thegreenhowards

2 hours ago, 45568 said:

Just off the workbench and ready for the layout, a conversion of the Hornby K1 to the solitary Thompson K1/1, (yes, I realise the front pony is off the track!).

 

 

The conversion was inspired by the purchase of a cheap K1 chassis and tender from Ebay. Finecast supplied the 3500 gallon tender, which presents one of the faults with the build, it is the wrong type of 3500g tender. The prototype ran with the high forward front plate, a type modelled by ABS and Dave Alexander, unfortunately no longer available. (If anyone has one of these kits made or unmade that they wish to part with please let me know!).

The curves at the front footplate were cut from a surplus Airfix rebuilt Scot body fixed into the existing footplate, after the centre of the footplate was lowered. Archers rivet decals were used to replicate the very 'rivetty' look of the prototype. I managed to save the excellent Hornby lining on the boiler and cabsides, but this gave rise to another error, the step on the lower left of the cab should not be there on the K1/1, but removing it would have ruined the lining.

Tamiya spray cans were used where necessary on the loco and tender, with Darlington works plate, numbers and lining from the excellent Fox range. The nameplate was sourced from Brian at 247 plates, after the example I obtained from Fox was found to be too big. Brian proved very helpful and was very quick to post to Australia!

All in all, an interesting build, not least for the amount of very hard metal that needed to be removed from the front of the chassis to accept the lowered front footplate. Unlikely to be available rtr, (he says, although these days...!)

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

Hi Peter,

I love the K1/1. Do you have a West Highland layout on which to run it?

As for the tender, I believe Dave Bradwell does the type you need.  
 

http://www.davebradwell.co.uk

I bought one of these for my V4 (which currently has a Hornby tender), but I don’t think I’m ever going to build it as I am concentrating my West Highland modelling on O gauge, so if you’re interested I’d be happy to sell it to you for what I paid which was £50. Send me a PM.

Regards

Andy

50 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

I think the LMS only built end door minerals as well (and to be picky, most if not all company built minerals had steel end stanchions, not timber).   I don't think the Southern built any, but I shouldn't like to speculate on what they got up to at Swindon.

 

I think you're looking at a PO here, to be honest.   How do you get on with Powsides transfers?  They'll give you the biggest choice, but they can be a bit of an ordeal.

Thanks Jonathan,

I don’t think I’d lower myself to the GWR! So I’d better go the private owner route. I’ve never tried Powsides, but I think this might be a good excuse to try one. They have a bewildering range and only a very few seem to be suitable for a Slaters 7048, so finding a SE example suitable for our joint LNER/SR terminus will be a long job! I will need to sit down when I have a couple of hours to spare and go through their lists. How well do they flex to go over the detail on the side?

Regards

Andy

I’ve been sorting out some cheap wagons I bought at the SVR O gauge get together a few weeks back. I’m struggling to work out what to do with this one and I’m hoping one if the wagon experts out there could advise me.

It was badly painted in a wagon brown colour with a black patch and white numbers but no company identification. I’ve stripped (most of) the paint off and the underlying wagon seems nicely built - the underframe is certainly nice and true and free running.

I think it’s a Slaters 7048, RCH 1923 7 plank with side door which makes the £10 I paid for it good value!

https://slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?suffix=JPG&code=7048

I’m now trying to work out how to re-livery it to run on Smithfield, our club O gauge set in the 1920s. I’ve looked through my LNER wagon book and it seems that the LNER only built end door mineral wagons. So that is ruled out. Did the other big four built side door (no end end door) wagons? If not then I’ll have to go with a private owner version but that would be quite expensive in transfers which makes the wagon less of a bargain - call me a cheapskate if you like!

Andy

Looks great. Is she coming down for testing tonight?

I’m pleased to say that Smithfield is featured in the Gauge O Guild virtual show today. Entry is free. Just click on this link and scroll down for Smithfield.

https://www.gaugeoguild.com/guildevents/doku.php?id=virtual2023:layouts

Andy

22 minutes ago, meanach said:

Hi . I could have sworn I replied to this the other day but the post seems to have vanished !
 

