M.I.B

I managed to program the Bachmann "Earl", then squeezed a Hornby chip into the tiny boiler of a Bachmann Collett. So far so good. Then I started taking the Bachmann Austerity WD 2-8-0 apart, and despite the removal of all of the screws, nothing budged. I even removed the pony truck and tookout 2 screws accessible under this. Still no joy. Quit while I am ahead, and asked RM Web for help........................... Dr Feelgood are playing tomorrow night - I feel a night off chipping, and a noisy bluesy treat before I head out to the sand at the weekend......

I have a Bachmann WD 2-8-0 which i would like to chip. Firstly I cannot work out how to remove the body from the chassis/motor. Secondly I was planning on fitting a Guagemaster 21 Pin - is that OK or too big? Thanks.

Another step towards DCC.............. I broke open the Guagemaster cartons and took the Prodigy unit out and a hand controller. Armed with a pile of Hornby chips, Hornby locos and instructions from John Dew, I spend some time chipping today, and setting "long addresses". I was a little apprehensive to begin with, but after the third one it was a breeze. Every engine programmed up OK and did the "hop" to show it had been programmed correctly. 12 chipped and 14 "addressed" (2 were purchased pre-chipped). The most time was lost to unpacking and repacking the engines into boxes. I'm off again on my travels, so when I get back I will get stuck into making the test plank - 10 foot long, folding unit...... then I can play with CVs etc ( but not the greasy type...or the fantasy type.....) Then I can start with the more tougher DCC conversions. On the extremely sad day when we lost Nicholas Parsons, a true legend (in a time when there are too many people classed as legends) , I hope you are all happy and healthy.

You are better off posting that one on the Prototype pages. There will be folk on there who were working for BR at the time and may know.

Spitfire only had it from Sep 40 onwards. Clifford Castle had it from June 40 - Sep 40

The "factory black" windows are easy to plate - push a square of the super thin plasticard, (slightly larger than the window) from inside the cab and drip liquid cement/MEKPAK/Liquid poly onto it through the window aperture from the outside. One that sets hard, pare off any raised window edge detail. And take off the right angle shaped hand rail if fitted. This will get in the way of sanding. Before removal, either measure or photograph the mounting hole locations. Use model filler or car filler to fill the window. If you are feeling super skilled , get thin brass sheet, add rivetts and pop that on top. Tender - unlined G**W. This is not the same as shutters for oil burners - they require a pair of upper and lower slide rails, and a sliding shutter on the outside of the cab.

There's still a few unknowns in that table, some proven mistakes ( from other tables) and some gaps, but so far it's the most comprehensive list of the Collett 8 wheel tender use/allocation. I had to leave the cross references and mistakes in there, as it otherwise becomes another variation of many other tables and sources, and the mis-information continues. I'm not in the UK much at the moment so I can't access my reference books. I'm sure if you sat down with a nice pile of GWR/BR(W) books you could finish off the table. One day........... The 3d tender chassis from Stafford Road models looks to be a great moulding. You need smaller wheels than the usual offerings from Hornby Collett tenders. They were easy to find - there is advice from the manufacturer and a couple of folk here have made one up already. It is near the top of my to-do pile on a maroon Olton Hall to become the un-named Impney Hall. If your base model is Hornby DCC ready - there is a plug and socket to fettle into the new tender chassis, but if you use the Hornby 6 wheel tender base as a template, it should be quite easy.

Agreed: https://www.philpspasties.co.uk/ Their postal service is rapid and the pasties refeeze and reheat perfectly - still taste like the ones hot out of the shop. That's quite an achievement apparently. Others come close, but never this good. There's a good pastie shop on the concourse at Liverpool Street Station. Then again, almost anything (bar Ginsters) would taste good as you alight the last train home full of ale and merriment. I must try one sober one day to see what they really taste like...................

That's not unrealistic.

Looking at the top ( horizontal churn) that'll be empties headed West presumably.

Just noted that the rear Hawksworth brake needs its rear bogie rotating 180 degrees to hide the NEM coupling socket....... Photos are an invaluable tool not only for research, but for QA/QC

Trevor - you need to have some modelling put aside for that rainy day........

