sigtech

Nice AFV sitting on the Warwell Graham - who makes the model? is it a Scimitar,or a Scorpion - it's not a Spartan (think that's an ambulance). Or am I completely wrong ....? Regards Steve (SIGTECH).

Thank you Tim for your very generous comment, this is my first real attempt at modifying anything RTR - the cant rail colour will be fixed asap!! Regards Steve. (SIGTECH)

Thanks Matt - very impressed with the little railway 'dez-rez' you're constructing from the coach body..! Job - you're too kind, thank you

It's coming together nicely Lorry, - but you'll need a bigger layout at the rate you are purchasing new items of rolling stock! ! Regards Steve. (SIGTECH).

Thanks Les,- you can see a slight variation in the shade on the coach side if you know exactly where to look - but it's good enough for me - this is after all a layout in the loft, it's not going anywhere and there are no external windows. Regards Steve.

Greetings from Sproston, The Hornby 'B' set is now back in service after some protracted modifications that involved removal (by filling) of the incorrect window next to the Guards door (on one side only) on each coach. These windows were not installed on the real vehicles by the GWR, - but Hornby thoughtfully provided them anyway!! If you couple two' B 'set coaches together correctly with the brake ends outermost, then the windows concerned to be removed are on the left hand vehicle facing you as you look at them, i.e one window on each coach next to the single Guards door as viewed with the brake end on the left. The Hornby model is R4293D. I referred to the article by Tim Venton on Bristol Division B sets, available on the GWR modellers society website for all the additional information : www.gwr.org.uk/b-set-notes.html First an additional layer of transparent plastic was carefully chosen,cut to shape and glued to the existing window to make up to the level of the coach sides, next the area was carefully filled and levelled using - of all things 'typp-ex' correcting fluid!! (don't laugh!!) and it worked... Small Bachmann tension - lock couplings were fitted to each end, with BK pattern hooks substituted to use my coupling system. For the coupling between the vehicles I used Bachmann small tension - locks again but cut them shorter, and fixed into NEM pockets with superglue - I know it should be a coupling bar, but I needed to be able to separate the two coaches, and this seemed an easier solution. They are however clos(er) coupled. Careful sanding was now carried out using 1200 grade wet and dry paper, trying to cause as little damage as possible as I did not want to repaint the entire vehicle, just the repair area. So far so good, then came trying to match the factory applied BR Carmine colour - this was not so easy and in hindsight it would have been simpler to just repaint the entire body, anyway onward etc.. I had already made a trip to my local modelshop to research the closest matches, and had come away with three, two acrylic and one enamel, a mix of Revell and Humbrol colours. There then followed an extended trial period with them involving paint on/let dry /sand/repaint/let dry/sand/repaint - you get the picture... Eventually I hit on an what I considered an acceptable match - Revell 331 acrylic Purple Red (silk matt) not totally right, but close enough I felt (if you don't look too closely). Then followed the addition of internal "First" and "No Smoking" transfers (HMRS SHEET 14) to a couple of the windows on each coach, using the most useful 'B' set thread/discussion that has been running for some time on here. I also altered one of the vehicles numbers, so they were no longer identical. Having already removed the incorrectly applied "1" from the other carriage door panel on each coach, along with painting the seats , internal roof, and adding some passengers this was as far as I wanted to go in correcting the 'errors', for want of a better phrase - that are present on this ( it has to be said venerable ) model. Finally the roof on each was given a spray coat of Humbrol matt (33) Black and the wheels and axles blackened with paint. This improved the appearance greatly. So there we are - better (more accurate) than they were, but still not quite 100% Comments are always welcome. Regards SIGTECH (Steve).

Had a mood change yesterday and suddenly came over all positive,- so b set reassembled, wheels and axles blackened, roofs masked and sprayed matt black, and it does looks much better, so deciding to continue with this task, a Dapol Fruit 'D', Hornby Stanier 50' bogie full parcels Brake van, Hornby WR Syphon 'G' and a BR(WR) suburban 57'non - corridor second, all successfully completed, hooray!! The only down side is I have now run out of Humbrol spray Matt Black 33 - a trip to the model shop is required. Regards SIGTECH (Steve).

