Prometheus

I don't find Rover Russet Brown at all convincing I'm afraid - it's on the walnut side of chocolate and fine for painting coach interiors but not for simulating GWR brown. On my coach I used Peugeot Cafe Noir. It's quite dark but not too purple [if you know what I mean] and when given a flash of Dullcote, matches Hornby's Hawksworths quite well. The photograph at post One shows it quite well. You can just see a poor shot of Russet Brown through the centre windows, too. As for cream, I had Halfords make me up a can by matching the code from one of their swatches. Sadly they no longer offer the swatch-matching service though. Tony

For me at least, their relative scarcity and considerable cost are the disincentives against using Hornby's new Colletts. I have just bought an ancient custard-yellow Hornby Collett Comp for £6 to provide the carcass for a Comet sides Comp Bk. The cost - and the pleasure of conversion - are the clinchers for me ! Tony

Picked up at Warley yesterday [along with yet another K's 4-wheel coach !] was [were ?] a pair of E128 Corr. Bk. Comp. sides for a fiver. They'll need rolling for the tumble home but I think could be stuck on a Railroad Collett quite acceptably from a 'layout coach' point of view. Am I correct in assuming that the 1st compartments would have had curtains but the 3rds. not ? Tony

I'm truly delighted that you made a mistake with the gas cylinders. It makes me feel so much better as otherwise your coach is far superior to mine ! Tony

May I also ? https://srmg.org.uk/a-passable-passenger-brake-van/ My slightly ersatz PBV. Tony

Done - good idea and it opens up the scope... Tony

Absolutely no apologies necessary Lofty. Really nice work and I'm only too happy for this all to morph into general Collett rebuilds. I think there'll be no disagreement about that ! Tony

Keep 'em coming ! Tony

I'll follow this with interest ! I really should have done more with the roof on mine, particularly removing the transverse beading and replacing it more accurately in the correct position with thinner plastic strip. I hadn't thought about the profile however as I kept the original Hornby ends. I'll probably keep them for the Ocean Mails conversion too but I'd be keen to see how your's develops. Tony

Xurons are hugely useful for nibbling plastic but I also use much cheaper plastic shears from Squires - I seem to remember that they cost about a fiver. Probably have them at Warley this coming weekend. Absolutely brilliant for removing moulded roof vents, etc. Tony

There seems to be quite an industry here ! Tony

Those photos are brilliant John and they show just how well your Diner fits in there. As agreed by Howard, 'layout coaches' is what I aim for also. On the corridor connections, I am going to use folded paper ones for the next conversion, the Ocean Mails coach. Again, I'll use a Hornby body, this time the Railroad Collett Brake. I have already modified the roof by removing the watertank from the passenger end but the build will have to wait for some other work to be finished before it proceeds further. Howard - I thought about a Comet roof but doubted that I'd be able to remove the Hornby one satisfactorily and so gave it a miss. I also wondered whether it would be worth the effort: if one was going to use a Comet roof and sides, one might as well go all the way and use their ends too, dispensing with the Hornby body altogether ? Tony

Thanks Mike - how galling ! And there is only one pair on each Pressfix sheet too. And they're firmly sealed under a coat or twp of Klear and then a flash of Dullcote. Oh well, I can live with it... Tony

Thanks for your comments John and I agree, the latest Hornby release of this coach does have a nicely applied livery. Your conversion is dramatically improved though. I've messed about with quite a few of these and this... https://srmg.org.uk/quick-improvements-to-a-Hornby-railroad-gwr-dining-car/ ...was a slightly less detailed earlier one as I wanted to keep the original pre-rebuilt sides. Lots of compromise, as ever, but it runs nicely in its rake. And I've just noticed that I also did not repaint the handles and grab-rails in brass ! I rather like your corridor connections, too. Mine look over-long and clunky when viewed alone, but when coupled in a rake they look fine and close the gap nicely. Did you sacrafice a new Collett to get that underframe or did you manage to get one as a spare ? It makes a great deal of difference visually. Tony

Coming along nicely. I painted my droplights a sort of mahogany red. With a fine brush they are quite easy to do neatly. With regard to paint bleed around raised surfaces [you may already know this - if so, apologies] I use thin Tamiya tape which I then overlay with ordinary masking tape. The Tamiya tape is more flexible and helps avoid bleed in most cases. Tony

Absolutely no offence taken whatsoever Phil. I only put in the curtain post as I thought that the solution might be of interest. Fortunately we do not view things with the same terrifying clarity that digitally enlarged images allow for ! I think that almost any solution to the realistic curtain problem would suffer under those circumstances and, clearly, not all vertical blind material will work either. I was just lucky to find something that worked well at three feet. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Tony

