Castle

Hi Matt, That is absolutely ace - well done! This really is top quality use of RTR mechanisms and an older kit to get the very best model possible. It should run really well and looks the absolute business too! Hopefully, one day, the full size No. 2999 (in Atlantic mode) and No. 32424 can get together some day for a 4-4-2 fest! All the best, Castle

Hi All, A few odds and ends - some odder than others... Not a huge amount to report on the progress front due to going to play with the full size beasties and then trapping a nerve in my neck that resulted in me walking round like a robot! First port of call was the whistles and the safety valve bonnet. These were fixed in place with a bit of cyanoacrylate. Then the cab side plates were added. The front number and shed code plates were then put in place - purists look away, it's an 81E plate of course! A couple of little ferrets with their dartboards from Modelmaster next - I won't tell you that I put the first one on the wrong side to start with... Silly boy! The cab roof mid fettle - I still need to do something about those strips fore and aft and add the little round hatch type thing. Then we have to do the back head details (because I forgot about it until now...) so this demands a visit to the ever helpful Mainly Trains etches for some these bits. No. 1363 has one of the modified or combination regulator handled where a standard later angled position handle has been grafted on to the original vertical position unit. I then threw a few other details at it made from whatever came to hand until it felt right! The view of this will be mainly blocked by the crew anyhow so a glimpse of vague shapes that look right is all that is important here. The crew (Monty's Models) needed some paint too - a job I loathe but still, we have got to do what we have got to do! Primer first though... The loco was sealed in a coat of matt varnish in order to accept the weathering. I was almost in two minds as to carry on as she looks rather good like this but a showroom clean Shunter has no place in the Little Didcot collection so soldier on we must - into the muck, rust and dust! More at the weekend (hopefully!). All the best, Castle

Moo?

Hi Matt, This keeps getting better! Very nice indeed. I have had a bit of a stall on my No. 1363 project but this is motivating me to cracking on again with it at the weekend. Kit + RTR Chassis = groovy models! All the best, Castle

Hi Matt, While I obviously cannot condone the cutting up of a Castle (just kidding - it was one of those horrible Potter types anyhow!), this has been a tour de force of making RTR work for you - absolutely brilliantly too! This has got me thinking about a model of Atlantic style No. 2999. Perhaps I might have trouble fitting that into my late 1940s to mid 1950s time period though... Keep up the good work. All the best, Castle

Hi Cap, If we are talking full size then no, you have been wound up. Ask the person that told you that to go and fetch you a bucket of steam... All the best, Castle

Hi Jules, I am unwell today so found myself raking around in areas of RMWEB that I don't normally inhabit. The thing I would like to know is how on earth I missed this absolute gem! I think that the atmosphere, the attention to detail and feel that you have created here is outstanding - well done! I have just spent a very pleasurable hour reading through it all. Thanks for posting it up for us to read. I now look forward to the results of you going around the bend... All the best, Castle

Hi Dazzler Fan, That looks really outstanding. Well done! They are the sort of vehicle that lend themselves to this sort of technique I think. Now, if you could do the six wheel version for my Little Didcot collection...* All the best, Castle * Just kidding - I apologise for the severe outbreak of very cheeky indeed!

