Kempenfelt

Afternoon Morgan,

Hopefully not a silly question, but how do you ensure you get an even thickness of Araldite around the inside of the tire? I assume its down to careful placement of the rubber mould and tire, and to hope that neither slip when you're putting the whole assembly in the oven to cure?

Not quite clubbing this time Porcy, but I do find that generally the last few hours of the evening/early hours of the morning are the only real free time i get to write emails or responses! (This response is bucking the trend somewhat! )

Cheers

Paul 

Morgan,

Thanks for the very useful insight to the problem of the live crank pins. Ultimately attempt one hasn't worked quite to plan and this has got me thinking too! How about a combination of the AGH and TR methods?

I like the idea of the Tufnol insulation between axle and wheel centre to prevent the axle from becoming live, but as you say the problem of insulating the live crank pins is a lot harder in 4mm compared to 7mm due to the sizes involved. Likewise Araldite has proven its bonding capabilities but has made life rather difficult when it comes the extracting the job from the jig. How about you Araldite the Tufnol insulation between the tire and a slightly modified, smaller diameter jig? I'd make the inside diameter of the Tufnol smaller than the required, but then bore out I/D afterwards as you were planning to do with the Araldite anyway. (The reduced I/D approach is what I've done when soldering bushes to 5" brakegear, then drilling and reaming out to size to finish) Hopefully this would result in a secure insulated ring to the inside of the tire and restrict the Araldite from coming into contact with the jig.

There are a few issues that spring to mind with this approach. Firstly this solution involves an additional stage in the sense of turning 10 Tufnol bushes. Secondly, could the I/D of the insulated tire be bored out sufficiently to maintain a scale thickness? Thirdly, would the Tufnol/Araldite combo withstand being bored out? (Although judging by your efforts I don't actually envisage this being a problem)

On the subject of you being "madder" than Ivan, I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to agree with that! :-p However you have certainly proved that you're up for a challenge and very proactive when it comes to putting ideas in to practice! Good luck with attempt number 2!

Best Wishes

Paul

Excellent work as always John! Out of all the mod's you've been making though, what a difference thinning those boiler bands make! I didn't expect that mod alone to make such a big difference! This has got all the makings of a very fine model, will be very interested to see how Morgan gets on with the wheels.

Best Wishes

Paul

Tim,

Following up Combe Martin's response I can confirm that it is possible to portray set 244 using the Hornby coaches, but unfortunately to be completely correct you can only use 2 out of the 3 coaches you have purchased. The suitable coaches that you have obtained are R4304B and R4305B.

R4304D is slightly different to your other coaches in that it represents a diagram with only 1 lav vent, whereas the 2 suitable coaches mentioned above have 2 lav vents. It's a minor difference so you may be able to live with it, alternatively you want to pick up another R4305A or R4305B to complete the set. It is noted that set 244 was originally a 4 coach set, I believe that this was reduced to a 3 coach set however I can't recall the date off the top of my head.

Hope this helps

Kind Regards

Paul

I'm afraid not Adam, in fact it's taken a few steps backwards and looks more like its undergoing a heavy general overhaul than resembling a working locomotive! You are correct in that it has actually run, however I wasn't entirely happy with the way it performed with an intermittent tight spot making an unwanted apperance every so often. I also always wished I'd built it as a CSB rather than compensated chassis whic left me slightly dissatisfied. Having traced the intermittent fault to the front left hornblock that had a small amount of fore and aft movement, this ultimately gave me the impetus to strip the chassis back to its component parts, upgrade the chassis with new(ish) HL hornblocks and do away with the compensation beam and modify it for CSB. Mark Humphies has also very kindly milled the axles for me to accommodate pinning. Ultimately I'll end up with a chassis I'm much happier with, however there's the small matter of reassembly that needs to take place first!

Apologies for the thread drift Simon, back to 4f's now I promise!

Thanks for posting Morgan, that's a really useful addition to the thread! Although I've had the privilege of seeing your 4f up close, albeit at an earlier stage, I hadn't quite realised the extent of the modifications you'd made to get this far! It's great to have some feedback from someone who's actually had some experience of this kit!

