M.I.B

I hope that you are all happy and healthy. We are doing a clap for delivery drivers tomorrow - sometime between 1pm and 7pm...........

No modelling this weekend - too many boxes to pack, and even got as far as removing the floor boards out of the loft. NC has made its way to another temporary home Whilst I was shifting it I realised that all I need to add are wires for point motors, "two wires" for DCC and some boards. What you see here is the 98% of the traction, 99% of the rolling stock, all of the track, buildings, cars, trucks, people..... The proposed "Shed 2" project is in amongst all this too - in its own crate.

Thanks John. I was mulling over the idea to retain the plug so that I alternate how this Hall looks if it can hook up the spare black 4000 Gallon tender I have from the other unnamed Hall. I would need to then program the spare black tender as a separate loco. Not a tough ask. Or I could do as you say and hard wire without the plugs etc..... regards,

Lost count of the days and we are now set up for another three weeks of lockdown. I like working from Home and I am equipped to do so. I do feel lucky. A bit of modelling this week: The Collett 6 wheel tender is now devoid of all DCC wiring and boards, The 8 wheel tender got painted and decals, and coal. Below is a shot taken before the paint "snagging". And then I investigated how and where to fit the electronics, whilst accounting for the lack of pickups. I will use some left over brass from some Modelmaster number plates to make pickups to rub on the backs of the wheels. And the amount of wires and fittings wedged into one tender..... The engine body was de-glazed and the splasher and names were removed. This leaves a tiny slit in the join between the splasher and the foot plates. This slot filled with paint while I was painting under the boiler and some other areas. This splasher is left a tiny bit thinner than the others, but with the application of matt black paint, this difference is un-noticeable. Hopefully over the weekend I will close the cab window, fit crew and a fall plate, and detail the back head. I hope that you are all happy and healthy.

No modelling this week - I have either been working from Home or packing the house/readying the site for the impending build. Foundations went in OK and bricks start hitting the deck on April 20th. Finding suppliers has been tough but plenty of independent still want to trade and using social distancing and online payment they are still operating. I am going out of my way to thank them when I collect stuff. One brick supplier from Surrey has agree to go to the extent of his delivery radius and meet me in a car park of a mates pub, which is of course closed. I will sit there all day waiting for him to cross load 4 pallets of Fletton's finest "Heathers" if it means I get them. I picked up 2000 bricks last week and hand stacked them when I got home. Good for the 6 pack I'm told!!! Tomorrow I'm off to collect 30 bags of cement (: It's been a sad few days as we have said farewell to Pussy Galore, a Goody and Sir Sterling. I hope you are all happy and healthy.

It is a balancing act between buying a recent model and a model of the correct batch. for example you will get a really detailed DCC example of a Castle with nice handrails and sprung buffers etc but from a later build batch. Cylinder covers may be wrong etc. Or you get a model of a Caerphilly Castle, which will technically be close to 01 and 18 but the standard of the model is very "70s/80s" and definitely not DCC. I have a black St Mawes, based on a Dapol model. There are one or two very minor in-inaccuracies which I am prepared to live with.

It's been listed on here a number of times by various folk. The man who knows all the intricate details of the castles is Didcot's very own "Castle" who frequent these parts. He has stated which two were black at least once on here.

Thanks for taking the time to make these Steve. I brush painted the chassis - insides of the frames/axle boxes first, whilst holding the unit with my fingers on the outside edges. The I held it at the rear end (nothing to paint here) and painted the outsides. The hole is a good idea - my spray stand has small crocodile clips on it and these would hold this . Good design. I will be attaching this with a home made shorter draw bar from flat steel. Whichever way I go with the chip and wires I don't need the articulated conduction used by Hornby. Great 3d print - thanks once again. Any chance of doing a 9 tank CORDON?

If it had a deep shop in 43 or 44 it was probably black, but not definitely. Castles and Kings stayed Green (apart from 2 Castles) All new build Halls during WW2 were black, un-named and had no side windows at all. I haven't yet seen any photos of 47XX in black, but a statement like that opens floodgates........ Add the average time between new boilers to the above and that gives you a timezone for black engines. There will always be the exception - this is the GWR after all.

Two castles were refinished in black. 5018 St Mawes was one....... Yiewsley Grange was black. Kings were always turned out in Lined Green.

