jessy1692

Smashing, more research required! Cheers James

Hmm did the hard side rebuilds get the Shellstar blue livery before the UKF brown and white? Could be an interesting variation. Ill send you a PM about some more trusses. Cheers James

Thanks Northmoor, yeah the plane storage field is getting a bit full, what you cant see is the XB70 Valkyrie hanging above, its huge! What a plane. Ill be re jigging my artwork file i made for the transfers at somepoint so if you want a copy when you get round to it just drop me a message. Cheers James

Evening all, still awaiting the chassis bits arriving for 1704 so tonight iv been plotting the way ahead for the curtain sided PWA's. My Dad has been trialling some thinner rod to use under the tissue paper whilst i was watching Leeds last night and it is a definite improvement to my trial at the weekend. I painted a bit of white on over the blue tissue paper to see how it looked and all seems well. Yes i know, he could have glued the vertical rods on straight but as its a test ill let him off! Tonight i scraped and filed off all the detail on one of the new PWA's that have arrived, luckily they are brown plastic so no paint stripping required. I also altered the end struts reduce their height slightly. The next step of the plan is to mark up the 33 vertice lines for the rods to be glued to body side, i make it 5.2mm between each one, then add the tissue paper. Finally for this evening we have been dicussing colours for the blue, from the couple of pics on Paul Bartlett's site https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/ukfvan/h5371e734#h5371e04c and the 3 on Flikr from John Turner's gallery (auto embedded, can remove if not allowed?) I think we have come up with the colour, going to use railmatch faded rail blue and add a touch of white just to brighten it up, i painted a bit on some card and part of the tissue clad test earlier and decided it needs a bit of white to lighten it, but will judge better in daylight. Thats about it for now. Hopefull more soon. Cheers James

Oh and heres some pics from my Dad that he took back in 1984 just before the demolition gang moved in to Harrogate goods yard and shed. UKF had a depot there so we think the long train was to empty it out. Note the blue liveried one in the consist, is it an early Kimera one does any one know?

Evening all, just thought id pop a few snaps up of my nearly finished ones ive been working on. 2 with trusses from @jonhall and one without. Home spun transfers applied for the logos and lettering and bogies from S Kits which i think ill upgrade to Stenson at somepoint. Just acquired a couple more so im going to have a bash at representing a couple of curtain sided original ones, Jon, do you still have any trusses in stock? Cheers Jamed

Hi Paul, somehow this thread seems to have passed me by.. looks like i have just missed the boat on the latest batch, any plans for another run? Would love to have a go at this after seeing Darius' thread, looks fantastic Thanks James

Fantastic, might stick this on my xmas list for myself.. kit looks fantastic. Top job as ever Darius and hats off to Paul for creating a fascinating kit. Jealous of the chair too! Cheers James

Hi Leopard, the are from Railtec, 1st time iv used their 'idividual custom loco pack' basically everything you need for the loco of your choice, ready made numbers, TOPs, totems, warning flashes etc. Its the way ahead really save so much time and i cant fault the service, ordered just before midnight then by 9am the next day and email from Steve to ask what number and shed code, then posted later that day. Cheers James

Well i havnt managed as much time on bits as i thought i would, work has been manic so been pretty knackered on an evening but some forward movement has been maintained. Two of the PWAs have been weathered down and ready for a varnish coat. I also won two more Ebay so project curtain siders is on. I did a trial run today on some plasticard using some 20thou rod to form the ribs as per Grizz's technique, however, i found the ribs too high for to represent the curtain side PWA,s so another trial run will be done soon with thinner rod. Didnt take pics as phone was dead... If all goes to plan with a trial the plan is to file smooth the detail on the sides of the lima wagons, glue on verticle rods (33 of them!) Then apply wetted tissue paper and then seal with PVA. The a few coats of gloss white spray and then home made full length decals in the striking blue. Oh and ill see if Jon Hall has any of his brass trusses left. The 48 has now been transferred up and a coat of satin sprayed, it may need another but ill judge it in better light in the morning, the cooker hood lights are a bit bright in them pics. May have to send off for some more as the tin is getting low. I really do like the 3D works plates from Railtec, will be making a lot of use of them. My order from Lendons is now on the way with bits for the chassis, been waiting for some bits to arrive with them from Hornby. Next up on the loco front i think will be 47 901, fancy a bit of triple grey to go with 37 905. Cheers for looking James

