Norton Wood

I built a LNER Streamlined P2 (2003 Lord President) from a Gr King Resin kit, very happy with it, this is an older photo as the return crank is now fitted. But I am also happy to see this being produced, so I will probably find myself owning 2 Streamlined P2's of the same name. Unless I changed the name I look forward to seeing more progress with this throughout the year, expected next year too! Will be worth the wait

That is a great shame regarding Mikes health, in the last 12 months I had a go at my first Brass kit in 7mm and following that in 4mm. I found a lot of modelling had become open to me. Today I spent a lot of time looking through and weighing up the cost of building one of the MARC Models Silver Jubilee Sets. Even to the extent of phoning tomorrow and ask regarding the quality as in the BRM issue of 2012 the kit showed no beading and I wanted to know if this was present on the current kit. From personal experience, this disease is cruel! So, unfortunately I will have to shelve this idea for the Silver Jubilee as I do not know where else to look ( with exception of Wizard Models who have sold out of this kit) if anyone can help that would be fantastic of you! Thank you Tom

Hi David, Thank you very much, it'll be the game to find the correct type of wheels to do that. If I can find such wheels?

Hi David, What is the size for these wheels? As I've just ordered the W&U Tramway coaches in 7mm and I completely forgot to ask what wheels it requires. However do the instructions which D&S have do they note the required wheels? Thanks Tom

I feel as though, I am beginning to sound like a repeating record! Today my GER 4 Wheelers received there final details, so the kits from Eveleigh Creations sadly do not come with, axle boxes, leaf springs, top lights or buffer stocks. However you are directed to go to Shapeways who are an online group of modelers who produce and sell for very good prices things that modelers specifically need. In this case there is a A,B & C Pack of GE Coach fittings, I decided to get all three sets, although you can see the picture of them when you buy I thought it would be worth is incase I broke anything. Anyway, the coaches have had all the parts fitted, the only difficultly I had was fitting the axle boxes, I found using a Dremel, I was able to file down the axle boxes so I could fit the bearings into them. I recommend test fitting and not to apply any pressure to the axle boxes on the bearings otherwise they will not fit. If you have filed them down enough, you'll find they slot straight in with very little fuss. I am extremely pleased with these, and I do intend to purchase a set of 6 wheelers to form a larger train, these 4 wheelers will be used on the layout and perhaps for other light railways layouts, which I am involved with. In other news, I found watching the Warley MRC's virtual model railway show great fun to watch, and I was very pleased to see that PECO are expecting to get the Bullhead Double Slips out in early 2021, which means you and myself can expect a lot more progress on the actual layout as this layout has been in limbo since January 2020. Hence the focus on coaches and occasionally locomotives.

Afternoon, Fortunately I have been able to sit down and finish off these GER 4 Wheelers, a mistake on my part meant that I had to request for an extra fret of foot boards for the all 3rd however thanks to @David Eveleigh they arrived this afternoon and I was able to get them onto the kit with ease. Another addition I found in the kits was this "TO THE TRAINS" sign which was among the frets. Was a really nice surprise so I thought I'd quickly get this painted and look to find a place for it to go on Mile End Park in the future. All that remains is to wait for the Shapeways 3D printed items which you must purchase separately, however I am very happy how these kits have gone together, I must admit that doing these in 4mm has been a challenge. My first Brass kits in 4mm have turned out fairly well and they run very smoothly. Meanwhile on the LNER 52'6 Front I have finished the underframe and fitted the windows of this Composite 1st/3rd. All that remains is to get some plasticard and prepare the roof for all the typical fittings that a Gresley teak would expect and painting the Golden lining on the bodyside. So overall not a big update but another short and sweet one. I hope you're all doing well during this time Thanks again Tom

Apologies for the lack of updates, I've been dabbling back into my O Gauge modelling, finishing off a few things and looking for some GER 4/6 Wheeled coaches for my planned layout. Sadly it seems there are no or very little kits available bar the shapeways equivalents. But if anyone can help that would be marvelous. Anyway, speaking of 4/6 Wheelers, while I was on the hunt for some during Lockdown No.1 I found a company called eveleigh creations, David produces Great Eastern 4 & 6 Wheeled coaches, along with the Wisbeach & Upwell tramway cars. So for those modelers looking for GE stock, it's no better time than to get you're hands on a set for your layout. I purchased 2 vehicles to begin with. The GE 3rd Brake & All 3rd. These coaches will be painted in a scumbled Teak with the intention to en-act a local service coming from somewhere like Cambridge. The plan I have at the moment is to have a formation like so: - Brake - Third - Compo Lav - First - Third - Full Brake - I must point out that this formation is not based on anything as I have struggled and I am looking for guidance on coach formations on secondary services. However I am temped to replicated this photo of E4 No. 7504 in 1936 on a mixed set. But these are all 6 wheelers from what I can Identify. Anyway, at this time I have been working on the 4 Wheeled brake, not too difficult a built the hardest parts have been the duckets & the floor as there's no easy way of soldering the floor in which in turn meant I had to be a little creative when it came to fitting the floor holding the W Irons in. A kit certainly not for the beginner I feel. But having had a go, I certainly feel a lot more experienced with this and will update with both kits completed hopefully later today.

