Mr Grumpy

After a bit of experimentation, I opted for a couple of nickel silver washers and Slaters W iron springs. I’m pleased with the result and it I think it adds a touch of realism :-) I will add the weather proof sheet across the top after painting.

I nearly have one end finished. I made up a side cover plate for the outer cover as one isn’t provided in the kit. I’m either going to use Slaters W iron springs or make them to go below the brackets of the outer cover.

I found myself with a bit of extra play time, so managed to get one end complete, apart from the corridor connection, which will probably go on after painting.

I got the sides and ends together this morning. The floor is designed to be removable and is held in place by screws through brackets soldered to the ends. There are no etched rebates to assist the ends to locate on to the sides, so it was a case of tack soldering, checking and adjusting where necessary. With the floor in place, the coach feels rock solid.

I had a spare hour so got the cast duckets, drop lights and door hinges on. The hinges are a doddle, either being on a strip or part of the drop lights and soldered from the rear.

Following the instructions, I cut out the coach sides ready to form my first ever tumble home. I have had a bit of practice with my rollers and thought it would be a straightforward job. The brass is quite thick, and although the ends formed perfectly, the middle stayed flat. I resorted to annealing the brass and it made a slightly better impression, so in the end I used finger pressure, constantly checking against the end profile. Then I got the door stop positions drilled.

You’re correct Mike! However, they are otherwise nice castings, so I’ll stick with them :-)

The Sidelines Stove R is a very nice little kit. It isn’t super detailed, but should be fun to build. All the castings are good quality lost wax brass, except for the buffers, screw couplings and hooks which are nickel silver. I bought the corridor connections detailing kit as the original looked very basic. The replacement could do with a couple of enhancements and I’ll see what I can do when I get to them. The roof is aluminium, and a little on the thick side. I also bought the new Slaters solid machined wheels and they are nice and heavy, without a sign of rust. I started off by spending a couple of hours fettling the buffers, drilling the housings and then blackening them.

Thanks Phil :-) Well, again apart from my long awaited transfers and weathering of the chassis, all three of my LMS tankers are complete. Perhaps I should have named the thread 9000 gallons of milk, as I’m going to take a break from plastic and have a go at a Sidelines Stove R, so the guard has somewhere warm to sit behind the tankers :-)

I sold my Heljan 33 on in the hope of JLTRT supplying a 33 with original exhaust, but they didn't cover the original unfortunately. Looking at yours, including the bogie mods, I should have kept mine :-( Nice work, also I have a B set, so useful, information, thanks! Richard

I believe that is the one I would’ve interested in :-)Will it have the vent at the roof apex as with this one?

I believe it's the same one!

I imagine mine would be the same box. I wanted a box that closely resembles the one that was at Wargrave on the Henley on Thames branch. I need to dig out my layout plan, to ensure it will definitely fit. I had resigned myself to thinking about installing a platform mounted box, but if I can squeeze this one in, I will be really pleased :-)

I took my Hymek for a run on a test track in Farnham last year and it really looked the biz :-) I would like to build another, especially now I have the experience of the first build. I do hope there is some form of re-birth of their kits. The ABC motor bogie is excellent, and performance is silky smooth. I guess Brian will be losing a bit of business too :-( I used Legomanbiffo’s sound package and a huge round speaker from Cliff Williams.

Not much progress to report due to a chilly workshop. However, to prove Im still chipping away, here’s the last of the LMS tankers coming to completion. Just the brake leaver brackets, buffers, vac and steam hoses and ladders to fit. I fancy a break from plastic, so bought an etched brass Stove R with lost wax castings to tack on to my milk train:-) I’m also being tempted by Phil, of Intentio with a rather nice GWR signal box....it’s hard to stay focused with so many distractions:-)

I wasn’t entirely happy with the 0.004 brass sheet, so considered some 0.002 sheet for the outer cover, but felt it would still be too thick, and easy to crease. So for the next three, I have decided to score the sheets on. The final Ex-GWR tanker will be built with full strapping on show. I like to try different ideas and experiment a little, and it often results in a step forward and a couple back. So this is the barrel for the final LMS wagon, looking a tad sorry for itself :-) Hopefully once re-sprayed and the sheeting joints highlighted it should look fine.

....I couldn’t resist showing my Hymek and Connoisseur brake van, which was the first etched wagon kit I built :-)

Its going to be a while until I make a start on my new layout, so I thought I needed a boost to remind myself what I am aiming for. So out came just a few of the bits and pieces I have built over the last couple of years. Although, a fair bit has been sold on as my plans have evolved.

The second of three LMS tankers is complete, but will get a fine frame dirt covering to tie everything in once the transfers have arrived. I personally prefer the barrels with the later steel sheet covering the strapping. I made life difficult for myself by soldering the straps and anchors. This means the length of the straps must be spot on prior to fixing.

Barring transfers and a little frame dirt W44044 is ready to go :-)

I made a start on weathering two of the LMS tankers. It’s like weathering a TTA in reverse :-) I’ll tackle the chassis once the transfers arrive.

Here’s a close up of one of the nameplates from Rumney Models. They are exquisite and come ready painted:-)

While waiting for my transfers to be made, I thought I would experiment with some 4thou brass sheet to produce the outer cover that was present on many tankers. The photo below is of a former GWR wagon. I played around cutting segments out to make the sheets look individually applied, and also scored the wrapper to see if that looked realistic. Here’s the result with a separate section to the left and the rest scored on.

Progress is slowing as I’m in need of transfers for the solebars which don’t appear to be readily available in the quantity I want, so I’m waiting to see if what I need can be made for me. Also, I want to see if I can make some covers that were added later (not the early sun shields) and add to two or three wagons. The second wagon has four of the beefier supports that were used on later batches. I’m not sure if these were also replaced by the later six supports.