Signaller69

The various resin body-parts have been fitted to the "Guinea Pig" loco, with a little cleaning up still to do around the exhaust panel. Martyn.

After making the mould, 3 test batches of parts have been made, which turned out better than I hoped given how thin some parts are. The better parts were given a ghosting of grey primer to check for visual flaws: This should provide most parts for 2 locos, though the exhaust panel at the top of the image is u/s due to sagging, possibly caused by removal from the mould too soon, or during applying the internal silicon mould that gives it the concave curved profile; it's not worth wasting time filling it for the sake of a tiny amount of resin.

The fledgling Railway Museum at Greenfield Valley Heritage Park will be OPEN tomorrow, Sunday 1st August 1pm - 3pm. A reminder that facemasks are still required to be worn indoors in Wales. "Holywell Town" will be operational and the large Robey pumping engine and Narrow Gauge mining battery loco and stock, artefacts etc on display, along with a CGI film of a train trip up the Holywell Branch! The museum is in the old Corn Mill which can be found by following the path (or the old Railway footpath) from the Visitor Centre. The steam powered pop bottling plant upstairs will be operational too, the frequent whistles should help pinpoint the location! Entrance is free, donations gratefully received. Plus the usual family attractions around the park, details can be found here: https://greenfieldvalley.com/

Sometimes fortune intervenes at the right time! Further to my comment that 5153 was reportedly still green FYE when it went to Scotland in 1972, with the Derby Sulzers site giving a sighting still green FYE in 1973, I chanced upon the 5th photo here: https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/archive/search.htm?company=&subtype=1&class=25&location=&srch=&page=1 Which clearly shows it in blue at Guide Bridge in June 72, prior to moving to Haymarket. So it looks like blue is back on the table after all. Meanwhile roof work continues: New cab side window dividing bars have been fitted and the moulded cab door handrails shaved off... ....to allow a set of flush doors to be fitted (and again, I hope to use these to cast resin ones as they were a pita to make, but they are only 20thou thick so I will have to see how they turn out):

One for the DMU fans. This interesting 5 car combo popped up on a Facebook page, check the very first clip, a 104 car leading some class 124 vehicles with a 101 car bringing up the rear! And a nice 3 car 104 doing a good pace to follow! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1579945918997446/permalink/3050991198559570/

Thanks Gibbo, On the to-do list along with correcting the cabside windows. Martyn.

Front ends sanded and new gangway doors cut and fitted. The lower cab fairing has been added using black plasticard (barely visible here), this needs further shaping under the doors and sanding yet and the marker lights are yet to be tackled. The roof over (what would be) the boiler area has had the central raised "panel" removed as the 25/0s didn't have them - this, along with lack of water tanks on the underframe, being the main visual difference compared to the boiler fitted 24/1. The former square exhaust panel (with the filled round exhaust) ideally needs paring back in the same way now, a combination of careful scalpel work and sanding. Looking ahead to identity, this was going to become 5152 in blue, but that loco retained some bits of the solebar valencing into 1973, which I didn't particularly want to tackle so 5153 in plain green with full yellow ends is now looking more likely as this was still green in 1973, having moved to Scotland in '72. This is another of those projects where you do an alteration and find 2 more that need doing!

These are not the trains we are looking for......

I decided against cut 'n shutting the cab fronts and went with plasticard to reduce the window size by about 1.5mm and increase the gangway height by 1mm. The gangway doors on these locos should be flush with the outer skin of the cab. Realistically the only way to accurately reproduce this would be to sand the centre section flush with the panels either side and scribe fine lines around the gangway edge which I doubt I could achieve neatly enough, so after sanding I will cut out very thin plasticard doors and fit these over the gangway. I need to cement plasticard slightly curved lower cab front extensions in place first though. Cab skirting masters have also been fabricated from plasticard: Drop in cab-side flush doors need to be tackled next.

Thanks Gibbo, most useful, we live and learn! Presumably there was still some consideration being given that the locos may yet have boilers fitted, so the plans were followed as you say, yet the no.2 end roof panels are different to those on the boiler fitted locos. Thanks, Martyn.

Another one of those "idle moment" thoughts while I was applying filler to the bodyside footholds, having also removed the adjacent small bodyside hatches which the 24 & 25/0 didn't have...... As far as I can tell, from new the 25/0s were not fitted with train heating boilers or associated water tanks, but being based on the 24 body design, still had the cantrail cut-outs for the water tank filler hatches (as seen in the photo). Presumably they had no hatch and were just plated over the opening? They appear to have had the bodyside foot holds, albeit plated over at an early stage. Seems odd! Chance of finding a 25/0 photo clearly showing this? Slim I would say....

Let's not get too carried away here....

Gosh, thankyou! Yes I've had it a few months now, the detail on it is mind boggling, yet it doesn't hold my enthusiasm in the way doing a cheap older loco project does. I can hear the shouts of "each to their own" now!

Comparing with an SLW 24 gives a definitive view on the window sizes, gangway height etc. It also shows, I think, what a good job Hornby did of capturing the cab roof curvature and "face" of the 25 (and also the understated marker lights as Dave mentioned earlier).

Hi, Thanks for the heads up, I'm not currently after any further Highland versions unfortunately; indeed the locos awaiting conversion I have here will keep me tied up for a while at any rate! Thanks anyway. Martyn.