Well id forgotten all about that kit! As Gibbo says it looks to make into an excellent and interesting model, cant wait to see it progress. All the best James

Also a good thing about the Tunnocks sheeting is that you can push them over a load and they keep the shape really well. The blue sheeted load is a couple of old crates that came off some Airfix Lowmacs. Fold the wrapper around and then rub a finger over the edges and corners then paint, as you can see it helps to show the detail of the sheeted load. Must get round to putting some tie down rope representation. I have also heard of people using after eight mint wrappers for sheeting too. Cheers James

Spencer looks brilliant Jon, cracking little model, hope it behaves and runs as good as it looks. A light wash as you say to tone the plates down a little may just be the icing on the cake. The Spencer tank plate does look a tad bigger than mine but it may be the red accentuating it,but what does it matter it really looks bob on, love the rivet detail too. Hope we see the Barber kit coming out soon, might give me the impetus to sort my NG stuff rather than playing about with diesels and wagons! All the best James

Cheers Busman, knew somewhere in the back of my brain there was a reason other than to make me feel left out! We used to have 20s a few years back on northern yorks circuit, wish id paid more attention and got up earlier more times now! Cheers James

Awesome, cheers 4630. Indeed a good study on real times and ill try plan a day off, preferably not in the rain as seems to happen to me every time i take a day.. Cheers James

I think a day off might be in order soon so i can catch some decent traction.. not surprised they are gathering attention they look and i guess sound excellent. All the best James

Its not fair, the South Yorks circuit has had much better traction than the other one, i believe its just 66's which wont get me out of bed for 05.30 on the Harrogate line. Could someone ask for a traction swap? Grear pics though, very jealous. Cheers James

Im sure they'll be fine, fingers crossed!

Theyll look really smart on your green Spencer, i had days deciding whether to go for black or red! Hope to see them attached soon Jon, enjoy the break when you get there. All the best James

Evening chaps, small update tonight. The 48 now has varnish patches on ready for transfers. The 3 PWAs now have updated new TOPs panels and solebar lettering. The eagle eyed of you may also spot i made up some smaller yellow oval plaques and procor logos, all individually numbered and every panel is different in little ways. Much happier with these new trasfers i wizzed off today. Decal fix is setting, final weathering next then varnish for these. More soon hopefully. Cheers James

No probs John, fingers crossed its just a minor blip and youll be sorted soon. Varnish does seem to be a dark art reading through the above from us all. All the best James

Afternoon John and all, i seem to only use the humbrol rattle cans of satin as it leaves just enough sheen for me. My usual method is enamel paint humbrol/railmatch, then for locos add patches of gloss brush varnish where the transfers are to go. Normally dont bother on wagons unless its a big transfer. Transfers then sealed with humbrol decal fix and left to dry for 24hrs. I usually spray my stuff outside or occasionally inside in the kitchen, always try to get a warm dry day. Never had a problem with the humbrol varnish, only thing that sometimes happens is it can get a bit 'splattery' if the cans running low or the nozzle gets blocked but another coat soon sorts that. Perhaps its my slow pace gives all the enamel paint time to go off properly, i have used both enamel and acrylic varnish and both give good results, once i noticed some slight fogging/frosting but another coat over the area sorted it fine. Perhaps i have been lucky, it is always a bit nerve wracking at varnish time! Hope this helps, if you want any more info just let me know All the best James

I hope so too! Still quite surprised its going ahead, will be interesting to see how it looks. Cheers James

Evening Gibbo, after reading through Grizz's stuff on his wagons, im going to attempt it via the his tissue paper method, the curtain side PWA's look to have closer spaced ripples/ribs. Going to practice on some plasticard but i think i have it sussed, famous last words!

Evening all, had some free time this weekend so have progressed a couple of things. The VDA pair are finished and running around the layout. The 48 is just about ready to become 1704 but i seem to be out of gloss varnish so my dads off to fetch some tomorrow, quick coat of gloss on the cab sides and the transfers will be on then a spray over with humbrol satin. The chassis for this is on the way from Lendons, more to follow when it arrives. Finally the PWAs will hopefully get finished this week, just need to run off some tinkered transfers. Im keen to try out some techniques to create an original shellstar curtain side one so depending on finding a donor or two on ebay this could be another project soon. Cheers James