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Dave Holt

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  1. Dave Holt
    A quick update following completion of the FPL lock bar operating mechanism. This includes a representation of a spring assister which helped the signalman move the weight of the bar and cushioned the bar at the ends of its movement.
    Still got the other portion of the bar to complete and the rodding from the signal box.
     
    Here's a view of the recent bits added:
     

  2. Dave Holt

    Rebuilt Royal Scot, 46109 - Pt2

    By Dave Holt,


    4 mm, P4
    Since the previous post, the brake gear, under cab pipework and the basic footplate have been assembled and temporarily assembled, as shown in the last photo. This is the current state of play.
    Pipework underneath the cab - complete except the injector overflows.

     

     

     
    Chassis and footplate assembled.

     

     
    Dave.
  3. Dave Holt

    Nearly there.

    By Dave Holt,

    After contemplating sprung intermediate buffer, due to practical considerations, an executive decision was made - fixed W/M buffers!

    The tender is now complete and has temporarily been connected to the loco. The latter has had some fine strips added to the rear edge of the fall plates, to bridge the gap to the tender.


    Still got to fit locating pins to the loco number and shed plates but, otherwise, I think it's finished ready for painting.
    Here is the finished loco, face to face with a later class mate.

    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    Work on the sprung chassis for the Class 40 has progressed with the PenBits etched brass kit assembled and work on modifying the Bachmann drive units and bogie frames started.
     
    The PenBits chassis went together perfectly, with virtually no adjustments required other than minor filing to get various sliding parts to give a nice fit. This was mentioned in the very comprehensive assembly instructions available on the PenBits web site, so came as no surprise. I didn't bother trying to download or print off seventy-odd pages but just browsed on line as I worked - fortunately, my computer is right next to the work bench.
     
    Although I've stated that the chassis is sprung, it's actually a mix of springing and compensation, with pairs of axles sprung using guitar string wires which are able to pivot in their mountings for the primary (on bogie) suspension and the bogies resting against secondary spring wires under the bogie mounts, again able to rock in the fore-aft direction. It all sounds rather complicated but actually goes together nicely with a bit of care and by being methodical, also being careful not to mix parts up between the two bogie assemblies.
     
    Having done all the soldered parts, I had to move on to the modifications needed to marry them to the Bachmann parts. That's where the deep breath came in. It's quite daunting to have to start chopping up the workings of a £200 r-t-r model, knowing that there's no going back or manufaturer's warranty available.
     
    The following photos show aspects of this recent work.
     
    First, the Bachnamm drive train has to be dismantled and sawn into two pieces, with a sliver removed to allow articulation between the axles. This shows the result with the gears re-fitted to the larger piece and the bass transmission linking box in the background.
     

     
    The remaining gears are inserted into the brass housing and the two sections re-connected by the final gear and its pin. Also visible is the bogie mounting with part of the Bachmann bogie mounting arrangement glued into the top.
     

     

     
    The articulated drive train was then dropped into the etched bogie chassis just to check nothing was catching on something else. When the springs are in place, the plastic drive train will be held further up inside the brass chassis.
     

     
    Next the bogie mounting was dropped over the bogie, again to check for clearances/clashes. Once the secondary springs are in, the mounting will sit higher up, giving even more clearance.
     

     
    So far, everything appears to fit as it should with nothing catching or binding.
     
    I can't really do much more with the trial assembly till I've put the driven wheel sets together. The Bachmann axles have to be taken apart to release the drive gears and these then have to be bored out to fit the full width 2 mm axles. A friend who does clock and watch making has very kindly offered to do this on one of his small lathes, so they are with him just now.
     
    The trial assembly has allowed me to have some ideas about pick-up arrangements. Clearances require removal of the existing Bachmann phosphour-bronze strips. The PenBits instructions are based on shorting out the wheels on one side of each bogie but I don't fancy that and need to find suitable positions for conventional wiper pick-ups.
     
