M.I.B

It's not just cast iron. Other railway companies perhaps. But that is the finest quality, moulded and fettled ferrous mixture of perfect proportion, designed by geni-i, and made by craftsmen, and maintained with affection and experience by trained hands of the highest skill set......

You said "brighten", and all was going well until the poster of Barmouth. It had to be a drawing because the sun never shines there, and as for frolicking children and mothers in bikinis, that is pure fantasy on the artist's part. He's obviously drawn it from a photo, and omitted all of the folk in their mackintoshes and balaclavas...........

I snuck a quick session in today. This NPCCS work has become addictive again. With the aid of a few spots of super glue to hold them in place, the sides are on. During the week I will then add to the bonding using Araldite. EDIT 18 NOV 2015 - I strongly advise you not to use Araldite for this task - see post 18 Nov The reason for this choice of adhesives in this order is that the Superglue will give a very quick but brittle bond, thus ensuring the two pieces are in the correct relative positions. Araldite takes so long to bond that things can slip. I realise that's what clothes pegs were invented for, but this is a new process I am trialling for myself.

The used car dealers killed off Daewoo by snubbing the cars and never giving a good price. This was in response to Daewoo's innovative parts, servicing and new car sales methods which were are threat to lots of garages if they had caught on and spread. The knock on effect is that because there are hardly any Daewoo's left on the road, spares suppliers, and these include Halfords, don't stock Daewoo stuff any more. Hence one of the purposes of the original post. You could always put a search on Ebay and when someone lists a can, you can see the listing. The second reason for the OP was that the colours on that original RAF Kinloss MRC list were so approximate or downright wrong.

The brake rod detail kit for 6944 arrived today, and because the original tender was a Hawksworth, the rods don't fit the Hogwarts Collett one. Snip snip and super glue, with a little plastic rod and black paint, and the green tender has brake rodding. The black tender came with rodding. 6944 is now in the Cabinet I continued today with the NPCCS roofs. Filling and painting and rubbing is complete. So now that all of the vents have gone, I am putting some more back in. Whitemetal ones, in the relevant places. The late Geoff Brewin made Comet kits/sides kits with brilliant simple instructions and a 1:1 scale diagram showing relevant detail on roofs or undersides etc. So positioning vents and grab rails and roof ribs is a doddle. Sadly not all of my sides are Comet, so I spent a while referring to source photos gleaned from RM Web and Google. Drill some holes, And superglue the vents in. (two different full brakes in case you thought you were seeing things) Rails and ribs are made from plastic strip held down with tiny amounts of liquid poly applied by capiliary action, to save melty dribbles all over the roof. 7 sets of brass sides are trimmed and filed. They will be glued in place next week. I hope you are all happy and healthy and I wish you a good weekend.

The wartime black engines had specific letters, with no gilt. Just red and yellow. I thought that the lettering on the tank is hand painted, and its font is called something brutal like "Monster".

Back onto the NPCCS are promised. After an inspection to refamiliarize myself as to where we were........ I then decided to hit the roofs. Firstly a quick sand of some high spots left from the removal of vents (mainly the ex LMS 57' stock) or water tanks (Hornby 57') Just like working on cars, dents and highs started to "disappear" in the mix of colours ( base material, painted material, primered material) so they all got a thin shot of grey aerosol primer. This makes the low spots stand out again, as well as the high spots, Do this cycle once or twice and the grey paint sits in the low spots (good indicator) and the base material shows where the high spots once were. Filler time. This time I used Auto motive filler: As well as dents and dips and holes, I had a slip of the Dremel to deal with. I ended up carving out a new side top and roof rail using a square file and lots of patience......... Here it is still unfinished Carry on sanding plod out of roofs today......................Then I will add a roof rib on the Hornby stock to replace the removed water tanks. This rib will be a simple Evergreen strip straight strip out of the packet. Then the roofs will be correct for full brake stock. I am also expecting a Bachmann detailing pack for 6944 and tender today. I will fit the missing brake rods and the crew can join the rest in my collection of "yet to be employed". Meanwhile upstairs in the Cabinet........ the WD austerity is headed up the rakeof Pugh 7 plankers IKB is hauling the SR van, and some brown NPCCS already seen, and St David remains ahead of the van train (STEAM BANANAs and TEVANs) The mainly kit built PW train remains as well. With all of this space I will have to dig something else out of the boxes in the loft. I hope that you are happy and healthy. I had another session on the K15 today and have decided to leave it as a seperate stand alone project as there is a lot more to it than these "re-sides". H0D1

