jwealleans

Lovely pictures, Mick. Anyone care to comment on what the van behind the GW one in the first O4 picture is? It may be just the way the pic has reproduced but it looks odd.

Much of the weekend was spent on the J72 chassis, but that would just be more of the same photos. The J71 has now been fettled and partly run in and has had chassis - body fixing and coupling hooks fitted. There is a bit more work to do to increase clearance behind the front steps on the offside, I may need to thin those down a bit more or resite them altogether. I had to raise the rear by about 1.5mm, which I did by enlarging the original holes downwards and then filling the upper part with bits of plastic. It would have been easier to do this before fitting the rear buffer beam. Here it is shunting a few trucks on the test track. Load tests are to follow tonight and then brake gear and final detailing before the paint shop. For those who may be interested (one or two people have mentioned that they've the same conversion kit to start) here are the motor/gearbox/flywheel and pickup arrangements. There are one or two details to fit - boiler clacks and whistle being the most obvious - and I need quite a few bits for the J72 which were missing when I bought it. I can see that Arthur will be hearing from me shortly.

This week I received a package from John Peck at Precision decals. This was to finish off a build which has dragged over almost 18 months, although to be fair I think they're among the most complex vehicles I've scratchbuilt. The artwork for the transfers I did myself in GIMP, not without some difficulty after I upgraded to the latest - seemingly quite buggy - version. However once sent through I had them back in my hand in three days and for the very reasonable consideration of a tenner. Above is the type of van which is preserved in the NRM, although the colour of that one is apparently like nothing they ever wore in service. These are both painted using colours sourced from a French supplier, so hopefully they are something like accurate. One is in original pre-1938 PLM livery, the other SNCF brown. These were scaled down from the dimensions of the larger vans using some HMRS photos which at the time were all I had. Predictably, about 3 weeks ago I came across a drawing with basic dimensions on the web. Too late now... These seem to have appeared after the war and carry what I think is a later style of SNCF lettering but before the UIC standards came into being. While I was knocking up a sheet of white lettering I revisited the CCTs I built last year and included the missing legend for those. ... and while I had the box of transfers out I caught up with these which had been painted for some months; the horsebox is D & S but lettered using the Parkside transfers for the same vehicle. These BR ones don't look so bad; the LNER ones in the pack, to my eye at least, look way too big. While everyone else was at the football tonight I put washers and pickups on the J71 chassis and it's ready for the rolling road once the Araldite sets. It's a bit lumpy yet, but with a bit of running in and a flywheel we should get it something like.

A general tip related to the above re bearings and solebars; when building plastic kits, put one set of W irons (usually part of the solebar moulding) in place, check it's square, then leave overnight to set. Then when nicely solid, experiment with axle lengths and bearings to ensure you get a free running vehicle and also (by positioning the other set of W irons) that your axles will be square to the sides and parallel. Brassmasters do a very handy jig for this purpose. Slaters aren't so bad but some Cambrian kits need shoulderless bearings and others are fine with shouldered and it's better to find out before you've glued anything immovably into place.

I've only had the odd half hour here and there at the bench this week and the main job in view is a pair of High Level gearboxes, which are better done in a single session. So I've been picking away at this a little at a time. It was given to me by a member at Ormesby part built and incomplete. I had to strip it back so far - hence the damage to the ducket, the traces of Squadron Green and the replacement strapping - and also make new stepboards. The upper ones are brass angle soldered to two cross pieces which are superglued to packers under the floor. I had more of a grapple with it last night and tidied it up a bit more. Filled in a hole in the roof, replaced the upper strapping with some of the correct width, fixed lamps (I'd never noticed that the Parkside moulding has one bracket wrongly positioned), lamp irons, ducket bottom repaired. I think it can have a coat of primer. This evening Mrs W has been hosting a party to which I was not invited... so I now have one gearbox built and running. It's nice to see everything move together as it should; this will now be stripped down and painted before the crankpin washers are soldered on and pickups fitted. It's a Mashima 1224 and High Level Roadrunner + 54:1. I've put the drive extender on the RR + behind the axle so there's plenty of room for a flywheel. You lose the cab interior but with doors moulded closed and a crew member leaning from each side of the cab it won't show.

I had a chat with Mr. Blackgill at Nottingham. After the show last year there is a bit of trackwork to reconfigure and other work to do; I have a feeling he said it wouldn't be going out again until at least next year, but I wouldn't swear to that.

Don't suppose there was a release date being aired, was there?

I built the J72 chassis over the weekend. Interestingly the smaller wheels for this loco - also from W & T - were spot on for gauge unlike the larger J71 ones. I had to make a new fixing bracket for the rear of the loco as the Wills fixing arrangement is completely different. Some spare etch from Arthur's J73 - satisfyingly robust nickel-silver - did the trick. It's within tolerance in terms of buffer height but I think the front needs a small amount of packing. I also hadn't noticed before now that the safety valve cover leans forward.

Yes. You get what you pay for. Ed - and that Cartazzi mod makes much more difference than I'd have thought if you'd asked me beforehand.

