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Barry Ten

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Blog Entries posted by Barry Ten

  1. Barry Ten
    As mentioned earlier on this blog, my DJH C2X has been scheduled for a repaint into Southern black for quite some time. It's not that there was anything wrong with it in BR condition, but when I built it I didn't make much allowance for a decoder, and looking at it now, it's hard to see where I could add one. The boiler's full of lead, the motor and gearbox fills the rest, and the tender is a sealed unit. As all my pre-nationalisation models are DC only, the easiest solution was simply to move it back into SR condition.
     

     
    Along the way, I'd also got hold of more pictures of C2Xs in various conditions and it was clear that the DJH kit lacked an important boiler detail, in the form of the long pipe running along the left hand side above the handrail. What is it? What does it do? I've no idea, but it's present on all C2Xs in "typical" late Southern/BR condition, and seemingly absent from the right hand side.
     
    This weekend I got myself organised and stripped the BR black from the body. Various details came off in the cleaning, so I took the opportunity to refit and/pr improve them, as well as adding the missing pipework and giving the bodywork a general clean-up. I also managed to lower the body on the chassis by about 1.5mm. At some point during the early testing, I'd spaced it off with plastikard pieces but once I got the pickups sorted, it was clear that there was no shorting against the body so I could dispense with the pads. I think this makes a big difference to the loco, giving it a more purposeful look.
     

     
    Finally, the DJH kit came with white metal brakes but these had suffered damage over the years. Since I already had a fret of Southern brake gear for the S15, I made up a set for the C class and fixed these over the filed-down stubs of the original white metal ones. This goes a bit of the way to filling some of the space under the chassis, which looks very bare as it comes. I've still to add pull rods and sanding gear, but I hope this'll add to the presence and sense of busy-ness which was lacking...
     
    Next up will be primer followed by satin black and Southern numbering/lettering. I do think the black and lined green scheme looks lovely but I don't think I can be bothered, especially as Mr Bachmann already did such a fine job with the Wainwright goods...
  2. Barry Ten
    One of the benefits of working on a painted backscene, as opposed to a digital one, is that it's relatively straightforward to make changes, either big or small. Looking at the pics I've posted earlier in this blog, I decided that the background hills needed to be pushed back a little more to suggest greater distance and haze. Working with the airbrush is tricky due to the height of the layout, so I decided to try and desaturate the hills using a wash of dilute white applied with a very wide artist's brush, kindly loaned by my wife on the strict understanding I'd give it a good clean afterwards. The brush was a quality one so there was no danger of bristles coming off, which can happen with cheaper versions.
     
    I brushed broad parallel strokes, taking care not to load the brush too heavily - I didn't want dilute white running down over the existing scenery - and then went back over it as it dried, to reduce obvious brushmarks.
     
    Once that was one, I had to go back over some of the foreground stuff on the backscene to reinstate it, emphasizing the difference between the distant hills and the relatively nearby trees.
     

     
    At Trainwest, I'd bought some nice half-relief trees from the nice lady on the Ceynix stand:
     
    http://www.railwaytrees.co.uk/
     
    These were too good to resist, especially as I had been looking to add some low-relief trees along the back of the scenery behind the station building. However, I expected to have problems with shadows on the backscene, one solution of which is to paint additional trees to soak up the shadows from the "real" ones. These don't have to be Constable-level masterpieces; it's sufficient to give a suggestion of further growth. Provided the painted hues aren't miles off the modelled trees, the effect will be OK from most viewing angles. One trick is not to use greens straight from the tube, but to add in a bit of red - this will help the finished greens look less vivid.
     
    Here, the tree to the right of Ivo's Bentley is a Ceynix half-relief one, with the painted trees in the background masking the shadows. The purple-brown tree leaning in on the left in the immediate foreground is also from Ceynix, giving an idea of the quality of these models. In the picture above, I also added two smaller Ceynix trees immediately behind the railway station. I could happily add more of these as time and funds allow, bearing in mind that trees aren't cheap. But I think they are worth the investment, especially as my own efforts aren't up to the same quality.
     

     
    Cheers and thanks for reading.
     
    ps - a diesel for Naturol.
  3. Barry Ten
    As part of the reworking of the spring module, I wanted to take the opportunity to replace the original photographic backscene with a painted one, in keeping with the other two modules. There's nothing wrong with photographic backscenes, of course, and in many ways they'll be the most realistic, but I prefer the flexibility of a painted one, as well as finding them easier to alter as one's ideas change.
     
    The original backscene consisted of card sheets with a photographic layer glued on. In an ideal world, I'd have replaced the whole lot with a continuous sheet of flexible MDF, but unfortunately the thickness of such a sheet would have created problems where the backscene pushes uncomfortably close to the track. So - before exploring other options such as thin plastic or canvas - I decided to have a go at overpainting the original. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, so with paints and mixing tray in hand off I went. The sky was painted using just two acrylic colours, cerulean blue and white, applied using a wide, soft brush, and with the paint used straight from the tube. I kept at it for several days until I was happy with the general impression of clouds and blue bits, suggestive of a partially overcast sky. I avoid trying to suggest shadowed clouds as I find this can overpower the landscape unless done very skillfully. The card cockled badly (as expected) but gradually flattened itself out again to an acceptable level.
     

     
    Next I started building up the distant hills, using a sap green, white and only a few other tints, keeping it all well de-saturated. Once I was happy with the general form of the hills, hedges and so on, I applied a further
    layer of dilute white just to push it all back a bit more. Ideally one would paint all this stuff at a comfortable position on a table, but I had to reach in and paint it in-situ, using long brushes and resting my hand on the
    roof of the ruined barn and so on. Detail work is definitely out!
     

