43179

The 03 is on the shelf for the moment as i have to get on with this: Nearly ready for painting , a lovely kit from Make Your Mark Models - there's not much to say about it really - the instructions are perfect, parts are perfectly cast and it's a doddle to build. To get the most of out it you really need to research a specific prototype as the kit includes loads of alternative detailing parts to cover many variations on these cranes. Nice. jon

I decided to reward myself for completing jury service and bought this I had one of these a few years back , but sold it , which was a mistake! It looks great in NSE. I do find the con rods a little clumsy and spoiled by the screw heads on the middle set of wheels - plus the rear portion of the rod should be much chunkier than the rest. Im not really sure if I want to build a whole new chassis (High Level) just to get better looking con rods. The etched radiator grille is a nice touch but the mesh is set too far back and always spoils the look of these nice little models - it reminds me of the Hornby 56 roof grilles. Luckily its a dead easy fix - the mesh is glued onto a backing plate that in turn is glued on the inside of the bonnet. Mine was well and try glued - after taking a brave pill and some brute force the plate came off - I could then carefully push a blade between the mesh and the plate to separate the two . Next i glued in a spacer of black plasticard for the mesh to sit on thus bringing it forward , so now its nearly , but not quite flush with the surround that's part of the molded bodyshell. Looks much better, and it took me longer to type this than to do the job itself! jon

Sorry Peter , didnt answer your last question before - I'm trying to fix the livery errors on the new 33/0s - the construction ones are particularly bad - there is issues with the logos and numbers, the position of the flint grey on the sides and the colors themselves, the position of the bodyside windows (i think) , and warning panels/black windscreens have the opposite problem to 33202 , this varied between locos though. I've been trying to get away with a partial repaint but its looking like it would be easier to start from scratch. I'm a bit rusty with class 33s (class 50s are just better) , but it seems on triple grey ones , the bottom edge of the black windscreens doesn't always line up with the bottom edge of the flint grey - i.e the two color boundaries aren't always at the same height. I cant help thinking Rail Exclusive would have done a better job! jon

aha! well I've learned something there about the tail lights - i think I've tended to not notice them when they are there , but notice when the aren't there (if that makes sense?!) Will see if i can retrospectively remove them as it would be a nice feature to have modelled correctly . Were the tail lights ever used on the real things - ive never seen photos of them 'in action' so to speak jN

I agree, that looks far to nice to weather! Jon

Thanks all, Peter , your photo clearly shows something that nearly caught me out when i was researching 33207 - around the time 207 gained its high intensity headlight the tail lights were removed. More luck than judgement that I decided to model it before headlights. Your photo also shows nicely how the ends of the handrails on the cabfront are painted black. I have a pair of the new retooled 33/0s (In construction livery too)to work on too, but they are on the naughty step at the moment! Tfn Jon

Good afternoon, hopefully the pictures explains how the gangway is made - I chopped the Lima coach end into three bits , and added the 'rubber' bit from a rectangle of the thickest plasticard I had to hand , i think its 2mm thick - with the edges rounded off and sprayed satin black - while the paint was still tacky i worked in some weathering powder so its not pure black. A couple of quick photos of 33207 - literally just out of the paint shop having been varnished - - and when the varnish is dry I can put the glazing back in. The bufferheads need a bit more work too - I've not put the final grease splat on them yet. I'm pleased how this little 33 has come out - but as Ive said earlier , mainly because the base model is a good'un. The weathering is mostly enamels , with mig powders worked in 'wet' Jon

Hi Nick - yes , one thing than stands out on the Vi 47s , if the handrails aren't painted you can see a grooved effect along the edges - due to them being etched from thick flat sheet. Its disguised a little on the ones painted white or yellow as the paint fills the grooves, but then of course it makes them appear a little thicker. The new detail on the 33 bogies is nice . Id like to think I'm very careful with my toys models, but as i'm discovering , the plastic used for the sanding pipes is far too brittle and not really up to even the most delicate handling. More updates when I've finished Jury Service tfn Jon

A little detail I almost forgot - The 'new' bogies from the Heljan 33/0 have a different (older style) speedo cable , that is wrong for 33207 as I'm modelling it. Luckily I still have the original sideframes with the correct rectangular speedo - and its a straight swap , as the holes for the mounting pins are identical on the new bogies. now its ready for weathering .. Jon

