jessy1692

Since my old man has decided to go on his jollies for a week, iv been press ganged into feeding his two EM2 themed moggies. I havnt seen them for a couple of days so lord knows where they have got to. but with him being out of the way it has left me with a lovely empty house for me to have some peace and quiet to crack on with a few of me old stalled project and also the latest deltic. Progress has been slow with the Deltic, a weekend pencilled in to crack on was scrubbed out for a 'couple' of afternon drinks round York which ended up being a weekend in York with a very worrying incident involving a hen do from Redcar, least said about that the better....... anyway heres where im at at the mo, this ones shaping up to be Pinza circa 1978, pre man of kent tour, no sandbox covers but still with domino headcodes. New handrails are in, and the bulk of the lovely shawplan etchings are in/on the body, most of the wok tonight was getting the fan grilles in and after much swearing and superglued fingers there in (on?) Lovely ectches but being so fine its a juggling act as to how much glue you dare to use i just hope theyl stick on long enought to get some primer on. The windscreen surrounds are finally on and again they are such an improvement, the bonet top doors are on now as well. I reprofiled the bonnet top by eye, looks fine for now just hope a coat of primer doesnt show anything up if iv gone too far or not enough but im happy so far...... Kick plates and lifting point covers are on as well, looking pretty smart as well in their stainless glory seems a shame to paint over them now. I added a small hook into the recess's which you can just make out, a little over scale but once painted and weathered in theyl be fine and just noticable as a little extra detail. Still plenty to do, lamp irons & headcode brackets are next to go on then i might give her a coat and see whats what but im happy with the job so far. Iv started hacking up the chassis chopping, opening up the gap between the tanks to give the impression the tanks are held on by the body. The improvement is worth the effort, even if it is a bit laborious and dangerous when the scalpel slips... Loads still to do on the chassis, plenty more drilling and slicing before any pipework will be added, also the etched bufferbem will be installed once alot of the 'manhandling' is out the way. The gaping hole i hacked out will be to fit a bass reflex speaker when i get saved up for sound chip and will be tidied up later. Thats pretty much it for Pinza, but having a bit of time on my hands iv revisited a couple of cut & shuts that have been gathering dust for a while. Firstly i finally got the super deltic 50 cabs stripped and the windscreens sorted, the body was in a right old state being a patchwork of 50 grills and scrap western grills as well, i think i did a blog a while back and literally havnt touched it since so out came the sand paper again for a good rub down, a quick rinse and another coat of primer and i think its starting to look how i imagined it could be: Its only a bit of fun but im quite pleased with how its shaping up, new hand need adding and more sanding filling but itl look the part in work stained blue (fingers crossed) And finally for tonight, heres a couple of pics of my green 'super hymek' to go with the maroon and blue ones, great way to use up triang hymeks and lima deltic chassis! this ones been loitering on a shelf for nigh on a year so it should be on the rails by the weekend as soon as i finish the yellow ends and get some transfers on, oh and iv still got to add the names i bought for all 3 so a naming ceremony is in the offing at Bilton TMD this weekend all being well. Thanks for looking any comments always appreciated, just realised its a bit long as well, so thanks if youve stuck with my wittering tonight, time for a kip. Cheers James

Excelent stuff thanks very much Jon

cheers chaps, its still very early days and ill be back on with the files and sand paper..... Cheers for the tips Jon last night was just about getting most of the raised detail ground down, tonight ill be looking at the bonnet tops and curves and getting the front window frames sorted, and maybe the grilles, about time i unpacked all the etchings they make such a difference couldnt believe the improvement when i did the on Paddy last time. Just got to fing me CD of pics Brian has sent me now... If you can find some more pics Jone please add them, ill be taking my laptop modelling with me tonight. Thanks all for looking and the encouragement James ..

Not much has been happening in the last few weeks on my modelling front, work seems to have taken over again, anyway after a cold but very enjoyable day at the East Lancs yesterday i seem to have re captured my enthusiasm to start hacking things about again so heres the latest project. I bought a very tatty Bachmann Nimbus off Ebay months ago after id got St PAddy almost sorted with the plan to 'shawplan' another deltic. Nimbus was looking a bit worse for where with alot of orangy brown 'weathering' daubed on, after a quick model strip a couple of weeks back heres what i had to work with Theres still a bit of muck here and there but its scrubbed up better than i thought it would, first of all i removed all the windows, plastic handrails, lamp irons, buffers and fan grilles to leave the shell, no easy feat as they had been glued in with something that feels indistructable! Anyway after tidied up a bit i and removing the excess glue that was on the front and the stubbs of the handrails i started filing down the bonnet tops,these will be replaced with the excellent shawplan etches i bought at Doncaster a few weeks ago. When i did St Paddy I did a bit of re profiling of the bonnet top and curves, to me the Bachmann bosy isnt quite right here so i just kept sanding and filing until i was happy, Jon 020 also did a bit of work here but i think it was a bit more scientific than mine so ill have to revist his blogs. After a bit of flattening i gave up pending a bit more research before i go too far, next task on the list filing the moulded kick plates below the doors, carving off as much as i dared i finished off with with a file and then some fine sand paper. After sanding down i reached for the mini drill and started chain drilling to open out the foot holes for the kick plates and then started on the body side grilles. Im not sure if it was a rubbish drill bit or not but as i went around the body the plastic seemed to blunt it the bit pretty quick and heated up the chuck so now it feels as if my thumb prints are burnt off! Finally i opened out all the holes and also opened out the boiler & exhaust ports and removed the moulded lips ready for the etched replacements. Thats about all for tonight, hopefully in the next couple of days ill gain some momentum and start building up the shawplan bodyside grilles i got a Doncaster, they arnt cheap but they really do make a difference So heres hows shes looking as i packed up for the night, a bit folorn and looking a bit like something at the back of the doncaster scrap line, but hopefully itl be looking a bit better soon. Thanks for looking, any thoughts please give me a shout and hopefully ill have more progress this week. Cheers James

Lovely work as usual Jon, them windows and frames really make a diffrence. great reading as always & Nimbus is still looking well, I saw Brian up at Doncaster who helped me empty my wallet for some more deltic bits, just finding the time now to start another one........must be some kind of addiction to the damn things! Keep good work James

Evening all, just wondering if any 1 has sound chipped a 23 yet with an olivias chip and what do they think of it? Very tempted at the mo Cheers James

Also the sequences on Life on Mars filmed on the ELR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnoUlZnwYy4&ob=av2e blink and youl miss the 50 35 seconds in or so

Dont think any one could top the detailing youve crammed into every nook and cranny Jon been a pleasure to see it all come together and the wethering finish is superb Keep up the good work for the next job! James

Peckets in stock!! just stuck an order in hopefully theres 1 left (finger crossed) and the slide bars can wait xmas pressie sorted Any news on a Barber kit yet Robert? The type A chassis looks like its ready and waiting for one........ Cheers James

And just top the detailing youve done the bogie shackles and brass plaques! lovely work and attention to detail doubt you (or anyone) could pack anymore detail in/on , once again excellent modelling Jon James