Chas Levin

Excellent - a model of the model, within the model: Modelception! 👏

That giant 5p piece is really working out as a good investment for you Rob! Seriously, I always enjoy seeing your beautifully detailed work and I promise I will stop joking about large coins... 🙃

That's quite a difference, between the two transfer samples, isn't it? I know others with more detailed knowledge of MR practice than I have will come in here, but there's an original guide sheet of the lettering currently on the Midland Railway Study Centre's home page (with a link below the thumbnails to allow downloading of a high resolution version) and assuming that's fully accurate, I'd suggest that neither of those two HMRS samples is quite right. That being said, at 4mm and normal viewing distance, perhaps it comes down to which one looks better...

Unexpected wagon in the bagging area... While studying LNER Sentinel railcar photos in (my dog-eared secondhand copy of) Yeadon yesterday, I noticed the LMS vehicles in this photo (reproduced here for study purposes only) of 2257 Defiance, passing Newsham whilst working the Blyth shuttle in June 1938: Here's a close-up to save zooming in: Sadly the running numbers are illegible (they are in the book too, it's not just my poor photography skills) and I shan't chance my arm amongst such knowledgeable company on identifying the diagram number...

Nice loco work there Sir - and fab Coronation set!! Can't wait to see it in the build... though, as you say, no pressure!

Very nice work Stephen; also just leafing through my newly arrived first MRS publications last night, including your excellent 'Modelling the Midland', very enjoyable and informative read!

Good point, about the 6: hadn't thought about that!

Evening Mick, I can't myself supply the wheels you need, but have you looked on Ebay? I just searched using "26mm Romford drivers" and there are quite a few, though you'd probably need to contact the various sellers to check on details such as whether they're insulated or not... (Apologies if you've already tried that and/or don't want to use that supply!)

Just catching up on your filing? 😉 I find the trick with this sort of job is a tray on your knees and something good on the telly... Nice feeling when you've finished though!

Well remembered Jonathan: Old John Bull became the pavilion at the Railway Athletic Club's ground in Darlington and is seen in a photo there from October 1961 on page 47 of Yeadon. Yes indeed Jon, Royal Sovereign did war service as offices at Shildon from September 1941 and is seen there in August 1961 on page 61 of Yeadon - it survived until 1965.

Yes, I'm pretty sure it is.

I've seen more than one photo of grounded Sentinel bodies in use, can't remember where now though I think at least one's in Yeadon.

Michael, between this and your Workbench thread, you are so prolific!

Lovely models, thanks for posting. Useful to see them built too, as I have them in my pile for future use. they have a lot of interesting detail, don't they - they look even more interesting there than any other photos I've seen.

That would make sense then, if they were withdrawn '48, that some might still be in use by pw half a dozen years later? Doesn't sound like they treated them to a repaint in LNER Departmental Oxford Blue though!

Sorry to read of this Steve! Quite odd though, that one side's so much worse. Was there really no difference between the two sides' previous stages? It could of course be as you suggested, that the poorer side had a much heavier coat, whereas the better side's lacquer was thinner and therefore able to lose its solvents to evaporation before they did any harm… Interesting.

Hello Mark, interesting question, how to represent painted 'fake' teak steel panelling... I've read elsewhere (can't pinpoint it right now) that given how good the livery painters were at the time, real varnished teak and 'fake' painted teak would actually have looked pretty much the same (and even more so at 4mm scale) so I think you can use the same techniques (e.g. those advocated by Andrew 'Headstock', Jonathan Wealleans, Mike Trice and, as you mentioned, Phoenix). Certainly those photos I have in books of painted teak on steel do look the same as real teak, at any rate in B&W photos...

Looks excellent Jon and certainly fast enough: that's surely quite a lot more than a scale 20mph so I'd agree you're fine there; very handsome little loco too!

