Chas Levin

Hello Brian, progress looks excellent! I sympathise with your drive train problems: I recently completed a DJH J9/10 and had similar issues. It's another kit from quite old patterns (though I only bought it last year or so), with instructions like yours showing an older generation of motor (D10 or similar, I don't have the instructions in front of me) but they recommended and supplied their AM9 Mashima & gearbox combination, so I too puzzled over mounting and also the very tight clearance for the Amp gearbox between the frames! It was my first loco build too so I wanted it to be reasonably fast and simple... so I stuck with the AM9 and fitted it with the motor facing forwards inside the boiler, reaching just into the smokebox in fact, driving the middle axle. The J9/10 boiler is quite small and lacked the space you show in your inside-the-boiler close-up, so I had to remove quite a bit of metal inside the boiler to accommodate motor and wires, but everything eventually fitted well and like many others I can testify to the extremely smooth, quiet and powerful running, from slowest crawl to far faster than I would ever run it! Also like your D20 kit, the J9/10 tender in the kit seemed even to my relatively inexperienced eye to be rather less impressive than the loco and I did consider using another manufacturer's etched kit, perhaps a smaller one, but in the end I stuck with the DJH one, as you are perhaps going to do too? I look forward to further progress Chas

Here is my latest build, and my first loco: it's the DJH whitemetal kit of an ex-GCR LNER J9/10. I know I'm not the first to discover that building a loco is a whole different ball-game from rolling stock... but the thrill of seeing something you've built move under it's own 'steam' is just fantastic! . It's built as per the instructions and uses a DJH AM9 gearbox with Mashima motor, with phosphor-bronze wire pickups to all six loco wheels. I drove the middle axle: I know plenty of people drive the rear axle on 0-6-0s without issue but it seemed more intuitive to me that the forces on the outer axles should be balanced equally - especially as my layout has tight curves - and the very smooth and quiet running seems to bear this out, albeit at the sacrifice of some daylight under the boiler. Likewise the wheels: Romfords, to allow for my coarse track. Paint is Halfords Matt Black, transfers HMRS and the excellent looking crew and lamp are Modelu. Coal is the real thing, irons from the spares box, turned brass vac pipe (for strength on a vulnerable part) from Markits, screw-link coupling from Romford and brass loco plates from Modelmaster Jackson Evans. The blackening of wheels and conn rods was a bit of an experiment, equal parts Humbrol Matt Black, Gunmetal and thinners - I think perhaps another application might be worthwhile but it's getting there... My layout is too small for long trains, but it pulls four brass kit-built coaches round some very tight curves on a very low controller setting and seems perfectly happy, as am I .

Oh dear - are you not meant to do that? No wonder people have been looking at me oddly lately

Here's another D&S kit, an NER 12T covered wagon - I thought it would be nice to have one with a roof loading hatch, which I made from a piece of cut up old tea-towel. The paint this time was Humbrol, an attempt at NER freight grey. The transfers are HMRS but I somehow managed to mess up the lining up of the N and E: I used the NER style lettering as I was going for NER livery and having noted that they were placed quite a bit higher on the van body than the NE of LNER livery, I carefully lined them up to be higher... only to find afterwards that I had somehow still placed them rather closer to LNER height! I didn't have the heart to try removing them as the last time I tried that, it left 'ghost' lettering! The poorly wiped away chalk on the blackboard panel looks better in real life than in large photos... And lastly, here's a pic of the LNER Pipe Wagon that appeared further up the thread, with some added wood battening to restrain the pipes from back and forward movement

Haha - the Glasgow Ridgeons lorry sounds like the sort of thing I would do myself (i.e. not always the most prototypical )

Thanks for posting those pictures Jonathan - that is indeed a lovely p-way train; I also like the advertising signage. Seeing faded or distressed vehicle paintwork like that does make me wonder whether I should re-consider... Here are pictures of a Parkside Dundas Loco Coal wagon which I unintentionally slightly weathered, by virtue of the aerosol varnish 'blooming' somewhat: The canvas axle-box covers are another thing that will be added to my ballast wagons - I did know about them as they're mentioned in the Ratio kit instructions and on some photos in Peter Tatlow's books. At the time, I couldn't decide what material would best resemble canvas so put off adding the covers: classic mistake, as once a kit is mainly finished I tend to move on to the next one. However, between the chains, the canvas covers and the bolster load, I think the ballast train is due for a proper visit to the Depot. I do generally use Humbrol Decalfix for softening transfers - I'm not sure now (two or three years on) whether I neglected to use it on the PD fish van's numbers, or whether I simply failed to soften them enough. Not a major issue though - it looks fine when it's among others in a fish train, and my thoughts turn to Sea Bass and Sea Bream.... And is that a Coopercraft AEC Monarch lorry in Hitchin? Very nice! I recently built a Coopercraft AEC tanker version to sit alongside a civilian conversion of the Airfix Austin K6 crash tender: the two lorries (one coming, one going) help disguise the entrance to a deadend tunnel

