jamieb

Thanks for posting the pics,that's a lovely restored Hall.It's a railway that is a bit under the radar,must go back one day soon

The bit about motive power was just MY INTENTIONS should a layout ever be built.There was no basis in fact,sorry if I seemed to suggest otherwise

It's quite possible the BCR borrowed an engine from the Great Western but far more likely it was a 517 class as the BCR had one of their own and the drivers would obviously be more used to driving the class accordingly

I remember reading years ago that a 3ft gauge system was planned for Skye and formulated a small 'Talisker' layout in my head. Motive power would have been based on the Yankee tanks, possibly smaller 2-4-0 versions,similar to the IoM locos.It never got beyond the sketchpad stage though

Hi Mike Bit surprised to see this turn up in the new content listing!There's a photo showing the instructions on page 1 of the thread. and a side view which shows the position of the rivet strips.There's also 2 for each end.The positioning of them is not exact tbh as the model gives no guidelines,I just put them where they looked right.I worked from a photo (the only one I know of pre BR days) in CC Greens Cambrian Railways Album 2.Are you doing it in Cambrian,GWR or BR days?Good luck with the build and PM me if you want to know anything that's not covered in the thread Jamie

No suggestions from anyone?

Hi all My son , having recently turned 15 and discovered guitars and girls , has given me custody of all his unwanted model railway stock.Amongst these is a Hornby 5972 Hogwarts Castle, with loco drive.(I told him to buy a Grange but he wouldn't listen) http://www.anticsonl...69_1_22892.html So having grown out of Harry Potter, he's happy to let me repaint it as a GWR loco.However, given the differences in Castles over the years, what series does the model best represent?Period doesn't matter as it won't fit into either of my existing layout plans by a long way, but I'd still like to get it looking like a proper loco.Any suggestions appreciated. Jamie

The Pink Fairies did it even better on their "What A Bunch of Sweeties" LP

My interest in the FOD began by looking through RC Rileys GWR picturebooks and seeing a 2021 class tank at Coleford.The picture really struck a chord with me and I realised that this was the GWR for me, not the express trains hauled by Castles and Kings.This was about the time Hornby released their 2721 class and being only about 12 at the time, it was an affordable engine by saving pocket money and birthday money.A couple of badly built Ratio 4 wheelers followed and a motley collection of Ratio and Coopercraft wagon kits.A bit of time spent in the library gleaned a bit more info on exotic sounding places like Coleford, Cinderford and Parkend (they were exotic to me, living in Sussex) and the seeds of a layout were sown.At this point , girls and guitars reared their not so ugly heads and railway modelling took a backseat,not really coming back to it big time until my son was a toddler and started getting int Thomas.That was the excuse to get the trains out again.In the meantime, during my armchair modelling phase, the Cambrian and LBSC had monopolised my interests so a FOD layout is no.3 on the TO DO list. When it happens, it will be based on the Forest od Dean Central Railway, not the most obvious candidate, but Blakeney has a remote ,other wordly charm, with its lack of a run round loop, semi-island platform and the mysterious land beyond,where no trains dare go,crying out for a 101 "What if?" situations.So that's where the basis of the layout lies.I intend a small shelf type layout, more as a diorama than a fully functioning layout,more will follow when work starts. Jamie

Looking at the time of your post Mike, I hope you weren't up all night thinking about it!

You're right Mike , not numbered as yet as I'm going to experiment with some decal sheet and a plain white '11' is the easiest possible thing to start with! Hope to get some at Railex.Need to do the makers plate too , recessed in the solebar channels. In answer to your question Bill, I haven't seen ANY photo's of these vans in Cambrian livery, so it is conjecture.However Cambrian wagons DID run with black ironwork, and I've seen photos to prove it, although this would probably have faded very quickly to a darkish grey.I may have used modellers license here as the prototype was built in 1912, the same year that the livery was simplified.I did resist red ends which were present on brake vans until 1908! If somebody wants to produce a photo to prove me wrong, I shall be more than happy (but I won't repaint it!) Jamie

Thanks guys,it was you Sandy that put me onto the Humbrol 64 light grey, I would probably use GWR wagon grey to replace the black on the framing in future as I think pure black is a bit severe.Have either of you you noticed the deliberate omission? Jamie

