43179

Goodevening - a quick post tonight. Im not the greatest class 47 fan in the world - so my preference at the moment is the Vitrains 47 over the latest Bachmann one - as the Vitrains model is a bit easier to work on , more P4 friendly , and looks better (IMO). I have ended up buying the Bachmann Parcels livery 47474 though - as its the exact loco that i wanted for my collection i it woudl have been silly to respray a vitrains one when i could just get a Bachmann one off the shelf, correct livery and number and all. One of the things that really jars on the Bachmann model is the bufferbeam skirts - being to deep - plus they are a poor fit with the bodyshell, the little steps are also a poor fit with the bottom of the cabfront. The way the leading edge of the skirt sticks out infront of the body also doesn't look quite as subtle as it should . This is one of several reasons I prefer the vitrains loco , which has the skirts moulded as part of the bodyshell . As a very quick experiment , ive taken a file to the skirt - removing a tiny amount from the bottom , and also the top leading edge to see if it improves the look - I think it sort of works - although I have probably removed a little more from the leading edge than i should have... Heres the bufferbeam as supplied and the other end showing a couple of minutes work with a file - luckily the lamp irons survived.. so which is best - well , all i know is i think the next 47 i buy will be another Vitrains... out of interest has anyone offered up the Heljan skirted bufferbeams to the Bachmann model?

Personally , i tend to think the other way - a satin finish on a model looks odd - if you scaled it up to full size the paint finish would be like orange peel - more so with matt finish. most models look more like mass produced plastic than lumps of metal because they arent glossy enough - especially steam locos . Id say the more shine the better! tfn 179

The Chrome Looks good to me Dave - I'd be happy with the finish as shown - For the period im modelling , the wagons would be brand new - so I'd like em nice and shiny tfn 179

does it need wheels? - paint it rusty and chain it to a lamp post - theres one at my local station. The seat has been pinched aswell

Morning - Western road is one of my favorites - and its going to be difficult to avoid some similarites - Western Soad is pretty much perfect as far as my modelling interest goes - although for period its a bit early. It would be nice to see it stocked up with early 90s stuff I'd like to try and make my layout have a bit more of a run down atmostphere - and also do something with lighting - to make it look like early evening. - so the light source would be in the 'west' (front right of the layout), lots of long shadows etc. I'm not sure about the backscene yet - a big sky may be too plain - it works on western road as that has buildings and a bit of landscaping to break it up - I was thinking of having the actual depot buildings on the backscene instead, but as silhouettes. The exactoscale points are a bit addictive once you get into them - I think I'm going to build more than I need (originally i didnt want any points )

- a little footnote - my scrapped Hornby 08 - with all the gears and motor removed in the previous post- came in very handy to push through the points and check everything ran smoothly as i was building them . So they did prove usefull afterall

I'm asked alot if I have a layout to show my 4mm stock on - but I don't - mainly becase I spend too much time doing the stock However - finally today I got stuck in and made a start on trackwork , having built some baseboards last year.. The 'layout' im going to build , is not so much a layout , but a thing to display my stock on, in an appropriate setting. It will be a very simple handfull of sidings based on Lipson Vale sidings at Laira . I want to have as little scenery as possible - as , from my visits to the real place , it was the actual stuff in the sidings that was the scenery- which was always changing - be it withdrawn locos rusting away - or bits of units , appearing , dissapearing , appearing again , the other way round (having gone for a spin round the laira triangle, or random coaches and HST power cars. So I got quite far with buildings points today: heres the main baseboard with the sidings, just plonked some stock on for the photo - its all bare plywood at the moment - excuse the photo shot with the board on the foor - (thats the baseboards of Bodmin Parkway standing in the background) Hopefully now I've properly started the layout - I'll make some proper progress on it , and not go out and get distracted buying a Hornby Javelin tfn jon

Instantly reminds me of Blade Runner .... and 'Tron' love it! '179

lovely stuff - will you be able to fit in the small open level crossing just on the entrance to moorswater? A nice little feature therewas to see a 37 pop out of the bushes , onto the road , stop , then set back dissapearing from where it came TFN '179

I like the very first picture at the top with the 67 and 08 - can i ask where did you get the fencing from? Looks like brass? tfn Jon

Goodmorning , Today Ive got on and done a bit more to 08839 and 08 . Both locos were withdrawn at laira, and are modelled as i saw them around 1992-3 when theyre were on the scraplines. Both locos have been resprayd into faded BR Blue - ive had to interchange various parts on the Hornby model to give the locos the appropriate style cab doors and strapping either side of the cab windows on '821. 08839 has Oleo buffers fitted to one end , which are by Markits. The job today has been foit add all the bufferbeam pipes, and finllay fit the con rods. Both locos have ultrascale P4 wheels , ive reused the Hornby conrods, but to give them a finer appearance, stripped them back to bare metal and resprayed them. Hornby often put a fairly thick layer of paint on the rods, which makes them look a bit chunkier than they really are. Ultrascales sunter wheelsets are supplied with steel nuts for securing the rods - but ive replaced them with brass - as they are a bit easier to file down - Ive reduced the buts in thickness just by rubbing them on a file. Theyre finally secured with a bit of nail varnish. Now the rods are properly painted and fixed , i can weather the chassis . As these two locos are scrappers, ive removed the motor and all the gears so they are free rolling. (I must remember to make some chocks for the wheels!) tfn '179

wow - The viaduct looks fantastic - will you be modelling the piers of the old Brunel viaduct next ot it aswell? I dont think you need a backscene though - what you really need is the spiral connecting coombe up to the main line lovely stuff regards jon