Good morning all. Lost count of how long we have been locked down. Had a quick modelling session last night. I can call it modelling as it did involve tools - not my usual "repaints and renumbers" which have been common over the last few years. The 8 wheel tender project threw up a spare Collett chassis which I thought I would pair with a spare Mainline 2251 3500 Gal top. So this was tackled last night. The chassis is from a recent, but not up to date "DCC Ready"4-6-0. The wheels are the pickups for one rail, and conduct via a copper strip under the drawbar. The chip and other pick up is in the engine. None of the mounting points mounted up and a fair amount of trimming was needed: there was a mounting above the spring hangers which had to be removed to allow the chassis to sit up inside the Mainline tender body. Also the area of the drawbar mount needed a coupe of mm taking off it to shorten the chassis. The body had a couple of "drops" inside which were threaded to receive mounting screws through the Mainline chassis. Once the chassis fitted freely inside the body, the body "flopped" down at the rear. Thinking back a couple of years to the episode where the Dapol County tender top wouldn't sit in place, I just built up a plinth of coffee stirrer sticks on the traction weights. This allows the area under the dome to be supported at the right height. Coal was added, and a new vac pipe. The brake rodding was missing so I experimented with some Evergreen rod. It's a bit thicker than it should be, especially the "front to rears", but after a coating of black and some weathering it won't be seen., but the transverse rods will be, and that is the desired effect of this job. Hand rail will get a repair tonight before the black paint comes out. I don't have a specific tole for this tender, so it has no couplings or draw bar. It will become either "shed scenery" or if a tender-less 2251 comes along.......... The 8 wheeler project is not the Falcon/Jidenco brass kit, but instead a 3D printed chassis from Stafford Road/Shapeways. Add the correct Alan Gibson wheels and a Hogwarts Express tender top, (make sure you buy the right version to get the mounting holes to line up), and "all -done". This will run in unlined green behind the as yet un-named Impney Hall. Before I settle down to the "paint and coal" stage I do need to add pickups, as my base model Hall (Olney Hall "as preserved") uses the tender to pick up. I therefore have the choice to mount the chip in the tender and have motor power (orange and grey) go forward, or mount the chip in the engine and have the pick up wires (red and black) go back to the tender. I also need to add traction weights - the weights stayed with the 6 wheel chassis. I have plenty of tyre shop weights. I have a couple of days to ponder this because in order to put the Gibson wheels together properly I need a "back-to-back" gauge which is now on its way from The Model Centre. As (Impney Hall) was a visitor to NC I may chop out the coal load and build another empty bunker. All depends on where I put the chip. In the meantime - stay inside this weekend - it will be tempting to go out and about - the forecast is good. I hope that you are happy and healthy (and remain so)

Thanks Jason. Regards,

I have been very kindly been given a pair of elbow pipes in OO which could be used to update a Star. I am also aware that straight pipes are needed to update late moguls. Whilst not wanting to go "into business" if there is a way to get a few sets made and out to people who need these, at cost, that would be a good thing to do. A few questions to the Hive-mind of RM Web: 1. What is the best way to have these replicated - 3D print, white metal, moulded "plastic"???? 2. And is this going to be viable? If the 3D set up costs £50, it's tough to spread that over a dozen sets. 3. If someone is making Castle style elbow pipes, it's not worth starting.

I do like the look of the "folded over" and rolled. However the "deployed" needs a good choice of material - OO curves are tighter than real life so the material needs to flex, yet still look like a crumpled tarp.

Sorry for the delay in posting - I did the "weekly shop" at 0600 today and have been playing catch -up since. And before the cries of "panic buy hoarder...." I usually do the weekly shop at 0600 on a saturday. I did it today as I have to go off to do some work at a UK depot tomorrow. Tescos had everything on the list in stock, in plentiful amounts and there was no argy bargy to be seen. As for modelling........... The 56XX got finished off last night. Putting the chopped down (or should that be chopped up?) traction weight into the bunker/cab area was a little more difficult than expected. Because it is designed to sit on the cab floor it can support the cab roof and the coal load, so by removing the bottom 5mm of it, this is tough. In the end I used Loctite "All Purpose 60 second glue" which is in effect UHU mixed with Superglue. I had to glue the weight up under the coal load, leaving exactly enough space for the rear of the cab to slot down between them. By running a tiny bit of said glue onto the lower edge of the cab rear, and edge of the coal load, it all holds itself together. If I were to remove the cab roof I would get the cab. half the traction weight and the coal load in one go. The driver was re-positioned due to a miscalculation (the width of the cab roof pushing the traction weight forwards). But this is an added bonus - he now faces towards the rear. Given that the prototypes spent a lot of time running in reverse, because they rode better that way, this will be so for 5697. Following the attached photos, the coupling was suitably changed on the model. This model is in BR Green and has not been repainted. It will receive a very heavy sooty and track dusty weathering so a change of colour so slight would be a waste of resources. So the cabinet, which has been full for so long, is now empty. I will need to go into the loft and sort out some more models needing work. And I will select with my temporary accommodation and workload in mind. But they will stay elsewhere- this is a good opportunity to take down the cabinet. This room becomes the lower hall, vestibule and stairs, so the cabinet will not return in here. It may go into the study , or it may be stored and go to the new home of NC when it has been finished, in 2-3 years time. I see that some really great modelling has been taking place on other people's posts and messages - I am inspired by what I am seeing. I hope you are managing to get some extra time spent on something or with someone you enjoy. EDIT - I have just noticed care of the photos above, that the boiler back-head panel has fallen back into the cab - I will sort this tonight. In the meantime, on the 22nd birthday of Viagra (according to Radio 4) hope you are happy and healthy.

