just required a repaint and addition of chains.

 

Finally I have some other wagons that have been seen or mentioned earlier in the thread that I have finished.

 

The LSWR 8 plank which I was awaiting transfers for.

 

The ferry service liveried 12T Van from the beginning of the thread. After reading through An Illustrated History of Wagons Vol.4 (fantastic series of books!), I realised this required some transfers on the ends, so these have now been added.

 

Sorry for the pictures being quite dark, but decent daylight hasn't really been in abundant supply today.

 

Stuart

[SR Rich]

Not so much of an update, but might interest some of you.

 

 

This as you can see is 35006 looking fantastic, I have just got back from England after being at the renaming day (16th May) for 35006, she pulled 12 carriages with 400 supporters of the engine at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway , my connection apart from being a member, is that I worked on her as a volunteer about 20 years ago.

[SR Rich]

Hi all back from our summer activities.

I have started to build a  "Little Engines" Q1 after buying a complete model, then taking it apart and cleaning it up.

 

Just starting construction.

 

 

The next two pictures show construction so far, the chassis is well under way, the motor is being trial fitted and the body being adapted so it will fit in.

 

 

I have made space for the flywheel, but am not sure about using it, the plan is to have pick ups on the engine and tender.

 

 

The tender body is put together and chassis started (pictures to follow).

 

Richard

[SR Rich]

Hi

A more practical addition to the workbench

 

I made this soldering tray to be a little more organized and because I got fed up with knocking over the flux.

 

 

Richard

[Dave Holt]

Hi Richard.

Referring back to your post on the P&O renaming do, I was also there admiring the culmination of all that work over 35 years. By coincidence, I've been working on the loco for the past 17 years, so must have just missed meeting you! I got roped in after being caught, red handed, taking close-up photos of details (to help with a 4 mm scale Light Pacific model) in the days you could just wander round Toddington yard. A voice behind me said "If you're that interested, you'd better help restore it." I couldn't think of a suitable response other than "I suppose I should." And I did.

Best wishes with your modelling.

As a matter of interest, I have a blog entitled "Delph". A location where few Bulleids ever ran!

Dave.

[Deano747]

Hi Richard

 

Nice 'work station'.

I decant my flux into one of those individual jam/ sauce jars that you get in some restaurants or tea rooms. They are not prone to tip over very easily and any 'bits' that fall in off the brush only contaminate a small amount of flux.

 

Regards, Deano.

[SR Rich]

Hi Richard.

Referring back to your post on the P&O renaming do, I was also there admiring the culmination of all that work over 35 years. By coincidence, I've been working on the loco for the past 17 years, so must have just missed meeting you! I got roped in after being caught, red handed, taking close-up photos of details (to help with a 4 mm scale Light Pacific model) in the days you could just wander round Toddington yard. A voice behind me said "If you're that interested, you'd better help restore it." I couldn't think of a suitable response other than "I suppose I should." And I did.

Best wishes with your modelling.

As a matter of interest, I have a blog entitled "Delph". A location where few Bulleids ever ran!

Dave.

Hi Dave

Like you say it was free access at Toddington then, like you just visiting one day and decided it was something I'd like to get involved in, I was there in the early to mid  90's.

It was a great day to see her steaming again in May.

Your models are very well made, lovely job but as you say not many bullied in that area.

 

Richard

[SR Rich]

Hi Deno

 

Thanks for your comment, the flux is just a small pot with a brush in the lid, which we will top up as and when needed, thanks for the tip though.

 

Richard

[Norwenglish]

I just thought I would add a post to show that I have also been doing some modelling.

 

Here we have a resin body kit for a Maunsell 350hp Diesel Shunter from Golden Arrow which now just awaits painting and glazing.

 

I'm also working on a chassis for the Q Class shown earlier in this thread which Dad kindly bought me for my birthday a few months ago. Although this is going rather slowly as the majority of our free time and energy is being put into working on our layout ready for our first exhibition on the 1st and 2nd October. Which in itself is quite exciting, but also quite daunting as it is the largest model railway exhibition in Norway!

 

Stuart

[SR Rich]

Hi all

 

Here's a progress update for the Q1, now that we have successfully completed our first exhibition (see our other thread for details of our layout, http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/102832-a-slice-of-southern-in-norway/ ).

 

Here is a few pictures of progress.

 

the boiler and cab is now put together, with lamp brackets and hand rails added to the smokebox. On the chassis sanding pipe, other pipe work and the brake gear has been added temporarily so I know it fit. After painting I will put on new driving wheels.

 

Tender body is also complete, hand rail, lamp brackets, steps and ladder fitted to the back of the tender.

