Norton961

The Samhongsa Pannier tank is very nice and easy to convert to P4 as it has seperate axleboxes. I have one converted to P4, I was lucky also being an American modeller i knew Samhongsa as a maker of fine brass models. I found mine in a box of bits at an exhibition a few years ago covered in a tar brush finish, the result mine for £30.00. If you find one expect to pay closer to £200. They are fitted with a large can motor and seperate gearbox. Mine now converted and repainted as one of Wellington (Salop) allocation 9630. The loco behind is a Bachmann loco repainted and renumbered.

Robin, excellent work, I wish I was as quick doing the conversion. 45611 Hong Kong is still not finished! Looking forward to seeing them all running. How many more Jubilees are you planning? David

Given the partial shutdown of Chinese manufacturing due to the virus issue then Hatton decision to stock up in bulk would appear to be a good one. I suspect we will be seeing delays in newly announced models as the supply chain starts to dry up. David

I have a couple of DeVil is air brushes but now cannot get hold of any spares as the company that took over the supply of parts has stopped doing them. I have now given up trying to find spares and now use a couple of Harder and Steenbeck airbrushes and have been very impressed with them. David

Don’t forget a small number worked in the East Midlands coalfields allocated to Barrow Hill. Regarding reliability, Clayton original proposal was for the locos to be fitted with Rolls Royce engines (Clayton being a subsidury company of Rolls Royce) but the BR board insisted they use a PaxMan engine which had only been used in an experimental rail car. The engines suffered a number of problems including the aluminium crank cases cracking, seizures ( I have a sheet showing that some of the engines seized before the locos left Claytons when under test!) and miss alignment between engine and generator which would lead to crank failure. The 2 Rolls Royce engined locos were fine but it was to late. A couple of the Gateshead allocation were tested for a few days as banking engines on the Consett iron ore workings, but were soon sent back to Gateshead.

The earlier version has outside steam pipes that have daylight on the inside but no boiler bottom. The later one has a boiler bottom but the outside steam pipes are integral with the smokebox. The earlier version also has a very prominent circular housing above the front bufferbeam to house the screw to fix the chassis. David

Dave, thanks for the pointer to the High Level GW tender chassis kits, I had forgotten Chris Gibbons did them. David

Dave, have built a number of the LMS tender chassis but have now converted a Bachmann Hall to P4 but would really like one of your tender chassis to fit the tender. I notice that the wheelbase is the same as the Stanier tenders but the chassis itself is shorter. Any chance of you doing a GW large tender chassis for Bachmann and Hornby tenders? David

Apologies, it’s the various resin fuel tanks from Brassmasters that have been re introduced not the headcode boxes. David

Regarding the Brassmasters headcode boxes if you check the Brassmasters web site they have re introduced them after a gap of a year or two. David

The resin head code boxes from Brassmasters are both types, with and without air horns. David

I am a big fan of Ultrascale loco wheels but am having problems getting paint to stay on the front of the tyres. Paint just does not stick. I have head that there is a chemical way of darkening the tyre rim, does anybody know what this is and where do I get some from. thanks David

Gentlemen, many thanks for your input and knowledge, very helpful. Most of the chips In the photo will be put into some small Industrials ( in P4) so current draw should not be a problem as they all have Mashima motors. i now have a better understanding of the “old” chips. David

Have finally got round to finihing a few more pre group wagons. The LNWR Brake van is a London Road models kit. This has used up nearly all my HMRS LNWR diamonds, I have enogh left for 2 more wagons but I have 6 wagons to finish! The HMRS has been out of stock of this transfer sheet for months and seem not ba able to find a printer to make some more. Coast Line Models do a sheet of diamonds but they are noticably bigger than either the HMRS ones or the Ratio wagons ones. I have lettered the brake van "Shrewsbury" on one side and "Walsal"l on the other. Would be nice to have a "Stafford", but I will have to make do with a "Crewe"

RFS, thanks for the reply, the problem I have is I don’t know which is the A and which is D as they both have the same number on the chip, just different colours. Also I have the manuals but I don’t know what they mean as I know nothing of electrics and electronics! David

I have a box of new Lenz DCC chips, but I have 2 problems with them: Firstly I know they are about 10 years old so are there any problems with matching them with modern motors and EMF. Secondly the chips come with different coloured numbers and I don’t know what the difference is.The numbers are 0511A and 0511D and again don’t know what the difference is. I contacted the current Lenz importer but these chips were imported before they became the importer, and were supplied by McKays who have now closed. David

Dave, one of the advantages of the Samhongsa built models is that it comes with sprung axleboxes so converting to P4 is relatively simple. As a sometime American modeller I recognised the Samhongsa name stamped on the keeper plate. i agree the Bachmann model is excellent and stands up well to current RTR models.

The remaining 2 panniers are Bachmann bodies with Comet chassis, one with a Portescap motor and one with a Branchlines gearbox. The issue with fitting a scale chassis under the Bachmann body is there is no boiler bottom as on the Bachmann chassis this is part of the chassis. I have made up a boiler botton for 9774 but remains a job for 5712. 5712 is also an early style cab. I have a High Level chassis to build so this may well end up as one the Panniers sold to the NCB such 7754 and painted bright green. Some of Wellingtons Pannier tanks had overhead warning flashes for working into Crewe on the stoppers from WEllington.

I now have a collection of 4 Pannier tanks, all of which were at one time allocated to Wellington and would regularly work down to Trench sidings and beyond with pick up freights. 9630 has an interesting heritage, being a Korean brass loco built by Samhongsa and comes with sprung hornblocks. I bought it for £25.00 out of a box under a traders stand with a very poor paint job. I think the trader thoiught it was a backmann one, hence the chaep price. Now converted to P4 (by my friend Tony Sheffield) and stripped and repainted by me. Runs realy well with a massive can motor in it. I was pulled by this loco on the service from Wellington to Crewe in 1962.

Morgan, Thanks. David

Dave, Thanks. I find taking photos very often shows up imperfections that I can then rectify. The standard Bachmann chassis for the Pannier tank has some vertical movement in the centre axle, and runs really well. Will be giving it a run out on the Nottingham Area group test track as the final test. The model cost me £65 of eBay, which is less than the cost of a standard OO one and the Ultrascale wheels cost almost that as well. I find that stuff with poor paint jobs are the ones to buy. Next job is to give it a light weathering and make up the fire irons for the bunker.

I recently bought in a Bachmann Pannier tank which had been converted to P4 using Ultrascale wheels. The paint scheme was not good so I stripped, repainted, renumbered (to 4693) to one of Wellingtons allocation. Just needs some light weathering. I was surprised how well the standard Bachmann chassis runs. This now brings my fleet of Wellingtons panniers up to 4.

Making progress with the build, but a question for Gordon. I have reached the point where I am about to fit the slidebars, but am confused as to when to fit the cylinder wrappers. Instruction 8 says fit the cylinder wrappers but All the pictures in the instructions following show the cylinder assembly with the slidebars fitted but without the cylinder wrappers, so the question at what point do these wrappers go on? Thanks David

David, no just run an 1/8 “ reamer through the bearings and the final drive gear in the gearbox. David

Continued with the build. When laminating the slide bars I found using one of the hair clips ( also used in point making) useful for holding them together.I also remembered to measure the Gibson axles and found they were 3mm, which was fortunate as I was about to run a 1/8” reamer through the fixed bearings! Now need to buy a 3mm reamer, not just for this loco but for future builds. David