     
    At the recent Bristol O Gauge show I'd been impressed with the scenic dioramas done by Paul Bambrick, some of which use intermediate background layers to create a kind of 3-d backscene. There was scope for giving this a go on this module, so I added a second, closer line of hills spaced a few mm closer than the main one, and painted a bit more vividly. In the flesh, the 3-d effect is surprisingly effective. I think the next job will be to treat both layers to another white wash, just to de-saturate the greens a little more and push it all a bit further into the distance. There might even be scope for a third layer in places.
     

     
    There's an element of guesswork here, as I expect the colours to shift a bit once I get the layout's lighting rig back into place. They say you should always paint under the same illumination as the finished model, but in this case ease of access won the day. Never mind, though, as any discrepancies can always be shifted back a bit with additional glazes. In general I'm pleased with the impression of open space around the farm, which in reality is a very shallow scene.
  4. Barry Ten
    Here's most of the complete backscene in a more or less finished condition, and this time under proper layout lighting. I waited until now to put back the lighting beam as it severely restricts access to certain areas of the module, and I wanted to get the fiddly stuff done first. However, it's not too hard to remove it if needed. Compared to the previous shots, I did some more toning-down with white washes, as well as starting to add some transitional details. Now that the lighting's in place, too, I can get a feel for which way the shadows are falling (if at all) on the foreground elements.
     
    This is a slightly higher viewing angle than the usual, my normal eye-level being roughly in line with the trackwork, unless I'm standing on a footstool.
     
    The King is my usual old-stager, being the Lima body on a Comet chassis, and the coaches are slightly weathered Hornby Hawksworths.
  5. Barry Ten
    Here's my first loco kit, the DJH C2X. More blood, sweat and tears have gone into this model than any other I own, but at the end of it all I have a reliably slow running goods loco which will happily plod around the layout at a crawl, and which is heavy enough to handle all I ask of it. But it hasn't been an easy route to get to this stage, and the saga's still not done!
     

     
    I started the loco in 2000, having consumed the collected works of Rice, Wright etc - trying to do it all "by the book" and not make a mess of my first engine. But as I've documented elsewhere on Rmweb, the C2X never ran satisfactorily until I swapped the supplied motor/gearbox and installed a DJH can motor and assembled gearbox. It was a wonder the difference it made, and at least proved that the underlying chassis was sound.
     

     
    The C2X went into store in 2007 when I packed up my old layout, and didn't turn a wheel until this year when I got it out of the box again. It was rough at first, but after a little lubrication and running, it soon settled down. Unfortunately the pickups had begun to come loose, so I redid them and was generally happy with the running. However, I had a feeling that it would be even more reliable with tender pickups. But how to add them? The DJH tender design is a bit basic, with the wheels running in heavy cast slots, and completely lacking brake gear, leading to a very "open" looking chassis. Squeezing in extra pickups without them being obvious would be tricky. Taking a fresh look at it last night, though, I reckoned I could arrange "V"-shaped pickups that would tuck behind the tender wheels without being visible from normal angles.
     
    Not a great photo, but here's the loco and tender with the extra pickups on the leading and trailing tender axles, with a Comet electrical plug enabling the tender to be disconnected. Success! The loco is now essentially independent of its own pickup, meaning that running is totally stall-proof. In fact, I'd rate it as good as any RTR 0-6-0 I own, and the slow speed operation is fantastic.
     

     
    However, as mentioned, that's not the end of the story. The first thing is that there's no room for a decoder in this engine, as I stuffed it with lead during the early testing. As my convention is now to only fit decoders to post-nationalisation stock, there's a simple solution - backdate the C2X to Southern days. Plain black isn't a hard livery to apply, so that's no problem. When I built the engine, though, I only had access to a couple of photos, and they were both of the right side, when viewed from the cab. The changes to C2X boilers seem quite a complicated business (the DJH instructions offer some guidance, but it's not the same as having drawings and photos) but from what I can tell, there should be a pipe running the length of the boiler on the left side, above the handrail. I've no idea what that pipe is - injector? superheater gubbins? - but it's in all of the photos I found on the web, although not provided for by the DJH parts. So that has to be added, and while I'm at it I may as well add some of the other missing detail, in the way of sanding gear, extra brake details, lamp irons and so on. And crew, of course - but not until it's resprayed.
     
    Anyway, if there's a moral here, it's - don't give up!
     
    (edited to correct spelling of Mr Billinton's name)
  6. Barry Ten
    Digging around on the PC I spent a few minutes looking through some of the better pictures of my old layout. For those that remember, it was the one I was developing when I first started on RMWeb, although by that point it only had a year or two of life left in it. For most of its existence the layout didn't have a name but towards the end it was officially Wyvant.
     
    The layout fitted into a 14 x 6 room and began as a much smaller project, only about 8 x 6 in size. This utilised the boards built by my dad for my childhood layout, and indeed much of the track was salvaged and reused on this model. I started it in 1996, the year I returned to the hobby. Over the years, I extended the layout to occupy the whole room, changing the track plan and scenery many times in the process. I didn't set out with a realistic plan in mind, and even in its final stage, the layout had many unrealistic features. Other than not planning, I also made the mistake of not establishing stable foundations for the boards. I used wooden trestles, but the room was uneven and the boards never set truly level at any point in the layout's life. Also, the joins between the boards gave more and more trouble as the chipboard surface warped. That said, I had a lot of fun with it. It was my first layout that I built on my own (my dad had always done all the "hard stuff" like woodwork, tracklaying and wiring) so there was a huge learning curve. I was overjoyed the first day I got a Peco point motor to work, and even basic DC wiring was a challenge for me.
     
    Here are some photos and comments:
     
    The level crossing scene, one of the better areas of the model. Some of the scenery here is still pretty acceptable, in my eyes, and I always thought there was a good South Wales atmosphere to this bit. The pub was eventually recycled for use on Paynestown (now sold), while some of the other buildings have found their way onto the current 4mm project.
     