]Well it’s finished, all bar 2 details and a coat of matt varnish.The first missing detail is the lamp irons which I found too fiddly and the second I’ll let you guess. Although not a shining example of kit building , I’m fairly happy with it as a first attempt at etched brass kits, things can only get better (although I'm not expecting a call from the Pendon team). In fairness to the kit makers, some of the problems were down to my heavy handedness but others were deficiencies in the design of the kit, e.g solebars and footboards. Anyway , a coat of Humbrol 64 hides a multitude of sins, the first attempt was awful, the second less so, but I will have to dig out my old airbrush and find out how to use it as brush painting doesn’t give me a good enough finish. Black was Humbrol acrylic which was nice to use. I used Tamiya masking tape but despite my best efforts there was a bit of paint creep. Whether this was because I brush painted or because the edges of the strapping were uneven I’m not sure but I finally got a reasonable result. The whole model was then given a coat of gloss lacquer from Halfords, in readiness for transfers from Dragon Models.However this was superfluous as when I took them out of the packet I discovered they were dry print transfers!This is how come a final coat of matt varnish is still waiting.The roof was plasticard spray painted with white aerosol to give a deliberate rough texture to the roof. The chimney was cobbled together from brass tube and the roof glued on. Screw couplings were from the spares box , Smiths, I think. Interior glazing from CD case and a big lump of metal inside to weight the van to 80g, to match my heaviest white metal wagons. Wheels are 3-hole disc, probably wrong for this era, but can be replaced at a later date. All I need now is the rest of the train and a loco to pull it. In the main, I enjoyed the challenge .The only parts I replaced were the brake shoes and I added a bit of extra detail.I would build another if I found one at a reasonable cost, if only so I could right the mistakes I made with this one. It certainly hasn’t put me off Falcon/Jidenco kits, which brings me back to the Terrier kit which precipitated this build and shall be started soon . Thanks to all those who contributed advice esp. Mike Morley and Penlan and I’ll be interested in anyone’s comments or questions. Jamie

I can understand, to an extent, the concept of preserving a livery for historical reasons,but it would then have to be acceptable as an historical document,with attention paid to minor details such as paint colour and lettering size and font etc...!But as you say , why not paint it in GWR (or even BR) colours like it deserves to be.The same argument has often been used against the Fairburn tanks on the Lakeside Railway,amongst others.Conversely, a plain open coal wagon or van when painted in an authentic PO livery,even if not the exact type of wagon, can be a good reference point.But this is just horrible! Jamie

No point going over old ground here.See this thread on the old forum http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=35643&hilit=Hornby+4+wheel+coach Jamie

Found this today, only wish it was an April Fool! http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foxfield/gwrbrake.htm Jamie (about to have nightmares)

I wonder how many Humbrol tinlets the Navy get through when painting their ships? Anyway,have managed to track down a tin of Humbrol 64 and here are the results: 64 light grey at the left ,27 sea grey at the right (roughly slopped on an old Hornby toad, the painting on the model will be better!) The light grey gives the correct contrast to the black for my eyes whereas the sea grey does seem to change colour depending on light and angle of viewing but I would say still too dark overall, so I shall go with the light grey.Thanks to all for their input.All being well the next post should be of the finished article. Jamie

Thanks Sandy and Mike for your responses.I've been out today to try and find a supplier of Humbrol paints in Telford -with no luck-but looking at paint charts on the net, Light grey 64 might be suitable. Although the exact shade may never be clear, I will know what looks right to my eye and what I will be happy with.Have looked at MRJ 3 at MML's layout but to be honest the photo's are of pretty indifferent quality,but then they are nearly 30 years old. Sandy, going by your recipe for Midland grey,can I assume this is an equivalent to 28 parts white to 1 part black as this would make a very pale grey, unless any of the other ingredients affected the pigmentation? Glad to be of help with the brake wheels Mike.If you want to go back to your model ,PM me and I could let you have some more details of the article in RM (if you get my drift!) Jamie

Been experimenting with paints today.Wizard models recommend MR grey as a suitable match for their open wagon but this looks too blue to my eyes.Have tried Humbrol 27 (too dark) and Humbrol 28 (too creamy).Looking at the few photos I have of Cambrian freight stock,it definitely seems to be a very light shade of grey but elusive to capture.The required contrast to the black strapping is the key and the Midland grey just looks wrong.Maybe this is more correct for open wagons but brake and covered vans appear to be lighter.Any help appreciated.For those with good libraries, I'm referring to Cambrian Railways Album 1 (CC Green) for pictures. Jamie

A much quicker build than my Cambrian Brake!Looks good but I'm surprised you stuck with the etched brakes as they are well out of line with the wheels,this was the one part of the brake van that I couldn't compromise on and had to buy in some castings.Nice to see the instructions are as concise as ever! Jamie

