Vin

Hi Tom, I'm going to place a strip of 30thou plasticard on the back of the shoe rail to give it some depth. Its hard to see from the photo but the etch is bent in places to give it the correct shape. So the hardwood centre section will be where the depth is. Vin

Hi All, Thanks to Pete Harvey I've corrected myself on the mk3 designation. In the process I'm adding the extra photos I forgot to add in the first place. The mk3 style side of a trailer car from the class 442. This uses a blank resin casting of the mk3 coach and then the doors are chopped off and modified. The window etches allow for a 1mm surround on the inside of the coach for the glazing to be as flush as possible. The difference between the power plug doors (above) and the standard mk3 door. More butchery is required to make the driving trailer sides as the door is in the toilet window position. Vin

Hi All, This build project was started over 12 months with the research taking the longest time. Talk about opening a massive can of worms would be an under estimation! So I should start at the beginning. This thread is technically in two parts. 1. The mk3 coach as one group (loco hauled, passenger coaches, buffets, sleepers and HST coaches). 2. A class 442 for NSE Daz using the constituent components from the above build. I will try my best to split these up as much as possible but as they are being built at the same time and use the basic parts it maybe difficult. Here are two inverted underframe cast in coloured resin. Casting in black resin helps to stop scratches showing up if the paint gets chipped. I've several coaches where the wheels have touched the underside and chipped the paint. These underframes are used throughout the build on both the mk3 stock and the class 442. I was going to cast the equipment well on this part but later I'll show why I didn't. A pile of underframes in various colours, with and without equipment wells. Enough to do a 5WES. There are some etches which are attached to the underframe equipment well. This pair is for one of the trailer cars in the class 442 set. When I first started out sketching the equipment boxes for the both the mk3 and 442 I found that each type is different and that over the years they have changed. The easiest way to explain it is to divide the length of the trapezoid into ten bays with a gap at the ends. Then each bay has a hatch, a blank, control equipment or grill. Now it gets complicated because I have found and drawn over 50 different types. Here is one the sides taped to the equipment well. Another different trailer car from the 442. A close up of the etch. I spray painted with etching primer first and a day late with matt black while they where still attached to the etch sheet. The rectangular holes at the right hand etch are for the large third rail fuses pictured below. The fuse elements still attached to the etch. There are three parts to each piece which I'll show later on when I build them up. These fuses are situated at the end of the coach where the third rail pickups are on the bogies. As pictured below. These bogies are Peter Clarke kits whitemetal castings with my etches glued to the sides. I designed these so they flex. Hopefully this will stop the damage caused by out of gauge structures, which happened to my Roxey mouldings SR EMU. This had whitemetal soldered shoe rails and caught an object at the side of the track and nearly ripped the bogie clean off! Here are the shoe rail etches which are handed. As you can see there are more shoes than needed. This is so I can solder two together so the shoe has a bit more depth to it. Ignore the 30A shed plates they are for something else. Finally for today a mk3a SLEP bodyside. More soon. Regards Vin PS Some of the photos are taken with my old camera and others with the new one. Can you tell the difference?

Hi all, That Europhoenix logo is looking more and more like the old FM rail F type silver dragon logo as applied to 47832 back in 2005. Vin

Cheers Mickey. It's only a couple of miles but at 15mph would have taken ages. Vin

Hi all, Excellent photos. I think the 08 hauling the three PRA's should have a brake van on as its a Vacuum only 08 so no train brakes. I can't remember what the geography around that area is but I bet most of it isn't on the flat! Vin

Hi Bobster, If you send me a pm. I'll list the others as I don't want to go off topic. Cheers Vin

Hi Cheers for the info. That's a great help. I'll have to find my prototype works plates. I've got one off 60085 marked 1991 but I'm sure the class 92 one off 92027 is about 10mm smaller all the way round. Regards Vin

Hi, Totally agree with you about the style of works plate changing part way through the build. I wonder if anyone knows when they changed? The later ones are also the same style as the class 92 which are smaller in size compared to the class 60 versions. Regards Vin

Hi All, Nice plates for 60085. I've been doing some designs for something else and added in a couple of sixty names at first and then went completely mad!!!! All these are etched onto 12thou nickel silver, spray painted whilst on the sheet and then the faces are polished. I think what made me do most of them was the research as I have a couple of the real plates. Then I logged onto the auction sites which give dimensions of most of the plates when EWS auctioned them off a couple of years ago (maybe longer). I'm going to do the builders plates but I think etching them onto 0.2mm thick metal as the real ones are thin ally. So if anybody needs any names PM and I'm sure we can come to some arrangement. I still haven't etched the 'Eastern' nameplate as I can't get the font right. Cheers Vin PS this camera is getting worse. It has real trouble focusing on shiny or black things, which these plates are!!!!!

