North Cranford

[The Fatadder]

Another black option (again with all the trimmings), it does seem odd how often the brass shows up on a wartime repaint as one would have expected it painted our as a matter of course.

Star 4025 circa 1947

 

My next black loco will be acwartime build Hall with no name, plates windows and no brass bits...

Or maybe a 4575.......

 

Can't have too many!

[M.I.B]

John - I am sure that some "Old Boys" would have polished up some off the brass on the black engines.  I remember Antar drivers polishing up things like the air horns on the bonnet sides.

 

Glad to know that the Hornby Grange is such a good runner.   Mine get run so rarely.  Last time I test ran them was about 3 years ago - a 20'x 8' oval with all of the dining room and sitting room furniture re-distributed.  

 

Fatadder - loving your blog posts - thanks.  But can I ask why your black Saint has no name?  WW2 built Halls never had names but so far I was unaware of engines which "lost" their names.  Or is it work underway?

[M.I.B]

When was Maindy Hall with the Hawksworth tender (and was it lined...) 

You have caught my interest.....

Maindy Hall ran with a lined Hawksworth tender in the later 1940s I am sure - I have read about it somewhere or seen the photos/photo link on this site.  I know some of my Rule 1 is generous, but I tend to stick to reality when it comes to engines and tenders and paint/logo schemes.

 

See my post 238

 

Sorry but I don't bring my notes out to "foreign parts".  Can't have them falling into enemy hands.

Edited March 31, 2017 by M.I.B

[The Fatadder]

Fatadder - loving your blog posts - thanks. But can I ask why your black Saint has no name? WW2 built Halls never had names but so far I was unaware of engines which "lost" their names. Or is it work underway?

There were some stars (3 I assume) for which the names were removed due to the countries monarchs being on the side of the enemy

Hence 4025 Italian Monarch was removed (and presumably due to the short remaining useful life of the loco post war they never bothered to apply a new name)

[The Fatadder]

Maindy Hall ran with a lined Hawksworth tender in the later 1940s I am sure - I have read about it somewhere or seen the photos/photo link on this site. I know some of my Rule 1 is generous, but I tend to stick to reality when it comes to engines and tenders and paint/logo schemes.

 

See my post 238

 

Sorry but I don't bring my notes out to "foreign parts". Can't have them falling into enemy hands.

I'm going to have to do some more research myself now...

I have a spare hawksworth tender (all be it temporary earmarked for use with a detailed county until a wide tender is built for it). Use on a hall with no lining is to interesting to miss)

[M.I.B]

Well every day is a schoolday on RM Web:

 

There were 6 Stars which got de-named in 1940 for "Political reasons" .  Odd that  "Spanish Monarch" kept its name - especially considering how pro-Nazi the Spanish were at the time,

 

Thanks.

[M.I.B]

I'm going to have to do some more research myself now...

I have a spare hawksworth tender (all be it temporary earmarked for use with a detailed county until a wide tender is built for it). Use on a hall with no lining is to interesting to miss)

Especially as Maindy lived in the SW during our period.

[The Fatadder]

Well every day is a schoolday on RM Web:

 

There were 6 Stars which got de-named in 1940 for "Political reasons" . Odd that "Spanish Monarch" kept its name - especially considering how pro-Nazi the Spanish were at the time,

 

Thanks.

Is a bit of a strange one

Though that said we did pay Franco a fair amount to stay neutral. And the did prevent the Germans attaching Gibraltar

 

As for Maindy, it's got me thinking about buying another Wellington and s Hornby hall to do a tender swap between. Can't have too many castles....

Edited March 31, 2017 by The Fatadder

[M.I.B]

As for Maindy, it's got me thinking about buying another Wellington and s Hornby hall to do a tender swap between. Can't have too many castles....

 

 

Or the Earl Cairns with the Hawksworth tender.    I have one which will become Monty Castle which dragged one about in 1946.

 

I think it came from the factory in black lined, so even for a black castle (St Mawes?) it will need a squirt of Halford's finest.

[The Fatadder]

Or the Earl Cairns with the Hawksworth tender.    I have one which will become Monty Castle which dragged one about in 1946.

 

I think it came from the factory in black lined, so even for a black castle (St Mawes?) it will need a squirt of Halford's finest.

Now you really have me thinking about Castles, and the possibility of using a BR release to do an unlined green example......

 

Must stop thinking about loco projects and get back to the more important task of actually building the layout!

