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hayfield

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  1. hayfield

    BEC LNER J52

    By hayfield,

    I have started to rebuild a BEC LNER J52 I got off Ebay quite cheaply,the paint job was not very good. So a soak in Nitromores last night and a wash clean, all there was then to do was picking off the odd bit of paint and glue.
     
    Tonight I have stuck the two body sides/tops to the bunker casting, smoke box and footplate.
     

     
    I noticed that where the 2 body halves joined, the joins was not very good (the builder had put some filler on them). So I decided to do likewise and will leave the filler for 24 hours to set completely
     

     
    I am re-building this loco as a thank you for a friend who did me a good turn. I have 2 other of these. One I built 2 years ago from an unstarted kit, and have a body built by someone else (another Ebay item which no one was bidding on) neither of these show the same problems, either I forgot that I had to do a bit of filling or the castings were better.
     
    Also won another Wills 2 road engine shed off Ebay tonight (see layout blog) got it a couple of pounds cheaper than the Ebay shops and hopefully it will arrive quicker that the one I brought a couple of months ago as I had to wait nearly 2 weeks.
  2. hayfield

    2018

    By hayfield,

    Nearly 2 years have past since I started the plan to build a layout at our new home, initially I was to be banished to a large shed in the garden, however this evolved into part of an extension we decided to build. After a good start this time last year the builder became a bit erratic ending up with us parting, we then had to arrange for contractors to do the work beyond my capabilities. Most of the work was done by Christmas with a few bits to be completed at leasure, still I had my work shop/ railway room to fit out, then it was found out I had a medical issue which meant I could do nothing for 3 months, thankfully this has passed and all is OK now
     
    This year I have joined a local model railway club, seemed to have been co opted on to the 0 gauge section and being a bit sidetracked with the senior gauge
     
    What has happened, basically just a lot of thinking and acquiring items
     
    Track
     
    Well I was always going to build my own track, which was going to be to 00SF gauge, as most of the stock will be kitbuilt I decided to change to EM gauge, it does look better and the main cost will be Markit EM gauge axles
     
    Secondly ditched the idea of using ply timbers, why? Well as the plain track will be flexi track with plastic bases it just seemed natural
     
    Baseboards
     
    Well I have a 12' run of kitchen base units plus an extra 2.5 foot available, at the moment this space is required for the skirting board painting for the other down stairs room, plus will temporarily be used for an 0 gauge test track. Once I get round to painting and fitting the skirting boards I can then start on the base boards
     
    Buildings
     
    I have started buying Ratio and Wills kits which will form the basis of the buildings as will be kit bashed as required
     
    Stock
     
    I have been having a major slim down of stock, but also been stocking up on locos and loco parts (mainly in the chassis department) as locos will be on etched chassis with can motors and High Level gearboxes. A nicely built K's Adams Radial tank is being converted (temporarily using the K's chassis) to EM and just got a slimline gearbox to fit it. Also just bought an unmade Southeastern Finecast Collet goods kit for £60 as I wanted the etched chassis, Gibson wheels and gears and Mashima motor, these parts alone would cost more than the £60 I paid
     
    Also just bought an unmade K's 42/72xx kit (spot on for Bodmin) wondering if a 28xx chassis will fit it? otherwise a set of Gibson frames will be needed (at least I have a full st of Gibson wheels for it. Again £50 a good price
     
    Hoping to start Bodmin in earnest in the autumn just because there is still lots to do with the house
  3. hayfield
    Far too little to report as I have not achieved mu goal. As the loft is a little cooler I managed to retrieve the plain sleepers and some rail, I also bought down some loco kits and went through my chassis box, the latter failing to realise what I need for a G6. On the plus side I have a Southeastern Finecast M7 kit which can be rebuilt to EM standards. I really need to get my kits out of the boxes and find some GWR locos
     

     
    Packets of plain sleepers, mostly 8'6" but I also have some 9'. I have seen many remark how painful it is to stain individual sleepers, I will get a sheet of cardboard put some double sided tape on it and just put a line either side of the tape and it will take seconds to do, none of this messy soaking the timbers etc.
     
    I have a box of PSM code 75 bullhead nickle-silver which I got off eBay ages ago as were the sleepers, following BGJohn in using up items I had for some time.
     
