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During lockdown, I've been fishing out various projects that were started but not finished. I've been very slowly getting together some LSWR stock to represent trains pre WW1 and just after the turn of the 20th century. I also thought of a short GWR train to run at the same time. So here we are, finally in operating condition, transfers applied matt varnish sprayed on, wheels and couplings fitted. The 6 wheel brake van is Oxford r-t-r with 3 link couplings fitted, These are 3 GWR V4 and V5 type vans from old cooper craft kits. Now finished and with 3 link couplings fitted. The kits came with rather nice spoked wheels. On the track, the Scammel mechanical horse is rather out of era! Off round the layout, ok wrong emblem on loco but 45xx were first built before WW1 so maybe this could be a starting point for an appropriate loco... Just to get an idea of the look of the train.

I managed to prime and paint the little Ruston yesterday evening, although it's not the neatest job I've ever done. A generous weathering will hopefully hide most of my indiscretions. Stats: Number of Ruston chassis' I need to buy to run all the loco bodies I've designed or am working on: 4 (this may also increase in future) Cumulative mugs of tea counter: 64 (estimated) Cumulative pushup counter: 1555

My current project is the conversion of a Bachmann 64XX pannier tank to a 74XX (almost identical, but not auto-fitted and thus much more suited for a goods-only branch in the Welsh borders), which will be used on my new OO layout 'Bethesda Sidings'. I've been posting occasion updates on the project on my layout thread here - Being generally far too fussy and anal about smooth, slow running for my own good, I have once again found that the Bachmann RTR chassis just doesn't 'cut the mustard' in terms of controlability. I appreciate that others have had better luck, but (and I suspect part of this is just me), I frequently seem to find the RTR chassis unsatisfactory. What I have done in the past, is to replace the RTR chassis with an etched kit, normally using Romford or Markits wheels. I've done this a number of times, in some cases where the old Mainline split chassis has given up the ghost or, more recently, because the RTR chassis runs poorly and no amount of tweaking and running-in seems to improve it. Two recent examples have been my Hattons/DJM 14XX and (a few years ago) a Bachmann Standard Class 3 2-6-2T. I had run the Bachmann chassis in for several hours back in 2017: I had got it just about running well enough, to consider it suitable for slow speed shunting etc. on the new layout. A few weeks ago, I started the body modifications to convert the 64XX to a 74XX, at our Scalefour area group's 'Indulgence Day' (the most obvious work involves modifications to the bunker and cab roof). A little while later, having more or less completed the layout, I gave it another trial, which was when I encountered what I considered to be the final straw. The Bachmann chassis didn't like running through the A5 crossover, which had been built (most carefully) to OO-SF standards. This corresponded with an emerging theme, namely that some RTR chassis with 3 axles (or more) didn't like running smoothly through the crossover (oddly enough, a Bachmann 8750 pannier and an 08 diesel shunter are fine). What did stand out, though, was that all my locos fitted with etched chassis and Romford or Markits wheels ran through with no problem. As such, I decided that there was now no alternative but to replace the chassis with an etched kit. In terms of the smaller 54XX, 64XX and 74XX panniers, there is really only one option, namely the excellent kit by High Level, which gives you the option to build the variants suitable for any of the above three types of pannier loco. The kit is highly detailed and certainly the most complex chassis kit I have yet assembled. However, the detailed instructions are extremely thorough and the fit of the etched components is excellent, a tribute to the quality of the product. I found that I just had to take my time and methodically follow the sequence outlined in the instructions to the letter (which is what Chris Gibbon of High Level recommends) and the chassis slowly started to take shape. Once I had fitted the hornblocks, with their sliding brass bearings and the twin-beam compensation, however, it began to dawn on me that there might be a problem. The chassis is designed to be built in either OO, EM or P4, of course, and the issue I encountered would not affect EM or P4 modellers. The kit comes with it's own gearbox, the parts for which are included on the main chassis etch. In all other respects, it is typical of the excellent gearbox design that High Level have been producing for many years now, etched in nickel silver, with plastic gears, brass worm and brass final drive gear (with grub screw). It is also quite a narrow gearbox when assembled, being approx 7.5mm wide (some of High Level's other designs can be up to 11mm in width, in my experience). When looking at the amount of space between the hornblocks and brass bearings for the drive axle (rear axle), it seemed to me that the distance available would mean the gearbox was a very tight fit indeed, which might compromise the ability of the compensation to work properly. Once I had folded up the main gearbox and offered it up to the chassis, the problem was confirmed, the gearbox was too wide: I felt that I would need to reduce the width by at least 1mm or so, in order to give sufficient free movement to the compensation. The first action was to remove one side of the gearbox, easily done by bending the side to and fro a little: I then fitted a couple of 10BA bolts, with nuts set to the new spacing: Once I was happy with the alignment, the gearbox side was soldered back on, with a small piece of scrap etch for additional strength: Once the nuts and bolts were removed, the gearbox now fitted between the brass bearings, with about 0.5mm or so clearance, which should be sufficient: A small bit of scrap etch was soldered in place to provide some additional strength: The gearbox with the motor and gears fitted: In hindsight, it would have been easier to thin down the sliding brass bearings. These do come with a raised, circular ridge on the inner face, that High Level recommend you remove for the front and rear axles, to clear the dummy valve gear and the gearbox respectively, but with an OO chassis, further brass would need to be removed to allow the gearbox to fit. I have shared my thoughts with Chris Gibbon of High Level.