A spare hour was found this afternoon. Lining and coal applied, followed by Testors Dullcote. The result will be weathered at the same time as the black tender and 6944 so that they are interchangable. I found a tiny error with the WD's front end which only showed up in a photo. That may get corrected tomorrow, time permitting, and that will be photographed before going into the cabinet to await weathering.

And still the NPCCS work hasn't been touched. But it will re-start this week. Another project from the weekend/last week was the WD Austerity. This is a brand new engine bought very cheaply via Ebay - shop clearance item. Firstly the BR logos and numbers were removed by gentle rubbing with a Scotchbrite pad. Then a mask and a light coat of Halford's matt black was added to the previously logo'd areas. Cabside number style and size were checked using the Gloucester and Warwickshire online photo library which is a brilliant source tool. Although the numbers look quite large compared to the BR ones, this is correct in terms of size and style for an engine still in War Department ownership, being run by one of the Great 4. 77015 is an Old Oak based engine and remained so into nationalisation. I used a strip of masking tape as a marker line and applied the waterslide transfers one number at a time. Not a fan of waterslide for this sort of work as when one moves, they all move. Bucket loads of patience are needed. Luckily my return to modelling has improved my patience immensely. Despite the perspective on the photo - these are on strsaight ( finally!!!) A couple of brush on coats of Humbrol Clearcote and the cab sides were done. Crew were fitted and I focussed on the front end. Left hand drive! My only LHD I think - perhaps the 2 PO shunters are too - will check) The website shows 77015 at the head of a hopper train in 1948, and the grime has been wiped on the bufferbeam to show a tiny "77015". That was duly applied before the BR smoke box number was scalpeled off and polished away with a fine emery board. Smoke box door and the steam pipes were treated to a brush coat of Humbrol MetalCote black and Revel "Tar" mixed. Tender bunker got a watery coat of aerosol red oxide for the rusting effect. If you want a watery coat from an aerosol, don't shake it for a few days and just do short sharp blasts. Models need to be well masked whilst using this trick as splatter can be common. This is a factory weathered model as you can see from the running gear, but it will get a proper airbrush weather soon - the pile is growing again.

I have omitted full engine shots from the last few posts because: 1. I am waiting to place an order for cabside numbers for about a dozen engines. 2. The engines aren't weathered. I will return to posting full views when these two jobs are completed. I decided to go ahead and purchase another Hogwart's Castle tender for 6944, and this time paint it green as per the photo which Mike found on Ebay. Copyright procludes me from posting it, but it is one of those "It never happened" shots: a dirty black un-nmaed Hall with a green lined late logo tender. Same modifications as the black tender: cleared plastic around the front body mount screw which will act as the pin for the drawbar. Replace the large Hornby coupling with a smaller and shorter Dapol type, fixed with Araldite and without it's connecting hook - my locos tend to have no hook to allow easy coupling/uncoupling from rakes. Remove coal from bunker with drill and dremel and file, Make new bunker out of plasticard, using paper templates first, Fix with liquid poly and then lock together with Araldite. The joins between the new bunker and the body will get a skim of filler - this time Humbrol model filler because I want to finish off the tube. Then disaster struck.......... I was using a Precision aerosol can of GWR green, and it was going on beautifully - model drying in the sun for a minute inbetween fine coats, and spray can sitting in a mug of warm water to speed the drying and keep the propellant agitated.......... despite all of this I got "splatter" caused by a partial blockage of the can nozzle. Rather than drop the whole thing in my brake fluid bath, I decided to use a pot of "Model Strip" which someone gave me a few years ago. Once open I would advise that the pot is kept in an airtight bag - this stuff is useless if it dries out. But what a great job it does if all you require is some localized paint stripping. Smear it on, bag it up and wait over night (10 hours). Then wipe the stripper off with some kitchen roll, rinse off the rest with a toothbrush and "all gone". Top marks to Model Strip. I keep aerosol can nozzles when I throw the can - a trick learnt from my race car building days. So armed with 6 nozzles which had been in white spirit over night ( and blown though by the airbrush compressor to get the spirit out of the ducting), I resprayed the tender again with the Precision aerosol, using a new nozzle for every coat. Perfect. Then, mask the bunker, some red oxide, as has become the norm, with a skinny/mean coat of matt black on top - rust seeping through......... The rest of the matt blacking was done with a brush. That just leaves me with the lining and logos, as well as coaling - "nearly empty" again. My HMRS sheet no longer has the Collett tender lining - no idea what that was used on. Not much call for that HMRS sheet in my workshop so I won't be ordering one more. I will chop about a Churchward tender lining and use that. I got fed up of losing small transfers and logos and found this piece of slim black plasticard in something. I now use it as a "pallette" to lay them on as they can be seen more easily, and the HMRS pressfix ones lightly adhere to it, which stops them from "disappearing". When it's not in use it lives in the large ziplock bag with all the other transfers, logos, tarpaulings and carriage destination boards.