     

     

     

     
    The station building, which was originally designed to span the tracks on an overbridge. I was never satisfied with this model and after suffering damage in storage it eventually went in the bin. It didn't take long to construct so was no great loss. Nowadays I wouldn't build a model without basing it on a prototype, at least to some degree.
     

     
    Not a bad back garden for this cottage, which after some upgrading now resides on the new layout. I think the outside toilet ended up on Paynestown.
     

     
    Looking over the main station complex, which was quite extensive for what was a relatively small layout. I still have the long footbridge, which took a lot of kitbashing and detailing - unfortunately I doubt I'll ever have a suitable model for it again. The background area was much less developed and never got far beyond this when the decision was taken to move house.
     

     
    A hint of what might have been, with a goods on the elevated section - shades of Cardiff?
     

     
    Back to the goods yard area, where this Metcalf goods shed now finds a home on the current project:
     

     

     

     
    The station throat - subject to many changes over the years. This area looked OK in photos but in reality, it was a veritable roller coaster of undulating trackage, due to warpage. Most stock stayed on, some didn't!
     

     
    Finally, back to the double junction which allowed the branch to join the mainline at Taffsill.
     

     

     
    Looking back on it, the layout provided a lot of pleasure and challenges, and I probably would have carried on with it for a few years had not the house move intervened. Ultimately, though, the state of the boards would eventually have caused it to be scrapped, and it was perhaps for the best that it happened when it did. It was a sad day when I took a clawhammer to the boards in 2007, but within a few hours, I was over the loss and looking forward to my next project, when I could truly start with a clean slate.
     
    I'd particularly like to thank Mikkel, as within a short while of my posting pictures of the layout on RMWeb, he kindly invited me to share some more on the GWR modelling forum. I was thrilled to be asked and very honoured to be able to show off the layout among examples of much better modelling!
     
    Hope this has been fun, a bit of a trip down memory lane, and thanks for reading.
     

  7. Barry Ten

    Blue diesel days

    By Barry Ten,

    A quiet moment at the level crossing as Warship D836 Powerful rumbles past on a stopping passenger train.
     
    Slow progress of late, but I've begun to set the new pub into its surroundings and generally work on reinstating some
    of the background scenery which was removed during the big alterations to this part of the layout last year. All quite
    satisfying and low-tech messy work, the kind I like.
     
    My trees are very quick and basic entities using the Woodland Scenics plastic armatures. I bend them to shape, give them
    a thick going over with grey/brown acrylic paint, bung some superglue onto the branches and then fix on several tufty bits of
    Woodland Scenics poly-fibre, which is versatile stuff and because it's so fibrous and easily stretched out, one bag
    goes a long way. I then give the trees a whack of hairspray and sprinkle on some leaves which in practise
    can be any small, green-ish scenic scatter type thing. Finally, another blast of spray and the trees can be set in place.
    Some of the surrounding trees aren't trees at all, but just blobs of poly-fibre with scatter on. Once the armatures are
    painted, the individual trees take about ten minutes to prepare, so I generally do a batch of armatures one evening
    and then the foliage on another. By painting the acrylic on quite thickly, some useful barky texture can be achieved on the
    plastic surfaces, beneficial for a foreground tree.
     
    For other types of tree, or a bit of variety, I've picked up some postiche in various shades, as well as various other
    types of scatter material.
  8. Barry Ten

    Blue diesel interlude

    By Barry Ten,

    Although the layout's supposedly set in GWR days, I'm not only content to run it in BR steam days, but also to push the clock forward to the blue diesel era - within a very loose timeframe that allows for hydraulics, pullmans, TOPS-coded diesels and Railfreight-era wagons to sit comfortably (or not) together. Even the odd sectorisation or green diesel may squeak in.
     
    Here a few snaps from tonight's running session, hopefully providing a change from the usual staples of Castles and Kings!
     

     
    A Bachmann Class 47 on a parcels train.
     

     
    As the parcels service arrives in King's Hintock, a Hornby 08 potters in the yard with some Dapol cement wagons.
     

     
    Before long a Bachmann Class 37 arrives with some Parkside Railfreight wagons in tow.
     

     
    It's a demotion to mineral duties for this once-proud Class 43 Warship. Going out in style, though, as the blue rather suits these locos, I feel. This Bachmann model was a troublesome runner that has been transformed with the addition of new pickups.
     

     
    The local heritage bus operator didn't get the memo to bring out something more in keeping with the period. The truth is, I can tune out the incongruous scenic elements when running the models but the camera is crueller...
     

     
    We close this interlude with the arrival of the Western Pullman service - once the future, soon to be the past! I doubt that that cattle dock would still be there by 1973.
     
    Hope this has been of interest, in a light-hearted way, and more will undoubtedly follow.
  9. Barry Ten
    Another brief offering of blue diesel action, since the first seemed to go down well.
     

    Heljan Hymek D7036 on the parcels service, which has gained a bit of weathering since the last set of shots. Blue sits well on Hymeks, doesn't it, especially with the white window surrounds. What fine looking diesels these were.
     

     
    Meanwhile the 08 potters about in the yard with a pair of conflats. I've no idea if these containers persisted into the blue diesel era, never mind the TOPs era, so happy to be told if they're a bit too old. for the setting.
     
     

     
    Finally, Western Ranger sweeps into King's Hintock with a rake of Bachmann Mk1s, close-coupled using Keen system couplers. The Heljan Westerns are good, reliable models in my view. I've modified the brow shape on one, but not this example, but it'll get the treatment eventually. Also still to be fitted are the brake gear, which does make a difference. The garish backscene is in the early stages of being worked on - it'll get a bit less vibrant in due course.
     
