TeakDB

Well ignore everything I said before, looking at other pictures of freshly painted maunsell green coaches in sunlight a similar effect is produced- ohwell! Heres what ive been up too today. Finally finished this off with end steps and later lbscr axleboxes from 5&9 models. Finished off another lbscr open wagon in the ashford lettering style, and had a bash at painting up my IWR lookalike wagon- although im fairly happy I will limit this to very early on as its no way near as faded paintwork wise as the pictures of the late survivors- using the black weathering powders over the top rather negated the khaki/woodish paint underneath. Lastly the ballast wagon rake is now up to 4 wagons (just waiting for varnish to set before adding the weathering powders to the left two. My final question of the day is what to people recommend for chemical blackening of brass and nickel silver? I have a lot of couplings like those above I think I want to start blackening rather than painting.

Thanks for the replies both. @LBSC123 spot on that green became the normal in 1921 for the lswr but in 'southern style- lswr' it states that surburban block sets were the first in line for this rollout and in 'Southern Style- The southern railway' on page 98 it states that the southerns first carriage superintendant wanted stocks of old paint to be used up with southern lettering for economy- I only wish that either of these books had an image of this scenario with which to compare against. @wainwright1 Im aware of the 2 O2s in 1923 and that apparently some of the lbscr ballast wagons stayed in lbscr livery untill their end in 1931 so im starting to think its possible. At the moment I am leaning towards these still being brown and salmon as they look very similar in shades to a lot of lswr carriage images elsewhere- I think i'll just have a look at a few more maunsell green carriages and see if this could be an artifact of the lighting but Im not sure it can when it looks so consistent across both coaches. Im also thinking how interesting a rake of metropolitan 8 wheelers in teak with a urie green beyer peacock and a salmon and brown luggage van would look....

Question before I update on a few bits i've finished today. The below image is the only I can find of the three LSWR passenger luggage vans (unrebuilt) shipped to the island in 1926, it seems to suggest they were shipped in lswr salmon and brown if you notice the two tones on both in shot vans- has anyone got any input on this as I would definately like to paint my current van as such. I also wonder if they would of been able to be repainted by the 1926 summer season.

Back to the workbench for three weeks. First job on has been rewheeling the lswr luggage van and lbsc horsebox. Ive now used Hornby coach wheels with dart castings maunsell overlays which has improved the running quality greatly. Ive added the appropriate springs/axleboxes to both and am going to crack on with the luggage vans skewed brakes and stepboards before adding the end steps on both to finish.

Todays progress on the O2 Renumbered on both sides, removed the nem pockets front and rear and fitted the westinghouse pipes. Issues so far are the colour difference between the hmrs or fox transfers and the original 'southern' and that the olive paint is much much thinner than on the Hornby terriers with the consequence of removing some when removing the original numbers with a fibreglass pencil. Id also love to know why the splashers were lined in this fashion as even pictures of the original 207 dont have this style - i'll look for some lining transfers at some point.

And now for something completely different as I wait for parts to finish the lswr parcels van and transfers for the lbscr wagons. Started turning the Kernow push pull o2 into (fittingly) W22 Brading- this will be pre nameplates though. Looking at photos of the adams boilered o2s I just snipped away all the plastic and wiring I didnt want with some brass sprue clippers which has left behind some small holes or rough spots. The westinghouse resevoir tank is posed on for now and is from Vectis 3d design. To complete the transformation it needs (deep breath) renumbering, the two copper tubes from the westinghouse reservoir to be fitted, paint touch ups, lining of the front splashers, addition of the left hand tank step, removal of the nem pockets and fitting of screw couplings + pipes, route discs ect. Fortuantly as the O2s on my layout will only be on the Ventnor- Ryde passenger services I dont have to fit dingham couplings.

@wainwright1 you're absolutely right, sorry I thought you had meant the three very new BR(S) wagons announced in the last few days as opposed to a new one already in his range. Very nice looking wagon there- love the bolt detail on the inside and the rust application- was this paint or powder? Finally please keep posting pictures here I appreciate seeing someone elses models as much as finishing mine.