Hm: I know you're right really (with nods to Compound 2632 and JonathanW of course). I'll try and find something better and when I do, I'll post some pictures . I should mention that the next D&S kit in the pile is a GNR OCT, for which I have the Oxford Diecast 4 1/2 Litre Bentley (if it'll fit without looking too large). I'm hoping that combo will look a little more appropriate - from reading so far, the OCT ran between 1904 and 1945, and the Bentley was in production from 1921 to 1929, so I should be safe, even in GNR livery .

Time for some more fish, this one courtesy of Parkside Dundas, a well known kit of D134 that I thought turned out nicely, though like the Nu-Cast one earlier, my efforts at over-painting with white the word 'FISH' on the door's cast-iron sign don't look quite so good in the photos (though it looks fine when it goes past in the middle of a K3-hauled fish train ). At any rate, by the time I built this one I'd learnt the correct colour for the solebars . LNER Red Oxide from Railmatch again (though I now have the Phoenix Precision one to try next time I have need of it) and transfers were Modelmaster waterslide for the numbers and HMRS for everything else. The HMRS were Methfix this time, as I thought I'd give them a try. Swings and roundabouts between Meth vs. Press I found: it's easier to see for positioning purposes using Methfix, but the process overall is more fiddly than Pressfix. On balance, I think I prefer using Pressfix and struggling to see the position. I also find with Pressfix that once the transfer has been given the first fairly gentle press onto the surface but hasn't been really firmly pressed down, it can be gently persuaded to move, a little at a time, using a cocktail stick, enough to re-centre or re-level if need be. In this situation, the quite noticeable thickness of the HMRS transfers is an advantage as it means they don't usually tear... I used the waterslide for the numbers here because I didn't want to have to line up the separate HMRS numbers, but the backing film has bridged the grooves between the planks, something that looks more prominent here than in person, but now I've noticed it I shan't be doing that again! Cod and chips, anyone?

Wonderful - I love it! It has a personal connection but still preserves the mystery . Thank you for explaining, Chas

Now that is what I call a driving experience, Jonathan! Very impressive and a fine diversion! Like a lot of grown-ups in touch with the child within, I long to drive a big tractor . Glad you like the Ballast Brake - I was pleased with it too. I didn't include working tail lights like the ones on the ECJS and CLC vehicles because I was trying to finish it quickly and it's surprising how much extra work is generated by incorporating those lights. I don't begrudge the work once it's done mind you, because I think they are so wonderful, but sometimes, when the next kit's beckoning, time is generally short and it's not a 'peak use' vehicle, non-working lights must do. Hello Edwardian, glad you're enjoying the models . Glad also that including the paint and transfer details etc isn't considered too detailed: it's something I often wonder about with others' kits, especially when comparing different representations of colours such as LNER Red Oxide or teak... You're quite right about the era-compromised GN wagon, with its post-WWII cargo. I felt at the time that my main concern was with the wagon itself and that provided that looked good and rode well, a tractor was a tractor. The Oxford Diecast one was widely available and to my townie's eye looked fine for the job; I must admit it didn't occur to me that anyone would question it, partly because at that time I hadn't considered putting pictures of my models online. Changing it for something else is something I might do in due course, but I'd be a little concerned about removing the securely cyano-glued tractor, chains and ropes without damaging the deck. That being said, wooden decking like that is one of the few areas I do try to make look a little weathered or distressed so perhaps it might add to the effect? By the way Edwardian, as you're here, may I please ask who the gentleman is in your avatar picture? I've seen it many times before and often wondered - there's a slight air of mystery because he's turned away from the camera...

