drduncan

Thanks! D

Gareth and 'Horsetan', It's an early Perseverence. The combined 43/61xx chassis... The spacers are em. The cylinders are on a separate stretcher and there is lots of room between the rear wheels face and the frames, just not the front face and the cross head. D

Hi Mikkel, It's a Sutherland one! Whilst I'm sorry you're having problems with it too, I'm also a bit relieved as it suggests I haven't done something bloody stupid... Regards Duncan

This is a preemptive blog post. Gareth, who delights in pointing out my errors, omissions and oversights (for the good of my soul and development, naturally), is - I am convinced - at this very moment penning a massive missive asking oh so sweetly, but with hidden barbs of reproach, what has happened to the the locos mentioned in previous blog posts. 'After all...' I can imagine him writing 'you've done all those other conversions that you talked about today, what about the others?' Ah yes, the others. I'd been trying to forget about some of those.... So confession time. The 28xx no 2811. Having (almost) thrown away the Hornby chassis in disgust I have embarked on building a complete turkey of a chassis kit. Its a Comet one and has singularly failed to impress me. I have borrowed a Poppy's loco building cradle from my club and I hope this might help deal with some of the problems encountered. A blog post will tell the full tail of woe in due course. The Armstrong Goods no 788. A new tender chassis has been hacked out of brass strip using a piercing saw lubricated with bad language. This will mean that tender pick up should now be possible (unlike with the cast whitemetal offering in the kit) and have space for a sound chip and speaker. A blog post will continue the story when there is more definitive progress. The 43xx 4321. This was going great and I was looking forward to a triumphant single post on this loco but then I found that in EM gauge (EM gauge!) there was insufficient space between the crosshead and crankpin nut (even with it turned around) to prevent them jamming each other solid. The cylinders were cut off the stretcher and spacers inserted. Now screwing up the courage to see if it will still fit the body and then not foul Hope under Dinmore's platforms and ground signals. A blog post will report the success of not of this action... The Buffalo 1076 ST. This was going well until I decided to try to design in sub-assemblies to aid painting in that beautiful pre-1906 livery. It was set aside to complete 4321 as a quickie and you've already read how well that turned out. The 1854 saddle tank. On hold as I really should get at least one of the above finished first. The 2021 saddle tank. On hold as I really should get at least one of the above finished first - and I can't get the saddle tank to match up with the cab front (the saddle tank is too high) but without a good drawing I can't tell whether its the saddle tank being too high, or the cab front too low... I need a better drawing than you get in Russell's books. (If anyone has got a proper GA drawing for a 2021 ST please do PM me. Don't PM me to suggest the Russell books...) The 36xx. Chassis started but guess what? I really should finish one of the above first! What might throw these good intentions off track: Finding/being given (one lives in hope) a decent set of cross section drawings for the GWR D0 boiler, especially the shape of the lower firebox as this would allow me to have a crack at a 3031 or two (I've got three to build and at least one I want in one of them in rebuilt condition and yes I know that there were two distinct groups of rebuilds with two different boilers one of which was a D0 according to the RCTS bible). It would also allow me to have an un-rebuilt 26xx, a long standing ambition. If any of you 3d printer wizzes are bored.... The Great Bear. Getting a Scott Class Atlantic (don't have one yet but if you want to sell yours PM me). And then there are the following waiting to be started: A Finney City A Finney curved frame Bulldog A Finney Stella A Finney Dean Goods A Churchward Models 45xx A Mitchell 44xx A Jackson Evans 39xx Lady Margret So I'll be busy for a while yet - and then there will be the coaches too! drduncan

No. The crank pin nut was turned round to give more space and there is almost nothing between the connecting rods and the return cranks etc. D

You're pushing your P4 luck... D

It all started innocently enough - a gentle enquiry from a fellow club member about whether I'd be interested in converting RTR stuff to EM - not for him, naturally, but he'd had an approach from a third party and was it something I'd consider? Oh and I'd get paid for it too... Well as an EM modeller, I'd done a few RTR re-wheeling jobs including a GWR City for the Sage of Fareham so I said yes. Here is the GWR City I did for the Sage of Fareham. I swapped the Bachmann 3000 gallon tender and a Hornby 3500 one on the basis that I'd a picture of a City in plain green (the livery intended by the Sage) and I needed a 3000 gallon tender for my 28xx. After quite a bit of cursing I had manged to make the different electrical gubbins compatible and the Sage went away happy to wield his air brush. At the next area group meeting I was introduced to the third party and a deal was struck. I ended up sailing away on a sea of promises and expressions of mutual good will with a Hornby J15. Now the dark interior of East Anglia is something of a closed book to me and I had until this point cherished my ignorance of all things LNER (pre- grouping , post grouping or nationalisation its all the same - ie not GWR - to me). Th conversion itself went reasonably well for a given value of problems, chief of which being the axles over length to assembling on a wheel press to the correct gauge, resulting in a brief spin in the club lathe. In fact the biggest problem was the wheel balance weights. In the end, I decided that if Hornby had modelled one with no balance weights then I would too - in the absence of any other information of instruction from the client. I have to admit I rather enjoyed the task and the client was happy too. The J15 appears to have got badly lost as it is posing on a fragment of the North and West route between Shrewsbury and Hereford, just outside the station of Hope-Under-Dinmore. The next contract (of a sort) was a Brassmasters Easichas for the Hornby 42xx. I say or a sort because I sort of volunteered for it (and its almost finished - promise). Then came a Bachmann 3F in P4 for the Gosport Guru. This went fine (after I'd got brutal with a dremel drill and the underside of the footplate). Now it was time for some serious 'off piste' modelling - a Bachmann Jubilee in P4 with a replacement tender chassis to boot. I confess I have come to loathe Walscherts valve gear -return cranks will be the death of me. The tender was by Lanarkshire Model Supplies and a delight to build. Now I'm working on a Bachmann Ivatt class 2 mogul (more outside knitting to wrestle with) and waiting in the wings is a GWR Hall! At last a sensible loco!!!