@wainwright1 thanks for that- I had thought about something similar but I hadn't the forethought to undercoat these first three with a wood colour. I think i'll test it on my lnwr almost IWR wagon as I feel peeling and fading the black paintwork could look fairly good. Although im absolutely no expert on SR and BR wagons the chivers kits arnt of the same diagram as the bluebell 'tunny' wagon. Bluebell has a page for it (below) and it predates the chivers kits by a good few years. Going back to the model rail article, I thought it was a nice idea to have Bembridge on the other board hidden by a scenic break but the neccesity of space obviously shortened the platform and accentuated the curves- it isnt disimilar to my now dismantled first LNER layout. After I return from manchester Im going to build the platform end fiddleyard and get the platforms and buildings started- I figure the junction board doesnt need to be up at the same time as theres only a building or two of interest on it and it lets me play with the few magnets on the platform board before I commit to wiring up the rest and building a control panel ect. I'll message you re the transfers when they arrive- heads up i'll be cutting all the Es and Ds out of the Goods Brake lettering as its the only source of those letters I can find! http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wagons/62002.html

First two finished- am going to have to wait for more hmrs sheets to finish off the rest but as im away wednesday will imagine it will be a while before the rake of 9 is finished. Not convinced I have in any way captured the look of peeling paintwork but I did find this very useful picture of a bluebell engineering wagon which was last overhauled in 2002 (painted in the same orange shade as the above iow ballast wagon) on the Bluebell Railway Goods Division Facebook page so im very happy with this end shade. LSWR parcels van will not be ready to take with me for lining as im replacing the axleboxes/springs with the correct panter type from Dart Castings to help its currently running. EDIT: Since Im going to have a lot of HMRS transfer sheets if anyone wants SR, SECR or LBSCR transfers sent to them from that sheet just message me and im happy to post them over to you.

Just confirms I need to revisit soon. SR venetian red was what was used at the ends of brake vans, vermillion is more of a loco buffer colour as far as I know. The colour for engineer stock is like many railway shades a bit up for debate. MacLeod seems to have been one of the few to call it red oxide whearas others have described it more orange like your photo above. To muddy the waters further theres a comment in southern style about how little contrast they think there was between venetian red and the engineers colour. I think the halfords red primer is slightly browner than venetian red so itll do for me even though I reckon on probablities the wagon above is probably in a more accurate shade. This is where im up to at the moment pre matt varnish and weathering. Unfortuantly the hmrs transfer sheet only provides the correct size SRs for two wagons so im going to have to look for alternatives.

By and large yes-Im using Halford red primer for the orange/red oxide paint. I havent seen this photo before so thanks, I didnt know (or forgot) one of these ex secr(ish) wagons had survived- since I couldn't find any kits to bash into them these are actually fairly high up my wishlist of wagons to print. It's interesting how they have painted the solebars and ironwork including the brake guard but not the buffers- if you look at the bluebell railway you'll see different interpretations of SR engineering schemes on their wagons aswell. Added to my internal debate is whether all the dumb buffered wagons were repainted before sending to the Island (so only a few years of weathering) or were they shipped 'as is'. Southern wagons vol 2 seems to suggest this with its lbscr livery comment and it is also potentially hinted out in Rails on the Wight when MacLeod talks about turning out new ballast wagons as their replacements- potentially suggesting that it was up to Ryde works to paint the transferred engineering stock.

Small amount of progress on lining but as im going to be doing covid work in Manchester for february I figured ill take the coaches with me to do that in the hotel room so im just finishing up other bits untill then. The 5&9 models van is very nearly finished (matt varnish, couplings and transfer for the pla board). Slowed down by a few issues- namely needing different springs than the older versions supplied with the kit and having to lower the floor so I could avoid packing the w irons to height. And yes the V hanger is meant to be off centre. Although I cut the brass roof large by about a mm or so im very happy and will be replacing the plasticard roof of the smallbrook van in time- the resin roof insert for the smallbrook van is excellent for bending the brass over to form the roof profile however. This is where im at with the first three ballast wagons- im sure i'll never find a definitive answer as to weather the solebars on these were red oxide or black so ive gone with what I like the look off. The southern wagon series describes some as being in lbscr livery untill scrapping but I will think about how that will look in a rake of wagons after ive worked out how to weather these to an inch of their life. Im also looking at getting the 24ft lswr van ready for lining which so far has involved replacing the window bars but im having trouble with the wheels and bearings on it so have some teething problems to sort out.