Here is a Departmental ballast train; it's a bit of a cheat for the LNER: I got the GNR Ballast Brake - a lovely kit that went together beautifully, looks lovely and runs very well - from one of Danny's reissues of a couple of years ago, but he didn't have the wagons and although I do sometimes buy D&S kits on Ebay I cannot always match some of the prices and for some reason the matching GNR Ballast wagons seem to fetch very high prices, so I used the Ratio kit instead. There seems to have been a fair amount of movement of Departmental stock between regions so I thought I could stretch a point, as I really wanted to have a ballast train to run. I hadn't found the Cambrian Models black chain then, so I used the rather unrealistic looking ones that came with the kit - they'll be changed for Cambrian ones when I get around to adding a load of rails to the bolster wagons. Oxford Blue by Phoenix Precision, transfers from HMRS, ballast from a mix I use for the layout...

Well, fantasy is often a key component of railway modelling - it certainly is in mine . And yes, I have read about the beading on the NER tool and riding vans - probably on your Workbench thread, Jonathan! Do you literally mean that you own and drive a few tractors? Sounds fun! For the ends of the Implement wagon's platform, in the end I wrote to Danny and he sent sketches showing the curved covering over the inner ends of the couplings where they emerge at the ends of the platform - he is always so helpful with things like that.

I have to admit I'm not a tractor expert either but I think you may be right about the time-travel - it seemed to look right though. The main theme is the LNER and it's constituents, with an emphasis on the GNR. I live in East Barnet - my local station is Oakleigh Park - so I tend to concentrate on things that might have gone through that station. Originally it was entirely the LNER but I've been increasingly drawn to pre-grouping. I particularly like ECJS vehicles because there's something quite Victorian about the style; also the idea of stock built by the pre-grouping companies working together, that might be seen all over the network. I have quite varied running days in terms of dates, from the late teens / early 1920s, through the 1930s to - occasionally - the 1950s and 60s, that last era being really an excuse to run old Triang RTR stock that my dad ran on the layout when I was a boy. And occasionally I visit the continent: I change a couple of buildings for kit-built Swiss ones and run Swiss and other European stock, again mainly from my youth. But my real favourite is that wonderful combination of teak coaches and NPCS with green, black and garter blue locos and lots of freight with GNR or NE on the side! My favourite types of workings are NPCS and departmental: NPCS seems fascinating because you wonder what's in the vehicles - all those mysterious parcels and packages and the pleasures they may bring... And departmental vehicles are always interesting because they have a flavour of 'behind the scenes'. I'm an engineer by trade - actually audio engineering, but an interest in the way things work and how they're put together makes engineering stock irresistible. I'll put up some pictures of an LNER ballast train this week (actually partly LMS refugees!) and the D&S NER Tool and Riding vans are soon to be built .

Here's another pre-grouping wagon I was pleased with and another D&S kit, a GNR 10T Implement wagon ('implement' in this case typically meaning farming implements such as tractors). Jonathan may remember helping me figure out what happens at the ends of the platform, as he was building one too . Paint is Phoenix Precision's GNR Freight Brown, transfers HMRS, chains and fastenings from Cambrian, the ropes are a type used for model ship rigging and the tractor's from Oxford Diecast. The wheels are Romford Lowmac - I tried Gibsons but my trackwork's too coarse. It does sit level by the way - the last picture's got some camera distortion...

Glad to hear the resin vehicles look so good alongside brass - the pics I've seen suggested they might! Patience, indeed: something I battle with on a daily basis . I don't think I knew you'd had stock stolen from Grantham: how appalling! Must check out Bill's new wagons - I haven't made any of his yet...

Jonathan, I like Howlden stock too . I remember following your 1938 build, and referring to your pictures at times, very helpful! I share your pleasure at having Mike's pre-formed roof, but I have to say I wasn't as comfortable with the material (the type called FUD, Fine Ultra Detail I think?) because it's quite brittle - tread very carefully if attempting to correct bends in a side or solebar: I know whereof I speak . I'm very familiar with Steve Bank' site and I also have several magazine articles on his builds, very informative and helpful - I also referred to his build of the ECJS Luggage Brake when making mine. Bill's resin kit looks excellent in its box and pictures of them finished look as true as brass - I'm looking forward very much to starting it, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Do you know if he's doing any more? I'd signed up for the Howlden bogie full brake and emailed Bill a while ago but never heard back. Re coach ends, Danny's instructions for kits DS 278-81 GNR Gresley 'Cross Country' Stock say: "COACH ENDS. - Black including buffer beams and shanks" and I also think from memory that there was at least one thread about this on the LNER Info forum, though like many similar questions there was some debate... It's funny to think of such questions as the colours used on different vehicle parts being so routine and unimportant at the time, only to provoke such head-scratching years later

