Gibbo675

Hi Folks, I have painted the Cartic-4 set and it has come out quite well although there was slight bleeding under the masking of the lower deck. The reason for this is that it is quite tricky to get even my little finger in to press it down, i even used the end of a paint brush to try to make sure that the masking tape was firmly settled. There is a little touching up here and there and also repairs to the areas of failed masking but nothing much considering. The colours used are BR Blue for the sides and Diesel Roof Grey for the inner faces of the sides and the deck surfaces. Diesel Roof Grey looks good for the deck colour but from what I can see in photographs the inner faces of the sides ought to be BR Rail Grey. I might repaint the inner faces of the sides but I think it might look too bright and will then require toning down by weathering, in which case it may be easier to leave it. I think that I should perhaps have fitted the buffers before painting though! General view. Side view showing the articulation brackets that requires painting black. Gibbo.

Hi TS, If you use the 15mm tube you can increase it's diameter by splitting another piece of tube and sliding it over the original piece, the increase in diameter being twice wall thickness. To make the diameter greater still you can sandwich a wrapping of thin plasticard (.010") , twice wall thickness plus twice plasticard thickness, more plasticard greater still. The elasticity of the tube will keep it all together while the glue cures, although a bit of tape will make sure, and it may then be treated as a thick tube. Its a tricky job but it does work. Gibbo.

Hi Al, I remember always looking out for the narrow gauge trains at Gathurst when travelling from Burscough to Wigan whenever my mother dragged us around the shops as a child. The viaduct across the Douglas valley was a spindley looking construction that carried the narrow gauge railway. This is how I remember Gathurst: https://www.flickr.com/photos/72213853@N03/8000503521/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/72213853@N03/7880493186/in/photostream/ Gibbo.

Hi E3109, It is quite close through there, I was on the footplate of 45407 when an icicle smashed off the glass draught screen from the driver's side of the cab one December evening after detaching from the train at Preston and working light back to Bury. The drive Bob Hart had just seconds earlier pulled his elbow in from leaning on the cab side rest when an almighty bang and broken glass made us all jump. If he hadn't pulled his arm in when he did he might well have lost it from the elbow down. I always shut both the cab roof vent and the cab side window when working through tunnels just in case. Gibbo,

Hi Emma, Dr Beeching's opprobrium most certainly precedes him, even posthumously. It would seem to me that the most infamously under reported aspect of the Beeching report was that although most of the proposed cuts were carried out, the investment and improvements were not all carried out. Not that I attempt to agree or defend either Dr Beeching or with how the cuts were implemented you understand, necessary or otherwise. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, Progress so far is that I have discovered, from another ICI Transport Blue related thread about caustic soda tanks, that the new shade of blue used for the Caledonian sleeper may be a suitable shade for ICI Transport Blue, and also that I have been busy with what is to be painted with a paint that I do not yet have a definitive shade for. Gibbo.

Latest Modelling Hat If you were in any doubt............. ........you now know I'm crackers. Gibbo.

ICI Bulk Salt Presflo Tanks Hi Folks, While paint is drying on various other jobs I have decide to start yet another project. I had such a good time last year building 24 Dapol Presflo kits I thought I might do the ICI Bulk Salt version because I had a Hornby Dublo one many years ago. Being young and daft I repainted it into BR Bauxite, I still have it but why did I repaint it ??? To make amends to my self I ordered some transfers from CCT which I have had for just a few weeks and now I have the kits to apply them to once I sort out the best shade of blue with a tinge of green to actually paint them in. I built up the kit as per usual and once the hopper part of the tank was cured well enough for firm handling I cut the bottom off it so that I can rebuild the bottom section as the twin hopper style that the tanks were. The representation of the discharge pressure gauge was carved off from the body and two pieces of .020" plasticard were attached to form instruction boards and another was attached just above the sole bar. To fit this one into place one of the body side ribs had to be relieved to allow the plate to be sited n the vertical plane. As the tanks had two compartments within the hopper there are two discharge valve hand wheels and two discharge top air pipes. The hand wheels were from a Cambrian Kits assorted hand wheel sprue and the top air pies is .040" brass wire, it would be better if it was .030" but it is what I had despite running out for the last two tanks. The wires have not yet been secured which is why they look misaligned in the photographs. Three Hoppers shewing the bottom cut off with the forth as a juxtaposition. Progress so far with two of eight pipes missing due to under supply of materials. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, The lead time on that job is about as bad as the Trix cut and shut class 84 I'm currently finishing off that I must have started around 1989/90. I managed to sort out an 81 and an 85 just recently which were similarly delayed in their completion. Current distractions from all of my other projects started when I was a lad are some ICI Bulk Salt Presflos which arrived two days ago in form of Dapol kits and are now mostly built. You must understand, I have to wait for the paint on the 84 to thoroughly dry before the next coat is applied. As for what I should be doing, well, that just isn't happening ! Gibbo.

Hi Bernard, Well spotted ! They are indeed the K's Mataro caches but I did not narrow them, they are as built externally with the exception of altering the foot boards and squaring the windows to make them look more like Liverpool and Manchester Railway types. Along with fitting compartment dividers the other modification made was that I had two sets and so one of the mail coach types was converted into an extra first class coach. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, Which layout, I'll come and say hello. Don't wish to be rude but the avatar photograph looks to be somewhat of its time shall we say. Should you wish to avoid me just tell porkies about the name of the layout and have a laugh at some twerp asking the right questions of the wrong people ! Gibbo.