    The final bit of work has been to start to get the plastic outer bogie frames ready to fit to the PenBits mountings. This entails cutting out the various cross struts and the base of the moulding and removing the coupling mount. The inner end strut has to be removed after gluing the frames to the brass mounting assembly. I've also cut out the holes where the extended axles of the front truck poke through. Suitable axles have been sourced from the part finished Lima conversion, mentioned below.
     

     
    I'm rather disappointed by the Bachmann frame mouldings and some of the jumper cable details, which are way over scale. Years ago, I part finished Lima Class 40 in P4 and, to be honest, the bogie detail is far superior and much crisper. I'd also put on all the hoses, pipes, front bearers and even the AJ couplings, so I intend to try to reclaim and re-use some of these parts. The photo below illustrated the Lima and Bachmann frames (the Bachmann is neared the camera, so looks larger, but they're both the same size!). I broke one of the cab steps off the other Bachmann and these are much better than the Lima, being separate mouldings, but I'm not sure we've progressed much in the twenty years or so separating these products.
     

     
    Dave.
  5. Dave Holt
    Progress on my Standard Class 2 tank is at a temporary standstill, awaiting the final etched components. In the meantime, I've been fitting the injectors to a model Crab belonging to a good friend.
    What I anticipated being a very straight forward detailing exercise proved to require rather more tricky and extensive work to achieve the required outcome. The loco consists of a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis, built to P4 standards. Interestingly, its one of the rotary cam poppet valve fitted examples but I'm not sure whether it's the Lentz or Reidinger type.
    The original chassis construction is beautifully neat and rather better than I normally achieve, but lacked the injectors and any of the underneath piping which I normally include. Furthermore, when I got down to it, I found that the brake arm supports under the cab had been fitted as per the totally wrong Comet kit instructions (located just inboard of the main frames instead of close together near the centre line), which resulted in one of the brackets being just where the exhaust injector should fit. The pick-ups on the rear wheels are also rather close to the injector and piping positions but I managed to live with that.
    Anyway, the first thing was to move the brackets inboard to the correct spacing (whilst still leaving access to the rear body fixing screw). Easier said than done. The brackets were found to be "L" shaped and soldered into the chassis side frames and what appeared to be a frame spacer was just fitted between the brackets. As a result the whole assembly came away from the frames in three pieces upon unsoldering. Definitely not what i expected. So, a new, full width frame spacer had to be made and fitted, to which the slightly shortened brake support brackets could be fitted.
    Of various options available, I opted to use Brassmasters lost wax brass castings for the injectors.
    The exhaust injector, together with all its associated piping (various diameters of brass wire) was mounted on a removable base plate which is attached to the new frame spacer with a 14 BA screw.
    The live steam side was a bit more tricky as the injector and overflow are fixed behind the cab steps (part of the loco body), whereas the piping is attached to the frame spacer, again using a 14 BA screw. Unfortunately, the Brassmasters casting is the opposite hand to the type normally fitted to LMS locos, so the positions of the steam supply and overflow had to be reversed by cutting off the existing flanges and providing new parts on the other side of the body.
    Getting are the bits of wire bent to the right shapes and correctly located whilst soldering in position required quite a few abortive efforts before final success was achieved. Praise be to Blutak!
    Here are a few photos showing the end result.
     
    Three shots from underneath, showing the two injectors, pipes and representation of the water hoses from the tender,
     

     

     

     
    And a side-on shot of the fireman's side, showing the exhast injector.
     

     
    Thoughts now turning to completion of my Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tank, also a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis. These locos were the basis for the later BR Standard versions, so lots of similarity to the loco recently featured. Plenty to do on it to keep me off the streets and out of pubs - well, some of the time, anyhow!
     
