Nile

I've noticed on both my compounds small amounts of a non-volatile liquid (oil?), between the larger parts such as boiler, cab, chassis , splashers. Anybody else noticed this, and have any idea what it is? I haven't seen it on any of the previous models.

Photos of one in bits. I haven't removed every part as it's not worth disturbing the glue on them yet. The tender. The body is a single piece with a few detail parts stuck to it, such as the filler cap. Underside of the boiler. The footsteps are separate parts, one is glued to the motion. Inside the cab are three parts, I've removed one of them. Time to get bashing!

Bad news railroadbill, the dome isn't a separate part but part of the boiler. They've done a very good job of making it look separate like on the Bachmann model. I'm taking one of mine apart now, I'll post some photos tomorrow if no one else does.

And now for some more scenic photos. That's a Hornby GWR clerestory for comparison. In terms of the livery I seem to have recreated the Furness Railway. More to do here, including transfers.

I managed to bag one each from the Basildon ASDAs. The finish is pretty good, but the quality is a bit variable.

I used to have a white paint pen, but it dried out. So it was out with the paint brush for the handrails. Here are the four wagons together. And now with an appropriate loco forming a short train.

I've done a bit more on the coach. I painted the frames of the door windows brown, the handles gold, and the roof light grey. Then put it back together. I'm quite pleased with it so far.

Glad to hear it Sean. I added some plastic strip inside the end of the roof to form the missing valance. After painting. Much better. I nearly forgot the lamp irons. All the photos I've found show the handrails painted white, so that's more fiddly painting to do.

Hello again, thanks for your responses. The brake van does seem a bit freelance, so that's the way I'll go. The wagon chassis will definitely get a makeover. It has an 11'6" wb and looks the same as the one under the conflat wagon. Back to the coach, I've been applying white paint. Looking good so far, more to follow.

I've now finished painting the wagons and given them a coat of matt varnish. I painted the interiors of the open wagon light grey, followed by thin washes of brown and black. In 1920 these would be fairly new wagons, so they are only lightly weathered. The brake van is taking longer. After gluing the roof on and fixing the upright supports in place, I noticed there is something not right about the ends. Compared to photos of the prototypes there should be a valance under the end of the roof. I'll use some plastic strip to fix that.

Have you seen the 3D printing section of rmweb? http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/180-3d-printing-laser-cutting-cad-cnc-group/ You should find plenty of info there.

I won't be making any physical changes to this coach. I'm going to try out the painting method demonstrated here by Mikkel http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/75/entry-8235-painting-coach-panels/ and experiment with the livery. I start by painting the coach with Humbrol 104 Oxford blue. I chose this colour because I have several old coaches painted this colour and don't fancy repainting them. To improve the matt finish of this I used Revell Lufthansa blue, which is the same colour with a satin finish. And now for a slight diversion. I have this Trix brake van that I shall be working on soon. Before that I'd like to know if it is based on a real one, or a work of fiction. I haven't managed to find a match.

I found time today to spray matt varnish on it, so now it is finished. The roof probably looks too clean in those photos. For my next trick I'm going to try painting a coach. For this experiment I'll be using an old Triang clerestory. Those raised panel lines should come in handy.

This weekend I have been mostly applying Methfix transfers. At least that's what it seems like. All rather time consuming, and I've not finished painting them yet.

I think you was too harsh on the cab glazing. It does fit into the side windows, the one on mine needed to be pushed into place on both sides. It's not very thick, which improves its look, and completely free of glue (unlike some of my earlier ones). The only issue I have with mine is too much silver paint. Overall a fairly good model.

I've not had any problems with the underframes on these kits. That could be because they don't have separate W irons like the ones you've had trouble with. The roof is quite a molding. Attaching it to the vertical end supports is going to be tricky, I wont be painting them until the roof is attached. New transfers have arrived, so I can progress the other wagons as well.

Even better painted More decals arrived from Microscale just in time to go on this van. Some HMRS pressfix transfers also got used, from a Southern sheet. Some weathering and matt varnish next and it's nearly finished.

This is the fourth Cambrian Southern wagon kit I'm currently building, a SECR brake van. As per the instructions I've thinned the footboard supports and added a 1mm strip of plastic to the bottom of the body sides to make this an early version built by the SECR rather than the SR. Finishing these models might be delayed as I've had to order a new sheet of transfers. The second hand sheets I have are missing some of the letters I need.

The size of the Bachmann pewter model shouldn't matter, they could easily resize the image of a scan. More likely they were put off buy all the fiddly detail parts that would be needed to make a decent model of it. It would also be quite small, maybe less appealing to the general market.

The wheelbase of this chassis is 9'6", so I'm using the brake gear parts from a Parkside 9' chassis, I seem to have quite a few left over. After removing the central link I moved the brake shoes outwards slightly to get them nearer the wheels. I cut and filed away the existing brake parts, leaving just the Vs and rod between them. The new parts were glued to the van body floor, positioning the operating links around the rod that was already there. New levers were glued to the chassis. Paint next.

There's not much to see on the chassis, I can make out a builders plate, but the springs lack detail. It does sit on all 4 wheels. I think there is enough room in the axleboxes to adjust the bearings if that wasn't the case. There were a few small holes in some axleboxes, and buffer heads, so some magic moss was applied.

It's still hot inside, so I'm going to be building plastic kits for a while. I've dug out some recent Cambrian models kits of Southern wagons, pre-grouping of course. Here are the first three together. Individually they are: SECR 10ton van (D1426) SECR 12ton 7 plank open (D1355) LSWR 15ton 8 plank open. The last one has the new one piece chassis. No problems so far. While these go for painting there is another kit in the works.

Nicely weathered fingers! The wagon isn't bad either.

Wasn't a round top firebox version mentioned when this was first announced, or did I imagine it?

Cambrian seem to have heard the complaints about their chassis. The latest kit has a one piece chassis, I'll post a photo of it in my next update.