ROSSPOP

Hi Dave I can only speak from my own experience. It's the same for every guage. Make sure the track work is as good as everything else and the stock will not fall off. I must admit that my early conversions,I chose those locos that already had one driving axle sprung. Bachmann N class Bachmann standard tank 2-6-4 Bachmann Jinty Hornby Battle of Britain Hornby Black5 Then they stopped producing to the same quality, but I have no trouble with the Bachmann Class5, Hornby 8f, Bachmann S&D 7f Hornby Class4 I've run them on other friends p4 layouts down to B6 turnouts with no problems, in fact the only problems I've had is with the bogies I,ve altered!!!!!!!! I,m very fastidious about loco movement.....the only Rtr loco to fail is the Bachmann BR Standard Mogul, that constantly derailed,and this was due to too much slop in the chassis axle guides for the 3mm axle Gibson conversion set. She will at some time go back to the bench for 1/8th axles. I will be posting blogs on some of these when I've mastered this website! Regards John

Hi, no not at all..... Your not the only one that has mentioned that . But I am pressing the add entry button!!!!!

Needed to try my hand at 7mm building construction. Also thoughts about a small-ish end to end 7mm layout/test track to run my stock. Found what I was looking for on a book about the Banbury and Cheltenham . Sarsden Halt should have been called Churchill Halt, but Lord Ducie at Sarsden House intervened..... I have therefore used modellers licence and changed it back...... I had acquired a fret of GWR window frames from Churchward Models and with photo references and my `Guessometer` I made a working drawing...... and work began. Making the windows first was crucial..... Carcass was made from plastic sections.... Wished I had`nt used Slaters brick sheets as the quality I was looking for is not possible with this medium and the quality of embossing is out of register....... Hey! Ho! you live and learn. Windows fit !!!! Drainpipe and gutterings fabricated from parts supplied by S&D models. Scribed my own slates and ridge tiles Painted with Humbrol and Phoenix enamels

I still like making whitemetal kits but having moved into 7mm modelling this is to be the last. Bought through the O Guage Guild Society relatively cheaply with wheels included, I already had a motor and gearbox in the spares box. The kit is from the 1980`s and the body castings seemed reasonable. With some major fettling of the body parts I felt she would make a reasonable loco. By thinning the edges I felt she would have a much better profile. The boiler casting would really need some major work. I decided to remove all cast boiler bands. Then provide brass boiler bands to improve the look. She has been low melt soldered throughout due to the weight of a 7mm model. I would normally provide compensation on the chassis, but this time I did`nt bother as she weighs a ton and some!! But I did add some extra frame detail with plasticard. Having got this far i decided to scrap all the boiler and smokebox fittings as they looked overscale. I sourced alternative castings from various O guage suppliers. Overall I think it improved her looks no end. Then it was off to the paint shop for etch priming and livery. Number plates and cab detailing and the Old Gal was done......

No point in building kits when Bachmann produce work like this. Converted to P4 using Alan Gibson wheelset plus his coupling rod etch. Not all RTR locos have accurate chassis but this one does so I changed her to plain coupling rods as there were failures with the fluted variety in real life. I upgraded buffer beam detail front and back and she is fitted with Zimo sound.......

I think this ex GWR wagon is from Ratio, again with Bill Bedford springing and MJT BR plate axle boxes. Please don`t tell the Scalefour Inquistion but the axle boxes are upside down..........fffffancy that!!!!! Studying the many books available on S&D in the 1950`s I needed a selection of representative brakevans. Parkside LMS Brakevan with my preferred method of w-iron suspension and a upgrade of white metal axle boxes and springs from MJT and Kenline parts. I think Kenline castings especially their loco lamps are the best you can get. I`ve been snapping them up on ebay for years. The Bachmann BR Standard brakevan was just the job for upgrading to P4. I changed all the handrails with steel wire which is more robust. Cambrian ex SR Brakevan; also frequented the S&D. Back to Parkside for these identical wagons but with different running gear.

Yes! Dental resin at that. I bought four, but only this one has survived until now. Even when the body sides and roof are Araldited together ,the resulting wagon is only as strong as a ginger biscuit, so if you drop it, it will shatter into a thousand pieces, which is what happened to all the others !!!!!!

Continuing with my 1960`s Airfix kit theme, here are two mineral wagons complete with working drop doors that will provide a coal scene in Cole goods yard.....eventually!! Underframes are as mentioned before........... Now this is an ex LSWR van in BR livery which was used as a tool van in Southampton. I`ve used modellers licence as I`m sure it MIGHT have travelled down the S&D and stopped off at COLE on a pickup freight !!!!!! Now the body of this van is from the 1970`s and is from the Maple Models range .....Is there anyone out there that knows what material these kits were produced in ??

