virginhst539

Another of those lovely black boxes have appeared I had never really jumped at these when they first came out as the liverys never really fit in with the part of the world i model. But they did run a small number of these up here. I know absolutly nothing about the STS livery but i have a plan. Two of these are going to be repainted into the usual grey cement wagon colour and one will stay in this livery as a what if 'hired in' wagon. Only change to make is the ladder for the two blue circle build ones getting repainted. Overall a really nice model. Hopefully some will do a new tool of the Vee barrel builds.

815 is on the workington dock silver bullets so could be 806

won't be 816, I had it on shed up north last Thursday and its been on the cements over the weekend.

Back to painting things yellow. Got this hammered through the paintworks while painting some aircraft. Have used vallejo paints through out on this to add a bit of tonal veriety between the various yellow coaches as per prototype. Paints used where -71.002 medium yellow - 71.274 aggressor grey Will need to start on the other coach to go with this now...

well this is unlike me, got this one cracked out fairly quickly! took the loco down the club room for a test run and got it rebranded with the usual T cut and cotton bud method. I must admit I really like the Hornby class 60 and its easily my all time favorite model they have produced in recent years. unfortunately noticed I'm missing a light lens, x1 bogie steps, x1 hand rail with x2 lose at the top and the horns on the end with out guard round them had a fair bit of play in them and a tendency to want to settle to the left so dont think they will be long in coming off but can be easily replaced. Also noted was light bleed at the end missing the lens so suspect the two are connected and hopefully and a easy fix. All part of the game when nabbing a bargain and not to much hassle to sort. Decals where straight forward with no issues as expected and the tarmac logo just needs a touch of decal fix to make sure there's no unwanted slivering when varnishing at the weekend. I really hope I have got the CRH logos on right as there was not a huge amount of reference material as it was a fairly short lived livery but from what I had viewed when doing this it seems right with the one nose end marking and one side marking

Needed a loco for these cement wagons..... any excuse eh? Having already got Hornbys 60087 and Bachmanns unwillingness to do more class 70s in orange and yellow when one another model of 087 was spotted at a rather nice price compared to this years release via Hornby on the usual auction site... well now I have two! This rather short lived livery has been on my hit list for a while and was rather oddly named in inverness of all places 60076 'Dunbar' with CRH banding which was only applied to this side and nose end. Decals are the superb offering by railtec models and the 3d nameplates still amaze me! Also in the envelope was the VTG safety 'egg' labels and 4 custom JPA wagon numbers which arrived within days of ordering. Top notch service as always! Also ordered was some new cement coluor dusts from AK, various shades of cement colour paints and a sheet of welds for the JPAs from archer decals which have a great range of 3D bolts, welds, casting marks for armor ect but unfortunately they seem to be closing up shop. More pics to follow later in the week when this gets renumbered and rebranded then its onto trying not to wreak the expensive wagons with paints and powders!

Bachmann JPAs I posted else where on here about a couple of minor issues with these most of them relating to 38-200K the Colas one. Now before getting into this I'm not slating Bachmann or the models as regardless of these points I do really like them, they are more observations for adding my own touches to them... that and I paid for them so fair game really! The VTG one is missing a a couple of VTG specific safety labels on the barrel but thankfully railtec have come to the rescue and provide a pack of these. Another missing label is the wagon maintenance help line ones from the chassis sides these either being white colas ones or orange Davis wagon ones and are not exactly small so they do stand out a bit and are present on all wagons. next is the build differences between the two, I know a limitation of the tooling does not allow for a 100% accurate representation of the colas ones as the ends of the wagons have a curved plate with a rib either end compared to the VTG ones which have a flat section with ribs welded to the body of the tank along the length of the sections (see comparison picture). This to me can not realistically be corrected with out a fair bit of work and repaint but what does need to be sorted is the removal of the handrails along the top on the colas four and weld runs on all eight wagons as they are far too plain looking to me. Also to note for anyone wanting to renumber theirs is the vehicle data panels while 12431 is correct being white on black a lot of the other ones they are black on white and I don't think replacement ones are available at this moment in time, research is your friend here. so with that moan out the way time to outline the battle plan for these. - 6 of the 8 to be renumbered (VTG numbers ordered, waiting to see if I can get numbers for the others made) - Removal of handrails on Colas examples - Adding welds either by using a panel line scriber and apply wash or trying to find a suitable way of doing them raised and in scale - try and source additional decals for chassis - weather/graffiti entire rake using guide on Accurascale page for the PCV wagons and reference pictures, going to use a Hornby PCA as a test subject for this I have probably went down bit of a rabbit hole with these but that's the problem when you start modelling thing you have a particular interest in or connection with! maybe I should go back to painting coaches yellow...

As far as PCAs go the Vee barrel ones can run with the JPAs, accura PCAs, Heljan KVAs and the Bachmann PCAs. Add on to this weathering and you have yourself a rather nice train with some good variation between wagons. As for the latest Bachmann ones there are a number of things missing or not quite right compaired to the prototype which would probably deserve a post of its own on there section on rmweb. But then again for the majority they are probably spot on where i work the 1/1 scale ones and noticed them fairly quickly

Open wagons seem very well catered for... PCA VEE tanks however are low hanging fruit crying out for an up date model. I think other than that the only other modern cement wagon not covered would be the JGAs which are rather nice looking wagons. Another option which could be a good money maker if licensing could be secured would be the Wascosa modular infrastructure wagons. four variations so far with it essentially being a intermodal wagon with flat, box and stanchioned modules.

not sure if they check here too often but noticed the contact us page has been taken down for the time being. I have got a load of wagon numbers half of which can be covered using the custom tops panel order page but got 6 which are European? style numbering. will custom bits be available again in the future? I do understand you are incredibly busy with orders ect so no worries if not

My influx of wagons continues, thanks to a few binned Hornby pre orders. Top work by Bachmann but need to try find someone who can make up decals to renumber the colas ones as they dont use standard data panels and are numbered 08-3 ect. Also needing the VTG safety lables for four of them. Next few weeks will be spent trying to figure out how to weather these and repliate the crust of overspill on the tops and chassis frames.