Hi Tom, I may be busy building Airfix/Dapol Presflos tanks but only because the second coat of blue is currently drying on my Cartic-4. I have even painted those bogies of yours a suitable shade of black so your efforts are slowly being put to use ! Gibbo.

Hi Barclay, Here are two Rocket kits, one as Northumbrian, that I built and at the other end of the scale a made up Mallett contraption from spliced the 9F kits. All models a static and were built for my own amusement. I have plenty more to show, four Presflos on the bench at the moment, but I shall drip feed them in as we go along. Dapol still produce a lot of those original kits, perhaps put their name in the title. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, My kind of grumpiness!!! I am total agreement, contentment comes from within and not from the purchase of what someone else suggests that you need. Gibbo.

Hi Neil, I do like your gas tanks. Do small coaches have a lower amperage rating than large coaches ? Gibbo.

Hi Paul, I am planning on building some ICI Presflo tanks and I have the same conundrum with the paint shade as you have with your caustic soda tanks. I sent a PM to john Isherwood of cctransuk, his answer was that BR Blue is so close as to be of negligible difference and that a spot of green will tip difference suitably, and that was after he had had some mixed up to specification by Halfords. BR Blue was developed from a pigment produced by ICI called Monastral Blue and would guess that it was introduced by BR and ICI at a similar time when Dr Beeching was at the head of both companies consecutively. Gibbo.

Hi There, Flexible pipes are sometimes used to prevent the steel pipes fracturing due to vibration although the arrangement doesn't seem to make sense because the one in the top photograph indicated with yellows lines seems to be fixed to a dummy. The pipe marked with a green arrow seems to be attached to a tee-piece that has one branch going down the the brakes on the bogie. It is a strange arrangement and I might be talking nonsense as a consequence ! Gibbo.

Hi Andrew, You state that your son deals in cash, therefore If your son does not have a bank account he cannot then discharge any such commercial debt notice as any so called court you care to mention will not be able to prove that he has the means bye which to do so. This is not a process of law but of commerce for which you would refer to the Bills of Exchange Act for guidance. Travel upon the railway is via a contract subject to terms and conditions set prior to purchase of a ticket, the ticket provides receipt of contract entered into by the customer in accepting conditions of contract and also provides the railway company indemnity should the customer suffer injury while in vicarious care of the railway company. You cannot engage in commerce without account hence the general move toward a cashless society in all areas. To this regard we are stuffed, not just your son ! Gibbo.

Hi Neil, There seem to be a lot of folk spending your money for you upon this thread. My appallingly tongue-in-cheek-cheapskate advice is to buy any engine you like the look of and a tin of paint. Just ignore me, Gibbo.

Hi Coryton, The standards for flexible gangways between carriages is a set dimension and was likely covered by RCH standards as are buffer heights and shackle lengths &c. However, should an articulated set be built then the gangways over the bogies may be manufactured to any dimension deemed reasonable and may therefore be wider than a standard gangway. This is possible because it will only be coupled to type and not general pool stock within the set although any gangways upon the ends of the set would be of standard RCH dimension. For instance, the Metropolitan Cammel Blue Pullmans had wide non standard width gangways as they were only ever coupled to type. Also one of my latest model projects is articulated and has very wide, if rater open, "gangways" for the loading of cars. Gibbo.

Hi David, Interesting link you have there, I recognise a lot of the proposed diagrams from reading both volumes of E.S. Cox's of Locomotive Panorama. Is there any way to view the drawings listed on line ? Gibbo.

Hi Johnster, All of the 2-6-2 and 2-6-4 tanks that I have ever ridden have a much more stable ride than the 2-6-0 tender versions of the same irrespective of tank ullage. The most unstable ride as far as 2-6-0 types are concerned was the Crab 42765 at Bury which was very lively at certain speeds. All locomotives with side control trucks at each end need to have differential arrangements so as not to induce oscillations. In the case of LMS/BR 2-6-4 tanks this is via different spring rates due to the different axle loadings of the trucks, in the case of the LMS/BR 2-6-2 tanks the leading truck is sprung and the trailing truck is of the swing link type. I'm not sure of the the Sevenoaks derailment but there was on derailment on the Southern involving a tank engine where the track was blamed for it was ballasted with the rounded shingle pebbles from Romney Marsh compounded by the ratio of the links of the swing link truck. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, I intend to build a short rake of suitable modified Dapol Presflos into the ICI Bulk Salt livery and would like to know, does anyone happen to know what is the best colour match for ICI Transport Blue ? The ICI shade seems similar enough to BR Blue but how close I'm not sure. I do know that BR Blue is derived from an ICI shade known as Monastral Blue, would that be the correct shade ? Thanks for looking and thanks for any assistance in this matter, Gibbo.

Hi Mike, Steady on, I've not been that busy. I built the last wagon last evening and this afternoon and the previous three over three months ago. I too am pleased with how it is looking so far, you are correct that with the extra details it will look a lot better. What I found surprising is that the tops edges of the body sides are a lot lower than you might think. The top edges line up approximately with the mid point of the cab front windows which should you look at phootgraphs seems correct. I cannot comment upon Deluxe Models Plastic Weld for I have not used it, I would advise looking at the list of suggested solvents on page two of the information page provided by York Modelmaking Community linked below: https://www.yorkmodelrail.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Laser-Cutting-information-sheet.pdf Having just looked there is a similarly named solvent. Cheers, Gibbo.

Hi Paul, It is the very same Model and the very same Me ! Many thanks for the compliment and also recognising my handiwork. Gibbo.