So here are some of the crew fitted. 6944's fireman takes a momentary break: It's been a long run from Bristol and he's looking forward to some bacon and egg and a cuppa........ .It wasn't so long since he was in a different uniform defending the Empire. Wire above his head needs adjusting....... And here are the crew of the green 93XX series mogul. I trim most of the excess of the bases of figures, but photos like these highlight just how obvious the remainder is. Unfortunately I used to have a knack of removing feet whilst removing these. I will have another attempt when I get all of the locos out again. It'll take longer unboxing and re-boxing them, so that'll be a winter's day worth I think. On the weekend where England made Rugby World Cup history, and when the Vulcan flew for the last time, I hope you are happy and healthy.

The LMS parcels stock was seen a few pages back, as were the SR "Van Cs". To join the Van Cs I have a "Van B" or "Bogie Passenger Luggage Van". I am also hoping to beef these up with one of the new Bachman SR CCTs, but once they start coming onto the second hand/Ebay market at a more realistic price ie not £25 ( for a non bogie van!!!) This is the Hornby version in Olive Green. I spoke to Graham Muz of this parish who advises me that by the time I am modelling, the olive vans would perhaps have been a little "tired" and had patch paints in the brighter Malachite green. This is good news because mine came from Hornby with a couple of Malachite Green doors - so no need for me to patch paint. I did the usual: roof in gungy greys ( from aerosols), blocked off the corridor doors (with some spare Hornby gangway closures) and painted the ends in similar black/gunge grey. The bogies were fitted with HUGE Hornby couplings so I decided to cut them off and replace with some of the smaller "Dapol" type couplers. I also took this chance to closer couple by shortening the position of the coupling. I hacked into the old bogie to leave a "nub" just off centre to which a shortened "Dapol" connector could be superglued. This "nub" is the pivot point for the Hornby "harpoon" . Once I was happy that their position was OK, the couplings then got a shot of Araldite to really firm them up. I shortened the "drop leg" on the new coupling to stop it from catching on points. I am not using uncoupling equipment so I don't really have need for these anyway. Once the Araldite was dry, the whole bogie and wheels got a blast of Halfords aerosol matt black. I will give this a heavy airbrush weather soon, but in the meantime I am pleased with the apperance after very little time, money and effort spent.

I was missing a few crew for the green mogul, the new arrivals (x2) and with the 47XX and 94xx due soon.............. I decided to do a bulk crew painting session, But I had run out of firemen. One packet of Dapol's "Lineside Workmen" arrived via Evilbay and I have some gentlemen with shovels in hand, and men who will pass for drivers. First the boots and hats in black, faces and hands and arms in a blend of flesh colours. Then hair, and shirts ( collars, chests and maybe sleeves) in light blue/greys. Before adding a red neckerchief to one or two. Spades then get painted. Then it's clothes time. Just like painting skin, three shades are used for railway men's overalls/clothing and mixed on the plastic work tray. No two shirts or trousers or jackets are the same colour in theory. Just like the real world. Here's the driver of Project BLACK HALL (6944) who looks a lot less like he is dressed for, and doing "YMCA" bythe Village People". As seen in earlier posts his previous owner had painted him in some very gaudy hues........