    Went to B&Q last week and looked at their ply, all I could see was thin stuff which was warping and was called exterior !!. At the moment I have no room to buy an 8 x 4 sheet and cut it into 4 x 2 sheets, will look at Wicks and see what they have, I need a couple of 4 x 1 sheets for storage purposes and put a simple frame work under it
     
    This Thursdays goal is a couple of common crossings (fitted)
  4. hayfield
    Holidays, DIY on the house, a couple of turnouts and finishing off a couple of other locos have got in the way of the Atlantic lately but I have done a bit more on it over the weekend.
     

     
    The tender needs a bit more filler where the top plate fits the body, I need to make a new air vent and find some buffers.
     
    I have fitted the cylinder block casting, as its a butt joint I not too certain how well it has stuck, the cylinders need filling and I need to replace the cross heads / rods as they are soft whitemetal castings and I broke one.
     
    Also the front bogie fouls the chassis, I will try and alter the hole in the bogie and move it 2 or 3 mm forward.
     
    Still it runs well on the straight track, and its a lot better than I thought it would be a few weeks ago.
     
    The other locos I repaired are 2 Wills 1864 Pannier tanks, one which I painted some months ago and needed the chassis building, and another which came off Ebay with the pickups mangled, both now work and I also fitted some pickups to a K's Terrier another Ebay buy, this now needs some footsteps and the side air compresser.
  5. hayfield
    A few more doors and windows fitted, the chimney stacks are in the process of being fitted and the canopy at the front has been made by cutting and splicing two kits parts together
     

     
    Stink pipes fitted but gutters and down pipes will have to wait for the roof to be finished. Also other thing like posters and various boxes still need fitting
     
    I am still putting off the canopy roofs which need quite a lot of kit bashing, they are not the easiest things to build anyway, let alone making them into a U shape
  6. hayfield
    The platforms have been extended windows and doors being fitted, a small amount of extra work has been done on the roof.
     
    The canopy hs been in my thoughts, I have 3 from the station kits and one free standing one. It will be a U shape and will extend past the buildings, keeping them in the air is the next issue. Each station kit comes with one very substantial casting and the free standing kit has 6 much slender single posts, I may try buying spares from Ratio
     
    The other thing is a wall on the rear of the new platform, the goods shed rear wall will be part of it, certainly 6' above the platform surface, again the canopy height may dictate the height
  7. hayfield

    Bodmin General(ish)9

    By hayfield,

    Progress has slowed up owing to another project taking priority. I now have laid the closed cell foam track bed for the two main roads and engine shed entranceI have moved the turnout which gives access to the goods yard on to the next board, but I think it still needs to co further back a couple of centimeters. I also think the goods yard needs moving a couple of centimeters further away  from the station platform as the track is too close to the platform and the rear wall of the goods shed needs to fit in
     
    With this in mind I must start thinking about a goods shed, must look in earnest on eBay for the odd kit at a reasonable price, and of course start the build of the turnout and slip for the engine shed
  8. hayfield
    I have done some more on the roof, the sections are in place and before I get the filler out it needs to dry out first, think I have enough chimney stacks, but I guess they are in the wrong position
     
    I have carried on with the painting adding colour to the stones. Again the paint needs to harden then I will start to apply some weathering.
     

     
    The station forecourt roof was the last to be cut and fitted, again waiting for the solvent to harden before the filler comes out. I will fit the Ratio canopy which entails splicing two together. They are 28mm deep and I am thinking that's a bit too deep, I may trim then down a bit. I am also planning to have the doors open, so the floor will need modelling.
  9. hayfield
    Made a start on the roof, thought I would first try using the parts in the kit, if this fails I will move on to tile or slate plasticard sheets
     
     
     
    The station forcourt elevation roof will be quite tricky to form with all the gables and roof lengths
     
    Also made a start on the painting, base coat of mid stone on the walls, sand around the doors, windows and corners, tomorrow will start picking out stones in differing shades 
     
  10. hayfield
    The station walls have been primed ready for painting, these two photos show the forecourt and rear of the building
     

     
    This is the platform area and the primer hides the joins and the small amount of filling. Next up will be my laughable efforts in painting the walls.
     

     
    Half of a standard canopy kit has been built, I was worried that being 1/2" narrower than I expected would make the platform too shallow, as it happens its not too bad. I have 4 kits to play with so I may extend the canopy down the platform a bit.
     
