Adam

Yep, 0.3 Nickel Silver from Eileen's Emporium. There are some earlier blog entries showing them without paint - I mounted them to the floor on some bits of 40 thou' with small holes drilled 13mm apart. I'm ahead of you there, I'd observed something similar... Adam Adam

Thanks chaps, there's another one on the way sometime, and perhaps another couple when I'm in the mood. The transfers came from Modelmaster (4608), via Parkside Pete. You get two pairs on the sheet, but none of the other* brandings these carried. If you manage to get all four onto the side of a wagon you'll do better than I - the peelable varnish coat peeled rather too soon! I think Cambridge Custom Transfers will do these as well, and this is probably a better bet. Adam *Surprisingly varied

A few recently completed wagons. Two of the 21 ton VBs are now done in contrasting styles, one fairly tidy and the other contrastingly scruffy. I've been experimenting with tinted varnishes (Humbrol Mattcote with Humbrol matt 100 or leather (62) blended with Metalcote Gunmetal and a touch of matt white in this case), applied with a brush rather than an airbrush since I don't have one to hand. This is built up in thin, transluscent layers with varying amouts of tin to get the colour balance I was after - dark first into the nooks and crannies, then a rustier layer and then a greyer layer, all left overnight between coats - Acrylics woould be much quicker! Maybe next time. Anyway, this is the 1/119: This is the 1/120. It's strange to think that the last of these - an essentially Edwardian design concept - were being turned out at the same time as the first of the HOP AB MGR hoppers: These big coal wagons tended to weather to a dark grey with a hint of brown as an even coating, leavened with rust and brakedust, but with the markings - notably the end door stripe - peeking through. While the cleanish one is an effect I know I can achieve by other means, and I'm perfectly content with it I'm particularly pleased with the scruffier effort, what does everyone else think? Adam

Just a quickie from the ongoing (painfully slow at the mo') Austerity project. A new, scratch-built backhead from scraps of plastic, brass wire, fuse wire, copper wire, bits of scrap etch and some etched details (Mainly Trains regulator handle, London Road Models handwheels). The funny looking gauge glasses are copied from here: http://janford.fpic..../p50833431.html There should be a few more bits of pipework but in the depths of the cab and with a crew in the way, what's there will be enough to suggest what isn't. Adam

Thanks - lots of masking tape to sort out the stripes, nothing very complicated. Still my favourite diesel model that. 10 thou' clear plastic sheet I think, goodness knows where from. I suspect the CD case material might be a bit thick for this one as the edges will probably show up, but worth a go. Adam

Or the Wrightlines kit? I think these are available from ABS again? Adam

Absolutely, life as modellers would be far more difficult without the sort of resource that Paul provides, and these trailers are a case in point. Not least because I have quite a few bits handy suitable for the use of... Adam

I've enjoyed looking in on this build, very impressive. I think you're right to go for a non-working beacon the right size rather than an oversize working one which would look wrong whateveryou did. A suggestion: I think that the window frames on these are aluminium or similar in colour? What I've done in the past is to tin these sorts of items with solder and to gently polish them which lends strength until the glazing goes in. Adam

And newly posted by Paul Bartlett, from Staines Central in the 60s: http://paulbartlettsotherrailwayphotos.fotopic.net/c1820179.html Adam

To get back to the road vehicles: Karrier Bantam and trailer - note the roller shutter added(?) in the side: http://erniesphotos.fotopic.net/p29162172.html and something else (probably a rigid rather than a trailer), possibly a Thorneycroft at Cinderford: http://ruralrailwaysofwales.fotopic.net/p49835271.html Adam

I know the sort of thing you mean Brian. I might give that a go if the current plan involving some thick foil (courtesey of M&S gastro-pub packing...) doesn't come off. I need to experiment with some paper templates first however. Watch this space. Adam

Hi John, thanks. No, spindles (ABS castings), so a '58 build (I think), the shanks on the self-contained alternatives - which I didn't have in stock - would be about twice the diameter. The white background and reflection from the whitemetal is a bit misleading. Just before the weather turned it recieved a coat of red-oxide, and has now progressed to the lettering and underframe painting phase. I'll take a picture next time the light is right, but that might well be in a coat of paint or two's time... Adam