As I hinted in one of my previous blog postings I wasn't entirely happy with the windows in the station building. Some were ok (usually the ones I'd shot in photographs) but others were a bit iffy. I'd been slowly developing the process and the cut files for the laser cutter. This picture shows versions 1, 2 and 3 from left to right. Version 1 was a single 1mm cut with the detail engraved on the top. The single thickness made for a lack of relief that I didn't think gave adequate depth for the sash. Version 2 used two layers of 1mm MDF, engraved some detail on the front but also used the second layer to give space for the rear sash pane. This looked a lot better but I didn't get the design in the correct space to fit the glazing material. This made glazing really difficult and my choice of glazing material didn't help as it was quite thick. It didn't stick very well and I tried to resort to super glue which then caused white crazing in the glass. Version 3 now has a much better recess for the glazing, I also found that I could laser cut the acetate sheet which I purchased from the Model Shop in London. I managed to get the setting such that I could just gently pop the glazing sections out of the sheet. The biggest problem was that I would pop the windows out and then immediately lose them. I also chose to start making the windows in some supplemental frames and leave these frame on the main sheet. This meant I didn't have to wrestle finding all the individual bits in the bottom of the cutter and I could more easily spray the windows. So now I managed to make up lots of replacement windows, the glazing held in with PVA which dries clear and doesn't spoil the glazing material. The windows were painted white with the very edge of the frame painted in the same light green as the down pipes. One of the key things I wanted to achieve was consistency, I wanted all the windows to be equally good so that they will all match. I've also been doing so work on the good shed artwork. This is a difficult exercise in laser cut brickwork, particularly around the buttresses at each corner. I tried just cutting out the parts for one corner to see how it might come out. The base wall is 3mm MDF, the bulk of the buttress is 1.5mm and the plinth is 1mm. All need different allowances for the interlocking bricks, I cut these over-length so I can then sand them back to match. I still need to allow a little more for the thinnest section of the buttress. I gave it a quick coat of brick red followed by my usual treatment of Wilco fine filler and Vallejo grey wash. The result shows I'm on the right track (I hope). Some good progress. David

The coaling stage is built from the excellent Poppys Woodtech laser-cut wooden kit. Despite the small scale the kit goes together very easily. The fact that it is real wood makes painting and weathering easy. I used a combination of water colour and pastels. I just need to get some coal on it now.

I’ve always been interested in African railways, and sugar mills, so this seemed like a pretty good compromise. It will eventually be a representation of the Sena Sugar Estates Luabo mill, located in the Zambezi delta of Mozambique. I decided on using HOe scale track for it, and the motive power will be a Roco Henschel hf 110, disguises to look like a 2 foot gauge Fowler. The main long grey building is scratch built out of card and long bbq matches. The interior is, from left to right, The crushing bay, then going upstairs to the distilling room. Below the distilling room is the generator and boiler room. The other buildings are mostly Kibri. On the end there is a portable engine based off one in a real photo which I can’t show here unfortunately, but I can link the Flickr account that has it. (It’s not my account). The third photo is of the crushing mill. stay healthy, Douglas

