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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.

A constructive day at the Yorkshire NGS meeting. With enough work done on the 6B to pose five cars together. Buffet and TF had most of the work done on them. The unpainted one is a TS.

A satisfactory day at the Yorkshire NGS meeting today. Got quite a lot done to the 6B. Underframe details added to the buffet vehicle along with water fillers and roof vents. The TF also got its water filler pipework and both got a squirt of undercoat. A TS was mounted onto a underframe so I was able to pose 5 cars together…..it’s the unpainted coach. The bottom photo has the Buffet car prior to undercoating.

No they aren’t Bernard but it would have been one thing less to have to modify. I think I’m going to have to make a bogie mount as I’m not sure that body mounting an NEM box will give enough movement in the curves. Some experimentation I think.

I was hoping that the two surrogate Mk1 coaches would be able to keep their kinetic couplers. This is looking unlikely as I’ve had to cut away so much plastic. The 4CEP coaches don’t have kinetic couplers so this hasn’t been an issue before. I might have to bogie mount the couplers or beef up the underframe and fit NEM pockets.

It’s beginning to get a face!

And plain brown and Satlink liveries. https://www.ngsjoin.com/br-ferryvan-vix-8882-p.asp

As there was b**gger all on the TV tonight I got a bit more work done on the non powered DMBS. A simplified version of the roof conduits and I’ve beefed up the undernourished corridor connect by gluing a Farish Mk1 gangway to it. Looks a lot better.

Also available as chassis only…and in Dutch livery

The two Hastings unit DMBS’s have had various holes drilled in them for handrails and roof conduit plus a quick squirt of Tamiya fine primer, those print lines show up now!……but at least it isn’t so ghost like. Brass buffers have been fitted after I accidentally snapped one off. I had some ready just in case.

The three scenic boards have been assembled in the garage so that I can work out the details for the lighting pelmet and facia.

The three ferry vans arrived at the weekend. Ferry nice models( see what I did there) they don’t seem to be very free rolling but with a nice flat layout this shouldn’t be an issue.

Lots and lots of holes drilled in the motor coaches today for the hand rails. As a consequence and the brittle nature of the body shells I managed to snap off a buffer and a slightly incorrectly positioned drill hole also broke a window bar……not a good start. All of the buffers have been replaced with much chunkier brass ones as I thought this might be a weak point. The window bar is in the process of being glued back in. Both DMBS’s have also had a quick squirt of Tamiya Fine Primer…..it doesn’t look so ghost like now.