    The etched greenhouse and associated potting shelves is by Severn Models and is a very nice kt.
     
    Hope this has been of interest, more to follow soon.
  10. Barry Ten
    Here's another brief update on progress with the Western Region Blue Pullman set.
     

     
    Otther than the incorrect bogies, the Triang parlour cars are a fairly accurate model of the first class type, which are correct for the Midland Pullman. However the WR sets also included two second class cars with different window spacing, and which ride on two types of bogies.
     
    Fortunately, the windows are easily taken care of with the Southern Pride etched inserts, which are a perfect fit in the recess left after the Triang windows have been carefully removed - just make sure you get them the right way around as the windows are handed and different on either side.
     
    Next to be tackled are the interiors, which need reworking to match the new windows. Rather than go down the route of making completely new interiors, I got out the hacksaw and carefully shortened the existing moulding. This needs to be unglued from the underframe first, which takes a fair bit of brute force. Once it was free, I achieved the necessary shortening by removing a small amount between each seat and the table. It's tedious and messy but not difficult. As I started re-gluing the seats and tables back into position, I kept referring to the windows to make sure everything was lining up nicely. Of course you'll end up missing a section of seating, as shown here, so it's necessary to start hacking up a second seat moulding. All is not lost, though, as the kitchen cars won't need full sets of seats so with careful work there shouldn't be any need to use more than six parlour cars.
     

     
    Finally, here's a shot showing small plastic tabs glued into the window recess to provide mounting points for the etched inserts.
     

     
    In terms of the bodywork, the real things had ventilators in the bodywork at both ends, whereas the Triang moulding only has the one. It's quite a noticeable detail, especially in the reversed livery - perhaps because they stand out against the pale grey a bit more obviously - but I haven't yet decided whether to tackle them or not. And the underframe detail, being the moulding for the power cars, is largely fictitious. But I'll leave tackling that to a later date, when I have more information and a better sense of which - if any - parts of the existing moulding can be re-used.
  11. Barry Ten
    Gosh, this is a rather nice piece of kit, isn't it? What an absolute stunner of a model - thank you, Bachmann.
     
    I've been playing around with a "moonlight" mode for the spring module, using an inexpensive anglepoise LED lamp, to which I've added a home made blue filter. Most of my trains don't as yet have coach lighting, though, and the Bachmann 108 DMU, while a lovely model, has quite faint interior lighting which doesn't show up particularly well even in night shots. The BP Is a different beast entirely, though, wiht very bright lighting, so I couldn't resist posing it under the blue LED.
     

     

     
    This night shooting lark is new to me so I still have to learn a few things, but I can see it adding some extra play value to the layout. In the meantime I'm off to play with my BP.
     
    Edit: I couldn't resist having a fiddle in Photoshop - anyone remember the Ladybird Book of the Night Sky?
     

  13. Barry Ten

    Branching off

    By Barry Ten,

    The addition of a bay platform, as covered in the last entry, begs the question of where the branch trains are meant to go once they travel off around the layout.
     
    There's nothing to stop them going into the fiddle yard and occupying one of the main roads, before reversing direction and coming back out again, but given that there are only
    six storage roads (plus a few cassettes) it seems a bit wasteful to tie up a whole road with just a railcar or dmu when it could be taking a 7 coach train. Hence, I've been giving some
    thought to adding a diverging branch which will be served by its own storage solution, be it a siding or two or perhaps cassettes.
     
    I thought I'd doodle up handy, cut-out-and-keep sketch to show where things are now, and where they might be heading:
     

     
    Click, as they say, to embiggen.
     
    This is all in the context of a larger plot to possibly go fully double-track around the whole layout. something that's been hatching for a few years, but which I've not yet
    committed to fully. As can be seen from the sketches, I've got two possible options for the branch, one which preserves a bit of single-line main, as it is now, and the
    other which fits in with the full double-track scheme. There are numerous pros and cons, as can be imagined. Going double track allows for the fun of running two
    trains at once, which can't really be done at present, but it would take away from the slightly bucolic, sleepy feel of the layout as it currently stands. In DCC, it's not
    too hard to coordinate two trains operating at the same time (allowing for the single-line section) but in DC, it involves far too much switch-flicking to be relaxing, so
    I tend to go with just one train moving at a time, which is by no means a bad thing.
     
    I do like the double track concept, though, especially with the diverging branch, and in a way it's back to square one as this was basically the final configuration
    of my old layout, which I took down in 2006 before we moved to Wales. That one also went through a number of phases, including being a bit like the present one
    in that it was partly double and partly single track. Perhaps "double-track plus diverging branch" is my ideal layout?
     
    One consideration which ought to be mentioned is the winter module, which is not really compatible with the double track junction, since it would be hard to conceal
    the entry/exit points in a satisfactory manner, with so much more track. However, the winter model is more or less gone as it stands, since I ended up tearing out a lot
    of the scenery in adjusting the track earlier this year. I also found that the plaster bed for the snow-covered landforms weighed a bloody ton, something I hadn't been
    aware of when I was adding it a bit at a time. No wonder the brackets needed reinforcing! So whatever happens, the winter module needs a lot of work and won't
    be returning in its old form.
     
    On that score, I've been considering knocking down the partition between the summer and winter bits, making a single scene and allowing the junction to breathe a bit
    more easily. Once I've done that, I'll only have to conceal one set of tracks, rather than two, which does appeal. (In the very, very long run, I might even blend the
    spring and summer modules, too, creating a single scene much more like a traditional model railway).
     
