Wild Boar Fell

Thanks Everyone, Just a few quick photos (not the best, poor lighting) of the latest progress. UTU is vinyled but the chassis and body-ends need detailing and finishing. The DBSOs have been painted and are at the vinyl stage, with one side of the DRS example nearly finished (BILs missing). Then the steps and axle box covers need to go yellow. Before the vehicle can be glazed and re-assembled. Kind Regards, Wild Boar Fell

I've been trying to remember how to use an airbrush again, been a long time since I last tried. This was needed for the DRS Blue on the DBSO. Definitely needs another coat at least, I managed to miss most of the tumblehome. UTU4 and DCP's RTOV are also progressing through the painting progress and are shown here on DCP's 'Gorsey Lane'. Since the photos, UTU4 has had the cantrail stripe painted. I think I will leave the roof mods for now (repositioning the vents), but will finish the chassis and body end details. Now looking for inspiration for a follow up project, something simpler that the UTU, but also in era for WBQ (1998-2004), any suggestions? ...Please not Mentor... :p Wild Boar Fell

A bit more progress on 999606. Some more detailing bits added and the window frames attached, I did these on the plotter in the end. Chassis and roof need some more work, but hoping to get the sides finished first. Not the best photos admittedly. The DBSO is now also in for painting starting with the yellow panel. Happy Modelling, Wild Boar Fell

I got distracted from my N gauge layout by some OO gauge rolling stock projects. Neither of these fit in era with Bank Quay, but I am making a DRS DBSO and Network Rail Ultrasonic Test Unit 4 vehicle 999606. DBSO is from a Hornby Mk2F BSO, UTU is from a Hatchette £3.99 Mk1. Both are still very much works in progress. Stay Safe, Wild Boar Fell

Not many photos from today. I managed to get the new transfers (Railtec) onto the 5 CDA to HAA conversions and then give them a blast of frame dirt. These are now re-assembled awaiting a heavier weathering. Got a few little bits done on 999606 but no photos Wild Boar Fell

No problem at all David, they must look impressive all together. Some more work done today on UTU4 and the DBSO. Window frames and 'blinkers' added to the DBSO. These were cut on the cameo out of 10thou. The RCH covers were also done this way. I need to get the headlight surrounds done next. Question for anyone who knows, what are the 'blinkers' for on the DVT as they seem to have been fitted in Anglia days? Cruel close up... Next up was the UTU, I've now made the small window openings on one side by blanking most of the existing windows. I did this differently by making a blank on the cameo and the profiling it once fitted. I wish I have done all the windows this way, far less filler and time to get it smooth. The below photo shows the blanks before paint and filler. It looks like I was sloppy with the gluing, however this was actually glue I rubbed into the joints after they were secure to act as a rough filler. This process works quite well if there is no detail nearby. Then once smoothed and painted. Happy Modelling, Wild Boar Fell

Looking good Jack, that 222s going to be an interesting conversation. Would maybe a spares donor help with the roof sections (the odd one pops up on eBay). Would offer my spare, but it's in storage on the other side of Lockdownshire. Wild Boar Fell

Cheers David, The CDAs were all second hand, but are the never 'super detailed' tooling. HTH, Wild Boar Fell

Some more photos as mentioned yesterday. I certainly seem to be in a rolling stock mood at the moment. Although I really should crack on with some more of Lunerigg too. First up UTU4 (999606), having now worked out the window spacing with the aid of a Mk1 suburban, two windows on each side have been repositioned and the remaining areas blanked. I'm now in the process of making this area good before I worry about the doors and smaller windows on one side. Then attention can turn to the roof and underframe. Two more of the HAAs have gone through the pain shop, this takes the CDA to HAA conversions upto 5 (out of 37! ), next up they'll receive transfers and eventually weathering. I have a few BDAs to get weathered or repainted, with this one going into EWS(ish) as a trial. I've been trying to paint around the printing and hide the imperfections with lashings of weathering. Two are staying in loadhaul, might try one in railfreight red or even try a Brill. Finally, the first of the VGAs has been temporarily re-assemble with its repaired chassis, thing this one might get a light weathering only. Posed with a Bachmann factory weathered example. Only 3 more to go... Wild Boar Fell

Thank you both, Not a lot to show from today but I did manage to get the transfers onto the VGA, most of these are Railtec with the warning flashes being HMRS pressfix. Since sealed with some Matt varnish. One chassis has now had the new buffers fitted but awaits painting. Not the best photos admittedly. Managed to get a bit more bodywork done on the UTU. Hopefully photos tomorrow. Happy Modelling, Wild Boar Fell

3000 locos now with a £120,000 donation, hat's off to Hornby

Chad Varah A 390 & 57/3 I believe

Looking good that Jim, you picked a trickier one than me. 999606 seems to have got away lightly on the modifications front, especially roof wise. Are they PH Design's window surrounds you've used? I'm thinking the large boxes on the underframe will disguise the lack of detail on the hatchette chassis. Although I have cut away some of the 'webbing' on my TPO conversions (2 years and not finished).