After many naughty words have been uttered by me, and much paint wasted, along with time spent (literally) watching it dry, I have got an acceptable finish on the B set coaches where the surplus window has been removed - providing one does not look too closely....The shade is still slightly darker, but life is too short to worry that much. The HMRS transfers are all finally fitted - pig of a job! I think I can see why many people tend to use Cambridge Custom Transfers now. I had a few problems with a couple of windows misting involving White spirit...This resulted in bringing out the Johnsons Multi Surface Wax('Klear'). Also found out that the partial renumbering on one side of a coach is slightly wonky.....can't be *&^%$ to redo it all again,- as this is now becoming tiresome. So all that remains is to reassemble them. A useful learning exercise, if only in when best to leave well alone! Regards (SIGTECH) Steve.

Have just spent an hour in my local model shop, comparing paint tins, and purchased three different shades of red: Humbrol enamel matt 153(Insignia Red). Humbrol acrylic 220 ?,(noname...) Revell 331 acrylic (Purple Red) silk matt - along with also trying Precision Paints (Bufferbeam Red)dull B49 matt,- I begin now to see what you mean... Closest match seems to be Revell, the Hornby coach finish seems to be more a dark red than Crimson and I haven't bothered with trying the Humbrol Crimson acrylic after reading the comment on post 3 above. Well now it's time to try some painting/mixing/repainting/mixing/repainting/sanding/repainting... Wish me luck!!- I think I may be some time on this... Regards SIGTECH (Steve)

Hello again - when I was trying to decide how to arrange for adjustable lamps on rolling stock, I decided the system had to be reasonably robust - hence the decisions to replace in nearly all cases the lamp irons that are factory fitted, with staples - as they are extremely forgiving and cheap, the only difficulty is bending them to the GWR/WR profile. It is possible however. A small amount of new rtr does have more accurate and stronger (metal) lampirons, these have been retained only if it is possible to 'ease' them out from the body slightly. I also have a station cat, - ALL stations should have one in my view! 'Jack'(not very original..) can be seen lying on a large packing case sunning himself, in front of the GWR corrugated iron pagoda shed situated on the stations parcels dock.. Regards Steve. (SIGTECH).

Hi again Johnster - I drill the hole in the base of all lamps, and so that all lamp irons on the stock are fitted to allow the lamps to sit correctly, I normally put a lamp onto the staple when superglueing it into its final position - this allows me to arrange a fraction more distance between the back of the lamp and the coach/brakevan/loco or tender to which it is fitted, - call it 'wiggle room'...! The distance is not great, and I find it is not really noticeable, once the lamp iron is painted matt black. Completing all my stock took several days - but it's a job that in theory you only have to do once - after that it is a case of only new stock additions requiring work. The same goes for adding passengers, have now completed nine coaches - almost 100 passengers having to be painted and amputated/adusted to fit, with three coaches still to do, after that it should go quiet... Will be interested to see how you get on, and the final method you adopt. Regards, (SIGTECH) Steve.

Hello Johnster, I have also gone down the staples route for lamp irons, nearly all my rolling stock has them now - locos, coaches, brakevans all fitted npcss and freight wagons,with just a few exceptions on recently manufactured items that already have decent metal lamp irons fitted to them. The lamps are all by 'Springside' with 0.9mm hole drilled in the base using a pin - vice and a small piece of 'blacktack' inserted into the hole. This way I can show the correct headlamps, taillamps and sidelamps where necessary, - it is fiddly and a time consuming process - Sproston being a terminus, but I considered it important to try to do things 'correctly'. - I did this before the advent of 'Modelu' lamps. Regards SIGTECH (Steve).

Hello everyone, just a quick question, I'm in the process of blanking off the window next to the guards door (the one that shouldn't be there anyway) on two 'B' set coaches by Hornby (R4293D). coach W6590W. They will be left in BR colours as supplied - not sure if it is BR maroon? - can anyone tell me what would be the closest colour match to allow a touch up job, rather than requiring a full repaint? Thanks in anticipation. Regards SIGTECH (Steve).

This afternoon I have been idly flitting through the National Railway Museums SSPL online photographic collection, and what a superb resource it is! When I happened to come across this photo taken 11/07/1955 at Potters Bar in Hertfordshire. (Ref 1995_7233_LIVST_DF_228 ) and taken from there Liverpool Street collection .I instantly knew I had seen this structure somewhere before, and a little bit of detective work finally revealed that this must be the prototype used for Peco's 1/76 model LK- 82 goods depot . Not really any use for me, but I thought someone may find the photo useful for detailing work if they possess the model... Regards (SIGTECH) Steve. Edited to correct a spelling mistake - that wasn't there....