    Anyway, just floating these thoughts here and very interested to hear any opinions!
  14. Barry Ten

    Bridge

    By Barry Ten,

    Bit more work on the bridge, following some feedback from the ever useful Captain Kernow - it does look better for those dressed stones supporting the girders, doesn't it? I also re-worked the culvert to suggest that it had been incorporated into the same works as the bridge:
     

     
    (Not also bus stationed on bridge, in compliance with model railway cliches section 3, paragraph 4.2.)
  15. Barry Ten

    Brookside

    By Barry Ten,

    Again nothing particularly new here, other than the odd weed or two, but I thought I'd have a go at doing a deep depth of field shot on the brook scene, with Combine ZM image stacking software. I quite like lineside pictures without trains in them - it's something about the anticipation of the train yet to come, or the quiet that comes when a train has passed. Borrowing a trick from my mate Marc Smith, I'd like to get some birdsong going on quietly in the background here, appropriate both to the season and the location - perhaps some willow warblers, maybe the odd skylark or lapwing. Similarly on the winter scene I quite like the idea of the occasional wintery "caw" of a flock of crows or rooks.
     

  16. Barry Ten

    Building a GWR 2021 class

    By Barry Ten,


    GWR
    Most of my blog posts, few that there were in recent months, have been over on the S&D blog I started, but this one really seemed to belong back in the old "mostly GWR" bit. So here we are!
     
    Way back when, in 67, ... no, that's a Steely Dan song. Way back when, around five or six years ago, I came back from Railwells with a complete Nu-Cast kit for the rather petite 2021 class pannier, including motor, gearbox and a full set of Markits wheels.
     
    Nice, as Louis Balfour would say.
     

     
    There matters rested, though, as I got distracted by various things and the poor 2021 class gradually sunk to the bottom of the ever-growing kit pile, seemingly doomed never to see the light of day. Whenever I opened the box and peered at the contents, it was a case of ... not tonight, Josephine. In the meantime I built a few other locos and chassis, all of which appeared more attractive starting propositions than the Nu-Cast one. Not that there was anything visibly wrong with the kit, but it just never looked like something I wanted to dive into there and then. Perhaps it was the instructions mentioning early on that clearances are tight between the wheels and the footplate, making it sound challenging?
     
    It turned out that, while some care needed to be taken, it wasn't any trickier than any other loco I've made. In fact progress got off to
    an encouragingly quick start due to a very well engineered etched chassis. The fit of the parts was so precise that I didn't feel the need to get out the jigs at all, with the whole thing just feeling right from the outset. The axle holes needed very little opening out for the bearings, and the coupling rods were practically a drop-fit straight onto the crank pins, needing just the tiniest smidge of extra clearance to give nice free running. It only took about an hour to get to this stage:
     

     
    Next I set about making the simple Branchlines gearbox, which gave no difficulty, and after a short period of running in without load, I installed the motor and gearbox into the chassis. Running on test-leads was very smooth and encouraging, so I went ahead and soldered the rods on and then made some pickups. I also began test-fitting the dreaded footplate.
     

     
    The pickups, below, are simple but reliable. I made plastic pads to go between the frames (almost but not quite a force fit) then glued longitudinal strips of pre-tinned PCB to these. I just use long PCB sleepers as supplied by C+L, trimming off a length at a time. The contact wipers themselves are 0.33mm phosphor-bronze, soldered to the PCBs, and with fine lengths of wire connecting everything together and to the motor contacts. Inevitably I got it backwards so the wires will need to be reversed at some point, but once that's done, there'll be no further need to touch the electrics as the loco will only run on DC.
     

     
    The next step was to solder the splashers in place (a bit tricky, and needed a lot of adjustment to get them all level and in line) and then tweak things because of the dreaded clearance. It is a bit tight, but I found I only needed a bit of filing around the inside of the splashers, coupled with some slight shimming-up of the chassis to sort things out.
     
    I then proceeded with the superstructure, starting at the smokebox end, and working back. The pannier tanks are just loosely in place in this shot below, while I adjusted the rear support to make sure they were perfectly level and parallel to both each other and the footplate. I had to do a lot of remedial work on an older DJH pannier that I built where things weren't quite square, so I was determined to get it right first time here.
     
    In case anyone else tackles one of these, I found that the rear support needed to be positioned a fair bit higher than seemingly intended by the kit designer. Fortunately this wasn't hard to arrange and the relationship with the cab then seems to fall into place quite well.
     

     
    Once I was satisfied with the basic squareness of things I started soldering it all up solidly, beginning with tack soldering, checking and double checking, and only later proceeding with full soldering along each join. The kit advises that the footplate details be added before the tanks are in place, and I would recommend doing it this way as far as possible.
     

     
    I started adding the boiler-top details, but the dome is a bit poor, so for the time being it's just resting in place while I decide what to do with it. It's always an option to buy an alternative casting from another supplier, but I haven't always been knocked out by the quality of these either, so it may be a case of making do with what's on offer.
     
    Following a short trip abroad, I then returned to the model full of vim and vigour and completed one of the tasks I'm least fond of, adding GWR-style handrails to the panniers and smokebox. For once, with some careful measurement and taking things slowly and calmly, I was happy with the first go, even though it took all evening (half of which was spent on the floor looking for handrail knobs, but that's another story).
     

     
    There is still quite a bit to do but the basic pannier character is starting to come through, I think.
     

     
    I should add that the kit caters for many different possibilities in the building of the loco, ranging from bunker type, closed or open cab, different chimneys and smokebox doors, as well as different parts for the reversing lever and sanding gear. The latter is a bit difficult to discern in photos, but I've gone with what seems to me to be the most common setup. As for the cab. the etched parts for the closed variety look very good but I felt it would begin to look just like any other pannier, so I opted for the open cab and the "flared" style of bunker, which provides a nice contrast with my otherwise similar 27XX class. which has the straight-sided type.
     