    Dave.
  6. Dave Holt
    In anticipation of a visit on Monday (tomorrow) by some friends to view and play with the layout, I've had each board out and set up on trestles to clean the track. To my slight surprise, I discovered that on two of the boards, the rail heads still had paint on - Halfords grey primer and rust coloured enamel. I'd completely forgotten that I had never cleaned the paint off after ballasting and re-doing the rails. Just shows how long it is since these particular boards have been out. Boy, did it take some scraping off after that amount of time. Fairly back breaking too, as the trestles don't really put the track at a comfortable height to extended work like that. Anyway, all done now and, hopefully, decent running will be obtained.
    Having the boards up did provide the opportunity to pose a loco for some photos, so my Crab and ex_LMS period II coach in carmine and cream were posed, emerging for the scenic break over bridge/short tunnel.
     
    Here it is arriving, tender first, with the empty stock for a wakes special.
     

     
    And here with the return working a week later.
     

     
    Looks like the crew forgot the lamps on both turns. Funny that no signalmen stopped the train as a result!
     
    Dave.
  7. Dave Holt

    Delph - Locos on tour

    By Dave Holt,

    I took my three latest completed locos to pose on Clarenden at the Leamington Club, last night. Here they are being serviced in the loco shed after arriving with excursion trains from the North and also seen departing for home with a return working. Hopefully, they look better here than on the shelf in my modelling room!
     
    Here they're seen on shed in various poses:
     

     

     

     

     
    44741 and 45701 are seen double heading a return working past Scrubbs Lane West Box:
     

     

     
    Dave.
  8. Dave Holt
    A further trial run took place on Green Street, prior to an operator training session. This showed that the mods I'd made had not really solved the problems with the front bogie, which still derailed on some pointwork and reverse curves.
    To try to effect a cure, fairly drastic tweaks have been carried out. The front end of the cylinder drain cocks has been bent outwards slightly and the support brackets filed to wafer thin. To give clearance to the rear truck wheels, the slide-bar supports have been cut away using a small slitting disc in a mini-drill. I'm not really sure why this has proved necessary since the prototype wasn't similarly cut away, but it appears to have solved the bogie problem and isn't too obvious unless you look for it. I also found that one of the pickups was touching the ash pan intermittently, so some coats of super-glue were applied to both components and allowed to dry to a hard film (making sure the pickup wasn't fixed to the ash pan!
    Following these mods, the loco was free wheeled trough various bit of point-work on Holt, including the tight track leading into the mill siding, without any derailment of the bogie wheels stopping rotating. So far, so good.
    Today, yet another trial run on Green Street confirmed that the latest mods appear to have solved the problem. There was a derailment issue on a particularly severe reverse curve through a double slip where sometimes the front bogie axle took the wrong road and other times it didn't. Perhaps some lubrication of the bogie side bearing pads (after painting) would enable the bogie to slide sideways more easily.
    Anyway, I'm sufficiently encouraged to carry on with the remaining details now the running has been proved.
    Dave.
  9. Dave Holt
    It's been rather a long time since my last entry, leading to some queries if I and the project are doing OK. Well, I'm fine but the layout has been in abeyance for quite a while because I allowed the prospect of hand scribing all the cobble to over-face me and off I went on my full size restoration work. I'm still involved with that but have had a bout of renewed enthusiasm for the layout and modelling in general recently.
    As a result, there's been progress with the layout, the latest loco and some coach conversions (from OO to P4).
    On the layout, I found that the remaining areas of cobbles hadn't scribed themselves in the intervening period so I knucked down to it and finished the lot in a couple of weeks!
    The next job is to paint them. As I recall from my youth, cobble stones in the North West tended to be a pale buff colour (rather than granite coloured) and the joints filled with tar, so I am thinking of a grey/brown acrylic paint with a very thin wash of dark grey/black which, hopefully, will settle in the scribe lines - like panel lines on military models. Better try out this on some spare card before committing to the layout!
    The final arrangement of cobbles extends over two of the base-boards but I forgot to photograph the two together before I split them and put the sections away for Christmas visitors. However, I did take a few shots of the main station board, which allows comparison with the previous photos. Unfortunately, the scribing doesn't show up too well on the white card, but you can get the idea. The cut out strip next to the run round in the loop line is to accommodate two rows of wooden sleepers. I imagine these were installed to make it easier to access the chairs in case of track maintenance. Photos of Delph show these quite clearly and also the fact they were only applied at this one place. Otherwise, the cobbles go right up to the side of the rails.
    First, a couple of shots from the buffer stops:
     

     

     
    And one looking the other way. The join where the next board connects follows the coarses of the cobbles not the base-board joint. When assembled, the join is fairly neat and not too intrusive.
     

