Nig H

Here are some pics of Fowler 2-6-4Ts built or being built from the first test etch. There are a lot of things to sort out on the second test etch. The footplate was a real pain, but at least I learnt how vital it is to assemble it all accurately. The shots below are of the footplate for the 'limo cab' version. At the moment it all looks a right mess, but once things start going wrong with the build there isn't much point cleaning it all up unless its needed to make other parts fit. Nig H

Hi Jim, I couldn't agree more with your comments. I find it hard work checking the tooling from the etchers for errors like wrong fills/ hatches, and more often than not I miss something on the test etches. Its when it happens on the production version that its a real nuisance. I've lots of bits that are impossible to use on my last set of test etches too. Nig H

No Princesses for years, then you get two almost back to back! Looks like nice work there John and I hope you will keep updating us with progress. Can you remind me which one you are going to do? Nig H

Nick, Fantastic job you've done, I'm envious of the result you've achieved. And the chassis runs like a sewing machine too. Concerning the MR 2P, this is progressing painfully slowly, so maybe you're bench will have space for one by the time I've ironed out all the snags. Nig H

Here are a couple of pics of a MR 2P 483 class loco and Johnson 3,250 gal tender. These are from the first test etch, and the loco etch in particular needs a lot of amendments, so this one will end up as scrap. There were a number of clearance issues on the loco, and I've had to use 13mm drivers instead of the original plan to use 14mm ones. The front of the chassis has also been angled in to give more play to the front bogie wheels. The intention to use either a 21:1 or 30:1 worm set has been abandoned in favour of a 30:1 arrangement only. I'm using one of the Chinese 7mm diameter motoors in the tender, though the design will cater for 8mm or 10mm too. Its hard to judge the performance of the motor accurately as I've still to add crankpins and rods to the drivers, plus some weight over them, and as a result the driven axle just slips on the track when power is applied to the motor. Nig H

Here is a pic of a Farish mk1 and below it one of my coaches built from Bill Bedford sides, for comparison. If I wasn't a coach nut, I'd stick with the latest Farish coaches. Nig H

Hello, In addition to my previous comment (above), I found a picture of 46204 (the other BR style crimson lake Princess) in 'The Book of the Princess Royals', p48. This appears to show a lined front step and tender frames with the BR style crimson lake livery. Referring to 'LMS Locomotive Profiles No. 11 - The 'Coronation' class, on page 157 it is stated, 'Both versions of the livery had more colour than other standard BR schemes as the cylinder clothing and outsides of the tender frames as well as both locomotive and tender footstep supports were painted in lined crimson lake'. I know that this statement is in the book on the Duchesses but it seems inconceivable to me that there would be different treatment for the Princesses. So I think it can be concluded that the BR style crimson lake livery for 46204 and 46208 included lined crimson lake front steps and tender frames. In service this colour may have become obliterated under layers of grime, making the steps etc look like they were painted black. While looking for pics of 46204 and 46208 I noticed one pic of 46207 in LMS style crimson lake where the front step looked black even though it is well known it was painted in lined crimson lake. As regards the model of 46208, I'd say it accurately portrays the loco in a weathered condition. Nig H

Hi John, Some nice stuff you've shown us here, but isn't it time you got back to some 2mm scale modelling? Regards, Nig H

Fantastic model you've made, I'm really impressed. Concerning the front steps, LMS Locomotive profiles vol 4 p97 shows 46208 in BR maroon with a lined front step, so I think the steps were maroon too. Nig H

Here are some pics of a 9F built from a Fence Houses kit. It was started by Damien Johnson, then I finished it off. Having seen Keith Gloster's magnificent pair of 9Fs, I tried to fit the cab windows using his method where he shapes the clear material to fit in the window apperture, and secures with Klear (I think). The ones in the pics are my second attempt and took several hours to do. The first go was even more rubbish! Nig H