    Anyway, although not yet finished, I didn't run into any big snags with the kit, and I would recommend it to anyone fancying one of these smaller-wheeled panniers.
     
     
     
     
  17. Barry Ten
    Way back in the year I mentioned that I'd made a start on building Polar Light's 1/350 scale kit of the Starship Enterprise:
     
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/257/entry-17837-a-little-something-for-the-weekend-building-the-starship-enterprise/
     
    I didn't do much more with it until recently as it's a such a monster to work on, taking up most of my workbench. But over the last week
    or so I finished adding the lights and light blocking for the saucer section, and finally took the plunge to glue it all together, knowing there'll
    never be a chance to get inside it again:
     

     
    There are 20 LEDs in just this bit, so there's a lot of wiring. I ran the wires (mostly grouped together) through a hole in the underside
    of the saucer, which will eventually feed down through the neck section, the next bit to be attached.
     
    It's only when the saucer is fully assembled that you can really get a sense of how effective the light-blocking has been, and as you
    can see there are still some areas around the edge where it bleeds through. These are areas inside the saucer where it's difficult
    to get paint and foil, unavoidable really. I trust that I'll be able to retroactively block these areas with the exterior paint job, perhaps
    by applying a masking coat of black before adding the white.
     
    Although it's not that obvious, I detailed the observation and rec lounges, using the etched add-ons mentioned in the first post. The
    neck section is nearly finished and ready to be attached, but the rest of the model will be built in modules rather than being fixed
    together as a single unit, since it's far easier to paint and decal the parts on their own.
     
    It's definitely a leap from railway modelling but there are a lot of transferable skills, so all in all a fun and challenging project.
     
    I won't be done with 1/350 kits either, as Father Christmas just delivered this whopper:
     

     
    Quite a contrast, again. But variety is the spice of life...
  18. Barry Ten
    Here's another update on this long-running build of the 1/350th scale kit of the Starship Enterprise. Things are finally coming together in that most of the model has now been light-blocked, painted, and given a covering of Aztec decals:
     

     
    These Aztec sheets consist of huge transparent decals which are intended to cover almost every square inch of the finished model. They take some careful fitting but the fears I'd had that they would be difficult to apply without tearing proved unfounded, as they mostly went on without trouble. The key is to have a good wet surface under them, preferably satin or gloss, and to cut the larger decals into more manageable sections.
     
    The effect is to give a complex pattern of panels, subtle from a distance, but conveying a sense of scale up close:
     

     
    Once the Aztec decals are fixed down satisfactorily, the normal decals can be applied over the top, as done here. There are hundreds more small decals to go on, but I just added the name and registry to get a sense of how it would look.
     
    These decals only approximate the complex, shimmery decoration applied to the studio model (particularly in the first film) and some people prefer to use an elaborate multi-stage masking process with pearlescent paints, but for me it's good enough and looks the part. Once down, they are surprisingly durable too.
     
    The Aztec sheets also include large areas of tinted colour, as here on the neck and upper section of the secondary hull. These areas needed a lot of attention with setting solution to minimise wrinkles and blobs as they settled.
     

     
    The saucer has now been joined permanently to the secondary hull, with all wiring connections fed through and tested. The nacelles and pylons still need to finished, but I've clipped the engines on temporarily see how it looks.
     

     
    The stand is well engineered, with a sturdy metal support pole. It's a great kit all round, and looks impressively big!
  19. Barry Ten
    Not of interest to the majority of RMwebbers, I'd suspect, but hopefully the management won't mind another installment in this very non-railway topic. That said, there's a lot of crossover here in terms of applicable modelling skills, and I'm certainly picking up some approaches that will easily translate into layout-related stuff, especially with regard to the use of LEDS as a general lighting solution.
     
    With the saucer section finished, I decided to attach the neck and then begin getting to grips with final light blocking, as there won't be much scope for reworking areas once the decals have gone on.
     
    As mentioned, there are quite a lot of LEDS in this thing - 20 in just the saucer - and it's a real sod to stop the light leaking out where you don't want it! The plastic is very translucent and I found that you need 2 - 4 coats of matte black depending on the area in question, and even then there will be hot-spots showing through which still need to be addressed.
     
    I was finding it a bit hit and miss to fix these areas one at a time, until I hit on the obvious-in-retrospect idea of waiting until the evening, turning out the room lights, turning on the LEDS, and just painting any bits that shouldn't be there.
     
    A test-blast of primer showed that it would be relatively easy to get back to a plain white finish even after spot-painting bits of black on the outside. I masked all the windows using Maskol liquid solution, which wasn't as bad a job as I'd feared.
     


     

     
    Although my camera battery ran out before I could get a picture, I'm nearly ready with the secondary hull as well (lurking in the background in the second shot), including a dozen or so more LEDS and a fully-detailed shuttle bay, and I've also made a start on the engines, which are huge!
     
    The kit is designed in such a way that there's only one practical assembly order, which does pose a headache or two in working out how to complete all the final wiring connections, with the one between the neck and the secondary promising to be particularly nerve-racking. I've installed a 4-way micro-plug in the secondary hull, which is how power will be fed into the whole model, but I wish I'd bought a second such plug as it would be very handy for the neck section! At the very least, there's a lot of soldering and head-scratching to be had with the wiring, a bit like layout electrics. It's strongly recommended not to build it in one piece and then attempt painting and decaling, and judging from all the various builds I've seen on the internet, that seems like good advice.
     
    By the way, unless you want the Star Trek music going through your head for months on end, don't build this kit!
  20. Barry Ten
    Westward Ho, above: seemingly not a regular on the S&D.
     
    I've seen lists of the Bulleid WC and BoB classes which ran on the S&D, but I can never find them when I want them. As much for my own reference purposes as anything else, as I look to renaming some of my examples of these locos, I thought I'd have a go at compiling a non-exhaustive list.
     