Look, no pictures! As ever, the really useful detail shot emerges after I've done all the hard work. This picture (albeit reversed) shows a fitted 21 tonner being tipped and, happily, the kind of end detail I had to guess at. Thankfully, I guessed more or less right... Adam

Thanks for the photos Brian. I noticed the other day that there's one of these cranes in the background of the rear cover shot (Aberdeen docks I think - lots and lots of fish vans) of Geoff Kent's second volume of the 4mm wagon. That one,however, was in carmine and cream. I didn't think to cjeck the date unfortunately and since the book is in dad's collection rather than mine, I can't easily check back. Adam

Something from while the forum was off-air (which is why you get two blogs in a day). Next off the rank is this Hop 21VB/vac’ fitted 21 tonner/HTV (if you insist). So many descriptions for what is a relatively simple vehicle. Another variation for Sharpwit, if he’s watching. This is based on the excellent Parkside kit for the unfitted version, which is much the same, albeit with different end struts and a vac’ cylinder bolted on. It’s easier to go this way than to add more ribs to the Parkside rebodied HTV. The vac’ cylinder was reclaimed from an abandoned Airfix/Dapol Presflo, and the shrouded roller bearings were spares from one of the Chivers 21 tonner kits. The brackets and sundry other details were made from scraps of plastic. Prototype details were – inevitably – taken from Paul Bartlett’s photo collection. This one will be lettered for ‘House Coal Concentration’, assuming the ancient Woodhead transfers work.* The remaining livery elements will come from John Isherwood’s excellent Cambridge Custom Transfers sheet. A version of the scheme (this is ‘Freight Brown’ rather than Bauxite and with the later boxed numbers), can be seen in this shot from 1967: http://paulbartlett....339a0#h3ec339a0 For anyone else who fancies a go, the photos I used for the brake detail were these: http://paulbartlett....339a0#h2ae8bc47 http://paulbartlett....339a0#h29e264e0 These shots of the model show the linkages: Note that the actuating linkage/rod passes in front of the wheel with more than sufficient clearance. Normally, these go down the centreline of the vehicle but can’t on this because of the hopper being in the way. The steps on the ends and the hopper discharge levers come from the Dave Bradwell hopper underframe etch secured with a staple of wire which was melted in and reinforced with epoxy. The next jobs are the end struts and handrails. These look like a veritable cat’s cradle and are slightly different to the last 21ton hopper I did (covered in full on the old forum), despite the ends being similar. The triangular bracket nearest the vacuum cylinder is mounted on the support strut rather than on the hopper plating (this is true of both ends) so as not to interfere with the cylinder. You can see this clearly on the prototype shots. The two photos below illustrate the arrangement on a rebody on an LNER chassis. The technique should be similar: Adam * I notice that John does do the House Coal Concentration and the Charringtons branding (on separate sheets) http://www.cctrans.f...uk/products.htm

