The Fatadder

Look forward to seeing the sketch/photo, sounds like it will be very useful! Just had another look at the truck frame,I have a feeling I have probably glued the Hornby sideframes in the wrong place! Starting to think that my original plan of trying to source a set of castings for the axlebox/springs and using them along with a modified comet west country etch might work better. No idea as to the accuracy of the Hornby cast frames... Either way I will cut the frames back off tomorrow and see if I can realign them to get the right position. Thankfully curve radius shouldn't be an issue (the layout is straight), though I think making them slightly narrower might be sensible just in case I make that continuous run expansion...

Interestingly the Class 70 dosnt look half bad once its painted in different liveries, seems that the main reason the prototype is so ugly is that its been painted in some moronic livery with lots of curves on a freight loco..... So, a challenge for you photoshoping types: How about applying the new Freightliner livery to something with a sleeker curved front. Thinking HST or a Voyager or something... Would be interested to see how it sits on a prototype which isnt full of such sharp angles.

Was amazed that he got away with that, still thankfull to have got the win. When we went a goal down I had myself convinced it would end 1-1 and have to play a replay... (oh and it was Eduardo who got the headed goal not Nasri ) Very happy to see Utd knocked out by Leeds as well (though I'd have preferred for them to have got a bit further just for the extra matches...)

I'm slowly getting nearer to finishing this rake. Manage to get the undersides sprayed up last week before the snow got too bad to get the car out of the garage, but they all need another coat to paint the insides and a couple of bits of touching up to the sides. Still aiming to have at least one finished for the weekend. I have also finally got the first pair of bogies built, without proper spacers these really are proving to be something of a pain to get square. The last thing I can think of trying is modifying a set of the Hurst Models Y33 spacer (the bogies look quite similar, but need to check if the wheelbase is the same first!) Otherwise I think it will have to be put on hold until an etch is drawn up. Have attached a photo showing the one pair of finished bogies fitted to the wagon below.

A bit of roof painting this afternoon, and 47709 is now 'finished' (well sort of). Still need to add the boiler port detail to the no2 end, along with the boring stuff needed to get an operational loco (new lights, P4, couplings and DCC) but from a modelling point of view the interesting stuff is now finished. (I've just realised that the photo below was taken before I re did the OHLE flashes that came off with the masking earlier.) One other job that still needs doing is replacing the lenses for the marker lights at one end, as I seem to have lost the part. If anyone wants to have a closer look at the model in the flesh, will have the model (along with 47768) on the DEMU stand at Warick on Saturday assuming the show goes ahead. Just remembered, one other thing that needs to be added is the coiled pipe on one side of the underframe. Must get on and source a part for it!

Work is continuing to progress at a slow rate, mostly because of a lack of con rods. Loco: The front bogie is now removed awaiting paint, of course this is going to be a long wait as I cant start it until the snow is gone. I have added slimmed down sideframes cut from the Hornby trailing truck, having got these fitted the attached photo clearly shows that the truck is not riding level, so some more washers need to be fitted to the mounting screw. It can also be seen that there is a lot of daylight above the truck, so something will need to be added here. I am planning to add the headstock and frame for the cab from plasticard at the same time as adding the loco to tender connector, but until I find a photo or drawing showing the headstock I'm a bit stumped on it. Have found this http://www.semgonline.com/steam/pics/cd_35025_2.jpg photo which shows the frame going between the sideframes on the truck, along with some of the brackets that support the cab. Moving onto the tender, I have got on with modifying the tender top to correctly represent the modifications made to it in preservation. The air tanks were formed from Evergreen tube with 60thou plasticard ends that were filed to shape & drilled to accept the wire pipes. The housing reused the Hornby part carefully removed from the model (there was a small box on the left hand side that was attached with a lot of glue!) Once it was off the detail was removed, and the end carefully cut out to match the photos. Once this was completed the 3 tanks were then fitted inside, painted and then glued to the model. Moving to the back of the tender the two centre tail lights, along with the cabling between them was all carefully carved off. The access door to the compressor compartment was formed from thin plasticard cut to size and glued into position. The water filler that is directly above the location of the compartment on the model was removed, with the resulting hole filled. This is one area where I am again a little unsure due to a lack of photos, the first photo I have found shows it prior to the fitting of the doors, this has a cutout above the compressor compartment in the location where the filler cap is on the model. the other photo http://www.semgonline.com/steam/pics/cd35028_7.jpg is not clear on that location, so again I am in need of more photos of the back and top of the tender to work out a) if the cutout is now plated over and B) where the water filler cap has been relocated to. Finally the tender chassis, all the Masokits parts are prepared ready for soldering, but I am still a little unsure as to if I will use it. before reassembly I want to read the rmweb3 topic describing its construction.