    Thoughts about the roof will also have to be firmed up, I was going to use tiles, but I might give the kit roof a try first
     
     
  11. hayfield
    The rear of the station wall is next up,  on the left the selection of wall pieces from the kits available/suitable. On the right the pieces have been trimmed so they all but up together
     

     
     
    The rear of the station wall after being stuck together. I have altered the left hand end gabel from a large window to a slit window, a bit of filler and paint should hide the join
     

     
    On the left the station forecourt elevation with the revised left hand gable end, I decided not to alter either the center section or right hand gable end. The doors line up with each other in the centre section, adding a second window would mean them being too close to each other ,the door and the wall end. As for the right hand gable, adding a second door would have caused issues with the door frames and as they will not be seenI will not bother
     

     
    The station roughly placed into position, its in approximately where it is on the plan, but the canopy will dictate the final positioning. I will follow the instructions regarding painting the walls, window frames and doors before fitting them
     
    I am now letting everything dry out completely before I get out both the filler and primer. Next up I need to start one of the platform canopies, this will allow me to see how they will fit into the scheme of things
  12. hayfield
    I have made a start on my interpretation of the station building at Bodmin General, I am using the Ratio station kit for the kit bash

     
    The first job was to look at what parts (from 2 kits) could be used in making each elevation, top to bottom :- station front, station front platform side, platform building rear, platform building front.
    I knew I needed an additional canopy and I managed to buy on eBay a third station building kit for the price of a canopy kit. This have given me more options to be closer to the original 

    I started to build the platform building front from the left hand side, the double window and door part was made from splicing two of the double window and door ( top item) parts leavinga spare window and door section (middle). Carefull splicing of the 2 slit windows made a large window

     
    A window and door section was selected, the left hand end was trimmed. The second photo shows it joined and another of the same section was selected
     

     
    This third section was added and a fourth part selected and joined to the previous sections. This should complete the platform face, its 10 mm too long but final trimming will take place once all 4 elevations have been completed  
     

     
    The station front may be a bit harder to create, starting by joining a window section to a window and door section
     

     
    2 end sections will be added once the final size is established, I am missing a window in the centre section, but I can live with this. The left hand gable should horizontal slit window and the right hand one should have a larger door. I may try and splice in these parts if I am brave enough
    Its about 3 mm too long, but the platform side needs building first so I have a bit of a leeway
     
     
     
  13. hayfield

    Bodmin General(ish)8

    By hayfield,

    This afternoon I have continued to experiment with Peco platform faces, faced with slaters brick embossed plasticard and the platform surfaces being Wills sheets. progress looks to be promising
     

     
    The Wills sheets need the joins hiding, I have had a go with a couple using Milliput, seems to be OK. I was going to have the second platform a bit shorter, but decided to have both the same length. at a rough calculation I need another 3 packs of paving
     

     
    As I said I will kitbash a couple of Ratio station buildings, a quick look at the parts I have from 2 kits top will be the front of the station building facing the forecourt, next the same building facing the buffer stops, second from bottom will be the rear of the platform building. botton the front of the platform building. all of these will need a lot of butchery. With the 2 kits I have 2 station canopies, I have worked out I will need at least 3, last night I bought another station building kit for the price of a canopy kit
     
    Initially I was not going to model the rear of the platform building, but as you see I am not far off having enough parts to build all 4 facings. Last night I bought another station building kit for the price of a canopy kit, this not only gives me another canopy but additional sections to play with, not only to fill the missing facing but it may also give me some more options on the other wall. Still looks like it will need a lot of surgery and filler.
  14. hayfield

    Bodmin General(ish)4

    By hayfield,

    A Stephen Poole 54xx loco kit has now joined the queue of locos to be built for Bodmin,
     
    I  went to my clubs local show and there on the members sales stand was a Stephen Poole 54xx box, being priced at £15 I wondered why no one else had bought it
     

     
    I had a quick look and saw it had hardly been started and at £15 was worth buying without a another thought
     

     
    All the body parts are there, looks to have been superglued, so will be easy to disassemble, the main parts are well cast, some of the smaller ones are not so good and may need replacing
     

