halfwit

I made up the bonnet today. First the rivets were punched out, I use a gravity tool on a sheet of lead, then all the holes are drilled for the handles. The next job is to solder lengths of .4mm brass rod into grooves on the sides to form rainstrips. Then the bonnet is bent to shape and soldered to the front panel. I used 188 degree solder for most of this work. Here's a pic, bonnet rested on the footplate, before the end was cleaned up on a sheet of wet and dry; The next job is to fit the cast brass fillers to the top and the cast vent to the RH side. Then lengths of .4mm brass are soldered across the inside of the bonnet to form catches for the doors which are trimmed to length after fixing. The doors themselves can now be fitted after being drilled for the handles. Now the handles and handrails were fitted, with 145 degree solder so nothing else comes detached, these are etched and were evenly spaced from the sides with a drill. A pic; And a pic from underneath, note the brass rod going across to form the door latches - these are bent down after fixing, also note the locating tabs; And now a pic of the bonnet in place; I'l leave soldering it in place untill I start on the chassis.... So far so good, this is turning into a nicely detailed model. The next job will be the rear bonnet which covers the gearbox on the prototype. Paul.

Hi James, Here's the one at Tanfield: http://preservedshun...0a6a66daad4b5df I haven't been there myself although I might get up there soon while diesels cheap...

I soldered the cab overlays onto the cab frame today. These are half etched to give the detail for the window frames, rivets, door etc. Fitting them was easier than I thought, I tinned the edges and then held them in place one at a time and tacked an edge, checked then ran the iron all the way round until firmly fixed. The front and rear were done first and the sides last. The only problem that I had was with the LH side which was tacked slightly off square and decided to be a pig to undo... Here's a pic, 3 sides done, LH side waiting; The footplate has spines down the middle for strength which need to be bent out before the valences are formed. The bufferbeams fit onto tabs on the end of the footplate which also need to be bent down. This done the valences were strengthened with solder and the cab trial fitted. Another pic, the axlebox-like projections under the front are sandboxes will be folded up later; The cab has inward facing tabs on the floor which fit into slots on the footplate spines, which have to be eased inwards a little to fit. The floor sits on the spine. A pic; Note he wooden base, this has slots cut in so the footplate can be built up on a flat surface. And a pic from underneath, see if you can spot the tabs and slots: This all makes a very stiff structure. Before the cab skins were fitted the seats were folded up and fitted, the lost wax brake handle soldered to the cab rear and glazing material was cut out and put to one side as the design gives recesses for the glazing to sit in. The next job will be to solder the body fixing nuts in place and start on the bonnet. Paul.

Yes that would be usefull, I'd like the later style Ruston plate and the 'RH' plates that adorn the cab sides. I'll get some photos and measurements to you sometime.

Which one?

I've seen on another thread that you do a detailing etch for a Ruston 48DS. Would the Ruston plates be available for 4mm seperately?

Thanks James. Hoping to get at least the frames of the Steelman Royale finished soon.

I started this one at the Derby Members Day. I didn't get too far, people kept talking to me! (It was nice to finally put names to faces). Its a High Level 4mm scale kit for a Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 'Husky' diesel loco, introduced in 1956. Ten were built before production ceased in 1966. The kit comprises of an etched nickel silver chassis, an etched brass body and a bag of lost wax castings. Power is from a Mashima 1220. The kit is complete with a dedicated 108:1 gearbox. Instructions run to 11 sides of A4 including a parts list and 3 pages of drawings. The kit uses tab and slot construction which is something I've not seen before. The kit is designed for Sharman wheels running on 2mm axles, which appear to be no longer available. However I've been offered some custom turned wheels for it. So far I've only assembled the cab frame, which is comprised of two pieces. The floor is one part and the front, back, sides and false roof bend up and fit into slots in the floor. A pic; The next step is to fit the handbrake onto the cab rear then solder the outer etched skins in place. I'm intend going into some detail about this build as I'm sure that theres plenty of interest in High Level products. But let me know if you get bored! Paul.