As cockups go, 2010 will have to be a pretty bad year to top this.... I have managed to build the first side of the first JUA the wrong way round (foolishly I thought I knew better than the instructions...) Given that this kit is already missing its floor I think I will call it a day on this one and use it as a source of spares. So its decision time now, buy more kits (assuming that ICM actually have any to sell me), or give up and crack out the plasticard and scratch build some instead... That will teach me for starting the build while listening to the most tense day of cricket in the series!

7th January 2010 - heres hoping the blog problem is fixed soon, running out of times to set that will keep new posts at the top of the list! Having ran out of work to do on the 59s, and lacking parts to work on the 73s (wheels), buildings (brick sheet), 325 (new ends), FGAs (instructions!) I have turned attention back to my Class 47 fleet. I started off fitting 47709 with the new Shawplan roof grills, (so thats now the whole fleet fitted), once that was out the way made a start on detailing underframes. 47709 uses the Vi Trains air pipes, a Heljan vac pipe and the Vi Trains socket on the lower left. The body mounted ETH socket is from Heljan, as are the multiple working jumpers. 47768 again uses the same, but has the better quality Bachmann part for the ETH socket. 47813 has a buffer beam mounted ETH, so this uses the two Heljan parts along with Vi Trains air pipes. In each case they were superglued into position and then painted (with the exception of the ETH bits that were painted before fitting. Buffers were superglued to the bufferbeams, which will in turn be glued to the body once I have fitted screwlinks. Annoyingly on one loco the buffer head snapped off after fitting so will need replacing... I've finally got round to respraying the yellow ends on 709, followed by fitting the hand rails. I was then planning on respraying the grey roof tomorrow, before remembering that I need to convert the boiler port plating to the rectangular type (given the lack of etches available for this I need to fabricate a new part, for which I need to source the dimensions.) I may end up just spraying it grey anyway, and paint the new boiler panel off the model so as not to hold things up.... The final job was fitting the etched plates to 47768, this required carefully reducing the size of the printed plates. Given that the usual method dosnt work on Vi Trains paint, I carefully scraped off the ends of the printed name. while this worked on the first side of the first plate, the other sides ended up going through to the white base requiring a slight touch up (need to buy some RES red when I next see Shawplan!) The damaged paint is so small that tbh it would be possible to hide with weathering, but I'd rather do it properly (thankfully it is so small that brush painting will be fine for it!) Will also pick up the paint for the roof on 768 and 813 when I next see Brian to sort those out as well... I have a Virgin Trains body coming from Pixie which will sort out my final 47 (for now at least) Getting very tempted to use this as the basis for my model of 813 (given that it has the correct nameplates for that loco, and in the current condition needs renumbering to keep it in Virgin.) meaning that my Intercity loco would either get a Virgin respray, or renumbered to a Virgin owned Intercity 47. Still, this is a slightly more long term decision, as I have only done the absolute basics of planning for its scratch built chassis based around a pair of Heljan bogie towers. This has prompted the decision to sell off two of my final 3 Heljan 47s, with 853 in XP 64 being the only one remaining (and thats out of period anyway!)