Hi All, Please don't tell my friends about this... In a dose of conscience, a pair of unfinished vans that just needed weathering hit my workbench today. They are vans Jim, but not as we know them! That's right, even the hallowed GWR soaked ground that is Didcot has one or two 'skeletons' in its closet. There are one or two things at Didcot that are not GWR - there, I've said it and it is TRUE! The most easily seen of these of course is the turntable (ex Southampton Docks) but little 0-4-0 saddle tank Bonnie Prince Charlie (also ex Southampton Docks), our 6 wheel milk tanker (strangely a much rarer Southern Railway example - there are far more GWR examples in preservation), the BR Ashford built 6 wheel special cattle wagon (although a development of a GWR design), the LMS breakdown crane and one or two other items in the historic collection are all from railways elsewhere where brass, copper and green paint have been used in all sorts of unnatural ways... Another example of refugees from those foreign lands are the two ventilated vans that are used as mobile storage by the locomotive department. These two are from that place that (under that nice Mr. Stanier) became slightly GWR - the LMS. These are to Diagram D2039 and were manufactured during WWII in 1942 in Lots 1329 and 1319 at Wolverton. The LMS built around 20,000 of this style of 12 ton vans between 1934 and 1944 under a variety of diagrams. Nos. 516673 and 517791 were acquired from main line use by the MoD for use on the Bicester Military Railway and were renumbered Nos. 4166 and 4167 respectively. After doing their bit for monarch and country, they entered a well earned and highly useful retirement at Didcot. So then, Ratio to the rescue again! How would sir or madam like their LMS ventilated van? A new one or something of and earlier vintage? Remarkably these were sent by the same on line supplier on the same order! However, despite being from the same diagram, the two vans are very different in the details. Now, being a resident at the recognised centre of all things GWR of course means that I was wading deep into uncharted territory with these two. Fellow RM WEB members have helped me a great deal with this project so I would like to thank them again for all their help and point out the thread here for others to make use of the information should it be required by any of my readers: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/60414-lms-ventilated-vans/ As the simpler of the two conversions, I started with No. 4166 / 516673. The main differences from the Ratio kit for No. 516673 are as follows: 1 Diagonal strapping on the body sides. 2 No. 516673 was converted from an unfitted to a vacuum fitted van later in life - possibly as a part of the 1955 modernisation plan. 3 there are no lamp irons provided on the ends of the Ratio mouldings. 4 Scale screw link couplings. 5 There is a triangular repair or reinforcing patch on the non vacuum cylinder side lower left corner of the door. 6 White metal replacement buffers are always nice too... I found that the kit was fairly self explanatory with the usual RCH 12 ton Type chassis as found in some of their kits. I added my usual suppliers white metal buffers (which makes them LMS, LMS buffers I suppose!) and a Dart Castings vacuum cylinder too. The usual Castle approach of building into 3 chunks was required for the bauxite black and grey livery of these wagons. There was a great deal of flash on the body mouldings and took a lot to free them from the sprues. Other than that the mouldings were excellent. Sorry about the terrible picture! The body and roof unit was completed first in my usual way. I also added my LMS LMS buffers at this stage too. Then the chassis unit was built up and the details added all round. This included the diagonal braces (sans rivets as I will do these with 3D transfers later). This was then posted for the progress to be assessed by the LMS gurus of RMWEB land. They found no fault (save the instanter couplings which need exchanging with screw links and the kit wheels need to be exchanged for three hole discs) so off to the paint shop it went! Little No. 517791 is a slightly more complex prospect to build and requires a bit more cunning. The cassis is different in having alternative 'J' spring hangers, clasp brakes and one or two other bits and pieces. Sound advice from the LMS gurus advised the purchase of Parkside Dundas chassis kit No. PA16, the snappily entitled "BR/LMS 10ft. Vacuum Braked, Clasp Brake Shoes, includes both LMS (J hanger) and BR type spring suspension". So the modifications this time are: 1 New vacuum clasp braked chassis with alternate 'J' hanger springing arrangements. 2 Etched lamp irons. 3 Scale instanter couplings. 4 This van has additional diagonal strapping on the door. 5 The same diagonal body straps as No. 516673 are also on No. 517791. 6 The tapered steel ends on the body sides have small reinforcing squares on the inner lower corners. 7 there is some sort of note holding 'thing' on one end of this wagon. 8 There are one or two other little bits on the body. 9 White metal replacement buffers. The last one was a fairly straight build but here we can see the various bits including the components from the Ratio kit, the Parkside chassis and the various white metal odds and ends. The usual building of the roof and box start us off and then the potential minefield of fitting one manufacturers chassis to another's body. There was me thinking that major surgery would be required but much to my surprise, the floor plate clipped straight in! Thinking that the worst of it had yet to come, I separated all the bits of the chassis that I needed from the sprues and got to work building it up. This too just clipped straight in and with minor fettling we had a runner! If only all conversions were this easy! Careful adjustments were required to the clasp brakes in order to get the wheels to run true and free. The chassis was them detailed with styrene rod from evergreen, and etched link from Frogmore and a white metal vacuum cylinder from Dart. A couple of bits of jewellers wire from a craft store suggested the various linkages. Then the chassis was weighted with liquid gravity. Body details were next and the various additional straps added as per the real No. 517791. Rivets, as before, will be done via the Archer transfers. The reinforcement patches to the bottom corners of the corrugated sides were fitted as little bits of styrene. these will also get rivet transfers in time. There is some sort of label pad type affair on one end and as I liked the look of it, I put it on. Vacuum pipes from the Ratio kit and the couplings were the final touches. Primer and a light gloss varnish first gave the rivet transfers something to stick to and then the matt black / top colours to finish. With transfers and weathering we get this for little Nos. 516673 and 517791. For two vans from the same diagram there are sure a lot of differences! I am now going for a lie down in a cold dark room to think about nothing but the products of Swindon and Wolverhampton Railway Works... All the best, Castle PS: I really don't mind what company a preserved railway vehicle comes from as long as it is preserved!

