Captain_Mumbles

More hand laid points to be made. Finishing the track work on this side of the layout will be a boost. The point motors could be fitted and scenery can be started. Thanks for looking!!

I know exactly what you mean, Australia here. Bogies, wheels, loco detail parts, and bullhead track parts are the bane of my existence.

Also on the washes. I watered them down a little with some medium so I could replicate where some panels go darker in a gradient from one end to another. Mainly with the crimson shade as it is very powerful. Dominion: Great work on the sleeper coaches. What did you make your under frame support with? Cheers, Ben

John, if you check some of the pictures I posted above, you will see that I have managed to paint some wood grain, and the sepia/crimson/earthshade washes and managed to keep the heraldry. I have added a picture of an upmarket version I am repainting. I acquired some of the high detail versions and was shocked at the weirdness of the teak finish on em so I have started redoing those too. Note how you can paint around the heraldry and even paint a wash over em without losing too much of that detail. Good luck with your build. Please share your progress!

Games Workshop paints are my secret. The shades/washes Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia, carobug crimson in different various strengths for the wood and Nuln Oil for other grubby areas are your best friend. I do a little more than that by hand painting on some wood grain effect but those paints are a good starting point. And the other thing about these railroad coaches being short is they make your tighter than scale curves not look so sharp, having less overhang and all that. I'm not a massive accuracy freak and steer towards enjoying the art or craft of it. Id like to tackle some articulated coaches eventually. I do have some old teak kits, the parts of which that would be cool to use on some donor coaches some day.

Do you have any links to references for these coaches? This sounds like a good project.

One of the A2/2s on the viaduct showing the slight hint of some super elevation in the curves.

Okay, here goes. It is made of two brake coaches. I cut out the doors and panels, and joined them back together. Carefully and keeping in mind that when I cut, I had to lose the blade thickness on the side I didnt want. I guess you could say its a Hornby Railroad teak remix. Some of the panels are made from plastic card and strip. If I could do it again I would have tried to save more of the roof on the one that I hacked up so I could have another go at the full brake. Get a nice hobby razor saw. They work well. Obviously I had not discovered them at the time of this one.

I had a go at this a while back and I really enjoyed it. I probably went a little far in that I shortened some of them to turn them into early full brakes and there is one where I increased the cargo section inspired by some photos. It was fun to do.

I picked this up off the bench and have started painting. It is time to work out how to do the lining. At this point I am thinking the overpriced one on an auction website might have been a good option! But we are here now... I have touched up the green a little and started with the white and black stripes. I am still to decide if it will be 4473 Solario, 4479 Robert the Devil, or the early GNR scheme for a cameo. Thanks for looking!

I think I might have seen this one in Cessnock? Interestingly I have read some of the NSWGR T-524 (Better known as D50 Class, and I think KA in the commonwealth railways) ended up not delivered and in the opposite situation. They were taken from North British by the ROD, and eventually ended up in Belgium. But I cannot find any photo evidence. I believe the D50 to be very similar to the ROD design and might even be based on it. I have parts for the D50 in OO scale to go onto a ROD (O4) chassis and hopefully some day a D50 in OO gauge can make a cameo on my OO layout.

Even though the cab roof is higher than the others, it looked just a whisker too low after studying too many pictures. So I removed the roof again and added a small styrene spacer. It is refitted, and undercoated for filling and sanding. Thanks for looking!

Ive had a busy couple of weeks Chas. Hopefully I can get back on it over the weekend.

In my limited knowlege, 4479 'Robert the Devil' was the last one built with the GNR high cab. So if Hermit was to have this, it is in a place in time that makes historical sense. I might be ignorant, but Hornby models over the years have been equipped with a high cab (that looks just a whisker too low), for some reason a mid cab that is too high for a low cab, and the later low cab. So it can be sometimes hard to tell which one they are modelling. I don't know if it is common knowledge, but: I have shells with high-ish cabs, and low chimneys and domes. And then also some with the opposite! High chimney and dome with a low-ish cab. (Yes I am looking at you, Railroad Flying Scotsman!) In any case, I for one would love a high cab model in the range!

4478 Hermit looks to me like the earlier GNR type with slightly taller chimney and cab, large cab cutout, ect. More like the older 1470 Great Northern model. This is exciting for me as it appeals to my taste. I am not sure why the wheels dont look lined though, I am no expert. The white in the lining on the A3 Harvester looks wider to me too.

I have taken a short break from laying brick card and making platforms to get one of my locos operational, a Gresley P2 remix. The excuse being that I really need to get the longest wheelbase locomotive on there to really put the track work to test (and the loco too!) With a re-gauging of some wheels it is going very reliably. The pony truck could be a little heavier though. Thanks for looking!

I have the non streamlined grizzly P2 running! The Banjo dome looked a little too far aft. I had placed it right on top of the original location as per the V2 that I stole the boiler from, but I think this is due to the Vee cab coming forward and I am used to seeing it notched off on locos like the A1s and A2s. I think I have managed to add some balance by adding a double chimney. Now I am on the fence in terms of Apple Green or Brunswick green....

Hahahaha, yes pretty much! A Peppercorn A1/Thompson A1/1 looking thing.

Just my opinion, but I would say that if an A4 was to be built without streamlining it would not be built with a curved running plate. I imagine it as an almost A3 looking thing with a double chimney, some kind of smoke deflection and with a Vee cab? but that is just my own opinion. I think it is a nice loco to imagine.

Gday all! I have managed to make a nice enough line from the platforms to the mainline through the slip. A relief after having done all that work. Thanks for looking.

I imagine it would look like an A3 with a Vee cab???

Gday All! The next point is towards the back of the layout and so is an experiment in using the chairs from the Peco bullhead flex track. The lovely sprues of chairs, slide chairs, ect are not the easiest thing to obtain on my side of the world so I will use what little I have on the foreground stuff. It was a little time consuming having to cut the chairs off the sleepers. It should look okay once painted. I am also trying to build a single slip. Thanks for looking.

More point work being made using the usual recipe of Templot, Peco code 75 bullhead, PCB and small brass strips. With most of the layout being curved and flowy off the shelf is not an option, not to mention the price of off the shelf ones. Cheers! Ben

Gday All and Happy new year! Today started with working out the stonework at the viaduct arches. I had a few different brick texture cards to chose from, but none of them worked out so now I am drawing stones on thick textured paper and cutting them out to curve them into the aches. I tried large rectangles, and large squares but went with the squares. After I had glued some on Id noticed it didnt look like what I was after. It had a european look to it and so I ended up drawing small rectangular bricks in situ and this harmonized the arch work into the rest of it. Thanks for looking!

Gday. I always thought a non streamlined LNER P2 would look smart. A peppercorn A1 body might have fit without too much work but I really wanted it to look more Gresley. Here is my Hornby/Bachmann remix so far.