The Fatadder

Interesting, I hadn’t realised quite how bad these were.  I

have an AA3 (Kingsbridge) and an AA1 (Bristol West) to do for which the new brandings arrived from Railtec last week.   I knew about the extra window but had completely missed the fact that they didn’t plate the ends!  A quick 5 min project for tonight is now taking a fair bit longer I think

2 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Barry,

 

Excellent work with your Triang based cut and shuttery. I have done similar to some old Triang models to produce an original Blue Pullman, I didn't go to the extent of replacing the cabs though. The rear section of the power cars have had part of a first class parlour car grafted onto them and the kitchen cars are made from the other end of the parlour car and parts of the guards section of the power car about the double doors, the first class parlour cars are unaltered.

As you mention the underframe details have been altered variously using bits of underframe details suitably repositioned and with the odd scratch built bit here and there.

For windows I used Finescale's flush-glaze, the toilet and kitchen windows were abraded with fine wet and dry and also the edges of the window apertures were painted black which gives the representation of the window rubbers.

The bogies are altered Hornby Mk2 for the parlour and inner end of the kitchen cars with Lima class 73 bogies for the power cars and outer ends of the kitchen cars.

Paint is Railmatch and the transfers are HMRS.

 

Gibbo.

Looks a good job on the kitchen cars.  I had been thinking along similar lines for my own rebuild (given that I have mostly got the later model without the window incerts, along with a couple of spare powercars).  Splicing in the doors from the redundant powercar to make the kitchen doors seems very sensible. 

How did you power yours Barry?

I think I still have the innards from a Bachman class 25 (or possibly it was a 158) which are earmarked for mine.

Not sure how I justify it pasing through 1940s South Devon though...

Looking very nice, it does make me think I really ought to dig out my own Western Pullman detailing job and get on with it....

2 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

The trick with Railmatch jars is to keep the interface twixt jar rim and cap thread completely free of paint. Before you replace the cap, thoroughly clean the inside of the cap and the rim and thread of the glass jar so that you can see no trace whatsoever of paint, wet or dry. If you have some, apply a little Vaseline to the jar thread before replacing the cap, but this is not absolutely necessary. Saves time and hassle next time you come to use it.

Thanks will give that a try, unfortunately the lid partially shattered when trying to open the jar, so I’m not too sure how well it will last now.  That said the paint is getting on for 20 years old now (even if it’s only been used twice in that time)

After a very long search (and the start of a much needed workshop tidy) I’ve found the missing handrail knobs and soldered it into place.  Aim for tomorrow: finish soldering the brass bits (just the top feed pipe, reverser, steps and cab seats I think) then start on the castings.  The latter being a bit of a guessing game given there doesn’t appear to be a labels drawing (that you get in a Mitchell kit)

Coming along nicely.  What’s the source of the blue foam you have used for your platforms?  Looks like just what I need to do the down platform on Brent (which will be curved on one side)

Mostly because I hate anything to do with pickups....

give me a couple of sheets of brass parts and I will happily solder up a loco,  give me some .45 wire and some pcb and I will make a mess...

though it would certainly make a lot of sense to get it sorted now.

2 hours ago, Ravenser said:

It's good to see someone's vintage scratchbuild being finished and being given life and purpose

Originally it was going to just be a quick respray and have something basic to fill the gap until I got on and built the core fleet of Bulldogs.  But the core scratch build had been put together so nicely it just felt right to do it properly and set it up for the long term.

2 hours ago, Ravenser said:

It's good to see someone's vintage scratchbuild being finished and being given life and purpose

Originally it was going to just be a quick respray and have something basic to fill the gap until I got on and built the core fleet of Bulldogs.  But the core scratch build had been put together so nicely it just felt right to do it properly and set it up for the long term.

I didn’t have time to do much work last night, but did manage to dig out my copy of Russell to review the drawing.  
 