Now the dry(ish) weather has arrived I've had the airbrush out in the back garden. So here's what I've been up to; A1 Models Ruston 48DS. This one is finished in Revel Aqua-Color 15 yellow, sprayed over white car primer which in turn is sprayed over Phoenix Precision aerosol etch primer. It's varnished with PP matt ready thinned airbrushing varnish. And here it is with the buffers (Gibson) fitted and sitting on its chassis; Just needs glazing and weathering now. Judith Edge Steelman Royale. Heres the Black Beetle with its wheels sprayed; The chassis has been started, again PP etch primer was used first followed by white car primer (for the yellow buffer beams). The valances have been sprayed with Railmatch BR loco green. The beams and valences have been gloss varnished to protect the finish and make it easier to apply masking tape (I use Tamiya). Everything not painted yellow or green will soon be sprayed black. Here it is all bolted together; The body hasn't been sprayed yet as I still need to add cab roof vents. JPG Models Dumper Truck. Just needs the wheels painting and weathering. I've also put together a couple of Knightwing 20' containers. The red one was sprayed with red car primer, the blue one airbrushed with Aqua-Color. Both have had patches painted on as if the original owners logos have been painted out. These are for a projected layout and need weathering. Paul.

Thanks Will. It took about 4 or five dips with a few drying hours between. And don't be afraid to start again if it doesn't look right. Paul.

Whilst putting the Fowler Resilient together I also built this dumper truck, I like to build two white metal kits at the same time to get the most from the epoxy glue as I always manage to mix together more than I need. The kit contains 18 white metal castings and some basic written instructions. However theres no drawing or photo of the finished item so some head scratching was needed as to how some parts fit. For example the fuel tank and exhaust needed some thought. A look in a Langley Models catalogue (they do a very similar dumper) answered some questions. Anyway, some pics; The cast gear lever was replaced with a length of brass rod with a knob made by dipping the end in PVA repeatedly. Here it is in white primer; The kit is now sprayed yellow and is waiting for the tyres etc. to be picked out. Quite a nice little kit. Paul.

I've added the bonnet top and cab roof and started filling and sanding the body ready for painting. Some of the detail castings have been added, the sandboxes (but not the pipes yet) and axleboxes. The bonnet top details (filler caps, exhaust, air filter) will be added after painting as will the brake column in the cab. Some pics; I've also added the couplings, the kit gives you a choice of sensible 009 Bemo type couplings or scale buffer blocks and link. I went for the scale option as it looks better and the loco is destined to live in a display cabinet. Probably regret that though... The next job is to fill and sand the joints on the cab roof and blend in the bonnet top a bit better. Then it can be off to the paint shop. Paul.

I like the faded look James. I've often thought about added a dash of white to paint to get a faded look but haven't yet tried it but I now know that it works. The stripes look good but I reckon that you'll regret adding the buffers and lifting lugs to the buffer beams when you add the end stripes... If you're going to the Derby members day bring it along as I'd like a closer look, I've ordered one of these. Paul.

'Done a halfwit' indeed! Just you wait.... (Nice job by the way, I'm going to order one of these next week.)

Just been studying your photos - do the front window surrounds attach to the inside as it looks like the recesses are on the inside of the cab?

Just found a reciept for the motor bogie - bought in 1997!

Thanks for the tip Great Northern, although I would still employ epoxy as it allows me to make slight adjustments as it sets. I do use superglue for detail work though. And thanks for the comment Phil. Paul.

I've had this kit for over twelve years. Its for Resilient class diesel loco, built by John Fowler in the 40's and powered by either a 3 or 4 cylinder Fowler-Sanders diesel engine. Three 2' gauge locos worked at Alpha Cement at Cliffe-at-Hoo two of which still survive, one at Amberly Museum (the loco this kit was based on) and the other at Armley Mills in Leeds. Some were built to 3' gauge, one worked at Marland in North Devon and another at Dinmor on Anglesey. The Dinmor loco still survives and can now be found on the Cavan and Leitrim in Eire. The kit is OO9 and whitemetal and sits on a Grafar HST power bogie, bought new at the same time the kit was aquired. I'm not going into great detail about the build as its pretty straightforward but let the pictures tell the story. Here's the cab; The bonnet frame sides being glued in place; And the radiater/front bufferbeam in place and the power unit fitted; I prefer to glue whitemetal using 5-minute Araldite. Once I used to solder whitemetal but these days I can't be bothered. Soldering might be quicker though... Paul.

Interesting. How well do they cope with being propelled over pointwork with that coupling system?

I'll be following this as this loco is on my 'one day' list. Looks good so far.

See also Old Time Workshop www.oldtimeworkshop.co.uk Pack number 4670 covers MoD wagons.

The EM loco came with me to the Derby show today in the hope that I could see if someone would test run it on their layout for me, mainly to see how it would cope with pointwork. The Easington Lane crew happily obliged and I'm pleased to say that it performed faultlessly. Thanks guys. Paul.

