salmonpastures

Not wanting to rush the painting or lining I am letting various coats of etch primer and black top coat harden, seal, cure,,, whatever the professional phrase is. This left me time to ponder as to what to crack on with [alongside the L1 !!!],,, but before the next desirable can commence I need to generate some funds,,,, so step forward a "fund generator",, sold as a DJH D20,,,, and 48 hours ago I didn't know a D20 from an De Glehn compound,,,, but I do know,,,, it transpires this DJH D20 is actually a Gem D21,,, whatever,,, to be frank it is RUFF,,,in fact very Ruff,,, but I do enjoy the odd challenge,,, the first step today was to nitromors the whole ensemble,,,,, YUK,,, I have no idea what it was glued together with,,, I know what it reminds me of,,, but we won't go there as I don't want to upset anybody,,, I have also found time to take a look at what appeared to be some fair condition Romford drivers on the chassis,,,, and now I know they are far from fair,,,,1 x egg shaped and 1 has had somebody drilling out where the crank pin go's,,, ah well I will have to look through my "Romford Tat drawer" and see if I can retrieve the situation,,,, just watch this space for a load of fun!!!! Can anybody point me in the direction of a drawing for the D21???? it will make life a lot easier. SAD

What a nice coincidence,,, by the end of this week my D2 should finally be black and awaiting red lining. Not my favourite pastime either but they do look better when they are lined. SAD

After a concerted push to get the C4 Atlantic finished for the Aylsham show in October I was advised this week that due to the Kung Flu the show has been postponed till next year,,,, never mind the invite at least motivated me to get it finished,,, at long last!!! It will be heading for the paintshop early next week!!! SAD

Thanks for that Alan. You already know my feelings on Edwardian Elegance,,,, so much so that this evening I started wandering through the boxes for the B5 "Fish Engine" which is basically very similar to the Atlantic but a 4-6-0 and an LNWR Claughton,,, now there is a challenge,,, co's mine is an original Jidenco Kit [there are some real horror story's on here about this one!!!] not the more sane DJH version,,, the worrying thing is I have wheels and motors for both of them!!! but neither will progress until the current batch are earning their keep. I think I must have the locovirus!!! SAD

Have gone back to the Jersey Lily today as a bit of light relief after fiddling with the bogie. I decided the front bogie needed some pseudo springs to hide the fact that it was actually just a lump of brass,,, and fitted the cylinder drain pipes while I was working on the front end. I was going to start fitting the handrail knobs but found one of the holes was out of line so I had to fill that in and will try again later,,, which explains why everything is covered in white dust!! SAD

One side of the rear bogie now complete and the proper wheels have been fitted which look much better. Hope to make similar progress with the other side tomorrow. Slowly it is coming together. Fitting of the dummy frames will hide what appears to be an enormous 10BA nut!!! SAD

Haven't got as much done as I had hoped today,, but I have scored some serious "brownie points" as the garden is now minus 2 leylandi roots,,, don't get me going on leylandi,, my favourite weed of all time. The rear bogie now has the start of the brake system,, fiddly but it looks the part,,, have also learnt how to MACRO on the camera,,, which doe's todays efforts no favours at all. I need to clean it up quite a bit from here but you get the basic idea. The wheels are "build wheels" and not the finished article. The brake blocks are not aligned or fixed Hopefully get the other side done tomorrow,, each wheel had blocks on both sides,, and then start again on the left hand side,, after that the tasks should get more straight forward. Unless of course I am challenged to dig up another tree in the garden!!! SAD

I have always been interested in 0-8-0 freight engines,,, I don't really know why but maybe something to do with spending hours looking at pictures of them in my Ian Alan Compendium in the early 60's. When this little gem turned up on Ebay I remember thinking to myself,,, do you really need an Austin 7,, well I told myself they did have some shedded at Millhouses so it fits with the area,,, the seller did advise it had various lumps knocked off,, steps and a chimney and it did not really run that well,,,, just the sort of thing to keep me entertained on a cold winters night I thought,,, and it would look rather neat sitting next to my 4F,,, anyway I "won" it for what I thought was a bargain price,,,, Yoo Hoo,,, When it arrived my enthusiasm waned just a little as from the back it looks like this!!!!! Crikey,,, as we are in a "remembering weekend" I thought to myself was this sort of thing really acceptable in the 70's,,,, not only doe's the motor stick 5mm out of the back of the cab but it is also mounted on a nice shiney nickel silver scaffold!!!! just so you don't miss it,,,and lets not mention the solid milled brass chassis. From memory it was a Sutherland kit,,, and back then we were happy to pay for such delights!!! I bought the LYR Hughes "heavy" and it was very similar. As I have recently invested in some milling attachments for my lathe this will become the guinea pig / refresher course for sorting out the chassis and seeing if we can do a better job at hiding the motor,,, but not before we have finished the Atlantic, Q7, J3 and D2 and progressed further with the L1. You guessed it I have opened another dusty unmarked box on the "Wot To Do" shelf!!! I didn't work this hard when they were paying me!!!