Good evening everyone, Time to update on the 'goings on ' on the layout, first a few small new scenic additions - a bench behind the loco shed, parcels platform weighing machine, chocolate machine for the passenger platforms, oh and some guy sitting on a bench with his hand on the stations wall!.....Not very interesting but this leads us on to.. The main subject which is the alteration of the existing layout wiring to allow for the installation of a Woodlands Scenics 'tidytrack' wheel - cleaner, and an additional powered track for testing and (eventually) a Bacchrus 'rolling road.' This project has been 'on the drawing board' for a couple of months, and was awaiting a suitable enclosure to fit the new switches that I already had. The purchase recently of the above scenic items from Hattons provided a suitable unit..... I had already worked out the wiring alterations, and written down a progress diagram for the stagework (green ticks mean wire run or step completed and tested.)This is the diagram used for the job. Some time ago at a model railway exhibition I had purchased on impulse, a pack of two subminiature dpdt slide swiches made by 'Radio Shack' from a trader, thinking to myself "these will come in useful" - and so it was to prove... These were mounted inside the plastic box which usefully had a hinged lid, with apertures cut for the sliders, a thin metal plate from the scrap bin was found, existing holes filed to shape for the switches to pass through, then the plate was sprayed matt black (Humbrol) to improve its appearance...and fitted to the outside - Yellow electrical tape being used to make areas suitable for labels. All was held together with the supplied four small machine screws inserted into the threaded portions of the switches . So far so good! A hole for the wires to pass through was drilled in what was now the bottom of the box. The unit was fixed/screwed into position vertically next to the remote controller (B) which is on the hidden sidings side of the layout. Due to the design it would be impossible for the operator to use any of these new functions from the main control panel side of Sproston as he would have no view of them. New wiring was installed by 'breaking -in' to the existing wiring using the (positive) feed 5 for the hidden sidings, and taking new wires via a choc-block to the switches which were connected via an internal wire and then further wires taken again via another choc- block to the test - track + and wheel -cleaner+. The negative path was created by adding another Terminal (T6) to the layouts common return 12v dc (controlled) bussbar (next to the main control panel on the other side of layout), and running it to yet another choc-block fixed onto the new 'test bench' - that I acquired from next door recently and saved from the rubbish tip.....from here the wires were run to the respective negative side of the two test devices. Splitting the wiring up using chock - blocks allows me some flexibility to disconnect and move the test bench.(Especially useful when some small item from a loco goes "ping" - ask me how I know... The switches were then labelled - it's far easier to look at the pictures than explain! Finally this was all tested and the wiring tidied - and it indeed does work as I hoped - I just need to buy that rolling road now!! Comments are always appreciated, Regards SIGTECH. (Steve)

Good afternoon Edwardian, There is a building near the corner of Garage Lane which has a sign above its entrance saying 'The Engine Shed' . It is alongside other commercial premises - the site next to it sells used cars , Many of the buildings around here on this industrial estate are made from/ clad in corrugated iron and may be some of the buildings used when the site was opened (1921) . I do not know if it is indeed the original building - the building in your aerial view at the end of the first track on the l.h.s. is supposed to be the engine shed, but this is nowhere near the present building, unless it has been moved (and modified) since then.... Are you any distance from West Winch? - you are welcome to borrow the book for some time if it will be of use to you, and you could combine the trip with a 'field visit' to the actual site.... If you wish I will go in a day or two and see if I can turn up any useful information, by asking some questions around the site. Regards Steve. (SIGTECH).

Yes, that's it, Clarke's Drove Siding. The access road off the left of the A10 alongside Hill Farm is now Garage Lane , and the site was on the north side of it ,occupying the land up towards Fen End Farm ,- chy will be the 160 foot high chimney, which is where the aerial view of the site on RMWEB was taken from.

Hello Edwardian, I live in a modern (1980 built) bungalow in West Winch, and our deeds state that the previous owner of the land (before the house builder bought it), was English Oilfields Ltd. The site of the works is about a quarter of a mile south of here, on the junction of Garage lane with the A10 at Setchey (pronounced "Setch" by the locals).The junction of the line with the GER was two miles to the West, the line passing through a 90 degree curve to join at Clarke's Drove crossing on the GER line to Kings Lynn. There was a signalbox here, the book says it survived to the early 60's. With three loop sidings and a trailing crossover between the main lines - the connection (according to the maps in the book dated 1928) was a facing one in the up main. much of the old trackbed is now a farm track. The book contains b+w photos, including one showing the companies open wagons and a fireless loco that was used, and several paragraphs of useful info along with a track layout.. It was published by Middleton Press 2002, and titled "Ely to Kings Lynn" written by Richard Adderson and Graham Kenworthy. isbn:1 901706 53 2 Regards (SIGTECH) Steve.

