Adam

Thanks Julian, in case you haven't found them, there are a few entries on my blog. Plenty of wagons on there, some of them even finished... Adam

Thanks Jon and James. I think 'bulbous' is the word! At least, it is with the yellow ends. They'd almost certainly have been 71s at Ashford - very definitely eastern division machines throughout their lives and the 74s were western division (of the southern region), so it's unlikely that their paths would have crossed too often. Assuming I get the running sorted out, there's a chance that it may make an appearance on Swaynton at the Southampton show. The layout's not quite the right period, but it is a representation of the line through the New Forest so that, at least, would be appropriate. We shall see...

Yes, this is the third blog in a couple of days. Don't expect it to become a habit! Some of you may remember this from RMweb mark 3, but since that's offline at the moment, I've popped up some constructional pictures on this thread (for those that like that kind of thing). Here's a sample: It has to be said that not a lot has happened since that point. Until now, that is. The model has been painted and is in its proper livery, but is awaiting lettering and, in particular, glazing. Why now? Well, a chance meeting over Christmas means that it may make its exhibition debut and well, it would be good if it were complete, if not actually finished. The most pressing problem is the mechanism. This, for those who were wondering, is based on parts of a Bachmann Warship (for anyone contemplating doing something similar, I'd recommend using a Heljan Hymek - it's much nearer the correct length). There's nothing terribly radical about this as a quick glance at Jim Smith Wright's New Street thread will show, the difference here being that this one is based around the etched floorpan supplied with the DC kit body. What follows is a lesson learned the hard way that RTR chassis conversions need a bit more thought than perhaps I gave it initially. The issue was that the existing Bachmann motor and flywheels were too long for the bijou space available and were thus replaced with a Mashima 1824 and a pair of chunky (18mm diameter, 13mm thick) flywheels from Branchlines. Now, in all honesty, this wasn't a success. The 1824 is a fine motor but like most of the large Mashimas, rather slow revving. The resulting performance can be described as pedestrian, verging on sluggish, which is not what we really want. Real 74s were, apparently, flyers (if not especially reliable) so something had to be done. That something is a replacement motor - the old one won't go to waste, we have a use for it - a Mashima 1624 which has 7,000 extra RPM (18,000 relative to 11,000) and another pair of large flywheels. There is a slight trade-off in power, but I don't foresee that being a problem. Here's hoping it works... Adam

Hi Julian Thank you and thanks for the link, your tarp' is most effective. No, the tarp's on Shochood Bs were heavy duty synthetic things (Nylon?), tailored to the shape of the wagon and held on with integral clips, quite unlike the traditional wagon tarpaulin (in fact, they were treated as part of the wagon and the vehicles were branded accordingly). They owed more to modern lorry tarps and had a distinct sheen to them - as this Paul Bartlett shot shows - which is why I used satin paint. Conventional tarp's are much easier... Adam

Since the following is old content - albeit so old, it first appeared on RMweb mk 3 (currently unavailable) - I thought it best to resurrect it as a part of a workbench thread. The current state of play will be on the blog shortly. I've long wanted a model of a class 74, otherwise known as big EDs or HBs, not because of any attachment to them - the last was scrapped the year I was born - or any particular charisma of the type, but simply because it was both different and quintessentially 'Southern' in ethos: not quite 'make-do-and-mend', but perhaps the next best thing. If you're not familiar with the prototype, these 10 machines were rebuilt at Crewe in 1967-8 from what became class 71 electrics to provide top-end power for Southampton and Weymouth boat trains - a sort of electro-diesel 'Merchant Navy' - but were relatively short-lived. A combination of poor reliability and the decline of this sort of traffic saw them all withdrawn in 1977 and scrapped by 1981. It pushes the envelope of my modelling period since I normally stop at the end of steam on the Southern, but not much else. This is a DC kits shell with some added detail, innards from a Bachmann Warship on Gibson wheels. Jim Smith-Wright has done something similar with his overhead electrics, though his description of them is lost either in the mega-thread that is 'P4 New Street', or somewhere on the archived forum. This shot of the chassis without the body should give you an idea: So far as the cosmetic details are concerned, the black components you can see are spares from the Heljan 33/1 and the bogie sideframes are a mix of scratchbuilt components and resin elements of the DC Kits parts. This detail would not have been possible without the help of Brian Daniels, so particular thanks to him for taking the trouble to photograph the bogies of the real thing on the Eastleigh scrapline and for making this photo available to me. No, it's still not finished... Adam