Some milk or NPCCS perhaps please please.? Especially in the light of that beautiful Dick Riley & Peter Gray book on non passenger ops. (Loving King John on NPCCS work picture)

That's great stuff. Glad kids are learning about that sort of stuff. I did Roundheads and Cavaliers and hated it. Loved the ancient Egyptians lessons tho.

Das Boot is great but maybe a bit harrowing for an 8 year old.

You may be better off carefully using a glass fibre pencil on the emblems. I have now changed to this method from using Tcut. The ex Mainline 3500 gallon tenders (2251/Manor/Mogul) don't usually come with markings on the tender buffer beams.

Day 3........all is well at North Cranford. St Pat is no more - and Knight of Liege has name and number plates, as well as a renumbered beam. With 2 crew and coal, it is in its box. I am struggling to trim off the name pates on the Hornby Pt Pats - the brass used on the model is very thick and chunky - beyond normal modelling tools. I think If I ever come across these or similar again, I will go out to the main workshop and apply so automotive repair tools to the task. The 56XX was reunited in terms of body and chassis. The chip socket is at the front of the engine, just under the front of the water tank at the top. But the wires exit the chip forwards towards the chimney. They therefore creep into the front of the boiler, which has a horizontal split in it - the lower half remains on the chassis. (Stick with me) There is no room for a chip (without total removal of the socket and a hard wire of a tiny Mini chip). So I gathered the wire and ran them back to wards the cab in the space between the traction weights (in each tank) and the motor/wormdrive. Closing the body to the chassis took a while as the wires tried to poke through the two halves of the boiler. I did try wrapping them in a bit of tape but that added bulk in a tight space. The wires are paper tape wrapped near the worm drive and as they exit at the back head. This snapped as i trimmed it buy I have recovered most of it. I will have a trial refit tonight. There is a spare backhead from something in the bits box, but I think the cab is so deep and dark in the 56XXs that it won't notice as long as i paint the exposed motor part in black. Not rocket science just fiddly. Having broken all the finger bones in my right hand in Helmand in '09, sometimes fiddly jobs take twice as long for me, but I now have far more patience that I had in '09. The cab roof on a Bachmann 56XX comes off, as does the coal load, and the rear traction weight, which features a cab rear detail such as bunker doors and tool boxes. So loads of access and space in the cab if the traction weight is removed - which is not an option for the sake of traction and also looks. I secured the chip on a plinth made of stacked lolly sticks. It is surrounded by free air and on non conductive mounts so it should remain cool. The fireman was located on a similar plinth, whilst the driver underwent surgery to remove most of his legs. All good so far. To add back the traction weight, I went to the motor workshop this morning, and after fitting a new blade, I took a chunk off the lower half of the weight. It was a joy to slice up quickly - sometimes you don't realise that the blade on something has gone dull if you use them infrequently: replacement shows up the difference. I think I have become lazy when it comes to cutting things - these days for the sake of speed and energy I use a machine to do most of cutting tasks and the "manual" way gets ignored. I went for the hacksaw option today as it was a bit early for power tools. So here we are: traction weight ready to fit..... in 12 hours time 5697 could be in the box after a quick portrait. Meanwhile off to work........ Stay happy and healthy.

UK lock-down Day 1 - I am scratching the 4 bar gates onto the wall day be day...... Hope that you are all well and happy. I did manage more modelling in the end but only last night and a bit on Sunday night - the weather this weekend was so good that I could not spend all of it preparing for the incoming building work/destruction. Pyrland Hall Bodies and chassis(s) got re-united. The long address was set. Kenilworth Castle got a DCC programme - long address etc Austerity got a quick body off to check wither it is DCC ready (chip socket) or DC. it is DC. So it is destined to get a Lenz Mini Silver. Marrington Hall (and its creased name plate), and Witchingham Hall are boxed and in the "to do pile" . I will sort out the "to do pile" and make sure it is accessible along with the DCC controller and the programming track. St Pat/Knight of Liege is looking quite "streamlined" as an 0-6-0...... whilst its tender got a Lenz silver chip, a long address and coal last night. The body came of for a change of identity and some crew: 5697 got a long address and shunted to "next in the que". Building work will still commence on Monday - the builder is self isolated in his digger cab, the Council Building Inspector can still visit or approve of/by photos, and the concrete people will still deliver. On what would have been Steve McQueen's 90th Birthday, stay safe and healthy. He didn't understand those two words!