In the last few days, I’ve been attempting to finish these Chivers 21 tonners, along with painting a few other vehicles – it makes sense to take the lid off the paint as few times as possible; if you have four wagon underframes to paint without an airbrush, this is a good time saving solution. You keep going until you run out of paint, and allow to dry rather than doing the whole thing at once and having a lot of paint you then don’t use. The tin thus goes further and lasts longer. Given the price of Humbrol this is just as well! The paint details are hardly earth-shattering: Halfords red primer followed up with Humbrol matt chocolate (no. 98) for the underframe (thanks to Pennine MC for that recommendation). This shows the other benefit of batch painting – all those fiddly detail painting jobs become much more time and paint efficient. I undercoated the vac’ pipes and axlebox covers with white before the yellow/red first since neither colour covers well. The upended views show the difference between the 1/119 (twin cylinders and a changeover lever) and 1/120 (lots of interesting linkages which you can barely see). I’ve shown these before, but it’s much clearer under a coat of paint. 1/119 1/120 Lettering: Using Model Master transfers over a couple of coats of Klear brushed on. I’ve since put the end-door stripes on and sealed the lot with more Klear and a spray of Testor’s Dullcote to matt everything down. These transfers were a complete pain, mostly because of their ‘peelable varnish coat’. If it becomes even slightly too wet, it parts company from the lettering. Not an enormous problem for the relatively big wagon numbers, but the smaller graphics, especially the ‘To work within South Wales and Monmouthshire* only’ tend to fall apart – I experienced a 50% failure rate which means only two wagons of the batch of three are fully lettered. This highlights a wider problem with correct lettering for wagon kits. I’m fairly sure that these legends appear on the old Woodhead sheets (which we still have and are just about useable), and on the Cambridge Custom Transfers sheets, but that’s being wise after the event. I did dig out the HMRS sheet I have, remembered how incomplete it is relative to the old Woodhead sheets, and promptly put it away again. If it wasn’t for these geriatric Woodhead sheets, I’d have real problems for things like these working instructions and special brandings. It’s an issue I’ll encounter it again with the 21ton VB hopper conversion I have on the go (more later)… Adam *I do like the rather quaint distinction between the two. NB not all of these wagons had that branding – there were lots of different ones – and some were not branded at all (one of mine is numbered accordingly)

Hmm. Perhaps I've been lucky, since mine seems to be complete, fairly smooth and cooperative. Having been at mine with a wheel puller and brought the back-to-backs out to EM, I've found it a decent runner, though I will have to get at least some of that excessive lateral slop (now magnified of course) sorted - thanks for the pointers on that Mr Kirby. That lighting needs toning down too! There seem to be far too many variables in the design to get consistent running across the batch if feedback on here is to be regarded as representative. Adam

Sorry Trevor - I was looking at the cab front rather than the bonnet panel. Oops. Adam

Trevor - it's only a recess inside the cab - outside, it's clearly proud of the front - see the way the shadows fall? Internal cab handrail perhaps which had to be recessed because of the door? Adam Adam

Sorry, I meant a Gibson wheel moulded to suit a 2mm diameter axle. If they sold them as a conversion set , I suspect that they'd do the flycrank as well (they already to the moulding for that, but again, on a 1/8" axle). This is something they've done several times before to suit RTR locos. Besides, their turn-round time is usually much better than a fortnight for a product ex-stock! Obviously, this would be a self-assembly job and so not to everyone's taste. If Ultrascale were to do one (unlikely, but who knows?), you'd be unlikely to see a set before Whitsun/Midsummer, which might be a consideration. Adam

Reducing bush and Loctite? I suspect that if you give Gibson a week or two, you may be able o get what you seek off the shelf. Adam

Thanks Pete, that suggests that simply pulling the wheels out and filling the resultant void is the easiest option - assuming the quartering is ok when I get to run the thing. Having found the Post-it with the dimensions on it again, it seems that the width over frame overlays in a touch over 11mm, giving lateral play of about 2.5mm(!). Looking at it, perhaps the plastic frame overlays can be spaced out with plastic sheet which will take up some of the slack and bring that distance closer to scale (I've seen a prototype width over frames measurement somewhere, but couldn't find it last night). I reckon that the inverted 'U' would still be necessary to get you in washer range however. Adam

Pete - Have you had a wheel off the axle to look? Are the axle ends plain or splined? With this amount of lateral play, that's a heck of a lot of washers. I was thinking an inverted 'U' of black 60 thou' - which also represents the outside of the hornblock (these are mounted outside the frames on the real thing), and then washers. If the axles are plain then it's probably easiest to replace them and do the job of making spacers properly with 1/8" reducing bushes or 2mm inside diameter tube (disposable biro innards...). Adam

Must have been a size or two up - the 'Dominant': http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tonyonthemoon/Coles-type-dominant-mobile-14T-4x2-1960.html (Home page is here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tonyonthemoon/Coles.html ) Adam

Chaseside also produced a couple of hydraulic models before they were bought out (and rebadged) by JCB. Dad took a load of photos of one in Redruth c. 1970 for a technical drawing/photography exercise. The drawings (if they were ever made) are long since lost, but here is a similar machine. This site site has drawings of the Coles cranes - very useful... Adam