I have just started building a pair of Intercity Models JUA box wagons to form part of my Mendip stone fleet. The initial intention is to build a pair, and add to the rake over time to get a set of 6 which will be mixed up with my PTAs and hopefully some Mendip Rail JNAs. Having only just started I have already began to make changes to the kit. First of all I found the top rail a real pain to bend to shape, the thick brass coupled with my Hold & fold being about an inch too short made the 4 very close folds just too much of a fiddle. End result I hacked the part off planning to bend it to profile off model and then solder back on. annoyingly my initial attempts ended up making too much of a mess of the first sides top rib so need to find an alternative. For the rest I will carefully cut off stright away rather than messing about trying to do it properly! My intended fix for this is to solder on the rest of the side rib formers, then solder a strip of brass along the top. this will then have a 2nd brass strip soldered to it to complete the rib. This kit was first started a long time back when I didnt have a clue what I was doing, thankfully all I attempted was the floor (which was wrecked) and will now hopefully be replaced with a new one built from plasticard. the rather handy drawing in the instructions will be a real help with this!

Having ran out of work to do on the other projects I was working on, its back to Clan Line. My original plan was to sort out the loco to tender coupling, but I am still struggling to work out what is needed for it (as I am combining the fitting of that, with scratch building the missing bits under the cab/firebox. Starting to think that I am going to have to try and get to see the prototype with camera..... In the end I moved onto the tender, I was going to start building the Masokits sub chassis, however as I still cant get onto rmweb 3 (to reload the topic showing the construction of one) thats on hold again. I then came across this photo on the SEMG website http://www.semgonline.com/steam/pics/cd35028_7.jpg which shows the back of the modified tender. I have carefully carved off the lamps/wiring from the back and fitted a square of plasticard cut to the shape of the door. The cover of the tanks on the top of the tender was carefully removed, then materiel carved from the end to match the prototype. Just need to cut the 3 tanks now and it can be all glued into position, (will have to find a good match for Hornby's BR green as well....) Photos should be added later...

Given that work on 59004 has now come to a halt through lack of parts, I've made a start on my 2nd Class 59. This will be 59104 in Hanson livery, again fitting to a Bachmann Class 66 Chassis. Unfortunatly I've left the lima body/chassis back down in Devon and wont be able to pick it up for a couple more weeks, so theres only so much that can be done without it. For the most part this will follow the same process that I have used with 59004, with the main differences being on the headstock. The model reuses the Bachmann light clusters, which will be improved with the Shawplan etch and fitted with working marker lights. The other big difference with the headstock is that the 59/1 has a pair of lashing eyes on the front under the steps (Whereas the 59/0 have none). These were modelled through carefully cutting the parts off the 66, drilling the hole in two per end and glueing into position. The fuel tank again uses the Bachmann part, but this time I have made 2 cuts, to get the detailed end, and a main section that starts at the gauge/filler. A little more work but looks a lot better than my attempt on the 59/0. The only other work I have been able to do is preparation of the bogie frames (removing the Class 66 sideframes and adding the plasticard pieces that support the new frames.) The sandboxes at the headstock end have been chopped off, and will now be fitted with the same triangular sections that I fitted to 004. Once the work is finished the loco is going to need some amount of repainting to fix a dodgy Lima paint job, I am hoping that the paints will be a good enough match to just spray the areas that need paint (cab sides & roof) and save on masking over the ribs, but we will see. Either way the painting will wait until the body is fully detailed

A lot more progress on 59004 today, which has now unfortunately got to the limit of what work can be done on it for the time being. The headstock was finished off adding the triangular plates behind it (after removing the Class 66 sand boxes.) I have also added a strip of 20thou on the top edge to space it out to get a tighter fit with the body. I have added the damper between body and bogie, its a little under scale but I re used a part cut of the Class 66 bogies. Speaking of bogies, the side frames are finally glued on, Evostick doing the job nicely that the MEK had failed to achieve. The rest of the Lima chassis detailing parts were fitted to one side (again the plastic was very hard to glue, resorting to superglue this time), I have also added the fuel gauge detail to the side of the fuel tank (although Im not completely happy with this so may re do it.) The final bits with the air tanks will have to wait until the 16th Moving to the body, it has had the A1 roof grill fitted, along with drilling out the holes for the lights. Now debating whether or not to cut off the cab door handrails.... The body will need a lot more detailing (side grills for a start), but until RMweb3 is fixed I cant go and look at the photos of Pugsley's conversion to see how he did the grills...........