     
    One issue which has arisen is that the "ash"" ballast I used has faded from dark grey to a fawn sort of colour, so some unexpected painting will be required at some stage. Oh well.
     
    Dave.
  10. Dave Holt
    I'm having a weekend away frome the layout and thoughts of further ballasting!
    Yesterday, I got fairly damp helping spruce up 35006, P&O (304.8 mm/ft scale) ready for the GWR Gala, where it's on display out in the car park (on the loading/unloading track, not the tarmac!). The weather wasn't too kind to say the least. My main job was cleaning up the valve gear and coupling rods and blessing them with Shell Ensis de-watering oil. Hope it worked - I'll find out tomorrow when I'm on footplate guide duties.
    Today, I've been to Railex at Aylesbury. A really good show, in my opinion. My favorite layout was Blackgill (sometimes featured in the layout thread section on here). I must say the standard of modelling, the detailing and keen obsrevation of railway features is outstanding. I just hope I can get somewhere near with Delph. That would be a major and most satisfying result. There were plenty of other good layouts as well, but Blackgill was the star for me.
    Back to the layout next week.
     
    Dave.
  11. Dave Holt
    The signal box has been modified to overcome the problem mentioned in the previous entry. A 3 mm wide slot was gouged in the underside using a custom made chisel (ground up from a screwdriver). Slots to accommodate the point rods were then cut in the front wall - very carefully, so as not to damage the paint finish applied by Gravy Train.
    I had been rather apprehensive about hacking at a fully finished model but it proved not as difficult as I'd anticipated. Let's hope that also applied to the forthcoming ballasting!
    Here's a photo of the box in situ with the rods entering via the new slots. Presumably there would be similar openings for the signal wires, but these have not been attempted. Best not to tempt fate.
     

  12. Dave Holt
    The final bit of point rodding in front of the signal box has now been completed and is shown in these photos.
     
    A general view:
     

     
    and just in front of the box:
     

     
    Unfortunately, I've now created a problem with the wonderful signal box made by Gravy Train. The original had a walk-way in front which was removed because the rodding cranks and signal wire pulleys are in the way. However, there is no slot above ballast level for the rods, etc., to enter the box, so I'm faced with having to create one without wrecking the finished box. This is to accommodate the support of the inner ends of the rods going under the box, which are above the false bottom in the box. I hoped I might be able to carefully carve a suitable opening in the floor and front of the box but it appears to be made from a grade of plastic card closely related to armour plate and the front face of the box is several thicknesses laminated together. I'll have to find a way to achieve the necessary openings somehow.
  13. Dave Holt
    A bit of further effort has seen the completion of the FPL and lock bar with the rodding all connected and the drive to the FPL bolt also done. This means I can now paint the track on the final board and in fact, since the photos were taken, I've primed all the unpainted bits using Halfords grey plastic primer.
    Just the rodding connections into the signal box left to do; then the dreaded ballasting awaits.
    Here are some shots of the finished assembly.
     

     

     

     

     
    Aahh! Just spotted that I forgot to plug the hole in the sleeper where I had to move the pivot bar for the FPL bolt (last photo). Another little job to do before painting.
     
