87023Velocity

The numbers for the EWS class 56 have arrived from Railtec so made a start with the renumbering to 56067. The numbers and logo are quite difficult to remove and require the use of T-Cut. The gold band is masked off from the rest of the body to prevent damage to the main body colour. As you can see removing the number and logo rubs the gold away. So clean the bodyside, mask up and respray with Railmatch EWS gold. A few coats of Johnsons klear have been applied for the transfers to sit on. Just ready for a coat of satin varnish then eventually weathering. Cheers Simon

Bit more done to the Intercity Swallow 86 tonight, now numbered 86249 County of Merseyside. 3D nameplates, numbers, cantrail stripes, overhead warning labels from Railtec. The Intercity swallow logo are Fox. 86244 The Royal British Legion has been created using the standard Dapol Virgin 86229. Numbers removed using white spirit initially followed by T cut to finish off. A number and 3D nameplate pack from Railtec was used to create 86244. Both locos will receive replacement brass buffers from N Brass. Cheers Simon

Ordered quite a few different items from Steve at Railtec over the past few weeks and the service has been excellent. Got the excellent 3D nameplates for 4 locos I have been working on. Here are pics of the plates used. Virgin 86244 is a standard Dapol virgin 86 renumbered and named using a pack with nameplate and number. 86249 used nameplates, numbers, cantrail stripes and overhead warning labels. 60070 is nameplates, numbers and overhead warning labels. 60033 is nameplates, cantrail stripes and warning labels.

The silver 60, 60033 has finally been reassembled and detail added to one end. Got quite a few locos now in the weathering queue. Cheers Simon

Got a bit more done on the 86 today, Intercity logos added along with overhead warning signs, data panels and made a start on the cantrail stripe. Cheers Simon

47761 ready for dragging pushpull rakes, Cross Country, freight, engineers, Serco test trains and just maybe a parcels rake. PCV control cables added to cab front, ETS cable and sockets fabricated from wire and plastic, NRN aerials added along with the cab door handrails. Just need another 2 or 3 similar! Cheers Simon

Hi Rich, Can do, however if like other Dapol items, you need to use T-cut and I am expecting I will need to redo the gold band with the airbrush. Cheers Simon

Hi Steve, Order placed for replacement numbers and EWS branding! Cheers Simon

Hi Rich, I am glad you mentioned it as had not noticed it, but now looking at pictures I can see what you mean. I was thinking of renumbering and ordering transfers from Railtec then decided to stick with 56089 to make it an easy project. Fortunately it is a relatively easy job to sort. Better get my numbers ordered. Thanks again. Cheers Simon

Got hold of an EWS liveried 56 today so set about reworking the cab front. The black painted on square in the grill was removed with T-Cut however this does wear some of the yellow on the grill away. So next stage is mask off the cab front and rest of the body to allow the grill to be airbrushed rail yellow. Next jumpers removed and replacements fabricated from 10thou microstrip, approx 1mm plastic rod and 0.33mm brass wire. NRN aerials fitted to both ends (BH Enterprises) and all painted. Just need pipes on bufferbeam and weathering. Cheers Simon

I do have some rail blue on Dallam (just)

I am definitely hoping for a 325, my wallet would not be though! Cheers Simon

Last December I decided to do a couple of retro resprays to run on Dallam from the late 80s to early 90s. One of these was a respray of an EWS liveried Dapol class 86 into Intercity Mainline. All the spraying was complete and it was just waiting transfers. Had a look at it again last night and decided I could actually do with a Swallow liveried 86 to run with the Virgin stock. So masking tape out and lower bodyside sprayed white and around cab windows Falcon Grey. Ordered numbers and nameplates from Railtec, will become 86249 County of Merseyside.

Thanks Rich, no 37/7 as yet. I have done 37710 below, could do with a 37/7 centre headcode in EWS livery. Not a hard conversion to do as mainly it requires filling the bodyside window and footsteps. Other items such as nose grills could be corrected but I stuck with original Farish moulding. Cheers Simon

Another loco nearing completion. 37674 started out as a Farish 37406 in RfD livery. RfD logos, nameplates, numbers etc removed with thinners. Transrail logos, numbers and later style overhead flashes from Railtec added. Nose end mounting for ETS removed, ploughs and detail added to one end and weathered. Just few bits to check over then add the nameplates. Cheers Simon

37674 shunts vans from the morning trip to Dallam.

Thanks David! Yes its brass wire with a locating hole carefully drilled into a small piece of plastic rod, the opposite end (the 90° elbow) a locating hole was drilled to secure the opposite end of the jumper. Microstrip has been used for base plates. To represent the elbow, the wire was simply painted orange. Hope that makes sense. Next time I do one I will remember to take some pics of each stage. Cheers Simon

Another project loco which has been sat at the back of the workbench for around 2 years is a Dapol class 56 which has been resprayed into Railfreight coal livery as 56134 Blyth Power as worn till withdrawal. Just a few bits to sort then it will be onto weathering. The buffers have been changed for N Brass versions and the Multi Working jumpers and sockets have been replaced with scratch built versions.

60070 has now been reassembled and just needs some weathering. Gave it a run earlier on the MGR rake with 47761 waiting for it to clear the section so it can cross to the parcels terminal.

Thanks Graham, think this 47 has taken me the longest out of any of the Dallam stock. I could do with a few more RES 47s, hopefully the Farish ones will turn up soon! Cheers Simon

Another project finally nears completion. This model of 47761 in RES livery was initially started around 2-3 years ago. The base model was the early Farish re-tooled model in BR blue which had quite a gap between the body and bogies. The gap has been corrected, the cut back bufferbeams from a Farish class 57 have been fitted with the plastic trimmed to allow them to fit. The RES livery has been completed using Railmatch paint with transfers from Fox and Railtec. Few jobs left to do including ETH cable and socket to add, NRN aerial, Control cables on cab front and handrails. Need to look at sourcing a more suitable battery box moulding. Cheers Simon

New arrival to Dallam and it's another 60, 60081 Isambard Kingdom Brunnel! Here it is posed on an MGR working and was quite a regular to the Warrington area until it went boom! Also a picture of the Dallam 60 fleet.

Hi Duncan, Those etches look spot on, especially the part open. Some Wigan Springs Branch coal 20's will appear on Dallam at somepoint so I would definitely be interested in an etch. Cheers Simon

Bit more done on the workbench today, 60033 and 60070 all transfers applied, just need to check over tomorrow then possibly apply a coat of satin varnish. Also got RES 47761 progressed and 56134 all transfers applied so been quite a productive day! Cheers Simon

Started applying the transfers for the Corus liveried 60 which is being finished as 60033 Tees Steel Express. The Corus transfers are from Fox and the pack will do both 60006 and 60033 so may look at doing 60006 as well. Cantrail stripe is from Railtec and has been cut into sections to help with application along the various roof panels. Cheers Simon