Wayne 37901

As promised a picture showing the first two Grampus wagons. Note the differing axle box covers, the wagon on the left being equipped with Hybox covers while the other is wearing white metal SKF style ones. One wagon also retains it's branding plates as well as both being fitted with self contained buffers. More soon.

Good evening, To avoid clogging up the layout thread with all the rolling stock projects I thought I should have a workbench thread to chart the progress of not only my rolling stock builds but also any other workbench related activity. The thread kicks off with a departmental theme as I have been indulging my interest in civil engineers stock. To start with I've been building a couple of Parkside Grampus wagons to cover some of the variations in the fleet. I have a great liking for Parkside kits, they just seem to fall together quite quickly. This means that I can crack on with these in between building steel carrying stock for the layout. For the moment the bodies have been built up and await a rolling chassis which is where the variations come in. Pictures to follow. Cheers

Good morning, Thought I would post up a quick picture of the work so far on weathering the BDA decks to gauge opinion on how they look. The wagon sitting on the cutting matt has had slightly more done to the bolsters. The weathering has been done using only three colours so far, but mixing them up on an old container lid has given subtle variations. The base coat was mixed up from four colours to give a grey shade that if applied with neat paint wouldn't have looked right at all. I know this because I tried that out on the wagon I was experimenting from. So what do people think so far? Any thoughts welcome. Cheers.

Back after visiting a visit to the Penarth show, not a bad little event and got talking some familiar faces. Didn't come away with anything but had a nice chat with a chap on our experiences of Kadee couplings. I should have an update during the week on the modelling side of things. Cheers

Did 37160 become 37373 by any chance? If so it was basically a poor mans refurb, with regeared CP7 bogies. Not sure of the exact reason for the modified cantrail grilles though, maybe some internal modifications? 37509 also received some modified grilles. Could corrosion be the reason for the taller cut always over buffer beams? Cheers

Good afternoon, Been a bit quiet on here but there has been some modelling going on. Not much to look at but here's the current state of play with the photo plank and the BDAs. The card in the centre of the wagon is a reminder of details for that particular wagon, a useful idea for modelling individual wagons as it avoids the need to constantly refer to the photos. Weathering is next for the BDAs and some basic detailing on the plank, I may add a fence along the back but will see. Cheers

Just come across this and I have to say it's a lovely layout. Any chance of a rail freight 26 on an early 90s mixed speed link turning up? :-)

Good evening, Thought I'd post up a quick picture of the work on the photo plank. Still more to do but things are looking good so far. The plan is to wire the track for power so I can use it to test locos and I may install a signal as well. Cheers

Hi Paul, Thanks for letting me know, I'll have to make do with the SSAs until I can get some. I'll be in touch about the trestles. Cheers. PS: Parcels Point is coming along nicely.

Just a quickie update on things. Work on the photo plank is progressing well and thanks to a rummage through some old fox transfers packs at Lord and Butler I've been able to source what I need for the next 37 which will pass through the works, but more on that soon. Cheers.

Couldn't agree more... Things are looking good, coming along nicely.

Looking good Paul. Did you knock those skips up from scratch? They make a nice change from the usual Modelscene one I've seen on plenty of layouts over the years. Cheers

Hi Rob, Thanks for the kind words and I'm pleased you've found something of interest. Despite being a D&E modeller I'm not against steam locos, I have a bit of a thing for industrial steam. I'd like to do a future project along those lines, but still be able to fit in the odd banger blue Growler of course. Cheers

Here's the SKA I mentioned earlier, I dug this out at the same time as the 56. With a bit of repair some detailing and a coat of paint it should turn out OK. I've got the base for the plank built, next up will be building the landscape and installing power.

