Ragtag

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm currently working out the best way to construct the roof. I think at the minute it might be a case of paint, varnish and glaze the body before adding the roof (I think it's going to need to be glued down unless I can come up with some sort of clip system). I'm also having an issue sourcing suitable Hornby spares for the pantographs (I'm reluctant to tackle the Hurst kit as it's quite expensive and apparently a pain to put together. The windows are now in the ends of the coaches and, as usual, despite careful measuring and use of a template one end still manages to look better than the other

Personally I prefer grey primer as I find it gives a better depth to the final colour. A white base tends to alter the shade too much for my tastes, especially with just one coat of colour. I'll probably start using an airbrush to weather, and graduate to repainting from there.

Still waiting on part of an order I placed in August. Have had no communication since. I sent them an e-mail today, if I hear nothing within a week I'll be cancelling and buying it from another retailer which actually has it in stock, instead of just saying they have it in stock. There seem to be some issues with Rails' website stock availability estimates. That being said their service on the rest of the order was exceptional.

I don't have anywhere near enough room for the NMT sadly. I have 2 locos in NR livery now (I have the MR 97303 ltd ed) and while some DRS traction would be nice, there are other priorities (the DB Schenker 66 amongst others) in the short term. The MENTOR coach project should keep me busy for a while. I know a lot of people like airbrushes and I'm sure that once I eventually take the plunge I will too, but I didn't fancy starting with a colour that would need so many coats.

Attached below is a photographic record of the first day's work on this conversion. The Mk1 coaches were picked up cheaply from a local model shop. I used 2 BSKs for this conversion. I made a bit of a mistake, however. What I'd thought on first glance were 2 Hornby coaches turned out to be 1 Hornby and 1 Mainline. This caused some issues with the thickness of the coach sides when rejoining them, but nothing that couldn't be rectified by a little filing. I used the Hornby model as the 'base' for the chassis, roof and sides; and used the mainline sides to fill in the missing windows etc that I needed. It's worth saying that I've been working purely from photographs rather than scale plans, and that the window positions are estimated rather than precise. I'm of the opinion that if it looks right, it is right. The first step was to plan the arrangement of the new coach sides. I numbered the plans and numbered the corresponding pieces of plastic on the back to avoid confusion: Cut: Fit: Shut. I used styrene rod to reinforce the joins. It's important to leave enough room to glaze the windows: Testing the fit of the new sides in the coach chassis: And the other side: The joints in the coach side were then filled: And sanded. I then sprayed a coat of primer to identify areas that needed further filler or sanding: The coach ends with detail removed. New windows still need to be cut: Test fit of the remaining 'normal' roof section: And again:

Below are some pictures of my recently completed Network Rail loco and DBSO. Conversions were carried out using parts from Hurst Models, Railmatch paint, and transfers from Hurst and Fox. A Mk2 coach has also been repainted but needs a final decision on numbering. The Mk2s were picked up cheaply at a recent show, while the 31 is a Lima model picked up for less than ??20 on ebay. All repainting was carried out by hand. The DBSO still needs a little detailing work, most notable the addition of an object deflector.

The lighting is something I've been giving some thought to as well. I've finished my own with painted lights in the short term, but will be watching with interest to see if you decide to light yours. Deltics are looking great

The 50 is looking great. I meant to ask you yesterday, I'm almost finished converting a DBSO of my own and was wondering what you'd used to glaze the cabs on yours?

Look forward to reading that one

Looking good Dave. Been meaning to ask for a while, any chance you could post a wider view of the layout?

Pleased to see this one back as it's far and away my favourite layout of those on the forums (despite my being an "Era 9" modeller). Looking forward to seeing the Deltics out and about

Starting to really look the part

Jaw seems to drop further every time I look in on this thread. I'm in awe, an exceptional piece of modelling.

Looks great. Be careful though, once you get the bug those Ikea drawers in the background will make awfully tempting conversion projects too...

Good to know, it's reviews like this that help making a decision when choosing a mail-order supplier. Having had some issues with inaccurate stock counts at certain other suppliers, knowing there are reliable stockists out there makes it that much easier to overlook the slight discounts of other suppliers in favour of better service.

I've always found your guides useful. With regard to getting into locos, I found the Hornby 153 to be a right PITA. Any hints and tips you've stumbled across would, I'm sure, benefit others in the future.

Hey Russ, pleased to see you made the switch in one piece , Deadwater is one of my favourites. The new setup is great for pictures, if you go to your personal settings and enable the flash image uploader you can upload up to 10 pics at a time - much time saved Needless to say I'll be following, Stu

That's a mighty fine offer. If only I actually had the room!

Glad to see this thread made the transition. Watching with interest, keep it up