jazz

Hi Ade. Just returned last night from a week in Paignton. also enjoyed the Dart valley railway and river cruise on the Round Robin trip as well as the Golden Hind, Torquay, Totnes Plymouth etc. etc. Fantastic weather too.

After a short delay getting some missing castings I've finished the 4F at last. The kit has shown it's age in design failing though. Anyway here it is.

Best wishes Ade, hope you both are fitting fit again soon.

Peter. I use Tamiya masking tape. That's low tack and I've never had problems with it pulling off the masked paint. I trust it may be available in Brazil for you..

Moving onwards with the 4F. I had to lengthen and modify the ejector casting, quite fiddly to do that.

Another old kit, this one is a Alan Gibson 4F with heavy tarnish. Starting with Johnson tender, missing is the tender top, top supports, footplate side pockets, tool boxes and handbrake. So raiding the spares box and scratch building plus the sonic cleaner all came into play. It's ended up like this.

That's the precursor boxed off. Quite a large motor/gearbox installed.

That is amazing. Very realistic.

I've been building this Gladiator precursor tank loco. It is now ready for the paint shop tomorrow. It did require a little modification to the rear end of the chassis to allow the trailing wheels more side play to get round the curves. I have fitted a large motor over the leading drivers facing forwards into the boiler. This has allow me to fit a big heavy weight in the firebox area. I'm pleased with the way it's turned out.

The County Class simmering in Trenruth.

The J69 is now all finished. Most of the chassis was already done and the basic body shell almost completed prior to me receiving it.

This one that had been started and I was asked to complete it. A Connoisseur J69 Buckjumper. Very tarnished, so I gave it a clean in the sonic cleaner. That made it ready for soldering without polishing it up first. So now it will have a good scrub in Barmans Friend ready for priming.

Hi. Just a test to see if the photos will load now. A wagon just completed. Well I guess that worked.

Excellent news the forum is back thanks to all their hard work. Onwards with the WB and posting photos etc.

I guess that's why the etches are as bad as they are for 7mm scale. Never a good idea in opinion. The casting from Laurie are excellent though.

Now for an Highland Railway Skye Bogie loco. This kit is from Laurie Griffin. I think I'm right saying it's an old Shedmaster kit? I do know Laurie was not kidding when he says in the introduction it's a difficult one to build and there is a lot of compromises to be made which is left to the constructor to work out what is best for them. Not with standing the quality of the etches (I should say lack quality) There was for instance a hole in the middle one step where the etch acid had eaten through. The buffer beam was no where near wide enough, the same for the draw bar. No coal rails or lamp irons provided. If you were to fit the side framed in the half etch lines, the wheels would not fit between them. That mean pushing them out meant the footplate was not wide enough. So started the ongoing problems. Ho well, I've done the best I can so far without a lot of scratch building that is. It needs a bit of tidying up. Here is the tender so far.

I think they were Peter. At least that's how I do them.

The R1 casting arrived and is all but finished. Just have to get it running tomorrow.

Whilst awaiting the missing casting for the Southern R1 I have finished the Karrier Ro-Rail bus. I have some final touching up to do on it and add driver, conductor and some passengers.

The R1 body is now underway. Most of the castings are missing so Geoff is getting them together. The kit is showing it's age though.

That,s cool. Any photos of it?

Ho dear, what a kit. A lot of the castings are missing. The ones for the ashpan sides, the ones for the sides of the boiler. There is nothing at all for the cab interior. No brake or vac pipes. No air tank for the chassis. No whistle assembly which quite different from a regular type where it's just a whistle. So a call to Geoff to see if he has any that will do the job. I have nothing in my scrap box for those items. The lack of valances I can make up. Other than that all is well. (PS Although this is a McGowan please do not confuse this with big Jim's Connoisseur kits, it's a different guy altogether.) Here's the chassis minus the two ashpan castings, you can see the hole where it goes.

The ro-rail bus is progressing with the painting. This is being done between the Southern R1 tank build, mor about that later. The bus need more on the paintwork, the interior needs seats, glazing, etc to be installed. The buffer beam fitted and the road wheels lifting devices fitted.

The ro-rail bus is now under way. Another white metal kit Plenty of detailing left to do as yet. There seating and luggage cover for the roof. angst other things.

Thanks Nick. Very pleased you are enjoying my various builds. I've just started a Colin Flannery kit of a 1930's LMS Karrier RO-RAIL BUS. This is for my own layout.