M.I.B

So, photos from last fortnight's rebranding/crew fitting/brass number work. As a reminder - out with any pre WW2 logos and in with either "GWR" or "G**W" Some factory logos came off very easily with T Cut, and some had to be riubbed right down to the base plastic to remove all traces. On some models one side "de-logo'd" easily whilst the other was a toughie. The former were easy to re-logo, but where black plastic showed through I had to repaint. After the success using the airbrush for a complete item recently, I decided to avois the paintbrush again. Unlined tenders and tank sides were easy to sort, because I masked off whole panels or sides. Here's the ROD tender: and the Dapol Dean Goods And here are the final results: Not impressed with the outcome of the water slide "GWR" logos on one side of the Dan and one side of the ROD, so I have had to subsequently touch the logo edges in with a fine brush. They have improved dramatically, and will not be seen under some heavy airbrush weathering. Lined engines were tougher. I use Tamya 6mm masking tape for detail work because the clumsy paper tape doesn't do curve or bend very easily. This way I retained factory lining on tenders, and also used the factory lining to hide the join between factory paint and either Phoenix or some old Humbrol Authentic GWR Green I still have. Last night's photos show a Castle tender done this way and the difference is very subtle due mainly to the lining. Any difference will disappear under some airbrush weathering in the future. No issues with the "G**W" logos on the lined items - they are the HMRS "presfix" type. I will avoid water slide in the future unless I really have to, and instead stick to HMRS ones. The results on the Castles - IKB and Tintagel:

Congrats and thanks on the 500 page anniversary Robin. A long way to go for me- I only reached 3000 views today!

I bit the bullet and the Hawksworth 4000gal advert and photos are on Ebay and timed to start tomorrow evening. And a Collett tender is already whizzing its way over to North Essex. I love it when a plan comes together. Tomorrow I'll add some more photos of the numbering and plating and tender resprays as done last week. Here's a taster: And perhaps start looking at Project BLACK HALL....... NPCCS work is still waiting.......... 3000 views today! Thank you. Now go and get some modelling done instead of reading this rubbish....... Hope you are all healthy and happy.

As promised earlier, on the profiles, I spent a rainy |August day putting brass names and numbers on a couple: Airfix's venerable 6110 gets a brass 6110, the 1000 County plates turned up as did those for the ROD 3803. The new Hall also arrived in the form of Bachmann's BR Guild Hall, with a Hawksworth Tender. This will eventually become one of the un-named black Halls and therefore needs a Collett tender. Still unsure whether to finish the tender in black or lined green - Coachman unearthed a rather top photo of an unnamed black Hall with a lined green tender......, But here starts another dilemma. Do I buy a used Castle or Hall with Collett tender and do a tender swap, thus creating another engine, which I don't actually "need", or do I buy one of the plentiful Harry Potter Collett tenders and sell on the Hawksworth? I'm currently plumping for the latter option. Whilst blackberrying in the rain this morning I also pondered creating a proper photo plank - perhaps the two road shed from Super quick, with a third open road to allow photography of individual wagons and coaches. But I can see this morphing into a shunting puzzle and test track.......... I hope you are healthy and happy.

Is that Wycliffe, John as in: The Fugees "Killing Me Softly With His Song ( One time...)???? And check out Mallard with his vynil - that is now so so wicked to have vynil - get out those wheels of steel. 45xx deep house scratch mix anyone? Biggedy Up for de Duck Geezer innit and ting.....herr mi now......

That Austin has obviously been got at by someone with a knowledge of high octane fuel and superchargers - I blame those American servicemen myself. How else could it have driven from one side of the bridge to halfway down the off ramp in the time taken for a crack express to draw one engine and one carriage under the same bridge............not under wheezy Austin power alone.......... Soon they'll be racing them down old airfields all over the country at places like Blackbushe, Long Marston, RAF Crail and Poddington.....

OK thanks Ray. That may help to explain why some received plain "GWR" letters and others received "G**W"

Needs "G W R" in yellow on the tender...........

Thanks. So were the G**W logos different to the lined green ones in the same way that GWR for the black engines was different?

If this was a black engine would it not have the yellow "GWR" insignia?

I have done a pre order of something else via a "box shifter" - there is a stated price so it makes sense. I have also left a card number so I have committed to buying the item at the pre-agreed price. I'm happy. With no price and no release date, having this facility on the MRD site as a pre-order is pretty pointless.

I turned my Haberfield Hall into an oil burner using Plasti-card. I was sent a photo of a laid out kit no longer available, and I worked it out from that. I won't credit the kind RM Web-er lest he get pestered now. A couple of poor pictures of it on post 11 of my thread. Link is below.

It's not a new build. It's a bitzer. Bitzer diss, bitzer dat and summa diss. Some of it is new; some is very old...........