Apart from the EM model described in MRJ, John Sheratt's P4 model, Pinkmouse's build to date and now Simon's model, I'm unaware of any other that have actually made it out of the box! (I don't feel my own attempt at starting the the inside valve gear quite merits joining this list just yet! ;-) ) John certainly had to do a lot of additional work to his model before he was happy with it, although I hadn't got as far as asking him for a list of his modifications.

Having read the above I like the idea of all the modification's that you've undertaken on your model and would certainly like to adopt all of your suggestions into my pair which are hibernating in their boxes, although I've got no grand delusions of either of them making any kind of appearance anytime soon! As you well know I've got a Jinty that needs to make a reappearance first!! ;-)

Talking of which, one area of the kit which stands out to me is the slight tubby'ness of the BM rods in the kit. Having built a pair of the BM and High Level rods I was particularly impressed by the latter. I'm sure this is nothing that a good file and a careful hand can't correct, but well worth the effort IMHO. Alternatively the new rods from Dave Franks may be worth considering, although I've got no experience of these so wouldn't be able to provide any practical advice on these!

Keep up the good work Simon, following this with interest!

Best Wishes

Paul

This webpage is useful for information of 2P's on the Highbridge Branch.

http://www.newman-family-tree.net/s&d/index.html#anchor25750

It includes a picture of 3 2P's at Highbridge works in circa 1956 (you will need to scroll almost to the bottom, or click on the 4-4-0's link) and states that he recalled seeing 40601 more regularly than the others.

Crikey Pix, we leave you alone for a year without tempting you with a corrupting beer tour and you do wonders in the modelling department!! The not so blue any longer Pullman looks fantastic, really like those cov hops too!

Best wishes fella, happy 2015!

My word John, Worseter's coming on a treat!! Happy New Year to you and the family!

Best Wishes

Paul

Fantastic work John!

Visiting RMWeb for the first time for quite a while and hadn't realised that you'd been beavering away on Worseter! With regards to the wall I'd be tempted to avoid painting it black as its part of the view and could look like a black silhouette in an otherwise very believable scene. With regards to colour i'd assume whitewashed (or similar light colour) brick would be a good bet, grubby as you suggest (but predominantly white) perhaps with some of the brick colour showing through in places.

I assume the gasworks is still operable in the scene? Otherwise you could model it as derelict without the roof with perhaps a bit of vegatation growing up the inside of the wall?

Here's a couple of my pics from Swindon in recent years, before and after use as a railway restoration workshop which may help to picture what I'm suggesting.

Best Wishes

Paul

Brave man tackling 4 Jinties all at the same time, I'm still struggling to complete just the one!! (Don't ask how long it's been work in progress! )

I'll be interested to see what you do with the bodies! I've not started modification of my Bachmann body yet, however these are the area's i've currently identified for improvement.

From the Brassmasters detailing etch

Replacement etched steps

Replacement etched coal rails

Etched buffer steps

Etched tank top details

Etched frame extensions

All other etches are made surplus due to the High Level chassis

Replacement chimney (although I'm not convinced on the shape of the BM casting, I'd consider a turned brass one if there is a suitable turning out there)

Cast steam injectors

Cast vac pipes

Other modifications

Probably the biggest issue to my eyes is the gap between the boiler and dome, this in my eyes could do with filling. However you need to be careful not to lose the flange of the dome.

Ideally I'll replace the handrails too! The handrails along the boiler sit too far away from the cladding as do those on the front tanks.

The moulded lubricator detail looks too small to me, where as the vacuum ejector looks too big. These will have to be replaced with scratchbuilt items.

Representation of a slacker pipe and tablet catcher (these are dependent on your chosen prototype of course)

I'm not quite convinced yet on this final item, but I'd quite like to remove the moulded glazing bars and replace these with wire. This would of course mean that the glazing would need to be replaced too.

If you can think of anything else then please let me know, wouldn't want to miss something glaringly obvious once I've actually finished it (although this could be some time yet!!! )

Good luck with the build's Tim, look forward to the rest of the build, if only to try and motivate me to do a bit more on mine!!