    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt

    Delph - FPL lock bar

    By Dave Holt,

    Following on from my previous post on point rodding, I've now got stuck into the facing point lock lock bar. This is located immediately in advance of the king point to prevent the FPL being withdrawn if any stock was standing over the bar.
    Using information from the Scalefour Society manual and further information and photos from Robin Whittle (of Barrow Road fame) I've made good progress with my 4 mm scale representation.
    The bar is slightly the wrong proportions being a length of 0.82 x 0.82 mm Tee section but not too far out. It's mounted on wire pins set into the base board top adjacent to the rail. The pivot levers are from an Ambis FPL etch but I didn't bother with the associated support brackets as they're barely visible behind the pivots. I set the top of the bar 0.75 mm below the rail head to make sure that my 0.5 mm deep wheel flanges would be clear of it. This is perhaps a bit generous clearance as the real thing is about level with the bottom of the rail head in the lowered position. To get the bar to the required height I had to file the top of the inside chairs to 1.57 mm below top of rail and trim the bottom of the pivot levers which will be below ballast level when all is finished.
    A minor inconvenience is that the bar crosses a base board joint, so the total length (50' - 6") is split with 140 mm on one board and the remaining 62 mm on the next.
    Here's a photo of the longer section in position. Also visible (just) are the cranks for the operating rods (rods not yet done). The drive from the signal box lever is to the far (left hand) end of the bar.
     

     
    At the other end of the bar is the attachment to the FPL bolt mechanism. This arrangement meant that any failure/breakage in the lock bar arrangement prevented the FPL (and hence the point blades) from being moved.
  15. Dave Holt

    Delph - 9F visits

    By Dave Holt,

    BR 9F 92037 paid a brief visit to Delph today following major repairs. Here she is seen close to the recently installed FPL and signal detector.
     

     
    The loco last saw use at Scalefour North a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, it shed a con rod big end (due to the return crank unscrewing) which locked up the chassis at full tilt and doing a fair bit of mischief to the mechanism. The loco was stripped down and now everything appears OK, although not tried under power, in anticipation of an appearance on Robin Whittle's fabulous Barrow Road layout at the forthcoming S4North show in about 10 days time.
    Even if now fully restored, I don't think 92037 will get much use on Delph - holiday excursion perhaps?
     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    In my last entry, I reported that I couldn't get the signals to work and suspected some switching problem, which I assumed was due to my attempts at some limited interlocking within the control panel. This requires certain switches to be either normal or reversed in order to allow the circuit to the signal servo control board to be broken, thus clearing the signal. So, for instance, it is not possible to clear the home signal unless the entry point is set to the platform road and the FPL engaged or it is not possible to clear the yard exit ground signal if the cross-over is not set or if if the yard entry signal is already off.
    Anyway, all this arrangement was checked using a resistance meter to check the making/breaking of the circuits within the panel and all appeared OK.
    My next worry was the use of the layout common return for the sevo control return rather than a dedicated servo control return, especially when DCC power is in use because of possible traction signal interference to the servo system.
    Well, I don't really know what had happened, because without making any alterations (other than swapping two of the signal switch connection on one of the control boards which I had connected to the wrong wires from the control panel), when I tried the system a short time ago everything worked OK, even with the DCC system connected. Phew!
    I've also fitted two of the Tortoise point motors with stiffer operating wires to solve a couple of point throw issues.
    Better get on with the point rodding stool supports, cosmetic tie bars, etc., prior to painting the track on the most recent board. Than it's ballasting - something I'm really not looking forward to!
     
