Hacksworth_Sidings

Well, from a mechanical standpoint, Croydon’s finished! A stroke of luck hit and Elaine had some Croydon nameplates up for grabs, swept those up last night, I’ll also be getting a Dapol Bulleid kit to take the cab window from as I can’t find the rest of the window on Croydon, I’ll also use it’s wheels, going to attempt to sand them down and lay them over the Triang wheels, if that fails then I’ll use Milliput, looks brilliant at the head of some Triang suburbans…

Managed to find the camera, got a tiny 16 volt motor, more than sufficient for a 12 volt train set, some decent worm gears too, also found an old pullback toy which I’ve gutted to use as a gearbox casing, now all I need to do is fit the worm onto the axle, then get the Rocket kit…

I’m more impressed with how he makes everything for *Tenshodo* bogies, does the guy just alternate his loco bodies between a few bogies? Are Tenshodo bogies easy to get in Japan? Or is he just loaded? No way would I personally spend £50 on a chassis for a HO/OO Lego Thomas train

Bachmann Junior chassis? Personally I feel the body’s slightly too long, but that’s probably just me… Has the same sort of vibe as the J94s and how the front and rear ends hang a fair distance from the end of the chassis. That’s probably just me though. Also, you got anything in mind regarding liveries?

Might have a busted digital camera somewhere, I’ll have a look once I get home tonight…

Give me five minutes, a steel wire brush, some WD-40 and a flat head screwdriver…

There’s a YouTuber called “Small Thomas World”, he’s a Japanese content creator who’s done some pretty radical things involving Thomas merch… Tomy/Trackmaster shells, McDonalds toys, even custom Lego bodies, fitted on Tenshodo HO motor bogies, can’t help but feel like that may have been an inspiration…

Airfix Biggin Hill kit on a Triang Synchro chassis, anyone? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115964300269

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115964300269?hash=item1b0002cbed:g:H5sAAOSw1fJlRl0R&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4B%2BULaUtEcUysz58p1lDym%2Bodl9uAyVWfR3OTX9WyMP1Dx%2BhJPI9GWJYFl4ze%2Bi3inY8WekTO4bSOlK0FDff%2Bpr5jdm7gXCg%2B1f5um9mr2isLYZ6195fmwJaz%2BX%2FU9yYmJXggdi4vHXswp6nRyweKueFZJobJTdIVC7%2FN7LmDT5At62lWvcb18Yajf35whNovupbNtzbG8XF9zLYFLhZqmEzDn0uHeq4HUYFK8Sy%2FgTq4M3SD9syciyhZ9Gypm6q%2FxpqwE4KpjrdlO04UsS7x8R8PpkaWs9q7IjB6S0Kgc%2F%2B|tkp%3ABk9SR5zJrKD1Yg Biggin Hill on a Triang Synchro chassis anyone?

You think that’s bad? When I had no idea how easy repairing models is, I completely decimated a James and Gordon, I reckon if I hadn’t bent all the rods, chipped Gordon’s frames to hell and back, and completely lost most of the drive components I could quite easily revive both of ‘em.

I personally find the Princess too short, likewise, as you said, the Jinty is too long. Personally I reckon a B12 chassis would be the optimal Triang chassis for the job, will have to double check, I’ve seen it under the K’master Bulleid kit though, 33C recommended the Princess for that, which I’ve tried, a decent fit, not to mention it’s what Triang themselves used, but the B12 is just that slightest bit longer which supplies the optimal spacing. Will have to check the B12 to my GMR 6100 to see if that’s the best of the three, not as short as the Princess chassis, yet not as long as the Jinty’s, if not then I did do some measurements and found that the B12 with the early, smaller, solid Princess wheels would be a perfect chassis for extending the 4MT mogul kit to a 4-6-0… I’ll also keep the comment about the Jinty chassis being great for a King in mind…

Cut the drive axle to length, then fit the rear wheels to it (could do the front wheels for a faster runner, though the rear wheel would supply greater torque), use the windup motor’s casing to hold everything, can use the space from the boiler to help hide the end of the motor, then route the wires through the loco and tender, ensuring enough slack to take corners easily, fit pickups to a flatbed you don’t use any more, slave that to the loco, add weight if need be, and all should be good.