    I went through all four volumes of Ivo Peters' photo albums on the S&D in the 50s and 60s and noted all the WC/BoB classes I could find, in both "unrebuilt" and rebuilt condition.
     
    The majority are the unrebuilt locos, listed here in rough order of initial appearance in the volumes:
     
    34109 Trafford Leigh Mallory
    34040  Crewkerne
    34041 Wilton
    34042 Dorchester
    34043 Combe Martin
    34093 Saunton
    34037 Clovelly
    34044 Woolacomb
    34095 Brentor
    34107 Blandford Forum
    34110 66 Squadron
    34108 Wincanton
    34102 Lapford
    34103 Calstock
    34067 Tangmere
    34079 141 Squadron
    34051 Winston Churchill * see comments
    34105 Swanage * see comments
     
     
    and just before closure:
     
    34006 Bude
    34057 Biggin Hill
     
    The Rebuilt locos that I noted were:
     
    34039 Boscastle
    34028 Eddystone
    34042 Dorchester
    34046 Braunton
    34029 Lundy
    34045 Ottery St Mary * see comments
     
    I made no distinction between locos which were regulars, and those which only showed once or twice, as any loco that ran over the S&D at any point is fair
    game to me in modelling terms. If anyone has any further observations, such as engines that didn't appear in the Peters volumes,  or which I may have missed,
    I'd be happy to add them,
     
    I have currently acquired two of Hornby's 34107, so I'm looking at carefully at renaming options based on the cab type and tender. My other unrebuilt loco
    in BR condition is Tangmere, which does appear in the list, albeit as a rare visitor. I may look at renumbering it to a more typical example. As for my three
    rebuilt members, I don't think any of them are suitable as they stand, so they'll join the queue as well.
     
    The Bulleid Society has a very useful table showing build details and modification dates for the class:
     
    https://www.bulleidsociety.org/OVS_Bulleid/OVSB_Light_Pacifics.html
     
    I'd also recommend Graham Muspratt's very handy blog pages, for the ins-and-outs on deflector types, cabs and so on, and how to model them.
     
    https://grahammuz.com/
     
     
  21. Barry Ten

    Bye bye for now...

    By Barry Ten,


    LMS/BR
    Stourpayne Marshall is no more!  Or at least, it's back in its box for the time being. When I switched my layout from GWR mode to S&D mode back at the end of summer 2020, I had no idea that I'd keep the S&D theme for the best part of three years. However, it's been far too much fun running Bulleid pacifics, Fowler locos, Black 5s and so on to want to stop. However, I decided this week that was enough was enough (my GWR locos were feeling neglected)  so over the course of an evening or so, the great reversion was achieved.
     
    Stourpayne Marshall just before "closure":
     

     
    And the return of King's Hintock:
     

     
    Of course this transformation is greatly simplified by not swapping the signals, which is a bit of a cheat, but works for me. The only major job is reconnecting all the wiring for the lights on King's Hintock, a fiddly hour or so trying to remember wiring "logic" and cursing myself for not labelling things properly. Stourpayne Marshall had no lit buildings, since none of the S&D-themed trains were illuminated either, but a few of my WR ones can run at night so it's worth the trouble.
     
    This is by no means the end of Stourpayne Marshall, in case anyone was concerned - it's just going into storage for a bit, until I feel the GWR layout getting a bit samey and want a change. All the interchangeable bits go into a big plastic storage box and can be shoved out of the way with no fear of damage.
     
  22. Barry Ten
    I mentioned this Berlin Airlift Dakota back in February:
     
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/257/entry-15562-and-now-for-something-completely-different/
     
    but back then it was just in plain silver. Since then I've completed most of the painting and decal'ing, including the complicated colours around the engines, with only a few fragile bits left to do, followed by a light touch of weathering to bring out some of the details. Although it's an old kit, the decal sheet is huge with seventy-plus items needing to be added, most of which are tiny stencils. I did all the topside ones, but I must admit I bottled out of doing all of them on the underside, especially as the decal placement guide doesn't correspond particularly well to the actual panel lines and details on the wings, leading to an element of guesswork as to where the stenciles should sit. However it still took me several nights just doing the thirty or so stencils that I did add.
     
    I'll never moan about a wagon kit again...
     
    I thought I'd take a few shots of it while it was still pristine.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    Although it's an old model, it's a fantastically enjoyable kit and I recommend building a plane or non-railway subject if your mojo is a bit lacking, especially as it will involve some subtly different skills compared to railway models.
  23. Barry Ten
    Self-explanatory, really! Two coats of Precision GWR green brushed painted on an undercoat of Games Workshop Chaos Black, and I may add a third layer.
    Hopefully the worst of the pitting has been taken care of; there are still a few blemishes visible in the photo but they're not so apparent in real life, and I think
    once the model is finished and decorated, there'll be enough "bling" to take the eye away from the remaining imperfections.
     
    Next I'll order some plates and see if I can get "Great Western" lettering small enough to fit onto the side-tanks.
     
    One thing I forgot to mention - and I saw a similar problem referenced on the web - is that the chassis, as designed, doesn't allow the gearbox to fit, even
    though the kit is supposedly supplied as a package. Since I didn't have any chassis instructions I can't tell if this would have been covered otherwise, but
    I didn't realise the issue until the chassis was fully assembled. The problem is due to the central frame spacer which, if fitted as intended, gets in the
    way of the gearbox. Luckily I was able to remove part of the frame spacer from the assembled chassis, by gently bending and fatiguing the metal until
    it gave way, which then allowed the gearbox to be fitted - just - without any obstructions, but it's something to watch (and which I should have checked
    beforehand, but why would you?). I must also unsolder and reattach the rear steps, which are located incorrectly - the perils of relying on instructions,
    or your interpretation of them, rather than looking at a photo of the real thing.
     