Hi Mike, That is a cracking image! I presume you were there? I love the high security fence keeping the visitors away from the main line... Most of that simply wouldn't be allowed today but the one thing that still is that we allow visitors to safely get up close to the collection and that is something the GWS is both very careful of and very proud of. In a way I am glad that I don't have to struggle in the same way as the early railway preservation pioneers did but I am also sorry that I missed what looked like halcyon days. It must have been quite something to be part of that pioneering spirit and of that founding era. I am however very glad that I missed the end of steam on BR - the pictures are depressing enough. Cheers and back on topic for G. W. Road. All the best, Castle

Hi Polly, Ironically enough, very early in her preservation career, No. 4079 was based at Southall in the mid 1960s while under the ownership of Mike Higson! She didn't actually become an official GWS machine until 2000. The livery on Tintagel Castle is right for this version although the lining on her frames and wheels got more and more extreme as time went on in preservation (culminating in the red frames!) and I can't see what is on the Hornby offering on line. The only things to do to get a very good approximation of 'her ladyship' would be the narrowing of the front inside cylinder cover, the painting out of the vertical brass strips on the front cab edges and the addition of the fire iron tool tunnel. Fairly easy stuff! Oh, you may want to renumber and rename her too... The set I have is from Modelmaster. All the best, Castle

Hi Mikkel, I haven't looked in on your blog for a long time but I am glad I did today. This is absolutely top draw modelling - well done! All the best, Castle

Hi Nunney, My avatar picture isn't just for decoration! I am a member of the No. 4079 Restoration Team* and I also set up the digital historic archive for the locomotive. As soon as I know when the good lady is aiming her Pendennis Castle I will advise. How is good old No. '29? Having looked at my model of No. 5051 (Earl Cairns with the lubricator removed and so on...), I agree about the lower frames as Hornby have larger cut outs for the bogie to swing around in. It might be much more trouble than it is worth. The sanding boxes are another signature item and on No. 4079 they originally fed the fronts of the first and second coupled wheel sets. Then (as per Nos. 5029 & 5051 as built) they fed the front of the first and the rear of the last coupled wheels with the boxes at the rear hidden behind the cab sides. Finally (as per No. 4079 today) the same but with the rear boxes exposed below the cab sides. Taper and parallel buffers are to watch as are the wheel sets as the balance weights are different on older and newer sets. Ironically No. 5051 has the early ones and No. 4079 has the later in preservation! It is probably not worth messing with this too much unless you are really set on total accuracy as this can easily be explained by exchanges during overhaul. There is a lot more to it than this but once we know, we can advise further! As I said, No. 4079 is a tricky beast as she served for so long but had many subtle little changes... All the best, Castle * Usual proviso about opinions being mine and not necessarily that of the GWS.