Isn't that always the way - same with household painting, isn't it? Then, the actual painting is very quick... 🙄

Hello Jon (and Happy New Year), thank you, very nice of you to post this and certainly food for thought. Definitely relevant: the way other people do things is always interesting and stimulates further ideas. The lighter gauge brass U- and I- channel I'd ordered arrived the day I was finishing the current stage of work on the seating, so I am about to go back to the bogie bracket and this is perfectly timed! Also, by coincidence, I have a Hanazono bogie (it's been in the spares box so long I can't remember where or when from!) but no instructions, so assuming I one day use it this will save some head-scratching!!

Haha, yes indeed: well, I guess I'd decide that now, after having had to go to the amount of trouble I did... To be quite honest, I didn't actually notice there were two- and three-seat benches during the planning stage! I was focussed on the shape of the seats - especially the backs - and working from contemporary interior photos where bench widths weren't fully visible. I only looked properly at the Isinglass plan after I'd started cutting and prepping the Paragon etches, because I needed to check how many seats were needed. Not my finest preparation, I know. But, as I enjoy kit-bashing, it seemed sensible to carry on (not to mentiont that it was over Christmas so finding something else would have been delayed). But yes, now, with hindsight, were I to build another of these vehicles, I'd find something better suited, perhaps etches where all the seats were wider, so they just needed cutting down for the narrower ones. Commissioning a custom etch might not have occurred to me as the toplight ones that I had from Justin at Rumney were the first I've ever done, so that's still a bit of a new thing and not at the front of a my mental toolbox yet... Just to be clear, neither David Lewis nor Andrew Goodwin - both of whom I referred to in a previous post as having advised on these seats - were in any way at fault in their advice, because I sent them the two interior railcar photos but not the Isinglass plan, so they wouldn't have known that half the seats were wider. Another lesson in taking time to plan things carefully, but the end result will be good I think, so I'm happy! 🙂

Happy New Year Mick and get well soon! 👋🏻

And to you, Steve 👋🏻

Happy New Year to everyone! 😃

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and that the only added weight has been suitably distributed to achieve smooth running and good electrical contact... 😁 While awaiting tools and materials to form tumblehomes, turnunders and bogie frames, I've been making seating. After some searching around, David Lewis of Southern Pride very kindly pointed me towards Paragon Kits, where the equally helpful Andrew Goodwin supplied these etches from his range, originally intended as minibus seats but adaptable to Sentinel use: First thing is to lose the handrails that run along the seat tops; I was sorry to have to do this as they look very neat, but they're definitely wrong for these railcars. However, waste not want not - they'll re-surface one day as handrails elsewhere: The major modification is to produce the wider three-seat benches, as all the Paragon ones are two-seaters. I ordered extra etches partly with this in mind, soldered five seats together and sawed through the resultant block to provide DIY singles: A double and a single were then sweated side by side (in a hastily arranged wood and blutak jig) onto a pre-tinned strip of 5 thou brass, which will also serve to represent the cushioning on the rear-facing sides of the reversible seats: After some cleaning up they start to look a little smarter - the visible joins on the fronts will be covered by the plasticard cushions which will be added at a later stage: I wasn't sure what angle the seat backs should be (who actually knows the typical angle of seat backs on public transport c1928?) and couldn't discern it from any photos I've so far seen, but like almost every other question anyone ever asked, the answer is to be found online, where I read an interesting PhD thesis on the differing levels of passenger comfort under engine vibration at various seat back angles. Yes, really. A quick homemade jig then assured uniformity: A proud moment - my firstborn: The first of many... the Sentinels had seating for 59! I reinforced all the leg fold-ups but not the angled backs, in case there's a need for some angle tweaking once they're soldered in place - they'll need to match, so that the eye runs along the line evenly. Some upside-down masking tape provided a handy way to produce a mock-up of the internal layout, mainly to check that I'd made the right quantity of each type: there are two- and three-seaters of slightly different widths at each end, plus of course the end seats aren't reversible and have vertical backs, up against the bulkheads: The 'feet' aren't prototypical of course, but they'll be completely invisible in the finished vehicle - you'll only really see the seat tops - which is also why I've been quite heavy-handed with the solder reinforcement of the seat leg fold-ups, to ensure stability during further interior fitting operations. I also realised that this interior mock-up can be used to set up other cabin fittings... 🤔