ossy5190

Great looking coaches Steve! Most of the 4 and 6 wheel coaches seem to have started life in the all over brown/red livery with many 6 wheelers later being repainted with white upper panels when the two tone livery was introduced with the arrival of bogie stock. The exception was the Cathcart Circle stock which kept the all over brown livery well into the 20's. Horse boxes seem to have been painted in the passenger 'red' livery until the early 1900's when the livery switched to the NPC dark 'chocolate' brown livery. I have a couple similar to the type you are building, I'll post a pic next week. Keep up the good work. Ross

Hi Steve I always assumed they were the same size but having a look through various books there seems to have been three sizes of crest; 8 1/2, 11 1/2 and 14 inches tall. The biggest seems to have been used for coaches and the other two for engines depending on the size of the lettering on the tender/tank side. Fox transfers only offer one size (not sure which), probably why I assumed there was only the one size! Ross

Hope you have a speedy recovery Steve. looking forward to seeing how you get on with your rebuilds, might borrow a few of your ideas! Ross

Steve Don't know if you have seen these pics on the Bo'ness O Guage group Flickr site of early ex-WCJS coaches. Both have windows in the luggage/guards doors as per Andy's post. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bogog/8676777450/in/pool-bogog/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bogog/6066665098/in/pool-bogog/ Ross

Hi Steve, the Killin coach did have full panelling below the windows. In the kit these are separate etches which go on top of the sides to build up an extra layer (quite common on early coaches). I haven't seen any pictures of the type of WCJS coach you are after but all the other types I've seen had paneled luggage doors, good pictures of ex west coast coaches don't appear to be that common. If you haven't already I would recommend you have a look at 'A Register of West Coast Joint Stock' by Casserly and Millard. A great book if you are in to coaches, lots of pictures and diagrams plus lists of which coaches (running numbers includes) were inherited by the Caley. Ross

As promised, although a little later than planned! The colours are probably a bit too bright but they do stand out in the dark interiors. I've also included a pic of a part finished Decent Models brass kit of the Killin Branch coach by way of comparison. Ross

Hi Andy I've been meaning to pay a visit to Bo'ness for a while to get some shots of the various pre grouping vehicles in the collection. Unfortunately the museum only seems to be open from April to October so it will be a couple of months at least before I'll be able to have another look around. Ross

Superb models Andy! I've been wanting one of those half sleepers for a while but always thought they would be a bit too difficult but having seen your posts I might just have a go at one. The cutter tool looks like it could be very handy for anyone looking to build pre grouping coaches. How easy/ hard is it to set up and create the artwork? Ross

Here are a couple of interior pics of the two preserved Caley coaches at Bo'ness (a later period than you are modeling but should give you an idea of the colours). I used much brighter shades on my coaches so that they would show better when the roofs are fitted, I'll post a pic or two at the weekend (working away from home just now). Ross

Great looking models, always nice to see another Caley modeler! I've done a few similar conversions using the old tri-ang coaches. My initial plan was to create a 4 coach set of brake third/third/first/brake third as commonly seen in period photos. The problem with trying to use the tri-ang coaches as brake thirds or compos is that the Caley used lookout ducts and end windows (not the best of descriptions!) which would make a challenging conversion, even the Decent Models brass kit is a tad difficult to get right! I used Phoenix paints Caledonian Purple Brown (dull) for coaches and those in one of my old threads you previously linked to. Horse boxes (along with other non passenger stock) seen to have been painted in one of two different liveries depending upon the style of the body paneling. NPCS with passenger carriage style paneling were painted in the purple brown/lake/madder of the coaches while NPCS with planked bodies or which were based on goods stock were painted in a dull brown or 'chocolate brown' livery with yellow lettering. A cut and shut of two tri-ang brake thirds running on a brassmasters 6 wheel underframe. I painted the ends vermilion as a best guess based on the info I could find. Another cut and shut. Runs in a fixed set with various other 4 wheelers from a variety of sources. This one is just a repaint representing a former full first down graded to a composite. Just needs lettering and different coloured seats to represent a compo, no body modification was carried out. Sorry the quality, the battery died rather unexpectedly! My attempt at a scratch build horse box part way through an upgrade. I used Tamiya Flat Brown to represent the 'chocolate brown' NPCS livery. Good luck with your conversions! Ross