Hi All, My 'local' Model Junction in Slough stock rivet transfers as do several Internet suppliers. Put either 'Micro Mark Rivet Transfers' or 'Archer Rivet Transfers' into Google and away you go! Micro Mark do a really nice starter set with tread plates, louvred and lots of interesting rivet arrangements on as well as several different pitch and size arrangements of rivets themselves. I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi All, I have just noticed that Little Dodcot has ticked over the 10,000 views milestone tonight - thanks to everyone who has looked in since I started in January and offered me so much advice, encouragement and friendship. Cheers everyone! Castle

Hi Ray & Polly, Thanks for the kind comments! I don't use the smileys myself but I do love that one! I have just been on to G W Road to answer the Pendennis Castle question asked on there - sorry I haven't caught up with it sooner! All the best, Castle

Hi Polly, Just caught up with this one - sorry! You could get away with using Tintagel as Pendennis but with the proviso that technically the front end is wrong. The early Castles had a narrow Star style version of the front end (known as the 'Vauxhall' style after the pre WWII cars from that manufacturer) that No. 5011 has. The reason for this was that they also had the narrow front main frames which were joggled inwards to provide clearance for the front bogie wheels while cornering. On the later ones the frames were straight front to back and had a dished section to provide the clearance. It also depends upon the time period of your layout as to whether she should have the fireman's side tool tunnel on the running plate. We think she gained this in the mid to late 1930s. If she is modelled with the tool tunnel then the brass trim on the front edges of the cab need to be either removed or painted out. I can't quite see the position of the rear sanders in any of the on line pictures. Dependant on time period again, they could be in one of three different places for No. 4079! She is one of these engines that, despite serving for 40 years, was largely untouched but had lots of detail differences throughout her time. Even more if you count her preservation career too! I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Let's paint the town red (or primer grey - and then black but the buffer beams can be red!). Just a short update this time as I have been a bit busy... Having grit blasted little No. 1363, I then took the bull by the horns and decided to do a proper job on this by using etching primer. A can of UPOL Acid #8 was purchased and of we went into the spray booth (garden). The results are as shown here. The other things done here were that a small quantity of red oxide primer was squired into the lid of a can and carefully brushed onto the new vacuum pump fitting as I am quite lazy and therefore didn't particularly want to do acres of masking for just the one little bit. I also added some of the more delicate details to the top of the tank in the form of the screw downs for the tank filler lid, the dome lubricator and the breather pipe. The interesting thing about No. 1363 is that she seemed to have some unique positioning on some of these parts. The tank filler and as a result, the bump stop are a different way round to the other locos in the class and the breather pipe is just forward of the safety valve bonnet and not the dome as it was in the majority of her sisters. A class of just 5 machines and Swindon can't even make all of them the same... A session of filling, sanding and respraying to cover up the unpainted bits was then undertaken. And midway through the process... The weird 'buffers' are Blu Tack masking for the bores of the buffer housings by the way. Red, lots of red! I got a bit carried away here but it's a good laugh none the less! LMS passenger livery 1361 Class anyone? It did prove the surface before the top coat went on however. A spot of latex masking was then applied to the buffer beams. The coat of satin black then went on and allowed to dry prior to the application of the decals, the number and shed code plates fore and aft, the whistles, the cab roof, some weathering, and so on... What do you mean I have forgotten to do the cab interior? Oh yeah... D'oh! There I was thinking that the to do list was getting smaller - never mind! All the best, Castle

Hi David, Sorry mate - I just couldn't resist it! She does look very nice in that livery doesn't she? It is remarkable that a livery that in essence (although not detail) that was as old as it was even when it it was applied to the 9F still 'worked' on a modern machine after all that time. It was even pretty successful on FGW's Pendennis Castle namesake No. 57604 where a lot of effort and attention to detail was expended getting it right. I guess it is just one of those classic looks! I wonder how much liveries play a part in our perception of 'the most beautiful loco'? Would the A4s have had such appeal if that lovely swoosh in the paint at the front end was never done or indeed if it were not perpetuated by BR? Think of how a streamlined Duchess (another great art deco 1930's icon) looked not nearly as impressive in plain wartime black. Still nice but not a patch on the way 'Hamilton' looks at the moment in the NRM collection. How striking were the Western Hydraulics were in their sand and maroon liveries and balance this against how the rail blue made them look. I am not saying that either is right or wrong but it must be a factor. Are there engines out there that miss the list as a result of the paint job or are we all a bit more into the engineering? All the best, Castle

