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Looking good horsetan please keep us posted on the health of this patient

Horsetan I feel I am in operating theatre awaiting the consulting surgeon to decide where to make te first incision. I have a second GBL body awaiting the outcome of this fateful act! Your moving the whole cab forward will I'm sure also solve the problem of fitting it over the Heljan chassis. It might create a bit of a problem for me using the Lima one...having said that would not be the first diesel under frame I have lengthened...looking forward to your results. lastly experimented yesterday by cutting off one of the Lima plastic brakes and realigning it...no real problem with the outer shoe...the inner one.....mmmm..a work in progress.

too late for me to alter my choice...will be interested in how yours looks though. I've just re examined my earlier BR blue Lima and have started to scalpel out te recessed areas for door handles, having now completed that task on maroon GBL. On both models over enthusiastic gouging meant some remedial filling in with plastic and solvent cement...the joys of modelling

work to date on my GBL loco

Sorry horsetan....predictive text..the curse of...anyway nice chassis....the Heljan that is....shows upmtheblima offering...I mean brake gear in line with wheels...looking at the brassmasters etch. I did not add these extra refinements on my original model....I fear the overwide Lima wheels would foul the replacement brake rodding...will continue to ponder...

Horseman too late...in any event just won a class 46 chassis...spare cash at a premium ...as always

Ive relented, stopped trying to make the glazing unit better, have purchased another brassmasters etch. I've seen a second hand Dapol on e bay...at roughly the same price as my final outlay on this model. I know I would open the Dapol box and be mighty impressed....might even drool as per my hero and role model Mr H Simpson.....but where's the fun...the sense of achievement........then again to quote my hero..." Just because your good at something....doesn't mean there arnt sixty billion people better at it than you.."....or was it my beloved...

sorry inadvertently strayed into this thorny area..post removed...back to the modelling...

County will re boiler and re firebox ....don't know if that is an actual word...anyway have a Margate 8f body awaiting tire fate as a donor..meanwhile just removing moulded handrails from western..recessing them...what a pain...got a replacement Lima chassis runs well but noisy...nothing new there then..have got the thread on making them quiet in my read list on this site...almost decided to invest in brassmasters etchings again....

easy just chop a bit out of the chassis.......................only joking....

i was pondering the same ...adding a bit just above the door...another as per my option in the cowl...the problem with the first you will impact on the body moulding...in any event the horn cowl will be removed and a longer fatter version added in due course

actually a very good Rioja....as to scalpel managed to stab my thigh whilst making the box...I was temporarily like an extra from a game of thrones battle scene

Thanks Horsetan...a little out of context one of the signal boxes mentioned, with a Bachmann peak ...originally a class 46, howver has had the heavy grilles fitted to it to make D9 Snowdon...this had a new cab fitted after accident damage. The other end has had nose doors and headcode discs fitted. The photo shows the real box from which I've taken the dimensions from. A case of counting brick courses to get an approximation of height, length etc... The lovely signage is from station signs.. You may recall had intended to use the GBL peak...but never happy with the shape of the nose, so in the end sacrificed one of my many class 46 ones. Anyone who knows my modelling location will know during the period I model...60s to 70s pre tops these locos were plentiful

Just read my post of last night...blimey...wordy or what...the result of a very good Sunday dinner and amiable company...and a little libation...thankfully horsetan made sense of it and delivered its point..

Whilst working on the western I have nearly completed a final model of a quartert of signal boxes that existed at my chosen real life location during the 1960s. The first two are respectively the pre 1962 Midland Railway design, it's successor a British Railways standard design..the third a 1940 ARP design all concrete and brick...and lastly a smaller version of the British rail standard design, as mentioned. The last two controlled an important junction and marshalling yards. The point the last model ...I have no plans for any model only photos..well it complies with the overall dimensions as to its bigger sister the replacement 62 BR box...but smaller. It dimensions seem right mathematically but visually something is amiss. The point....sometimes the model can look right..or indeed wrong no matter the application of the statistics ..rest assured the last model will in due course satisfy its fiercest critic...me before being signed off ready to be added to my layout.. I have to admit however my western probably will not be judged as harshly by me..being purely an object if enjoyment rather than an endeavour to recreate as accurately as possible the railway of my youth.

Looking at horsetan's pictures realise no amount of working, certainly by me is going to equal the Dapol model...a lovely creature....but I shall enjoy the effort and hopefully produce a worthy " layout" model...

A picture ...worth s thousand words...horsetan the two locos together and assuming the Dapol more accurate the darker maroon seems to be the answer thank you...my GBL rework was going to need a repaint anyway...have replaced the filed out window pane and am happy with result...have parts left over from my initial brassmasters only using the window etch.. Will apply these...ie headcode frames...fan and walkway....will also fashion new larger horn cowls at front of roof....seems a long way from stephensons valve gear black fives...it has at any rate made me more discerning over these later forms of traction

the shop in Burlington arcade now long gone, in addition to model railways had beautifully painted soldiers

Dear all, about to go into "what shade" territory, were the Westerns painted British Railways maroon the same as the LM pacifics....I know they were built at Crewe.....the GBL looks more BR Crimson....this is a genuine enquiry, would appreciate your knowledge...

marsden rail the two Birmingham DVDs...snow hill in its prime..a lot of the film shot by my local model shop owner and friend John Tennant...about to retire...his brother Bob and he recorded much of the local (to me ) 1960s railway....their legacy cannot be overstated...along with people like Mike Mensing...

Some of the best running I've seen was on adavoyle...truly superb...multi gauge , even me, not interested in Irish Railways was spellbound.

GBL western with filler piece added moving roof cowl forwrd, sill reduced, this left the glazing unit with a too prominent rear widow frame, have removed rear window, filed thinner will replace with new clear pane in due course

I often muse on how the northern layout of Snow Hill would make a fantastic layout...the great cathedral that was the traln shed...well the front of it could act as a scenic break...the bay platforms..crossover points...all on a raised area that was the viaduct...throw in carriage sidings..a turntable...an over the tracks signal box....oh for those six numbers...

The western seems to have sold well here in my part of the Black Country ....went out today seeking another purchase...all sold out in the usual shops....in the end bought the last one in merry hill smiffs..packaging iffy...but the real reason unsold...careless application of silver window paint...needed it for my own nefarious reasons..a careful razor saw cut here...a bit of filler there..some Whitemetal add onns.....hey presto a fell locomotive...not really needed a glazing unit ...used the one good one....