Well, after an enforced break for various work related reasons, I've been able to virtually complete today.Firstly the underframe needed to be rebuilt again as I accidentally came across an article on building the Dragon kit in 7mm scale by Chris Gwilliam in Railway Modeller Dec 2001 and Jan 2002.Whilst being conscious of not building a model of a model, this at least filled in some gaps where the kit instructions were lacking. The brake gear I had intended to use was wrong,so I bought some whitemetal clasp brakes from Wizard Models and revised the brake hanger arrangements.I bottled out of fitting the linkages but cobbled up some brass strip and wire to make the brake cranks and rodding, fixing to a plastic v-hanger glued into the floor middle Unfortunately my photos are still coming out blurry but it should be possible to make out the arrangement. The article also solved the brake wheel problem.The holes in the etched wheels and metal plate were opened out enough to take a track pin and a similar size hole drilled through the inner panel, to the right of the door as you look at it.The metal plate was sweated on horizontally and the pin soldered in place to keep the wheel in position, using a piece of card to pack the wheel away from the panel.You can just make this out in the photo below.The strips above the door openings were also restored using scrap etch brass. . Finally, a U-shaped piece of plastic sheet was cut to fit around the ends to form an overlay for the verandah.Notches were cut out for the door rebates and the whole unit superglued to the existing verandah ledges.A small notch was filed above the doors on each side to make it look like a break in the ledge.This took a few attempts as I was using the thinnest sheet I had and it was prone to snap.Once in place it presented a more uniform appearance than just the etchings. As for the roof, after frank and forthright discussions with MrsB, it was unanimously decided that I wouldn't be allowed to use the cooker hob to anneal brass sheet so I went with the plastic/hairdrier method which worked OK.The roof needs gluing in position when painting is done,likewise the glazing which is cut from old an CD case to fit inside the middle panels.The roof is just loosely placed for the photos The final photo shows the brake linkage from the side.I'm glad I did it because it's quite noticeable.All that remains to do is to fit the lamp irons and handrails which will be blackened rather than painted and fixed on with superglue.Couplings will be screw link and a chimney needs fabricating for the roof.Livery will be Cambrian light grey with black strapping and frames.Not sure about the exact shade of grey but I think it will be slightly lighter than the primer colour,any suitable Humbrol references will be appreciated. In conclusion, as a first attempt at an etched kit from a notorious range, I am fairly happy.The underframe is basic and poorly designed and had to be rebuilt a couple of times.A lot of this to be fair was down to my bad soldering and the final coat of paint will hide a lot of nastiness.The whole step and solebar assembly needs tabs for accurate placing and the brakes supplied are laughable.The castings I replaced these with were the only add-on I bought as I couldn't live with the etched version.Above the solebars, the body seems accurate but the strapping is poorly etched or in some cases missing.The verandah ledges are difficult to form and really need to be etched all in one piece.The brake handwheels are a nice touch but it was only by reference to someone elses kit that I knew where to put them!A preformed brass roof would be nice and a chimney casting, but maybe I was just unlucky here in missing one.If Dart Castings plan on re-issuing this one, they will need to redo the instructions completely. As I say,it wouldn't win any awards but as a test piece,I have learnt a bit about building etched kits, not least that I need better tools esp. for soldering. I see no value in going back and trying to correct my mistakes but will try to put together a more logical assembly sequence for when I tackle the Terrier, although that will have to wait until I've finished my Hornby E2 conversion, of which more later. Jamie

As others have said, strange that Bachmann's researchers have got it so wrong.Yes, the history of GWR ROD engines may be complicated, but nothing like as difficult as designing and creating a RTR model locomotive!I believe they have dropped a clanger along these lines before with the 8750 pannier tank being numbered as 8715 which was an earlier flat cab version, hence a glut of rejected bodies appearing on Ebay over the last year or so, so possibly (hopefully!) there may be a quantity of GWR 3099 bodies appearing on an auction site near you!.Funnily enough, when the GWR liveried version was announced last year, the pictures showed it as 3031 so why it change for the production run is anyones guess?I think it may actually be a misprint in the catalogue but we shall see. Jamie

I think it would be the wife swearing if she caught me doing this on a ceramic hob!

I haven't sworn at the kit, only at myself when I dropped the bloody thing!(Ooops I did it again!)

Thanks Kenton Am I right in thinking 0.3mm is roughly 10 thou.Don't want too thick as I don't really have facilities for annealing brass (no gas flame or blowtorch) so just something that will roll nicely without being so thin it creases.Or is there another way of annealing brass?