    Dave.
  17. Dave Holt
    After the more than slight disappointment of the electrical issues described in my previous blog entry, I am pleased to say the the problems proved not too difficult to sort out. One or two of the comments suggested it didn't sound too bad, so you were right, thanks!
    The dead sections of track were due to me not having connected them to the jumper cable to the next board! I thought I'd been very careful and systematic with the wiring, checking as I went, but obviously not as thoroughly as it should have been. Anyway, three additional wires solve it.
    I couldn't actually find a fault with the platform release corss-over and I have concluded that it is a minor operational restriction due to the way I've powered the track from the crossing units of the points. This appears to cause a problem if the cross-overs at both ends of the run-round loop are reversed at the same time. In practice, this shouldn't cause a problem and just requires the operator to make sure the platform cross-over is returned to normal before completing the run round process. Since this cross-over is operated by a local ground frame (released from the signal box), any engine using it would have to wait, once clear, for the fireman to return the crossing to normal and lock it, then walk back to the loco and climb on board. This pause gives sufficient time for the signalman to change the other end of the loop before the loco moves off to complete the run-round.
    I still can't get the signals to operate, so a bit more investigation of the switching arrangements will be required.
    At least all the track is now powered and all sections accessible. Phew!
    During test running today, I was pleasantly surprised that my ex-LMS Crab 2-6-0 was able to successfully negotiate the very tightly curved mill siding - which is more than can be said for the BR Standard Class 2, 2-6-2 tank, whick derailed the pony trucks. Too striong side control springs, i think.
     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    Those who have followed previous blog entries will know that I have not yet started the support structure for my Delph based layout. As a result, although I have placed individual boards on the (suitably protected) dining table to work on, any attempts to connect several boards together have involved having them on the floor. During a recent visit by Tim V, we managed to connect all four scenic boards, but this entailed moving the table and a coffee table out of the way to make enough space. All a bit of a pain.
    Recently, I have worked on individual boards with them balanced on top a two dining chair backs. A bit precarious, but this has the advantage of raising the board surface to a less back-breaking height and also leaves the table free for its intended purpose! Then a thought struck.... Why not use trestle legs as temporary supports? Similar in height to the chair backs but more stable and leaving the chairs free! So, three pairs of plastic trestle have been accquired and found to be just the job. I haven't tried assembling the whole thing on these, yet, but a couple of sections have been connected so that a couple of loose rail ends could be re-soldered at the board joint. This assembly is shown below:
     

     
    Over the past week or so, I've been fitting the cosmetic chairs to the soldered tack (mainly points, but also some plain track) on the board with most of the station throat point-work. There feels to have been millions of them, even though I've cheated by only applying the chairs to the visible side of the rails to halve the number required.
    In order to fit them, any part of the brass rivet protruding beyong the foot of the rail has to be ground completely away. I used a small grinding disc mounted on the end of a flexible drive shaft to do this - very laborious and causing one or two of the soldered joints to break, needing repair before the chairs was fitted. Each chair moulding has to be cut in half and the cut ends trimmed back to allow the half chair to fit right up against the side of the rail. The chair halves were then attached using a strong plastic solvent (Plastic Weld). I used Exactoscale chairs because they do a wide range of chair types, which helps try to represent the various types of chair present in bull-head rail pointwork. The photos below show the results of my efforts:
     

     

     

     

     
    The next job is to fit cosmetic fish plates at all the rail joint positions. There are lots of these, as all the siding track-work is supposed to be 30 foot rail. Where electrical isolation is required, I'll use the Exactoscale plastic versions and otherwise, Brassmasters etched brass plates. Then it's point rodding supports and the facing point lock arrangement.
    Still lots to do, but it's coming along.
    I hope to have a trial running session next week. If it accurs, I'll post a further item and photos.
     
    Dave.
  19. Dave Holt
    The 12 v DC power supply units for the two signal servo control boards were collected today and then fitted under the boards. There's one power supply unit for each of the control units and these are now all wired up. Another step towards completion of the wiring arrangements.
     

     
    This one supplies the starter and ground signals;
     

     
    and this one the bracket signal.
     
    Next task is to add the bell code dinger unit to the control panel.
  20. Dave Holt
    In order to correct some unsightly gaps in the cut out in the cork underlay, where the goods shed fits, I have temporarily re-fitted the shed. Suitable cork infills have now been fitted. Eventually, the shed will be surrounded on three sides by cobble stones. The total thickness of the cobbled area will be roughly 4 mm so as to be flush with the top of the rails. Similar to Martin Nield's description of the typical L&Y yard arrangement in the latest MRJ, the yard at Delph (ex-LNWR) had a double row of old sleepers between the adjacent rail and the cobbled area, presumably as these were easier to lift than cobbles when track maintenance was required.
     
