Wayne 37901

Here's a shot from me of 37421 and 057s tour around the valleys. This is 37421 standing at Coryton station just after 0100hrs this morning before heading to Queen St to gain the Cardiff Bay branch and then to Rhymney. The shot doesn't do this rare loco hauled working along this particular branch justice, but it's one for the records anyway. Cheers,

Thanks Baz, While I agree that the kits are doing well for their age, like most Cambrian kits there is a bit of cleaning up to do before assembly but it's worth it. There is a reason why I stuck with Cambrian for SPAs instead of the new FTG model but I wont go into them here. The main reason for replacing them on the Cambrian wagons is to help improve running and the appearance of the axle guard area. Wayne

SPA wagons now at the stage where height can be checked and any adjustment can be done before everything is fixed in place ready for painting. Cheers

This thread is quite well timed as I've just started working on some SPAs. Baz, I had no idea that SPAs fitted with wooden cradles worked into South Wales or that they carried stainless slab to Port Talbot. Have you any idea when and any wagon numbers? There were also some BMAs working from PT carrying slab, possibly in the same pool? Cheers,

Nothing too exciting this weekend to update with but I've dug out some SPAs which are being fitted with sprung suspension. This really is the way to go with LWB wagons and is now a fitment I've adopted as standard even for ready to run stock, kit built stock gets them during construction. Cheers,

A tin box with one hell of a power unit though Rob! Thanks for the kind words I apologise for double posting a picture of this one guys, I'm experimenting on improving my model photography and I've dug out a portable studio I have, rigged it up on the coffee table with a lamp behind and took this one. It's much clearer than the last one but it seems the lamp I'm using is casting a slight yellow/orange tone over things. Any comments on how to improve things further are welcome as I'm no photography expert (as I'm sure you can see). Wayne

56073 now reassembled after some additional weathering, I still need to fit some NRN aerials but she's otherwise there. Having said that I'll be doing something about the glazing in future as I don't like the fit of the Hornby windows so I'll most likely Laserglaze it at some point. Bits that don't show in the photo includes greased brake linkages and weathered air hoses. It is intended to be modelled in the condition of not long after being transferred to Cardiff Canton and swapping Coal for Metals sector and joining the FMCK allocation so I've left the bodysides quite clean.

Hi Mark, Good to see you making progress again, nothing like a deadline! Interesting to see the Bauxite HEA, I have at least two of these to do for my rake and was wondering how to go about getting that weathered look (I model the Sectorisation period) on mine but you seem to have made a good start. Using a red primer as a base coat is an interesting approach, can you share any further light how you will build up the weathering over the top, also I see you have replicated some tyre marks along the sides how was that created? Cheers Wayne

Hi Neil, Looks good so far, although you may want to swap the side radiator grills over as they appear to be the wrong way round.

Good evening, Having really got the bug for a loco here's the state of play with 56073. Not much done to this in the form of replacement parts as it was kind of an experiment to see if it would be worth retaining the original livery, although new fan grilles have been fitted as have horn grilles and lifting point covers. A few final jobs remain to be done but it's more or less finished. Was the experiment worth it? I'm in two minds about it but I'll let the photo decide. Cheers.

Good afternoon, No work this weekend so some modelling is in order. I'm awaiting wheelsets to arrive to finish some wagons and it's been some time since I tackled a loco project so at last a start has been made on 56073. So far all traces of old livery have been removed and the rather odd and course fan grilles have opened out to take replacements in etched brass. The tripple grey livery is being retained as I think Hornby have done quite a decent job of it. Here's the current state of play. More to follow. Cheers

Hi James, The finer coal looks much better in those. A bit OT but can I ask what camera you use? I'm looking to improve on my model photos a little more in the run up to writing some articles. Cheers,

Hi Mike, Yes I need to get round to doing the transfers on the BNA, I think most people do them the old way by cutting up individual numbers but having done that recently for my rake of SSAs I don't fancy doing it again so I may look at other options possibly making them up on computer, I'm also not aware of any transfers available from the trade for these wagons so I would say it's out of those two options. Sorry I cant help more. Cheers,

More progress on the newest members of the SSA scrap wagon fleet, with painting and lettering complete the fun task of weathering could begin. In my time period these wagons were not so heavily bashed about so I chose not to replicate any body damage and opt for weathering instead, another reason I chose to avoid the body damage is I always think it looks overdone, even when trying not to overdo it if that makes sense. The first job was to apply a coat of Humbrol Dark Rust wash which comes ready thinned in a jar. This photo shows how the wagons looked after this first stage. After letting this dry briefly, it was buffed with a damp brush to blend it in to the paintwork and here's how it looked after that. When that was done I then got the weathering powders out to add further colour and blending. And finally here's how it looked after applying a further coat of Matt varnish to seal everything in. A very productive evening I must say. I've enjoyed modelling these wagons as they have many variations and plenty of scope for weathering. I may add a few more in the future but these will do for now.