Thanks Ruston. I forgot to mention brakes, I was originally going to fit some Peco wagon brakes from their 'Fitted Stock Set' but couldn't find any glue that would work on the horrible bendy plastic that the're moulded from. So today I picked up a Parkside BR 10' wagon underframe which has clasp brake shoes so will do both locos. Possibly a bit overkill buying a whole wagon chassis just for the brakes but at a pound seventy I'll not worry too much. And yes the brakes are radiused for bigger wheels but that shouldn't be too noticable. As for liveries the narrow gauge loco will be green and black and hopefully fully lined. The standard gauge loco will probably end up yellow like the Grant Lyon Eagre locos in the 48DS & 88DS book. Or light blue... Paul.

As both locos are almost ready for the paint shop I'll share some thoughts on the build. My aims with this project were; To build a 3' gauge Ruston, To see how far I could go with detailing the A1 Models kit, To build my own slow running compensated chassis, To build a 48DS with the correct wheelbase with the right amount of daylight under the frames. (The EM loco wasn't originally planned, I decided partway through that it wouldn't take much extra effort to build a second loco). I'm happy that I've succeeded with the above although I still need to work on my metal forming. This was also the first time that I've been out measuring and photographing the prototype before building, as there's no published drawings of the n.g. version this was very necessary. And theres nothing like climbing on the real thing to get a feel of a loco. Theres still a couple of details that elude me, the bonnet top strip for example. On the n.g. loco I've used the A1 kit more as a 'scratch aid' as the footplate and frames are scratch built and only the bonnet, cab and steps from the kit are used. This means that I have enough parts to build a wagon - some of these locos ended their days minus the cab and bonnet as flat wagons or weedkiller wagons (some 'preservation' groups are responsible for this!). The A1 kit does scale pretty well. But if you build the closed cab version note that the door handles are in the wrong place, they should be at the back of the door not at the front as etched. The buffer beams on standard gauge locos are made from steel channel, on the kit they are flat which doesn't look quite right. However I left mine flat as adding the top and bottom channel strips would a complete faff to add, well this time anyway. See my gallery for pics of the bufferbeams. I do still have an Impetus 48DS to build (I'm saving it until my skills improve). Judith Edge are hopefully bringing a kit out as well, which I'll probably end up building as well if they do. You can't have too many Rustons... Here's a pic of the n.g. loco; I still need to find some sandbox lids (3mm dia., preferably etched) and I'm going to re-do the steps, which are glued to plastic spacers, as they stick out too far. A couple of shots of the EM loco along side my first spud powered effort (note the different cab styles); Note in the second shot the difference in wheelbase and the daylight under the new loco compared to the spud powered one. Haulage notes. Both locos weigh around 60 to 70 grams (I'm still working on adding more lead). I never expected either loco to haul much, I concentrated on slow smooth running over power hence the Mashima 1015 + flywheel when a 1020 could have fitted with one shaft cut off and no flywheel. As a bonus the flywheel adds usefull weight. And they do run slowly and smoothly! At least on my test track, which for EM is a bent old piece of C+L and for OOn3 is either a length of Peco or a circle of very crude (pressed 'n' section!) Berliner Bahnen trainset track. I'm not sure how much the n.g. loco will pull as I've no stock built for it and no couplings on the loco (these will be fitted when I build some stock and have decided on a system). The EM loco will pull 6 Slaters MR wagons (my only EM wagons are pre-grouping...) with relative ease and 8 with a bit of wheelslip. I'm hoping more weight will improve things further. However I'm happy with that, if I want to pull more wagons then I'll just use a bigger loco! A pic; I do wonder how it would perform on a layout, something that I don't posses. Perhaps I should take it with me to exhibitions, surely someone wouldn't mind me using ther layout as a test track for 5 minutes? Thanks again to Buffalo for advice on pick-ups and Ruston for info on 48DS's in general.

Thanks Adam. As for stock, well there's 3 Parkside Tralee & Dingle vans, a couple of Golden Arrow Furzebrook wagons (end tip and flat, actually OO9 kits but designed to be converted to OOn3) and a Nonneminstre Models Rye & Camber coach, all unmade. All but the Parkside kits now unfortunately unavailable. A varied collection... I might someday scratchbuild some wooden side-tip wagons to go behind this loco, or design a resin/etched kit... The n.g. Ruston will be without drawgear untill I get some stock built and decide on a coupling system. Paul.