westie7

I'm just having a bit of an experiment with couplings. Looks like it's tight but might just do Kato R283-45 curves with Dapol short dummy knuckles. At worst one short to one long

I have some blue grey 2f's on the way. BG + RU ready to slot in. It would have to be a serious issue for me not to sell my old coaches with vinyls Mark

Arran Am I doing something wrong with the pre-ordering on the website, it won't get past the checkout stage without an out of stock error. Cheers Mark

I spoke to John very recently when I ordered some transfers, we discussed this very subject. My particular interest was for any remaining FPA chassis, I'm still interested if they are amongst those that survive Regards Mark

Outstanding. Done a Dounreay once, but no where near that level. Solves the Department Grey argument forever.

patiently waiting for the ZCA, OCA, OTA wagons to pop up

Cheers Jules All of them are approaching transfers stage, then loads and dropping in the wheels. A couple of birthdays here this week so not much progress, but back on it soon. Mark

Looks like I need to look at bearings I have

Pol mah Dee. And don't get me startd on some of the announcements at Glasgow Queen St. Aaargh

ZCA Sea Urchin S-kits My First attempt at a resin. Didn't need much cleaning up of flash but after careful cleaning there are still a few bits of flaky paint. Masking the yellow took ages but once done any blemishes were disguised under rust and weathering The end castings were incomplete but a bit of surgery and grafts and the missing bits were filled in, Sprung W-Irons were fitted in place of the compensated ones supplied which required the inside of underneath the solebars filed out to the correct width. If you do this be careful not to break through to the outside.

ZCA Sea Horse Cambrian This built together quite poorly. It was brittle off the sprue Dry fit wasn't too great either. I've started to beef up the ribs on the sides of the solebars as can be seen in the second pic, white evergreen. As per this link to Martyn Reads Site https://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/UKRailRollingstock/Z-Tops-codes/ZCA/ZCA-Seahorse/ Upgrading the buffers on the ZCA. I have some 51L Oleo sprung buffers but with the 16" head. Also in the spares box are 51L 18" heads, not quite a straight swap as the shank is thinner on the 18" head. Sorted with a short length of tube 1.3 od x 1.1 id, works a treat even if the wrong colour. Once the buffer body is painted this will look better. BB W-Irons, S-Kits Spring/axleboxes casting, Alan Gibson wheels with integral brake discs.

ZDA #2 Fully stripped and a respray, preshaded with black then various layers, thicknesses and variation on the airbrush for effect. Metalwork picked out in steel and gunmetal, and some post shading too. The BB etches are currently drying having been sprayed black. Transfers, couplings suspension and wheels to go.

I scored with a blade then used a small saw for thick sections, also a Tamiya panel scriber can be accurate for long straight cuts, follows the score cleanly. Mark

ZDA #1 ex Bachmann OBA Bill Bedford W-Irons, Brake Discs, Screw couplings, An experiment in Weathering and a few finishing touches to the transfers

ZAA #2 I bought two of these, even with modifying the underframe it still had a lot of work to do, Springs for example! So with this next one I used an underframe from a broken Bachmann wagon as a donor. This is waiting for Transfers, Screw Couplings, Chivers hooded axleboxes, Wheels. W.I.P.

I don't often do OMWB sort of posts. When I potter away at the workbench I usually forget to document anything. And then all of a sudden I've something I think That'll do! or something gets launched in the bin. This started with trying to improve on the FTG SPA, then I decided to do my improvements to Bachmann wagons and throw in a few kit builts. SPA Mods Cut underframe in half length ways and reduce width to fit Bill Bedford W-Irons. Replace the ON brake levers with OFF brake levers from Cambrian ZCA Kit. Modify Spring Hnagers and fit new 26mm axles and brake discs. Replacement buffers and screw couplings. Convert to ZAA Pike and get filthy

I'm in the middle of a similar wagon project I'm using the W Irons and bearings from Eileen's Emporium. There is a bit of side to side play which I compensate by bending in the sides. Regards Mark

Thanks I did wonder if it was BG10? I usually keep the label but must have lost this one Cheers Mark

Found these cast springs in the spares box, which was handy for building a Cambrian ZCA. I just don't have the package to be able to order more. I'm guessing S-Kits? Can anyone confirm? Thanks Mark

The 156 will not be split with the bike bus in the middle

I'm glad I don't have to drive this Shortbread tin on wheels

If anyone has Twitter, see Nigel Burkins feed for photos

That's not me taking that one Actually, looking at my bedroom wall, the real thing is closer to Farrow and Ball Stiffkey blue as opposed to almost provincial as Eddie has said

The middle blue on the model is not the same as the new unweathered vinyl on the the real thing... Says someone who has taken one on its first run out of Haymarket Plat 0, with not a Mark on it.

I did raise the subject with Kernow when I took delivery of my PRAs. I didn't get told where to go! If you have a look at what's available out of what's needed to model that area and traffic, then this is a no brainer. I'm in