Page 3. posts #56 and #57 of my blog thingy - link is in my sig. Just the perfect orangy /red/ oxide-y brown care of Holts spray can.

Apologies for no updates. Just as they were getting regular again. I had managed to almost finish the Moguls and Project BLACK HALL but I got called away to see family in Edinburgh. I should be back onto finishing them next week, apart from the brass numbers which I will order as part of a bulk order. If I do not hear any news about going somewhere hot and sandy I will dig into the WD. I am told that departure is imminent, but that has been the news for the last 6 weeks. I have put off any planning orposting queries for the "Shed 2" mini-project as this will kep me same in my downtime out there. I hope you all remain happy and healthy in the week where Scotand trounced Japan in the West Country.

Japan to do what to Scotland?

The black engine ones are simple yellow and red. There is no gold/gilt /gold-leaf anywhere on them. They look very different when you compare them side by side. You could probably get away with "normal" ones if the tender was getting a very heavy weathering. You may be thinking of the Welsh paint shop which used plain/unshaded yellow letters and a font called something like "Monster" on tank engines during WW2.

So what did I manage to do before I was forced against my will to go and do silly things in cars? I finished off the tenders for the Moguls and the Hall. I had issues when I Dullcote'd the coal in the tender of one of the Moguls - it left a white bloom on some of the lumps. So when I did the Hall tender I made a mask out of a "post-it" before spraying: (the missing, and then bent handle on the Hall tender has since been corrected as has the UHU "spiderweb" on the Mogul tender) Here are the results on the display stand The display stand was made out of part of a broken War Department oak desk back in the days when footballers drank pints not cocktails and smoked Park Drive filterless fags, and when preserved railways were a dream. The rails are held onto extremely thin sleepers with soldered pins. The height from the top of the wood to the top of the rail is less than Set-track, and therefore some wheel flanges sit on the tops of the pins and not the wheel on the rail. This stand is poor for setting up wheel sets, or bogies, or coupling heights for that reason. That explains why I have a tatty piece of early 70s Super 4 set-track as seen a few posts back. This is extremely chunky track, so no flanges come close to the sleeper tops and levels can be set incomparison to another wheelset without false readings. I hope you are all happy and healthy as the Autumn weather begins.....

It's arrived..............while I was away whizzing around the Nurburgring in an Audi Quattro. There I was doing some modelling on thursday afternoon and the phone rang,........ and I was packed and en-route within the hour. OOC had 8 of these on loan from the War Department in Dec 1947,still with WD numbers (77005,77015,77130,77184,77291,78521,78632,79234). Some of these would have been sat on North Cranford shed. I need to finish off the Hall and Moguls first, and this is a simple one - renumber and de-logo the tender, rust the bunker, add a little coal and re-weather. Hats off to the blue-box team - the "coal" pops out leaving a very detailed bunker. Another "nearly empty" tender I feel.

I am tempted by the GWR 2884 (in black with GWR on tender) instead of the WD; but were these all used for the Welsh coal trains? Make sure you use the right GWR logos - they are different for black engines - Fox make the logos for OO - not sure about N. 28XX were used everywhere (apart from small branchlines) for all sorts of freights, so that part is feasible.

.......and something big, ugly and black is headed to North Essex from the Midlands. (It's not Lenny Henry........)