That class 69 is superb! Is there any news on the bardun layout since the last updated during the lockdown?

Funnily enough just been looking at another one with painted over tags... just need to get brave enough to weather a loco now!

Well getting the cold was not on my list of things to do this weekend but here we are... what was is weathering another Dapol JNA wagon. Decided this time i wanted some bright graffiti, seem to remember pre fourm crash mick doing some Lechat ones and some research on flickr reveiled that this was wide spread on wagons at one point. Weathering was the usual sprey some frame dirt on the underside and this time i gave the flory models dark grime a try. Used it on aircraft and it works as i wanted it too on the wagon as a wash. Some light rust wash added to a few scraches on the body and some streaking grim in a couple places. Also added a couple other tags which tie it in with the local area. The main colours of the cats was masked and airbrushed with the outlines and details being brush painted Struggled a bit with the two coloured lettering but im happy with it. I have no idea if twisty leen and twisty lena graced the same wagon but they do on my one and with two more JNAs to get weathered who knows there might be a third joining the fleet...

Think im calling this done. All the interior elements painted up with the usual acrylic paints and seating is a southern pride pullman style chairs. Thankfully all this had not been a waste as you can see it through the windows. Lighting next once i get hold of the parts and the next yellow project has been started so might have a progress post in that in the next few weeks

now I'm very much in the camp of measure twice, measure again, cut slowly and still get it wrong when it comes to plastic card! Something I have been wanting to do with these various test train is have some form of interior in them as in the long run I will be adding lights ect to them so you will be able to see them. Lucky for me one of my younger brothers recently decided to invest in a 3D printer, so in return for a spool of filament I get to print what I want provided I do the CAD which is not a problem as I have done 3D work before. I will be the first to admit I was a little bit rusty and one of the securing tabs needed 5mm removed to fit but not bad for a first attempt after so many years. so cut from its raft the interior for the conference coach. one of the pillars never made it but at a diameter of 1mm I might have been a bit ambitious! these will be replaced and the horizontal bars added prior to painting And test fitted to the Mk3 chassis, the higher points on the wall partitions are to support the chassis of the coach falling into the body shell as for what ever reason Hornby decided that would be the best way to do it. few bits to now add before getting set about it with a coat of filler primer, mainly the two desks and work top in the serving window of the kitchen type area and the all important conference table that takes up the second end of the coach. really happy with this and I recon it adds an extra dimension to the coach.

would think the tooling would not allow for the vents instead of the doors but never know I could be wrong. I did think about getting a IC one along with the second network rail DBSO to try convert with the PH designs parts mentioned above but £150 is a lot of money when it comes to cutting holes into models!

Cheers lad, will finish it off nicely

Another letter from railtec through the door with the CDL lights and a few bits for upcoming projects. While the CDL lights are not correct for the NMT they are still superb and 3D! Well impressed. All varnished and most of the windows in, just the droplights missing as i lost them! Have also taken a few mins to tart up the bogies. Only bit im not happy with is the ex toilet widows but might try replace them at a later date. And with that the first coach of project NMT is done. I would like to get disk brakes on this and the others but cant seem to find anywhere that makes them anymore.

And for the next yellow item, 975814 or test car 10 in old money. Used now as a conference coach / kitchen area? Like all things test related its all a bit hush hush. If you looked in here pre server blip you will know this started as a intercity livery TSO which one of the ends shattered due to spending too much time in a iso bath. Since rebuilt and now finished off with the railtec 2016 NMT pack decals and cant lining but its not too clear in the pictures. To finish it off just need to order some CDL lights and get some of the web addresses from some where that appeared around 2019 and of course the interior for it. Next project to finish off will either be the SGT or northen belle kitchen cars if anyone has a paint match for the brown used on them.

I think its more aimed at the 'bits wont fall off' comment aimed at the accurascale class 55..... will be intresting to see what ones better but we have to remember this must be the 3rd class 37 Bachmann have done now. Early models with the nose ends that where off, current model and this new one. Could be wrong however

See Bachmann have gone for the scottish ones as perhaps a safe option? No sign of any /6s which where big sellers for accurascale. Be intresting to see who jumps at the scottish /3s first or go even more out there with a /9!

Cant be time for the next few months announcements already? Does not seem that long since the last one

Taking a pause from moaning about the heat, managed to get the short UTU set a run on a mates layout. Still a few jobs to get it finished but it looks the part

Very much looking the part now! Sides have been masked then the roof and ends spreyed with model air black. Just a few bits to pick out with the brush before its varnished and decaled with the railtec NMT pack. Only thing im missing is the web addresses which the fleet got added around 2019. Unfortunatly i dont think any of the usual suppliers make them so its time to make some enquires. Think we can all agree however that its a step up from hornbys normal paint the windows yellow tactic!