Gibbo675

Cartic-4 Hi Folks, This is a new entry upon this thread but it has one of its own that I started last year. The main reason for not working upon the Cartic-4 project is that this particular thread has taken precedence somewhat and also that the EMA Plastic Weld that i am using to construct my kit has such awful fumes that i use it outside and the weather has been quite rough in the last three months. Continuing on from then; Today I have finally finished off the building of the last of the laser cut parts to complete the set and while doing so writing out a set of instructions should anyone wish to build one of their own once I have completed the kit as a whole. Writing the instructions was quite tricky because not only do I have be be concise, it all has to make sense. The difficulty in doing this is that I know what I am doing and so I don't really need to explain the process to myself, if that makes sense. This is also the first time that the whole rake has been mounted upon a full set of Tom's (TangoOscarMike) printed bogies. He has developed some air tanks and brake cylinders but I can't remember if I am to get them from Shapeways or if he is sending them to me once he has seen them for himself. Either way it will become apparent in time. The kit as it stands has gone together really well although it needs to have some slight remedial works carried out for certain details that would be better in an altered form. The drawings will be amended shortly. I shall also start on the drawings for the gratings that form the decking for the cars to run upon and also the brake hand-wheels, handrails, ladders and loading flaps. The next step is to fill, file and sand the wagons and fit the couplings and buffers, this process will likely be started over the weekend. Full Rake. Side view of outer wagon. Side view of inner wagon. General view form above. 85 024 on a class 3 working ! Gibbo.

Hi Folks, It has be a while since I did anything with the Cartic-4 set, partly due to distraction with other projects and partly to do with the fact that the EMA Plastic Weld has such awful fumes I only use it outside with a Work Mate as a bench. Today I have finally finished off the building of the last of the laser cut parts to complete the set and while doing so writing out a set of instructions should anyone wish to build one of their own once I have completed the kit as a whole. Writing the instructions was quite tricky because not only do I have be be concise, it all has to make sense. The difficulty in doing this is that I know what I am doing and so I don't really need to explain the process to myself, if that makes sense. This is also the first time that the whole rake has been mounted upon a full set of Tom's (TangoOscarMike) printed bogies. He has developed some air tanks and brake cylinders but I can't remember if I am to get them from Shapeways or if he is sending them to me once he has seen them for himself. Either way it will become apparent in time. The kit as it stands has gone together really well although it needs to have some slight remedial works carried out for certain details that would be better in an altered form. The drawings will be amended shortly. I shall also start on the drawings for the gratings that form the decking for the cars to run upon and also the brake hand-wheels, handrails, ladders and loading flaps. The next step is to fill, file and sand the wagons and fit the couplings and buffers, this process will likely be started over the weekend. Full Rake. Side view of outer wagon. Side view of inner wagon. General view form above. 85 024 on a class 3 working ! Gibbo.

Hi John, I thought three sheets were required, one up, one down and one to polish. May I also add that in such salubrious facilities as pictured three sheets might also be three sheets to the wind. Gibbo.

Cheers Corbs, The idea was not mine, it came form the next door neighbour of my parents so thanks to him ! I have to say that the glazing works very well and I'm really pleased with it especially as I didn't have a solution to the problem at the start of the project. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, I agree, my last layout was full cab control and it was great, I would set the road and select which controller and of I would go. The loco yard had plenty of isolated sections so I could place a locomotive anywhere I wanted it and also move locomotives that were between others in sidings etc. I feel that there is an aspect of "latest gizmo! to DCC along with all of the extra expense, worse still should it fail how do you fix it ? By comparison at least with the traditional analogue system its all relatively easy and cheap to fix. As for toy trains with noises it would seem to me that removes the fun of making your own noises, comedy value if nothing else ! Gibbo.

Hi 31A, How can that be ? Clive's railway has a triangle in it. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, Here is my take on late 1960's Freightliner trains with a caboose, a 20' Freightliner box and a 30' Manchester Liners box, all that is required now is a two tone 47 with full yellow ends. The Freightliner Caboose is now complete with the exception of its number. The numbers were rendered in red and as I don't have any suitable transfers numbering will be for another day. The red stripe is Railmatch buffer beam red which is a very good match for the red Hornby use on their old style Freightliner boxes. The air pipes that are attached to the handrails are connected to the air pipes of the FGA that carries the caboose so that the guard could observe the air brake train pipe and main reservoir pressures and also apply the brake via a setter within the caboose. When the black paint is dry I shall dab some red and yellow on the ends of the pipes. I'm sure The Johnster will set me straight if this incorrect ! Gibbo.

