BartonStDavidSDJR

On 25/06/2021 at 16:51, MikeOxon said:

I picked up one of those Hornby bodies for 50p somewhere - they have nicely moulded sides - and have used it as a line-side office.  You seem to be meeting the challenge of turning it into something rather more than 'half decent'

It’s a common misconception that these coaches are overwhelmingly awful. A bit (ok a lot) of cutting, filing and modifying and it can start to look respectable! Thanks for your kind words.

3 hours ago, Brassey said:

And they had a gold line surrounding them

8 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

I remember doing the same thing to Tri-ang clerestories many years ago, when I was convalescing from pneumonia!  It meant that I had the time to concentrate on what I appreciate takes a lot of careful and time-consuming work   I should point out that the raised mouldings separating the panels were actually painted black.  Full details of the livery can be found on the web at http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveries.html.

Thanks for the tips, anyone got any clue how I can recreate the gold lining?

28 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Looking good! I'm sure you're familiar with @Penrhos1920's website - endless variety; if what you've built isn't a good match for something there then you can argue it's a type that was extinct by the time the diagram book was compiled or failing that, the diagram is wrong!

 

For better quality (prototypical ride-height for starters) 6-wheel underframes you might like to look a the Chivers Finelines LMS fish van recently reintroduced by Five79, perhaps married with the Brassmasters Cleminson kit. I see that, realising the utility of the underframe, Five79 list it as coming soon as a separate item, so you don't need to populate your layout with grounded out-of-period fish van bodies. In fact, if you're going for cast axlebox-spring units then the Brassmasters unit with scratchbuilt solebars and headstocks may well be simpler than trying to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear of the Hornby underframe.

Thanks for the pointers, it certainly involves a little modellers license but I’m going to take those suggestions just in case anyone at exhibitions challenges the existence of such a model! 
 

The Tri-ang underframe is a good start but I agree the ride height is a little high, hopefully it won’t look too out of place with the other coaches I am planning to revamp. I think the Chivers option may appear some time in the future! 

On 05/03/2021 at 06:31, Mikkel said:

Nice to see that the new ranges of RTR 4- and 6- wheelers hasn't put a stop to projects like this. The Triang coaches and Ratio sides have been the subject of so much modelling creativity over the years, it would be a shame to see it end.

 

That clerestory coach in the background looks interesting too.

Thanks! The clerestory coach in the background is another ongoing project - eventually it will join the 6-wheeler after painting and detailing. Also got to do something about those terrible triang bogies...