Here are some pics of a Dapol Britannia, converted to finescale (second attempt) with Association driving wheels, and modified tender wheels courtesy of Alan Smith. The bogie and pony truck wheels are the Dapol originals turned down to take Association wheel rims. The motion is a mixture of bits I etched myself, either complete replacements or backing pieces attached behind the Dapol bits, and some bits off the Worsley Works Britannia chassis etch. I managed to destroy both the plastic crossheads during the second conversion so I replaced them with castings from the Bob Jones 9F kit. The keeper plate which includes the brakes had to be re-positioned closer to the rails so the brake shoes cleared the driving wheels. The smoke deflectors are etched Taylor ones. Eventually the loco will be re-numbered 70014 and 'Iron Duke' nameplates fitted. Its interesting comparing the construction method of the Brit with some of the latest Farish locos. The frames of the Brit are two steel rectangular plates separated by plastic spacers, and with the motor and gears in the middle, quite crude really. Anyway, it works and the loco runs very nicely in my opinion, although Jerry C tells me not all Dapol Brits do. I don't think the body work is quite up to the latest Farish standards either. Nig H

Here are some pics of my Coal Tank, now almost finished (I think). I'll see if I can make myself a stay-alive after seeing Nick's amazing demo. After these shots I changed something on my camera and the rest of the shots had a slight blue hue to them. Maybe I pressed the 'blue hue on' button by mistake. The coach is the Highland Railway Director's Saloon, which in my model world, has been preserved and given a pseudo LNWR livery re-paint. Nig H

Hi Michael, Thanks for this. I can't think of anything wrong with your approach, probably correctly more cautious than how I did mine. Its certainly sensible to make sure one thing is right before going on to the next stage. In spite of how I did mine, the result was a really nice-running loco, one of my best. I must have been having a bit of luck when I built it!. I'd agree that painting the wheels is probably best, though you'll most likely have to spray the valve gear in situ, so you'll end up with some paint on the wheels anyway, but it should be easy enough to scrap it off the wheel treads. I look forward to further progress reports. Nig H

Hi, I've added lead to the side tanks and some in the bunker, but none in the smokebox yet as I'm going to try some tungsten putty when it arrives from China. The loco now weighs 33g and it pulled a load of five LMS coaches weighing 103g without difficulty. That equates to 20 -25 of my mineral wagons, so I'd say the pulling power of the loco is already enough for prototypical train lengths. The running has improved after the weight was added too. Nig H

Here are some pics of 58900, now finished except for adding weight, paint, coal, tweaks. Nig H

Hi Jol, Thanks for your comments - noted thanks. All four footsteps in 2mm seem to be very fragile, and I wonder how long they'll stay attached to the loco. Hello Andrew, Thanks for your comments too. I hope to do a bit of test running tomorrow and see what's what. So far the motor, which does drive direct onto a 30:1 worm wheel, seems to work OK. I can't tell for certain until I've weighted the body with lead etc. Nig H

Today I thought I'd add the remaining soldered bits. The steps were awkward to fit, especially the small footplate steps under the tank fronts. Eventually I was satisfied with their alignment under the footplate so I tried to fit the chassis to the body. No way! The coupling rods wouldn't pass the steps just mentioned by quite a way, not just a sliding fit needing a tweak to sort. I'd put washers on the crank pins between the driving wheel and coupling rod and it seemed that these washers would need removing to have any chance of the coupling rods fitting between the step supports. So, off with the rods, remove the washers and re-fit the rods. I'd decided that the step supports would need to have the 28swg wire replaced with 31swg wire, and that I could increase the distance across the footplate between the step supports by drilling holes in the middle of the underside of the footplate angle in line with the half etched location slot mentioned in the LMR instructions. After battling to re-assemble the steps and the wire, I managed to solder the two step assemblies in place, and it looks like the rods will now fit inside the step supports. There was no reason not to form the bends in the front guard irons now, and after doing this I found the chassis front brakes would catch on the guard irons. I'm currently pondering what to do about this little setback. One option is no brake gear or steps......I'll probably find that the radial truck catches the rear steps when I can get the chassis front end sorted out. Nig H

Here are some pics of my Coal tank. Not much left to do build-wise. I used 5 thou plasticard for insulation, but subsequent soldering made it curl up so the rear end of the body is slightly up in the air. I'm pleased with the performance of the motor - I got it from Farish but it looks almost identical to the Chinese ones, the latter being a lot cheaper! Nig H

