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Ditto…….decals ordered Sunday and on the door mat on Tuesday.

Looks like the Maroon Mk1 coaches are arriving in York tomorrow.

My supplies from Railtec arrived yesterday, so I carried on adding decals. Most of the lining is complete and a start has been made on other embellishments like 1,s on the numerous doors of the TFK. The second DMBS is largely finished in the paint shop with just the grills to pick out.

The decals came off without too much fuss or damage. The red stripe on one side of the Buffet car was also affected, this reattached whole with some gloss varnish painted on. The TFK also gained some gloss varnish painted on to the cantrails. After reading the instructions with the Railtec decals it actually says avoid Microsol…..add a bit of PVA to the water used for soaking the backing paper. New stripes have been added using this method. I’ll let them dry overnight before doing anything else.

The other side is equally affected.

I got a lot of white lining attached to the coaches today. However the Tamiya spray varnish has affected the yellow stripe on the TFK. So much so that I’ll probably have to try and remove it and start again. I’ve not had this happen before. The white lining does not appear to be affected. A trawl through the Interweb this evening seems to point the reason for the reaction between the decal and varnish at the Micro Sol. I’ll post some pictures in the morning.

I’ve managed to dodge a few showers this week, so during the dry spells some progress has been made in the paint shop. Just the TFK a and the powered DMBS to complete. It’s an Yorkshire NGS meeting tomorrow, providing I get a coat of gloss varnish on overnight, I will make a start on adding the white lining decals, coach and set numbers.

Well….in between showers there has been some warm dry spells……..so some paint shop progress has been made. The TFK and the powered DMBS bodies are still being painted.

Arrived in York this morning.

B**gger all in Brighton, as has been mentioned Train Times in Eastbourne, Gaugemaster at Ford, Squires Tools at Bognor Regis. There is a new model shop in Newhaven…Modelworx….but they don’t do railways…might be OK for paint etc. There used to be a lot of model shops in the area but all except the above have sadly gone.

A busy week this week with work then a trip south to Redhill for a Southern Control retirees reunion. Six of us, with about 220 years of Railway service between us……even so, a bit of progress with the 6B….although as it’s currently pouring down the next stage will have to wait! On a side note, I left Redhill station at 1800 and arrived in York at 2053. not bad for Approx 200 miles.

Something under wraps……until the weather improves.

The first DMBS had entered the paint last week. It was unwrapped today after having the weekend to dry throughly. I am pleased with progress so far. I won’t show the other side as I inadvertently cocked up the width of masking to cover the grey. It’s too narrow so I’ll have to respray it. The rest of the body will be hand painted, coach sides at each ends, solebars, buffer beams, jumpers etc.

Before our weekend away I managed to get the first Hastings DMBS masked up for spraying its base colours, the bandages masking tape was removed today to reveal this. The ends of the sides will get painted in rail blue by hand, as will the solebars / buffer beams, jumpers in black. I’m pleased with progress so far.

No progress with Olympia as we’ve had a cheeky weekend away in Manchester, Premier Inn Media City, Salford Quays…..other hotels are available. Trains both ways were on time, although the one home wasn’t the one we were originally going to catch…..which was delayed. Mrs G was quite happy to knock off another tram line, so we’ve done Trafford Centre…..didn’t go anywhere near the shops, thankfully. After the Egyptian exhibition on Friday we went to the Transport Museum of Manchester well worth a visit…..it is 99% buses so look away now if you only do trains 😂 https://motgm.uk/ I took quite a lot of photos there, these are just a few. It’s based in part of an old bus garage, the rest is still in use by Go Ahead.

That’s a shame, went to Central Hobbies on both our trips to Vancouver and came away with several goodies and books.

…and if you are doing Gaugemaster in Ford it’s only a short hop to Squires Tools in Bognor Regis.

Some Rapido SR opens and Iron Minks reduced at Monk Bar Modelshop. New version Bachmann 47s too and much more. https://www.monkbarmodelshop.co.uk/sale-c235

The 6B DEMU now has its sixth car. The two TSO,s are mounted on Farish Mk1 Chassis rather than then 4CEP cars for the rest of the set. These have no weights, unlike the 4CEP, so are a bit thinner. I will need to make a false floor out of 20thou plasticard to raise the bodies as they foul the bogies rotation. All six cars are nearly ready for masking and painting!

…….and then there were six. Both TSO’s now have a chassis and bogies (B1’s which are incorrect) due to them being recovered from GF Mark 1s. They sit a bit low as the CEP coaches have a thin weight in them which the loco hauled Mk1’s don’t have. All the water fillers have been added now.

Here’s one I made earlier……SS and 4732 at Mill Rd Patcham. https://zenfolio.page.link/CctPu

Captured one evening while we were on holiday near Warkworth in Northumberland earlier in the month. 66736 6E45: 0807 FTW Alcan-North Blyth Alcan passing the site of Warkworth station approx 1940 on 7/6/23.

It’s been a bit of two steps forward and one step back this week with the DEMU. After the NGS meet last week I unpacked the set to find the Buffet car had developed quite a big bow in its side. I put a small clamp on it for an hour or so with it mounted on its chassis. This helped a bit, so last night I did the same, but forgot to take the clamp off. This morning I took the clamp off to find the body partly snapped through along part of its length. Bu**er! Some superglue, backing plates and the clamps again seem to have rectified the issue. To paraphrase Basil Fawlty……I mentioned the clamps once but I think I got away with it!! I also spotted that one of the horns had vanished. These were from the Dapol class 73 and made of engineering plastic. I’ve had to revert to using PECO track pin heads…..and this second attempt to use these has been more successful. Some progress…..The second DMBS car has now gained its cab handrails and 27 way jumpers plus roof conduit. The broken window bar has also been repaired. The TFK has had its underframe finished and dampers added to the bogies. The two TSO’s have gained there corridor connections and I’m in the process of folding up some NS wire for the water tank fillers. I can’t find any photos of the TSO’s showing underframe details, so not sure if there should be any boxes or not. Pictures now added, it’s the buffet that has had its bogie dampers added not the TFK.

Lunchtime today I could hear the dulcet tones of a class 37 in the distance, it eventually trundled by light engine enroute from York to Scarborough and back. It was due back just after 1500…..so it was rude not to!…..only complaint is that it was coasting. 0Z37:1214 York Parcels sidings to York Parcels sidings via Scarborough, rather nice 37401 ‘Mary Queen of Scots’. Taken at Lady Kell Gardens foot crossing, Haxby. 27/6/23.

The coaches were bought in two batches the motor coaches and TFK then the other three. The first batch are a much better print than the second. Yes they will get some sanding down…and had when the photos were taken. They seem to sand OK as well. I was tempted to get a 6S but wanted a long frame version so the 3D print was the way forward.