Roundup of a few projects on the desk today that arnt lining; Firstly the 5&9 models LBSC 8 Ton goods van. To me this is an absolute dream of a kit, it had quite a bit of flash to remove but after that its goes together really well- I especially like how the spring fit into the solebar and the w irons included from eb models. Another pleasant suprise is the door bangers included which all vans sent to the Isle of Wight had. Only things changed to date were removal of the makers plate on the solebar and a plate on the bottom left of the van body and removal of the lamp irons and replacement in the correct location for the SR. To finish this off as a Passenger luggage in advance van I just need to add a brass roof and floor, a PLA sign on the top right of the van body and addition of a foot board below the door. Only thing to note is it only comes with one sided brakes however im sure you could ask for a second set of brakes for a small additional fee. Secondly is the starting of a rake of lbsc dumb buffered ballast wagons used 1927-31 for the Brading to Sandown line doubling. These are currently sold by roxey. The solebars need a large amount of filling down to fit onto the body of the wagon and for the w irons to fit. The wagon on the left has been built with compensation while the wagon on the right has not- I think for this 7'' wheelbase rigid is fine. I had a mare at first with wobbly wagons but I realised it was down to originally using Dapol wheelsets which are apparently fractionally different than other manufacturers- replacement with Hornby wheelsets solved the issue on all of my affected wagons. Lastly and a bit of a suprise for me was this LSWR parcel van I bought off ebay which was describe as brass and I assumed was the blacksmith kit- turns out it was scratch built out of wood and placed on a plastic chassis. I have removed the roof which will be replaced with brass and have smoothed down all the rough parts of the paintwork/ glue- after replacement window bars, and further detailing +repainting this will run with my stroudley set. Bit of a shame to rebuild parts of this scratch build but I like to think im merely giving it a new lease of life similar to heritage railway rebuilds. EDIT; The ballast wagons are designed for compensation so I have now built all of them as such.

Didn't expect a double post today but just to prove I am actually grinding through the lining (Side looks funny as the gloss varnish for transfers is still drying); Think this might need a bit more work though!

@wainwright1, I seem to have missed you posting this the first time round, apologies for not saying thanks earlier as I had not, better get a copy and check my layout plan against it! @Nick C I have yes and its definately one of the more useful for coaching stock with other books 'just' supplementing with more photos and formations. Dont tempt me too much with scratchbuiling coaches yet! My plan is to build up kits for stock I want first, while working on 3d files for smaller rolling stock I want also. I know vectis model rail printed himself some oldbury carriages and one day I will enquire after them, especially as some of the undercarriages were reused as flat wagons. I plan on modelling the LSWR one compartment brake at some point to run in mail trains and with a LSWR bogie set as seen in IOW Railway remembered. Again im waiting on finding LSWR Carriages vol 1 to look into these fully although one preliminary thought is potentially cutting and shutting the old roxey mouldings plasticard coach kits. I beleive Recreation 21 has 3D files for the SECR Railmotor coaches used on the bembridge line in 25-27 but I am not sure I can justify the $70 odd price each when I will still have to source bogies ect especially as I think shapeways material isnt the best. Fortuantly the MSLR and push pull stock fall out of my side of the island and/or time frame, although I need a prodigious amount of the D&S 'regular' LCDR stock. I notice again that there are shapeways prints available for the third class and composites but again im unconvinced by the finish and how they'd look side by side with the 'real' D&S thing. Thank you for the post I enjoyed thinking through all of these and im glad someone else is too! It also shows how incomplete my excel list was already since ive managed to remember various sources for more kits!

The four wheelers look to be pretty much based on the LBSC Billinton stock to my eye, if they bring them out in southern green later I would be tempted to just replace the handrails and use them as such.

Progress on a few fronts (except taking better photos); firstly this set is now complete bar lining and the end couplings I also used the Southern Railway style book to choose some interior seat covers for the coaches as I couldn't think of a way to quickly paint the first class 'saladin' fabric. I simply chose a suitable looking picture shrank down and printed out on card- not the best but im not lighting my carriages so doubt will be seen anyway. Almost finished the D.1434 van but I was unhappy with how the weathered roof came out so this was been stripped back and im now still looking at a way to weather these white/ cream roofs in a way I really like. Lastly as @wainwright1 asked earlier I have attached a list of all the current kits I know that suit this 20s/ very early 30s modelling period for the Isle of Wight. I have not yet looked too deeply into the LSWR Southwark kits now produced by Roxey as I am still looking for a copy of LSWR Carriages vol 1 to cross reference these with IWCR stock. I have also included for completeness where items are produced on shapeways as an alternative. If theres anything anyone else can think of I would be glad to hear it- now if only I could get my blender skills up to scratch quicker I might be able to start filling in some of the gaps....... Brading Kit Lists.xlsx

Thanks Duncan- to be honest the thought never crossed my mind shen I was deciding on this as a project as its my first foray into railway kit building. Now that i've started I think a few of the kits i've used would be challenging to get the wider wheelsets in without a lot of hacking around and im very happy not having to mess with the rtr terriers and o2s too much- Im already on a sharp learning curve as is. For future projects I imagine I may well have a go at EM. Thanks- the chassis needs a few bolts in the right place yet. I was going to make the brakes movable to allow some to just sit in the goods sidings on the layout but I ballsed up the brass a tiny bit both times- fortuantly I have a few more vans to practice this on. Im desperately hoping the 5&9 vans scale appropriately next to this smallbrook one so I dont have to build anymore of them in resin!