Here are some pics of Jerry Clifford's William Smith Wharf ( I think that's the name) at York yesterday. The scenery is fabulous in my opinion. Apologies for the slightly fuzzy quality. 52870 a long way from Wigan. Nig H

There are some good pics of the Bachmann 4mm version in the Bachmann topic under 'trade etc', post 380 dated 14 April. The pics may help with the detail. I have been slowly building my 2mm version. The coupling rods fouled the brake pull rod so I had to bend down the wires at the top and bottom of each brake hanger to ease the pull rods down a bit. I also had trouble with the ejector(?) pipe passing over the tank support bracket near the front of the right side tank. I had to enlarge the hole in the cab spectacle plate so the rod for the pipe could be eased up a bit, file a flat on the underside of the rod where it passed over the bracket and file a slot along the bracket where the rod passed over it. I'll post some pics if I get a chance. Nig H

Hi Tony, Nice work, especially the cab sides/ roof piece. I think I would have needed many attempts before getting anything about right. In fact I have been trying to etch similar parts for a loco, and I struggled to get the distance from the bottom of the side, over the roof and down the other side to agree with the circumference of the cab front. Part of the problem is taking a view on the allowance to be made for material thickness, I suspect. Anyway, its a treat to see more quality scratchbuilding being done. Nig H

No-one understands the buy and sell on here anymore, it's incomprehensible. Nig H

Hello Andrew, Thanks for your comments. Re the points you mentioned: 1. Try cutting out on a steel block or tufnol sheet if you can carry some with you. It won't flex so the etch doesn't distort. 2. Sorry I forgot about punching out the rivets in the frames. Cross drilling muffs is my personal preference, and at the time I was trying to do brief instructions. It didn't end that way! 3. I'm exasperated by differences in etch results between batches. Its always the rivets that seem to cause the problems. PEC tell me it because I make them as small as possible. I must admit I didn't notice this issue ( I went to Specsavers). I should have examined the etches under my bench magnifier. 4. The spacer system I use is the one I learnt from Mike Raithby with his 4F and 8F kits. I think there are pros and cons as with any system, and I concede that especially with small spacers, it can be hard to hold them square on the pcb pad while you solder them in place. The bigger the spacer the easier it should be and I surprised you struggled with the gearbox spacer as it the biggest of them. Maybe you were having a bad day? It happens to us all now and then. Its advisable to apply solder to the join with a nice big blob on the end of your iron, and plenty of flux. Then you shouldn't need to dwell on the join with your iron, thus avoiding the possibility of de-laminating the pcb. having seen the quality of you work before, I think you know all about soldering anyway. 5. As regards the pads, I tin one side first, position it on the etch, apply plenty of flux, then generously tin the tip of the iron and apply this adjacent to the pcb. You then get a good heat transfer and can complete the soldering quickly, before the pcb is damaged. I sometimes try solder from the other side too. Removing burrs from the pcb edges is essential so that the pcb is perfectly flat. If you hold the spacer with the fold line level in your vice or pliers and folder over with even pressure along the fold line you should get a good right angle. I must admit its never occurred to me that you could get anything other than a right angle when folding the spacers. Maybe I'll check next time I do some. I think you do need to be careful that you don't remove too much material when you clean up the cusps and edges of the etched spacers. 6. I don't find using the frame assembly jigs time-consuming. Its best to put a central bobbin between the frames when using the jig so as to keep the frames straight against the spacers as you do the soldering. You can use loose-fitting axle muffs if the supplied middle bobbins are to big to fit. 7. When you've soldered the pcb pads, after rinsing try cleaning with a glass fibre brush and you should be able to see if there is any solder creep, but test with electricity anyway. I always do this again after I soldered the frames together via the spacers. 8. Aberdare??? So many locos to model, so little time. Maybe one of the GWR aficionados could be persuaded to help out. I hope the additional comments are of some use and feel free to ask more questions or offer more comments. Nig H

Hello Andrew, Nice work. The external diameter is 4' 6", so 9mm. There are drawings and an article in Model Railways November 1975. (Did you get my email re the 0-8-0?) Happy Xmas to all, Nigel