I should be so lucky,,, apparently I'm on Bunting Hanging duty tomorrow and then we can both make merry with the dog in our isolated garden!!!!! Can't wait!!!! I can't really complain as I have been isolating in the garage all week, It's been great. SAD

Another good day on the L1 has produced a full set of sandboxes,,, the ones under the cab I can do without,,, a difficult shape to get right but they look OK against a decent photo of her ugliness. More fun tomorrow,,, putting the brakes on the bogie wheels!!!! That should be interesting. SAD

I've got enough of Mr Millholmes finest already "in stock" to have a go at thanks Mick,,, desperate is very apt!!! Was hoping to get some spraying done today but it never really warmed up in the garage so I dusted off the L1 and it now has brakes all round,, not that I'll use them and from what I have read they were not the most efficient system anyway. We also manage to squeeze in a couple of the 6 sandboxes required,,, squeeze being the operative word as there is not a lot of room between the brake hangers and 00 wheel flanges,, but it is starting to fill up nicely below the footplate. SAD

A day of mixed fortunes on the Atlantic today. I managed to sort out the shorts in the tender and revamped the tender pick up system at the same time. Then I spent a happy 30mins looking at various photo's and drawings I have and noticed on the later ones the reversing rod mechanism had acquired a box bolted to the front spectacle plate,,, oh good oh. After a quick scan through Yeadons and the Green Bible I found out to be accurate for the loco/period I model I needed to fit one as well. After pondering how I was going to make it I noticed the original white metal reversing rod looked more like a wet noodle than a substantial piece of steel so decided to replace that as well. All went OK and it looks much more the part than the old one. SAD

My word that looks the part Manna. Nice one. If you fancy an Atlantic after looking at the above I would scratch build that as well. The Millholme range were ground braking in their day,,, but that was early 70's,,, I reckon they were cast by blacksmiths at the weekends,,,, I have to say you got loads of whitemetal for your money. I heard a rumour recently that someone was going to revamp some of the range and release them again,,,, bound to happen now I am jousting with mine!!! I suppose they still are ground breaking if you drop one!!! SAD

That's no way to talk about one of Mr Robinson's finest. It's quite frightening really as we left the deserts and camels very nearly 20 years ago!!!! Another positive aspect of the Kung Flu,,, I'm finding all sorts of things I'd forgotten about. SAD

Hi Alan, Was going to be early May 2021 but am hearing they might have to reshuffle as this years show is obviously not going to happen,,, nothing official as yet but it obviously makes sense. What will be will be,,, I'll keep you informed when I receive any updates. SAD

Alan the paint job on the pannier and the weathering on the wagons is SUPERB,,, nice one sir,,,, if you get bored you can come and do some of mine!!!! When your allowed!!! SAD

Good evening Richard,, I have been looking forward to seeing it finished since about 1997!!! [I'm the worlds worst finisher] This time it will be done,, I have been invited to Immingham exhibition next year and am hell bent on getting the C4 and maybe even the L1 presentable by then. I do not envy you painting a C4 in full GC livery,,, John's book should make the process a little easier,, mine will end up in the very mundaneLNER black with red lining,, that I can do myself. Mr Robinson certainly knew how to make things look graceful,,, except of course the L1!!!! SAD

Whilst rummaging through my "wot to do" shelf yesterday I bumped into a Millholme Models GC Atlantic,, which once again I started many years ago. As the C4 is one of my favourite loco's it is a bit of a mystery how it ended up on the "wot to do" shelf,,, the official excuse is I hadn't spotted it as it was hiding in an unmarked box. So having looked at it for the first time in an age I thought there is not a lot needs doing to finish it off,,, apart from sourcing a chimney and dome,, which I found this morning in a box marked GC Atlantic!!!,, confusion reigns in this house,,, I'll put it down to the recent several moves. On the original build I never did like the cab area or front end as supplied and after checking against a decent C4 drawing I decided to replace them in brass to more accurate dimensions. So after a heavy session with the electric toothbrush it has cleaned up quite nicely,,, I tried running it and,,, quickly found out why it ended up on the dust laden shelf,,, it had more shorts than a Glasgow snug. So today has been spent tracing and eradicating the shorts,,, most of which were in the tender pickup I installed on the original built. When I actually got it running it was evident the motor was having difficulty dragging all the Millholme white metal around with it,,, back in the day Mr Millholme certainly didn't go light on the castings,,, this thing weighs a 4mm ton and would have been heavier with the original white metal bits I got rid of. So after a motor swop for one with a "super neo magnet" by tea time it had found a new lease of life and was trundling around quite nicely. There is still quite a lot to do,, but I have decided to push on with it so it can join the others in the paint shop queue,,, I really will have to stop looking at the "wot to do" shelf as it is delaying progress on the Zeppelin. SAD