Taking a break from my 1990s resprays, I have been cracking on with a long overdue project for a couple of brake vans. For Brent I have currently got 5 toads at various stages of completeness, 2 of the Hornby AA15 model which have been repainted along with new location branding & a weathered roof. A Bachmann AA19 which has had all of the bodyside handrails removed pending replacement with wire (using the MRD brackets), this one is approaching the top of the to do pile. Finally a pair from Oxford Rail (one AA1 and one AA3) which were last nights project. Now these are not the best models in the world, in fact the list of errors is pretty long. However with some work they do scrub up ok. The plan: Plate over front end / add Archers rivet detail & new lamp iron. This was added from 10thou plasticard cut to size before gluing in place. Plate over lower 3 planks of rear end (along with adding rivet detail) Modify the ends > removing the fictional window and replacing with a wooden drop panel cut from an old Triang conflat One has had the original 2 piece windows replaced with the one piece design (but I didn’t correct the size on the rebuilt version due to difficulties matching up with the frame Door to van, for some reason Oxford added another error on the door missing off the top 2 ½ planks (it almost looks like they added another fictional window) Repaint in GWR wagon grey (the colour the model comes in is almost LMS grey) Add transfers (HMRS for wagon number and G W logos, Railtec custom order for the locations (Bristol (West Depot) for the AA1 and Kingsbridge for the AA3. I couldn’t find a photo of a Bristol West Depot branded toad, so hopefully I have got the transfers right. The Kingsbridge transfer was a little too wide to fit (but the prototype clearly was fitted within a single panel). It looks like some (all?) of the letters were compressed, so I have followed the same route with the B, D and E.

Everyone has that one kit that thwarts them - Matchbox's Fairey Seafox was mine. Previous attempts 30 odd years ago ended in failure, but not this time.. The Kit, not much to it, but aftermarket decals were required.. The build, straightforward - but I replaced a couple of parts with copper wire, to add strength. Airbrushed some silver, where it would be difficult to do once construction was complete. Getting into uncharted territory here.. Boldly going where I've never gone before.. Time for paint and decals and weathering.. Final bits added Time for her debut.. And the cameo.. That's all for now TBG James

Following completion of the Foreman's Hut my next building for Barrow Road is the Ambulance & Mutual Improvement Shed which was situated in the shed yard adjacent to the viaduct carrying Barrow Road itself. With time during the current situation spent between house decoration and modelling this model has taken about a week to produce. Construction uses two layers of plasticard - a 30thou base structure laminated with a 40thou layer of 2mm [ 6in] Evergreen V Groove sheet. I produced a 4mm scale drawing the dimensions obtained by scaling from photograhs I have in my collection. The following photos show stages of the build. The tiles are 3M strips I have spare from the roundhouse and come from York Modelmaking. Some photographs of the Ambulance Shed in situ on the layout will follow.

The prototype 48DS (though it wasn't called a 48DS until much later) fits the footplate! Some nice design from Hornby here means I can reuse the footplate, which is great as it has a lot of weight in it, so it should still run well. Lots of pressure at work at the moment so my time is given over to that rather than modelling, but hopefully will get primer on soon. Stats: Number of bolts/screws left over from the desk and chair I put together yesterday: 8 Level of concern that gives me: none Cumulative pushup counter: 1425

Having returned the Black Duchess I received tow more locos from the same client. Both needed to be renumbered (and renamed for the Duchess), detail packs fitting then weathered. Black 5 One of two Saltley favourites. Not too dirty. Boiler cladding dirt - its that coal dust/soot oil mix...sets like rock in real life. New smokebox plate. I had to make this up using some Pacific Coat Models plates. New shedplate fitted. Duchess o folow. Baz

So on with the Mustang build. With the arrival of the correct masks, I could get on with painting the Mustang.. Multiple metallic colours were used. Adding the decals. Weathering & final assembly. Final reveal.. And a familiar cameo.. Till the next build TBG James

Here the gears and driven axle are in place in the chassis. The muff is reamed out to be a fairly loose push fit so that I can test the assembly. The wheels will eventually be glued in after painting etc. Some time was spent filing more metal off the chassis block so that nothing was catching. I've also countersunk the heads of the fixing screws here to make them as flush as possible to the side frames, not least because they will be behind the front and rear wheels. The crankpins had been glued to the driving wheels with araldite on a previous occasion. I discovered that the muffs were just the right length as they come to fit for the driving wheels without shortening. The muff for the gear shaft did need shortening as you can see. In fact, this one also needed some attention because I didn't have a suitable stepped one in stock (the metric 14T gear has a different hole diameter than the worm wheel). I simply took a fatter 3.2mm (or is it 1/8"?) one and turned one end to 3mm on the lathe. I cut it down to the right length at the same time (much easier than filing by hand). This is much quicker than the operation of reaming out the hole which I did do by hand (is there a lesson there?). Here the other wheels are (temporarily) attached to check that the chassis rolls along my test track. All seems to be in order (famous last words). You can see the end of one of the two half stub-axles on the gear shaft. At this point the chassis block still hasn't been cut to length. Next job will be to shape the coupling rods...