Thanks Mike - Please PM me your address and I will send an SAE.

Good morning NC visitors. I didn't get near the Austerity last night because it involves soldering a chip in. I still need more practice at that. I went to see my builder and delivered the plans for the house. He has suddenly got a huge chunk of time free due to a change in personal circumstances. Armed with a few Coronas (of the right sort) we hatched a plan regarding the start date. In short, the modelling is about to become infrequent again. I am going back another 15 feet on a cottage and then up a whole floor all round. Today I finish connecting water to my 1980s trailer home/static caravan, and it becomes habitable. Those un-started model tasks such as Marrington Hall, and the larger "quick jobs" such as a full repaint on Witchingham Hall will get reboxed tonight once they have had a check on the programming track. I will then: finish the 56XX (fit body and crew, secure chip in cab and refit roof) Put Pyrland Hall back together Name, coal and numbers onto Knight of Liege Shame as i have definitely got my modelling mojo back. I also need to look at what "work" to keep in a handy place in case I get some free time. However I doubt there will be much of that. It was Dame Vera's 103rd yesterday, which I didn't pick up on. I usually comment on some anniversaries. On the day that we lost Kenny Rogers, the man who sang about card building modelling, I hope that you are all happy and healthy. "You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em..............."

Thanks Neal. Certainly getting much better than the days of Post 1. Quite a few locos have left NC since Post 1, and lots of new ones - all done better each time. Hope you are not too troubled. I have guys locked down in odd countries in the Middle East so I'm making the time to call them each day just to keep them sane - no work, just chat. Then I thought the same for RM Web - must be lots of modellers stuck inside for all sorts of reasons (lockdown, self isolation or hi-risk/infirm) so I thought i would make an effort to post more frequently here too. A bit more to add from last night: For one other engine undergoing identity change etc I am using nameplate from a different source - not my usual Modelmaster. The looked quite snazzy when they arrived 6 months ago but having taken them off the brass "etch" last night, I can confirm that until their design changes I won't be choosing them again. Jim makes the Modelmaster ones in such a way that the "tags" holding the plate to the etch, are easily accessible for snips or scissors, so the plate literally pops out of the etch unharmed. These alternative ones last night were a nightmare. One of the tags is on the apex of an inside curve, so you can't get in close with scissors. I ended up creasing the plate on the splasher section. I can correct it, but I'm annoyed. Stay safe and don't go stir crazy.

Working from home for the last week, and without 4 hours a day travelling, I can actually do more work if I start at the time I start the commute. So I have actually done some modelling this week. Some new and some second hand crew were put through the usual process.......... Kenilworth Castle go re-logod but this time without paint. I left the crest in place and worked all round it with a fibre glass pen. I did the whole tender side so that the area where the letters were removed so as not stand out. New GW were from Fox. Despite following the new instructions from Fox, some of these still lifted slightly at the corners when the Dullcote was applied. The all over use of the glass fibre pen, plus Dullcote means that you can't see any signs of the work. The driver has no seat - he is glued via his right hip and right armpit. Probably a little to far back, but he was probably destined for a lesser engine driven on the wrong side, plus it makes a change from all of my altered Hornby sitting drivers. Footplate is one of my new plasticard ones. Pyrland Hall also got dulled down along with its tender - same issues with the letters from Fox. However they are no w 5 or 6 years old - may be that's it. I do have a brand new "Sheet 7" from HMRS so perhaps I will use those next time. The BR Green 56XX has a new number, and relogo'd using the same technique as the Castle. I did have to paint the copper safety valve bonnet green using a "pallette match" of Humbol Authentic 104 with some "Tar Black". After some Dullcote none of that shows, and even less will show, including the BR Green, once I get the airbrush out. Tonight Mathew...........put Pyrland Hall back together, paint the splasher plate section of the nameplate for Liege, test the chips in the 56XX and Kenilworth, and perhaps even chip the WD while the track and controller are out. Wherever you are, stay happy and healthy, and keep the argy bargy off RM Web and in the supermarket where it belongs.