Hi Folks, The Freightliner Caboose is now complete with the exception of its number. The numbers were rendered in red and as I don't have any suitable transfers numbering will be for another day. The red stripe is Railmatch buffer beam red which is a very good match for the red Hornby use on their old style Freightliner boxes. The air pipes that are attached to the handrails are connected to the air pipes of the FGA that carries the caboose so that the guard could observe the air brake train pipe and main reservoir pressures and also apply the brake via a setter within the caboose. When the black paint is dry I shall dab some red and yellow on the ends of the pipes. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, A minor amount of filling, filing and painting would see that right in no time. Does your two car Craven have DC kits cab ends ? I am part way through a DC kits one with another in a box and the best modification I made was to form the filler caps in the body sides which seem to make quite a difference to how it looks. Your Pullman conversions remind me of my Pullman conversions which also need painting, all far too many of them. Gibbo.

Hi There, It was sunny in Shap this afternoon, albeit slightly cloudy this morning after last nights rain that got rid of most of the snow. Gibbo.

Hi TS, I think there is a slight difference between you making a bit of beer money here and there and the kind of psychopathic-greedy-graspers the likes of which make up the panel of "Dragons Den". But, ha-ha, what do I know !!!! Gibbo.

Hi Andrew, There is a Trix body on Ebay at the moment but the start bid is a tad bit steep. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233120592644?ul_noapp=true Made me laugh anyway ! The cabs of the Trix moulding aren't long enough and the body is short because of it, as mine are all the same it doesn't really matter but I would think compared to the Bachmann one they would look quite wrong. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, It doesn't have to be a parcels unit, two car bug crates are acceptable also. Gibbo.

Steady on , it's not that good ! Thanks all the same. Gibbo.

Hi Andrew, All my early AC electrics are from the Trix body shell, I had a Trix one from about 1973 that my dad got second hand, unfortunately the motor burnt out and is now 81 015. The Trix body shells were produced by Dapol and sold off in the late 1990's, I bought six then and I have had four more recently from eBay. I used modified Hornby 86 bogies for the 81 ans 85, modified Hornby Hymek bogies for the class 82 and modified Lima class 33 bogies for the class 83 and 84. I would guess the Triang body shell is as good a base as the Trix although I don't know if the Flushglaze for the Trix body shell fits the Triang moulding which I why I stuck with the Trix bodies. The Cartic-4 is a laser cut kit that I am developing with printed bogies. I yet need to do the artwork for the brass etchings that will form the handrails and flooring grills. Gibbo.

Hi Clive, As Arthur Schopenhauer once said, " The recognition of madness, even within oneself, is the true path to sanity." Here is my scratch built Cravens parcels car, it need glazing though. Gibbo. Edit; It is much better that I do actually attach the photograph, see above quote !

Go mad and build the Cravens Clive !

Hi Al, If you need information upon the 45 ton cranes used by the LNER then may I suggest Peter Tatlow's book, Railway Breakdown Cranes Volume 2 and also this following website; http://www.bdca.org.uk/index.html Here is the type of Cowans Sheldon crane as used by the LNER; http://www.bdca.org.uk/gallery/index.php/Cowans-Sheldon/ADRC95217/95217-location-and-date-unknown-but-post-1968-and-pre-1985-Roger-Cooke-collection Gibbo.

Hi Folks, I have now first coat painted, glazed and fixed the roof to the Freightliner caboose. The whole of the caboose including the then loose roof was first painted in rail grey this allowed me to then fix the glazing without having to mask off the windows. The windows in the ends of the caboose are simply transparent glazing sheet, however, the domed windows in the sides are made form a type of jewellery stone called a cabochon. Cabochons are available form eBay for a very reasonable price, I used some 8mm diameter clear ones which were press fitted into the apertures of the windows with a backing of transparent glazing sheet. The flat inside face of the cabochons had a dab of Anita's Clear and Gloss embossing fluid which was then used to fix in the backing of glazing sheet. Once the windows were judged to be secure I glued the roof on and once cure it was trimmed back flush, filed and sanded to give a slight radii along the edges. the paint was then touched up avoiding the windows. Of all the models I have ever glazed it has by far the best prismatic effect of any of them ! Gibbo.

