dmsmith

Pre the 15th December timetable change, the conductor guards tended to stay in the back cab of the rear unit. Post 15th December, and the use of 3-car 158s or the prototype 150s, the staff are much more active. 10/02/20 Edit to correct the misspelling of rear as real

And these are my attempts at weathering ... The started out as TOPS set J. I've swapped in P4 wheels, but haven't yet had a chance to run them on someone else's layout to see whether or not they will run acceptably without springing or compensation. David

It’s not you ... Trains now creep into the platforms and right along to the ends. Last minute changes of platform, often after the train has arrived, are the norm rather than the exception. I stood at the far end of platform 12 with the relief driver of my train home to Exeter St David’s tonight as we watched it come in on 6. It was the same the night before, and doubtless will be tomorrow. It’s now so far to walk that it was a good 10 minutes before everyone had got on the train. That’s enough for a train to lose its path. I’ve decided to loiter in the tunnel until the train arrives. Big sigh ... David

Thank you all for your encouragement. I stole a few moments this evening to strip down the rods and check the quartering. Nothing seemed amiss, but when I put it back together, it ran very sweetly. I hadn’t opened up the holes in the rods at all, so there wasn’t the slightest room for the quartering to be out, so that was presumably the problem. Next step is to put the motor and gearbox in ... Best wishes David

Thank you Mike and jrg1. I regret not using the compensation method designed into the kit and will undoubtedly do so in the next Judith Edge kit that I build. I had misunderstood quite how it works, but your photograph makes it wonderfully clear. I should have had more confidence in my ability and not been so cautious as to rely on conventional three-point suspension. I am certainly really pleased with the way that the kit has gone together. The body now has a coat of primer, which hides the deficiencies in my soldering. I suspect that I may be worrying unnecessarily and that all I need to do is to check the quartering of the jack shaft. I'll check the distances with my calipers this evening, although knowing the quality of Mike's design work, I am very confident that the distance between centres on the rear rod will match perfectly the diagonal distance between the rear axle and jackshaft centres. It shouldn't matter that the jack shaft is slightly higher than the main axle as long as the length is correct. I haven't opened up the holes in the rods at all beyond the diameter of the crankpins, so maybe it is not surprising that I have a slight bind. Thank you! David

Ah! I thought that you would have mentioned it if you had encountered a problem. The problem is that the centre of the jack shaft axle lies a fraction higher than the line between the centres of the two main axles. It is certainly meant to; although it isn’t noticeable in any photographs, Mike’s drawing that comes with the instructions shows it this way. I first noticed it when I tried to set up the frames in my Avonside jig and realised that the three axles are not quite colinear. That means that the rod will be very slightly shorter than necessary. Looking back at some of the photos of your build, it does look like your rod to the jack shaft is not quite in line with the main rod. That gives me the confidence to open out the holes just slightly to allow for the difference. I feel happier doing that with a jack shaft than with a driving wheel. Thanks for your advice and support! David

I am sorry to hijack another of your threads. Inspired by your build of the industrial version, I have been working on a P4 model of one of the second batch of North British 330 hp shunters for British Railways. Once finished, it will be D2913, which spent a few weeks on trial at Nuneaton in January 1960 and had an extended exhaust pipe. The kit has gone together beautifully. The photo shows progress so far. Like you, I opted to compensate the front axle. I didn’t initially understand the compensation designed into the kit, preferring to fix the rear axle to preserve the distance to the jack shaft. But ... the jack shaft axle isn’t quite in line with the two main axles. The difference means that the rods bind slightly. How did you accommodate this in your build? Did you just open out the holes on the rear rod and rely on a bit of slop? Best wishes David

I don't want to inflame the discussion any further, but the ex-Acorn etched brass kit is still available from Mercian Models. Furthermore, they currently have them on special offer at £38 for two. David

Dear Adam, I'm glad that you like them! I'm also grateful for confirming my belief that the baulks, as I have modelled them, are too small. These aren't for any project in particular. I just liked your conversions so much that I thought that I'd have a go myself. I do have a few P4 turnouts on a bit of baseboard, but much of my modelling these days centres on building things to run on other people's layouts. I am fortunate to know fellow modellers who are are more productive than me. I just don't know anyone round here who models BR in South Wales in the 1970s ... David

I hope that Adam will forgive my hijacking his thread. However, I was so inspired by his Coil J conversions from Hornby Iron Ore tipplers that I wanted to make some for myself in P4. The Hornby tipplers are excellent value in packs of three from Hattons, and I still have the upper halves of the bodies to turn into sand tipplers. The Hornby chassis is remarkably fine, so I have chosen to leave it as it is and do without either springing or compensation. The internal timbers are a little small; I had relied upon the dimensions quoted in Keith Allen's Railway Modeller article from January 1983 and sourced some walnut wood section from my local model shop, but I may yet try to find something slightly larger. I now need to work out the dimensions of the coils themselves to make some loads. As ever, Paul Bartlett's excellent photographs provided inspiration for the weathering. The rust effect was achieved by spraying a base coat of Tamiya grey primer, followed by a sprinking of salt fixed with Testor's Dullcote and the oversprayed with Tamiya Flat Brown. Transfers are from Fox, finished off with more Dullcote. Finally, I gave everything a dusting with Carr's weathering powders. David

Have only just found your thread, and am pleased that I have done as it has inspired me to think about a few new projects. I certainly like the idea of backdating the Bachmann BDA rather than using the Cambrian kit or scratch building the underframe in brass angle. Not all of the unfitted Bogie Bolster D's had the triangulare gussets on the Bachmann model, but it looks like the best route to a vacuum-fitted version. I am assuming that the Bachmann bolsters are just glued in place and may be removed quite easily with a scalpel ...? David

My attempt at the slag conversion of a Hornby Trout mentioned by Paul Bartlett. The prototype is illustrated in David Larkin's BR Departmental Rolling Stock, A Pictorial Survey. I struggled with the 'Return to Appleby Slag Heap' lettering on the black patch, but hope that it was so small on the prototype that I can can miss it off and get away with it. Larkin describes the colour as bauxite rather than gulf red. The photograph is cruel, and reminds me that I should dust my models before taking photos. David

I have built a couple of the 12ft units for two Parkside 24.5 ton mineral wagons, and was impressed by how well the sub ubits went together. However, I found that I needed to weight the finished wagons quite heavily to compress the springs. I started off by assuming that the wire supplied would need a weight of 25 g per axle, which I believe to be an accepted standard, but needed more 40-50 g per axle. David