Having measured the frames from the drawing I set my micrometer and used it to scribe a line in the correct place.  Looks like there is about half a mm of metal to remove (but close to 1mm at the firebox end). Once I have sorted this the next job will be to test on Brent to see if it can handle the curves.

if not it’s a decision between removing material from the top of the bogie vs having the frames thinner than the prototype.

Very nice work.  Making me think I really need to get on and buy a bow pen!   
 

The old ratio kits scrub up rather well, I have one of the ex LNWR models awaiting lining (thankfully just the one line), then I really must get finished off to complete a mixed GW/LMS set seen at Exeter in ‘47

I’ve added a photo of the model as it arrived to me.  Compared to the drawings in Russell it compares favourably shape wise which is something.  It will be a challenge to sort out that’s for sure.  But a few more evenings work should result in something that will fill the gap until I get round to building the core fleet.

A little more progress this evening, the curved leading edge has now been files onto the firebox.   The name and number plates have been removed (they will now have any remaining paint removed before refinishing), and the handrail has been removed while I decide what is the best solution.

as I look at the model more, I am starting to wonder if it was actually scratch built originally.  Lots of components just don’t look like they are from a kit...

next job is going to be fixing the soldering, which can wait until tomorrow...

I completely get where you are coming from,

For some reason there is a preconception (possibly because of the short train lengths that are possible) that China Clay makes for a perfect limited space layout.  Great in theory, but as you say, there is no such thing as a small china clay works.  I have often thought about making a model of Ponts Mill, it ticks the boxes of having a mix of very interesting looking structures, interesting wagons and unusual moves with the Class 08s propelling break vans.  The down side is that in 4mm scale its just so long, and that’s just for a small works taking short train lengths.

With my layout I tried to get round this by only modelling part of the works, so you should see a longer set of wagons dissapearing off scene to be loaded.  The down side being that to run it properly you would end up with a layout that would need a fiddleyard at one end that is twice the length of the layout (and one at the other end the length of the layout.)  So in effect the train lenghts have to be massivly compressed in order to run the layout properly, an issue that is really prominant when you want to run CDAs.

Looking really good,  cannot wait to see it running through a complete Cheddar station.  It’s such a signature item for the line!

A very good response from Worsley re the error.  One day I will get round to building one (although it is a little easier in 1947 given you only need half of it!) 

The problem is that the two sides are slightly out of alignment, so if you look from the top down or from the front its a little out of proportion.  My current thinking is that I will finish the model off (correcting the aforementioned handrail knob), see how it looks and potentially rebuild the body in the future.  The sale of the painted, finished body should then recoup a fair chunk of the new body even with its deficiencies via eBay... 

9 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

They do have different boilers but the Airfix one isn't super-accurate for a City either, I believe, being a bit short. I can live with that.

 

I was looking at the chassis etch for one of the "posh" etched kits for a Bird and although it looked absolutely superb, it wouldn't

have a hope in hell of getting around my curves!

Thanks

I think I will try and get hold of a kit to have a play with once I have finished a couple more projects, something which looks 80% of a bulldog would be useful for photos until I either get round to building the Finney kit or Bachmann get round to backdating the dukedog 

Interesting project, I didn’t realise a city to bulldog conversion was possible (I thought they had different boilers)

you have me thinking about an unpowered conversion to use as an assisting engine

That it was,  wish I could have done more.  I really need to buy a quieter compressor so that I can spray in the evening.

that said I don’t have much more to paint at the moment....

As I say you were not far off, with the loco gaining them in 1948

As I say you were not far off, with the loco gaining them in 1948

Now that’s a good question, 

i just  used the parts which came with the kit, certainly in BR days the loco had parallel buffers.  But I don’t know when the change was made.  Despite lots of looking I have yet to find a 1940s photo  

No photo of 7804, but a 1946 photo of 7805 confirms tapered buffers.  I think the odds are that my model is right (until I hear otherwise)

Will dig out a ruler and double check

Might be worth dropping Railtec a line re transfers, they do them for a Siphon F and G, so its possible the artwork could be reduced to provide the smaller size.

Updated post to include formation data