TeakDB

To update my earlier post I received a reply to my email yesterday with an apology for the delay in replying as they were awaiting some castings for my kits to be complete. As I said to them, not an issue, it's only a hobby!

Update on the chassis. Here it is with the brake assemblage complete With the pickups fitted (definately not pretty but this is far from my forte and seemed like the easiest way to go, I may change this arrangement later). And current state of play after I'd removed the wheels and used a large amount of masking tape to be able to spray the brakes. My thought that the brake linkages would stop me taking the wheels off was wrong and so next one I build I will spray the whole chassis including brakes first before fitting the motor or pickups as that is obviously a lot easier. I've got a bit of paint to tidy up and have to fix the motor in position with some brass rod but it seems to perform alright, only issues I have so far is finding something to clean the stray paint off the wheel tyres and that when I screw down the body on the chassis both motor pickups contact the body and so create a short- need to find some way to insulate them. Now waiting for some fine milliput before making further progress on the body so may take a break and work on something else for a little bit.

I too have had a recent delay. I sent an email around a week and a half ago with one of their pdf order forms and asked if they could confirm the items were in stock before I paid, I have so far not heard back. Im not too fussed, as yet, as it does stress its a part time business and i'm in no huge rush, but that doesn't really explain an unasnwered enquiry from December. Hopefully all is well and there is an innocent explanation. Will update if the situation changes.

Short update today as theres family round. This is the current state of play. Ive painted the wheels in Urie green which looks far more garish in good lighting and is making me morbidly interested how the whole model will look in it, no wonder the Southern got maunsell to create an alternative livery so quickly! This being done I will crack on with finishing the chassis and fitting pick ups soon, just got a bit of filing to do on the main body to let the rear set of wheels rotate freely. With the body I wasnt happy with the supplied screws to hold the chassis and body together so I fitted two 8ba nuts to the front and rear footplate, one hidden in the firebox and the other in the bunker, this one required some filing to fit. With this done I filed back some of the front footplate to acheive a good fit for the side tanks. I took the instructions advice about pilot drilling all the handrail/fittting holes before soldering the whole assembly together which required a lot of looking at photos to determine what fittings I would fit. I've tried to use solder as a filler where possible which has worked well but I will still need to find some suitable filler to use for other gaps such as between the cab front and boiler and the firebox/boiler. Lastly I seem to have chucked the supplied whsistle somewhere so I think I will look at some brass fittings at some point, I know I also want to replace the smokebox dart to one with a small handwheel.

So Ive managed a bit more this weekend, but first a bit of backpeddling on IWCR exGER carriages! As I was shuffling round some books yesterday I found, by chance, one of the ocassional images i've bought off ebay when the subject seems interesting enough and I cant remember seeing it in one of my books, I have reproduced this below and it cleary shows a GER Third without recessed eaves, on further checking there is also a picture of this coach in 'Isle of Wight Railways Remembered' in IWCR days. So there we go, irrefutable proof the coach I was building is appropriate, not for the Bembridge releif coach but certaintly running with the LSWR bogie coaches at some point. Further research shows that of the 6 IWCR carriages 2 survived to be renumbered/painted and fitted with electric lighting, these lasted untill 1931 with one certaintly being the Bembridge releif coach. I will continue building it then if/when I fancy a break from the Beyer Peacocks white metal and it may end up in IWCR guise later on down the line as without more decent photos coming to light its only a 1/5 chance this was one of the coaches that made it into SR Green. Back to the task at hand I spent a lot of time staring at the chassis, motor and footplate working out how to get the motor in without losing backhead detail, the height being the main limiting factor here; forcing the motor to sit low down in the frames and consequently forwards. In the end I realised staring wasnt really going to help so I soldered on the buffer beams for both parts of the footplate as these obviously (a lightbulb moment) need to sit flush to the frames- with this done I realised that I had to remove quite a few mm from the middle of the front footplate to allow the gearbox room to 'sit down'. This means I also need to backpeddle on my earlier comment about the front footplate needing to sit as far forward as possible! I also tidied up the black spray behind the wheels and fitted the wheel balances. Again 'Locomotives of the Isle of Wight' came out to show me that the larger balances sat on the front wheels and the smaller the rear, almost but not quite, 180 degrees offset. I've come to realise that its at this stage I want to paint the wheels before fitting coupling rods and the remaining chassis details so I will now have to wait to receive some phoneix precision paints to arrive before the chassis can continue much further. One job that can be got on with is cutting down the front axle to be flush with the wheelset. I've also started playing with the fit for a few of the whitemetal pieces and am unfortunatly coming to the conclusion there is going to be a lot of filing in my future to ensure tidy fits!

