exet1095

Roofs repainted and fixed. Handles added. An 8 coach ex-LMS period III excursion rake in matching crimson and cream being hauled down to the West Country by a brand new Hymek. (Nothing like a Heljan mechanism to shift anything!) Time to tidy the table and decide what’s next… From the Great Western there’s bits for a K41 full brake and an H15 diner, as well as a Hammond F14 slip coach. LMS coaches include parts for another D1904 TO, a D1938 12-wheeled composite diner, a D1903 CO, a D1850 BCK, a further D1902 RFO and a D1898 CK, as well as a D1909 FK. Most of these will be all metal, so will be heavy, and are a mix and match of mainly Comet parts with Bachmann, BSL or Comet bogies. Four seems a manageable batch size. Any suggestions for the next batch? Thanks, Paul

A five coach excursion rake!

Bogies modified with a plastkard and then a brass plate on the stretcher, with an 8BA machine screw passed through from the interior. The Mainline coupling is actually too short, so the Bachmann one has been reinstated.A piece of black insulation tape along the inside of the solebars to reduce the risk of shorting, and another (not pictured) over the bottom of the bogie stretcher to stop the nut undoing itself. The roof is cut down from a Dapol CK roof, re drilled for new ventilators. The ends each have a section of an old Airfix inter-district coach end attached which gives a friction fit against the brass ends. When it is painted I will secure it with a small amount of canopy glue. Paul

Bogies fitted (on some whitemetal mounts I was given by a kind friend), glazed, and the interior installed. Roof awaiting paint and fixing… The metal wheels on the bogies might need to be swapped out as a derailments can cause some quite exciting sparking! The adjacent composite still needs handles and a roof repaint. Something for the weekend!

Nice work on those. I see that we both have the same issue with the tiny lavatory compartment. Next time, I will remove the whole side and slide the original third class end down a bit. Paul

After twelve days’ work on the bounce, and a visit to the Abingdon show yesterday, I thought it was time to finish a couple of the coaches. They are now glazed and assembled, with just the gutter to paint. I think the colours look ok in the natural light of the garden (I escaped being directed to do the weeding by the skin of my teeth…). Since coming back inside, this one is now seated correctly on its underframe. i wanted to try to represent the bars in the luggage windows so taped three very thin pieces of brown styrene rod to some glazing and then brushed MEK only the rods. This has welded them to the glazing (which ignores the solvent - it is an old John Lewis curtain pole box - sadly now finished after 20 years!). This was then cut into sections and glued in place. As the title says, it is not quality modelling, but is fun and provides me with interesting coaches not seen RTR. The other BTO still needs bogies. These are inbound from eBay, and then it will be time to build the next batch. All full Comet this time… Oh yes, and I had better repaint the roofs and add the handles to the restaurant triplet and CK too! Paul

What an excellent exhibition. Thank you to all the members of the Abingdon and District MRS for putting on such a great show. Room after room of quality layouts. Lots of 2mm too (not my scale, but which were amazing to watch). Not much trade support and eye-watering second hand prices on one of the stands, so it’s not a shopping trip, but for a family-friendly exhibition with inspiring and inspired modelling, top marks! Paul

Just booked my ticket…

Your post wasn’t clearly written, otherwise I would not have offered my clarification. I cannot comment on procurement, as I’m still liable to change roadwheels…

Ajax is tracked; Boxer is wheeled. Paul

Interesting contrast in your two D1915s. I use micropore tape behind the glazing for my LMS bog windows. It works well on flat sheet, but not on the flushglaze… How did you fit those couplings? I find that on coaches with CCUs, when they’re stored on their sides gravity makes the end bend away and after a while the coupling fails to work. I have tried a selection of Hunts on CCUs and they seem good so far; not tried the screw-on ones yet. The advantage of tension locks is that they allow trains to be split and joined; essential at Plymouth. I think the Mainline ones are brilliant within rakes (staying coupled and allowing reliable propelling), but the modern small ones look better at the ends of sub rakes. I therefore try to mix them up a bit as this allows me some random shunting fun!

The D1904 awaiting glazing, buffers and their beams, and footsteps. And a black line on the gutter too… I think it’s an improvement on the last one of these I did. Just need to keep improving when I get onto the next batch of coaches!

Like you, I am a fan of the Replica vestibule thirds, and have got a few of them. Having reglazed two now, I think the SE Finecast glazing looks better on maroon than on crimson and cream, but it is not ideal. I shall live with it as the rest of this set has etched sides, and the effect is ok as they clatter past (which is what my modelling is all about!). I just used some old maroonish red for the seats, and brown for the seat ends, partitions and table tops. The floors and visible sides of the tables are a Tamiya acrylic grey that doesn’t cut it for coach roofs!

Apologies for the lack of progress… Here is the D1913 BTO just waiting glazing and footboards.

Good Afternoon, during a break from coach building I decided to see if I could get an old AL1 running. Dead as a door nail, but in excellent cosmetic condition. On opening, the brown wire from the pickups was detached and so that was resoldered to the suppressor. Still nothing, so stripped down and cleaned. Dead. Now, with leads attached to the bogie, the motor turns after some persuasion. Very slowly, and is getting quite warm. I cleaned the commutator with IPA and a cocktail stick, as it was very gungy. This seems to have helped, but the motor will only start with a little shove on the worm. There is still sparking on the commutator, but less than there was. Any ideas on what the problem is? The magnet? The armature? I have a spare from a dead Blue Pullman, which had no magnet, so I can’t swap that bit. All help gratefully received! Thanks, Paul