Why Keith? Because BR blue just about creeps into the end of the period I model (1960s BR(S) despite not being around until two decades later!). Couldn't build one of these otherwise... Adam

New from the CCMV yahoo group's gallery pages: http://ccmv.aecsouthall.co.uk/p887139405/h399324da#h399324da Bedford TJ Parcels van. Adam

Knocking around the workbench is this vacuum fitted iron ore tippler - a more or less 'straight' build of the Parkside kit with some added detail. I'll spare you these details since similar things appear elsewhere on this blog and elsewhere on the forum, but the reference pictures are from Paul Bartlett. The prototypes started in iron ore traffic but moved on to stone in fairly short order and are best known for operating out of Merehead, while some of their unfitted sisters ended up working coal in south Wales by the early '70s. The paint job might be of interest to someone,so here we go. These tipplers inevitably got rather battered and have all the same challenges of the 16 ton mineral, but without the doors. There are a number of characteristic weathering features of these particular boxes on wheels, notably the vertical streaks beneath the little triangular brackets at the top of the bodysides. This shot should show what I mean: http://paulbartlett....375ae#h3fb375ae. The look I'm going for is a wagon that's been in service for some time and due a repaint which the original 'Iron Ore Tippler' branding painted out and the word 'ORE VB' applied above the number. Irritatingly, I can only find colour shots showing similar treatment to unfitted wagons, via Flickr. A coat of primer was followed up with a dark rust mix on the body and a coat of Humbrol 'chocolate' (no. 98) on the underframe. I'll need to go back and touch this up as the red oxide primer is still grinning through here and there, but that will be part of the weathering job. The body was then overlaid with a rather rough second coat to represent faded bauxite (a mix of Humbrol 113 and 100) with the body rusting at the seams. Part of the point of doing this was to replicate the distinctive weathering noted above. There should be a picture of the finished wagon here by rigths, but I seem to have neglected to take one. Next time I'm in Somerset... I think this brings the total in the boxes to 10 (most of the others are Bachmann slope sided British Steel types) Another five should make a reasonable train... Adam

Thanks chaps, it's a bit of a lump really - that saddle tank is full of lead - and, while it won't beat my Austerities in a drag race, I reckon it'll out-pull them though we won't know that until the club tailchaser is recommissioned (we haven't the space on our home test track for the amount of wagons....). More of that project some other time! Adam

And so, some months after this (though it was primed shortly afterwards and a different chimney fitted): and this: Christmas has brought about this. The full gory details (and some gratuitous Ebay related musings) can be found here and in this earlier blog entry here. All in one piece (albeit briefly), it's been taken apart for final painting which will have to wait until I've bought some suitable paint. Reassembly following painting is one of those stages of model making which is fraught with apprehension. Will those assemblies, which went together so snugly in bare metal still do so with a coat of paint? Normally, this would wait until the topcoat was on, but we needed to check running clearances with the fully completed chassis. More suspense: will the wheels still turn? Does the flywheel get caught in the boiler? Will the newly installed pick-ups get tangled up in the brakegear and short? Have I put the motor leads on the right way round? Here's the fully primed chassis for comparison: The one bit which is nearly there is the backhead scratchbuilt from plastic and some castings from Backwoods Miniatures (a set of rejects from their exhibition stand). It's been painted since, but those pictures weren't up to publication. More as and when... Update 3 April 2012: Adam

I do like the cab window frames Robert. Neither of mine have those (although I have enlarged the windows - they make a huge difference to the look of the Dapol/Hornby model). The best thing about them, so far as I am concerned, is that the front windows can be modelled open. See here for what I mean. Are these going to be available separately from the rest of the body detailing parts? Adam

Anywhere heavy shunting was required, by the looks of things. See: http://www.semgonline.com/steam/zclass_1.html Adam

Ivan Smith's Southwark Bridge Models has this type of bogie (8' wheelbase) in his range for LSWR coaches - link here for drawing. I have seen these in the flesh and they are nice clean castings on an etched subframe. Adam