Here's today's build, another ECJS brake vehicle. This is actually a GNR Dia. 303 6 wheel full brake and is one of Mike Trice's 3D prints; I imposed the ECJS livery on it as I had no ECJS vehicles completed at the time and I find the livery and history of the company very attractive. Although this might not be strictly prototypical, I persuaded myself that there was sufficient amount of movement of vehicles between the ECJS, the LNER and their various constituents that it wouldn't look too out of place... It rolls along very smoothly on a Brassmasters Cleminson chassis with Wizard Models 14mm Mansell wheels. I read quite a bit on 6 wheel chassis methods (including Mike's excellent RMWeb thread about systems he'd tried, with very interesting and informative charts, calculations and pictures). My layout has 'train-set' curves so I needed a versatile solution and in spite of difficulties with the narrow underframe, I decided to persevere with the Cleminson, even though thinning parts of the solebars was a very long and delicate operation, as the plastic is quite brittle. It means that underneath it looks far from prototypical, but in normal viewing and use, none of that work is visible and the Cleminson ride is really excellent! Teak paints are Phoenix Precision (including a teak sole bar, JW ), Halfords Leyland Rover White on the roof and HMRS transfers on the side... Lining was done with a bow pen and 50:50 Humbrol buff and yellow. This was the first lining I'd done, so please excuse the less than pin-sharp appearance in places . I managed to achieve quite an attractive woodgrain effect on some of the panels, but the overall hue looks a little more like oak than teak I think... Fun though: the next Howldens will be a Bit Bedford resin composite brake and a D&S 45ft full brake...

Morning Jonathan, thank you and yes, I do know that about GN/LNER solebar colour now, but when I built the Nu-Cast fish van and the GN Milk Brake I didn't! You'll see that the ECJS Luggage Brake at the top of the thread and the LNER Pigeon Brake a little later on both have teak painted solebars, but when I realised I'd got that wrong on the GN Milk Brake I was already several builds on and decided not to change it: perhaps at the carriage works situated near my layout, there had been a brief policy change and an experimentation period with painting the entire underframe - including the solebars - black, for streamlining of paint shop procedures... For the GN Milk Brake ends however I did read up and found several references - including in Danny's instructions I think - that the ends of GN NPCS were black. I was quite pleased about that at the time, because the GN Milk Brake was not only the first etched kit I built but also the first teak painted vehicle and I wasn't looking forward to trying to achieve a reasonable teak effect. Excluding the carriage ends seemed like a relief at the time... a few teak vehicles later, I find the teak painting one of the most enjoyable parts, because there's a genuinely creative - even artistic - element that's missing from plain black, white or green.

Back to the LNER with another fish van - this one's a Nu-Cast kit and it made me very happy at the time as it was only about the second or third kit I built and unlike the first couple that were all plastic, this had a white metal frame under the plastic body: exciting stuff!

Thank you to all those who have clicked a 'like' or other icon on this thread - I appreciate your appreciation! Another piece of pre-grouping rolling stock, the D&S kit of a CLC / GCR 15 ton brake van, in CLC livery (how can I resist seeing my initials going by...?). The main addition to the standard build is a Train-tech AL2 automatic tail-light module. Unlike the ECJS Luggage Brake, in this case access for battery changing wasn't possible from below, so I discarded the kit's plastic roof and made one in brass. I then super-glued some 1mm neodymium magnets to the underside of it, with further magnets in corresponding places beneath the roof, sitting on top of plastic-rod pillars - sounds more complex than it is and hopefully the final picture showing the roof off will make it clear. This kit was made before I discovered Modelu's superb lamps, so I just used the LED that comes with the AL2 - not exactly realistic looking but OK from normal viewing distance and when in motion. The guard is Monty's Models and the grey is actually Halfords primer: building this 3 or 4 years ago, I read so many conflicting reports about the 'correct' grey, and several comments to the effect that after allowing for differently mixed batches and widely varying effects of ageing and fading, a very wide range of shades could all be correct, that I decided to stop after the primer stage... which did have the advantage for the appearance of details of avoiding the paint getting too thick! Looking at the pictures now, it does look as if I didn't quite prevent light leakage from the rear of the lamp - this doesn't show in normal use though, so I wonder if the camera's reacting to the red light with enhanced sensitivity. In case anyone reading this hasn't tried them, Train-tech automatic lighting modules are simply amazing: a CR2032 coin cell powers a tiny motion sensor which turns the LED - or multiple LEDs - on when the vehicle moves, switching off again after 4 minutes with no movement detected. There's a wide variety available - tail lights (flickering or steady), flickering tail (or firebox) light plus single steady light (e.g. brake van rear red and inner illumination), full length coach strips with multiple 1mm SMD LEDs, warm white, cool white etc. They seem to be totally reliable - I installed several in Hornby LNER teaks going back a few years now and they're still working perfectly. Usual disclaimers - no connection, just a very happy customer!