Hi All, Polly: thanks for the compliments! Would I like to post up a video? Yes! CAN I post a video? Hmmm... I will get back to you on that one! Chris: looks like I might have had a blessing in disguise with this one! The motion bracket on the Electrotren chassis is plastic so a bit of cyanoacrylate and kicker later and we were away! I only soldered up the main pump bracket. Your 'Big 13' is looking very nice too! Rich: is this model making or a smash and grab raid? There's no need to decide! All the best, Castle

Hi 69843, The pump isn't too bad if you get your calculations right the first time... I didn't put to tight a hole on the end of the pump body either, relying on the handrail knob to do the structure bit there just like some of the RTR offerings from messers Hornby and Bachmann. The thing to remember about the real thing is that the actuating rod itself floats about quite a lot in the pump as there can be all sorts of movement in the crosshead and the other bits it is attached to. If you pull the rod right out and wiggle it up and down and left and right, there is quite a bit of play which prevents the thing wearing out so the fact that the hole is quite large is almost prototypical! Thanks for the kind comments and likes everyone! All the best, Castle

Hi All, All hands to the pump! So then, now I have to get the running gear that once was little industrial and turn it into one of the hallowed products of Swindon. The biggest missing bit from the point of view of the motion is of course the vacuum pump that is powered by the driver's side cross head. This will require some grade A cobbling together as, this is one casting that wasn't in the box. The first thing I did was to get some brass strip, solder it into a 'T' shape and then solder a bit of brass tube to the end of it. This was then trimmed and fettled until it was the right size and shape to represent the pump body and its mounting. The brass strip was then stuck to the Electrotren frames with cyanoacrylate in the right position. This picture shows my second attempt at this. Enough said... Those red rods and cylinder cladding lining have to go too. My next aim was to get the thing working, figuring that if I got that far then I could make it look pretty afterwards! I had several mad schemes as to how to get the pump rod to attach to the cross head but the maddest of all was to solder up a bit of steel music wire into a Gibson handrail knob and then with due disregard for all that was sensible, I decided that the only way this was really going to work was to solder the thing to metal cross head. Figuring on a get it hot quick and get out fast policy, I turned the heat setting up to the metaphorical 11 on the soldering iron, sloshed on a bit of flux and went for it! With baited breath I put the loco on the rolling road and applied power... It worked - phew! I also fitted the etched cylinder drain cocks and mechanisms from the kit by drawing a centre line on the bottom of the cylinder and dipping the mounting pins of the etch in red acrylic paint to mark their position. A little light drilling and they were soon fitted. A few styrene details were then added to make the vacuum pump look the business. The bolts will be represented with rivet transfers after priming. The last things to consider now are the rear sandboxes. These are, due to the rear sections of the frames being attached to the body, going to be soldered to the main lump instead of the frames themselves. They are made from some box section brass from the spares box, cut to shape with a bit of sheet soldered over the top to finish. They are then fixed in between the frames and the cab steps and here they provide a great bit of structure to this area. Thanks to the great advice proffered by my friends on this forum, I managed to purchase a mini grit blaster unit and with some trepidation, managed to fire it up to produce the clean little specimen shown here. I had still to do the cab roof at this point. So, time for a little paint later on but for now it's my bedtime! All the best, Castle

Evening Star? I'll get my coat... All the best, Castle

Hi George, Why not use the gloss / not satin to put the transfers on and then put a satin varnish over the top? As long as it is well shaken and warm, you won't have any trouble with the Humbrol acrylic varnish cans and it will go well over the Halfords stuff too. That would save another layer of paint and / or another strip down. Just a thought! All the best, Castle

Hi Mike, Thanks for the information here - as you mention and I said earlier, I figure that we can loose the vast majority of the difference in wheel diameter in arguing the old 'tyres on the last turning' blag in the main if anyone is that geeky to notice! I must admit to not measuring the inclination of the Electrotren cylinders as I saw it as looking that particular gift horse a little too closely in the mouth... It looks right when seen without a drawing held right next to it. The vacuum pump is already on and working! Various bits of brass strip & tube, a few bits of styrene to detail it and a bit of thin piano wire with a Gibson hand rail knob soldered to the cross head later and it works like a charm. I will post a picture or two later in the week when I get 5 minutes. I have been building wardrobes this evening... All the best, Castle