[M.I.B]

I don't have room for NC yet hence why I am building all the stock I need.

 

 

 

A couple on Ebay at the moment, but quite a but more than the £50 I paid for mine.  I just checked - my bad - my EC is green lined with the "Cycling lion" logo.

Edited March 31, 2017 by M.I.B

[County of Yorkshire]

Is a bit of a strange one

Though that said we did pay Franco a fair amount to stay neutral. And the did prevent the Germans attaching Gibraltar

 

As for Maindy, it's got me thinking about buying another Wellington and s Hornby hall to do a tender swap between. Can't have too many castles....

 

Sorry to the bearer of bad news but Spanish Monarch was no more by November 1934 - just under 2 years before the commencement of hostilities over the wider part of the Iberian peninsular...

 

CoY

 

http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_str_star4a.htm

[M.I.B]

Aha - I see the detail there - it never got close to being de-named because it was already razor blades before hostilities.    Thanks for the correction.

[M.I.B]

I'm going to have to do some more research myself now...

 

 I am sure it is the link of the Halls post in "GWR" on the speciality pages.  Sadly the link doesn't work any more.

[M.I.B]

The match truck for the OOC 45 ton crane is finished (apart from a weathering).

Shovel handle and shaft are now a much lighter colour, a sleeper has been added.  The rogue small "W" picked up in the earlier photo, has been shaved out from under the paint, and repainted.

It's all packed up and waiting to go back to Blighty.

 

 

[M.I.B]

I had a session on sleeper loads one evening this week. 

 

Firstly the cast resin load was repainted, removing the silver spots on the chairs.  I then needed to give it a little shaping for it to fit the well of the sleeper carrier.    In it's previous use it was "roped" together and with a tiny and careful bit of scalpel work, it was fitted and remains roped together.

 

The "rope" is saddler's thread.

 

 

Having worked out how many of the set track sleepers fitted onto the wagons, I glued them to bits of plastic card and gave them a little shuffle so that they weren't too organised,  The card layers held the load piles together, and also spaced the top layer, as they would have been sat ontop of chaired sleepers below.

The best half dozen sleepers were kept for stacking as individual items to hide the poor floor joins.

 

No idea where brown set-track sleepers came from, but with a brown base colour they got a dry brushing of a darkened Humbrol brown usually used for dark (old/deep) rust.  The chairs got a coating of Precision 950 "Light Rust".

Edited April 2, 2017 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Finally chain was added.  There are no obvious shackling  points so I ended the chains inside the chain pockets.

Lettering is the usual HMRS.  Numbers areaccurate for the later type wagons, and two were lettered as per photos of originals.  Whilst looking for prototype photos I found a few versions of lettering schemes.  So the third was done with the large end leters and the "18 Ton" scripts.

I'm still using my pocket Cannon Ixus 4 which has had a hard life, and hence I appologise about the photo quality. However you should be able to pick out the three different greys used on these wagons.

Next off, and also for the PW train, - Cambrian's 6 ton crane and match truck.

 

I hope you survived April Fools' Day unscathed.

[M.I.B]

The bells have just chimed in the NC Box. 

 

4012 Knight of the Thistle is on it's way up from NA shed........

[danstercivicman]

Very nice wagons

[M.I.B]

Danstercivicman - thank you for your kind comments.

 

 

Well after what seems an eternity, a box has departed for Phear House, containing the Star I ordered 16 months ago.  No issues with that and I think this is the future ( rightly or wrongly) for big ticket RTR - most will be sold by pre-order and very little gathering dust on shop shelves.  Try and buy C&C Hornby Colletts now or Hawksworths.......or Dapol SR 2 axle PLVs in Southern Green.

 

Anyway, I digress.

 

Modelmaster name plates are at home and have been for some time, and flying off as well is a Hornby Castle front bogie from Peter's Spares.  The other changes needing to be made for 4012 seem to be the careful overpainting of the brass cab edge, and the sooty blacking of the valve chest ends before weathering the while engine.  4013 may well have been someone's pet in the late 40s, but 4012 wasn't, and it didn't have long left to serve as it visited NC either,

 

I did save the incorrect 12 spoke front bogie from Lode Star and it sits in the package, but no need to save this one.    Anyone need a 12 spoke front bogie - send me a PM and I'll post it when I get home.

 

I hope you are all happy and healthy.

Edited April 7, 2017 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

So, the last modellng for me for a while - I have run out of projects out here.