This is an interesting question - I've must admit I never really thought much about it, but I believe it also applies to my layout 'Sproston' which is set 1956-1965, and its creamery also has a 70' chimney. Looking forward to see what useful info comes out of this topic... Regards, Steve (SIGTECH)

Hello Robin, Beamish Cross is progressing well - will you be adding some more tracks later on the inside? to increase shunting possibilities, and the layouts storage capacity, or will this area be entirely for scenery? Regards, Steve (SIGTECH).

Hello MANTY1 Have you seen SR CHRIS' blog entries on here? - His station is called Cill (as in window...!) and it may be worth looking at it to help get some more ideas for your version. Regards, SIGTECH (Steve).

I know what you mean Graham - I'm in much the same boat when it comes to stock, - it's outgrown the layouts capacity!! however I just can't bring myself to sell any of it - as it's all stuff I wanted originally anyway.... Layout alterations are looking good. Regards, SIGTECH (Steve).

Hello Mikkel,and thanks for the comment - I have to agree that the windows are probably too small and the glazing too thick to see..

Afternoon people, have been looking around for a small project - to fill a couple of days of otherwise idleness, and I suddenly remembered the Corgi Trackside horsebox I had bought a few years ago for the layout. This had sat on my modelling shelf in the spare room for some time, as I had become unhappy at the lack of internal detail in the cab - along with the fact it was possible to look through the windscreen and down the full length of the vehicle,- this was obviously not correct...! The model is a Harrington bodied AEC Maudslay finished as a Midland Region vehicle in the British Railways standard livery of blood and custard. Looking at prototype photos it appears reasonably accurate, and as this was only to be a quick project I limited what I was prepared to do. First the body needed to be removed from the chassis - this was not going to be easy, two large metal rivets secured it all together. So - out with the electric drill and remove the rivet heads using a 4.5mm hss drill, then carefully remove the plastic chassis- and at this point the wheels fall out! it also becomes clear that the chassis is made in two parts so the second part (with the cab detail on it) is removed, also the radiator grill and lights pops out. The remains of the rivets were filed flat as they are used to locate the top chassis accurately. Ist job was to make a partition wall between the cab and the body of the horsebox - I used thin card cut to shape by offering it up to the vehicle to gauge the size required, then cut to approximate size, glued to the rear of the cabseats which are moulded in with the lower part of the cab rearwall. Then this partition was cut accurately to the correct size/shape and painted both sides - I used Humbrol paint ( enamel matt 110 natural wood ) also painting all the rear floor area of the vehicle. There followed some searching to find two "willing volunteers" from my dwindling stock of little people from China (ho scale) to crew this vehicle. I settled on a BR type hatted driver and a gentleman farmer complete with his stick. Both had to have their feet amputated (unfortunately) to fit in the space - but then it cannot be seen and they will not be going anywhere now except in this lorry..... After painting them in suitable colours, they were firmly fixed in place with Bostic all purpose 'Glue and Fix'. This was followed by making a foglight, this was to be fixed just below the right had side of the vehicles front bumper - a simple scrap of suitable plastic sprue of the correct size/shape was found, again glued in place and painted.(Humbrol enamels matt black 33, silver 11.)The radiator grill and lights were refitted- they are just a tight push - fit. The inside of the cab was also painted at this stage, the seats were finished in RevellAqua colour. Leather matt brown. The steering column in Humbrol steel HS217 and black, with the flooring Dark Stone. 187. Some spare paper front and rear numberplates were found in the scrap bin and added. The top of the chassis was refitted into the vehicle to check all was ok, then the front axles were carefully 'adjusted' using some long nose pliers to obtain a degree of front wheel turn. These were then installed in the lower chassis which was then refitted- it can all if necessary be easily removed. Finally all the wheel hubs were painted using Precision Paints matt B102 BR Freight Maroon to approximately match the lower body half colour, as this seems to be a more accurate finish. I have not bothered to secure the chassis assembly as it is held in place securely when refitted, and being able to remove it easily again may become an advantage at some stage later. Well there we are, small cosmetic changes to try and improve the model, nothing really major but after all "it's a horsebox Geoff".... Comments good or bad always welcome... Regards SIGTECH (Steve)