The Fatadder

Could I make a request? I'd rather like to see some centenarys please, don't mind what's in front of it (the coaches are far more interesting than tge poco!)

Attention and now moved to the roof, first the rain strips and raised detail around the lamp recesses was removed with a chisel blade. I then added inserts of scrap 20 thou plastic and profiled to shape, before smoothing off with some squadron white filler. Once sanded back, the roof vents were glued on followed by a replacement rain strip added from evergreen strip. The second job was the interior, ratio supply the corridor and partition walls but don't give you any seats. Fortunately I have a DC kits 4 EPB which I am unlikely to ever finish, and that has provided rather a lot of plastic seats... These were cut down to match the width of the partition, before gluing into place. A couple of corners were carved off to clear the alignment pips on the corridor/ floor. This will now be painted before gluing into the coach (which will sort the dodgy alignment of a couple of sections.) Now just need to build the bogies....

Thanks for the very help full advice, I will keep an eye open for the LMS coaches book, though its going to have to be behind Russell Appendix 2 which I still need to source for GW restaurant coach photos! I will make a start on plating over the lamp recesses this evening, Will fill the hole with plasticard offcuts and then a skim of squadron filler to blend in the curve. Regarding the painting, I don

One of the planned formations for the layout is a Plymouth - Crew inter-regional set, this will be comprised of GW BCK (Sunshine Stock) GW CK (sunshine), GW BTK (collet bow ended) LMS BTK (period 3), LMS CK (LNWR diag 138) and LMS TK (Bachmann). The formation could also run with a restaurant (for which I should have a choice of a H33, a planned H16 70ft, and an LMS 70ft. See http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101805-lmsgwr-inter-regional-workings/for more info The idea is to be able to make models of a couple of different diagrams to provide a bit more interest. After spotting it on eBay for a bargain price I picked up the ratio kit for the ex LNWR diag 138 CK, the build has been very straight forward so far (seen below with the roof placed loosely on the body.). Other than the lack of seats, the kit was a joy to build, with the parts fitting a lot better than the Slatters kit I was building last year (which still sits on my workbench awaiting the roof to be fixed!) The only issue is the poor bogie design, though a set of Bill Bedfords units will sort that out. One area I'm not clear on (given I have next to no LMS coach photos) there are a number of recesses of the roof from the old gas lamps. Would these be plated over? What livery and lining should an old LMS coach like this carry post war just before they were withdrawn? I'm assuming LMS red with black ends, but would it be lined?

Very glad that I have a lot of spare windows as I have a feeling a few may have to be redone. Will give the paint option a try

Hadn't thought of trying klear, given I have a couple of 2lt bottles in the garage I will give it a go I've always been a bit suspect of Klear as an adhesive, certainly with ballast the bond is very easy to break. So will give the test piece a bit of rough handling

With all the centenary sides in place, I've turned my attention to the Airfix break and composite's window frames. Each composite needs 10 ventilators (of 3 different sizes) while the break needs 5, in other words a lot... My first attempt uses 20 thou evergreen strip, a template was roughly drawn on the workbench showing where each bar should be fixed. Plastic weld was applied to the strip and then pressed into place. It sort of worked, but didn't give a good bond along the length of the plastic. This required a touch up with the glue, which frosted the glass (and would have spoiled the paint) The plan is to now test the same approach with Evostick and also PVA and see if a satisfactory bond can be achieved without damaging the window. The plan is that the strip will be painted prior to gluing on. The second issue is time and consistency, it took a lot of care just to make a rough prototype from strip, and the thought of making the quantity required fills me with dread. I'm thinking about looking at the options to either get a batch laser cut or etched. (Another case of wishing I'd bought one of one silhouette cutters.). At the end of the day I suspect it may well end up cheaper to just buy the Comet sides and rebuild the coaches.

I went for the latter option for the hinges on my last comet coaches. Trying to drill into the side of a built coach felt a bit risky that it would distort the side. Next time I will pre drill the sides ready for the hinges.

On to the corridor side, This is a bit more difficult due to the closeness of the outer windows to be he doors. The process for the third was the same as for the compartment side, only this time I added a little extra reinforcement in the centre. Onto the break, again the first job was to chop out the door. If I was doing this again, I would have chopped out both doors at once and swapped over (making the windows align better ) Again I started with the compartment end, followed by the van sections. Once dry the other side of the guards compartment was added, and after giving the evostick 24 hours to dry the modified door was glued in. The last third will be completed tonight, before attention turns to modifying the interiors to reduce the first compartments to third width. Along with swapping the corridor side over on the break. I have turned my attention to planning the new window frames in the RH break and the CKs, I am going to paint some fine micro strip cream, and plan to glue on to the Airfix windows with PVA. Now started to get really tempted to do the restaurant pair to go with it, though I have a feeling the restaurant third is not available.

