class27

Brian Thanks for the reply I fancy having a go at a JLTRT CCT so I can hopefully get some lamp irons when I order it. I appreciate you looking for me I think there are a lot of people hoping you will do a weathering piece on here cheers

Brian Inspirational stuff as always here, maybe now that you are retired you could do a step by step on painting and finishing a model, The lovely class 47 perhaps. I understand that some steps could not be shown as "once you have started you have to finish".It would be very interesting indeed though Can I ask your advice? I have a Heljan class 26 missing a lamp iron and a quick check of Howes site confirms it does not come as a spare part any advice gratefully recieved

Yes please ask about the other variants while I have a think cheers Steve

Lee How new is this feature? I assume this can be reblown to earlier versions Thinking about mine which will be lurking somewhere in your workshop cheers Steve

Simon Just to say as well as following this thread with great interest, I have been trying out your techniques and have 2 things to say about this. First the dried crushed earth really is magic powder in terms of toning everything down and second using the food blender to mix the static grass is a stroke of genius, since doing this I have had a massive improvement in the look of the finished item, as spinning it up in the blender gives it a fair static charge before it even goes into the applicator Fantastic all the best

Have a long and happy retirement

Just sent a custom request to Steve at Railtech this morning for my 08. He has been it touch and we are sorted by 4.30 this afternoon Something must have happened to your request -spam filter maybe cheers

Loch Long looks great Lee what a job My 37 is now run in and will be on its way to you next week How did your JLTRT 37 go or are you too busy to get near it all the best

Thanks for posting I have been using some of your other methods with good results esp the crushed earth How liberal are you with the varnish is it a light or heavy coat before the next layer of static grass cheers

Could you tell us a bit about the weathering methods you use it is superb cheers

Lee I was going to ask you about your lead times as I have bought a 37 in a moment of weakness and was thinking of sending it on to you Good to see you are busy and let me know the lead time anyway cheers Steve

One quick question. When Researching for a prototype 37. The BR database and the 37 Loco Group show 37 153 as being at Inverness in 1978. This is fine for my time period, but as usual when searching, the loco seems to have been camera shy at this time. Can anyone advise on the suitability of this loco against the Heljan model. I don't want to make any obvious mistakes. hope someone out there can help!

I am trying to sort out my shopping list for Model rail Scotland for next month. I hope to be able to get couplings there along with some other goodies I am very happy with the shunters mag stick as I had been using a modified dental pick but the lack of light was defeating me (and steadiness of hands )

I have just received my magnetic shunters pole, and after a quick test, the verdict is excellent. You can couple and uncouple without affecting the position of the wagons and it is easy enough to wipe downwards to leave the just coupled link in place. Only issue is that I have just found out that the new Dapol vans have brass 3 links,but I was going to change them anyway. I need to make sure I get Ferrous Instanters or Screw links. Suggestions please.

Just a couple of pics of my Dapol vans after an initial whiff over of some dirt which has brought up the detail really well need to get some pics to work from to finish these off and figure out how to turn up the resolution on the camera

Looking for some help My Dapol 08 (sound fitted) has been great apart from some broken details on arrival and the running has been superb,but I started to weather it today and airbrushed on some dirt, not much,just a little When I put it back on the track I switched the lights on and started it up,but when I went to move It, it cut out. I thought I had got paint onto a contact point,but the wheels are clean (I did stay away from them ) I have taken the top off and checked the wiring and all wires are connected and look ok,but still the same fault every sound works and the lights work,but when you give it power it cuts all the power out and wont reset until the power is switched off and back on again. I am on NCE DCC with factory fit chip thanks

The sides of my plywood vans were very slightly bowed inwards,but the roof has a location lip all the way round which corrects the shape when clicked into place. The wheels are the correct type So it is definitely screw link couplings or Instanters reqd for mid 70's time period cheers

Just received my Dapol vans today have to say I'm pleased with them. I also had the roof fitting problem on the plywood vans only They come with 3 link couplings is this correct? I thought they should have screw links being fitted vans I await the wisdom

Thanks Paul Much appreciated

Paul I have a sound fitted version on order which I hope to see in the next few weeks. Can you shed any light on what features (soundwise) this will have???

I think I have changed my order 3 times with Tower, and I now realise that I should have tried to get a post tops unnumbered version as that would have suited me best. I hope Dapol do more generic liveries and no numbers in future as I picked 08202 to renumber as 08246 (Scotland late 70's) which means painting the roof and now touching in the missing 4 stripes on the front. If I had went for the unnumbered version the stripes would have been correct but the Logo is in the wrong place. Perhaps the fact that Dapol has given us so much choice is also part of the problem.If your layout depicts southern (Eastleigh?) in 1977 then 08202 is properly recreated with the missing stripes. I think that with Diesels in general, people want to personalise them as renumbering is an easy way to make it unique. Anyhow Looking forward to my sound fitted version arriving even if I have a bit of work to do

Really like the blue bits showing through the scrapes. Nice work Lee

Can I ask Have you finished them using gloss finish for the transfers,then satin varnish to seal it all then weathering on top ? yes

It looks as if Dapol were working from an actual prototype from the Photo on their forum I suppose it is very difficult for them to win on this as if they had said "we are producing a model of this loco at this timeframe" They would have had an avalanche of requests to do different loco's instead They would also have had some complaints as to "why pick this loco?" The people for whom it was good would have said nothing I think you have to look at what is being produced and see how YOU the modeller can make it work This is my first foray into O gauge Railway modelling and I am trying to pick a timeframe and area that is prototypical,but a fictitious location as I do not have the space. I played trains as a youngster and I enjoy the research as I get older to try to get it right something I never did when I was younger and it is free I have had to make a change to the 08 I was going to model as I had not realised the different toolbox arrangements, but I now have a prototype that will work with the post tops blue model.The only issues are roof colour and Arrows of indecision locations, 2 things I think even I can deal with. It seems that there will be different variations in the future some which may suit me better, but the boy still left in me won't let me wait which is still part of the fun

Looking forward to mine turning up. Having studied my old model railway constructor planbook I think there is some slight difference in the front profile between Darlington and Derby built Locos (was that why they had drawings of both in the book??) When these Locos were built there was no CNC so formers and bucks would have been hand made it is very likely you could run a profile gauge over any preserved loco and find slight shape discrepancies at either end of the same Loco. As always you pays your money and takes your chance. I have a Heljan 26 and am very pleased with it I hope my 25 will be the same. I follow quite a few topics on here and I know that I do not have the quality of hand skill to build kits to the standard of finish I would like. That does not stop me from being inspired by some of what I see on this forum,and it has led to some improvement and success on my own modelling journey And some disasters which we will not speak of