The curtains have been commented upon elsewhere so I thought I'd explain them. I spent an age trying to find some material that looked convincing and, importantly, to scale at normal viewing distances. Paint wasn't the answer: some have done this well but I tried and it looked just like, well, paint. I experimented with various types of textured paper and they didn't work either, neither did cloth [the pattern or weave was always too large]. Eventually, and purely by chance [real happenstance], when having some vertical blinds replaced I was left with a strip of blind material that seemed to have potential. It cut well with scissors and whilst it would not take acrylic paint without becoming a little fibrous it did seem OK 'in the raw'. It also had a texture which almost simulated folds. That's what was used. I have enough left to curtain, at a guess, around a thousand coaches ! Finally, and not without good reason, sooner or later someone will probably observe that the lining on this coach is a little, well, sparse. Mea culpa: I chickened out and left it at one waist line only as I doubted my ability [and eyesight] in applying the lower band in a completely parallel fashion. I thought I'd say it before anyone else did !!! Tony

I agree both. The ends are a big compromise [not the only one either !] and in this build I learned a lot of lessons. The next one is the Ocean Mails coach and I'm going to explore white metal ends for it. thanks again. Tony

This has been soldiering on for a month or more but is now, at last, finished. The build blog is here: https://srmg.org.uk/dinner-in-the-diner/ Warning though, if you do go there, the digital enlargements are cruel and the lining is nowhere near as ragged ! For those who just want photos however: I was not able to find a prototype illustration of the coach in this livery anywhere and so had to rely on images of models for information about the positioning of the lettering. I'd been toying with the idea of building one of these for a while but Alan Davies' May RM article provided the spur and for that Alan, many thanks. Tony

An enjoyable read so far and a good result to date. I have almost completed an H33 conversion on a Hornby dining car, again using Comet sides. Not quite as detailed as yours but still attractive [and lots of lessons learned along the way !]. Tony

I'm afraid that the Swansea show cannot: the location is booked. Tony

Another pleasing build, the GWR banana van. This came still wrapped in its tissue paper in an immaculate box and must be, what 30 / 40 years old ? A stamped note on the back of the box advised of their recent move to Tubbs Road in Willesden - would that help anybody date it more accurately ? The castings this time were all quite clean and symmetrical although the roof presented a particular problem and a very substantial amount of metal required removing from the four corners before it could be used [worn mould ?] . Otherwise, construction was pleasingly easy and the body sat quite square. I have fitted a floor [as usual], some plumbing, better wheels in brass bearings, tie rods and Bachmann couplings. The van runs very freely, making it quite usable. Tony

Exactly the same thing happened to my father decades ago in Cardiff. He was very much the worse for wear as a passenger sitting in the front of his beautiful LHD 220s fintail [finished with full 300 chrome]. The penny dropped when the officer asked where his steering wheel was. Tony

I very much doubt it, unless by a die-hard who is looking for a gap filler until a mint example comes along. Best part of £23 for these for eg: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-PECO-OO-GAUGE-RAILWAY-OPEN-TOP-MINERAL-KIT-WAGONS-PETERBOROUGH-COOP-LLEWELYN-/322286850382?hash=item4b09cb114e:g:xxAAAOSwvg9XayU4 They've been up for a long time and they'll continue to gather dust up there, too. And neither is easily restorable which, for me, would be the object of the exercise. Looking this morning, there are a lot of more moderately priced ones available currently however, although not as unmade models or the two or three coal trucks that I'd like. But they'll come along... Tony

Have a look on eBay ! Staggering ! The prices [more-often-than-not] charged on there for WWs are way beyond optimistic and I don't believe that they sell. £20 for example. A lot are completely unrestorable too. Ah, that's bad news ! I had no idea, so it will be scarce then. There is one on eBay right now but it's really too expensive. One will turn up eventually however. Thanks too for filling in some of the history of these interesting wagons. This is something which caught my eye recently. I'd love to have a go at one of these, a Kenline kit... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kenline-Unbuilt-Kit-LMS-Louvred-Vented-Fish-Van-Kit-Finescale-Wagon-/112154590316?hash=item1a1cef3c6c:g:zT4AAOSwpLNX79Zl But not at that price. A very nicely made-up one, too... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kenline-Kit-LMS-Louvred-Vented-Fish-Van-Finescale-Wagon-ABSOLUTELY-SUPERB-/112164990884?hash=item1a1d8defa4:g:BLAAAOSwgmJXwvyG I think some scurrying around in those plastic trays under the tables is called for ! Thaks all for your responses and interest. I must finish that K's GWR Banana Van now. Tony