Y’know I was just thinking about how you motorised the Stephenson’s Rocket kit with a cheap windup motor, and how you can get cheap coreless motors off eBay… Drive gears from Microscalextrix car, cheap eBay motor, Dapol Rocket kit, possibly gut a windup motor for a gearbox casing, a cheap flatbed wagon for power collection… Would give Smokey Joe a run for his money 🤪

Not sure if it counts as “cheapo train sets”, but here’s an idea I’ve had for a while: I’ve been seeing a lot of those YouTube videos with people making fancy things out of those 3D pens, one good example I found whilst checking YouTube was a car body made using a 3D pen, designed to fit an existing RC chassis, and this got me thinking… Could this be applied to railway modelling? I know decent places to get cheap chassis’, I have a book of OO drawings by F.J. Roche, all I’d need is the pen. Would it be to the same scratch as a professionally made model? Absolutely not, but as a bit of fun I think it could be a decent challenge! If I were to attempt it, I’d likely try something like a Jinty, not many complex shapes since most of the boiler is covered by the large tanks, hell, maybe even whip together some scale drawings of a Nellie body and attempt a replica of that, either way, I’ve been thinking of this for a while and want to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter.

…On a considerably lighter note: Remember that Kitmaster pug my friend sent over for a rebuild? I finally found the cheap train set wagon that the bogies came from, and so I’ve finally fitted the wheels! Handles radius 1 curves like a champ. Hornby 0-4-0 for scale.

Guess which clutz dropped the model and shattered the cab! About to go and hunt around the floors, managed to find two parts of the cab already, really could have done without this though… Push comes to shove, I attempt to rebuild it with Milliput and plasticard, any recommendations for paint? I’m considering Humbrol RC405 “GWR/BR green”, pretty sure that’s what was used when this model was first made, regardless of if I find all the cab pieces or not, I’m still going to get some paint to touch up the model’s details alongside other projects.

Merchant Navy if I recall correctly, uses a Triang BoB as a base though. Can definitely agree on the livery too, after I’ve restored the Rosebud BoB I bought from Elaine I’m tempted to pick up a Dapol one and paint it up in BR blue.

Managed to throw together a drawbar, a cut down Airfix COT’s drawbar, in hindsight I should have just cut the double loop which slots over the tender coupler off and used that instead of creating unnecessary faff for myself, but it holds and at a somewhat believable distance.

Completely neglected to show, but after 20 minutes with just my hands, a flathead and some new plastic wheel bushes it’s rolling smoothly, need to file away at the ash pans so the rear bogie can swivel properly, fix the cylinder block (which is likely sitting too low down as of now) to the chassis, create a drawbar, and get a motor, but all in all it’s shaping up to be a decent model! Will be focusing on cosmetics next, going to buy a smokebox dart from Silver Tay, considering getting brass 34056 “Croydon” nameplates from Fox.

About 20 minutes with just my hands and a screwdriver and it’s at least rolling correctly, need to file away at the ash pans so the rear bogie can rotate freely, and properly secure the new cylinder block, develop a loco/tender drawbar too, and then it should be ready from a mechanical standpoint.

There is an "AG" on the back of the smokebox, which is quite clearly a cast, so I'd assume yes. Plenty of other white metal castings too, including two rather annoying ones beneath the cab which restrict the rear bogie's movement. (Edit: just looked in a book, they’re the ash pans, will have to file those down so the bogie can swivel) Also, turns out it isn't an Airfix Bulleid, but rather an original Kitmaster! Or at the very least on Kitmaster frames.

Just been checking the model over and I have reason to believe there's a conversion kit at play here... White metal casts for the whistle, safety valve, smokebox and boiler backhead, two casts to actually mount the body onto the chassis, a cast to mount a tension lock coupler to the tender, and a casted tender coal chute(?), anyone know of a Rosebud/Airfix BoB conversion kit which uses the Triang B12 chassis as a base? Or am I looking too deep into this and it's actually something that someone has thrown together out of several third party components?

Bulleid finally arrived, should be a relatively straightforward restoration, will show more photos once it's complete, but I'll go into greater detail on the Kitmaster thread.

Yep, I’ve just found my eBay alternative, I ordered on the 30th, she posted on the 31st, and today it arrives, all 2nd class post mind you, will absolutely be buying from Elaine again.

My third Spam Can just arrived, running on a B12 chassis, not a Jinty, the top of the model was loose but I’ll likely keep it this way as there are a few white metal parts which are used to hold the body down to the chassis which can only be accessed by removing the top, I need to devise a loco/tender coupling but all in all nothing I can’t sort out. As for customer service from Elaine? I ordered on Monday October 30th, she posted the item yesterday (Tuesday Oct 31st), and it arrived today (Nov 1st), good prices and swift delivery, I’ll absolutely be buying from her again.