Good morning Australia,,,, Not sure if the D2 qualify's as "Edwardian" but for me some of the designs that came out in the early 1900's just ooze style, grace, you name it,,, Robinsons D9, or Immingham, Atlantic, plus of course Ivatt's Atlantic and the LNWR Claughtons, LSWR T9 and a host of the Caledonian motive power seem to have it in shed fulls. Looking at modern traction,,, they seem to be missing something, although for sure I wouldn't fancy scratch building a modern Hitachi or Siemens version of an engine. I spend far too long just looking at B+W photo's of pre grouping loco's and they had something special,, and then we could move on to the architecture of the same period,,, fascinating. SAD

Hi Mark, Is there no end to your trivial trammy knowledge???? I'll have to have another look at the KW range and do a bulk order,,, sending a cheque for £1 seems such a waste. Yet again,,, many thanks for your help!! SAD

As it is over 3 weeks since I offered an update I thought I would show what some serious self isolation has produced. The D2 now has handrails, cab doors, driving wheel balance weights and even a whistle,,, next stop will be a good clean up with Cilit Bang and it can join the Q7 in the paint shop queue,,, have to say the D2 was a pretty little engine,, very nice,, I can see this one becoming a bit of a favourite on the layout,,, as ever it has taken far too long to get it finished off!!! The Q7 is now sporting handrails and the cab has been finished off,,, whilst looking at this photo I realised it didn't have any driving wheel balance weights so they will be fitted tomorrow before it also gets a good soaking in the Cilit Bang and then off to the paint shop. As I have had a concerted "clean up" phase I thought I'd better get a bin lorry sorted out as well,,, I got a bit bored with locomotives so put a John Day kit for the Fordson 7V together,,, after some judicial cleaning up of the castings it has gone together very nicely,,, an ugly little devil the 7V,,, just how I like my models,,, it's driver and mate are already in the paint shop so they will be joining it shortly,,, before they all get weathered!!!. After doing umpteen shows in undercoat I have eventually got round to painting the tram,,, it certainly looks better than it did and it will look even better after I have sourced some suitable transfers to bring it alive, Let's hope we are all over the worst and can get back to normal pretty soon,,, having said that the self isolation has worked wonders for finishing some long standing projects off,,, the workbench is absolutely full of dust!!! SAD

Have recently started to do things in batches,,, with the hope I may get things finished off more quickly,,,and here is a shot of the next 3 loco's I want to finally complete!!!! Nu-Cast Q7,, started in about 1996,,, like the rest it hit a plateau and has been gathering dust ever since. The last sessions in the garage have meant we have finished the cab off,,, buffers,,, lamp irons & the ride heights have eventually been sorted out,,, I know they never got to South Yorkshire but what prompted me to buy one way back when was watching the preserved one on the North Yorks Moors during a summer holiday,,, what a beast and when West Coast Kit Centre [remember them!!] had one on offer I thought,,, why not. Nu-Cast D2 Bought about the same time as the Q7 and this one I really can justify,,, yet again it has been nearly finished for far too long and has also been dusted off for completion. I have cleaned the motor and wheels and run it quite a bit around the layout,,, it has settled down nicely and all it needs for completion is handrails,,, cab doors, and a paint job. I do like GNR loco's and this is a very handsome/stylish 4-4-0. I also quite like the fact that Mr Ivatt seemed to design one tender and everything ran with it,,, early days of standardisation I suppose. K's J3 This one is a little different as it has actually done a few exhibitions,,, but never ran very well,, it was your archetypal coffee grinder!! I disposed of the K's glued together motor and put an early can motor and gearbox into it,, the paintwork was very poor so I stripped it and hope the next attempt will be much better. Again I have been running it quite a lot and whilst it is still not silent it is a darn sight quieter than it was before, it looks quite at home sitting next to the D2 I am quite enjoying this self isolation!!! SAD

Had another good day,,, tin bashing the J3 and Q7,,,, talking of tram livery's,,,, this is what it should look like!!!!! I will be delighted if it ends up anything like this!!!! SAD

Now the rush is over I have found time to catch up with the "BIG 0"!!!! Those trees look magnificent Alan,,,, it is just a shame they hide your lovely backscene!!! Where's the bus,,,, as you now have a bridge??? SAD

Thanks for that Alan,,,, Have to say it was a "challenge",,, and if I'd known the minute size of the trolley wheel before I had purchased one I would probably have decided I had better things to do with my time,,, they really are tiny. There are all sorts of variables with tram modelling which you just don't encounter with railways,,,, and as mentioned it was fun because I hadn't done it before. The first time I got it to go through the triangle correctly I hit the roof,,, & frightened the life out of the cat!!! The next major challenge with the tram will be to paint it properly in the correct livery,,,, it has been in undercoat since 2006,,,, naughty naughty!!! SAD