 

 

 

Front end of the tender has extra parts which were not included in the " Little Engines Kit", these parts are the sand filler pipes, either side of the coal hole, the lockers above the coal hole and the water filler caps either side of the lockers.

 

 

S.E.Finecast were very helpful supplying me firstly with an exploded diagram of the engine and secondly supplying me with the extra parts I needed to upgrade the old kit.

 

The tender chassis has had bearings fitted ready to be wheeled, I will be using new BFB wheels, maybe that will be the next job along with the tender brake gear.

 

That's it for now, more soon.

 

Richard

Edited October 15, 2016 by SR Rich

[SRman]

I just thought I would add a post to show that I have also been doing some modelling.

 

Here we have a resin body kit for a Maunsell 350hp Diesel Shunter from Golden Arrow which now just awaits painting and glazing.

 

 

Stuart

 

That brass ladder you used looks considerably better than the recycled Bachmann plastic one (from the donor 08) that I used on mine. I should change it to match yours, I think.

 

[Kelly]

That CoffeePot Q1 is coming on nicely. What motor/gearbox combo have you used for it?

 

I have a SEF one to start at some point.

 

I bought a chassis (+gearbox(highlevel)+wheels) at Railex thinking I had a Hornby Q1 lurking in the cupboard, which turned out to be incorrect. So a body was sourced from SEF to go with the chassis. I then found a Hornby one at a very reasonable ending price on eBay, so now I need another chassis and wheesls! do'h!). The reason for the change of chassis/wheels is due to the frames (Hornby) being rather unsuited to P4 conversion to my mind.

 

The Mausell shunter is a bit before my time periods I model, but I do like the look of the model. Great work thus far there!

[SRman]

If you are running a Q1, Kelly, then the Maunsell shunters sort of edge into the time slot - they were around from approx. 1938 until 1964 (for the last survivor of the three).

[Thinks: I wonder if i can get a commission from Golden Arrow Productions for pushing his products!] 

[Kelly]

If you are running a Q1, Kelly, then the Maunsell shunters sort of edge into the time slot - they were around from approx. 1938 until 1964 (for the last survivor of the three).

 

[Thinks: I wonder if i can get a commission from Golden Arrow Productions for pushing his products!] 

 

The current plan is for a mid-60s era small layout (as well as the NSE layout) as I want to build something on a smaller scale before getting bogged down in complex P4 pointwork (double slips, double cross overs (technically should be a switched diamond, but not sure I want to tackle that!)) that can be a test bed for a few things as well as a learning excercise. Anyhow, it will be like I say, set mid-60s (thinking loosely based on parts of bordon), so last dregs of steam, br green and the start of br blue. 3rd rail of course though!

 

However, I try to think ahead a little with the plans so I can alter (with obviously some unavoidable compromises) the era back or forwards for each layout. but that is digressing and I've put more on my own topics for them both.

 

Getting back to models, and Golden Arrow in particular, I've always wanted to get one of their Leader kits. I did speak with him at ExpoEM, and he mentioned he'd likely be retooling some items when time allows in the future. I did meant to order after, but unexpected bills skuppered that idea!

[SR Rich]

Hi Kelly

 

The Q1 has a 1424 motor with a 40.1 roadrunner + gearbox from High Level. The base plate and the support inside the boiler, between the two boiler panels have been cut away quite a lot to fit the motor in.

 

I have a Leader kit, kindly given to me by Stuart on my birthday, so that is high on the kit building list, my idea is to do a " what if ", painted in lined malachite with name plate and Southern numbering.

 

Richard

[SR Rich]

 Hi

 

A little update on the Q1, chassis for the engine has come on far enough to be primed and then painted.

 

This picture is both the engine and tender chassis having been primed.

 

 

 

The chassis was then sprayed black, painted with 2 coats of red inside the chassis and two coats of black on the outside followed by a satin varnish.

The motor & gearbox unit fitted and the electrical pick ups installed, I have decided to replace the old driving and tender wheels with new.

 

 

As you can see above the chassis on the rolling road to run in the engine and to see if there was any problems, the only problem was that the centers of the coupling rods did not perfectly match the wheel centers so it ran a bit juddery at slow speed, easily fixed by opening up the holes in the coupling rods, it now runs very nicely.

Other jobs completed are the pipe runs either side under the boiler, undercoating the boiler and tender and added a flywheel onto the motor, more pictures to come with an update tomorrow.

 

Richard

[SR Rich]

Hi all

So here is an update for the Q1, a little later than planned.

 

Here is the Q1 all but finished, just one or two little things to sort out.

 

 

 

This is the first loco kit I have built from start to finish and yes I am very pleased with how it runs and how it looks. :)

 

Anyway, on to the next build, there are clues in the previous pictures!

