The Fatadder

Having failed to buy the set of Saint wheels which were on Ebay, its going to stay in OO for the foreseeable... The big issue at the moment is the poor fit between the firebox and the footplate. I was going to try and tackle it tonight, but after the soldering disaster fitting wires to a motor I think it can wait...

If it stays oo it will go on my shelf in our display cabinate. (And will keep the cast metal chassis without a motor) A lot depends on how much I could sell a set of Romfords for to offset the cost of a set of gibsons A saint is far too big for the layout anyway so not overly worried if it can't be used

A while back I picked up a bargain part built Wills Saint from the second hand stand at a preserved railway, with the intention of rebuilding it as St Dunstan in post war livery (St Dunstan being the name of the junior school I went to as a child). Upon stripping back the components, it was clear that some of the components were in a worse state than others (in particular the boiler which had a large cutout for an X04 motor and a lot of rivet detail missing on the top of the boiler. After soldering together the foot plate, and the boiler as two separate units I added a new lower boiler from plasticard (following the same approach I used on 5813) I have been fitting new rivets by drilling hole and fitting a small length of brass wire filed to size. Time consuming and tedious, but its looked pretty good so far. The boiler has now been fitted to the footplate, although the fit is not great so it will require a bit more work to finish. Now need to decide if it will be finished to P4 or remain with the OO Romfords it came with....

Love the idea of those replacement break blocks, leaves me thinking about experimenting in 4mm scale. Looking forward to seeing the loco come together, I have the 4mm version sat in my to do pile at the moment (yet to decide what tender I am going to need though.)

Really like the effect of the insides, will definitely be trying the approach of painting the insides before building on my next open wagon kit Interesting to see your view on parkside / Cambrian. Given that I use etched w irons, I much prefer cambrians construction style with seperate w irons / axleboxes / solbars makes life a lot eaiser than removing it all and thinning bits down that you get with parkside. Reading this does make me think I need to get the paints out and make a start on painting up my backlog

Interesting to see a black pannier in GW, looking forward to seeing it in the flesh in the summer. I really want to include a GWR black loco on my post war cheddar valley layout, the only problem is working on if something is in black from a photo!

Looking very good, making me want one even more...

For me the handrails are the all important thing, having got half way though removing the moulded ones on a ratio kit and a Bachmann rtr (a complete pig to avoid damaging rivet detail, its certainly a job I'd love to avoid) Lights etc would be a lot easier to retrofit, and I'd prefer without to keep the price a bit more sensible.

So that's one loco in post war GWR livery matching the model, and you'd presume that Bachmann had a photo they have worked from for the loco they've released. Would be interested to hear of any more locos matching the livery. In particular the 3 (9011/18/23) which according to the data on Railuk were shedded in Swindon at nationalisation. Really don't want to have to start removing my preferred logo to add a shirtbutton!

Some fascinating photos, thanks for sharing! Particually like all of those wagons on show in late 40s condition, will be perfect for assisting with the weathering of wagons for my layout!

Been meaning to post an update, brick work is now all painted, and I am quite pleased with the effect Now waiting on dark stone paint before I can do the doors The glazing is done for the big windows, but not yet had the patients to do the small ones. Instead got stuck into balastimg

Very glad to see this class being modelled at last, saves time on trying to find the white metal kit for it! Looking at RailUK 6403 was sheded in Bristol at nationalisation, so I think that will have to be modelled. Will be interested to hear any more about it, I am assuming no top feed? Think I will be emailing High Level tomorrow to state my interest in a replacement chassis for it.....

Started the glazing tonight with 2/3 of the large pains fitted That still leaves another 60 to go, regretting this much........

Will get a post prepared over the weekend to ask about the layout of the signal box, first I need to come up with the master track plan showing the track that is off scene... What is included in the Smiths bits? Does it have any castings for the other interior bits (or could you recommend a source) Just had the white paint out, and those windows are now corrected. Will have a crack at glazing them tomorrow. Going to be very greatfull for the chopper I think!

Re the windows, stupid error (which wouldn't have happened if ratio provided some painting instructions!) Will repaint in white tonight... Will also have to get some more paint shades to do the dark stone bits As for glazing, my thinking was that the frame is thicker than the plastic glazing sheet. So if I stuck the sheet in the holes in the frame, it would still get that step between frame and glass. Given 3/4 inch is about 0.25 mm in scale, I was hoping that aught to look right... Will see how it looks, and keep the etch I'm mind if it fails.