A little more progress this evening, First up the underframe. So far I have got the fuel tank and battery boxes built and fitted, the fuel tank was the Bachmann moulding shortened to the Class 59 length, this still need the gauge and filling point adding (although for the next model (59104) I will make 2 cuts on the tank to reuse the Bachmann gauge/filler point.) The battery boxes were a bit easier, a simple case of fitting a plasticard back to the Lima moulding and gluing into position. Now need to get some 8mm evergreen tube to use for the air tanks (the tank ends are already preped ready for fitting) This will have to wait until the 16th and the show as buying Evergreen in town is about twice the price it should be! Once the fuel tank was in place I also fitted the pipe to the left of it (one of the Lima detailing parts) modified to fit to the thick solebar. While working on the solebar the steps at the big cab end were moved to match the doors. Back to the headstock, having finished filling the light locations, I mounted the Lima fairing to a piece of 40thou plasticard and glued into position. The rest of the chassis detailing now needs to wait until I have sorted the air tanks are fitted, so its onto the body and the bogies. The body has had the roof grill drilled out (it will get the A1 etch until something better is developed.) Currently having issues with the bogie frames not gluing properly...

5th Jan 2010 The work on the chassis follows 4 main areas, Underframe, bogies, headstock and details. The bogies is the easiest job, simply cutting off the Bachmann sideframes and replacing with Lima. To further improve the detail, I also removed the break shoes from the bogie frames to add separate items. Underframe will follow the same procedure as in my Class 67 thread, photos will follow when I get round to gluing the bits together tomorrow. Details are exactly that, the pipe runs etc on the sides + detailing to the body. I am using Martin (Pugsley)'s model as an inspiration, though given that I need to do 5 locos worth I wont be taking it to the same extreme level! Finally the headstock, this is where I am working tonight. The Class 59/0 headstock is narrower than that on a 66, resulting in materiel needing to be removed from each side, along with the addition of the triangular plates at the top. Working from dimensions scaled from a photo and the width of the Lima body I have filed back the headstock to match the proportions of the prototype. WIPACs and lashing eyes were also removed. The next job is going to be applying a lot filler to tidy up the WIPAC location, and possibly removing the infill in the solebar from the Bachmann lights. Unfortunately old RMweb appears to be broke, so cant go and find the photos of Martin's model that I wanted to check.....

Having pretty much finished my PTA rebuilds, I am now in need of another project to keep me busy. Realistly I aught to be working on either my 73s or 59 detailing jobs, but instead I have dug out another major project to work on, conversion of 4 Hornby short mk3s into a Royal Mail 325 EMU. The plan: First step is to strip down the mk3s and do the prep work. The coach has the window strip and bogies pulled off, followed by cutting off all raised detail and the corridor connectors. The roof ribs were filed back past the toilet hatches (to remove the latter), but depending on how well new ribs blend in with the existing stuff will determine whether or not I just remove the lot and start over. Once all 4 coaches are prepared, the next step will be the cutting. Firstly the 2 inner coaches and the 2 inner ends of the driving coaches will have the rectangular hole cut in the location of the corridor connectors, with a plasticard blank being fitted into position to restore lost strength. Once thats out the way the next job is going to be cutting out the pantograph well, again filling the gap with plasticard to the correct design. Once that is completed the next job will be the cuts for the new doors, cutting to shape before again fitting plasticard behind them. Once the doors are cut and fitted, plasticard will be fitted to the glazing strip to fill the gaps and get back to maximum strength. With all the major cutting finished on the sides, the final major cut will be made, fitting Hornby Networker cabs to the outer ends (must try and source a pair.) Attention will then return to the inner ends, with the application of filler and filing to get them to the correct profile, this looks to be the most difficult part of the conversion, particularly as it needs to be done to a decent standard 12 times.) With all the major work done, it will then be a case of applying the smaller details (new doors, roof ribs etc), scratch building a new underframe (it will either get Bachmann 25 or 158 power) along with end details. Not sure what I will do with the doors yet, though etched bits certainly makes a lot of sense. So far I have got the first coach striped down, though how long it will take until I actually start making real progress I dont know, the 59 conversions are looking rather tempting to go back to, and I suspect once my wheel order arrives from Gibson with 13mm wheels for the 73s (and more kettle wheels) work on the 73s and kettles might jump up the list again.