By the way, don't overlook the Wild Swan book, this is invaluable to anyone modelling a Jinty/3f no matter what scale!

Cheers

Paul

Oldddudders, its not so much that they were 3rd class but that the brake's were known as BTK's (or Brake Third Corridor's for the expanded acronym). Yes 3rd class was changed to 2nd class, however the acronym BTK was continued to be used and is probably where the confusion arises.

With regards to the Hornby 3 coach packs they are indeed very nice and I myself pre-ordered a pack and will probably have another one or 2 sets in the future, however they are not without fault. Unfortunately Hornby have produced these packs and sold them as the 390-399 sets, however these sets only had 1 rain strip on the roof as appose to 2. They can however be renumbered to the 445-448 series as these did indeed have 2 rain strips although I have only seen 2 or possibly 3 photo's of set 446 published. The colour pic of this set hauled by a 2p at Broadstone referred to earlier in this in this thread can be found in Somerset & Dorset Steam Finale by Michael S Welch, or in Southern Coaches in Colour by the same author.

For the Bristol local's on Barrow Road one of the other members is indeed planning the latter mod, renumbering his set to 446. I on the other hand have decided to adopt the surgery option and alter the rain strips as I want at least one of the 390-399 sets. Maybe i'm being a bit too pedantic, however now I know i've got to do something about it!

As well as those coaching sets mentioned above, detailed notes about the Bristol - Bath - Bournemouth sets can be found in one of the Xpress publishing timetable books. These sets were the Maunsell 3 coach sets, latterly the 3 coach Bulleid sets, WR 3 coach non-corridor sets (Collet?), LMS 3 coach non-corridor Stanier sets and the LMS 4 coach corridor Stanier sets. There was also the LSWR 3 coach sets which predated the Maunsell sets up 1955? Latterly DMU's and WR twin banana cars W35 and W36 were also used on these turns.

On the main line the Bath - Binnegar local was a 2 coacl LMS (period 2?) non corridor paneled set. I've also seen LMS 3 coach portholed sets, and GW Hawkesworth 4 coach sets. The Pines was one of the early coaching sets to be upgraded to Mk1's. Again plenty of LMS Stanier corridor coaching stock on the trains from the north. With trains from the likes of Newcastle, Nottingham and Bradford it was quite common to see LNER stock such as Gresley's and Thompson's. There's a few pics of articulated twin sets.

GW B sets tended to be used on the branches from Evercreech to Glastonbury and Highbridge etc.

This is only based on my limited research so feel free to add more detail! I've heard that there are lists of the coaching stock used on the S&D around, I haven't however managed to get hold of any such lists just yet.

Kind Regards

Paul

Well that didn't take long!!!! :-p Good effort Pix!

Excellent work there Tim!!! She's going to be a beauty!

As for the the finished articles Mike, they're absolutely stunning!!! I'd quite like one in P4, best started finishing some of my other projects before I even consider that though!!!

With regards to the tender Tim you could do a BM hybrid! The tender body is different but I think the chassis is the same, just a thought if you can get hold of a chassis etch!? Actually I've just started a BM Fowler tender kit with the intention of fitting a Dave Franks chassis to it, there may be a few pic's finding there way to my WB if I find some time and pull my finger out!! ;-)

Cheers for now

Paul

The photo on the website has been up for quite some time now (before the coaches even left the drawing board) and is most definitely a kit. Yes Jamie I very much suspect it has Comet origins!!

I believe these coaches are at the tooling stage, I suspect they're keeping any pre-production updates quiet until the 2012 announcement. Here's hoping they're up to the standard of the latest Hornby offerings!!

Paul

Ah ok, i'd looked back at the thread hoping someone had taken photos as I couldn't remember. Tbh I wasn't really in a fit state from the night before and Simon Kohler was being bothered by an annoying child at the time so I moved along quickly..

 

I'd rather hope it did have sprung buffers for the price.

Photographic evidence of Craig looking worse for wear can be provided at special request!

Perhaps with a light dusting from the airbrush Dave? That IMO would help lift the detail on the skirts and slightly tone down the lining? But yes I do think the lining works!