 

That's it for now.

 

Richard

[BSW01]

Merchant Navy or West Country / Battle of Britain?

 

Or maybe even a Leader?

[SR Rich]

Merchant Navy or West Country / Battle of Britain?

 

Or maybe even a Leader?

 

Yes, a Leader it is, I was testing one of the power bogies to see if it will cope with the points and curves on our layout.

 

 

Using a terrier for one of the duties it was used for, shunting.

 

More as the Leader progresses.

 

Richard

[SR Rich]

Hi all.

 

I am making progress with the Leader.

 

I have two working power bogies, in between each of the white metal chassis is a Mashima 1020 flat cam motor, I had to shave out a little from both sides of the frames before packing the motor up on plasticard to get the right height for the gears to mesh nicely, there is a worm gear on both sides of the motor shaft, so I get two driving axles on each of the bogies. The gear ratio is 40:1 for those that are interested.

 

 

I have used PCB instead of the white metal base plate so that I can take the power from here. The wire I used here I found was a little thick and causing too much friction (drag) on the wheels, so I have replaced it with thinner wire, the bogies are now running a lot more freely now.

 

 

You can see in this picture the two bogies are wired together, this helps with keeping both motors working even if there is a "dead" area on the layout, for example over some of the points.

I am using threaded studs and nuts to hold the bogies in place rather than using screws ( this idea I found in a very helpful kit review by Graham Muspratt, on the SEMG website).

 

 

Here next is the power bogies temporarily fitted in the body, to make sure everything works properly and to adjust anything, like the height of the engine ( it does sit a little high one end,so that will be adjusted before I go any further).

 

 

This is test driving around the layout, just to make sure it works as it should, you can see here the body is just a little higher on the right hand side.

 

 

I have also sanded the flash ( rough resin edges) off from around the body and the other resin pieces waiting to be fitted.

 

 

 

The engine is nowhere near finished yet, there is a lot more to do, so this is just to make sure everything runs smoothly before I get to the finer work.

 

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask, that's progress so far, more to come later.

 

Richard

Edited November 13, 2016 by SR Rich

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Guys

 

Great work, you have some great stock there.  I love the detailing up old RTR models and have been doing some myself recently with an old Hornby-Dublo R1 and a Triang L1.  The work on the cranes too looks amazing.  Great skills.

 

Keep up the good work

All the best
Chris

[Norwenglish]

Thanks Chris!

 

Funny you should mention detailing older RTR models as that's what my latest project has been whilst off work with the flu.

 

 

Here we have a Bachmann Austerity that I picked up a while ago secondhand, which has had a new motor installed (it sort of ran a bit then died), it has also had it's shedplate and smokebox door numberplate removed and been renumbered to represent 77259 when it apparently carried sunshine lettering.

The idea came to me after reading an old copy of model rail, which mentioned that there are pictures of 2 Austerities carrying sunshine lettering, so it seemed a fun thing to do, what with me being a fan of the Southern and I've always wanted an Austerity 2-8-0 in my collection.

 

Next up I'll hopefully have pictures of the Maunsell 350hp Shunter in it's finished state, quite possibly tomorrow providing no more problems arise!

 

Stuart

[Norwenglish]

As promised the diesel shunter is finished and heres a picture;

 

Originally I thought this would be a straight forward build and paint, until Sunday when I thought I was nearly done, looked up at a works drawing I have framed on the wall and realised it needed a line of handrails along the doors. Once this was done yesterday I had it painted, varnished and ready for transfers and windows, only to look up at the drawing again and realise that I had glued the roof on back to front above the engine area! As can be imagined, I'm quite happy that it's now finished

 

Next up for me will now be finishing the etched chassis that I've started for the Q Class earlier in this thread.

 

Stuart

[SR Rich]

Hi all

 

A short update.

 

The "Leader" is coming on slowly, finished with lamp irons, whistles and handrails, all washed and ready for an undercoat.

 

 

But I got side tracked a little, by a 3 set of Bulleid coaches.

 

 

They are, two 59ft brake 3rd's to diagram 2121 and a 59ft composite to diagram 2316, set numbers 963 - 980, built in the mid 1940's.

 

I like to make the interiors separately on plastic card, it makes it easier for painting both the body and interiors, easier also for the glazing once everything is painted and easier to place

The interior partitions are cut down, so that when I put in a lighting strips. the compartments will be better lit.

The roofs will be held on with magnets, so that the batteries can be changed in the lighting strips ( as I have done before with a pair of Maunsell coaches I built).

 

Richard

Edited December 4, 2016 by SR Rich