4th January 2010 Going back to the Virgin rake, I have finally finished the renumbering of the powercars. Just need the City of Aberdeen nameplates now, and to convert the roof grills to the other type. Planning to get some wheels for them (hopefully at the Warick show on the 16th), then the final job will be adding the kaydees to the rake. Starting to think about replacing my converted TRSB with the new Hornby one (depending on how good the model turns out to be.) While the Hornby model would need to be resprayed, my converted model will also need a new coat of paint.... Not in a huge rush to get the mk3s finished at the moment (given that even if the layout was finished, it wont take the HSTs yet), so not in a huge rush to finish off the mk3s, but it will be nice to be able to run the powercars....

3rd January 2010 Why oh why cant I just put up with an inaccurate model....... Looking at a photo before adding the box/leaver thingie on the left hand side of the wagon, I got distracted by the profile of the side ribs. I had originally decided to stick with the model as it is on the side, but realising where the difference was (its only the ribs over the chassis ribs that matches the original PTA (and the model) I decided to do something about it So, every other rib was carefully chopped off on one wagon and then replaced with a length of 40thou square strip. End result is a massive improvement (with before and after shots shown in the attached images) There is one problem though (that I only thought of after cutting off the first 6 ribs), the transfers are semi circles (so that when applied over the Lima ribs it comes out straight.) The question now is how the modified ribs will affect them..........

Yes I know I still havent finished Clan Line (still awaiting the con rods), but I've now made a proper start on my second P4 steam loco, 4472 in preserved condition (i.e. the Hornby NRM release) The planed work pretty much follows that of Clan Line, with the model gaining a new Tender chassis (this time from Comet), new front bogie (I think the sideframes for the LNER bogie that come in the same pack as the Buillid one used under the MN is the right version for the A3? If so I plan on scratchbuilding a new sub frame and using those rather than wasting money on another complete set of etches.) Wheels are again by Gibson, currently in the process of being painted green, finally the valve gear is currently the Hornby stuff (which this time is in good condition), depending on how fiddly the Bill Bedford stuff is for Clan Line I will decide if I will do the same here or just live with the Hornby stuff. The final area I am a little unsure what to do with is the rear truck, I know Comet do a part for it so I need to find out if its a modification worth making. I'm a little concerned how it will perform with a scale flanged wheel in there. Other than that theres only a few modifications to the body (increace chassis frame width and reduce the body to tender gap) and its good to go..... Today I finished off preparing the driving wheels (fitting the crank pins and assembling one axle.) To make the wheels fit properly in my Exactoscale back to back gauge I removed about 1mm from the outside of the raised bit around the axle on the inside of the wheel. I did find on my test axle that it was a real pain to get the wheels to fit to the axle. In the end had to bore out the hole to fit (not something I am that happy doing given that I dont have a 3mm exact broach (it says its 3mm but its actually 1/8 or what ever that imperial size axle is thats practically 3mm) I found out the hard way what happens if it was just forced by ruining an axle of bogie wheels for Clan Line (thankfully had a spare)! No doubt that this project will get held up once Gibson release the drivers needed for City of Truro with a 3mm axle.....

And now it hits a problem..... Last night I finished the first wagon, adding the 10thou strip to the bottom of the chassis ribs that brings them to their full width. At the same time I also posted on DEMU asking for PTA underframe photos. Phil came to the rescue in the linked topic, however the photos sadly show that I have got things rather wrong. The prototype should have 2 beams running the length of the wagon, then a gentle angle before the sharp angled pieces at the ends of the rib. I have modelled them flat before the angled end pieces. While I have thankfully only done this on the first 5 wagons, its something of a paint to have only realised now that some are finished (and the others of this batch are practically finished.) http://www.rmweb.co....wform&blogid=50 Its times like this that make me wish rather than persisting with these I had just brought some of the kits while they were available and solved a great deal of hassle for what wont be the most accurate model in the world. The question is, do I fix it (ripping off all the ribs and starting again), do I live with it and model it right on the other batch of 5 or do I just say sod it the rest of the models accuracy is far from perfect so just model the other 5 wagons to match the first...... In the end I chose to go with the option of doing the other 5 models to match the first, tbh the discrepancy just isn't bad enough to justify the time rebuilding. So the first batch of 5 are now finished, (although they are lacking the final details such as air pipes, tank and distributor) these will hopefully get painted tomorrow (and then transfered up before the Leamington & Warwick show on the 16th) The second 5 are also making good progress, with the basic work on the chassis now completed. these differ in construction from the first five, in that I have started off with the central beams and then added short ribs (rather than the full width ribs with short lengths between them used on the first 5). made construction a lot quicker. The next job is going to be finishing off the ends fitting the ribs to the end (along with the small plates on the headstocks over the buffer locations (not exactly sure what they are for....) This then will leave the final job being the adding the top strip to the chassis ribs, very time consuming task which can wait for the morning (and TMS)