Hi Sean, That's the same method of masking I use. It's only downfall is when there is a door hinge just behind the curve (usually on BSK's) which can distort the curve and generally be a pain. For cutting the curve I've made a brass former which I cut round but that depends on how many you're planning to paint? As for the lining I've been using the Fox ones after the HMRS changed the way they made them. The Fox lining needs to be cut into manageable strips as they have a tendency to stretch on application. Then shrink as they dry which in the worst case snaps the lining. The corners for the Fox ones go on really easily but any method will test your sanity!!! Keep up the great work. Vin

Cheers Bob. I didn't think I'd seen any. I wonder why models of the mark1 from several different manufacturers still mould them in position? Vin

Hi Sean, Good to see the mk2 coming together. On the subject of mark1 periscopes I must have trawled through hundreds of images of coach roofs from the late 70's through to the nineties and have found them missing. They sometimes have them plated over (usually quite roughly) or the roof panel has been replaced smooth. I bet on the prototype they leaked like a sieve or corroded badly. Cheers Vin

Hi Sean, Both coaches are coming together nicely. The scotrail mark1 looks great. Did you get an interior with this kit? I think I only got a bag of seats for mine and had to scratch build the rest. Cheers Vin

It's an ex ARC or Yeoman PGA hopper converted to a Gunnell with lowered sides and extended ends. They where converted in the early 1990's and usually painted in Dutch colours and used for ballast movements. Vin

Hi all, That Hst with the black roof is another gem and rare. Kings cross this morning looked like this at 10am this morning, HSTs all over the place but no screaming Valentas. Only a pair of 91's (91101 and 91114) in platform zero! 114 was pan down so must have failed. The southern photos show it wasn't just solely emu territory. Personally I think the 73's in blue made them look so bland and uninteresting. Nowadays a loco in Waterloo is news worthy never mind a blue 73. Great work Jeff, scanning all these photos. It'll be worn out soon!!! Vin

Hi all, That class 40 is 115 as it has no boiler water tanks. It was withdrawn in March 1982 so this could be one of its last duties unless it was taken before then. It is a great photo with the old guard of the WCML dragging what was being sold as the shiny new future!! Great find. Vin

Hi Sean, Here are a couple of photos for your mark 1. On the left is a Heljan mark 1 with the overflow channels. On the right is a JLTRT SK with the channels and the overflow pipe (The brassy bit as the paint has chipped off it). The channel is L shaped and made from two pieces of microstrip glued together. The toilet is in a different position on your model but the water tank and overflow are in the same place. An over view shot, showing the angle and position. Hope this helps Vin

Hi Sean, Good to see you back. Those Heljan brake blocks look better than the ones supplied in the kit. On the roof are you fitting the angled toilet overflow strips? If you need a photo I'll post one later. I'll let you get back to painting your seats. If you want some mark2 inspiration go to Layout topics and the JLTRT mark2's I've built for Daz on Shaftsbury. Cheers Vin

Hi all, The last photos are of Doncaster works mini open day (2nd and 3rd May 1986). The class 50036 didn't have a power unit in it yet. In the background withdrawn 13003 can be seen. When I mean mini open day, most of the works complex was shut and locked up. So this was the main area that was accessible. Yet more great photos Jeff. Cheers Vin

Hi all, The wiring train at portabello has a YouTube presence. So not so forgotten, just abandoned!!! Hope this link works as its the first time I've copied a link on this new phone. Vin

Cheers Flood, That clarifies the situation. Both mark3 and mark4 DVTs are shorter than the passenger coaches. The profile of the bodies would change the kinematic envelope of the carriage, therefore C3 restrictions make sense. Vin

Hi, I've always wondered why the data panels give that length and don't include the gangways. The 22.57m is over the panels only. Cheers Vin

Hi, Wiki is wrong a mk3 is 23m over the gangways. Add a couple of cm for extended buffers. The same applies to the mark 4. Cheers Vin