jessy1692

Evening, just back from an afternoon of sanding a priming the MK2 cut and shuts and I'm pretty happy with the way things are looking. Another round of filling some areas and final fettling sanfing to get rid of some bumps and these should be about ready to join the paint shop queue. We have another FO marked up for cutting so looking at cutting that when my Dad is back from holiday as he knows what he's up to with the cuts. Hopefully more tomorrow and fingers crossed its less windy up here so I can start top coating my TEA'S. Cheers James

No probs Alex, I'll check over my Co Bo next time I'm at the layout to see if it jogs my memory of what we did to it! Them CD re motor jobs are pretty good, I did a 47 with one and it does improve things but a new Railroad bogie makes all the difference, silent running. Check out Lendons of Cardiff, lots of good stuff for projects. All the best James

I'll keep you posted, 1st one has just had second pass with filler yesterday so should have some updates later this week all being well. Cheers James

I did consider filling and recutting windows but I think I'd get bored, plus this way we can re use the original tinted windows easily.

Well that was my original plan as its very easy but suddenly bso's seem a tad expensive, plus I'm keeping one and one is a BFK now. Keeps the cist down and the old man out of bother!

Scratch that, I was thinking of the Hornby ring field blocks... Halvarras is quite correct the Lima 52 wheel base will be shorter so probably a no go for the Co end using a Railroad 59/66. I'll have to check mine now and see what we did... Cheers James

I'm pretty sure the Lima Western used the same Co bogie as the 47, 59,31, 60 etc. Iv remotored my 28 that was on a lima Western bogie I think in such a way. Iv pretty much gone through all my ex Lima stuff with railroad power bogie upgrades. Brilliantly cheap from that certain Cardiff based emporium. Cheers James

Aye Griff, I'm keeping my BSO as is now, it's only because I had 6 FO's that we are messing around with them like this. Keeps it cheap!

Excellent work Alex these look fantastic. Iv been kicking myself for years for not buying a Heljan one back in the day to upgrade from my Silver Fox 28. You may have already spotted this but the moulded/printed steps on the side frames don't line up with the inset doors, just shows how odd these locks were/are with nothing being symmetrical! Also, for a quick and easy motor upgrade, a railroad 59/66 motor bogie would work a treat, just need to build a cradle to use the top pivot on them, 20 minute job with some plasticard. Looking forward to seeing them develop. All the best James

I've been a tad busy with other things other than models since the last post annoyingly but my Dad has been plodding on with various things in my absence. I was up at the bench today to get going again and was very glad to the next projects starting. We have a load of Airfix 1st class 2ds I picked up cheap last year so we had a plan to cannibalise the worst one to create some TSO's as these are pretty rare and go for a fair bit on Ebay nowadays. I also gathered 3 BSO's up so decided to chop one into a BFK. The MK2 project was supposed to come after all the MK1 chops but the weather had curtailed us spray painting the MK1s so far so for something to do he's cracked on. Only one pic as my phone was dying but the BFK was done as per a topic I found on here, apologies I forget who posted it now. The TSO's have/are being done by cutting the window strip out and chopping up the windows and adding an extra one in from the cannibalised BSO. It's turned out not to be as simple as we thought as the body mouldings between the FO and BSO seem to be different thicknesses and also the FO body mouldings seem to have some areas thicker than others so it's a fiddle getting the windows to sit flush. We are getting there and we should get 3 TSO's sorted soon. Lots of filling and sanding coming up. The MK1s are just about ready for proper painting, just waiting for a decent day over 10 degrees or so to get them sorted.. Should be more updates soon, fingers crossed. James

Very neat solution, beats my milliput castings hands down! Certainly will bear these in mind if I get back onto the Freightliner boxes again, great idea. All the best James

Happy days back then at Milford, always something moving it seemed. I think it was about 97 when we started going for a look on an evening but always remember the NP livery looking smart. Great times. Thanks for posting as ever. James

Cheers Jon! It's looking rather smart is Barber now, also good to see its going together pretty smoothly. Cheers James

Same, went all week last week without one until I got to the pub after work on Friday and its slowly crept back in to routine..

Yeah I think I best knock fags on the head again....horrible really to think what my insides are like... Once it's cleaned up itl be pretty mint, it can join the works queue for shawplan bits... I think I have 3 deltics in bits now!

Not an amazing amount to report at the mo, the queue for the paintshop grows ever longer awaiting a decent spraying day. Today has been a little interesting as I won a spares repair deltic for under 40 quid which I think is a decent win in this day and age. I took it to the bench after work to see if I could see if there was any life in the thing and there was a brief judder but nothing. Upon opening it up, what I thought was a mucky wash over the body was also on the inside... a quick sniff and I realised it smells like pipe tobacco! Thought I'd share a few pics to warn anyone off the dangers of pipe smoke to Deltics! Apart from the nicotine stains and missing buffers, its in good nick. I don't think it's been run that much and mainly been sat on a shelf. One side is still green. Another good reason not to start smoking kids. Hopefully more soon. James

Thank you Jon, very good to have a heads up on these things. That cab looks brilliant, really captures the likeness. Top job!

I'm sure I read somewhere the current green us based on the original Thomas Green's green, which does seem to be a pretty vibrant shade but agree it is a bit bright! When I get to mine I'll be doing the later style Hunslet green I think. Great progress Jon, itching to get mine started now. Cheers James

I usually go for Dapol 3 hole wagon wheels and then Hornby for coaches or wagons over 3ft dia wheels. Careful if you are re wheeling Lima stock though as they have a funny axle size, I'm sure someone will be along to advise there. Cheers James

Early to mid nineties when I was a lot younger my memories are of trips to Tinsley and Healey Mills, afternoons out to Knottingly Station and then round to the depot through the gap in the fence. Endless trains of MGR's and 56s always stick in my head. Then after the move to N Yorks we used to go down to Gascoigne Wood/Monk Fryston to see what was about but by then 66's were appearing so I started to lose a bit of interest in the real world trains. Cheers James

Another couple of weeks has gone by and 0 modelling time from the last update until tonight.... frustrating but that's life! My roof vents from MJT arrived last week so I made time this evening to get up to the desk and made a start on the LFK roof layout as per the Parkin diagrams. All went well and I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. I know it's not perfect but it looks something like: One more brush coat of grey and itl be ready for some blue, I must get round to ordering some commonwealth bogies soon too. Lots more to follow hopefully tomorrow and into the weekend. Cheers James

Will be following with interest Jon, I'm still bogged down with MK1's and no time to clear the bench. Hope its a steady away build and not like Spencer! Cheers James

Iv used tunnocks caramel wafer wrappers plain side up for sheeted loads, form it over a block of something and then paint the desired colour. I think it makes a good representation and most importantly a valid excuse to eat half a pack in one sitting! Cheers James

I found fixing one set up and keeping on able to swivel but added chocks to limit the swivel radius helped a lot. I don't have train set curves but when I glued them all up they did bind a little and reversing through crossovers wasn't exactly great with both sets glued up. Cheers James

Thanks Colin, it's one of my favourite re paints is that, really suits it. One day I'll get another one to have a blue one to go with it. Cheers James