lancer1027

Hi Craig, Thanks for the tip. I will remember to do that on the next ones. Just been reading on another thread that you asked about Westdale. He doesn't have a website but can be contacted via phone . I usually get my stuff from him at O gauge shows. I have several Westdale kits and they make up to be a very nice vehicle. I think i have 4 Mk1 sleepers, a BG and 4 GUV's . I have also in the past built 6 K series pullman coaches but i no longer have those. The best Westdale kit IMO is the GUV. This an all in one resin body with only detail bits to glue on and the chassis can be soldered or glued together. I soldered the solebars for strength. Just realised i haven't took any pics of the GUV's finished. I will have to get the out and take some. Rob

I have been trying to fix the roof to my TPO only to find that the roof fixing bolts that i bought are too long. So out came the dremel and cut the length. The only problem i have just spent the last 40 minutes trying to thread the nut back on. Obviously the end thread is slightly damaged and i cant get it to go back on so i have given up for tonight. I will go back to it tomorrow. I have started marking out the glazing for the peak cab windows with the 40 thou clear sheet. I am also going to use this to make the corridor side on the FK's. This is because there is a large amount of windo area along with the doors. This i will mark out and mask off. Then it will get sprayed with matt black to represent the black vinyl. I will then add some micro strip that will be painted alluminium. Hopefully this idea will work and leave me with a nice corridor side. ( time will tell ). Any pictures of this would be much appreciated. Rob

Mmmm need to get mine done at some point Phill. I will be asking you questions about how/what you did when i start mine. Mine also cost me £10.50 Happy Days Rob

OK we came back from Stevenage earlier than originally planned so i have managed to take a couple of pics of the tail lights and headcode boxes at No2 end. I had glued the tail lights in on thursday evening and i will sort the cab glazing and fit over the next few days.

No progress to report but i have ordered a couple of boxes of track ready for a xmas present to me. Roll on the spring when i can get the garden tidied up and get some track down so play can begin. Rob

Progress on the peak has been a little slow over the last couple of days. I have managed to get all the led's wired and glued including the tail lights but only at one end. I wont get chance to do the other end for a while as im away for the weekend. I also need to purchase an Omens Minature driver so he can be painted and put in the cab before the cab detail is glued in. I also need to put the windows in before the detail is glued in. Of course once i have done this end i still have the other end to do. Small steps and all that. I hope to have the bogies all fitted ready for the new year so that i can get radio control fitted . Then when the spring comes i can play trains in the garden. Happy Days. Pictures of this progress will come as soon as i get chance to take some. Rob

Hi Craig, CME is right 6' is the minimum radius to have, but as my railway is out in the garden my curves are larger than 6' Rob

Nice one Craig. 7mm is the way to go. Oh and the bubblecar has to be blue/grey as opossed to NSE. I have just soldered all headcode led's on the split box peak and they have been epoxyed into position. Just waiting for them to set now. Then i can position the body so i can take a pic. I am now going to solder the wires to the tale lights I now have the glazing sheet so i can glaze the cab. Unfortunately im away for the weekend so no modelling . However i will try and do a bit more progress before then. Rob

Hi Phill, Thanks for that i think i might take you up on the Cockade plates. Just need to find a colour image of her in battered GFYP. Or i might do Sprightly in battered GSYP. MMmmm decisions decisions. I think i might do D815 Druid in battered MFYP as ive seen a pic of her at PZ in this livery. Cheers Rob

Great pics Phill. Can you tell me which Warships were the last in green. Dont want to do Highflyer as you have done it so a couple of others to give me a choice would be great. Anything from 1968 onwards. Rob

Just put together the other end. I have chosen a different code from 1M76. This time its 1E31 . So hopefully it will fit better and look neater when inside the headcode box. Rob

Hi David, Yes i thought that but wasn't sure. Unfortunately the resin body would need a hell of a lot of work to correct. In fact i think it would have been easier to remove all together and make fresh boxes. . However im not going to go to that trouble now i have got this far. I am still working on the other end but once this is done then tail lights, bit more cab detail then should be ready for primer. Rob

I have now fitted the headcode characters in the split boxes. The close ups look really awful but actually they dont look too bad. Still its really the best i can do with the space that i had. Rob

It was a piece of U brass 1.5mm x 1.5mm drilled and wire soldered through. Although its not very neat, once painted yellow and slightly weathered im hoping it will disguise the untidyness. At the moment i am having problems with the headcode boxes. The charaters when cut off the sheet and put side by side they are actually wider than the box apperture. So i am having to trim slithers off each edge to try and get them to fit without losing the character. This is very difficult when using a 6 and a 4. I am doing 1V64 at one end and 1M76 at the other. but i will look to see if i can use a different code that end to make it easier . Of course a centre headcode variant is ok but i am doing the split box first. Pics will follow if all goes to plan. But dont hold your breath. Rob

Bit of a progress report with pics. Here is the peak D23 . I have painted the inside of the split boxes black and the outside frame yellow prior to fitting the little boxes that hold the led's. These are square plastic section with a piece of 80thou as a backing with a 3mm hole drilled for the led to fit into. The other end will have clear plastic with the 2 characters glued onto and will then have a piece of clear over the top sandwiching the characters. However the glue leaked around the characters so i have got to re-do. I have also fitted and painted the new cab seats. Rob