Hi Nick, I have seen them yes but thanks for the comment, I originally thought that's what I was going to use. Unlike the d&s kit they are a slightly different diagram than the IWCR coaches but I'd be absolutely happy to forget about a 4mm difference because it really doesn't matter. However, now there doesn't seem to be a ready supplier of castings it adds a bit more time and effort into it. Ultimately I'm in no rush to get this coach done as I don't have the rest of the kits to make a Bembridge rake at the moment anyway so I'm happy to wait for a while to see if I do find a d&s kit. If not I will be purchasing one from Dave Everleigh in due course. Also bravo for the chassis, I think it's got a nice amount of detail on it and after filling went together nicely, now I know you are following I'll endeavour to make a better job of it to do your digital design credit!

Well, ive finally started the Beyer Peacock and made some good progress which I will detail below, but first a misadventure. I had to wait a few extra days for some cutting broaches to arrive in order to ream out the bearing holes in the frames. During this time I started on a few cattlewagons (which will be returned to after this is finished) but also thought I'd solder up a D&S GER 4 wheeler as a quick project. I finished the underframe before I realised i'd made a slight mistake and got the version of the Dia149 kit without recessed eaves (no mouldings above the windows) rather than the version with. As D&S kits arn't easy to come across (I still only have three LCDR 6 wheelers after a year and a half of looking) I have now had to consign this kit to a dark corner and hope I come across the hens tooth that is the Dia149 3b kit so I can swap out the underframe frets and sell on the current kit..... For those who are interested this kit would represent perfectly an ex IWCR GER 3rd which seems to have often been the spare coach for the Brading branch in the early 20s (ie right up my alley!). But I digress... Beyer Peacock Part 1- A rolling chassis. I decided to make my first model as Wroxall in early Southern livery. In addition to the Golden Arrow Kit I bought wheels ect from Scale Link, a Roadrunner+ gearbox from highlevel and have a choice of motor between a high level one and a cheapo mitsumi motor. This is the current state of play (body structure in the rear is just posed not soldered together yet), after around 5 hours of messing around. I soldered up the frames using a poppys assembly jig and got it square and running smooth fairly stress free. As this is my first locomotive I am following the instructions as best as I can and having a head scratch whenever anythings not obvious. I have built the chassis rigid as i'm not messing around with compensation and have seen plenty of these built rigid by Mark Pretious on his facebook group 'Merstone, St Lawrence, Ventnor West and Bembridge 00 Finescale Layouts'. I soldered in two spacers, one between the two driving wheels as suggested to mount the pickup pad on and the second just back from the front wheel so I can gently spring it with a wire pressing down on the axle. So far my observations are a) the most recent Silsbury book on the Locomotives of the Isle of Wight is very useful as it helped me locate the Cylinder covers and brake reservoir on the frames accurately, the latter has a pre cut locating groove but actually sat further back in reality. b) The hole for the front axle needed slight extension vertically to allow a bit more wiggle room for the front wheels to keep contact with the track c) The front section of the footplate needs to sit as far forward as the precut slots allow in order to get the tank sides to sit where theyre meant to and to allow the gearbox to sit as far forward as possible. I probably should of left the frames in grey primer to take photos but I will show off more of the detail without the footplates when I finish the brake assembly ect- ive just mounted this so far to judge clearance for the gearbox and motor. Im fairly sure I can fit the mitsumi in here without loss of cab detail but since I have the highlevel motor I will use it for this one and the mitsumis can be saved for the next couple. I'll try and fit the motor and the brake details as well as the pickups before next week. On another completely different note, I have received, with an incredibly fast turn around of two days, a few sheets of IWR garter transfers from John at Precision Decals. Matt Wickham of Vectis 3D design got these designed for his upcoming Oldbury Carriages and I thought itd be rude not to order enough for a rake of them and metropolitan stock, I asked for no numbers in the garters as I think I can get away using SECR numerals from fox transfers to save John the bother of setting up 15 odd different numbers. I will report back if Ive got my meausurements right for this plan.

Just a few 'group' photos today. I have started on the gear box and frames for my first Golden Arrow Beyer Peacock and will detail the build here as no one else has yet in much detail, hopefully I dont make too much of a pigs ear of my first loco model but watching the videos of the loco builder on youtube has really cleared things up for me.

Today I finished off the IWCR ex-GER van, although am sure there must be a better way to weather black; all I did here was a very light soot weathering powder to highlight detail. Roughly two dozen of these vans were purchased by the IWCR from 1904- 1909 and are ex GER in origin although I must confess I havent found the original GER vehicle. This model used a NER 8 Ton van from 51L as the base as the dimensions matched, as did the prominent crossbracing. The biggest alteration was in-setting the ends to create the recessed panelling but there was a lot of filling off of details and additions of etched parts from mainly trains to provide the correct ironwork and new w-irons, axleboxes ect. This can all be a bit more clearly seen in this post primer photo. The Lettering above I took directly from the drawing is Southern Wagons vol2 and slicing each of the letter transfers in half to fit around the tie rods was foruantely fairly easy. I went for the Black livery of the Wilmott years (1911+) although it is said that by grouping there was still many IWCR wagons in the previous grey with small lettering- I have an ex GCR dia13 van from mousa models that will be painted in this scheme (shown in pg158 of the FYNR book by Maycock and Silsbury). Some of these vans ran untill 1929/1930 in IWCR black or SR Brown. The Picture above shows a few arriving in 1906- the van at the back which seems to be the same design but insulated with use of a second wall is currently undergoing restoration at the IWSR as detailed below. When they get a bit further along I may also kitbash one- I just hope they too finish it in IWCR livery, although SR is understandable. https://fb.watch/aY2jo4auUo/ (Link to IWSR Works facebook page detailing the above IWCR wagon)