Here is the method of correcting droopy Dapol tenders: And some finished crewed engines: each seperate jacket, waistcoat, trousers, shirt was individually painted with a slightly different hue: painful, slow, but well worth it. spot the oil burner - not a spade in sight. particularly like this one The coaling continues tomorrow maybe....

Not only is North Cranford located in Middlesex, but 1000 was an OOC engine during this time period. Result! Tough to justify a County of Brecknockshire............... Tonight the unlined engines lost their copper safety valve bonnets, the 2251s had lots of matt black applied to their chassis and motor chrome. I also rectified 1000's droopy tender top with some coffee stirrers and UHU. Photo tomorrow....... Just popping back out to the garage to finish 4 engines getting cab piping, gauges and levers.

So the workshop looks like this at the moment Lurking completed but tenderless in the crate are Peatling Hall and King James II ( I was born and bred in Scotland so it wasn't going to be re-named after any of the others was it ????????) Cab to cab reminds me of the way they all once sat in Woodham's Yard in Barry.......... I spy Haberfield Hall's tender awaiting rear axle repairs, and County of Worcestershire's awaiting packing inside to make it sit level on it's chassis. It has a nice empty bunker which will get a dusting of steam coal instead of the usual bulging tenders hiding motors below them. 3803 is in there awaiting Modelmaster Jackson Evans cabside numbers, and a pair each of moguls and 2251s awaiting crew. 7202 is down from the cabinet for crew fitting. whilst on the other "pile" are those awaiting coal and new paint before new logos.....a pair of 61XXs , IKB, Peatling's tender, King J2's tender and even a humble 57XX (8700).... coal is of course real steam coal. Getting to the end of some "found" at Kingswear before I start on some from Didcot. My "odd" Dapol double chimney-ed County - It came in the correct box marked up as a BR(W) County of Stafford, but with an unmolested "G**W" marked tender. The leaflet in County of Worcester's box correctly states that the Dapol double chimney is "County of Stafford" because only "Middlesex" got a double chimney in GWR service. But there is no BR number on Stafford's smokebox and no GWR number on the buffer-beam. Nor any signs that there ever were any numbers. An odd miss-match. Anyway - A double chimney-ed County in GW service can only be "Middlesex", which is where North Cranford sits, so once again Jackson Evans provide a new number and name.

Love the colour on old slides - makes early Hornby (and some recent Replica Railways) liveries look accurate.............

As I was doing the T-cutting the logos off the "GREAT WESTERN" and "garter" branded engines, I realized how many of the fleet still lacked crew, and coal, and had outstanding jobs such as footplate detailing ( copper pipes and gauges and red levers etc) ...... When will I ever get down to the "brass sides onto RTR" NPCCS work? So Anthony Manor has crew and a detailed footplate of sorts as does 2844, which also had a dry brush session of Phoenix "Oily Steel" and Humbrol matt black on the wheels, con rods and other running gear. I left some of the daubed tan paint applied by the previous owner, and it looks far better int he flesh than in a cruel photo..... The copper safety dome has been corrected back to green as befits an unlined workhorse. When Mr Airbrush comes into play, 2844 will be perfect. So whilst I am in the middle of crewing and coaling, I may as well carry on and finish the rest. 30 crew figures painted this week (Dapol and Hornby). Nearly made a schoolboy error with Haberfield Hall and added a fireman with a shovel in his hand......... Photos to follow.......... Hope you are happy and well.

That's the one for me. Thanks Robin. And the £220 I put into ERNIE to pay for this has indeed been worth it - 2 x £25 wins so far on it. So by the time Heljan produce 4707, it may have generated the cash for 3 Hornby Collett coaches and Bachman's 94XX

Love a 4-6-0 on NPCCS work. Beaten only by a 4-6-0 on milk tanker work.

That's Better: Testors has gone a little cloudy in places. It was damp outside when I sprayed this off this morning in the garage. Looks like it has hard water marks on it: (scale scale anyone? ) But this is due a heavy weather so these will disappear. Stock checked the HMRS decals the other day when I brought the engines down for logo change. Short a few for non lined engines, so Mr Fox has provided today. With a wet saturday forecast tomorrow, and a shoulder recovering from some painful corrective treatment, it's a quiet day at the workbench for me - TCut, decals, cocktail sticks at the ready. Add Radio 4, coffee and we'll see everything suitably re-logo'd to suit North Cranford's late 1940s time-frame. Have a great weekend everyone everywhere. Hope you are well and happy.

Get worried when love's gone behind.............

Would love to see a K41 in OO RTR. Unlikely to be the mongrel mogul, due to its uniqueness and would only be in one livery I suppose, which kills sales volumes (although I would run it). Could be yet another Hall - there are quite a few preserved..... I'd take 2 Manors as I know my two Mainlines are just waiting to spew their axles....... Most likely to be station buildings in RTP though....