Hi Andrew, Here are two of the properly fitted grills on the class 84; Gibbo.

Hi Folks, Today's work has involved the class 84, I have been fitting the window frames and traction motor air intake grills. After checking for square and alignment of the apertures I cut a 2mm wide strip of .010" plasticard that was formed around a rectangle of plasticard that II had cut to fit neatly into the apertures using tweezers. the ends were left long so that the strip could be glued into place on three side and secured, when reasonably set I then trimmed back the ends y cutting through the ends with a scalpel blade and then ran a drop of glue under the loose ends manipulating into place with the tweezers. The amount by which the strip is proud of the body side was checked and special attention was made in seating the corners to allow for an even curve. The grills were made by cutting a strip of .030" plasticard slightly wider than needed and about three times longer than one of the grills, placing it along the back of a file and scribing with a junior hacksaw blade using the frame of the saw as a guide. these were then cut and filed to be a press fit into the frames of the apertures before setting into position with glue. The Milliput filler has been filed and sanded smooth and is actually much better than it looks. Gibbo.

Hi Rob, Are you aware of the book, "Lets Stick A Little Bit More!" ? The book is a history of Kitmaster's rise and demise, and also what subsequently happened with the Airfix purchase through to Dapol current custody of the remaining serviceable moulds. The kit tooling that became damaged was stored on the bottom shelf of a warehouse that was flooded, it became so rusted that it was irretrievably damaged. All of the kits produced and a kits that were planned are described, even box artwork and cost of the tooling required to make a kit. The wagon kits that were developed by Airfix are described too along with a section about the Scalecraft Road-Railer. This is the cheapest on eBay but seem to be quite expensive to what I paid, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lets-Stick-Together-a-Little-Bit-More-A-Further-Appreciation-of-Vintage-Plasti/143113757810?epid=115622956&hash=item21523ea472:g:ZOoAAOSwpptcVYcH Gibbo.

Hi Folks, Work on AC electric locomotives has been continuing with a class 81 and an 84 on the bench. The class 81 is almost finished painted and has a number allocated, it is to be E3013 and will carry a crest. The livery is a late 1960's early 1970's livery just before the locomotives started to be painted BR blue, it is electric blue with full yellow ends and blue buffer beams. The class 84 is another one of the seven AC electrics that I started about thirty years ago, there are five more Dapol produced Trix 81 bodies to go at also. Since getting out of its box it has had its bogies removed and as I was not happy with the splice in the body I cut it in two and rejoined it, this time getting it straight ! The other job was to re-profile the body side windows as I was not happy with those either, I think I had worked form photographs in the first instance but I have since gained two books with drawings of the type which has made things a bit easier. I also cut the apertures for the body side grills originally I had made scribed overlays but that was thirty years ago. The original Trix roof profile was cut out completely allowing the the body sides to be reduced by 1.5mm and a new roof section from .040" plasticard substituted. This makes the cut back behind the cab look deeper and reduces the depth of the valences along the tops of the body sides and is more accurate to the drawing. A minor detail that has been added for the first time that was missing from the first attempt was the strip across the top of the cab roofs which for whatever reason I did not fit originally. The brackets that form the suspension pillars were made from .060" plasticard glued into place with a square of .040" glued to the outer surfaces of the .060" pieces and also locating into notches cut into the lower body side. once the whole had cured I carved the basic shape and then filed to finish. the inner faces are relieved to allow clearance for the bogies and the outer faces are tapered inward slightly. The cut marks and filled patches have been filled with Milliput and when cured will be sanded flat. The locomotive will be numbered 84 009 and will be finished in BR blue as a newly out-shopped locomotive in reconditioned form with air tanks on the roof. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, The Prestwin wagons have now had their transfers applied and a coat of matt varnish applied. Now that the tanks are varnished the frames look a bit too shiny so I think that I shall give them another coat just to be sure. In the photograph opposite sides of the early diagram Prestwins are shewn and one of the late diagram Dapol model for comparison. Gibbo.

Hi Andrew, Here is one I did earlier it is for a refurbished Class 84 and I used a junior hacksaw; I have some filing and filling to do before the grills are to be fitted. Gibbo.