Thanks David. I know what you mean about the ground signals - we're overdue some better (preferably etched) versions - but the banner scales out pretty well against drawings (courtesy of the LMS Journal) and your solution answers the question quite nicely. Typically, I've come to the conclusion that we don't actually need a banner... Still, I'll bear that in mind for when I do need one. Adam

That's very impressive. There is actually a kit available from MSE though up until now, I've been puzzling how to make it work. I assume the wire is acting on a pivot somewhere? Adam

The story (and it is no more than that) I heard is that the switch and crossing designed/orders meant that linespeed could only be maintained by running in the opposite fashion to 'normal'. Cock-up rather than conspiracy in other words though I don't suppose that it matters greatly. Adam

Thanks Martin. It's having the time to actually do anything that's the issue at the mo' - that and more than usual levels of work-related exasperation - so the quick-wins are always good. There's always something that makes the last step the hardest. Now I've finally laid my hands on the bits I need to finish my Esso monobloc (thanks to Nairnshire Modelling Supplies - usual disclaimer) that's next...

It is always nice to actually finish something or, in this case, a couple of things which complement one another. In this instance, a long-term project and a quickie. The long-time workbench resident is this little Fowler diesel from the - long unavailable (move along, move along) - Impetus kit which, despite some idiosyncrasies of design which don't really wash these days - whitemetal flycranks anyone? - makes into a nice machine. The full-ish details of its progression to finished model can be found here in the UK Standard Gauge Industrial zone for those of you who, like me, sometimes manage to miss things. I hope you like it. Weathering, in case you are interested, was mostly achieved with washes of enamels. A mix of mid grey and matt white with lots of thinners brushed on and wiped away, with more thinners to remove the inevitable tide lines. What I was aiming for, and think I've managed, is to replicate the slightly blotchy fading typical of industrial locomotives stored outside in all weathers. This was followed up with some washes of metalcote gunmetal with varying quantities of matt 82 and matt 100 depending on whether I was after rust, or oil, or diesel spills. No airbrush involved, except for the basic colours. This loco' is part of my very long-term and spectacularly ill-defined ideas about actually building some sort of industrial railway in EM. Mostly, these ideas serve as a tenuous excuse to build some of the rather nice kits for venerable wagons available from the trade. The most recent of these is this ex-GWR china clay open, referred to in an earlier blog. Many of these were sold off to the NCB when they were replaced with fitted vehicles by BR in the early '50s owing to their relative modernity, steel frames and recently fitted 2 shoe, either side, brakes (they were built with a Dean Churchward pattern). This is also probably why there are - relatively - so many preserved at Didcot, the Foxfield Railway, KWVR and on the Severn Valley who, as it happens, have recently re-fitted their example with the Dean Churchward gear. The finished rendition looks like this: And finally, the first of my internal users, a Cambrian Gloucester 5 plank exhibiting a bit of patch-painting, re-planking and peeling paint. That it retains any of its original livery at all is deeply implausible (not least because North Devon Clay only ever hired its wagons...) but I like it that way. Adam

This one, in fact (for reference, just copy and paste the URL into the message): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWdx7rrTQBM Nice work there too btw. Adam

Nice pair of machines there Andrew and after all the work, the O2 in particular really looks the part. very impressive. Adam

Resin mouldings. See their website: http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/catalogue/judithedge (para' 3 line 1). Adam

I see you found the buffers for the LSWR electric before you escaped Scaleforum then. Will look forward to the Vanguard too. Adam

The difficulty for something like the approach Shawplan use is that it would be difficult to open the aperture to the correct size. It can be done though: I built an AEC mkV ('60s lorry) and used bits of a Ferrero Rocher box, fretted and filed to suit. Slow, but quite effective flush glazing resulted. There is a picture somewhere in the Road Vehicles forum I think. Adam

An ECW bodied railway coach, surely... Adam

Thanks. They should be OK; the soldered joint is reasonably substantial (allowing for the size) since the angle was - after a couple of abortive attempts to do it prototypically by bending the L section through 90o - squashed with pliers and bent round into the appropriate orientation to support the step. There's a lot of solder in there too, including a fillet in the angle. The are also pinned - essential for these sort of things to have any life at all - by cutting down the angle to about 2mm and bending at right-angles to form a 'proper' fixing via a 0.5mm hole fixed with cyano'. That said, the door springs, with a similar area of fixing surface, but no pin, have happily survived for nearly fifteen years. Adam