So a quick trip to the paint shop. The lower cab-side, new bulkhead addition and a touch up to a splasher were brushed onto the green Mogul. Humbrol Authentic Colour 104 "GWR Green" was closer than Pheonix for Mainline models. I will do the steam pipes with a mix of Revell "Tar Black" and Humbrol Metalcote black tomorrow, as well as touching up the footplates with matt black. Then a rinse in panel wipe when it's all hard and dry to get rid of filler dust clining by static. The black mogul got a blast of Halford's aerosol Satin black, and it too will get the same smokebox and footplate treatment as it's green sister. You may have noticed the appearance of reversing rods. I trimmed and tweaked the horizontal lever rods and repositioned them as per the screw reverser rod photos. Very close but not 100% perfect. Until someone makes some 93XX seriesreversing rods, I won't cut them out of card, and these will do. If someone does make some in future, they won't be hard to add. Here's how I do filing of "plod" I tend to use either some Draper mini files, or I use new cheapo emery boards. The ones your lady tells you are not right to use on your nails. (they tend to be course on one side and fine on the other) I cut to the right width with scissors, and for flat surfaces, I tend to put a curve in the board so that I don't hit too much other detail when I am sanding. It's inevitable that some cab side rivets will be sacrificed on these moguls, or Project BLACK HALL, but personally I can live with that. Filler - I use either Humbrol, Squadron, or Upol car filler - the two-pack type with red hardener. I prefer car filler as it never has soft pockets in the centre, and if properly applied, seldom has air bubbles on models. But like all filler work, you probably aren't going to get it perfect on the first go. The Hall cab windows are on their third filling and filing. So the moguls just need: cabside glass (green one) cab inner detailing ( copper pipes and guages and red handles etc a pair of single rails to make an "L" shape by the new windows new brass numbers tender coal crew weathering I hope to get get most of this done tomorrow, with the exception of crew, numbers and weathering. Bag of crew are in the post! I am putting a bulk order of 12 sets of cabside plates from a new supplier. I will also get on with Project BLACK HALL. On the day before Her Majesty becomes out longest reigning Monarch, I hope you too are happy and healthy.

The steam pipes were bafling me for a while. Drilling through from underneath was not an issue, and the angle of the pipes and other dimensions were easy to sort from the photos. I also have Project BLACK HALL on the bench as a reference as well. The toughest part was the flange detail where the steam pipe meets the smoke box. I had already decided to use super thin plastic card; the issue was how to cut the right shape and size oval flanges. Under the footplate above the cylinders, there is a mark on the moulding unseen when the chassis is affixed. These mouldings are in the perfect place for steam pipes! I drilled and filed and then cut plastic tube to fit through. Using a fine scalpel mark as a reference line on the smokebox, I kept positioning the pipes whilst filing one end round to meet the smokebox. It was at this point that the solution came to me: When the pipes were cut to 2mm overlength, and shaped to meet the smokebox, I affixed them to the thin plasti-card with liquid poly. Then using fine scissors I cut the correct oval shape and filed it. Flanges already on the steam pipes! All I had to do was drop them into the holes from above, apply poly, and position them. Once they were set hard, I used car filler from underneath and by sanding that smooth, I removed the overlength from below the footplate. I am very pleased with the results.

So after a little thinking, I set to on the Moguls' other structural modifications: both need outside steam pipes, a bulkhead addition to the front of the drivers side of the cab ( for the cab end of the screw reverser mechanism), and the centre splasher. I have made a credible job on the bulkhead and steam pipes so I am turning a blind eye to the splasher shortening. A year a go I would not have been brave enough to tackle the steam pipes or bulkhead, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the splashers will get a re-visit. I know how I would do it if it were steel and full size: perhaps that is the attitude to take when attempting, but use liquid-poly instead of weld! First job was to source decent reference photos of late 93XXs. There are a few on the brilliant website of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire steam photos. Then I scoped materials, and went for plastic box section for the bulkhead and tube for the steam pipes. The box section was cut with a fine tooth saw to gice the upper sloped profile and the bottom square profile. After this, it was just a case of filing. I removed the splasher rivet detail on the rear of the rear splasher. This allowed me to file a step in the bottom of the bulkhead and get it flush with the body. The rest just took time, filing, coffee and lots of Radio 4. Once as tight as I could get it, I attached it with liquid poly and added some car body filler to fill and shap the top, and any gaps in the joins.