Nile

Hi Rhys, one of my boxes contains a Hornby M7 in bits. A project I'll be digging out eventually. Maybe it's because it's your least favourite railway makes you want to see me turn their locos into something else.

Matt varnished, reassembled and weathered. It's the same tank wagon, with a different identity on the two sides. I was going to use the second one on both sides, but discovered one of the transfers was missing. The hazard of using second hand transfers. This does give me two identities for the price of one. Plenty more left on the sheet, I may do another. I've removed the NEM362 coupler sockets, so they need new couplings. On that subject I've obtained some Dingham couplers to try. They are compatible with scale 3 link and screw couplings, which is handy. I need to get something to blacken them, it's on the shopping list for Railex.

That looks very smart, Paul. Did you mask the Sentinel plate, or is there a transfer available?

Looking a bit glossy, waiting for dullcote tomorrow. On the left, transfers from Microscale and P C Models (SR wagons). On the right, Slaters.

Work hasn't entirely stopped. My latest box of delights from Merseyside included these. Unpainted wagons from Dapol. As I have suitable transfers for these this should be a simple project.

I've finished the work on the loco, but first a bit of explanation. This is a HO scale narrow gauge model. HOn30 is the American equivalent of the British 009, both using 9mm (N) gauge track. This represents a real gauge of about 30 inches, which wasn't very common but did exist (24 and 36 inches being much more common). The Fiddletown & Copperopolis wasn't a real railway but the subject of a book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiddletown-Copperopolis-Times-Uncommon-Carrier/dp/0911581049 (amazon link) This book inspired Andreas of Minitrains to create this RTR model. I can't find a photo of the loco in its original condition, you can find one here http://www.minitrains.eu/mt-steam.html This is the unaltered loco with a new 8 wheel tender. I also wanted to add a pony truck to make it a 2-4-0. I designed a pony truck, new pilot that could have a working coupler fitted, and a new straight chimney. I had these parts made by Shapeways, they also made the new tender. (see previous post) The new pony wheel is an American N gauge wheel (33") with its points filed down. I've added extra details - handrails on the boiler, a wire to operate the bell (part of the original lever broke off) and a longer pipe out of the front of the airtank (the original part broke off). Two supporting rods link the pilot to the smokebox. There are handrails at the back of the cab. One of these fell off and disappeared, so I had to make a replacement from some 0.4mm brass rod. The model is made from a dark blue plastic. I painted it a more prototypical black, with a silver (steel) smokebox. This is the finished loco. I've also had some interiors made for the coaches, which don't come with any. It took a while to paint all those seats! That is all for now, I need a rest.

You'll have to wait 'till next Wednesday, I think, at least.

As expected a box of 3D printed parts arrived from Shapeways. Mostly stuff I've designed myself, it includes parts to modify the Minitrains HOn30 Fiddletown & Copperopolis train. A test fit of some new parts, before I painted them. I'm trying to get this lot ready for tomorrows Slim Gauge Circle meeting in Rugby. As well as the new parts, I'll be adding details to the loco, such as handrails.

Thanks for all your kind words, it's all very encouraging. I've plenty more models for potential conversions, including a CR single. My current problem is some of my models are winning a game of hide and seek, which is eating into my modelling time. I'm also expecting a parcel from Shapeways tomorrow, another distraction. It could be a few days before the next update.

Nice work Nelson. Spitfire, on the newest Dapol chassis the brake lever is a separate part. That should make like a bit easier.

If you're modelling a working, well used, loco then the inside of the cab is going to be almost black. Likewise any imperfections in your paintwork can be hidden by weathering. Anyway it looks great in the photos.

Nearly there. One issue that needed resolving was how to link the tender to the loco. The easiest way was to use the Hornby drawbar, adding something to the Bachmann chassis for it to hook onto. The best place for this was right under the rear part of the brake linkage. After removing this I drilled a small hole in the chassis and glued a piece of brass rod in it. I've left just enough room for the drawbar to pass over the brake linkage. The drawbar needed bending a bit to stay linked to the loco. The safety valve is from the Hornby compound, with some steel paint. I've managed to refit the original whistle without breaking it, hurrah! The upper lamp iron is now on top of the smokebox. Shame about that gap around the front. The handrake column is from the original Bachmann tender. This is the loco-tender gap. I've no idea what radius curve it will go round, I'll only be running it on fairly straight track. Ta-da!

The transfers are on. I used 20mm spacing this time. When the varnish has dried there are a few small jobs to do to finish things off.

Real wheels in the tender is an interesting development, so I thought I'd see what I could do with it. This is it in bits. The keeper plate is held in place by pins and glue. Two screws link the chassis to the body. The chassis, showing its ringfield drive heritage. To get that see through look I cut away some of the chassis. The central part is still quite stiff, but the sides will flex a bit if pushed. With the original wheels back in place. They could do with painting black, but they are the correct size. With Some Romford 14mm wheels. They are 1mm too big, but look and roll better. I don't have any 13mm wheels to hand. Putting the keeper plate back on. Oh dear, we are back to where we started. So I cut it up into just the bits needed to hold the wheels in. It will need gluing in place. On the track, between a 7F 2-8-0 and an ex Midland brake van (both Bachmann). It's sitting 0.5mm too high because of the wheels. There's room for more improvements. The main problem is the front platform projecting forward too far, by 3mm.