Good evening Guy - I thought yellow and blue squares might get your attention Here is the 47 so far - I've run out of time today but its nearly finished apart from a very light pass of brake dust/grime in a couple of places on the lower bodysides, and some black streaks will be added in a few places (where I've already added some grime from the raintrips on the cantrail.) The little steps that fit below the bufferbeam will be added last as they're fragile I do love the transformation you get with a vitrains 47 when all the bits go on Jon

Along with the class 33 I've also been working on a 47328. This is a vitrains model , originally in 47347 in Metal Sectory livery - with a 'flush' cabfront at the no1 end that made it perfect to transform into 328. I'm not sure if you could just apply new sector logos over the existing ones - I didn't attempt it . Instead I removed the original logos with some of the finest wet n dry paper and plenty of Cif mixed with washing up liquid. Vitrains logo printing wont come off with thinners like Bachmanns and Hornbys will - instead you need to use something abrasive , very carefully! I'n a few places the while bodyshell began to show through so i had to do a bit of patch painting. Its fairly easy to feather into the vitrains paintwork though - Ive always found the colors are quite accurate and fairly easy to match with Railmatch or Precision paints. Hopefully you cant see where i had to 'patch up' the paint! I do like the Stratford Plaques on this one . Unfortunately they were short lived on the real loco. The loco has been lowered by milling down part of the chassis where the bogies bear on. Hopefully next time will be a picture of it weathered. TFN Jon

Here is 33207 looking a bit more complete - The bogies from the new 33/0 and the bufferbeams are a straight swap and look rather nice. Plates and Plaques are from Fox - the old logos and numbers simply come off with thinners and a cotton bud. The original Heljan model of 33204 came with the wrong style fuel tanks with the early 'cut out' in them . I've just filled this with a block of plasticard. Next up is a dose of heavy weathering. Jon

And now for something small and grey and ugly! I must admit I was never a big fan of the real class 33s, but In model form Heljans 33/2 is one of my favorites - the 'Slim jim' must be the best executed of all the 33 sub classes including the retooled 33/0. My 'ugly' comment refers to the mainline freight logos - they never really suited class 33s The plan with this model is to backdate it remove the headlights and turn it into construction sector 33207 and try out the retooled bogies and bufferbeams from the new 33/0 Here is 33207 https://www.flickr.com/photos/33106/13886424987/in/photolist-na6ymt-ryZhrS-szMvcu-sPC6Nc-pqZ9cZ-qCapBY-ammsta-rn42fu-aThbvP-nBc8uE-h1SDyy-hZptaw-ehHNx3-dsxGaY-bAJSDk-o4A6F9-kCH4r3-ke4hVm-qLrAzg-bUHVD4-bVKsnU-fncDzf-jtniT2-jG5gxY-8wYmho-qbam5k-bVzq3F-kPojgV-af8tVs-omJdyR-rAGgkz-rzZfYe-rS9PEK-mMknej-pZgxYa-e9oRaj-9TvU6U-pNnpmy-jV4bhk-jV6D7N-jV4FCx-c6h2eU-oD7BiT-ke4iaQ-8wVmJZ-fecrzj-m6uL2q-oeV13m-rrqrDQ-oYf31D on the real loco the black windscreen surrounds extends below the cabfront beading and stops just short of the handrails - or to put it another way - the Yellow warning panels stops just below the beading. On the Heljan model of course it had to be different - the yellow extends right up behind the handrails and stops on the beading. So out with the filler to remove the high intensity headlight, yellow paint for the warning panel and I then resprayed the lower edge of the black windscreens. here's a close up shot a bit further down the line when i was putting transfers on - I decided the lamp irons had to go as they weren't fitted very well and woudl be changed for new ones later. An etched shedplate from Modelmaster makes it looks nice too. More soon Jon

Ok one more from Duxford The main reason (for me) to visit has to be the TSR-2 although it always seems a bit penned in by the other aircraft. Displayed between Concorde and the Vulcan does sortof seem appropriate though... Royal class 67s. I like these a lot - but its a real shame Hornby couldn't give them a glossier finish -Matt weathering applied to a matt bodyshell often ends up looking like dust to my eyes - so for the 67 I've just worked on the underframe and roofs. If I had some original formula Kleer I'm sure they would have looked fantastic all shiny! Anyway , i think it looks a little more interesting when a loco has been part cleaned, and makes a nice change in model form. tfn Jon