As per other's coment's the new shade of red sit's very well, the original colour was a bit on the pink side!

Great stuff as per usual!

Cheers

Paul

I believe it was purchased by Bert Hitchin, he of Taw Valley and 45231 fame to name his latest projects. I believe Bert purchased it as his retirement project so I have no doubts that it'll be worked on sooner rather than later. 45231 I think is ooop north on Jacobite duty and so is probably occupying a certain amount of Bert's time, however it was also put up for sale recently although I don't believe any announcements have been made to date.

Cheers

Paul

Sorry John, just read the OP and realised that the Bachy information is probably of no use to you on this occasion, hopefully it is a bit more useful to others out there!

Thanks Craig once again for reminding me about that Bradwell chassis that I missed!

John, with regards to 9f's these days my preference (and Craig's) is a Bradwell Chassis with Bachmann body, I purchased the latter from R.D.Panes at the Stoke exhibition last year for £20. I don't have any contact details but I know he was based in Mount Pleasant, Porth, Mid Glamorgan. Further spec details are motor in tender (Canon 1833), High Level tenderiser and Dave Franks tender chassis (once available).

Good luck with the project, would be good to see a few more out there! Currently I've only seen 3 Bradwell chassis's made up in the flesh, i'm sure there probably are a few more! There was an example being demonstrated with Bachy body at S4N and Expo EM by Greg? of Steamlines Sheffield, very little modification required for it to fit.

Paul

Looks superb David! There's something very Manning Wardlish about that cow catcher, but I guess there's not too many variations of a fairly generic feature!

I see there's some nice open space below the front of the boiler, I don't suppose there was any inside valve to be found hiding in there!

Hope to see it out again on the circuit sometime soon, i'm sure you've got a few bookings up your sleve!

Best Wishes

Paul

You're not helping Pix!!!!!

I think i'm going to start a petition to get you banned from RMWeb!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempted by 2mmfs!!!!

I must not get tempt.....................................

He hasn't finished the chassis yet nevermind the body. I do have the RCH drawings for a steel 16T mineral though...

 

Send me my 21t and 16t 2mm ones and i'll think about it .

Right Pix, if that's Craig's offer get em in the post sharpish man! I'll even chip in for postage!

I missed yeh thread earlier! I knew something was up when Craig mentioned you were disappearing to wash yeh mineral! Good work though and please hide the etches when I next come to visit, otherwise i'll be deposited bits of paper in yeh pocket in exchange for you crossing my palm with nickle!

Looking very impressive Boris, keep up the good work!

Best Wishes

Paul

Blimey Adam I didn't realise you were old! Unfortunately I never got to see Hursley either and despite being only slightly older than Craig I remember the RM article extremely well and like most people here, Hursley is one of my all time favourite layouts and greatest inspirations. I did hear that Martyn has asperations to do an Isle of Wight layout, now that would be absoluetly mind blowing!

Actually I got a years subscription for Christmas in 1990 and despite being 6 at the time this was probably the year that really defined my modelling inspirations! As well as Hursley, two other layouts from that year which are firmly stuck in my mind are Exbridge Quay and Henry Holdsworth's L&B based 16mm scale layout (Lynbridge?). In my oppinion, modelling techniques haven't actually improved much since then (albiet finer etches and laser cutting), where i feel the next step of finescale modelling is going is the dawn of the larger and more prototypically operated layouts.

In real danger of contaminating this thread with a post that is aimed for the MRJ show thread, what i feel would be a real line up would be layouts currently being built

Retford

Birmingham New Street

Steve Hall's latest creation

Slattocks

Southwark Bridge

Barrow Road (Apologies I may be a little bias with this one, it would get me an exhibitors pass though! )

Prehaps even Andrew Jukes Kings Cross

Along with the layouts already mentioned in this thread, together with a few corkers from the past/present

Corris

Bucks Hill

Blackgill

Steve Harris 2mm finscale layout (which i cant spell)

Copenhagen Fields

Chee Tor

and of course North Shields, although if Grantham could make it, i'd much rather see Chris's stock amonst other ECML stock at speed!