JCClark

Flood

Many thanks for answering all the questions today. The layout is an inspiration and absolutely faultless.

Thanks for bringing it North to be enjoyed by all.

Regards

John

Shawplan do them

John

Hi Ben

I did a 57 in Northern Belle livery and used Pullman Umber.

It certainly matches the Bachmann 57.

John

Hi

If you have a look at post #176 in Layouts - Parkway Modern Image you will see the superb decals that adorn my re-spray of FGW PC

Celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee.

Very accurate and a joy to apply - well done and thank you John

John

Hi badgerv8

Don’t know what DCC system you are using but had a similar problem with my ECoS when programming locos that had previously been running on a Lenz system.

I re-wrote CV8 to value 8 which re-set the decoder to original factory setting and then had success. Even had to do the re-set twice on a couple of decoders!

Had to do this with sound locos also and, of course, the re-set does not affect the original sound files.

Hope that is some help.

John

Also hoping it is Charlotte as already have Stella!

John

Hi everyone

Finally found out that the colour is the same blue as DRS if anyone interested.

John

Hi Krieghoff

Merl is supposed to be out around June.

Possibly not in the catalogue as it was a last years model ie in the 2017 range.

It is available to pre-order on a lot of websites so should see the model soon.

Hope that helps.

John

Hello everyone

Apologies for the delay since last posting but numerous events have interrupted progress in many ways.

I decided to weather the chassis on my GNER rake so, to protect the lower part of coach body, applied some Tamiya masking tape.  Could not believe that when I removed it some of the varnish came away with it!!

That really put the cat amongst the pigeons so ended up with 6 coaches to repair and one required a complete re-spray!!

Too cold outside to work in the shed so decided to do a couple or so re-sprays, which I have posted for comment.

I completed a couple for my friend which comprise 37262 Dounreay in plain Engineers Grey and a blue/grey TRFB stripped and re-done in FGW unbranded colours to complete His Scotrail Driver Training HST that is currently regular running between Aberdeen and Dundee sans passengers.

For myself, I re-sprayed a stripped Mark 3 into GNER colours and designated coach M.  I also stripped a couple of HST Power Cars and they are now re-sprayed as 43093 in FGW Green and named Old Oak Common complete with Legends decals.  These were a decal set from Railtec Transfers and easy to apply.  The second Power Car is FGW blue depicted as 43186 Queens Diamond Jubilee and the decals are from Precision.  I think both Power Cars are a great addition to my HST fleets.

As always, please feel free to comment and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all and hope you are pleased with the manufacturers announcements for this year!

Regards

John

Good morning All

Does anyone know what blue to use for a re-spray of Rail Operations Group class 47 number 47813?

Thanks for any information.

John

A bit of a missed opportunity for 2018 I believe.

After watching the video regarding the excellently detailed forthcoming Breakdown Crane and Class 90, it would have been a great move to re-engineer the Class 66 to a standard that matches Dapol’s Class 68.

John

Hi Richard

The Loksound decoder is the same manufacturer as the ECoS - ESU.

I have sometimes had problems with decoders that were previously used on a Lenz system so on ECoS I read CV8 and then had it write to a value of 8 which should re-set decoder to factory setting of 3. This does not affect the sound on the decoder.

Regards

John

Received my Intrepid body from DCC supplies yesterday and what an excellent service from them, thank you.

The body was superbly packed and is superb. I take my hat off to Dapol for replacing the bodies and now just taken delivery of Avenger, what superb models these 68s are and definitely a contender for model of the year.

John

Good morning everyone

The Colas livery really suits the class 37 and thought I would post a couple of photographs of 37099 that I have re-sprayed myself.

The donor loco was a very cheap purchase on Ebay (£52.00) for City of Worcester which I fully stripped and modified the ends to match the noses on Merl. The plates are from Shawplan and the decals from Railtec, which are superb.

I posted photos on this website under layouts, mine being Parkway along with several other re-sprays I have completed.

Regards

John

Received my full rake now and no problems. Have removed numbers and coach letters from 3 x TSO vehicles and will be applying new numbers and letters this weekend all being well.

Decals are from John Peck at Precision labels and I have also added corridor connections from Modellers Mecca.

Really pleased with the whole rake and definitely no regrets regarding application of “The Welshman” decals to PC 43188.

John

Hi Hampshire_barb

That is the correct selection of coaches for your GWR set and the ones Hornby are selling at the moment are from set LA15.