That is certainly correct on the welded version, havent bothered looking at the riveted type so cant confirm there. _______________________________ To answer the original question, it depends a lot on what period you want to model, as I dont think the welded type were introduced until the early 80s. The Hornby model of teh welded seacow is very nice detail wise (slightly finer than Bachmann), however it is very very light weight and the bogies are slightly narrow (too narrow for EM, can only get P4 in them with Exactoscale wheels) With the earlier design, both Bachmann and Hornby make a model. On the whole the Bachmann model is vary good, the cast metal chassis block gives it plenty of weight but is slightly lacking in the detail of the Hornby one (and is a real pig to fit scale couplings to). The early wagons were incorrectly fitted with the OHLE protection cages. The Hornby (ex Lima) model is very inaccruate, (for a start the inside of the hopper is fictional, and the end detail is just reused from the welded seacow rather than the correct design for the riveted one. One to avoid Paint wise, both Hornby and Bachmann have managed to mess up the shade of grey used on Dutch, Hornby also managed to use a completely wrong shade of green on their olive releases. Modelling wise, if you are doing post 1984 I would say get a mixture of the Bachmann riveted and Hornby welded (and fit some extra weight to the latter). Pre 84, just go for the Bachmann riveted.

A little more work on the buildings for the layout, Next step is starting to clad in the south east finecast block sheet, (which will hide the gaps between panels) after which I can get on with the detailing the sides. The roof will be the last thing to go on (given that the overhang will make access to the sides a bit more difficult to get at.)

Thanks for the confirmation, will make sure to be extra careful when removing it. At least the pocket on the tender is a lot easier to remove (in that by removing one screw you can remove both the pocket and its mount. Personally I'd have said a much better approach would have been fitting the coupling pocket to the underside of the buffer beam rather than too the bogie, thus removing the need for the spare, but maybe thats a bit too much common sense..... ___________________________________ Another question, Is it possible to remove the coal load from the tender? looks a bit too shiny, and the shape of the coal pile rather reminds me of the look of those old tender drive locos that had the huge coal pile to clear the top of the motor.

A bit more new on the wheels, Have heard back from Gibson, unfortunately they cant do the drivers on a 3mm axle yet (but say they are currently working on it.) Will report back once they are available. Another question with the model, I take it that the included 2nd bogie is suposed to be fitted with an NEM pocket as well? Just get the impression from reading the instructions that its supposed to come with one bogie which dosnt have a NEM pocket (Which would make a lot more sense...)