Anyway , Meanach is a bothy run by the mountain bothies association at the head of Glen Nevis and the junction of a fine walk from Corrour to Roy Bridge via Loch Trieg and the Mamores. I’ve slept in it a few times and have fond memories. 
 

Although the line Meanach is based on is a real location further east , the station and village (and indeed railway!) are all fictional. The line was proposed but never built. Meanach would roughly be north of Ben Alder mountain by a couple of miles. As I’ve walked the hills around there the scenery is based on the terrain in that area.
 

The M.B.A oddly don’t name their bothies in relation to their geographic location. For example you will find Oban bothy is nowhere near Oban but actually at the head of loch Morar!  My station follows in this tradition. Ian 

I wondered if that was the source of your name. I’m a long term member of the MBA with my personal favourite being Bearnais in the Fisherfield Forest.

The spreadsheet will be very useful - thanks ‘billywhizz’ and Rob. A couple of suggestions from me. It would be worth having a column for window beading - that caught me out on 9016. Also Rob, have you got the buffet blanking colours the wrong way round on 9016/16? I thought 9015 was black and 9016 was white (possibly black at some point). 
 

Andy

13 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Perhaps an ad in the "Wanted" section for the numbers you want might be worth a try?  After all, how many people actually use all the transfers on a sheet, with many gathering a collection of part-used sheets.  At that price I assume this is 7mm scale - I've just taken a quick look at the HMRS site and all the 4mm stuff seemed to be under a tenner.  

Yes 7mm. I think that makes the brush approach slightly easier.

10 hours ago, john new said:

As an alternative do Sharpie do a correct colour? Personally I would find the solid nib of a pen easier than a fine brush that is flexible for small lettering. I have done brush letters for chalk names on wagons, isn't that I can’t, just don’t find it easy and am intending to try Sharpies on a recent cheaply bought parcels van as an experiment.

That’s an idea. I think my lining pen should have the same effect, so I may try that as an alternative to the brush.

Andy

13 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Andy,

 

Can you carefully (with an 00 sable) change one of the '5's to an '8', weathering a little more afterwards? And the other to a '6'? 

 

Or, paint out part of any number to suggest a replacement plank? In my experience, these new planks were never painted - just left in plain wood finish.

 

As for 'masterclass', I'm not sure about that!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Thanks to all who replied to me. I don’t really want to spend £25 on an HMRS transfer sheet for two numbers, so I’ll give the fine sable approach a go. I suspect that I’ll need to give it a heavy weathering to hide my none too subtle brushwork!

I’ll report back when I’ve given it a go.

Andy

Tony,  

Thanks for the masterclass on renumbering. I have a slightly more challenging proposition! Can you suggest any ideas for changing the identity of two of these wagons as I have three ‘8245’s? They’re Dapol 7mm wagons weathered by yours truly.

Andy

Thanks Bill,

we’ll have to commission you to write our backstory sheet!

My version goes like this: “I like LNER and other club member like Southern/ LBSCR.” I’d like to be more sophisticated but we’d have to re-write a lot of history!

It was good to see you. Operations got steadily better as the two days went by. We were quite good by Friday evening with young Alex on the fiddle yard.

andy

1 hour ago, 46444 said:

Very nicely built and finished.

 

I agree with you about loosing the film on either Modelmaster or Cambridge Custom Transfers. Brilliant time saving products.

 

One thing I have found recently is using a carefully applied light coat of Halfords Laquer for a smooth gloss finish. This gives a good surface for these makes of transfers. I use Johnson's Kleer to help them set as well once in place.

 

When dry I'll apply another light coat of Halfords Laquer, followed by Halfords Matt Varnish if necessary.

 

This method does tend to help loose the backing film of the transfers. I'll then finish with Valejo/Tamiya acrylic varnish once the coach etc is weathered.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Humbrol decalfix helps as well. Applied once the transfers are on and dry it creeps under the transfer and ‘sucks’ it onto the surface.

Rob’s 6-wheelers inevitably stole the show. I grabbed a few photos and a lot of video which will need editing. Here are a selection of photos…more to follow.