I have been working on the headcode boxes and wiring on peak D23 today. I will take some pics tomorrow in better light. Plus i want to make some more progress first. The problem is when wiring im finding you cant remove the cab interior. So i will detail the cabs, glaze and then glue the cabs in so it makes it easier to do the wiring. Rob

Hi Delticfan, Thanks for your comments much appreciated. The Easybuild coaches are very nice to build. Straight forward and make up to be a nice model. Plus you get most of the detail bits in the kit apart from an interior. Value for money my opinion is you cant beat them. Rob

Hi Jeff, Yes the original nameplate was like that. I copied from the photo. It was involved in some sort of collision, not sure what but when she went back to swindon they removed the plate and she ran without a name for a while. Rob

I have just been doing some work on the peak cabs. The Skytrex cab interior's are not right. The bulkhead if placed into the body would sit halfway through the cab door plus the seats are just lumps of resin with a back. So i have been trawling the tinterwebbly for pics of class 45 cab interiors. After i came accross a couple that i could use i set about altering. First up was to razor saw the bulkhead off , extend the cab floor and re-position the bulkhead in the right place behind the cab door. I have also removed the lumps of resin to be replaced with some scratch built seats that hopefully will look better. Of course putting cab lights in requires reasonable cab detail. This is a pic of cab before and a pic of progress so far. The black painted patch / area is the backing for the made dial plate. . Obviously there is still quite a bit still to do plus the other end but at least it is a bit more progress. Rob

Hi Martyn, thanks for those kind words. Yes i am really looking forward to "running trains " in the garden. I should be able to make quite a lot of progress next year. With luck, weather and health i should be able to get a complete circuit and even a second. Time will tell on the double track though. I have now painted the second coat of light grey in the cabs of the peak, covering the wires. Next up i will solder the wires to the leds for the headcode boxes. Rob

Yes it does look like that Jeff. Dont really know how it happened. Set and glued those 3 seats placed on the table to dry, checked to make sure still in the right place. I then came back to them to do the other 3 and hey presto it had moved AND SET. I had to get the razor saw out and ease off. Not what i was looking for. Rob

Managed to take a few pics. I have soldered the leds with wires and glued into the cab with epoxy both cab ends. These will now be painted light grey to blend it all in. Just noticed in the second pic a piece of fine plastic rod. Dont know how that got in there. But it has nothing to do with the wiring. Next job is the headcode boxes and tale lights. None of these need resistors as they go to a lighting board which is conected to the radio control board. ( i dont understand it but the guy that installs it says what i need to do and not do so i go with the flow ). I have opened up the motor apperture and glued the fuel tank into place. And the last pic is the seating on the last TSO. This has just had the partition glued in. This will of course be painted to represent wooden panels. Also the headrests will get their coat of blue. I have started to mark and cut the plasticard ready to make the tables. Rob

Thanks guys, I have just glued in the cab lights using epoxy on the peak D23 ( just hope the soldered joints are ok ). This will be left over night and then painted over with light grey. Also the fuel tank has now been glued to the ally floor and the motor apperture has been widened and tidied up. Tomorrows exercise will be the tale light on either end. I have also prepared the headcode boxes ready for the 3mm warm white leds but i still need to get these. The mk2's have the partitions marked out but need to be cut and filed. I will hopefully take some more pics tomorrow. Rob

Hi Phill, Im going to scratch build them. Theres not that much to them really and i have already started collecting/ cutting bits for others. Rob

Today's progress report. We will start with the Mk2's. Here we have some more seats with their main colour on . These are for the last TSO ( of this rake ). Also are the corridor conection door ends which have had their first coat of green. These 8 are for the 2 x FK's and 2 x TSO's. This is one of the TSO's with its main back to back seats glued into position. Just leaving the single pairs to be glued in once i have made the partitions ( hopefully later ). I will paint all the headrests once all glued into position. I did try and paint the edge of the arm rests pale grey like they should be. But due to some of the casting not cast very good with armrests missing or only part cast painting them only highlighted the poor castings. So i have decided not to paint them and just paint the main colour with a different blue for the headrests. This is my last Easybuild Mk1 that i have unbuilt. It is a TSO although not finished it doesnt need a lot doing to it. The most of the work is the end detail ie tell tale equipment , corridor conections etc. Once i have fitted the roof this will have its roof vents fitted and water pipes and filler points done then all painted. The bogies are nearly finished so can be fitted very soon. Right onto Peak Number D23. This has just have its first coat of grey for the cab interior. A second will be applied once dry. This is so i can then add the cab lighting. And finally for todays efforts we have D1018 Western Buccaneer . This is another of my JLTRT westerns. The bogies are ready to be fitted and will soon be going off to have its radio control equipment fitted. One thing i have done to my westerns is make some " window theatres" to install behind the body side windows. These have been made up of various bits of plastic and wire which have be painted. This isn't totally accurate but i feel something needed to fill the window space. ( what are your thoughts ) These are some before fitting From left to right..... engine No1 , boiler , engine No2 With a close up of one of the engines. Now when i first did these i wasn't totally sure but once fitted i was very supprised how effective they looked. So here are a couple of pics showing them fitted. Plus a couple of the loco it's self. I also have D1006 Western Stalwart which is finished but is dc and will be converted to radio control when money permits. Rob