ullypug

Looks very good and interesting to see the difference in textures. You might like to try a couple of things that Gordon Gravett uses for surfaces; ground white pepper on a bed of gloss paint or putting your chinchilla sand in the end of a pair of tights and shaking though. It sieves out the larger particles.

Not quite. I used the same axles. I could have explained it better. The insulating bush was pushed back so it was flush with the front face of the wheel. This meant the back of it was set further back

I recently found a few photos of a recent conversion I did a while back of the Dapol B4 to EM for my Covid shunting layout. I've been working quite a bit on Guernsey in the Channel Islands so this was originally an impulse purchase. I decided the LSWR would have loaned it from Southampton Docks to work the Stonehouse branch in Plymouth in my universe anyway. The B4 is a tricky thing to convert by the usual standards. I didn't want to change the wheels as there isn't a 100% accurate wheel available from Gibson. There's also very little room between the con rods and the front steps. There is a chassis kit and full white metal body kit available for the B4 tank from Nucast Partners and I've one of these in the cupboard to do at some point. After a bit of head scratching I decided to put the wheels in a lathe and skim down to 2.1mm thickness. It means you lose the wheel boss on the front but the good news is everything can be retained. The wheels have a plastic boss on the rear which means they can be reset on the axles once skimmed. Apologies to purists but my method was to use a 6BA bolt and nut fixed through the wheel and skimmed down. The remaining centre 'boss' was filed down afterwards. I took it very slowly over a couple of sessions. All went back together using the original crank pins and rods. Pick ups were tweaked and all runs well. Not much else to say really so here are some photos original wheel and axle skimming in lathe the central 'boss' is then filed down rewheeled Wheels painted and all done

That’s seriously impressive!

Afternoon Cap’n CSB’s are not that complicated really! I’ve been using them for ages. The first one I built was for a 2-8-0 42xx tank. I’ve never had any bother. You need to think ahead with frame spacers to make sure the wire has a pathway through. The ride qualities they bring are superb in my opinion. Chris at High Level does a really simple jig to set the anchor locations and the horn locks just have a tag soldered to them. The tricky part is knowing what all the spacing should be but the CLAG website has plenty of examples and if in doubt I just ask the helpful people on the Scalefour forum. Good to know about the 16xx. I have one of the Nucast Partners kits which has a Rumney Models designed chassis. The 94xx is also useful as I intend to do one of those. Despite being a red route engine and theoretically too heavy for the line, there’s a photo of 8492 at East Somerset Yard on the Cheddar Valley branch.

Not at the moment. There can be though the idea is just to shunt around on one board for now. Track plan attached.

Sadly all scrapped now. Bits may get resurrected as part of the EM layout

It's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Time doesn't seem to be what it was and a painfully slow divorce coupled with Covid restrictions has hampered modelling progress. But in a rare alignment of planets, stars, work and other more domestic arrangements I've actually had a couple of days at the modelling bench. Must be a holiday or something... I've been building a little Covid layout using the EMGS track and turnouts, details of which will follow I'm sure at some point. The layout is a small inglenook style affair and goes by the name of Stonehouse St James. It is set in the err, Stonehouse area of Plymouth some time in the 1920's and is of PDSWJR origin but having been taken over by the LSWR and now SR. The GWR has running rights so a variety of rolling stock will be seen. The primary role is goods for the navy's victualling Royal William Yard but an occasional passenger service will operate. There's still plenty to do but at only 4ft 6in long, it doesn't tale up too much space. I've converted a Dapol B4 'Guernsey' to EM by skimming down the wheels and the next engine I wanted to tackle was a GWR 1361 saddle tank What started out as an optimistic attempt at converting a DJM/Kernow 1361 GWR saddle tank has turned into a full kit build. The DJM tank is impossible to convert to EM. It's hard enough to get apart. No fault of the model, but the way it's been designed means a replacement chassis cannot be done. So having optimistically opened the CSP models chassis kit, I've actually taken it further and started building the kit which I had anyway. It's always been a favourite loco, ever since I saw Bob Haskins's one on his Cornwallis Yard layout. It'll look nice with a shunter's truck when it's done. The origins of the body kit certainly are Peter K and I think the chassis is a shot down 7mm etch from Pete Stamper of Agenoria vintage. I've built one of these chassis before in P4 for a 1366 tank and they're really quite straightforward. The chassis has been built with full springing via CSB's so an additional secti0n was cut out from the frames for the rear axle horn block. I decided to use EM frame spacers instead of those in the kit as they were too narrow. Hornblocks are High Level and wheels Alan Gibson. The gearbox comes with the kit and is a High Level Road Runner driving the rear axle. I had a bit of a disaster when one of the rods sheared at the half depth layer when I was enlarging the holes but thankful I had a universal rod set in the spares box from Alan Gibson so a new rod was made up without bother. Quartering was by eye viewing through the spoles and all is rolling well so far. I forgot to take a piccie of the chassis with the rods on but you'll just have to trust me on that one. The slide bars and cylinders bolt to the front of the chassis and can be removable. The brake shoes and rods are removable using a spigot for the top hanger and pivoting about the rear shaft. Something I've copied from High Level kits. The footplate is made up of a basis carcass with overlays for footplate top, buffer beams and valences. With just the coupling rods to fettle and connecting rods to add, I'm not far off a working chassis. Hopefully the body won't be too complicated but that's for another day.