The 3 kits I ordered have arrived safely, I've enjoyed the challenge which is building the third brake. Amazing just how small it looks when you put it on a layout with RTR former GE loco's. The J15 & J70 seem to fit well with them. Now I need to find a suitable formation for the layout. Thanks Tom

Hi, This might be a little late, however I am told that these Slaters coach kits are a good enough base to replace with other body sides? I am looking to do GER 4 or 6 Wheelers and I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction? Thank you

Hi Ade, You're doing a marvelous job, I have a question for you. Sorry to change the subject a little, but I am curious. I assume the coaches you have are the Slaters GWR 6 Wheeled coaches, having built them do you think the underframes would be suitable for converting to have other body sides on top of the chassis? As I know you can do this in 4mm so I am guessing there's not a problem in 7mm? Thanks in advance. Tom

Hello again, it's been a rather long time since I put something up on the J68! It's fair to say I have finished the locomotive, and I have moved onto other project's, so the best way to go through this, is since getting the loco into black I then moved to paint the cab, cream followed by all the cab fittings, this didn't take too long to do and I really enjoyed doing this part, as it reminds me of when I get the loco's ready in the morning cleaning the cab polishing all the brass ready for the morning. Anyway, moving on I took the opportunity to get the loco into Gloss Varnish ready for decals and fitted them, the loco has brightened up since fitting the decals. Plus I moved to begin painting the head code disks which came in the kit. Plus the extra's which I bought from Ragstone models, for added modelling difference I also fitted brackets to them so they can fit onto the loco's lamp brackets and be removed. However I am thinking I will use Lamps a little more often than disk's. Finally all is to say that I just have to fit the Steam Heat pipes, order some LNER Works plates & weather the loco, lightly around the smokebox, top of the tanks & cab roof and the loco can be called finished, however I am so pleased how this has turned out for 7045. I think I may have to do an LNER E4 2-4-0 next

This was a question that a friend of mine asked and I thought myself...is this wrong? But it is where the kit has marked for the holes to go...However I may change the last 2 holes as I have thought they are too low...But upon seeing the photo I have attached I thought ahh that'll do, and other B17/5's I've seen have followed the marked area's for the kit. But now you've brought it up I may well change it.

Evening all, A nice update today, So moving forwards with the LNER 52'6 I have finished the priming work and the coach has now been painted into the teak base coat ready for the teak effect on tomorrow!! Oh look a big spoiler in the background. But moving on, with the Railroad B17 arriving I was able to convert the new Hornby Railroad B17 R3588 and combine it with the Golden Arrow Models B17/5 body shell. However if anyone does plan on modelling this locomotive with the railroad body, there are a number of additions which I have learnt. Like a standard Hornby model there is now a cable which runs from the loco to the tender, where the DCC decoder & blanking plate goes. I have found that you can remove this and just solder the motor directly without the decoder, as all the pickups are on the loco and the tender is more or less a shell. However if you want to have a DCC decoder it will fit with plenty of space for a sound & normal DCC decoder. As for the body shell, I had previously glued it together and I am glad I did. Having done that enabled me to to test fit the body & chassis and repeating that process until I had gotten a solid fit and I am glad that I do now. As for the loco's operation, it runs extremely smoothly and I cannot fault the new railroad mechanism, I'd certainly recommend getting a new Railroad B17 and using it to modify it into a B17/5. However I recommend getting yourself a Dremel, which has access to a number of abrasive tool attachments as it made my job of cleaning and filing the cab to fit the motor so much easier! With this I hope I have answered a question which a lot of modelers even the head of Golden Arrow Models has which is; Yes you can fit a Golden Arrow Models B17/5 body shell onto the new Railroad B17. I hope you are all doing well and I shall catch you in the next part Thanks Tom

Following the temporary build which the previous photo's have shown the Corridor 3rd with the Brake 3rd & Corridor Compo. I was able to sit down and crack on with the this, fitting the vents & correct length roof in place. I must admit this kit has been a lot harder to put together, however the kit has finally gone together nicely. A big thank you to @jwealleans , as I now have an order from Wizard Models for a fair few items for the 52'6 stock. This will finally allow me to get the underframes painted and allow me to finish them off externally. I do plan to get interiors built on the inside of these 52'6. Hopefully I'll be able to stop talking about LNER 52'6 and move onto some wagons or some Brass GE 4/6 wheeled stock. Thanks Tom

I have not checked them, and I have just gone onto their site and ordered a fair few bit's for these kits. Thank you very much Only confusing part of this, the description "6+6" does that mean there's 12 or that there's 6 in a packet?? Sorry if I seem a little slow on that

As if by lightning, the kit has been put together, cleaned up and prepared for primer. Only job to do is clean the holes for the grab handles, door handles & drill out the roof vents. Sadly I am still struggling to find the 4mm LNER Clipped buffers, which sadly means I cannot get the underframe into primer until either H&A models or Markit's get the Clipped 4mm buffers. If anyone following this know where I can get my hands on some LNER Clipped buffers? That would be fantastic thanks in advance.