     
    It has a Stephen Poole brass bar chassis , missing the coupling rods and crank pin bosses, Has a Mashima 1224 motor with a flywheel, Branchlines motor mount and gears and Romford wheels. The pickups work, but as there is no coupling rods and the centre wheels are slightly raised, the centre wheels just spin
     
    I could do a simple conversion using Markit EM chassis spacers and axles, but still would need coupling rods, I could  buy Alan Gibson Mainframes and coupling rods. But I see High Level Kits do a 64xx chassis, I have a  Pug and 57xx High Level chassis made by someone else and they are stunning, Only negative is they look a bit daunting to build.  Plenty of time to think about this one, I would have bought a High Level gearbox anyway, plus needs coupling rods so the extra spend is not too much
     
    Also bagged a box of Peco 009 track (18" lengths)for a tenner for anther project
     
     
  15. hayfield

    Work bench

    By hayfield,

    Latest loco on my workbench is a Keyser
     
    LNER J72
     
    Now in the garage after having a coat of apple green for each of the past 3 days. As per my entry on the last web I need to adjust the chassis as one of the spacers is stoping the motor sitting flat enough. So out with the slitting disc and reduce the size of it.
     
    The chassis is one I got off Ebay, I have had to swap motors and change a Comet gear box for a simple motor mount, so that the cab can be kept relatively clear of motors.
  16. hayfield

    2 week break

    By hayfield,

    A quiet 2 weeks plus as I have been on my hols, walking in the peaks and a quiet week in Kent.
     
    Visited both the Peak rail centre which for me was good for photos of a few wagons and the coach preservation shed and The Midland Railway centre at Swawick. loved the Midland museum the shed with the Duchess and Princess along with the replica buildings being constructed.
     

     
    I have a couple of K's 6 wheelers to rebuild and seeing how the straps and rods fit together will assist
     

     
    Inside of the Royal carrage
     

     
    Someone out there is copying my modelling skills
     
    The second week we visited the KESR misses again that P class only got a view from the elevated viewing area at Rolvenden.
     
    And also the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway. At onetime if it were not full scale and GWR I would turn my nose up at it. But seeing they run over the past 2 yeard at Dungerness, New Romney and Hythe was very enyoyable, in fact they put some of the preserved railways to shame.
     
     
    I used to think of them as models, but am realising they are engins in their own right
     

  17. hayfield

    slow progress

    By hayfield,

    Not much has happened recently, like everyone else work and social life has got in the way.
     

     
    The shell is now stiff enough for me to finalise the position, I have also now worked out the track positions.
     
    I was hoping to be able to cut out the inspection pits today but have been distracted and it is too dark outside to cut them out.
     
    Still I am now in a position to work on which ever part of the layout takes my fancy.
     
    I can carry on with the shed building, with either continueing the slates, make the northlights/ smoke jacks or detail the building sides.
     
    Or build the 3 remaining turnouts which are outstanding. Or cut out the inspection pits and start track laying.
     
    Now to clear up the work bench after a spot of trach building for someone else
  18. hayfield

    Starting the detail

    By hayfield,

    The walls looked a bit stark, so I decided to see if a plynth at the bottom of the walls would look better. It breaks up the wall quite well (looks better in real life where depth is more apparent), I will bevel the tops once the solvent fully drys.

    Window sills have been added , and will also be beveled. Windows are tacked in place (well I hope they are).
     
    Have added a horizontal barge board under the capping, as it looks better being there rather than a bare wall. I think I will put this on the front wall under the capping for the same reason.
     

     
    Now to carry on with the roof's and I hust find my microstrip so I can start the north lights.
  19. hayfield

    Engine shed

    By hayfield,

    Over the past few weeks work and other things have got in the way of progress. The first turnout is built and tested, this was the easy one as it is a straight B6, nice and simple.
     
    Over the past couple of nights I have worked our where each wall meets the sides and fixed them together. Now on to the roofs.
     

     
    I have started at the rear first with the 2 single spans. The rear gentler slope is easy but it is the steeper one with the north lights I need to work out. I decided to make them in 3 sections, top and bottom in full length and the middle the width required. these are all glued in and waiting for the solvent to harden, so I can file the tops flat to fit the capping.
     
    I thought about makeing the roof a seperate lift off section, but decided to make the whole building lift off. Walls still need the bottom vallance fitting, window sills, windows etc. I an just trying out the different parts wall capping, bargeboards etc to see how they look and they are just lightly tacked in place.
     