I remember reading that post when I first started thinking about converting centenarys last year... It's taken a while to actually make a start! I'm seriously thinking about doing the restaurant pair, particularly after taking a bunch of interior photos at didcot in the summer. The one job I'm really dreading is adding the window cents onto CKs and RH break,

the first job today was adding the final section of the break. After filling down the end to take the wider Airfix doors into account, it was glued and clamped. This was followed by adding the compartment side to the other TK, which was a fairly smooth process which was complicated by my not paying full attention and removing the wrong side of the line. I only noticed after I glued the side on, and the plastic overhangs the window by a couple of mm. This is going to be a pain to fix! The next job on this side is to sort out the gutters, it's a bit strange here on the TK either the etch is thinner or the gutter thicker as on the break its flush while on the TK there is still a lip. I think both will still be overlaid with 10thou evergreen strip to beef it up. Next up will be sorting the corridor sides.....

So onto the conversions, The first step was to remove the glazing, the trick her was to glue the bits which hold the chassis in place first before breaking off the remaining window strip. Next a 12inch steel ruler was used to score along the edge of the gutter (to remove any paint and get a clean edge.) The new side was placed against the coach, with the new windows marked on. I started with the compartment side as the corridor has windows very close to the end of the side (making the side structurally weaker). Once prepared the new side was evo sticked into place, and then clamped while it dried (putting a very handy stocking filler to good use. Next up was the break, for consistency I decided to keep the Airfix doors. This required cutting out the door and shifting it to the left. I started by removing the door, along with the section between it and where the door needed to move to. I then glued the first length of etch in place, test fitted the door and then looked at the next etch. Unfortunately it seems either Airfix or comet got the break slightly wrong, so the next length needed modifying to reduce by about 1mm. Once shortened, it was also glued in place followed by the far section. The final section also needed shortening slightly to fit the model, before gluing. Looking back at all this I wish I had just soldered up the side and spliced it into the body! Tomorrow the plan is to get the other side finished on these two builds, and make a start on the second TK.

Ever since I bought an Airfix Centenary break from a second hand trader at the Calne model ex as a child, I've always had a bit of a thing about Centenary coaches (and the Cornish Riviera Limited) Whilst the Limited was formed of different coaches in my period (and gives justification to a handful of Hornby Hawksworths), the Centenary coaches were used on the London to Western services. A little selective compression based on the 1946 Maurice Earley photo, gives me a formation comprised of a pair of breaks, 2 TKe and 2 CKs. Of course with Airfix only providing 2 diagrams, that leaves a need to make the LH break and the TK. The plan is to use the Comet sides on the Airfix coaches. But I'm undecided as to whether I will shop out the whole side and replace or just overlay (possibly beefing up the gutter a tad to replace lost definition.) Other than the sides, the under frames will get some missing v hangers and linkages added, along with new wheels. My current though is towards leaving the ends for the moment and coming back later to add wire handrails and better corridor detail. Finally the roof will be getting separate handrails, I also want to look at the roof boards so that if I ever wanted to revert to the limited it will be possible... Once it's all complete I will have to think about finishing the county to pull it Tomorrow should see the first coach.....

I still haven't got past the footplate and cab yet on my Mitchell one, got to at least finish the boiler and firebox before an RTR high spec model is announced..... Maybe 2020.....

Very nice, I'm planning to do my first full comet kit this year (also likely to be a 70fter) Will be referring back to this!

Speaking of Santa specials, took my / year old to the dean forest railway today, had a very enjoyable trip behind 5541. Now trying to decide my xmass present, a 72xx or a Star.

That bogie really is a work of art. If only the bogie were available on its own, would be a significant improvement on the RTR part. Seeing it has certainly made me think to try and source the Mitchell chassis to go with the Mitchell Manor body I'm half way through building, rather than the cheaper simpler route from comet I was considering...

Is that a road bridge under the embankment on the right hand side? My thought is that it might look a bit strange in a rural area having a road bridge going over, and then 18 inches or so down the line a road going under the line. Looking at the topography of the layout (rather than the real Brent), I'd have thought the road would be more likely to link up there rather than having a second bridge.

Perfect thanks. Will be tight on the front axle, and the rear will look a bit silly, but I think I can make that work with p4 until an etched replacement can be sourced. Just need a confirmation that the Bristolian coaches are in fact shirtbutton

Good news, a star should definitely be coming this way next year!

Could I ask a favour from someone with a King, id be interested in seeing a photo of the underside of the chassis, particularly the bogie. After looking at the price of the Bristolian pack I'm becoming tempted by the Hornby option, but would like to try and get an idea as to how I will get some new wheels in it first...

Could be talking rubbish, but Hattons description describes the King as shirt button and the coaches as chocolate and cream, and Hornby train packs typical match the loco and coaches

Thanks for mentioning that, I had completely missed this pack in Hornbys 2016 plans, and looking at Hattons price it's a good discount on the price of its parts! Not to mention some Shirt Button coaches ought to to be a good fit for a post war layout (at least a lot more suitable then GWR over crest...) Now to make a decision as to whether or not in happy with the Hornby King

I suspect poor photoediting on the part of the Star, The king however..... Hopefully Dave J is aware! Does remind me that my Berkeley Castle still needs the lining removed from the cylinders.....