So I could not find a single photo of a pre war IOW d.1434 Van, however I looked into the more numerous d.1433 and 1436 vans. Seems on shipping to the Isle of Wight the brakes were left as double block brakes and through piped or fitted with westinghouse braking with 8 brake shoes- so called 'power braking'- these vans are easily identified as the V hangars for the handbrake are off centre. As far as I can tell all diagrams ended up with a mix of systems although all the ventilated 1433 vans used for fish seem to have the westinghouse braking. For this lone d.1434 van I thought i'd go with simple double block brakes. Unfortuantly the kit as supplied comes with the older lbsc ventilators which were replaced with torpedo vents on shipping to the island- ive now got some in the post but I wont be able to finish this van off untill they arrive. I have also ordered some 8 Ton vans from 5&9models as I think they may be a better start point for the other vans- will know when I have them in person.

Short update today- unfortuantly I need to spary another coat of maunsell green so I decided to take the discarded lbscr covered goods out of the draw- after some high tech roof forming (read boiling water and masking/cellotape) and removing the w-irons I had previously fitted this is how it currently stands alongside some other stock for a size comparison. I then ran into the problem of this being one of the rarer dia 1434 wagons which means very few pictures in my time period to work out brakes and roof vents from as the more commonly photographed dia 1433 show a few different brake layouts. I will have a further look tonight/ tomorrow to try and get it finished before its time for lining. In any case, happy new years to all.

As planned, tonight I finished off the tweaks to the remaining three stroudley carriages. Brake shoes; Silver tay models lamp irons to replace the generic moulded on ones And now a 24hour wait after an udnercoat of halfords filler primer followed by phoenix precision spray S.R. Maunsell Dark Olive (Eastleigh colour). Ive been waiting for a few weeks for some microsol I ordered to place all the bolts on the IWR wagon which I will be chasing up tomorrow as that would of been the perfect side project to crack on with tomorrow- instead I think I will fit the hooks to ventnor and see about adding route discs and a crew.

Excellent progress, and It really starts to come alive with the rolling stock added! For handrails I bought the dcc concepts 4mm handrail jig ruler as I like the idea of two tools in one. Fortuantly SR freight is very easy to paint so I look forward to the next update! I'd also caution you to look closely at the provided roof for the lbsc covered goods as I found that mine weren't cut straight and had a big too much overhang on each side- although yours may be fine. David

Thank you @LBSC123, I did and I hope you did also. Heres a poor photo of the horesbox, im fairly happy considering all the mistakes I made along the way- only thing im not sold on is the weathering on the roof which I may redo when I eventually get round to fitting end steps and the correct axleboxes. Im now really pushing to get the stroudley set finished- I can see a week or so of lining coming up! I've not progressed very far on the lbsc covered goods at the moment as a poor fit of parts has meant it isnt going to be the quick side project I imagined- I will get round to them soon though I promise! On the layout side i've finally put down on paper how I see the layout working. I have knocked up a rough layout plan below with the planned locations of electromagnets and a list of the operations I want to be able to run through it. After I have finally finished the stroudley set I plan on wiring up the left hand board (electromagnet 1) in order to test the dingham couplings i've fitted so far- I also need to get round to fitting the hook end to Ventnor which will be interesting. Regards, David

Thanks for the suggestion @ovbulleid, unfortuantly much as @Nick C says they are generic wagons that arn't as prototypical as i'm aiming for- if I wasnt happy for this to be a sprawling long term project I would be very tempted!

So today I made some unexpectedly good progress; I finished (for me always a loose term) building the lbscr horsebox and started a smallbrook lbscr van ( @LBSC123). The horsebox as always was a lesson in reading ahead on the instructions as soldering lamp irons from the inside when the slots arn't wide enough or soldering brake shoes to w irons already in place is not what i'd call a logical order. My additions to the kit were the door droppers in slaters plastistrip, roxey lbscr grab handles, the iow added handbrake (out of 2 different plastic kits and some 51L V hangers) and saftey chains in a very lazy manner from some fine slaters chain I was going to use for bolster wagons. Still missing is three steps on one end for access to the roof and the axleboxes are wrong- however as I have neither of these spare to hand at the moment I am going to paint this up now and add those bits later. Another view of the very crowded end It is now had a spray of halfords etch primer and will be painted tomorrow (roof just perched on for now). For the LBSCR van im ignoring the advice to use the Dapol chassis and am using parts of a peco chassis with abs lbscr axleboxes and inevitably some plastistrip and archers rivets. I will be building this one as the less common (and crucially late arriving) d.1434 as I can get away with one from 1930 (might even add the early version of the fish only transfers). When I have more of a feel for the kit the next two in the pile will eventually be the more common d.1433 which will require small detail differences.