Rob’s J69 on Howldens

My A5 on the Howldens

My C12 at the buffer stops on parcels stock.

C12 departing on Howldens with the A5 alongside on the Quad Arts.

And finally the A5 with LMS vans behind.

Andy

9 hours ago, meanach said:

This illustrates a few of the stumps of felled trees but I added a few more today in various gaps, following the feedback. Hopefully this adds to the illusion of it having been much more dense. 

9 hours ago, meanach said:

This illustrates a few of the stumps of felled trees but I added a few more today in various gaps, following the feedback. Hopefully this adds to the illusion of it having been much more dense. 

Perfect - I withdraw my pedantry! In fact the main time trees which look this this are evident is on the edge on blocks where the neighbouring block has been felled, so spot on. The extra stumps make it more convincing.

Nice trees. Can I put a little pedantic and point out that they are ‘forest trees’. I.e. they are made to look like they have grown in a forest surrounded by other trees and have therefore lost their lower branches (through light starvation). If they were open grown like you have shown them they would have branches down to the ground (like the ones on the right). Primo do both sorts. These will be fine if you are planning on putting other trees in front, otherwise, I’d suggest they are moved back into the forest with some fully branched trees in the foreground.

Sorry to be picky and feel free to ignore - I’m sure most people wouldn’t bother!

Andy

I’d be interested to see pictures of your work in progress on the embankment.

On 24/10/2023 at 09:44, 37Oban said:

Hi,

 

people forget just how high trees really are!  100ft is a good average height for mature trees, although some can grow to 150ft or more!  That's 600mm in 4mm scale!  It's why you so rarely see mature trees modeled to scale, unless you are very careful, or chose the species carefully, as they can easily overpower the scene.

 

Roja

I agree. As a forester I get quite upset at the pathetic size of some trees on some layouts. But as an O gauge modeller I get quite scared at the size of the trees I need! Having said that 100ft is quite large. I tend to harvest my spruce at age 30-40 when it is typically 20-30 metres tall. This is the maximum height, it will spend most of its life rather shorter. Certain prize trees do get to 150ft, but not much taller as they tend to blow down in our windy climate!

They look great Rob. I think they’re a good representation of what was there in your photos and about right in terms of scale.

Andy

10 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Colin,

 

I regret not - the LNER shaded numbers were very distinctive.

 

I would be surprised, though, if Railtec or Precision Labels are unable to help.

 

John.

I think Fox do the best transfers for pre nationalisation coaches. Not cheap though!

I'll be at the Beckenham and West Wickham show tomorrow manning the Gauge O Guild stand. Do pop by and say hello if you're coming.

Thanks Rob, 

That's incredibly useful. My brain got a little confused, so I prepared a simple spreadsheet table with the variations. Hopefully I've got this right and the simplification will be useful to other people

I'm relieved and amazed that all my 37s appear correct. The Heljan 37s generally come unnumbered and I chose 051 and 264 for my two 37/0s. Heljan seem to have chosen single rivetted for split box and welded for centre headcode, both with no cantrail strengtheners. This is logical I guess as the most numerous for each headcode box type. I have 37043 on order which should be correct, but was thinking of doing 26/27 or 81 next as they were very common when I was on the line. How easy would it be to add the cantrail strengthening or double rivet lines?

I'm glad all the ETH ones are from the same batch, so need need to worry about swapping identities there. Did the 37/5, 37/6 and 37/8 variants keep their roof details when modified?

Andy

3 hours ago, 37114 said:

Very interesting project, I like the idea of having the board exhibitable but then incorporating into the garden layout. Nicely executed, and O gauge with class 37s's so lots to like!

Thanks, it remains to be seen how the exhibition boards stand up to being carted in and out of the garden!

Rob,

I like the mods on ‘264, I did similar to my Heljan version.

One thing I’m never sure about though, is the roof differences which you talk about between different batches. Could you show a picture of the different layouts?

Thanks

Andy

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

I agree it’s a spruce. Really need a piggybank for those primo trees to save up and buy in large batches 😁

A Primo forest would look really impressive, but might dent the loco budget for an awful long time!