Timara

HI Martyn, I went for the EPB chassis purely because it was (then) cheap and ran like a dream. With the price hike in recent years, I may have to rethink that, but we shall see! Given you're modelling them essentially "as built", you'll probably want to improve on the moulded sliding window vents. On my original pair, I used Replica mk1 glazing, having carefully cut out the originals; I'm a big fan of flush glazing whereever possible. Drop me a PM about the kit underframes; I've got loads of them, none of which I'll ever use! Cheers, Tim

Hi Martyn, Glad to see someone else building these! If it helps, I've got a set of underframes and parts you'll need for the driving cars (plus the motor car underframe etches), since I use Bachmann EPB chassis for my 303s now. One of these days I'll actually finish my two I've got on the backburner.... What period are you modelling? I might also be able to assist with photos and stuff from the preserved 303 at Bo'ness from a few years ago, before it was moved under cover. Cheers, Tim

Thanks all for the kind words about the recent A3. Following on from Gilbert's posting of Hermit, before I made my delivery, I did make sure I got a sunny shot of her beforehand. There are a few more with the old yucky Hornby green to go through yet, so they'll be keeping me busy for a while, hopefully! There's another A3 arrived in its place, but that can wait until it's come up to PN, along with an A4 also here. Things that needed doing on this one included changing the reversing rod for the correct type (I had a spare), new backing plates for the nameplates and a new front numberplate, with the correct curly 6 and 9. Anyway, I'll just leave this here..... Cheers!

Colas to Whitemoor by Tim Easter, on Flickr 66848 on 6L37 Hoo to Whitemoor, between West Hampstead and Finchley Road & Frognal. Around 21 feet of extra height (pole) was used for this.... 5-7-17 Tim

Thanks Andy! Most of the roofs were repainted in Humbrol 67 Sea Grey (one or two in Humbrol 32 dark grey), which then had a careful dusting of MIG Black Smoke weathering powder once dry. I left but a trace, but it's given the effect I wanted; the real paint underneath (certainly on the 1928 cars) was silver, but that weathers down nicely to give the effect seen on these. Cheers, Tim

Indeed I did! However, the more I looked at things and indeed remembering how long Car 32 took to create, I was far more amenable to compromise! I still fancy making Car 162 (Brake parlour, converted from 1925 kitchen car) at some point, but that's another story altogether! I have to be honest when I say that, of all the projects I've worked on for PN, these Pullman cars were one of the most taxing on my brain. As Gilbert says, the printing on the coach sides was the very pig to remove and would not come off with conventional removal methods. I *think* I got down to about Plan E, before I was happy enough to proceed with things and get the end result I was happy with. All printing was scraped off with a fresh curved scalpel blade; it wasn't much of an issue if some paintwork was damaged in the process, providing the blade didn't dig into the bodyside. Once I was happy with this, I masked off the area between the upper and lower lining top-to-bottom and the three main window panels side-to-side; these were airbrushed in a mix of Railmatch BR Falcon grey and Phoenix LBSC Marsh lining brown (yes, that's what worked!) in order to blend in with what was already there. You only really need a thin mist over; enough to hide all printing removal and to blend in with the original bodywork. Paint masks were cut in old envelopes and fixed in place, so it was all done in a batch. New transfers in the form of the HMRS Pullman sheet were applied in the correct places afterwards, which is the easy bit! Parlour brake second Car 63 is, as Gilbert says, a regular ECML car. A simple renumber on this one really, though I had to change the crests etc over to pre-1960 style. Which reminds me; must sort out those on Lydia and Fingall when I'm next over to complete the set! I do believe Loraine is as bought, without a renumber. The previous Loraine (which was in the QoS rake) got renamed to Joan (I think!). Once I finish it, Car 106 will be the only heavily rebuilt car in the entire rake. This started life as a standard Hornby 1925 kitchen car, but with two window areas filled in with plasticard and replacement oval windows carefully cut in. This one requires the cream matching the Hornby shade, which isn't an easy job either! It's almost there.... As I've said before, there's a certain something about a decent Pullman rake and I'm rather pleased to have been able to create this one, with Gilbert's invaluable assistance with the various books and photos back and forth. In retrospect, a ratio of 6 to 5 (1928 to 1925) cars is about right. Photos occasionally show an opposite ratio, but it's generally more all-steel ones in the main. Anyway, there we go; the "how to"! Tim

I couldn't agree more!! I'm just looking forward to seeing the next Pullman car rake on the sequence.....