Evening - I'm a bit lost as to how/where the extra 'bits' suppled for the bogies are supposed to go - (the brake rigging bits shown earlier in this thread) do they sit on top or underneath the bogie frame - also , how are they orientated - its hard to make sense of them ? Its nice to have extra detailing parts , but sort of defeats the object when they are blobs of plastic - it would be nice to see a bit more finesse here i think - the bufferbeam pipes could be far better - the vac pipe is ok , but the rest look bad - . The ETH fitting is a nice little moulding though! Im afraid the the bogies on the 47 are IMO awful (sorry) compared to aunty vis - theres lots of rough tooling marks , sink marks and the remains of the class 57 details visible , including holes plugged from the class 57 sandboxes , ragged edged , and a sort of mismatched look where one side had been retooled to remove the class 57 pipework, and it much crisper . Still , atleast its the livery and number i want - so no repainting tfn '179

Every time I make a class 50 , i swear it'll be my last, because the job of reprofiling the nose and making new windscreens is such a pain - i hate it! At warley i got some new shawplan class 50 windscreen frames, , and was lucky enough to find a cheap Hornby 50 to stick them on aswell . These new frames make life so much easier - they fit over the existing Hornby windscreens - after the moulded beading has been smoothed down. The top of the nose still needs building up with a little filler, but over all its a much quicker job and gives neater results. Heres the frames in place - and you can see the white filler where the top of the nose has been built up a little. The difference in shape between the old Hornby windscreens and the new shawplan bits is subtle, but makes a vast improvement , and gives the proper 50 'look' - I hear further shawplan bits are also on the way to correct the rainstrips and other areas. The loco is now almost finished - and looks like this : If your a class 50 nerd expert , then the snowploughs and black windscreen panel are a dead giveaway that this is 50024 Vanguard. I have not yet changed the bodyside louvres on this model - the original Hornby ones are uber-naff and will be removed. A replacement resin version is available on ebay or you can chop them out of an old lima 50 shell - either way , its another worthwhile job . Below is a comparison - 50024 (Left) with the original Hornby louvres, and 50032(right) has the resin replacements fitted. time for tea and biscuits tfn '179

Goodafternoon- time to try out this blog thing, as i havent really posted anything since the previous version or RMweb (when i was scheihallion). Im working on the last few locos for my collection of stock for laira , based around early 1990s when the class 50s were on thier last legs - shiny new 158s and 153s were arriving, and HSTs were all smartly turned out in Swallow livery - and new livery for Mail trains was about to appear, which would divide opinions... Anyhow - weeks ago i bought a cheap Hornby 'Dauntless' in early NSE livery - to convert into 50032 - i thought it would be possible to partially respray the ends , where Hornby got the livery all wrong, but in the end , . decided to respray the whole loco from scratch . Several rolls of masking tape later : 50032 had a very flakey paint job - to model this , before doing the main colors i sprayed the cabsides yellow and the roof Rail grey - , as they would have been when the loco was in Large Logo livery - i then masked off patches, using salt crystals, latex and torn bits of masking tape , and painted the NSE livery over the top - then removed the masking so the 'old' livery shows through. as with all my other 50s its converted to P4, using Branchlines wheels and has a Howes sound chip. Still lots of bits to put back on , but the hardest part, the liverym has come out ok - I'm glad I didnt modifiy the Hornby paint finish as i originally intended, as the stripes would have been in the wrong position anyway thats all for now - but once the camera is charged - there will be another class 50 post .... well someones got to like them tfn '179

I use PVA glue , for the same resons as the blu tac - its clean and safe on paintwork - and you get time to position the plates before the glue goes off . Only neads a tiny smear to do the job - ive not had any plates fall off yet - when ive needed to remove them , and cotton bud dipped in warm water is enough to melt the glue . hth '179

Roxy Music - Ladytron

I also thought of London Bridge the second i clapped eyes on it - as i go past it twice a day. Woudl love to see the whole station modelled tfn '179

no , sorry my fault there - would help if i pasted the correct link they should work now. tfn '179

My HST Power car, representing one of the few fitted with the short lived Mirrlees engine - based on reworked class 60 sounds - not 100% correct, bit I like it - sounds like a dustin full off rocks - just like the real ones did http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/level5models/?action=view&current=MVI_5200.flv '179

Howes class 150 http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/level5models/?action=view&current=MVI_0330.flv '179