I've returned to my improved Lima PTAs this evening, spurred on by a photo showing a rake operating in 1998 (i.e. perfect for the layout!) I've got on with a little more work on this rake. Not quite as much as I would have liked to do, (given that I've left my 'chopper' back in Bucks, along with most of my evergreen strip.) The first job was some prep work, this batch of 5 wagons had already been detailed a fair few years back, just not to the standard of the more recent batch of 5 detailed in a previous blog post. As such the first job was to remove all of the plastic that had been added, and sand back to get everything smoothed off. Once this was completed there was further materiel to remove from the headstocks, cutting off the triangular supports (that had been very roughly cut when originally converted) which will now be replaced with accurately cut evergreen strip to the correct angle. the headstocks were also removed at one end (on the original model one end is attached to the chassis moulding which has been disposed of.) Again these will be fabricated from Evergreen strip, with a cutout for Kaydees. On the outer wagons the different shaped headstock had been carefully removed from the original chassis, which has been tidied up ready for refitting. One end was formed from a Lima oddity, despite having 2 chassis toolings (one with buffers one without) they also did a third tooling which had the outer headstock without buffers. Given that I was short of one buffer fitted headstock I fitted a set of brass buffers to this to match. Moving to the ends, the only job that could be completed was the rectangle of 10tho plasticard which forms the base for the new end, having cut these from the sheet it was a simple case of aligning and gluing into position with plasticweld. Once this was dry I cut out the recesses in the fixed headstock for the kaydees. The final job for the night was playing with a set of bogies; I have enough castings to fit to one 5 wagon set. The intended method of assembly in common with most white metal bogies is pretty poor, so I have been modifying some etched subframes to fit. Given that none of the existing etches are a perfect match, I have gone with the A1 DMU etch, mostly because its pretty solid (and I have a ton of the things that I will never use!) Its snipped to profile on the top, and has some materiel removed from the inner sides to clear the bearings (that are fitted directly to the casting) Still need to solder it all together once I get back to Bucks, but it will do for now. Given that the layout will initially only be able to hold a 5 wagon set, at least this will allow me to get a rake running while I wait for S Kits or Intercity Models to release either of their respective cast bogies. Which leads me to the most worrying thing with this rake, Despite all the work (and the fact that the finished model does look the part.) there are some pretty serious errors with the sides and basic shape (stemming from the lima base model), end result means that the return of a decent kit will be tempting. I am planning to take this rake (along with the etched kit for the O&K box that will go with it) to the Leamington show next month where I will be on the DEMU stand on the Saturday. The final thing for this blog is on liveries with a slight change of plan over my initial thoughts, the shift in layout focus coupled with photos showing PTA rakes in use c1998 means that for the most part its all going to be finished in the CAIB version of Foster Yeoman with heavy weathering. One wagon will end up finished in ARC for a bit of variety (and because the pack of ARC logos I want for a 59 comes with 2 sets). Speaking of transfers, the sheet for the O&K boxes does 2 wagons, so I think I may end up buying another wagon to do there as well (might help with the fabrication of the new floor for the one I have come to think of it...) t An enjoyable evenings modelling, made even better by the highlights of Bath vs Gloucester being on the tv (though if only ITV would show more than two minutes worth!)

Another spot of renumbering in front of the tv tonight, Started off with my Freightliner 66/6 thats being changed to a 66/5 (very thankful here that the differences are all internal!). The Freightliner 66s are my favourite to work on, while they have 6 numbers to remove, they are all located on flat surfaces (so no repainting needed to repair the scars from removing numbers over the bodyside ribs here!) The Bachmann printing is my favourite of the RTR manufacturers, given that one application of microsol over the number and they normally will just wipe off the model (without any shinyness left behind) As per the photos found on fototpic showing 66539 in 2003 it is missing the Fr from one of the cabside logos, so this was carefully removed at the same time. Sadly I think this is probably one of those things that just dosnt look right in model form (just looking like I've mucked up the transfer...) still will see how it looks when its finished, and consider replacing the logo..... The loco is now ready for new transfers in a couple of days time. Next up was a pair of Virgin Trains powercars from Hornby, being modelled as 43155 and 43157. 155 is being modelled in Virgins original livery with the XC logos. Once side has already been finished (just using the XC off a fox transfers logo) along with some new numbers. The original numbers tool 2 applications of microsol to remove as the printing is rather thick, much worse was the nameplate which one assumes in order to make up for their lack of etched plates, Hornby print extra thick, this required a lot of microsol to remove and has left a certain amount of ghosting in the area. Still waiting on Shawplan brining out the nameplates (City of Aberdeen) so hopefully they will hide all of the old nameplates ghost, else will have to apply a coat of varnish to blend it in (which worked very well on 57008 on which you cant see the ghosting any more. 43157 was much easier, given the base model dosnt carry a name (so it only needed the numbers removing) this loco is fitted with silver lady logos and will (at some point) get the HMS Penzance vinals for the name. Both powercars need the roof grills converting to the other type (that one day I will get on and draw up...) The flash has made the ghosting around the old nameplate look a lot worse than it actually is, in natural light you can barely notice it (hence expecting the nameplate to completely hide it and not need varnishing)