Well, what can I say; I'm truly humbled by the kind words above! The method I used on Persimmon was simply T-Cut to bring up the original colour, thereby losing the fairly dull and lifeless matter finish. There is a point at which you can do more harm than good on a model like this, especially to the lining. It's easier to demonstrate this than describe, but I'm not very good at doing things like that over on video! A coat or two (depends on how good a covering you get first time!) of original formula Klear is applied after all numbering has been applied, which effectively seals it all in. The resulting weathering afterwards is almost never by how much you cover a model in, but by how much you leave behind. Quite a lot went on, in two goes, but most of it comes off. Hi Rob, Yes, it's the most recent model with the loco drive and indeed those pesky traction tyres. I wouldn't mind getting hold of a couple of wheels from one, to lose those wretched things.... That, however, is up to Gilbert! It runs fine now, after a troublesome decoder was replaced. Cheers, Tim

One from today.... 66620 on 6M92 West Thurrock to Earles. Seen passing just south of Harpenden, with camera mounted up a pole (safe distance from OHLE!) and remotely triggered.... Cheers,

I think Shawplan will produce them pretty soon. Excellent! I'll want at least two sets.....

Very happy with my ScotRail one, which arrived yesterday. One thing I have done, to tweak the livery as such, is to remove a single spot on each corner above the warning panel. Although not perfect, thanks to the spots all being in the wrong place, it's a pleasing compromise that I can now live with. A small amount of T-Cut per dot and a cocktail stick did the trick and has left no visible mark at all. It's easy! I'm more than happy with the running and nothing else is amiss with it in any way. No wonky nameplates or anything, thankfully! Just need to find a suitable decoder and I'm laughing. I'll work out how to do new wheels for it in due course. Being 2.5mm stub axles, my original plan will need a rethink. At least it has wiper pickups, which means I might be able to use a stepped axle from the EMGS stores if possible. Still needs new etched brake discs too....

Coming slightly late to the party regarding clean A3s, one of PN's fleet has been in for a refresh. It's got an appointment with some grime from the airbrush next, but here's a view of how the older Hornby green can be brought up to a very nice finish indeed. A simple (to me) remedy of T-Cut to burnish the bodywork, followed by a sigle coat of Klear to seal everything in. Light weathering is all that is required for this one. To see how it looked previously, here's Gilbert's post from a year or three ago. Cheers, Tim

Once the servos are fitted to it, yes! Annoyingly, I can't do anything more to it until it's been resited a couple of inches along the board.

Indeed.... A Blackstone-engined 350hp, later TOPS class 10, shunter. A few survive in preservation. You can tell it hadn't been used for ages, given the amount of muck found on the pickups. Some of it was almost solid! I'll look forward to seeing the recreated photo.... Tim

One from this afternoon.... 37800 and 375801 on 5Z57 Ramsgate to Derby. 37800 375801 Bedford St Johns 2-10-16 (V30942) by Tim Easter, on Flickr Cheers,

68015 out on 1K45 to Kidderminster, emerging from Hampstead Tunnel. Taken with the aid of a very tall pole! 68015 Hampstead Tunnel 26-8-16 (V29873) by Tim Easter, on Flickr

A trio of GBRf ones in London yesterday (it was a hot one!) 66742 on Ferme Park to Tonbridge WY 66742 West Hampstead 26-8-16 (V29818) by Tim Easter, on Flickr 66762 on 6M54 Colnbrook to Bardon Hill 66762 Gladstone Park 26-8-16 (V29850) by Tim Easter, on Flickr 66730 on 6M79 Angerstein to Bardon Hill 66730 Acton Canal Wharf 26-8-16 (V29859) by Tim Easter, on Flickr Cheers, Tim

Excellent news, Mark! That'll make life much easier from the operation front (ie: not having to watch the whole train pass without falling off!). Looking forward to my next outing with it..... Dare I ask if any changes have been made to the Inverness one?

All this O2 tender mularky has even got me looking at photos and boy is it a minefield! I thought that when I was researching Black Fives (and indeed 8Fs) back in the day, that they were bad enough with the various types and inceaseant swapping over, but this looks worse.... I had found a pic of 63949 (O2/4, stepped tender) at Retford in 1960, but that was a 36E loco, where the two quoted above (63952 and 63983) are both Doncaster machines. Makes me glad that I'm mostly modelling tank engines these days.....

Many thanks for all your kind comments on 61630 Hornby's B17s seem to vary a bit with their out-of-box finish, so my methods change depending on which base model comes my way. The first batch (of which this is one) are a simple case of taking a cotton bud and some T-Cut to lightly buff up the bodywork, making sure no lining is damaged in the process, and then seal that with a single coat of Klear. It's best advised to wash the bodyshells before the Klear is added, to get rid of any residue of T-Cut!). My "gunk mix" is a simple mixture of Humbrol 27004 (Metalcote gunmetal) and 62 (matt leather). After a main coat of dirt is given, a slightly damp (with white spirit) wide brush is used to paint said dirt in a downward motion; cotton buds remove most of it and the process repeats. More paint is removed than is left on the model, as is the norm with weathering. Speaking personally, I can never understand how someone can merely squirt dirt at a loco and then call it "weathered". I forget how many cotton buds I go through on models these days, but plenty get used in the course of a single loco! Here's the other side of 61630, sat in platform 6..... There is a further B17/6 to come at some point in the future, but I'll leave Gilbert to announce which one that is. I think a photo of it (taken by my dad back in 1958) has possibly featured before in this thread, but I may be wrong.....