    Whilst the shed building was in situ, I posed a part completed banana van on the shed road to check clearance and running. All OK, i'm pleased to report. However, I'm not too sure that any part completed banana vans ever actually ran to Delph, so this may not be strictly prototypical!
     
    The event was captured on film (well, pixels, anyway!):
     

     

     

     

    Banana van just visible at the far end of the shed in this view.
     
    Back to loco maintenance!
     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt
    Finally got fired up again today and went over to the work-shop to retrieve two more boards for equipping with point motors, AJ uncoupling magnets and wiring. Based on how long it took to wire the first board, I expect to re-emerge some time next year!!!
     
    Took the opportunity to trial fit the coal drop deck with the boards assembled. This revealed the need for a bit of trimming to length which was done. Unfortunately, there's been a slight warping of the main timbers, so this will have to be sorted on final attachment. That explains the slight vertical misalignment between the deck rails and the siding rails at each end, visible in the photos. Some rail ends also had to be cut back to avoid them touching at the board joints.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  23. Dave Holt
    Have made a start on the stone retaining walls for the coal drops. These were along the back and both ends of the drops and also a section set back at an angle where the road entrance was located. The walls were of coarse stone and appear to have been a 76.2 times scaled-up model of the Wills coarse stone plastic sheets!!
    So far I have cut the basic wall facing sheet along the entrance section and part done the right-hand end wall. Later this will be split into two sections, one each on the two base-boards which a have a joint in this area. Hope I'll be able to paint and weather this stonework to match the magnificent station and goods shed which Gravy Train has made for the layout.
     
    Here's a couple of shots of the two Wills sheets loosely set up on my work table. Visible in the background is a photo of the real thing I took in 1991. My wife, Sue, is standing roughly in the middle of the right-hand end wall, acting as a 21 mm scale rule!
     

     

     
    Unfortunately, the Wills sheets are too short for the longer wall, so it has a joint which I've tried to disguise by carving of the stones. Hopefully, when painted this won't be too obtrusive. Also, where the corner joint occurs in the wall, the moulded stones didn't quite suit, so some smaller or very short ones have been replaced by plain Plasticard pieces carved to roughly match the moulded sheet - those are the white bits on the corner. Again, when painted, hopefully not too visible.
     
    Happy New Year and good modelling in 2010 to all.
     
    Dave.
  24. Dave Holt

    D333 comparison

    By Dave Holt,

    Here's another shot of my part finished D333 ex-LNWR coach taken from a similar angle (but a rather drunken angle and poorly lit, in my case) to the shot Coachman has put on his blog - I would have posted this as a comment or reply to Larry but can't find a way to put photos into either.
    Anyway, here's my coach again for comparison. I've just noticed that although this is an ex-LNWR diagram, I've fitted standard LMS buffers (only the stocks, so far) rather than the LNWR types on Larry's example - must have been a reason for that.....
    Mine's a bit more advanced (roof detail) but I bet Larry's is finished first - I've been putting of fitting the glazing for ages - all those separate pieces to make and fit! Stick to large window corridor coaches I say!
     

     
    I'm surrounded by brick and stone embossed plastic sheet at present, so hoping to get some of the scenic work for the coal drops done before fitting the deck/track unit.
     
    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
     
    Dave.
  25. Dave Holt
    In a comment on part of my blog, Coachman mentioned making model of a digram D333 ex-LNWR non-corridor brake third. Here's my attempt at one of these (part of my fictional non-push-pull local train) which was made from a 51L Models kit, modified to represent the version with just two end windows. The model is not yet complete - lacking the glazing and buffer heads. Model was painted and numbered by Coachman - and very nice, too!
     

     

     
    The odd contraption visible at the left-hand end is a cast coupling bar (one of Bill Bedford's, if I recall).
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