After a prolonged absence due to a major home improvement project, I have managed to find the time to do a bit more modelling. Not as much as I'd like, or the projects I really want to crack on with, but bits and bobs of finishing off to ease myself back into the swing of it gently. In the main this has been completing wagon kits which I take with me on my travels and build in hotel rooms. I dug out one or two older kits this year. Hopefully it will be self explanatory: I've tried to use the bits as supplied, but there are one or two substitutions where components were so awful as to be unusable or much better things are available. The detail on this is a bit flat, but it's turned out better than I might have expected. The centre axle floats on a floppy bit of wire. I wasn't able to find decent replacement buffers; the supplied ones are nowhere near those in the photos I looked at, but no-one seemed to do any which resembled the bottle shape of the real ones, so these will have to do until better ones turn up. Both these kits showed their age in the amount of time it took to get flash free W irons and square, parallel axles. A free gift, found in a box with another kit from Hereford Model Centre. This is another of the ex-MAJ range. A shame they don't seem to be available as they make up really well and are very detailed castings. The instructions implicitly suggested that I should remove the beautifully cast and legible plate on the bodyside but I just couldn't bring myself to. This is awaiting etched stanchions from 51L which arrived today. I also replaced the buffers with (the wrong) cast ones - Dave Franks does the correct pattern, but by the time I realised they were glued so firmly that I started to pull the buffer beam off. It is built as the earlier, 1929, diagram. A characterful wagon which went together very nicely. Like all the Cambrian kits here I've replaced the plastic buffers with metal ones, here turned steel from 51L. I have a few Bachmann bodies which I've been using Parkside chassis under to make up Lowfits, but this is Parkside with a few scratchbuilt brake bits to fill in gaps. Finally, I fettled the coupling rods on the J71 so the chassis rolls smoothly. I'm now awaiting the mechanicals from High Level.

Aren't they just progressively less heavily weathered?

I'd agree with that - I paid £15 for one a few months ago, but anything D & S seems to fetch a premium on Ebay.

Make sure you post us some pictures, Vernon. I have a couple of the Hornby vans undergoing a Graeme King style makeover at the moment and I always fancied an E&WYUJR open. Sandy Croall has one on 'Penlan' but I imagine he hand-lettered that. John S, that's a good tip. I'll file that one away.

He does respond to emails and I had some bits from him in January.

Ex-GE coaches would certainly be in evidence - these kits were among the first reissued and may all have gone. Worsley Works do some body etches if Danny can't help you. Bill Bedford does some M & GN stock in 4mm on his made to order range. I think some of the Midland coaches Wizard Models do are also suitable although I'm not sure when they might have been withdrawn. I don't believe any of the cast D & S kits are being reissued so your best bet for goods vehicles will be standard LNER/LMS from the usual suspects; ABS, Wizard, Parkside, David Geen and Ebay.

Horseboxes were among the first things Danny reissued - he may still have some on the shelf. I'd be up for some 6 wheelers as well, GE and GN ones especially.

Last I heard from Danny was that he was going to do elliptical roof stock in the early part of this year, but was struggling to keep up with demand for what he'd already offered. My order for elliptical stock hasn't come through yet so I assume that's still the case.

If we're starting a 'me too' thread, I've got three of the Hornby H & B wagons half way through a Graeme King style makeover. Has anyone mentioned that John Fozard does some H & B coaches?

I volunteer at Ormesby Hall and am fortunate enough to operate and work on this layout regularly. The late Ron Rising who built it was part of the team at Pendon in the earlier part of its existence as you can see from the quality of his modelling. There are as many as six buildings on 'Corfe' which also feature on the main Pendon layout. Ron was from Hampshire but lived most of his life north of Oxford. The layout is centred on Corfe Castle station but the buildings are an amalgam of real buildings from the Hampshire/Dorset and Oxfordshire areas. One of our members has researched the locations of all the buildings. The layout came to Middlesbrough when he was looking to dispose of it and simultaneously the then house manager was looking for model railway items to fill a restored but empty part of the Hall. He advertised in the Trust magazine and he must have thought all his Christmases had come at once when this arrived. The layout was remodelled when it arrived to better fit the space in which is it exhibited and so some of the landscape work and the stone viaduct have been done by the then members of the group formed to run and maintain the layout. Ron did visit and approve the layout in its present form before his death in 2006. It has been in several magazines; in Railway Modeller in 1990 when still in Ron's attic; in Model Rail in April 2006, followed the next month by a feature on the group's other permanent layout of Pilmoor Junction; in at least two issues of the Hornby Magazine annual, but featuring stock from other eras than the usual LSWR which we run on it. The group meets in the Hall on Monday evenings to carry out any work on the layouts and we're always keen to welcome new volunteers. We also have two exhibition layouts which visit local shows to publicise the Hall and have recently completed a static diorama of Ormesby Station which stood on the edge of the grounds on land donated by the Pennyman family (and still does, although it's now called Marton). The layouts are open to the public each weekend and Bank Holiday afternoon from 1.30 to 5 between March and September.

If only you could find a source of blue card, you could put that up and it would make a good background to the pictures.....

Ian and Stuart, Can I suggest the BR Yahoo group run by the people behind the Xpressbooks volumes? They have access to what must be a large amount of information and are usually happy to oblige. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BritishRailways/

That would make sense if all the NE Atlantics used prewar had gone to the scrapper. I'm sure it's 'Top Shed' which mentions them and has a shot of one with an excursion headboard, but I can't put my hands on a copy just now. What radius curves are you working to, Gilbert? Ours at Ormesby goes round 36".

Maybe by 1958... I'm pretty sure B16s and the North Eastern Atlantics were fairly common on excursion trains at the Cross before the war.

But if you had a subscription you could have read it by now!

One word for you - 'Kardashian' .