    Has this been fun? Sort of, and I'm pleased with the final outcome, but one shouldn't have so much work to do to get an acceptable result with the
    bodywork.
  24. Barry Ten
    Updates on a couple of loco projects here.
     
    The Cambrian 2-4-0T was one of the locos absorbed by the GWR and given the Swindon treatment. Although I've no particular intention of modelling
    the handful of rural lines on which these three engines operated, I still thought it would be a nice little loco to own, especially given that 2-4-0s in general
    aren't very common on layouts.
     
    A couple of years ago I bought a package kit containing white metal body parts, a chassis, motor, gearbox and wheels. The body originates from the Gem
    castings, while - at least according to the instructions - the chassis appears to have some basis in Gibson.
     
    First the good news: the chassis goes together superbly well, with a very good design of slots enabling accurate assembly of the spacers and chassis
    halves. Allthough I used a pair of jig axles, and aligned everything on a gridded cutting board, I'm pretty confident that it would have gone together
    nicely without these basic aids, so positive was the location.
     

     
    I did run into some issues getting the Rod Neep gearbox to mesh nicely, but these were eventually resolved and they're no reflection on the quality of
    the components. The motor is an open frame Mashima for which there's plenty of room in the body. In fact, I doubt that I'll bother trimming the motor
    spindles as there's no real need, especially one a crew is installed to block the view into the cab a little.
     
    The bad news is that the body parts were pretty poor in general, with some awful pitting and voids. Perhaps if I'd paid more attention on receiving the kit I could
    have chased after some replacements, but I'm afraid I was far too taken with the shiny etches to pay any heed to the castings. Anyway, nothing ventured,
    nothing gained, and I still decided to make a go of the body:
     

     

     
    This is the basic structure in all its ghastly glory, and fair amount of bodging was needed to get the cab and bunker parts to mesh well with the boiler, various
    bits being well oversize and needing some delicate filing back.
     
    Thereafter it was a case of filling in the major voids with solder, where possible, and model filler where not. I went over the body several times before applying
    a test coat of matt black, to highlight what was still needed. Then it was a case of more filling, more sanding and filing, until the parts started looking a little
    more acceptable. The main issue was the two lumpy halves of the boiler.
     
    Finally I was happy to start adding additional boiler detail, and on went the chimney, dome, safety valve etc:
     

     
    At that point I realised that the kit's instructions really weren't adequate to help with the additional boiler plumbing, which seemed to vary quite a bit from loco
    to loco, so after an internet trawl I managed to find two photos of the same engine from each side, and I now need to rework the pipes from the top-feed, which
    should bend back to the horizontal rather than running down the boiler sides as seen here. In the meantime, I'm waiting on handrail knobs to complete that
    aspect of the detailing. As can be seen, the chassis now has full brake detail which certainly goes a long way to making it look "interesting" in my view. I've
    a particular liking for locos with outside brake linkage...
     
    Which brings us neatly to:
     

     
    Those who've been reading this blog for a year or two may remember the protracted saga of the Dean Goods, but finally it all came good and after several weeks
    of very satisfying test running, I'm happy to call this one conquered! The chassis is Comet, with their own gearbox and a Mashima motor, and it runs brilliantly,
    and with more than enough grunt for my typical goods trains. All that remains to be done now, other than final painting and decal-work, is to get rid of that huge
    coal load. This one has been particularly satisfying for me as it's been far from an easy road to get here, but it's been well worth the hassle.
     
    Cheers, and thanks for reading.
  25. Barry Ten
    To be honest, I wouldn't have started this Blue Pullman project had I known that Bachmann would be doing one in 2012. Back in 2007, though, when I started acquiring the bits, an RTR model seemed like a very remote possibility indeed. Even now, I can't see Bachmann ever considering a WR eight-car set being an economical proposition. A lot of modellers, myself included, would probably be happy with the MR formation (which, after all, did run on the WR anyway) - it ticks the BP box for me, and I'm sure Bachmann's model is going to be a stunner.
     
    Still, in the words of Magnus Magnussen - I've started, so I'll finish.
     
    Here's part of the formation under construction - two parlour seconds and a driving car. The parlours are all back to the front for the time being, since I need to find some clearance between the driving bogies and the (largely fictional) underframe detail. The driving car is running on black beetles. The bogies are Chris Leigh castings, the cabs are from Genesis, and the window inserts from Southern Pride. I currently have enough donor vehicles to do a 7 car set. With some moderate weighting, I hope that the black beetles will have enough grunt to shift the whole formation.
     

     
    A bit more of a quicky project - like, an evening's easy work - were these quick and dirty upgrades to the Hornby ex-Lima CCT. Finescale types look away now.
     
    The main problem with this otherwise nice model (I remember being thrilled to bits with the original Lima one, when it appeared) was that Lima fitted their usual heavily flanged underscale wheels, and then Hornby merely substituted the correct diameter wheels without adjusting the ride height. The resultant tip-toe look means that the vehicles look a bit odd unless something is done about it, and even more incongruous in a formation of other vehicles. Looking for a low-tech bodge, I inserted Gibson shouldered axle bearings into the existing holes and then carefully melted them down a smidge using a soldering iron, applied sparingly and with constant correcting and cooling-off until a consistent ride-height was obtained. Once at the right height, the bearings were further adjusted to give free-rolling wheels. Et voila - not one for the purists, obviously, since the brake gear is still miles out, but at least they look OK in a train. With the models on the workbench, I also got the roofs off and inserted Shawplan lazer-glaze windows. I retained the original glazing (sawn off the roof mouldings) so as to provide the effect of bars behind the windows.
     

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