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Shortly after my last post, I received the 3d printed PG004 wagons that I'd mentioned so I've been working on them for the last week or so After a quick rub down and prime of the body, I again added pipework from wire but apart from that there was not much to add to the kit So this is what I've ended up with , again I'm really pleased with these and I have two more to finish This pic shows the difference in end profile of the two hopper types. You may also notice this one has brake pipes - I now have a stack of these and I'm going to have to spend a bit of time going back through everything fitting them. Overall really happy with them and I'm hoping i can convince Snailracer to print me some 007 salt hoppers next

The transfers are from Fox and the paint I used is Humbrol Acrylic no81, not quite the right shade as its not 'mustard' enough but in my eyes it looks ok .

Except for the tamiya acrylics - I've never liked them - that's almost word for word how I would've described what I do - I even have some humrol silver enamel that's at least 40 years old! - I guess that sadly I'm just not as skilled as you

Just to add to yesterday's post there is now a Facebook page for the designer of these https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557188435790&sk=about Usual disclaimer I have no financial connection with Snailracer - although as he's used my photos perhaps I should ask for commission 😀 - my only interest is that I hope he continues with railway stuff as there's a few wagons I'd like him to do yet!

Your weathering is cracking - do you use enamels or acrylics?

I've not been spending much time on the forum lately, but didn't realise it was 18 months since I'd posted anything! I've still been fiddling around with several things, and to continue my stone wagon theme I've been building these recently. They are 3D printed, I had them drawn and printed for me. The base model is a PGA (diagram 003) The first two I've built as PG003a one with a scratch built end platform and side ladders the other more or less as built without ladders, I added the 'lozenges' - which were added during the 80s on the real thing for strengthening. The air pipes along the sides I added from straight wire. As the brake gear on these are mounted on the end platform I also made a brake frame to mount the distributor on and the cover which goes over it all. The other two I have built as PG006a For these the bottom ends of the solebars needed altering/straightening and the side ribs were added to the hopper body from plastic angle with pipes again from wire. They all need air pipes as I'm waiting to recieve some that have been printed. I've weathered them lightly but they could do with a little more especially the interiors. Overall, I'm more than happy with them, and considering that they were drawn and printed by someone who has no interest in railways/model railways he has done a brilliant job. I have one more of these to build and he has just drawn a PGA 004 for me and has started on a 007 ex salt hopper as well. So my train will be getting way longer than I'll probably ever need! If anyone thinks they may want some for themselves let me know as he has said he may sell some if there is interest.

Oh yes they could - quite easily actually!

It looks like a representation of a air brake distributor to me

Yes the number is where the vehicle was condemned. Before TOPS, locations had a four number code which was used by the engineers/C&W. This was the number used on the CM&EE panel (the maintenance panel on wagons) after the date, which showed where the repair had been done - a quick scan of your site found this photo https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/wagondetailspoetc/h269a40aa The code was also used on the cast metal IR and GR plates that used to be put on the solebars. I used to know quite a few codes, but the only one that comes to mind at the moment is 3000 which was swindon works.

Sadly the job is a long way from what it was Jim - one of the reasons I took redundancy/early retirement 5 years ago, and it sounds like it's still going downhill. The fragmentation of the railway has left lots of separate entity's just looking after their own little empire, without really caring about how their piece of the jigsaw fits into the picture . The only time they really care about interaction with other companies is when there's money to be made or lost! from a claim.

Rhtt trains have an operator in the cab with the driver who has a remote control to operate the jets, and a list of sites/mileages where to do it. The older sandite trains/locos were operated by the driver, from a button in the cab, and the sites were marked by signs alongside the track.

No, there were weld lines but no where near as prominent as Dapol have modelled I've filed/sanded them almost flat on mine Edit to add photo

I think that's well spotted and correct Ade, unfortunately the levers do appear to be on upside down

When choosing a number bear in mind the first few with a ladder on the left hand side retained the two small grab handles on the centre stanchions - later ones didn't have these.

It's not hard to move the ladders over- certainly a lot easier than a respray - see my post on the Dapol HEA thread.

I had a couple arrive yesterday too, the first thing I did was to move the ladders out to the side on one of them Still a bit of tidying to do! It was actually very easy to do, if you look carefully Dapol seem to have used the same body/chassis for both versions so the ghost holes are there to give a drilling template. The ladder comes free - at least mine did - with a little bit of prying with a scalpel blade leaving the lugs intact to fix into new holes. Incidentally nice models except for the awful brake pipes! The ones on the VEA's looked correct but were just tiny but these are just strange.

Thanks, yes the brake van is from a slaters kit.

Thought it was about time I posted something ! I've not done a lot over the summer but have fitted in the odd hour here and there. What I have finished are a couple of Skytrex TTA's, I changed the second to have the central end ladder, which also entailed changing some of the underframe slightly too, not a perfect conversion but I'm happy with it. I've said before I dislike painting/weathering as I can never get it how I'd like it to look, but I'm more pleased with these, possibly because I've done it short bursts - often weeks apart - which has allowed a bit more layering. As I've built most of my kit stash now - I've got more wagons than I'll ever use! - I think I need to go back through them and hopefully I'll get to enjoy weathering. At the same time I also finished off a blue spot van I built a long time ago. Hopefully I'll find enough mojo to be able post something again soon 🙂 Edit to add, looking at those photos, I've just noticed I haven't fitted bow gider safety loops on the van so it's not quite finished yet!

Just dragging this back up, in amongst a pile of old dust coats in my garage I found this

Sorry you're correct that one does appear to have had the planks removed. That would be difficult to replicate as although you could cut out the planks it would be hard to find anything that was strong enough to plate over the hole without being too thick. You could maybe cut out the planks, put a thick (40 thou ?) Piece of plasticard in the hole before putting a thinner sheet on the outside? Or maybe just a thin piece of plasticard 'plate' each side? There were many different ways of patching brake vans up - some just had a boarded repair covering the bottom half or so of the planks - the bottoms rotted out- I think whichever way you choose will be okay.

As i remember the majority of the ends that were sheeted were actually sheeted over the top of the original planks (and I also remember that many, if not most were actually thin steel plate) including i think the picture youve linked to? So you would be OK putting some plasticard over the top, though I would suggest filling the gaps between the planks first if you are using very thin plasticard. Something I was considering doing to one of mine but I didn't bother in the end

Didn't realise that - Adrian really was a master at casting

My memory tells me I bought this in 1984? To my shame I still haven't built it, though I did put the ends together and made a start on the chassis In my defence it was the first brass kit I ever bought and the learning curve was pretty steep, looking at it, my soldering hasn't improved much in nearly 40 years! and the body still scares me, though I notice now that prmrp do preformed bodies for these. I really do need to man up a bit and get on and build it, the castings still look really good all these years later. I remember at the time wanting most of your range 🙂

Back in the 80's/90's when everyone seemed to want to give us mugs, this was one of many I received I'm pretty sure that West of England freight turned into Trainload Freight South East and then into Mainline, before EWS turned up. I'm sure Mike (stationmaster) will be able to fill in the details.

Indeed