Perhaps Castle, of this parish might be able to advise. D

Hi Mikkel, Do you have a drawing for the 1813 side tank? If you do would you mind sharing it? Duncan

Mikkel, As always your work leaves me green (GWR loco pre 1906 naturally) with envy. Duncan

Research funding is always good. And it would be interdisciplinary too - chemistry, environmental sciences, and history. It would tick ahrc and escr funding boxes... Now all I need is tenure somewhere... D

Dear Mike, Thanks! Duncan

I don't think ABS will be there, given conversations I've had in the last couple of weeks. Drduncan

I'm very pleased that the white metal detailing parts (including hopefully the coach bogies) will be coming back, but it's a great shame that the etched coach sides will remain unavailable. Drduncan

Yes you're right, technically the O5 has DC 1 brakes, the Thomas and side lever ones being undiagrammed, but it remains a handy catch all for the 4 plank family in pre double sided O21 days. It will also get a load, probably stone. D

Hi Grahame, The red is halfords red oxide primer. I've found precision paints too brown so added a little China red. The weathering used light rust, light red, light mud, light grey, orange red. The only trouble with the halfords red oxide is that press fix transfers don't stick to it so I used klear polish to give a gloss finish where the transfers were to go. Make sure you leave it to dry thoroughly or the transfers still won't stick! Regards Duncan

Yep! D

Well its been a while, but I've not been that idle - stop sniggering Gareth. ExpoEM went well - I think. I had a good few people drop by for a chat and the lecture seemed to be well received and promoted a fair amount of questions and discussion. Suffice to say that the 3 Mink conversions I was doing didn't get finished during the course of the 2 days. The only down side about demonstrating is you don;t get to see much of the show... Anyway after ExpoEM I got roped into demoing at the GW Study Groups members day - and no I didn't finish the Minks then either (I kit bashed a Mink D into the prototype V9 instead). So what have I fininshed? Well I have managed to do a few more GWR red wagons. As the Sage of Fareham noted when he saw them loafing around on Hope-Under-Dinmore one club night: "You do like red don't you." Well if it wasn't for Gareth being all so well informed.... I digress. So we have a batch of red 4 and 3 plank wagons. On the left we have a Cooperccraft O5 as it comes out of the box (not because I couldn't be bothered to put the correct headstocks on or lower the floor, but because I made it decades ago and have just repainted it from grey to red). Then moving right are two David Geen 3 plank white metal kits - very nice castings and went together very quickly. Next we have a W2 Medium Mex cattle wagon. I've left the roof off so I can admire the interior - and add some straw... This kit has had the oil axleboxes replaced with grease ones which involved a fair amount of grinding away of white metal with the dental burrs. Last there is a J7 double bolster. This is a D & S kit (now available through ABS). Again a very nice kit to build. Lettering for all of them is by Pressfix or done by hand using a fine calligraphy pen and white ink. Weathering is dry brushed acrylics (Vallejo) and couplings are Alex Jacksons. Now I just have to finish my Armstrong Goods and 1854 saddle tank in pre-1906 linery so that I have some locos to haul my growing collection of Red wagons! drduncan

That MT has suspended trading (hopefully not permanently) is a major blow. Their range of detailing components was excellent and in many cases impossible to replace by going elsewhere. Drduncan

I too use red up to 1904 (and for wagons after this date that haven't had a visit to the repair works up to say 1910ish). See my blog http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1569/entry-16508-the-wagon-and-carriage-shop-red-wagons/

Ian, Inspirational work. Duncan

As regards transfers: hmrs 'press fix' give lots of tons & Tare transfers plus italic numbers to make any variation needed. Drduncan

It all depends on the period you are modelling. I'll try to dig out an image or two depending on your answer. You can also get the V9 diagram out of the parkside V11 if you are prepared to adjust the wheelbase - a relatively straight forward job using the existing spring/axle box moulding in front of replacement drop in etched w irons (the mjt ones from dart castings are very good).Drduncan

Why not use the coupling rods to set the horn locks D

Humph. I'll see what I can do, but I'm saving most of them for articles. D