Just like the prototype, this project began with converting Hornby`s SDJR No 45, later to become BR 40634. I utilised Hornby`s tender but used a comet basic chassis kit, however the tender never looked right to me, but at least I would`nt have to worry about the livery. I used a perseverence 2P loco chassis kit and a medium sized Mashima motor and a 38 to 1 Branchline gearbox. Wheels are Ultrascale. No 45 than sat in a cabinet long enough for me to change the time period from 1920`s to 1950`s so I could make use of the vast amount of RTR stock being produced by Bachmann and Hornby, rather than spending years on making all those etched SDJR coach kits I had accumulated and then having to paint them in full S&D blue livery. The perseverance chassis went together well, but I had to provide pickups on the front bogie. My favoured suspension has been Kean-Maygib sprung plastic hornblocks. I now use those supplied by Exactoscale I decided to refit No 45 with her original OO Hornby chassis and she went to the Ebay market as Hornby produced the BR version of her as 40634. She remained on the S&D until scrapped in 1962. I changed her handrails and added more where they had not been provided. I added Kean Maygib LMS sprung buffers and all lamp irons . This time I opted for a more correct pattern tender from the Comet range, but I would have to paint and line her to match the loco body. I needed to fill the loco body with as much weight as I could muster as 4-4-0 wheel arrangements tend to be very light on their feet in model form. I used liquid lead, wrapped in a plasticard tube and fixed with superglue before fixing in the boiler . Lead strip was then cut and used to fill every nook and crannie I could find in the body as well as the chassis. Painted and lined using HMRS Presfix BR lining sheet. Nine years later......... All that weight added to the body prevented me fitting any kind if DCC chip. However having experimented in spray weathering using Humbrol enamels, I was able to place the Zimo MX648R and Sugar cube speaker in the tender. She now sits as BR 40634 on my workbench with Digitrains 2P soundfile on board.

Yes I`m building Cole station in the 1950`s/60`s Blogs of buildings etc to come!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Nick, Got a bit confused about constructing a blog. I've numbered and retitled my blogs in sequence to help. Regards John

It`s surprising how accurate these kits were in their time. First thing was to open up and separate parts not needed. I`m making two kits and plan to use Bill Bedford sprung W irons, brakegear and MJT replacement axle boxes and buffers. Bill`s W irons are now my preferred suspension system. Previously used the MJT three point suspension method, but I found them a bit fiddly to get a level height. Once fitted squarely it`s just a matter of adding a little weight to depress the wire springing, Plastic kits aint heavy!!! I nearly indulged my childhood by having opening doors at least on one side. However, I decided to fill all holes after removing hinges with plastic strip. Then spent a pleasant evening soldering up Bill Bedford`s underframe parts.....

Thanks Baz, I`ve begun to try my hand at weathering, but hav`nt gained enough experience to do the coaches yet. I`ve got a Tim Shackleton DVD to study tho John

The two coach set is based around the excellent comet coach kits , but changing their 9` bogie kits for the MJT compensated frames and white metal sides which, in my view, are much better representations of the type. I also used MJT sprung LMS buffers and vac pipes from Wizard Models. suburban Having upgraded all my loco`s for this project to DCC sound I decided to revert back to using 3 link couplings, but this time using magnetic bottom links. I used what remaining stock of PC Couplings I had left from the 1970`s , with additional frets from the excellent Wizardmodels own range. I decided to use Bill Bedfords coach connections for this local set as they will work forever together!!! Hope my eyesight is good enough to use this uncoupling gadget I bought about 1980.......... The real two coach set....

She left the erecting workshop in 2005 and entered the paint shop coming out in BR colours and sporting all the additions of an S&D lady, namely front sandboxes and correct tender. Now in 2014 she returned to the workbench for evaluating....There is just enough room for a Zimo MX648R Decoder and sugar cube speaker behind the backhead providing she is well insulated against shorting out, particularly across the speaker terminals..... Hard wiring is quite safe providing everything is protected against shorting out, which I learnt the hard way whilst doing a Heljan Class 33, when the speaker dropped down inside the body onto the metal motor housing...... £ 83 gone up in smoke... I made that 16 packets of cigarettes and I dont smoke!!!!!! The exciting bit is putting it all together and closing the lid........ Hey Presto!!! An old Gal with an LMS 3F soundfile from Digitrains which has transformed her performance so much......Now to save me pennies now that I`m a pensioner and do the same for my LMS 2P, S&D 7F, Ivatt 2-6-2........