James Hilton

077 is tricky as Bachmann don't do a modern 37/0 split headcode with the other cantrail grilles (077 has the ones with a dividing bar).

Wait until you see the photos of her now Lukas! Finished one end and it looks fantastic. I'll get some snaps on Paxton Road this week of her and 37013.

I think that the chain driven Sentinel is designed for a Tenshodo motor bogie. I guess Michael can confirm!? I'm wanting it in P4 so not sure where that leaves me!

Thanks Paul - that's really useful information I think I'll splash out on one of the 230hp Sentinels and give it a go!

Another mad-cap scheme... or the lure of the Judith Edge kit! I've long held a fascination with parts of the Manchester Ship Canal railway, the stub at Ellesmere Port and the network around Trafford Park. In the early days of planning Paxton Road it was a line that inspired some early sketches as to what this could look like and gave some direction to a layout that has gradually evolved into a completely different area and subject! Such is modelling fiction. http://railwayphotographs.fotopic.net/p48086712.html A chance browsing of this forum and seeing Halfwit's blog on the Steelman Royale taking shape and I found myself back on Fotopic searching out the snaps of the Manchester Ship Canal railway's Sentinel shunters. http://chris-lowes-train.photos.gb.com/p26212242.html http://tims-train-photos.fotopic.net/p24543965.html http://tims-train-photos.fotopic.net/p16154792.html I've not build a proper etched brass kit before - only brass chassis packs and one white-metal kit in my teens. I'm a little apprehensive about taking the plunge but a speculative email has been sent off to Judith Edge to check kit availability. So where does this project fit with all the others? Paxton Road is going to still be finished. Most of my modern stock will stay OO and for now this will be a great layout to use them on. Rose Hill is a foray into P4 and is proving to be worthwhile in polishing my whole range of layout building skills and I'm really enjoying it. Neither is the place for a Sentinel... Leading us to the only sensible outcome! A third layout - probably in 2011, probably VERY small (1x4 or so) to fit in my study. DCC and P4 so the Sentinel can be fitted with lights (and sound maybe?!) and P4 to try my hand at point building. In the meantime we'll see whether a box from Judith Edge arrives - and if I can keep it shut long enough to finish the other layouts!

Wow - excellent piece of modelling! really impressive Despite the flats not being 100% accurate this looks brilliant - definitely a better model then any I've seen before on the subject. Why not post the whole content on here too?

David this is looking pretty decent! Nice work

Mark that patch painted OBA looks great!

Ooh sounds interesting! Are the A1 grills much cop? I always throught the Lima ones were excellent on the 73 - and what let it down were the underscale pizza cutter wheels and the rubbish horn and MU cables.

The thing with N, I think, is the coupling. What are the alternatives? Whenever I see an N-gauge layout they always seem to use the rapido? I'd love to start - especially with the quality of some of the locos now! I've a sound 37 too - got it for Christmas as well (and a Dynamis too!)... which one did you go for? Anyhow - yeah you can adjust the volume. Mine came with a sheet of the CVs and their uses - I played with the volume but ended up re-setting it. Last time I had it out though I was having problems with my Dynamis loosing connection - and I think it was the base station. I'll get it out again and give it a good testing when the weather improves - as it's covered by a 12m guarantee through Bachmann.

Are aftermarket components any better then what can be achieved by fettling off the shelf products? I'm not convinced. The air horns on my Bachmann 37 are a good example. Plenty of firms (A1 and Markits spring to mind) offer turned brass air horns for the model. I think people think that it must be better, otherwise why would someone have produced it? Yes they may be more robust, and I've definitely seen them added to a model to good effect. However, I'm cheap! The Bachmann moulding actually looks pretty good. A nice shape, fine detail at the non-horn end (that needs to be added to the brass aftermarket ones anyway!) and fairly robust to minimum handling. I wondered what could be achieved with a mini drill! Answer? Something pretty good I think! The secret is to start with a very small pilot hole and slowly increase drill bit size. I started with a 0.3mm drill, then a 1mm drill, then used a reaming bit to open up the tip a little. All using my Mini-craft drill powered from my old H&M Clipper controller to adjust the speed. These will look fantastic with just a lick of paint. In addition I've also attempted to fettle some of the other details that come in the bag. Bachmann are really lagging behind Heljan, ViTrains and Hornby when it comes to the quality of the air and vacuum brake hoses it provides with it's models! On the 37 you also have a multiple working cable that is very thick indeed. I've modified the plug end with a file and knife to reduce it's height and add a rounded back side, and then sliced off the original hose. I then used a 0.3mm to drill a pilot hole before nerve-wrackingly drilled the 1mm hole to accept a replacement hose. This is still overscale but I couldn't find anything flexible that was smaller diameter - in fact this wire is from the inside of a USB cable - found after stripping down old headphones, mobile headsets and all sorts in the search for a fine wire! Anyhow - it looks ok, better than the original. You can see the difference in this picture, the original Bachmann hose is on the blue 37 in the back (the plug end has been modified), with the modified one on the green 37 at the front. Comments and questions are welcome! I'd also ask you to follow me on Twitter for more regular updates.