Hi - so , some more on the mk3 here is rebuilt end of the roof, fully painted. Its often commented that the roof on lima mk3s is too flat , it may be the case , there is definately something about the lima mk3 profile that tends to throw things out when you come to paint it, especially around the cantrail area. I think more of an issue is the roof ribs. Lima coaches have the right number of ribs, but they are spaced too far apart and therefore the 'outer' ribs sit too near the cantrail. On this model ive removed the ribs nearest the cantrail. I think it improves the look of the coach, what do others think? How many people spotted the roof had 11 ribs instead of 13 Another cruel close up: Ive chopped the coach end moulding in order to model the gangway a bit more accurately. The rounded rubber surround on mk3 gangways is very distinctive- its just stuck on with blu tac at the moment so i could photo it. Im still using the door glazing to hold the roof on at the moment , but this will be changed to shawplans glazing later. Thats all for now Jon

Good evening - Jo , MR Grimley - my favorite locos generally tend to be ones with fitted ploughs - so that'll include 60s then. They certainly had some of the best names. Some of my favourite lumps of metal aren't on rails though - and the reason for taking a while to post this is I've been away visiting Duxford with mrs43179 - so you're going to have to see some aircraft first: (wont bore you with anymore) The GUV is back and now in pullman umber I've replaced the original buffers with some extended versions from RT models - i think they look quite nice. This vehicle also needs some rubbing plates added. The mk3 is also coming on - in this shot you can see the cut-n-shut to model the roof accurately - these Lima roofs like to curl upwards - that's why my finger is in the photo! I've added etched central locking valves from Hurst Models - as none of the Lima mk3 body shells have them. I have the central locking lights themselves to add later as well The royal 67s now have the yellow spots added to the cab roofs - I couldn't seem to find a transfers listed for these anywhere - so in the end i just sprayed them - using a punch to cut a circle out of masking tape. thats all for now jN

Afternoon, Time to get some more paint on things: The mk3 has its coat of Pullman cream - Ive also given the gangway doors a coat of primer so they can be sprayed yellow as they should be. Apologies for the dodgy picture - also in the works are a pair of Hornby 67s - One has been renamed and renumbered to 67005 Queens Messenger - Both have had their roofs painted grey , as Hornby forgot to do this!. The missing yellow spots will also be added to the cab roofs - another naughty Hornby error. More on the 67s next time tfn Jon

What a great idea , and the real units are great looking and great to travel on. I can see barrier wagons becoming very popular... Jon

Another vehicle was also be getting some Pullman treatment - a Mk3 Sleeper representing 10569 http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=3512 So far the model has been fitted with Shawplan Window frames - and I've made a start reworking the coach ends to include the tail lights and cut out for the ETH jumper. As you can clearly see I've cut one end off the roof too , in order to splice a new section in - this is to omit the large square vent and re position the roof hatch. Note in the photo the roof is on the wrong way round - The end of the vehicle nearest the camera is where the reworked roof section will be, oh, and the coach is just balanced on some spare bogies for the photo, just in case its looking a bit precarious! The GUV is now in red primer , and hopefully you cant see any trace of the former doors or windows tfn Jon

Good Morning - Im back , with another GUV based Project 889202 - a Pullman baggage car: http://www.departmentals.com/photo/889202 First Job is to fill all the windows and the central door shut lines plus some of the bodyside vents. The chalk boards and end strapping is also carefully carved off. On the roof the central rainstrip is removed and the footsteps on the solebar. Sanding everything down has been a long process as it had to be done carefully to avoid damaging the remaing door hinges , bump stops and other small raised detail. Next a guide coat to show up any faults with the filling a couple of areas need a bit more attention a more filling and the bare bits are given a bit more primer to blend them back in (this time i use a high build primer) Now its ready for a coat of red primer before some Pullman Umber tfn Jon

Phwoar ... can i have a full size one Pete

Paxman Valenta next please!

Wow , the bogie detail and underside detail is just to die for...I love the transmission. Im not familiar with continental models? Does Brawa go that far on detail with all their models? Fascinating stuff , really enjoying these little reviews. Jon