 

I was just lucky that I have had a lull in work and used it wisely (I hope).

 

A rummage around in the biscuit tin of modelling stuff uncovered the Smiths 3 link and instanter couplings, which I thought had gone Home.  So these were fitted up to the "OPEN C" and the three sleeper carriers, and painted accordingly.

[M.I.B]

And here is the Cambrian 6 ton crane and match truck completed this week.    OOC had one of these right up to the 1980s, on engineering and PW work, and this will trundle along with my 2 GANEs and 3 ballast hoppers and the sleeper carriers.

 

Sadly the plough TOAD won't be joining them as it is a brass kit.   A few years ago I got hold of a soldering iron and scraps of brass out here, and despite all the time on the world, I still never managed to progress further than putting a terminal on a wire.

This is a very detailed and quite fiddly kit - you need 4 hands for some of the phases.  The instructions are very detailed and with photos and drawings, but to improve on them I would also state that you should paint inside the body of the central "tower" before construction, and also paint inside the 4 components which make up the jib.

You can build this so that it is fully functioning, but once I had the tiny hook and chain in place (stowed back close to teh drum for transit), I put a drop of MEK on the pulley, and then wound the chain onto the main drum.  I coated the drum with some general purpose glue and wound the chain on.  The drum was then also MEK'd into place.  

As instructed in the kit, I used "BluTack" in the weight box at the back, and this has given the right balance over the swivel pin.  Thus the last item to be glued in place was the lid of the ballast weight box at the rear.

 

This kit is designed to allow you to make up a cameo because the bins can be modelled in an open position, and the outrigger spars (mine are correctly stored under/behind the buffers) can be deployed with some dunnage, to make a nice scene.  I did however leave the crane free to rotate.  So therefore it has articulation to cope with curves and points.

What was not clear to me was where the larger hook and pulley would be stowed for travel.  The smaller hool is doubled back and hung close to the drum.  Instructions state that a hook is retained on an inverted "V" of chain at the front of the match truck.  So I took the larger hook and hug it on the end of the jib, with the thin wire as supplied, and it is positioned OK for connecting to the chain on the match truck.

Talking of dunnage - 4 rather long chunky pieces were made up from a coffee stirrer and painted before securing on the bed of the match truck.

I look forward to going home at some point and weathering all of these.  I hope this post finds you happy and healthy.

Edited April 13, 2017 by M.I.B

[Castle]

Hi MIB,

 

Nice job on the burgeoning P-Way train! I want a hand crane in mine too but mine will have to be heavily kit bashed to do the larger example at Didcot. Have you thought about the ballast wagons for this one too? I have a cheeky 4 wheel coach as crew transportation in my proposed formation. Painted black for that essential departmental look... I think that another with panelled over windows as an improvised tool van might be in its future too. Plenty to choose from at Didcot and no other use in my selected period unfortunately!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[M.I.B]

Castle

 

I already have three Cambriam ballast hoppers made up a few pages ago.   There were some of the first ones out of the moulds.

 

And a page earlier is a grey ratio 4 wheeler full of workmen - and credited to yours as inspiration. 

 

I think the tool van is a detailed Hornby 12 ton and there is a dedicated "normal" TOAD done too. 

 

I think the Dapol Dean goods is rostered for this turn.

 

 

I forgot to say that the "Crane No..." wording on 237 was a repeat of the chopping up of "Moat Lane" and "Cardiff" decals once again.  I have enough of these left to do "Crane No 16" when Bachmann delivers the new GW on in 2027..........

[Castle]

Castle

 

I already have three Cambriam ballast hoppers made up a few pages ago.   There were some of the first ones out of the moulds.

 

And a page earlier is a grey ratio 4 wheeler full of workmen - and credited to yours as inspiration. 

 

I think the tool van is a detailed Hornby 12 ton and there is a dedicated "normal" TOAD done too. 

 

I think the Dapol Dean goods is rostered for this turn.

 

 

I forgot to say that the "Crane No..." wording on 237 was a repeat of the chopping up of "Moat Lane" and "Cardiff" decals once again.  I have enough of these left to do "Crane No 16" when Bachmann delivers the new GW on in 2027..........

Been a while since I looked back through the thread - you have this covered already! The Dean Goods sounds like a good choice - nice!

 

I look forward to seeing the whole thing when you get back to Blighty!

 

All the best,

 

Castle