One slight issue I have with Cambrian kits is when it comes to bogies and suspension units as they're quite fiddly to assemble and don't tend to have a lot of strength. With bogies I always use etched internal frames and for vehicles with axleguards I now use Bill Bedford sprung w-irons on any wagons over a wheelbase of 16'. The photo below shows the use of etched units on an SSA., for these I'm using Comet Models etched w-irons. These should used in compensated form but I don't like any sort of moving w-iron on a model so I fix them to the wagon floor purely using them for there structural strength, I then attach the moulded suspension units cosmetically to these. I also use an axle spacing gauge to hold the axles at the correct wheelbase while things are left to set. Etched w-irons in place during a dry run to check the fit and moulded suspension units are seen in front, in this case the four spring ESC type. Cheers,

Today I've started adding two more SSA scrap wagons to increase the fleet to five, there's plenty of variation to be found with these so they make for a fun project. Here's an 'in progress' photo of the workbench in full swing with the two bodies under construction. Not much to see at the moment... Until the weathering starts that is. Cheers,

Hi Lee, Quite a nice job on Lightning. Sorry if I've missed it in a previous post but I like the effect of the roof weathering and the way the dirt comes down to cantrail level, what's your technique for that? Shame about the 73, I've heard some bad press about it, not least with the liveries and those buffers look a little on the small side as well. Cheers,

Good evening, Haven't had the layout out for a play since the small layout show so I decided to take a break and pop along the fence at Dragon Steels to hopefully catch a shunt of the works. When I got to the usual vantage point the move was in full swing as resident pilot 08664 drew up some BDAs loaded with Billet before running round and taking them off into the works. It then returned to position some loaded scrap wagons for propelling to the scrap bays and also sent an empty OCA and SSA to the exchange sidings for adding to a service to Tees yard later in the day. A quick shot was taken of SSA 470095 for the wagon folder. And finally, what Sunday would be complete without some engineering works. Once all the shunting had finished 37012 arrived to run round a ballast train before taking part in a drop along the branch to the works. After watching that depart it was time to head home as I had ran out of sarnies and the flask of tea was empty.

Looks good Rob. What's your method for the ground cover? It looks very steam era and ashy looking if that makes sense. Cheers,

Thanks for the replies gents, Having thought a bit more I've decided that I will finish these off, although I might revisit some of the detail as some areas are not quite correct. Cheers,

Hi James, Further to our conversation earlier, I found a pic in the archive of my two variations of 'rust livery' Grampus. I apologise It's a bit bright, I should get round to taking a new one. I hope you don't mind me posting this up? Cheers,

After an interesting conversation with James Makin about engineers wagons earlier today, I made a discovery while looking for something else in the unfinished projects boxes up in the loft. What I found were four YGH Sealion ballast wagons I did quite some time ago using the Lima wagon as the basis. These were done long before Bachmann announced their version and quite possibly before Hornby re-tooled the original Lima model to bring it more in line with their Shildon built Seacow. I'm slightly undecided about these, do I finish them off or do I get rid and use the new RTR models? Most of me is thinking the former option as quite a fair bit of workbench time was spent on them. Obviously they need transfers and weathering to finish but that's no big job compared to starting from scratch with new base models. Work done inlcudes... ** Removing the internal dividing plate (it comes too far up on the Lima model). **Some tidying up of brake cylinders to remove mould lines. ** Replacing the VERY incorrect Lima bogies with etched internal frames from Jon Hall, along with Cambrian cosmetic Gloucester frames. ** Modifying the bogie mounting to take the above into account. ** opening out a small access hole in the body on one side. Once that was done the wagons were painted in dutch livery. It wouldn't take a lot of effort to get them finished, although I would like to do something about the bendy plastic used for the guard rails. Cheers,

Here's progress so far on the sector VBA van. It doesn't show up well in the photo but it's been slightly weathered with a wash of general dirt over the bodysides. Running gear and underframe weathering to follow, I really must order some wheels!

Hi WCML 100, To add to what James has said, I would say that the research can sometimes be more fun than the modelling itself. It's certainly worth browsing the net as there's plenty of images out there. When I was spotting as a young lad I never took any photos of wagons but over the last few years I have really got into it, even if they don't cover my time period I'll still snap away as they'll be useful to someone. One thing I would say and I'm sure James would agree with me is that you should always work to a photo wherever possible when modelling a particular wagon because just like locos there can be many differences, even between batches. Cheers

Interesting to see Paul. Any idea when/why Dunn Bros cleared out of there? Cheers