They do sound lovely don't they!! There's nothing wrong with a little nostalgia - it's your layout after all so the odd guest appearance

I've 411 now too - a lovely model - and also out of my time zone!! Any of yours got sound Rich?

What about sorting out the bogie frame on the left Rich? Where the Lima moulding has a cut out - which with the original chassis corresponded with a small moulding on the frame (I think to help hide the motor? Worth filling as Martin did on his one - otherwise it looks great. Definitely spurring me on to get mine done one day

Cheers Mark - thanks again! Work will start this week - but 37013 has sneaked back onto the workbench too and I've a feeling I'm going to try some of the chassis detailing out on her first. That won't stop me getting started on the ploughs and pipes though. I'm talking about going to town on the sanding gear and fuel tank pipework

I know John but I'm hoping by the time it's painted and weathered you won't notice! The ones with the brick behind were the first two I did where I was still all enthusiastic about scratchbuilding such a complex shape of building!

Mark obviously a fan of the tubby Duff! I've got to say I am too, despite the Bachmann and Vi offerings neither quite captures the look as well as Heljan did (for me). Lovely models

John you should see it now! Further update on Pacer progress in the next week or so!

cheers Mason! I just like things to progress quite quickly that's all and this has been really tedious - but I'm determined to get a good quality finish. I want Rose Hill to be good enough to get into Model Railway Journal!

I took my daughter for a trip out this afternoon to our local preserved railway, the Churnett Valley Railway at Cheddleton near Leek. We spent many happy days there earlier this year and were hauled on numerous occasions by the lines resident Class 37 due to a steam engine failure for a lot of the summer. The line is 'closed' during January but I thought we'd see something today, and since my daughter really wanted to see some trains it was worth a punt. Cheddleton was pretty busy and we found 37075 in the platform - much to Elly's delight! She loves the big blue diesel. Anyway since I'm about to embark on detailing my third Bachmann Class 37 I though it prudent to take a few chassis detail shots to help me with my detailing - and thought they might be of wider interest so have shared them here as well. Hope they are of some use!

Boy am I glad that Rose Hill doesn't need any other buildings when this one is finished! I've been making slow but steady progress with the pub for Rose Hill all week - after the photo of the 'first cuts' last Tuesday I got to the stage where it was self standing last night! A long way still to go though and I'm absolutely hating cutting windows and details out already! Construction is 40 thou plasticard with a brick plasticard laminate. This is hopefully strong enough to prevent warping but as it progresses a floor will be going in shortly which should keep things all square anyway. As you can see from the photos I'm adding custom scribed lintels to the top windows, and filed ones to the bottom to represent the real thing. I've even bothered to do the feathered bricks around the windows on the ground floor. The third side shouldn't be too hard but I don't have any photos or elevation drawings of the rear so some guess work will be the order of the day I think and hope I'm not too far off... Here is a link to the real building: Anyhow - I'm pleased with how it's coming along

A lovely effect along the bottom of the door Jon - great rust!

I've launched my own Blogger blog, to complement RM Web and to provide sollace for those dark days when internet gremlins make the forum un-available... Don't panic - I'm going to keep my blogs up to date on here with modelling progress. The external blog has feeds from the RMWeb blogs anyway... This will just give me somewhere to post other ramblings and have a play where I've a little more control over how the site looks Add it to your favourites!

I suspect Peter has added a Kadee no.5 (kadee in a draft box) rather than an NEM pocket and a Kadee no.18 (I might be wrong). In which case I suspect having done it myself that he chopped a slot in the valance and slid the assembled Kadee through, and mounted to underframe with some packing made up from plasticard to get the correct height.

Thanks Mikkel I'm a bit stuck with 37411 until the ploughs arrive as these need to be fitted before you can do the bufferbeam detailing properly - it will look pretty similar when finished really, just really lightly weathered (road grime on underframe, a few body side streaks and exhaust deposits on the roof). I suspect a solution is a varnish layer either before of after the first coat - problem is varnish can really effect the look of subsequent washes Perseverance is probably the best solution for me I suspect. I'll finish off the Seacow another day