Filling in the lower edge of the windows with plasticard is probably the safer way to go out of the 2 options. Looking at photos the top of the gangway should be a little nearer the centre window, it's not a massive difference and on it's own I wouldn't go out of the way to amend it, but if cut as shown to reduce the windows this would be an added bonus. Again a plasticard fillet could be used instead though. Thanks Ian, Regarding the windows, this was something I only read about elsewhere in the past couple of years or so (as with the Mk2c's), I hadn't noticed myself before that time as it's not what I would call an "obvious" difference, and like you had to reach for reference books to confirm this, so I can take no credit for noticing it; indeed my Highland 24 has unmodified windows. I prefer your marked cut locations, but the very small vertical cuts by the windows could be difficult unless I find my piercing saw blades (if I even have any, its been a while!) and it would take some very neat work to pull it all off convincingly, so I'm still undecided. I agree they are not the best rendition. They look about the right location on a headcode box loco, but not for a disc fitted 24 (new ones higher up would be needed as discs sit over the Hornby location). On the last 25 I did I drilled them through with a 1mm drill, counter-sunk the holes slightly with a 2mm drill (iirc) and inserted 1mm rod for the "lens", and will probably do something similar with these conversions. Thanks all. Martyn.

As mentioned, one area I'm mulling over is the cab front windows, which on a 24 or 25/0 should be about 1mm shallower than a later 25 at the bottom edge, plus the gangway connection top should be a little higher to my eyes. I had the idea of using a Dremel to cut across above the gangway connection between the outer windows and down each side (photo gives the idea), trim a fraction away and lift the whole lower section up, adding a fillet along the lower edge to make up the depth (which for a 24 & 25/0 needs adding in any case), but this raises various problems of alignment when the parts (at various slight angles) are rejoined. Obviously if it goes wrong the body is scrap, but what if...... Looks the sort of job best attempted after a few ales, not sure I've got the bottle though (see what I did there.....), the jury is most definitely out on this, possibly a step too far! Thoughts anyone?

A combination of drilling and filing was used to make the square holes for the water tank filler hatches. The fillers themselves were made from scraps of plasticard. Once again they will be used as masters to make resin copies (hopefully) as they are rather tedious to make. Seen loosely fitted here: I have also started to sand the various areas where filler has been used: Lots to do yet!

Nice selection there Gibbo. I like the ode to 25 247. I've not decided on the guises for the batch of locos I'm doing, other than they will all be pre-TOPS numbered and probably evenly split between the various green and blue livery variations. Some may require odd remaining sections of the lower skirting adding, depending on the photos I'm working from, so I'm looking at ways of replicating this, possibly in resin again. Martyn.

With this specimen set to become a 25/0, work has started on the body. The main mods I am undertaking are: -Removal of headcode box wings & horns; -drilling out and adding the cantrail boiler water filler* cutouts. -removal/filling in of original exhaust and steam heat vent positions, and fitting new exhaust* in later position; -drilling out the roof fan and fitting a Shawplan replacement; -removing cab front detail and replacing with more appropriate detail, including adding a new lower edge of correct profile (and cab side skirts* added to the chassis); -Adding cab side door overlays* flush with the sides. * = planned resin parts. Plus other bits as required appropriate to the prototype. First cuts: filler added & cab end details being removed: The outer cab front windows should have the depth reduced by about 1mm for the 24 & 25/0 so I am looking to see if there is a straightforward and neat way of achieving this, but if not they may stay as they are. Martyn.

Ian, I hadn't noticed until comparitively recently either so you're not alone! When searching the web for a photo to link, it took me a while to find one showing the lav side, you'd think it would be a 50/50 chance on average, but it seems not! Martyn.

Hello Ian, Apologies that I've not looked in for a while. Very nice work with the coaches, they have come up really well with the work you have done. It's always nice to see what people are doing with these older models and just up my street! Must admit I'm guilty of not having passengers in my own "fleet" at the moment. You commented regarding doing some Mk2c coaches; not sure how far you are wanting to go but the Lavatory windows in these should be of the squared type with a vent above (similar to those in air-con stock) as per this Flickr link: Not impossible to modify from a Mk2b but difficult if you don't want to undertake a full repaint I guess? Regards, Martyn.

Thanks Gibbo, yes I realise the ride height would be raised by 1mm or so and have yet to trim the lugs on the current loco, which currently is as near as dammit the same height as a new Bachmann 24. Had a quick trawl through Lendons and Peter's Spares but the large Ringfield disc wheels (for the 86 or A3 type Steam loco tenders) seem to be not available - the latest Hornby 86s & 90s, it seems, have the newer type drive bogie and wheels (as per the ex Lima 87) which are different. However I will keep looking to see if I can pick some up. Cheers, Martyn.

Hi Gibbo, That looks pretty conclusive, thanks for that. I assume the drive gear size is the same as on the 25 wheels then? Martyn.

Bufferbeams have been refitted after removing the Hornby shanks. As they are about 1.5 to 2mm lower than their original position, plasticard strips were used as spacers, all fixed in place with EMA Plasticweld. The lower edge just sits on the triangular bogie coupling fillets, but these will be removed in any case. A roof panel akin to the Bachmann 24 style has been made from a scrap piece of Lima 117 DMU roof which matches the Hornby 25 roof profile pretty well. The intention is to use this as a master to cast resin copies. More body mods next.