Thank you for the comment chris, my affair is somewhat younger as ive only known heritage steam on the island but the mix of pregrouping stock on the island, especially in the 20s has really appealled to me. Speaking of which...

And they are (as usual 95%) finished! Took a while as I decided to come down with glandular fever but am recovered now. My spray can of humbrol varnish decided to clog up unfortuantly so im going to have to order another can before I can seal the weathering powders ect in, after that i'll glue'n'glaze the windows on the brake. In the end I decided that tamiya hull red gives a pleasant enough brown and matches up rather well with the snippets of description for iow wagons- this is meant to be a model of the wagon in the previous post. Now Ive got the two below bits to finish off before I can contemplate moving onto something else (either a beyer peacock or a suprise pair of coaches). The left is about 75% of an iwcr ex-ger (and im sure ex somewhere else before that) covered goods and the right is the current progress on lining the lswr full brake. As is the case with all the roofs in this post at the moment this is just plopped on.

Have been progressing on a few wagons the last few days, the FYNR Brake is receiving its first few coats of light grey now and will hopefully be finished in another day or two. Behind it is my earlier IWR/ratio bodge which is being repainted into a SR scheme and in the foreground is a IWR dumb buffered wagon, from a kit by 5&9 models with added strapping ect. And here it is below from a well known photo. The one trouble im having with it at the moment is choosing a brown paint that I feel 'looks the part' I dont think we'll ever know the exact shade as the authorities on the matter either quote it as 'brown', 'chocolate brown' or 'red oxide'. I tried humbrol 98 and 186 but neither ended up looking anything like the colours on the website/label so I will buy a few more tinlets when I next get the chance and find a shade im happy with.

Hope all have had a good festive period. Got a few bits on the worktop at the moment for which im awaiting bits from wizard models before I can finish them ready for painting so I thought id update this with a few ramblings. First up is the FYNR Brake van which did not turn out to be the quick build I was hoping. This kit has a few pitfalls for those of us who dont plan ahead well with our kitbuilding- mainly some of the castings are poor fits and some of the handrail holes/ door hinges are in the wrong place, if you are building this yourself i'd recommend looking at an as built example in the LBSC modellers digest no 11. and plan ahead rather than working sequentially through the instructions (happy to provide more details of my build experience if anyone wants it). I am waiting for keeperplates before finishing off the below solebar details, this is where most of the detail differences are compared to its 'as built' condition. I've attached the only good photo I can find of the brake van as it confirms some of the drawing in Vol 2 of southern wagons but also disputes other bits (most prominently the lower footboard not beig full length)- highlighting the importance of a good photo! My other two sticking points are that there are no coupling plates included and I am unsure if a stove pipe needs to be fitted in the roof, this and the other more distant photo at freshwater seem to suggest it didnt retain one but the angles arnt great to be certain of it). I thought id also provide a potted history of the van for those who want a bit of background. The Stroudley 7 Ton road vans were built in the 1870s-80s and 167 made it to grouping, although almost all left revenue traffic by 1924. In 1902 the IWCR bought 3 of these Stroudley brakes and at some point used two of them as the base to build their own transhipment vans on top. The third was sold to the FYNR in 1913 when it undertook to run its own line. It was repainted into the FYNR livery of grey with white lettering. Although it was allocated an SR number it was withdrawn in 1926 before this was likely to be carried. This is a bit of a bummer as I had hoped I could of paired it with the LBSC ballast train but they wern't sent to the island untill 27 so I think my excuse to have it at Brading will have to be a smaller permanent way train.

So my next pair of projects to complete alongside lining out the first luggage van (more to come on that soon) are to finish the LBSC dumb buffered wagon rake and then for a quickish project the FYNR brake van. Heres the six i've apainted in SR Engineers livery; And the three in original LBSC- the ballast markings are from the earliest days of their life and certaintly would not still have been around in the 1927 but I thought it was a bit of fun. I realised as I set about to put the couplings on I dont have enough links for the three links couplings so in the new year I will order some from brassmasters. I will also think about making up ballast loads for them when I find some appropriate sand to use as ballast on the whole layout-to-be. So a bit of a cheat as theres still jobs to do on them but theyre 90% there.

Any plans for further Manning Wardles? Class M (Isle of Wight Railway 'Bembridge') or Class L (North Sunderland Railway 'Bamburgh') in particular.... Love the range to date.