And to close, 2 new TSOs. They were Ebay cheapies - one in LMS livery and one in bright red Post Office livery. The chassis will go on Ebay as usual, and tend to sell well for some reason. The last TSO I built out of one of these cost less new (on offer) than I sold the chassis and operating mech for. These are a hybrid and if you squint they do match one of the the GWR designs used for a TPO and TSO. A number of TSOs were TPOs with no net gear fitted. Instead there was a blank panel with a double window. My aim on this project was to remove 2 x SIPHONs from the mail rake and replace with TSOs. I have already posted a picture of the two coach bodies in the brake fluid bath, which does a great hob of paint and lining removal in 12 hours. Ebay furnished me with 2 x 57' LMS coaches which donated their chassis and bogies. One was painted in all over dull coach brown (Railmatch rattle can) and the other in Railmatch rattle can "chocolate and cream". This is very hard to tightly mask on these coaches, but in the few places where the spray crept under the mask, I used Railmatch brushing paint to correct this. I may try HMRS lining to improve on this, which will get somewhat covered by airbrush weathering. Buffers on earlier TSOs were filed round from oval LMS ones, but later on I started to use larger cast Collett type ones. Simply pare off the existing ones with a fine hacksaw, , file almost flat, and drill with a pin vice. Full width tension lock couplings were cut away and smaller "Dapol" ones bonded to the bogies. HMRS logos were used for the GW letters and the Royal Mail and Post boxes come from a sheet by Modelmaster. Earlier TSOs and the TPO were treated to an offset corridor conversion. I sliced off the corridor, filled one of the window holes and moved the corridor over. I started to do this on these two but having fitted MJT corridors to other stock, I took the plastic Hornby corridors off the whole rake, and retro fitted MJT brass and paper ones. These got one coat of paint when constructed and a second once fitted. I did experiment to see if one corridor would look OK bridging between 2 coaches. I left it fully expanded without side retainers, This didn't work, so each of the coaches in the rake got an MJT corridor at both ends, with the exception of the leading and trailing full brakes. These have central gangways at the outer ends and I fitted the stock Hornby item in place.

A few wagons were dispatched - a factory weathered Dapol van got improved by blackening the wheels (matt was used - paint is still wet here), and three coal wagons got the wheels and coal fill treatment. Lettering and livery on PO wagons these days is so good compared to the 80s. I can't resist anything with a London address on it, especially if it is North, West or East postcodes. The Bull wagon is a working end tipper. The lever has been removed and the sponge under the coal has pushed the door open. When I fill the holes left by the tip lever removal and for the pivots, I will glue the end door shut.

I now have 20 or so crew in different poses than the same ones which I have been using for the last 5 years. Some were a kind gift from an RM Web member and the others came from new suppliers when I asked for suggestions. There are some white-metal/pewter ones with separately cast heads and arms, so the poses are infinite and can be adapted to suit specific cabs. I did like the Model-U ones but they do come out at the top of the price scale. The J52 tank was only the second left hand drive engine to be crewed - the WD 2-8-0 being the first a few years ago.

I'm back online with an hour to kill so perhaps I can finish off the Christmas report. Next up: people. I'm still catching up on manning engines and as promised a while back, I have graduated away from putting crew in on reduced sized bases. Now they are all sliced clean off their base once they are painted, and glued to the footplate or fall plate with 60 Second SuperGlue. This is a mix of Uhu type glue that sets in a hurry. I find it easier to use than the normal super glue. I usually give it 10 minutes and then I matt black Humbrol over the boots thus hiding the shiny glue. I have also started fitting fall plates to express tender engines. These are sold as castle fall plates, but with a stout pair of scissors, these can be trimmed to fit most things. I have a few left and I must remember to make a batch out of plasticard. Gluing the crew to a trimmed footplate, and then gluing the footplate in is a lot easier. (photos are out of focus but you get the idea..... I now need to go back through the engines already crewed and cut off the bases of any crew, add fall plates if required, and paint any black "grease-top caps to dark grubby blue. I do have two traction inspectors in their suits and bowlers, but it's hardly fair to inflict them on the same crew every run, so these may retain a small base for blu-tacking into place when and where required.

I hope you all have a good weekend of modelling wherever you are. Thank you for stopping by North Cranford.

And finally for this session, and introduced above, the 2721. My first DCC engine. One of the latest 2721s to come pre-chipped. It was sold out of a set. 2757 got the same treatment - coal, crew and a Modelmaster number, with HMRS beam numbers. The larger Hornby couplings were replaced with smaller ones out of the couplings box. I have since had to send away to Peters Spares for a couple of dozen new small tension locks. 2757 was a stalwart at OOC and the surrounding area. A truly Victorian type engine (open cab 0-6-0) working on in the New Georgian era.

