jwealleans

So what do you use with your custard?

Quint keeps on growing... Made up the body of the BFK tonight - just hinges still to do then it's on to the underframe.

Try factoring your time into the equation, Gilbert. I freely admit that I enjoy building kits. So for whatever an MJT coach costs (I'll take your getting on for £70 as a ballpark) I get upwards of 20 hours of building time, if you do a proper interior and weather it, without adding in the time spent researching and at the end of that I have an asset, the satisfaction of creating it and all the pleasure of running it on a layout to come. How much does 20 hours of golf cost? If I pay £48 or whatever the going rate is for a Hornby RTR, all I need to do is take it out of the box, maybe weather and add passengers (a couple of hours?). Then I'm at the running it on a layout stage. There's far less creative process involved and (personally) I get far less satisfaction from it. And at the end of the day it's highly unlikely your formation is accurate unless you go down the kit build/buying route. 'Better' is subjective. I'd love a Larry Goddard or Dave Studley paint job on the coaches I'm building at the moment, but I'll do it myself because I can achieve a standard which satisfies me and at the end of the day it's mine. I never thought I'd see the day when a Hornby coach cost more than a D & S kit, but now it's here I know which I think reflects better value. I appreciate that if you're not so confident soldering or painting and if you have the highest standards to match in what's already on the layout, it can be a bit daunting. This goes for anyone who's hesitant about building kits. Pretty much everything, they say, is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. If you're prepared to perspire, most people can get close to 99% of the best. It's that 1% which keeps Larry (and Ian, and Dave) at the top of their profession.

More to the point, will it pull more than 55 of coal?

Well, it keeps on growing: I shan't be able to manage an overall shot like that much longer. Progress will slow now as the Test matches are upon us and it's getting too warm to spend time in the workshop of an evening. Built up the body of the 3rd class dining car this evening. In other news the D96 was teaked last week and I managed to cut out the interior over the weekend while I was away at a show.

Three fairly new Roger Smith, two using a single ply of bog paper sprayed black. All stuck to a piece of foam using PVA.

Well I'm educated. My apologies for doubting you, Larry. What happened to the stock after liveries were settled upon? Were they repainted into the new colours immediately or left until the next scheduled paint date? I'm thinking a chocolate and cream Gresley on the East Suffolk line (the next EDMRC layout, as it happens) would set a few rivet counters bristling.

A rake of Thompsons was painted plum and spilt milk, but I didn't think any Gresleys were involved.

Couple of evenings and we have a 1st class dining car. It still needs hinges and cleaning up. I'll leave the trussing on these until I've finished what's supplied in the kit. Here they're being pushed through reverse curves formed with PECO short and medium radius points, a test I'm pleased to say was successful. A credit to Mike Trice's articulation system.

http://www.wizardmodels.co.uk/FrameSetShop.php?DM=wizabout

Triplet? No, Mick, two short. Nick Campling rumbled it on the LNER forum with only the bogies to go on.

Added droplights, hinges, underframe fittings and the last of the trussing. On to the next car now - first or third, I ask myself?

There is a good picture of the tender tank arrangement (on 2858) here.

We could have arranged a photographic charter. It's getting on for 10 years since I built her and the details are hazy... I think it's a vacuum tank high on the tender back (I know it came off a Bachmann J39) but I can't recall why it's up there. Somewhere there's a decent photo of the tender arrangement as I remember using it when I built it. It's a Dave Alexander tender body but all the top had to be scratchbuilt, it's nothing like standard. I note 61645 has lost the regimental crests in your photo. I never found out when they were removed, so I left them off. I still have them if anyone knows whether they might have been carried in the earlier 1950s?

... and we're off. This is another RDEB kit and much more complete than the BFK - there are hinges, droplights and interior partitions. As you can see there are still a number of MJT parts specified as well. The kit is designed for the MJT articulation units and so that's what I've used. What isn't included (Rupert had already warned me about this) is the trussing on the two dining cars. This was updated in 1927 and will have to be scratchbuilt. I was in the Search Engine on Thursday looking at the drawing and will be ordering the bits from Eileen's later.

D96 has entered the paint shop after final details were applied to the body. The only thing (I think) still to add are the end jumpers and they'll go on after the lining is done. Works have now been busy churning these out for the next project.

