jwealleans

Cheers, Adam. I'm quite pleased with what I've been able to do with it. I'd have been disappointed if after all this time I've wanted one I hadn't been able to get it up to the required standard. Didn't we discuss that Masokits etch before and it's a set of assorted ones? I'll have to check more carefully tomorrow. It ought to have the sawtooth lever guard to be accurate. A few pics of what's been over the bench tonight; feels like it's been a productive evening. First we had to paint the 16 tonner before bedtime. I'll tidy that up tomorrow but he didn't do a bad job in all honesty. This is a job I've had in mind for a while and the mood just took me at lunchtime. It's the Bachmann open, this one I bought at Glasgow. It's been modified as per Paul Worsdell's thread here except that I didn't bother scribing in the planks for fairly obvious reasons. The container came from a Bachmann conflat. It's a very quick and easy set of mods and the buffers make quite a difference. I did use the lugged ones all round and just thinned the backs a touch to allow the body to sit right down. Horsebox is now lettered and has had a first coat of varnish. The coach is also lettered and has had four or five more coats of Games Workshop varnish with no ill effects. I can only conclude that the paint - which was quite thick - hadn't dried thoroughly enough when it was varnished the first time. I'll keep that in mind. I've run out of Coopercraft seats so there may be a hiatus before the interior goes in. I finally made up the last set of Bill Bedford's W irons for the French vans and added brake gear to them so I can crack on with these now. Doing four sets of everything seems to take ages - I must have had some patience when I built 6 Italian ones at once. Grano has also been painted.

Grano with rivets restored and most of the underneath detailing added. The two small stanchions at the end of the body have also been added with 40 thou Evergreen. It's in grey now and may even be lettered tonight. Much of the brake gear was made up using parts of a Masokits etch for SR Monarch gear with some of the very useful 51L etched levers added. If only someone would do an etch for the very distinctive GWR ratcheted lever guides.

Cheers, Ian, I've now done that. That, as you gathered is the Dapol lever and V hanger - if we hadn't used that he'd have had nothing to do to fit the brakes as I wasn't going to let him solder up the lever and hanger on the other side. He has now painted it so it'll probably take a week or so to dry. The Grano came to me as a pile of bits after John had stripped it down so it was me who put it together. As you say, making the roof the same width as the body was an obvious improvement. It's now had primer and a few more gaps filled as well as some extra stanchions which I hadn't noticed before. I'll put back the missing rivets and give it another prime (hopefully tonight) then it can go into the painting queue.

16 tonner reached the paint shop last night: I dug out another stalled project. This was acquired from John (Hayfield) of this parish and has been lurking on the bench for quite some time It was pretty dimensionally challenged (roof different length to sides, for example). I haven't dared try it against a drawing. However with filler and plastic we can hide a multitude of gaps. It's had S & Ws fitted and I started building the brake gear last night. Irritatingly I did build a much better ladder for it from a Wizard Models etch, but it's completely vanished in the workshop renovation. I'm resisting the urge to buy another as it'll undoubtedly turn up as soon as I have no need of it. I was studying Geoff Kent's scratchbuilt version at Ely show and that's given me the kick to get on with it.

Horsebox is now in primer - there are an awful lot of fiddly details on this model which are a nuisance to put on but make for a satisfyingly busy looking model when it's all done. The roof was a bit of a challenge - I ended up gluing it securely to the body then filling the eaves at each end with Milliput and filing/sanding back the shoulders to get the right shape. Now it's in primer I can see some minor tidying up to do on there. This one will be finished in early BR for use on Thurston. The coach has had a few days to harden off before I apply transfers, which I will probably do tonight. I've put a couple more coats of varnish on there and there hasn't been any further reaction. Lamps have been attended to following a thread on the LNER forum earlier in the week about the colour they ought to be painted. Finally I found some more-or-less right size Evergreen square section at Middlesbrough Show, so set to last night and knocked up these for the Toad D. I'll see how they look when painted, but so far I'm pleased. They're about 4mm high.

I expect you approve, though?

Well, a bit of a stumbling week this week as things seemed to take a step forward and then another one back again. I painted the coach in the usual fashion but yesterday noticed that the varnish I use (Games Workshop Satin) was reacting with the paint. Now funnily enough the last time I had this happen was with the GE Clerestory I built which I painted the same colour. The paint is Precision Track Dirt (977, I think) which was Larry's recommendation. It was quite thick when I painted it on - perhaps it needs thinning out a bit the next time I use it. I'm thinking at the moment that it hadn't dried properly as the reaction was sparse and patchy (but definitely there). I'd left it 3 days after painting, but not in a heated environment. Anyway, I wondered a bit about stripping it and finally decided to try gently smoothing the crazed effect with a burnishing pencil and applying more varnish to even out the surface. When I get round to building my layout it will be set around 1930, so this will be a 35 year old coach and you'd expect some deterioration in the panels. If it doesn't come up to scratch then I can always strip it. I've also been making up Bill Bedford's springing units for some ferry vans and adding brakes to them, which is quite dull and I haven't bothered illustrating it. No. 2 son has started his much-requested wagon, though, now No. 1 son's aircraft has left the bench: This has turned into a saga in itself; on laying out the parts, one solebar was broken. One side was bent as well, so after we'd glued one end and left it to dry I was showing him how to clamp the other end to straighten it. The clamp slipped and snapped a W iron clean off. So last night it's had one of Mike Trice's very handy RTR wagon compensation units added and been levelled up before he can resume building. He wants it to run on Thurston so it will be having the full Geoff Kent treatment. I have to say I was again unimpressed with the quality of the Dapol plastic, though. As a reward for not having cut any of his fingers off he was allowed to choose the next build and here it is. I shall be perusing Mick's notes on it later as he did one a couple of years ago.

Cheers, Rob. The coach will be in LNER brown, to match a set I already have.

Well, we're finally back in business. Fully reroofed, insulated, reboarded overhead and almost as before. A few items have vanished into oblivion - for the moment - and I'm still getting rid of the awful fine black dust of almost 80 years which has got into everything, but I have been able to do some modelling at last. I have some plans for summer projects, but initially I thought I'd clear some decks and finish off a few things which have been hanging around for some time. These coal wagons have sat in the drawer for a long time. They make a nice contrast in sizes. The opens are also done. I did end up using the Cambrian brake gear (you get a spare set on the sprue) for the 3H wagon. Not a lot to choose between them otherwise. Toads, of course. LNER one now lettered and has since been glazed. My cunning plan to use the Dapol running lamps detailed in the manner Mikemeg showed back upthread has rather been stymied by their being one of the items which has vanished. I think I can make some more up from Evergreen section and rod, though. Thanks to a contact on the LNER forum I now have the major parts for a Toad E in the kit pile as well. Like Micklner, I couldn't resist this at York. Everyone knows I'm a sucker for a horsebox. It needs metal buffer heads when I next order from Andrew Hartshorne and the door handles have been carved off to be replaced with brass ones. Transfers from Cambridge Custom Transfers. I think Mick mentioned the toilet window is fiddly - one other problem I found with it is that the white paint from the window seeped through any gaps in the frame and I had to repaint round it on the other side. After all the years of wanting Parkside to do an LNER horsebox this may be the only one I buy as I have another two of these from D & S to build. Finally I made a determined effort to complete this NE brake 3rd. The instructions had also vanished but thanks to Mr Worsdell I was able to obtain another copy and complete it on Friday night. It's now entered the paint shop. They're a classy looking vehicle, these NER clerestories. There was a very nice rake on one of the 3mm layouts at York which was probably the best thing I saw there this year.

Brian, Larry's advice and coach are as good as it gets but you should also be aware (if you can set eyes on a copy) that Wild Swan's The 4mm Coach Part 1 by Stephen Williams has a whole chapter on building, detailing and painting one of these kits and includes a number of photographs in LMS and Midland livery.

Lovely, Mike. We seem to be spoiled with top notch bridge builders at the moment.

I thought that rang a bell - pictures in Great Eastern in Town and Country Vol 2, which I assume Andrew has.

Yes indeed, they look lovely. Someone's for the high jump when the yardmaster sees a container on that Lowfit, though!

Thanks, Kenton and sorry for the minor thread hijack. I couldn't quite make out from Clive's photos what was on the back of the wheel. I'd already more or less made my mind up it wasn't feasible within my engineering capacity. One of these gauged to HO would be dead handy and I was a bit surprised not to find one when I browsed about. The Wickham has been on my WB in a corner for four or five years and it would be nice to get it to run.

Clive, I've been watching this thread with my N Brass Wickham in mind... are those wheels on a stub axle and do you think it would be feasible to replace the axles and gauge it out to 16.5mm? Also, how high does it stand above track level? TIA, Jonathan

No prices as yet in the last letter I had, but his GE coaches were £45 each.

Larry - unless you can find one on Ebay I think Chris Parrish has given up on the Perseverance range. I have sent him a couple of orders and after vague promises of 'when I get round to it' or 'next year' have yet to see anything arrive.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I was directed elsewhere to this document which is a Beamish stock list. That LNWR wagon looks a definite candidate for a slight bash - can you get the WD transfers anywhere? To wrap this up here are the last of my photos from the day The transship van usually lives in the goods shed, but (I assume) the Y7's in there at the moment. There was certainly a pile of coal outside as if they'd been coaling it off the goods dock. This flat has seen better days. Mrs. W was very taken with the crane as well.

Quite agree, top stuff, Paul. You've rattled through it very quickly too; I've got scratchbuilt wagons simpler than that which I've been tinkering with for over a year. Look forward to seeing them up close.

I know we all like this kind of thing, so here are some shots of rolling stock I wasn't sure about at Beamish yesterday. This looks to me like a G1 NER van with the outside framing boarded over? No makers plate in sight. This looks like a G2 with detail differences and in an unusual livery. On the other hand I have no idea whatsoever what these might be.

Down towards the end of the yard there was another example with conventional brakes and some interior differences as well as one with three side doors (loco coal?).

I thought there was a discussion on these, but I can't locate it. We were at Beamish yesterday and I photographed a few of these. I have some of the end brake etches to add to mine so I concentrated on that one, but I though they all might be useful. I took a few shots of other stock as well which I'll post as I get time. These had been handily parked just under the footbridge you cross to access the station area. ]

Well, almost a month without an update. I'd like to say I'd been really productive and wow you with a new project, but life just isn't like that. I have had a good month with trips to Doncaster and Glasgow shows and the pleasure of meeting a few friends from here. What modelling I have done is mainly confined to ferry vans and a bit of half-hearted tinkering with things on the odd day I've been at home. Some photos anyway; recent WB items in action at Glasgow. Toad unglazed and still without running lamps. It's back on the bench as we speak. It did run OK once I replaced the Dapol wheelset. I have been doing some weathering since I came home - I was slightly shocked to find on Monday that the Ormesby layouts open again this weekend and I still had a bunch of wagons to finish off. Here are a selection: These are all Cambrian, as it happens; the Midland van, the SECR open (I was slightly disappointed with that one) and one of the round-end opens. I treated myself at Glasgow (well it was my birthday and it was the cheapest I'd seen one): As yet untouched but will be a future project. I have plans for this open which will involve the improvements Paul (Worsdell Forever) has made and then probably a BD container. For comparison a Genesis version from several years ago - I'm not even sure it's still available. It holds up surprisingly well although it was hard work at the time.

Deserved recognition for that lovely loco, Paul. It's always nice to see some scratchbuilding on here as well. It's a brave man who tackles hoppers, though.

I can't find the picture I wanted of one, but is it a North Eastern D 25 CCT?