Thanks! I used peco code 60 rail for Weston and c&l code 55 rail for Clevedon. Both sold as 3rd conductor rail. More info on the WC&P here https://wcpr.org.uk/track-signals.html

Looking good John. I’ve one of these to build, it might even be next in the queue so I’ll be following with interest

That's a very nice selection Mikkel. Well done!

Hi Colin thanks for the kind words. It’ll be 1950-60 ish. The rolling stock is in my ‘other other’ blog and yes, the 14xx is already done, 1454 photographed at Yatton in unlined green. All the links disappeared when we had a previous software update. Details here:

A couple of the tram at Murren

Having built and exhibited Wheal Elizabeth, I’ve a real temptation to build another China clay layout. Not helped by the subsequent acquisition of Kernow’s PRAs and a Tiger hopper. I’ve got other layouts to finish first though!

Thought I'd add a few photos from my trip in 2017. Wilderswil to Schynige Platte

Reminds me of the apple fritters at the restaurant near the station...

Has the possibility of converting this to EM or P4 been discussed anywhere? I've ordered Guernsey but those wheels are far too close together...

Thanks for all the kind comments folks. All I need now are some accurate ish sketches of B&E Rly chimney pots and that nice Mr Butler at Modelu will be able to print something for me!

Dave Yes, the whole roof splits away, just in case...

Despite the covid-19 lockdown, modelling output has slowed this month. However, I have been slowly working on the station building and feel like the to-do list is getting shorter. Canopies have been fixed in place, the south side one is removable in case I can’t get it into its travelling case. Rain water pipes have been added from the rather nice Modelu range and this weekend’s job has been to make the roof trussing. I made a cradle from foam so I could invert the roof and work on it separately. Main spars were cyanoed into the rafters and various cross rods and struts soldered on based on the photos I have. Once complete they were painted with a mixture of grey and gunmetal Vallejo acrylic. The photos show the effect I wanted to achieve.

It’s kind of weird how this has cropped up as I posted it back in 2018! I remember discussing it with Gerry at Railwells and yes he took things a little further than I did for his article. Good luck if you are attempting this. It is a bit of a faff but worth it in the end.

Great photos! Thanks for all the comments folks

This month I have been mainly doing tiling. With the footbridge finished, it was time to turn to the building range roofs. At 2 feet long, that's a shed load of tiles. Add the pattern of alternate square and round tiles and I wasn't left with much of a choice but to go with York Modelmaking 2mm tiles and take my time. After a few sessions, we finally got to the stage where it was coming together. The tiles were painted with a mixture of Vallejo and Lifecolor acrylics to match the main shed tiles. Chimneys added from the usual Green Stuff World ABS sheet and self adhesive quoin details from York. The gates and bargeboards have turned out beautifully, amazing what can be cut in Rowmark. The bargeboards are a couple of layers, stuck together with solvent. Shed bargeboards have had their final painting and fitting Canopies are done and I'm just debating how to fix them in place. Pins through into the walls seem like a sensible idea as the glues surface offered by the brackets isn't going to hold much. Suddenly the list of jobs to do doesn't seem so long. Well, there's the internal shed trussing but I'm not starting that just yet, though I do have another cunning plan. I am feeling quite pleased with how this has turned out. It just screams Cheddar to me anyway!

I understand the Cattle Market Road entrance is to be brought back into use this/next year to coincide with the completion of the University Business & Law campus on the old Sorting office site. That'll help with the likely future redevelopment of the whole Feeder Road area and the St Phillips Marsh area too once the City Council allocates sites for development in the local plan. It's on the horizon. I also understand there are plans afoot to buy back the old GW terminus shed from the city council (lease or freehold I'm not sure) and they're looking at future plans as the power box is coming down anyway.