Last year we had a discussion about SDJR Road Vans here on RMweb, which revealed that – contrary to what one might think – these vehicles travelled well beyond the SDJR on a regular basis, including foreign destinations right up to London. For details, please see Buckjumper’s notes in the thread. I thought I might justify one of these vans making an occasional appearance at Farthing, perhaps carrying small consignments of cheddar, cider and other Somerset delicacies to satisfy the palets of Wiltshire’s gentry. The SDJR had at least two designs of road van, one of which was based on the Midland Railway diagram D363 vans. Slater’s do a kit for the latter MR van, so I thought this would be a good basis for a kit bash. As it transpired, the project came to involve a lot more scratch building than kit building! I began with the chassis. As can be seen here, the kit comes with oil axleboxes but my photos of the SDJR vans show Ellis grease axle boxes. So I removed the axleboxes and W irons, and also filed off some of the solebar fittings, to be replaced later. I bought in some MJT compensation units and and Ellis grease axleboxes from Dart castings. To make space for the MJT units, parts of the underframe from the kit was cut away, using what I call the “salami method”. Plastikard packing under the MJT units to get the right ride height. Then came the time-consuming part. As can be seen above, the Slaters kit has a sliding door type which is wrong for the SDJR vans. To make matters worse, the door is off-set to one side, meaning the Vs of the framing aren’t actually symmetrical. So I decided to scratch build new sides. For the new sides I used plain Evergreen 0.5 styrene, and did the planking with my new scribing tool. This makes a neat V-groove, whereas other methods – eg the back of a scalpel blade – tends to make an unsightly ridge along the groove. The framing was a bit tricky. The joins with the van ends are mitred, and the bottom framing is sloping in order to let rainwater run off. It helped to fit the ends to the chassis, so that I could offer up the sides to the van and check that everything fitted as I went along. I trust my fettling more than my measuring! The framing all done. For the strapping I used a general etch from Mainly Trains. Having done a full side, I realized that the strapping should have rounded ends. I decided to leave it, but next time I’ll use plastic strip instead as this can be fashioned as required. Door hinges and locking mechanism were made from plastic rod, wire and chain. Bolt heads were added using rivet transfers. The lower framing “dips” where each bolt is mounted. This was replicated with plastic putty filed to shape. Sides checked against drawing. The perspective makes the side look a little too long here, but it fits in reality (honest, guv!). My glorious reward for scratchbuilding the sides was that the ends now looked a bit coarse by comparison! I decided to leave them as they were, except for a bit of modification to the strapping (lower left is as it comes, lower right is modified as per the prototype photo). Ready for primer with brakes and various other fittings now added. The headstocks were extended a little to be flush with the lower framing, as per the photo in Southern Goods Wagons. The roof seemed a little short to me – even for the original kit – so I extended it by 0.5 mm at each end. The paint job did not go well. Unfamiliar with the livery, I first sprayed on a light grey, then tried a darker one, then the light one again, etc. As a result, the grooves in the sides started filling in and revealed that I hadn’t cut them all to equal depth. Lesson learnt, the hard way! I couldn’t find any available SDJR lettering, so used individual letters from various HMRS sheets (the SR pre-grouping sheet is particularly useful). Number plates are a print from the original photo, with the perspective changed in Paintshop. The split spoke wagon wheels are temporary till I get some new plain ones. Thankfully, the slightly heavy paintjob is not really noticeable in a layout context. One thing puzzles me though: Most SDJR wagons seem to have had distinctive black ironwork, but the 1896 photo I was working from shows no. 1038 in all-over grey, with only the number/works plates picked out in black. It’s an official photo taken at Derby works, so perhaps not to be trusted? For the time being I’ve left the strapping in plain grey but if anyone has further info I’d be interested. Thanks to all involved for helping out with the info used in this build, very much appreciated!

Since my last post about adding 4mm wagon kits to our 7mm range we have been commissioned to produce some additional wagons these will be ready round about Easter next year. The second batch of 4mm wagons will be: NER/LNER/BR/PO P5/P17 hopper NER/LNER/BR/PO R2/4 Coke hopper NER/LNER/BR S1 Ore hopper. I will up date everyone once design work has commenced. Marc