Time for a small update. Paint it black, and red. The raised edges around the panels made it possible to paint the red lining, saving a load of transfers. A gloss coat (Klear) and transfers next.

And now for a bit of wiring. With 8 wheels on the loco picking up current I could re-wire the loco and remove the wires to the tender. But I wanted to avoid taking the loco apart, plus the tender has pick-ups that I may as well use. First I needed to remove the socket from the Bachmann tender, seen below to the left. On the Hornby chassis I removed the DCC socket, leaving just the red and black wires from the pick-ups. I soldered the wires from the pick-ups to the socket, bypassing the DCC socket. I can refit it later if needed. I screwed the assembly to one of the pillars.The hole at the front of the chassis, just behind the drawbar, needed to be enlarged to allow the orange plug to pass through. To unplug this, the tender body will have to be removed, which shouldn't be a problem as its held in place by clips. The wires will pass under the drawbar.

Probably not, Rhys. I'm still thinking of things to do with what's left of the Hornby compound, it may become parts of several locos. The Bachmann compound is a much better model. Back to the tender, I've removed the molded coal load. I ran a craft knife around its edge, from above and below, until I cut through. I also removed the vents at the rear. With the body back on the chassis, you can see there is plenty of room inside. You could fit a motor in there! I've made a floor for the coal space from some 40thou plastic. It should slope down towards the front, but you won't see that with some coal in there. I want to maintain room at the front for the connector. The holes for the vents have been filed with some plastic rod that happened to be the same size.

What you see there is how it comes from Hornby. Not bad considering it's a railroad model. I'll be painting it black.

On to the tender. This is the starting point, which was once attached to the current Hornby Midland compound. The plastic body is held onto the metal chassis by 4 clips and is easily removed, revealing this. Where the ringfield motor used to be is an 8 pin DCC socket. The loco was hard wired to this, I've cut the wires off at this end. I shall be removing this socket later on. The underside. Removing all 4 screws allows the inner chassis to be removed, the drawbar gets in the way otherwise. And now the real work begins. I've drilled out the metal between the brake shoes and the axle boxes. I've also cut away some of the chassis that would be visible, but isn't really needed. The metal seemed quite soft, like Aluminium.

Lining of the loco is complete, using transfers and Humbrol 60 paint which seem to match. It looks like someone at Uxbridge works found an extra pot of red paint. More on the tender tomorrow.

Thanks for your comments and interest, I'm glad people are finding this stuff interesting. Work on lining the loco continues. Meanwhile I've been thinking about the tender. This Bachmann model is of one from the second batch built in 1925, but fitted with a smaller boiler later in its life. The tender body is shorter and taller than than those from the first batch. It's also covered in rivets. I would prefer something more like the original tenders, without the cab. This is the model with its original tender. Last year I bought a new Hornby Midland compound for a good price. The tender is too long for that loco, but placing it on the Beattie drawing of the 7F shows it to be quite a good match. It's about 2mm too long at the back, but I can live with that. The important this is it looks right, and better than the original tender (once painted black). It needs some work to bring it up to scratch. The chassis still shows signs of its ringfield drive heritage.

Cutters hit the big time! There is a (short) article about using a 'digital craft cutter' for modelling in the June Model Railroader. It may get a few more people interested in it.

Small tank engines will feature eventually, probably. There's no masterplan I'm following, so who knows where this will lead to. I said yesterday that these early 7Fs shared there boiler design with the Midland compound. I checked this by placing them alongside for comparison. This is when I noticed the difference in the domes. When built they had a much rounder dome. By the end of their lives they had a flat topped dome, which is the condition the Bachmann model is in. As with the compound before, I felt that the dome had to be more rounded. It seemed to be firmly glued in place, but I wanted to avoid dismantling the body. I applied some super glue remover around its base and after a few minutes managed to work it loose. Using a bit of round plastic to hold it in the chuck, I used a mini drill to spin the dome while using sand paper to reshape it. Here it is in place. It still needs some cleaning up, but it's definitely rounder.

I spent the weekend mostly doing other things, such as working on the layout (I'll start a topic on that soon). After looking at various bits and pieces of locos I've decided this is the next project. One of the first batch built for the S&DJR was given a trial run over the LMWR, with the aim of reducing congestion caused by slow moving coal trains. Considered a success, a couple of locos were ordered with a few modifications, such as left hand drive. Using the same boiler design as the compound locos helped. Delivery was delayed by the war until 1920. I've already removed the numbers and logos from the sides. On the smokebox door I've removed the number plate. I'm moving the lamp iron to the top of the smokebox, so I've cut it off here and filed the hole. Livery will be black with red lining. The boiler bands will be Microscale transfers. The cab side lining was painted using a fine brush. I removed the cab from the body to make this task easier. This shows it after a coat of Klear. In case anyone was wondering, this is what the loco looks like without its cab.

That's something I shall have to think about, Corbs. Probably when I get back to work. Lots of modelling projects are currently distracting me, such as this. I've painted some of the iron work black and sprayed it with Dullcote to flatten and level the finish. But that's not quite the end, as this photo shows. Not only does it need glazing, it also needs a floor! The ribs between the windows mean 3 bits of clear plastic are needed at each end. A bit of card, painted black, will do for the floor. I'll also fill the holes near the couplings.