Thanks for the picture Bucoops - like several others here, that's the first time I've seen that stuff in use. Re. cables running alongside each other, heating vs electricity and so forth, I have to say better safe than sorry IMHO... Actually, if your network cables were in contact with your heating pipes I'd be more concerned about the network cables plastic outer sheathing melting. Sounds (and looks) like you have it well under control though

On this hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, here's another D&S kit, a GNR 51' Luggage Milk Brake in GNR livery, with an attempt at a slightly more aged teak colour than the LNER Pigeon Brake further up this thread. As usual, paints are Phoenix Precision (except the Halfords roof), transfers HMRS, a very attractive combination of white, gold and light blue. The Fox bogies in this kit (and in the ECJS Luggage Brake at the top of the thread - the same etch in fact) are quite fiddly and time-consuming to build, but both coaches run incredibly smoothly and reliably over my ancient and poor track-work (unlike some RTR items I could mention) so I didn't begrudge the work. I kept to the included plastic roof on this one: it was actually the first coach I built - these photos are not emerging in chronological order - so I wasn't yet up to experimenting...

Thanks Jonathan and Andrew . I'd never heard of plumbers hemp or sisal before; I shall investigate sources. Sounds like I could get away with adding end bracing to the pipe wagon - I'll have to do that, because now it's been pointed out, it looks to me as if the pipes are about to slide up and bang on the end of the wagon each time it starts and stops! I'll leave the chains in place though, partly because I like the look of them, and partly for the slight movement in them when the wagon's rolling. Glad to hear I got the height right (instinctive assumption that any higher would be frowned upon) and the cradle. I don't think I can introduce inter-layer batons though... Interested to hear that your Pipe Wagon kit was the same manufacturer's Andrew; it's kind of you to ascribe the difference in detail definition to your weathering, rather than to my somewhat generous application of paint! I find it difficult not to worry about uneven or patchy covering: I must practise applying the thinnest of coats and then leaving well alone. Also intersted to hear more about how wagon sheets were returned to the depot; I think I'll have to ascribe the incorrect loading of my 6 plank to hasty or poor practice at a small local freight yard, while I continue to enjoy the aesthetic of the letters and numbers . It hadn't occurred to me that the waterproofing might be sticky, but I bet it was some sort of tar or bitumen so that seems very likely, doesn't it? Also interested to learn that some of the lines on the sheets were to indicate folds - I had wondered what some of the lines were in some photos... Chas

Thanks Andrew, yes, that is of use. I think you must be right that I was unconsciously thinking of the bolster wagon style of loading and although I tried to stop side-to-side movement, I completely failed to think about forward and backwards sliding: clearly, if mine were a full-size railway, I'd be in serious trouble! I don't want to risk damage by trying to remove the load to repack it, but I could certainly add end bracing; the wood that the pipes currently resting on and between is from sections of a thick firefighter match. I have various loads in mind for other kit built - and RTR - wagons, including some based on ideas in Trevor Pott's occasional MRJ series 'Wagons Loads through Churston 1934" which I expect you've seen? Your Pipe wagon is very fine, thank you for posting the picture. How - and from what - did you make the straw packing? Also, the sides look to have finer detail than my Sutherland example - whose kit is it please? Chas

Today's offering is an LNER Pipe wagon with a load of steel pipes. The kit was a quite old Sutherland Models one - white metal underframe and plastic body - that came in a very nice box. The load I made from brass pipe; looking at it now they do look a little bright and clean (artists's silver aerosol) but quite attractive I think. The chains were from Cambrian Models, the red oxide is Phoenix Precision and the transfers HMRS. Following on from Mick's earlier post about the 15 ton fish van, I'd now say that the vac pipes on this wagon look a little large too... but overall it looks good in mid-freight train: