Jack P

Bump

Screw links really are a pain to deal with. I had thought that the comfortable standard for me was the Roxey etched ones - until they started breaking apart. I now use the Masokits ones, but they are very fiddly. I've also replaced a fair few solid buffers with sprung ones. Wider curves/points mitigate the need for this, but not entirely. Have you seen the solution that Harry came up with for vac pipes over on his End of Southern Steam thread? Looks good!

Thanks Eric! I did reach out to Dave not so long ago and he said that he didn't have any left (in 4mm)

Now Sorted :)

Looks really excellent Muz, excited to see progress!

Hi guys, On the off chance someone has an H classis from the SEF kit that they would be willing to part with? Kind regards,

Update! My first EM 'Conversion' That's EMGS Peco bullhead track, Alan gibson bogie wheels with brass tube cut to length as spacers, and spaced out Hornby driving wheels. I might revisit that arrangement, and swap the driving wheels for some of the appropriate type, but for now this works. I actually pulled the drivers off their axles and padded them out to the correct b2b with washers, re-quartering was easy enough by eye. Some filing/scraping away of the backs of the brake blocks was needed, but nothing drastic, all the pick-ups reach the wheels with a bit of tweaking. The actual loco itself had a bath in some lacquer thinners. It was previously 1551, which was pretty much the only H allocated to Nine Elms - we want a Stewarts Lane allocation. I've also been wanting to re-do the paint jobs on these, as they're very orange peely. Stripped & back together, unfortunately the pipes from the clack valves suffered and have been replaced with some brass wire bent to shape and glued in place. Front buffers removed and swapped for Kean Maygib SECR pattern ones. She will likely end up as 1321. Work has now started on trying to clear my shelves of half/unfinished projects and to dispose of some stuff that is way out of scope (anyone wanna buy a Skye Bogie kit? - and who thought that was a good idea?!) EM stuff will continue over time, the conversion of some stock will keep RTR wheels, others, full replacement wheels. That's all for now!

Hey Jack, Thanks for that! The weathering is a combination of airbrushing and streaking with white spirit and then a little cleaning up and some further airbrushing for the details. I usually go over the roof and parts of the bogie with powders. Southern branding - my preferred transfers are HMRS, but in a pinch I've used Fox waterslide - I don't rate them as highly as HMRS stuff though. I hope that helps!

Hi guys, I am a relative novice when it comes to the intricacies of trackwork. Could anyone advise the correct chairs for Ex-SECR and Ex-LBSC track, as well as the chairs the Southerns own Pway dept would've used? Many thanks

Were these a custom order? I had spoken to 247 developments at the end of last year but not heard back since then, so an alternate route would be excellent.

Fantastic, we reckon in the late 40's early 50's it would be said 70' TT then?

A few sporadic updates. Waiting for bits to arrive from the UK will be the death of me. Cab bits for the W are done, not quite accurate (again), but enough junk in there + a crew to look nice. A few more chassis additions I realised after the fact, the tank support brackets should be straight, not all curvy like i've made them. Ah well, that's gone in the notes for the next one. I also renumbered and weathered another Blue MN for someone. To finish, here's a random shot of one of the new GBL vans

Apologies for the long time bump - but in your research you didn't happen across the length of the Stewarts Lane Turntable did you?

Guys, you can thank me - I recently bought all the pieces to assemble an E1. I'm sure that was all the project needed to be nudged back into action! On a more serious note, that's very exciting. Looking forward to hearing more towards the end of the month.

It certainly looks like it slopes down, but perhaps that's an illusion and the whole siding is lower than the running line? You're making good progress, with all the essentials (coffee, beer and smokes). When's that artic twin set headed my way?

Those locos all look the business, the U especially. How would you compare the Kitbuilt I3 to the OO works I3?

Another little bit completed last night. The brakes that come with the kit are a bit basic, so for the rebuild I substituted in some Mainly trains ones for the N/U. Yokes made from spare bits leftover from the SEF chassis that comes with the 0-6-0 R1 (replaced with a Branchlines version) Everything is a bit messy, this is partially down to the delay in getting replacement fibreglass pencil refills. Once these arrive i'll tidy up errant solder as best I can. The rods on the yolks need to be trimmed back and I need to figure out what arrangement i'll be using for the rods that capture the top of the brakes through the frames. Some of the bits plonked together for photos. Getting there. Once this is done, I'd like to finish off some of the other stuff i've got lurking in boxes, but i'm not sure what yet. Both the L and the E are good candidates, but they would both benefit from wider chassis. I'll investigate this later.

Thanks for the info folks! So the actual bogies are ok, just don't use the supplied compensation bits?

Fantastic, what a time to convert to EM!

Feels a bit like 1 step forward, 2 steps back at the moment. Wasn't really happy with the slide bars and crossheads from the get go, and in hindsight I should've tackled them when I was doing the draincocks, but I didn't. The issue came to a head when I realised that the crossheads were twisting on the slide bar. That wouldn't do. I cut the back off the crosshead and replaced it with some square brass tube, with one of the side removed, then using some scrap etch, I made some new slide bars. This also meant I could get the depth, length and end profile correct. Guess which one is from the kit, and which are mine? While I was at it, I decided that the WD handrail knobs would look much better with the draincocks, so i've removed them and will re-do them when they arrive. This is the state of play at the moment. I'm just trying to decide if there's really anything left to do on the body - if there isn't then that can go in for painting. The brakes have been re-done also and just need soldering to the new yolks, once that's all done the chassis can be painted too, Really just waiting on wheels and track now!

Hello chaps, apologies for the intrusion. I picked these up recently, and wanted to know if one of you could advise the appropriate livery for 1947 condition (if they were still around then!) Thanks in advance!

Fantastic Mike. Lots of unique locos here in New Zealand. This one kinda looks like someone tried to build a diesel onto a bogie.

The only possible issue I could see with that is extending the wheelbase by the same amount. You'd need inaccurate-accurate rods to fit the new wheelbase and you might run into other issue with spacing of bits on the footplate. All of these small allowances might end up leading to something looking wrong, or compounding the issue in a more difficult way etc. As you say, most people draw the line somewhere, and I suppose it depends on how important it is to you.

It appears that the D has 2mm axles, which run in square top hat bearings w a gear wheel that is just a press fit onto the axle. There really isn't anything wrong with the Dapol wheels, but finding replacements on a 2mm axle is difficult. I've just been on the phone to Ultrascale, and am looking into having David cut me a new gear wheel and bearing that would suit a 1/8th axle. This would allow replacement wheelsets in EM/P4 to be fitted - is there anyone else out there that would be interested in some of the bits to complete the 'conversion'? If so, drop me a PM. Nothing is set in stone yet, but it would be good to know if i'm not the only one out there.

Looks Fantastic in both B/W and colour! The crispness of the Connoisseur kit is fantastic, unmatched by the other offering!