    I have 2 tileing sheets which were stuck together to make a double span drying/hardening to start the next section, I will make a couple of the Wills smoke jacks to see how they look and have a go at the north light windows themselves.
     
    Now I know the exact size of the shed I can finalise the curves to the approach tracksEven though I extended the shed by 1 Bay, it seens to have shrunk about 3/4" from my initial estimates. I am still toying about whether to fit inspection pits inside or out.
     
    Hopefully I will be able to do some more tomorrow afternoon.
  20. hayfield

    Railcar's chassis

    By hayfield,

    Following a question I have shown my simple chassis arrangements. Its not going to please the rivet counters but then again I do not think they would use a MTK kit. The seats are old MTK ones for a DMU so are not quite correct.

     
    The main part of the chassis is a piece of PCB board,I then soldered 2 coach W irons to it. I made a motor mount from some brass sheet and added a DC10 motor with 30/1 Romford gears. I added 2 square bits of brassbetween the W irons for added stiffness. 8ba bolts soldered to bits of brass, which were then stuck to each end of the body. A hole is cut into the PCB board to allow the worm gear into the body and part of the motor, which fits flush with the floor, a High Level kit may keep all below deck but once the seats are in place nothing can be seen
     

     
    All I now need to fit are PB strips to act as wipers on the wheels, and cut the very botom part of the W irons off to hide them.

    For the Bristol Railcar I may use the High Level kits PaceMaker traction pack http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/ The good part about these kits is all you have is 4 sides so you can fit what you want to it as its up to you what you do. The floor can even be 1 piece which is either stuck or soldered in place.
     
    Its nice to have something a bit different, and in fact could command a small diorama layout of its own. The diorama could be no more than 3' long and 6" to 9" wide, I could use 4 different railcars, 1 rail bus, a GWR and LMS push pull units. A bit bigger then 2 car DMu & EMU could be used.
     
    A good site is the Railcar Ass http://www.railcar.co.uk/.
  21. hayfield

    J52

    By hayfield,

    Been at the in laws this weekend and got the farther in law to letter half a dozen locos, unfortunatly I told him to put the wrong size LNER transfers on the loco.
     

     
    The body needs a bit of a clean up, (black paint would not set), if it cleans up OK then I will leave alone or I might try and life the transfers and put smaller ones on. If not it might be a repaint job. All the other locos were fine I just made a mistake on this one.
  22. hayfield

    J52

    By hayfield,

    As I said The loco has been sprayed black and have started to paint the cab, buffer beams etc. Going away to see the inlaws for a few days and hope to get the farther in law to help me letter this loco and a few others. Mad rush last night to finish off painting a couple of other locos and get my bits together.
  23. hayfield

    LNER J52 update

    By hayfield,

    Over the weekend I finished building the loco, the most tedious job was to make the steps from brass sheet. I swapped the split pins for brass hand rail knobs. Fitted etched rear window grills and I fitted some whitemetal steam pipes.

     
     
    For the past few nights I have undercoated and sprayed the loco gloss black, I will now pick out the buffer beams and other items which need painting different colours and will number and letter the loco over the weekend, then a coat of satin varnish will tone the loco down.
  24. hayfield

    Layout

    By hayfield,

    View from the fiddle yard
     
    The track will be SMP flexi track and (C&L) copper clad built turnouts all in 00, I thought about making them from C&L plastic parts but I decided against this
  25. hayfield

    Shelf layout update

    By hayfield,

    I am building a shelf layout in my workroom as a test bench for my locos, storage for them and to play trains. My main interests in the hoby is building whitemetal loco kits and building turnouts.
     
    The space I had available was 5' 3" long by 12" at one end and 18" at the other. Locos would enter the layout from the right from a fiddle yard (which would be hidden from view by a coaling plant) under a road bridge on one of 3 tracks. On the left hans side will be a 6 road engine shed and a head shunt for the coaling stage.
     
    I built the board and played around with various track plans, once set on a plan I built a mockup of the shed in card based on the Wills 2 road kit
     
    Once settled on the plan I started to build the walls
     
    Monday morning my local shop had some cork sheet in so I layed this last night and as I had built a second wall on Monday I could put the shed in place and double check the track plan
     
    The track plan need slight adjustment and I need to buy another shed kit to build the next bay.
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