John

Hi Martin

Sealed with Johnsons Klear but was not 100% happy. Once dried out I very carefully brushed over the area with Railmatch gloss varnish that was thinned down to airbrush constituency and, so far, it looks good!

Regards

John

Hi Scottish Exile

It is an 8+ 2 if that helps

John

Hi Martin

The decals went on a dream and Railtec do not have massive carrier areas so looks great straight away.

I have not sealed yet and pondering whether to blow over with a gloss coat or just seal with Johnsons Klear.

Any advice would be most welcome.

John

Good morning everyone

My GWR power cars arrived and absolutely delighted with them and top marks to Hornby for the extra GWR profiled stick-ons!

As mentioned in my previous post, decided to swap shells over on the chassis so that 43188 is the powered unit.  This is because I have now added "The Welshman" decals from Railtec and they are fantastic.

I have attached a photograph to show the new look power car.  please feel free to comment.

John

Hello Gary

It is an 8 coach set so have ordered TGS, TRFB, TFO and 5 TSO. They are all numbered correctly for LAIRA015 set but obviously Hornby do not do the full set of numbers.

That should be as follows - Coach A (TGS) 44040, Coach B (TSO) 42301, Coach C (TSO) 42299, Coach D (TSO) 42351, Coach E (TSO) 42579, Coach F (TSO) 42300, Coach K (TRFB) and Coach L (TFO) 41146.

There used to be two first class coaches but they modified some to TSO status in 2015. The Laira sets are classed as low density sets.

Hope that helps.

Regards

John

Hello everyone

As you can see from the previous post from Roy, we had a good running session on Parkway including the "Ghost" 37 I did for Roy and my new Hornby GWR HST. Absolutely delighted with the model and now await the delivery of the 8 coach set to make up LA15 set. I am hoping I can get some number sets from Steve at Railtec so I can have all the coaches correctly numbered!

Talking of Railtec, I have just completed applying the superb "The Welshman" decals to 43188 and delighted with the result. I have also changed the bodies between 43187 and 43188 so that "The Welshman" is the powered car. Both PCs have been fitted with a Lenz silver decoder and run superbly. I have also posted a photo of some of the Parkway's HST units lined up - enjoy.

I must get on with the scenery now (once I have completed Inverness based 47563 "Woman's Guild" in Large Logo!!

As usual, please feel free to comment or advise.

Regards

John

Received mine yesterday and delighted with the model. Really like the gloss finish for a change.

I know it is a limited edition but seriously contemplating adding the Welsh Dragon decals to 43188.

Was going to respray a pair but have now got the Old Oak Common decals so looks like I will be ending up with two pairs of GWR liveried power cars!

Keep an eye on Parkway in layouts for progress.

Regards

John

Good evening everyone

A couple of photographs this evening, one showing the completed bridge cladding, washes, weathering etc and the other can only be termed as a lesson learned!!

After cladding the laser cut bridge with Slaters stone plasticard, I gave the completed cladding a coat of Halfords grey primer. Followed this with a dark wash from the Hornby enamel range and then dry brushed a few different coloured tones over the stone work. I finally used some different coloured earthen crayons to complete. I am hoping the bridge will now blend in well with the proposed scenery around it - we will see!!

The lesson learned was that no matter how small a loco modification you are going to carry out - ensure you do your homework thoroughly!! I purchased some excellent Freightliner Class 70 Fan unit from Rainbow Railways (already pre-coloured) to affix to my two Class 70s - 70001 and 70004 as I had already completed the same modification on my Colas class 70.

As you can see from the attached photograph, Freightliner obviously re-applied a smaller Logo after the fan modification! you can see that the original as bought Bachmann locos have the letter "r" on the door that takes the fan and, on the other side, the door has the letter "F"on it!!

I am not really inclined to remove the Freightliner legend just to get the fan mods installed, especially as 70001 is a Freightliner Limited Edition so have decided to leave as is! I will ensure that any other loco work has my full attention!!

Thanks for looking at the Parkway and any comments or advice are welcome.

Regards

John

Hi Danny

Thank you very much for the kind words. Thought I had bitten off more than I could chew for a while but getting there I think. The electronics were the big challenge as I had never had all my accessories controlled by DCC before. Roy has been the main man behind all this and, thankfully, the layout is running really well now and just been making up routes on the ECoS controller. What an awesome bit of kit ESU have turned out with this item.

I am making a conscious effort to get going on the scenery so, hopefully, the layout will take on a considerable different aspect.

As always, open to any constructive criticism and advice.

Best regards

John