Onto another grubby workhorse..........But not GWR!!!!!!!!! J52s were common on GW metals just West of London. For freight headed into lower East Anglia, from the West or SR, it got collected usually by a J52, and taken North of KX and round to the East, to be marshaled into the right train. And vice versa. But it was always the LNER engines which did this transition. SR would collect only from the Acton Yard and move the stock South. So a van of lathes and parts from Colchester for Dover would travel LNER to West London, and be collected in a GW Yard by an SR engine to head off to Dover. Much like the Dean - a fibreglass pen was used on the large tank side numbers and then a brush coat of Humbrol Matt Black. Again, the half shade difference will be covered by judicious weathering. I used the handrail line to hide the join a little. Crew were added as well as coal. This is a DCC model out of the box. My second DCC engine after the 2721. This engine has two identities - both out of KX shed....... I now have 98% of a waterslide sheet of LNER engine numbers from ModelMaster. PM me and they could be yours..........

These photos are unfortunately not as crisp as I would like, but winter light, and iPhone camera..... I did try employing my angle poise which I use for modelling, as a "floodlight"....... Apologies.

I have 3 Dean Goods - a real favourite of MIB Snr. If he or I wins big on the Lottery we are going to build one and a couple of spare boilers. Or perhaps we will Ask Mr Castle and his team to build it for us....... The Wills/Ks Dean of early 70s vintage still has not had the new Airfix motor fitted. That is possible retired to become a Cabinet item for good. The Dapol Dean is green and was seen quite a few pages ago. The Oxford Dean has been sitting in a box for 6 months or so. Ex BR Black, it was a simple conversion. (Nothing too taxing was attempted whilst having man flu). A quick scuff off with a fibre glass pen for the BR tender logo followed by a quick squirt of matt black to the whole tender side. This is half a tone different to the Oxford black, but weathering will fix this. Crew, a fire iron, coal, a galvanised bucket, tender logo from Fox and number from ModelMaster as usual. Beam numbers as usual from HMRS. There was no boiler number on this BR model.......... I did learn that where the Fox transfers now need a dod of Fairy Liquid in the soak water, the same water makes HMRS decals "non-stick" . So if you are using different types of transfer, two different types of "soak water" are required. Beam numbers are hard enough to fit, let alone when most of the "sticky" has come off them. Lesson learned.

The second oil burner at NC was completed with the help of a 3D printed tank by Stafford Road Models via Shapeways. This is an excellent kit - but make sure you buy the filler pipe as well - a seperate item. On my photos it looks squint in most of them, but I can confirm that it is square and level. The latest 28xx tenders lose their plastic coal by simply popping out the coal as one moulding ( not glued) and the 3d print slips in perfectly. This pipe only appears on the converted 3500 gal tenders, but not on the 4000 gal oil burners, The 3500s had their loading valve at chassis top level, whereas the larger tenders were filled somewhere on top by an overhead crane/Wheaton Arm type system. 3500 gal tanks were flat, whereas the 4000 gal tender oil tanks had a chamfered edge. Add a set of Model Master cab numbers and my 2822 as featured back in about Page 2 or 3, became 4809. The real 4809 was actually re-numbered from 2845 on conversion to oil, and got the 28 series number back when she returned to coal. This was an OOC engine and one of the last two running on oil. And the fireman doesn't have a shovel.......... A squirt of Testors made the shiny edges of the Fox tender decals "disappear". Weathering on top some day will add to this.

4031 Queen Mary was a simple piece of work. As I explained to someone on another thread, RTR Stars are tricky to name without surgery. Steam pipes being added throughout the life of the fleet, and the first 20 having a different shaped front end. There were not many un-piped Stars in the mid-late 40s, but QM was one. Modelmaster plates, coal, crew, and HMRS beam numbers. Weathering to follow. This will get a fairly heavy weather because to remain lined by this period, it will be very close to a heavy shop. As posted above, 4707 came out, sat in the cabinet and has since been re-boxed. The fall plate on QM above is a fitted item and will flex down into a more realistic position. 47XX fall plates are an "accessory" on the model so this will be fitted at the same time as brake rods.

Most organisations numbered their horses as well as giving them names. They would either be branded on their rump ( like on the cowboy films) or they would be branded on a hoof. Numbering horses makes it much eaiser for the bean counters to run statistics checks. There would always be lots of "Dukes" and "Queenies" and possible a "Herculese" or two around he network, , but a numbering system makes accounting and stock checks much easier. Palominos and coloureds ( 2 or 3 tone) were not common "in service" which leaves greys, brown (bays and duns etc) and blacks. My educated guess is that 2020 if the number was allocated, it would probably be a brown of the Suffolk Punch style - for drawing a heavy goods cart or shunting.

Sheet 2020 was a tarpaulin............ Hope that rolls that one up. Promise it's not a cover-up.