Squirrel Rail

On 28/08/2020 at 06:11, Squirrel Rail said:

Meant to add- I have had a replacement bogie from Bachmann which cost £28 inc P&P to repair an out of warranty eBay purchase so you can get them. Think the two screw method is a bit cheaper though!!

Replacement bogie now fitted and weathered.

After a few days of building and decorating jobs and fitting a set of rear pads in the rain  on laddo's 430, tonight I have had chance to get back on the Freightliner 90. Having resolved the problem off fractured bogies on the latest purchase I thought I would double check this on and it was just about to break. A replacement was sourced from Bachmann and fitting was a fairly straightforward 20 minute job. Here's 90048 with its ex-works bogie

and now suitably weathered to match the other

I have added a few extra bits of weathering so a few more details to go and then this will be looking for a new home.

On 01/09/2020 at 15:54, Richmond Park said:

Great job with the stabling point Jerry, just shows what can be done with a few odds and ends from the workshop!

It's certainly a lot of fun and scenery is something I haven't touched for near on 40 years so fun to do. So far I  think I have cocked up as much as I have got right - partly due to no planning and partly not liking what I have done so it will remain a work in progress and a nice distraction as something to play with other than 57's for a certain South Western Trains project Cheers Jerry

10 hours ago, rs4 said:

Hello Jerry

 

Yeah, the 59 is still “on shed”, ha ha

 

It’s missing anywhere to travel at the moment seeing as my layout was ripped up when we moved.

 

I need to remedy that....

 

Nick

You must post a pic of it!!

Hi Jules, My remark will we ever see one was a bit tongue in cheek as I can’t remember how many years ago I did that 59 but not long after the Dapol one ( and was there a DJ one too?) was announced. I seem to recall the same livery samples and again that must be 2 years old so from announcement to now it’s got to be at least 5 years! Makes you wonder if Hattons should have done the 59! Cheers Jerry

37 minutes ago, Departmental203 said:

Hi Jerry, your Class 59 looks very nice in the old EWS maroon colours and is fairly accurate too, but it's an actual b***er having to accept comprimises you can't live with. So, here's an article where a Hornby body was used in conjuction with a Bachmann chassis.

 

http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/class-59/index.htm

 

I hope you can find some use from it

 

Jules

 

 

Hi Jules, I Did it a few years ago as a bit of an experiment- I can’t remember why I didn’t use a Hornby/Lima body - think it was I had a surplus 66 to play with so with and it was easier to get the lights right on that. Perhaps one day we will see one in RTR form! Cheers Jerry

Bit of time spent yesterday and today on the stabling point where I managed to get the trees in at one end and all the ballast down. There are no plans for this so I am making it up as I go along First up a few trees, made from foliage clumps and twigs from the garden - quite enjoyed making a mess... The twigs and greenery on the track are bits I've dropped...

Now with a bit more foliage - quite pleased with how they have come out as a first attempt at tree making, definitely going to have to tone down the colours as too nice and bright for me

There's a lot more filling and detail work to go on the buttresses and to blend them into the wall, I will sort this all out when I add the buffer stops. Quick pic with a 25 to check heights - not sure what to do with the scenery behind the 25, which will be behind the old shed, which may or may not end up in the finished article...

Whilst pondering this thought I would add the OHLE masts

and one last shot of the stops

That's all for now as proper Squirrel Rail work calls - will update as and when I get round to it again!

Found a couple more pics but wish I could find the work on the bogies and the chassis. From memory I made a replacement grill for the body side - excuse the bad pic and the second one shows this in the primer

The major inaccuracy on the model was where the panels join on the bodyside which with the corrugations was a job too far for a cut and shut job. The other two pics I found have it half way being painted:

and painted but not weathered!

Last weekend I started messing about to build a small diorama for photographing my locos. The challenge was that everything had to come from what was squirrelled away in the workshop with a budget of zero. Loosely based on Ipswich with a lot of artistic licence it has 3 roads with two electrified. I’ve made a rough catenary to get positions-

the building on the left is totally spurious and bodged together from card and brick sheet- how nice not to have to be accurate!

last up to get an idea of what goes where I have laid down some colour with the airbrush.

this will give me a guide for ballast and paths and the trees to go at the far end and to blend everything together. Shopping has now curtailed fun but at least I get to take the car out!

Looking good Will - nice match on the paint too!

Looking through some old pics in the Squirrel Archives and came across my 59 build. It was a mix of Hornby 59 and Bachmann 66 creating a frankenstein 59. Overall it was as accurate as I could get it without creating a project that would never finish and thought it may be worth a share!  Last I knew it was residing with #RS4  - is it still going?

First up here was the franken 59 with new exhaust bogies and chassis additions

A coat of primer brought everything together ready for EWS red and gold

and finally a shot of each side painted and weathered.

If I find any more pics of the build I will ad them to the thread, Cheers Jerry

Sorting through some old pics and liked this one of the old Bath Road resident 03382. Shunters are soooo much fun to weather!

