Wibble

I don't really know - just picked the nearest shade from the paint box whilst looking at an image of the real thing.

It's sad to see so many poor comments regarding Dapol's latest model to the market. The good thing about forums such as this means you can make an informed choice if you decide to purchase. This is one attempt at customising my purple example, and hopefully it looks like something from the early 1970s. Converted to EM gauge with ease, but the electrical pick-up system is going to cause a few headaches in due course. I've fitted brass wire pick-ups onto the back of the solid brass wheels. There are apparently supposed to be a couple of small pods on the roof, and no doubt a few other small details which I've missed, but that's just about it.

I understand what 159220 is saying about Chinese production for British companies, but you would have thought the colour specification for the Dapol Western would be 'on file' somewhere, and easily referenced for future products such as the class 73.

side panels minus (later) latches.

I guess it might be helpful to start off with some positive comments...... Erm..... it runs well, and the level of detail is excellent. As for accuracy, I can't be bothered to get the calipers out to check, but it looks like a class 73 to me. One thing that really started to annoy me after looking at it alongside other BR blue locos was its PURPLE tint - yes, definitely purpleish to my eyes, and difficult to capture on an image. The yellow also didn't look right, slightly lemony perhaps. I would have thought after the washed-out blue of the class 22, and the almost perfect blue on the Western, the class 73 blue colour would be sorted. There's obviously something going wrong in the Dapol paintshops. After securing all the fiddly little bits that had fallen off the model during its journey from China, I decided the only solution was a repaint. After modifying the latches on the bodyside to represent the earlier arrangement (and revealing the white plastic body colour), the repaint was already on the cards. The only bits I haven't resprayed (Railmatch BR blue) are the roof grills, and hopefully the images show this contrast in colours. I'll be weathering the roof in due course and can finally say goodbye to the purple hue.

If I remember correctly, it was Karen (Greg's wife) that made most of the coils, wrapped around a parallel wooden handle of about 1/2 inch diameter.

A few more pics of Shenston Road, with further details and captions on the emgauge70s website.

It's just crying out to be built to 4ft 4 1/2 inches!!

Baby Deltic D5901 is seen on a Derby test train.

Over at BSC Shenston a class 40 gets ready to depart with a train of steel coil. The rails have been attacked with the pliers to give that ropey siding effect.

I managed a couple of hours at the lineside and snapped D1005 Western Venturer heading north from the station at Shenston Road.

With that quality of workmanship, you'll need to install mirrors on the floor so we can all admire your handywork!

A shameless bump for this thread...... Swindon123's busy on his Flickr site at the moment, and also think he may be having problems with his camera Here are some more pics of Greg's excellent coke hoppers which I photographed a few years ago.

These wagons appeared as early as 1936, with 2000 of them built for the LNER by private companies.

I think you'll find the scratch was on the right hand door. Nice photos as ever Paul..... don't tell them about focus stitching! :)

Ah, takes me back........ keep 'em coming Mike

I haven't got my book to hand, but those empty hoppers look to have come from the Temple Mills direction, and haven't got a clue where they're going As soon as I find out, I'll let you know. There seems to be a lot of Western Region motive power coming past lately..... that's the beauty and variety of North London for you!

All the best for 2014, and thank you all for your comments. Now that Long Row is just about finished, I have managed to get a snap of it with a couple of trains running in the foreground. It's been an enjoyable process building up what is to all intents and purposes a 3-dimensional backscene, which allows the upper level track to exit behind the buildings. For anyone interested, there are always more regular updates on the EMgauge70s website. Cheers, Kier

Only 4 months until you show it? ...... nothing like a deadline to keep you awake at night Max! Keep up the good work.

Just came on for a quick browse and was surprised to see this thread on the first page of the layout topics!...... I thought it was well and truly stuck in the archives, so Baby Deltic has been busy with the duster Thanks for the comments on the last few posts, and apologies that I missed them when they were written just over a year ago! Thanks also to Gwiwer for the bus route number info - something I will have to get around to changing one day soon. Now that the Warley show is over, I hope to resume work on the layout again. In the meantime, here's a pic taken around the back of the depot..

Excellent attention to detail, and nicely photographed too. Look forward to seeing more.....

Hi Jon, I'll be following your conversion work with interest, as I have 3 Nimbus's here awaiting conversion and detailing to pre-TOPS blue machines. I've yet to see Brian's etchings, particularly of the sandbox covers, or perhaps make up a tool to impress them all with.

Thanks for the comments and emails, it's always good to get feedback and help. We can sometimes get lost in our world of creating scenes, as everyone perceives textures, colours and tones in a different way....... just like viewing paintings in a art gallery, and whether there's a connection or not. With the layout project packed away now, it will give me the chance to work on rolling stock and road vehicles during the winter months. I only remember seeing some of the locos I model awaiting scrapping, and never saw them in service. The London area does give more scope for including additional classes, which is why it fascinates me enough to try and recreate it in model form.

The summer has been and gone, and slow progress has been made on creating the scene at the depot end of the layout. It will soon be time to pack the layout away, so that space can be made available for setting up Wibdenshaw, and getting it ready for its 2 winter appearances. Here are a few pics showing progress so far, but there's still a long way to go yet. A class 08 and class 40 waiting in the holding sidings for their next turn. The building in the foreground is the latest addition, complete with corrugated boundary fence. A view looking along Hornsey Road with the depot building visible in the background. The upper part of the blue-brick tunnel abutments can be seen beyond the Jaguar, and is at the limit of the 'cut and cover' section of railway beneath the road. Beyond that (and 50 feet below the depot), the tracks head towards Finsbury Park in a deep bore tunnel. The area alongside the depot building is ideal for photographing rolling stock, as seen here with a brace of Heljan class 15s. The ballasting still needs some attention, as it's a bit on the course side for walking on. I've just purchsed some Chinchilla dust from a pet shop and will be experimenting with it as ground cover around the tracks - it's like a very fine sand...... watch this space.

As always, some superb inspirational pics in this thread. I thought I'd post a pic showing a scene on Hornsey Road, as the layout will soon have to be packed away to make space for other projects. A quiet moment near Hornsey Road depot, with a class 08 and class 40 in the holding sidings.