Why start one project when you can start several... Whilst looking for information on the DBSOs I stumbled across another vehicle that looked like a relatively straightforward conversion. Then I looked at a few more photos and realised just how wrong I was, but that was after I'd ordered the bogies, drat! So, this below will hopefully become UTU4 vehicle 999606, part of one of the ultrasonic test trains. As I'm sure it's going to go dreadfully wrong, I'm starting with a Hatchette Mk1, and have managed to source some spare bogies from a Hornby 4-VEP. The plan is to move the windows to the correct spacing for the vehicle, then add the shutter doors. I'm not trying to go for 100% accuracy on this one, but something that looks close enough. This is what it should look like eventually (Flickr embedded) And the other side, Happy Modelling, Wild Boar Fell

Cracking photo that Jim, looks like MENTOR by the loco too? Thanks for the offer, I'll see how we get on for now, but that's very kind cheers. Kind Regards, Wild Boar Fell

Another evening's work, With the delivery of some windows from Replica Railways, our attention turned to getting the 'face' of the DBSOs looking right. First off was to remove the curve from the areas where the windows will go, to me this appears to be a flat panel angle slightly rearward from the door blank to the corner pillar. This was filed out using masking tape as a guide, not convinced I got both sides even, but they can always be built back up with filler. Then it was a case of guess where the windows needed to be from photos and take the plunge. Hopefully they look alright. I'm not to worried about the neatness of the window frames at this stage, as I'll make some overlays for the raised surrounds which should hide many sins. The first 3 are the DRS vehicle, the 4th is DCP's RTOV, note the wider central window on the latter as per the prototype. RTOV Happy Modelling and Stay Safe, Wild Boar Fell

I've been a muppet, just realised Strathpeffer Junction kindly sent me a Cameo Plotter file for his ScotRail DBSO conversion. Think I'll fire up the plotter and give that one a try first. 3D print is a decent shout though. Strathpeffer's done a video on Youtube about his conversion, I don't think I've seen his work on RMWeb. I look forward to seeing those, my old man (ducks for cover) is doing 9702 too.

We got some more work done on the DBSOs today, photos only of the DRS example for now (hopefully better ones of both later). Using photos and the existing windows as a guide, the Driver's door and the cab side windows were marked out and removed from the areas prepared yesterday. The opening for the windows have been left rough at the moment, these will be made to suit new windows from Replica Railways. The end had more filler added and smoothed again. This is ready to start marking out the windows, I'll use the windows to work out the sizes of the headlight surrounds. A rough guess was made at the size of the NRN aerials and these were made out of plastic sheet, the close up looks pretty cruel tbh. The driver's step was also added beneath the new door and the step on the bogie moved inboard. This is another item where the NR and DRS examples differ, the steps are different sizes (this may differ vehicle to vehicle actually). Next I need to work out how I can make the obstacle deflection, think that might be a tricky one. Wild Boar Fell

And now for something completely different. Here at Boar Towers we'd fancied doing an 'isolation project', something fairly achievable, but a little different. Our chosen subject were Mk2 DBSOs, @DCP is doing a Network Rail RTOV (9702) and i'm doing a DRS example (9705). Regular readers may remember I nearly attempted a DBSO a couple of years ago, before Hornby had announced the Mk2Fs. Tbh I'm glad I waited, no solebars on these. The slight irony is I have a selection of photos of DRS DBSOs taken at Carlisle and Kingmoor depot, but the Network Rail examples I walk past everyday (pre-lockdown), I don't have any. So this one will have to do... I must admit now that most of the photos are of DCP's RTOV as I forgot to stop to take photos. The subjects... First job was to remove the body, take out the gangways and carefully remove the glazing without snapping it. Next up we decided to open up the cab end hole, this should make it easier to fit the glazing once the blanking piece has been fitted. Shown is 9705 as I have removed some material at the top to clear the cyclops light fitted on the DRS examples. It is interesting how many differences there are between 9702 & 9705, blanked windows, window sizes, light clusters, ETS jumpers & TDM/RCH connections to name but a few. The cab end also had the detail removed including the guttering, the water tank filler cutouts were also filled in. The area for the ETS dummy was removed on 9705 and infilled on 9702. Then it was a case of blanking the windows adjacent to the van doors. This area will eventually have the driver's door (Driver's side only) and cab windows (both sides). These were blanked with 40thou styrene, once the window corners had been squared off. Then to see how things were looking, we gave them a quick blast of primer, 9702 (RTOV) is at the back, with 9705 (DBSO) at the front. Since then they've had extra filler added and been sanded. That's as far as we got this afternoon. Next I think it'll be a case of marking out the new windows and drilling these out. Maybe NRN aerials and a few other details. Stay Safe, Wild Boar Fell

Hi Stephen, Certainly. It is TS-17 from Tamiya, available in a rattle can. I've used it on my prototype CDA to HAA conversion and seemed a reasonable match. I'm tempted to also see how close a match it is to the silver on a Hornby Pendolino. Happy Modelling, Wild Boar Fell

Cheers Tim, Wow both layout and the 37 look excellent indeed! Kind Regards, Wild Boar Fell

Cheers guys, glad you're keeping safe. Jack I know what you mean actually, I thought they looked vaguely carriage like myself. Pssst don't tell anyone but they might be painted Br Coach Cream too... I'd normally blame it on the 37 fumes, but not been at the 'Tec Centre' for a month. I mentioned earlier I'd been working on some VGAs, below is how far I've got. These were painted in EWS red and gold but I think my rake had more examples than were probably ever painted (can't find many photos of red ones). These are a batch of 4 second hand VGAs I got which the previous owner had attempted to make go around R1 curves. Buffers cut off and heads glued to headstocks, headstocks cut away in places, springs cut off, axle box detail removed and self centring removed. New buffers are on order from LMS and transfers from Railtec. Stay Safe, Wild Boar Fell

I made a start on 'bridging the gap' on Lunerigg. The stone base of the pier has gone in along with the deck. Next it needs the concrete cap and pier additions, then it is onto the wing walls and deck. And so Warrington Bank Quay doesn't feel left out, some more assembly of the platform structures. Stay safe, Wild Boar Fell

Another one here for Archery. Walking from the carpark past idling 37s and the NMT. Chippy chips at the pub.

Many coats of paint later... Platform 1 side. Platform 2 side. Regards, Wild Boar Fell