You should have said, Gilbert - I do. The tender top is where all the variety is. Was this a subclass, or just three or four which were different to the others? What is the last coach in your original photograph - the profile is quite different to the others.

Tony, I don't believe it's been on here before (apologies if it has) - could we see your jig for turnunder forming?

Corneliuslundie's post puts me in mind of the Smallbrook Studios resin kit for the LSWR brake van which was adopted as standard by the ROD and then sold off after the war. The GC bought a number of those. That's a small 10T brake van with a lot of character and a fairly straightforward kit to assemble. Mine (on the right) is one of the batch sold to the GE and still in use in the early 1950s.

They appear on Ebay fairly frequently. I shall be interested to see what a top builder can make of one. Not that I shall be rushing out to try one myself, I hasten to add.

What sort of train are you looking to model? There's nothing RTR, so you're looking at kits. There are two extremes - Bill Bedford's etched wagons here, or the Falcon Brass range here. David Geen also does a couple of GC vans and the GCRS offer some of the kits formerly sold by D & S on an occasional basis to both members and non-members. I've recently built the Falcon Brass 6 wheel brake van, which is not really OTT for a regular goods train. Not for the beginner, but then neither are Bill B's kits as most don't come with instructions. Then again if you get stuck you can post on here and you'll get more advice than you can shake a stick at. Some of it will even be worth reading. Of course, goods trains would be a mixture of wagons and there are a number of people doing pregrouping kits. For scratchbuilding, Dow has only outline or weight diagrams and you'd be much better served by Peter Tatlow's book covering the GC wagons inherited by the LNER. I can't think of a better source off the top of my head unless you can get to the NRM and look at originals.

You can't fool me - it's the nearest one.

The D 120 is now all but finished and ready to go back to Scottiedog. I kept adding details to it and making the roof fit which occupied a lot of time last week. New on the bench is a Rupert Brown kit, the first of these I've tried. I knew of the existence of this range but they weren't readily available for a long time - in fact they seemed to be a pretty well kept secret unless you saw Retford or Gresley Beat, both of which feature Rupert's coaches. I've met Rupert more recently and he's a charming and very helpful chap. The 4mm range, or at least parts of it are now with Andrew at Wizard Models and he was happy to part with this GNR D 96 BFK at Wakefield last year. They're not a complete kit but need completing with parts from other ranges. So what do you get? In this one, sides, ends, floorpan and battery boxes. Several pages of instructions and suggestions as to parts to use to complete, usually more than one option as well as constructional hints and advice. I noted that Dan Pinnock had been involved with the development of the etches and having built a lot of Dan's, I thought that was an encouraging sign. The ends are a very clever design, with a foldup internal end allowing you to form the exterior to the correct shape. One caveat, though - once the roof is on it will be all but impossible to glaze any end lights and if they were clear all they'd show would be a sheet of brass inside. I patched over the lights in this coach before building up the end section. The body is designed to split at the solebar which is very much my preferred approach. There's a strip to fold top and bottom of the sides to give rigidity, but folding the bottom one would have made it impossible to have the interior sitting on the floorpan so I cut it off. I was going to solder it back along the bottom of the sides, but they were pretty rigid and straight as they were so I didn't bother. I have put some 3mm brass angle along the sides of the floorpan to give the sides some support if the coach is picked up there. You get hinge holes but no hinges (easy enough with scrap etch) but no holes for door or grab handles and I've given myself a blister drilling them into one side. There's no provision for attaching footsteps, so they're on pegs soldered through the solebar. Duckets need to be made up (60 thou plastic). The bogies, buffers, trussing and roof are MJT, brake gear Comet and Wizard and dynamo I think Comet. I'm pleased with this - I built the bogies on Thursday, started the ends on Friday and then had a long session last night thanks to having to be up until a ridiculous hour to pack my son off on a school trip. Thanks also to John Smart for his timely help, without which it would have stalled. Roof and interior for this one and then I have a much larger project from Rupert's stable which with a fair wind we might get into next week.

Given the way it faded, especially the red, having it all look the same might not be too realistic.

There's a whole thread on this if you search for 'Halfords'. FWIW I use BMW Zinnobar Red and a Vauxhall beige the name of which escapes me, but it's in that thread.