W Iron and bogie work planned for today. I'm aiming to have the base for the photo plank built as well. Those who are regular visitors to this thread will see that I'm having a moment where I'm pulling my finger out and getting things done. Cheers

As work on the stock continues I decided that I'd like to have a photo plank for photographing finished models, so...... Some timber was scrounged from work and thought is now what to include. The plan is to keep it simple, single track branch with simple scenic detailing. The timber is going to form the track bed and the ply will be the base. I may make it powered and maybe install a signal as well More soon

Marc, Very nice conversions there. For Dragon Steels I'm going to have a go at some internal use billet carriers. No need to apologise by the way, I'm glad there is still interest in this one. Regarding the wagons I've got on the go at the moment, the OCA and SPAs are all lettered up and await w irons, buffers and couplings fitting. Following a search in the loft I came across my attempt at an SKA rod coil conversion of an SPA which I knocked up a couple of years ago, I'll post up a pic of it soon. Cheers.

Hi Marc, I know what you mean, I had to re join one of my SPA sides as it had come away from the floor. I usually use Plastic Weld and it's normally pretty good stuff. I'm using a mix of Modelmaster and some SMS transfers as they were already in the box. I've often wanted to look at printed transfers, very handy for those one off and odd markings. No not odd at all Marc, I have a liking for all wagons in general but with a lean to steel carrying stock. Wagons are a great subject and sadly overlooked by many people.

Good morning, Just a quick update. Lettering up the OCA is now complete. The W Irons are assembled and ready to be fitted.

Hi Marc, Yes I was thinking the same, it would be a shame to consign it to the bin. I'll draw a conclusion when I test out the motor on the other 56 I have, but in the meantime I've got an identity lined up for this one. Re the w irons, in the past I've ran a small bead of Alraldite in the join and that seemed to help strengthen them a bit. I prefered that to superglue as you've discovered it can be brittle. For these wagons I've decided to have the etched w irons so that should help things a bit. Cheers

As a break from working on the steel related stock, I've been going through the collection of older models to look for things I can part with that don't fit into my plans. It was then that I came across this beast..... Apologies for the poor quality, it was taken on a tablet in poor light. Of course it's a Mainline class 56. I picked this up second hand a long time ago with the aim of doing something with it but never got round to it. Of course every South Wales steel related layout needs a Grid, so when I found this it got me thinking again. I know the new Hornby model is very nice on paper, but even for a new model it still requires work at the bench to model your chosen prototype accurately. That being the case, I dug out the old mags and found some articles and then got thinking even more. The only thing that bothers me is the old motor so that would need sorting. Other than that I think it would be a good project as this Grid does more for me than the new one. I did manage to pick up an old Hornby model which had been EM gauged for a good price so I may assess the motor in that and then decide what to do, although I've already decided on an ID for this one so I'm itching to get started.

Thanks Marc, Yes I know what you mean about the Cambrian w irons. I've made them run ok in the past but have found they can be quite brittle due to the fold up arrangement. That said I've decided to go down the etched route. It makes sense as I've done all my bogie vehicles built from Cambrian kits and I do like to try and keep things consistent. The buffers are also being replaced and I may add some brake gear on the underframe as this is missing from the kit. Ah, I thought you might like that being a cat man yourself. His name is Cookie and he'll be 12 weeks old this friday. All the best

After some searching around I found a few packs of Comet Models W Irons which I had bought a long time ago. I'll be experimenting on the OCA shown above but my plan is to use these with the Cambrian detail added as cosmetic frames on the outside, pretty much in the same manner as my bogie wagons built from kits. A quick search around has shown that other modellers have done this so it should be fine. I'll report back soon. Cheers

While I'm at it with the steel stock I've also dug out the SPA/OCA wagons that have been residing in the works que for a while. I'm wondering what to do with the W irons on these. I know some modellers use Bill Bedford etched ones with detail on top but it seems a shame to discard these bits leaving just the body and solebars. I would welcome some feedback on what others have done. In the meantime here's two of mine. I've experimented with some rusty weathering on the SPA whilst the OCA is shown in red primer before receiving it's first top coat.

Morning, Just a quick update to show where I'm at with the BDAs. We've also been very busy looking after the new arrival in the form of this little fella so modelling time has been limited lately. Will be back with more soon