Few updates from Friday on the workbench. 57311 got its new numbers but has failed Squirrel Quality control Look absolutely fine from the side

but at an angle have silvered. Microset and Microsol haven't touched them and they just look wrong - Replacements being sourced! 

With the 57 on hold made a start on the two 60s, 054 Charles Babbage and 068 Charles Darwin. All decaling work complete and starting to fade out the petroleum logos on 054. The yellow looks crap at present but its just a base and will weather down, looking forward to weathering these two:-

The remaining three (lurking in the background) have now been started, 57312 has had a wash to the roof before being lightly weathered

The duo Southern Region likewise will be lightly weathered. 33035 has received it's new identity (ex 049) and I must say renumbering Heljan loco's is one of the most difficult jobs on the planet. The 73 has had a couple of very light washes to bring out the detail, in fact so light you can hardly see them. That's it for now - quiet weekend beckons!

4 hours ago, John ks said:

 

 

 

In case you missed it, this is how i repaired mine

John

Meant to add- I have had a replacement bogie from Bachmann which cost £28 inc P&P to repair an out of warranty eBay purchase so you can get them. Think the two screw method is a bit cheaper though!!

5 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I bought one recently from derails, I had Dan pack a small square of cardboard under the battery box. Just enough to expand the plastic packaging so the bogies had a little movement In the box.

Loco arrived fine, indeed all 4 of mine arrived fine.

I have bought a broken one (for its pantograph), but note that the towers look like they can be repaired using a BA Nut/Bolt from under the tower into the chassis, rather than screwed down from above.

Many thanks for the message. IM0 the fractures have occurred during assembly as the pictures John posted show an identical fracture to a previous one I had but certainly worth a look. I spoke to the supplier and they have sold fourteen without problem then my two!! Hopefully third time lucky!

16 minutes ago, ThaneofFife said:

for gawds sake...........come on Bachmann.

Just received the replacement from the approved Bachmann supplier and again both bogie towers broken - tearing hair out now

and in N Gauge too!

5 hours ago, Squirrel Rail said:

Hi Rob,Many thanks for the message- I will get on the small suppliers listings but want to finish my website first so people have something to look at!. I used to do a lot of commercial work ( ie I did the reverse livery Pullmans for Lord & Butler) but For the last few years day job took all my time so I only did stuff for friends. Now I’m in a position to fire it up again I will be taking on (hopefully) new customers! Cheers Jerry

From the Squirrel Rail archives the L& B Pullmans - My prototype...

Production in full swing...

and this was the magazine launch

Seems a long time ago now!

Hi Rob,Many thanks for the message- I will get on the small suppliers listings but want to finish my website first so people have something to look at!. I used to do a lot of commercial work ( ie I did the reverse livery Pullmans for Lord & Butler) but For the last few years day job took all my time so I only did stuff for friends. Now I’m in a position to fire it up again I will be taking on (hopefully) new customers! Cheers Jerry

14 hours ago, Squirrel Rail said:

57311 Thunderbird. With the Freightliner trio out the way it was time to start on the renumbering and naming of 57309 which is to become 57311 Thunderbird

First task on this is removal of the old name and numbers - I leave a small portion of the old plate to help with positioning so this is now ready for decals and plates tomorrow

 

So renumbering and naming a 57/3 is quick and easy... so far today it has had - bogie pipwork painted, ETH boxes painted orange instead of supplied black, silver buffers with red backs and a detail pack fitted perhaps I can now do the original job!!

4 hours ago, cambo74 said:

Here's my effort so far ..... just the yellow ends to do ...

 

 

Coming on nicely- look forward to seeing it done!

16 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

My, you are busy !

Chasing my tail at the mo Rob catching up on the backlog! Weather has been crap so plenty of time to get some modelling done - must also finish designing the Squirrel Rail website too- oh for more hours in a day

Don't forget a very large stabling point for all your Class 57s

Class 60s. The other project on the go with the 57 is a pair of 60s; one will become 60068 with large EWS beastie decals the other 60054 in RF petroleum. First up donor 077 had to lose  numbers and mainline branding so it doesn't show through the new decal -

Here's the other side with branding removed - may lose the 60 0 too depending on decal match

The other 60 is to retain its petroleum sector decals but is from the batch of 60s where Hornby got the bottom shade of grey (IMHO) wrong - it looks duck egg green. Putting one shell on top of the other shows the difference : not easy to spot on camera but miles different in the light

Usual remedy is mask it all off and respray the rail grey so here it is masked

and with the masking off. Pleased with the really crisp masks, the blue "snot" on the hand rails is liquid mask that will be removed when fully dry

That's it for today so hopefully some more progress tomorrow.

57311 Thunderbird. With the Freightliner trio out the way it was time to start on the renumbering and naming of 57309 which is to become 57311 Thunderbird

First task on this is removal of the old name and numbers - I leave a small portion of the old plate to help with positioning so this is now ready for decals and plates tomorrow