New arrival from Isinglass. Yes, it's another LNER 52'6 Teak, this time it's the Corridor 3rd. Andy from Isinglass has recently told me that that the resin for these coaches has changed. Interestingly the resin quality hasn't changed, however I have found that these kits particularly the body side around the windows are a bit brittle but I recommend when doing these kits to be extremely careful when cutting the extra resin away from the window sides.

The following day I posted the upgrade to my LNER P2, I found that the 1.5mm square brass had arrived. So following this, I decided to put my hands to building the Walschaerts valve gear for my P2/2. ( Or is it a P2/3??) Sitting down to do this required a lot of concentration, however I was able to steadily develop the valve gear. It's easier if the photo's do the talking... Which show each stage of the build. The hardest part was drilling and fitting the pin into the piston head and adjusting the union-link & combination leaver. (Above) Probably the hardest part of the build, drilling through the little end, break or damage this and you destroy the model, as there are no easy replacements. But all went well, and it runs smoothly. Sadly due to a mistake on my part, the Eccentric rod which goes to the Expansion link broke while I was soldering the model together, so I will need to contact Grahame King for 2 replacements, and I will also need to find a suitable replacement for the main pin to connect to the Big End on the loco. Nothing too major, it's unlikely I will post anything more on this as the loco is 95% complete so I do hope for those who followed the project from its inception to now have enjoyed it and I look forward to a bit more Modification madness in the future. Post Edit: Hi, I have carried out one more extra task which is the replacement of the nameplates, the versions fitted to the model were from Narrow Planet, having looked at the real locomotive and with the NP versions fading into a darker colour rather than retaining the original colour I decided to replace them with Silver Tay versions. This is the results below and I am far far happier with these. Thanks Tom

Since, finishing the body on my LNER P2 2003, the locomotive was left to look like this: A nice enough looking model, I am sure you will agree, however the one thing that disappointed me with my model was the wheels. I had hated the "HALO" wheels which my good friend Dan had called them. I must admit I was in the same boat as him. In addition to this the P2 was fitted with a former LNER A3 Tender, which had the lining on the frames. To add to this the P2 Chassis did not as it came from a Railroad model, and this had bugged me for some time. Since finishing an O gauge Brass LNER J68, I thought it would be a unique opportunity to finally develop my skills even more, this involved replacing the wheels, re-instating the motor which came with the locomotive & replace the chassis. Nothing too overly complex then. Following the complete re-chassis & re-instating the motor for the locomotive I tested it, the motor wasn't running at it's best so I thought I may need to put the replacement motor in place however following the P2's newly lined wheels arriving I was quick to fit them, in doing this I found the locomotive was running far better and smoother. As an end result the locomotive looks and run's far better than it used too and I am very pleased with the result, the next job is to fit the Valve gear to the locomotive. Which I will do once the brass arrives. Thanks again Tom

And now for something completely different... Anyway I hope you are all well, I recently managed to get my hands on the LNER B17/5 conversion kit from Golden Arrow Models. In addition I have bought the new(ish) Hornby Railroad B17 Liverpool, it's currently on it's way. However while waiting for the bottom end to arrive I have started clean up & fitting of the handrails...It's fair to say things are going well. The plan is to do this as 2859 East Anglian in Apple Green, with the eventual plan to have the 6 Car set from Isinglass Models to go with the loco.

Just for those interested. I was looking through the Yeadon's book which covers the A4's & W1. The W1 was fitted with the double chimney between 1-10/5/1935 She did not return to Darlington for further work till the 6-10/7/1935. At which point the locomotive was fitted with a hood over the top of the loco. So the named version if you so wish to, by removing the nameplates printed in the side you could have the W1 running with the double for a short 2 month period. At which point the W1 sat in the paint shop till 13/10/1936 until she was moved to Doncaster for her rebuild. A very interesting part of the loco's history at that point, The loco had been "Operational" for a total of 1,888, it was in works for a total of 1,105 days. Giving modelers 783 days of operational modelling. To be historically accurate. However I do find the most interesting is it was diagramed & photographed in original condition of it leaving Kings Cross hauling the Non Stop Flying Scotsman Express in July 1930. Very very interesting, I may need to pick up the book solely dedicated to this locomotive.

Have you checked most sites online, as all the orders from Rails have probably moved to Hattons or Kernow, perhaps even getting it from a local model shop?

It's rather interesting, I own 2510 Quicksilver & 4489 Dominion of Canada, I was looking through my Yeadon's, and there's a 4 month period where the W1 has the Fairings, while 2510 is still in Silver Grey & 4489 has just gained the bell. So really my Streaks all fit in between March - May 1938. And well the P2 I got that because it's nice to have 4 Premiere Streaks

Hornby Magazine has put out a video & a number of new photographs showing the Rebuilt LNER W1. I have added them and the link to the video for you below.