SRman

At the moment, any specialist colours (rail or bus, for example) are almost impossible to get because of the postal embargoes on paint and other liquid substances to overseas destinations. Fortunately, I already had some First Bus 'Barbie' blue, which turned out to be only a half tone different to the SWT blue on Adam's vinyls (hint for anyone doing the conversion!!).

Just in case anyone is contemplating going down the route I did (Bachmann 350/1, ERG vinyl overlays), Hattons have just listed the Silverink unit for £109 here http://www.ehattons.com/stocklist/New.aspx .That's the same unit I started with.

While acknowledging that the 33/0s weren't perfect, I did something about it in terms of modelling by reshaping and repainting the cab roofs on all three of the 33/0s I own. The superb Heljan running qualities far outweigh the downside of the somewhat inaccurate roof profile and cab windscreen issues, so I do own three of the inaccurate 33/0s, two (more accurate!) 33/1s and a 33/2. For all that, I think Heljan still deserve the criticism they received because they were advised at the pre-production stage that the roof didn't look right. Without the criticism, we probably wouldn't be getting this improved version now. ​I still considered it worthwhile to fit sound in two 33/1s (Howes and Legomanbiffo), a 33/0 (Digitrains/Paul Chetter/Zimo), and a 33/2 (Howes). Oh yes: I also sold all my Lima 33s, including one I converted to 33/1 ... I was quite proud of that one but compared to the Heljan model it looked a bit sad! As for these new ones coming out, I'll have to get at least one of the earlier style with roof silencer in one of the green variations. I still won't sell the existing ones though.

I did mine using trimmed headcodes from the Heljan class 53 (Falcon). These are a little undersized for the Western but that allows for the small rim inside the headcode glazing on the Dapol model. I used a little Kristal Klear to hold them in place, which will make it more difficult to change them if I change my mind later. Note that I deliberately chose parts of the headcodes to make up Southern Region destinations (letter code "O", more usually similar to a zero "0") and class 6 and 8 trains to allow for this model to haul inter-regional freights. The headcodes are fictional because I used existing numbers from the class 53 sheet.

The whole roof profile was too flat and shallow a curve on the 33/0, made even more obvious by the 'shoulder' moulded into the cab roof edges. If you look at the photos posted earlier of the new moulding, you'll see that the cab roof should flow smoothly into the upper cab sides over the windows, interrupted by the gutters but these don't break the actual line. I took some photos a few years ago of my 33s, 33/0 with the cab roof edges filed down to disguise the shouldered effect, a 33/1 and a 33/2.(much nearer correct profile). If you look at the grey central translucent panels on my models, you can see the much flatter profile on the 33/0. I don't have any 33/0s in original Heljan condition to show, unfortunately. I have modified all of mine to the same standard as the blue one in the photos above. With apologies for taking this topic off on a slight but partially relevent tangent.

This should be the last entry on my two Western diesel-hydraulics for a while. The Heljan one, D1007 Western Talisman, now goes around my tightest curves, so it was time to patch up any damaged paintwork and weather the bogies, brake gear and skirts. The result is shown below. The leading brake blocks still need a little bit of wire or plastic rodding to anchor them more securely but it runs well as it stands. The weathering used the now usual mixture of black, leather and metallic gunmetal in varying proportions. In the meantime, I decided to try adding headcodes to the insides of the Kernow/Dapol Western, D1037 Western Musketeer, instead of the supplied externally applied self-adhesive labels. The spare Heljan ones would have been my ideal but they were a fraction large for the aperture, allowing for the thickness of the moulded clear plastic rims on the insides of the headcode 'glasses'. A bit of digging around showed that the Heljan class 53 (D0280, Falcon) printed headcodes would fit when suitably cut down to suit the split apertures of the Western. They are not perfect but look better to me than externally stuck on labels. See what you think. I deliberately chose class 6 and class 8 headcodes to suit freight workings. As with everything else, compromise is needed as only two headcodes can be displayed while ten, or more, fitting trains are available for it to haul!

Continuing the Western brake saga, I have now cut away more of the brake hangers to clear the skirts. This has ended up leaving the leading ones unsupported, so the pull rods are supporting them, rather than the other way around! However, Western Talisman has now completed several circuits without derailing ... on the inner, tighter radius circuit! I still have to touch up any unpainted edges and paint those brake shoes and brass wire pull rods. I may try to add some wire supports behind those leading shoes on each bogie just to tighten things up a little. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the result as the Heljan model always looked a little bare around the bogies before. It is now a fitting companion to the Dapol/Kernow model and almost indistinguishable from it at normal viewing distances.

I did a bit more grinding and filing last night and Western Talisman has now been able to complete laps of the outer circuit and go through the crossovers without derailing. A little more work and I hope to be able to use it on the tighter inner circuit too.

It will be interesting to see the price asked for the MR specials since I have already converted a cut-price class 350/1 to a 450 using Electra Railway Graphics overlays. Without counting the cost of my labour (it was a labour of love!!!), I paid £119 for the unit, plus postage to Australia but minus VAT, and around £30 or so for the ERG vinyls. If MR come up with a price of less than £150 I would gladly buy one. If it is dearer, I would look to go down the route I have already followed if I wanted a second unit.

A test run showed that the Heljan Western in the form I left it in the previous post would not go around my curves, inner or outer radius. I had to remove a bit of material from the shoes and hangers and the body skirts. This meant losing some detail from the shoes as well but this is all about the art of compromise and the hangers are mostly hidden from view anyway. However, they are needed to support the end of the wire pull rods. After grinding away a bit, Western Talisman has completed a circuit of the outer radius facing in one direction without derailing but failed when turned around 180 degrees. This means I am on the right track (a pun??) but more work is required. Once complete, I'll paint and weather the filed edges to disguise them and blend them back in. Once I sort the bogie swings out, I can try to eliminate the horrible squeak and squeal from one of the brake blocks just rubbing on a wheel tread!

The first batch of 350/1 units were part of a cancelled order for five car 450s. To all intents and purposes they are the same as the 450s with the addition of a pantograph and 25kV underfloor module. Seating and interior furnishings would be different as they would have been done to Silverlink specifications when they took over the order.

Inspired by the newly arrived Kernow/Dapol Western locomotive, I decided to try to upgrade the brake gear on my Heljan example, D1007 Western Talisman. This involved cutting the plastic pull rods off and substituting wire, inserted into drilled holes in the end brake shoes, as well as shortening the mounting lugs behind the shoes to narrow the fittings down. More work is still needed as it doesn't quite go around the sharper curves yet. I need to fiddle around more to get the clearances right but the improvement in appearance will be worth the effort, I think.

While not contributing to the layout development itself, I added some of the detail bits to the Dapol/Kernow Western last night. I haven't added every available part but the brake rigging, cab steps and speedometer drives were done (although I managed to break one of those in the process!).

For comparison, here is my Heljan Western, D1007 Western Talisman side by side with the newer Dapol version. I modified the Heljan cab roof profile a few years ago with nothing more than a file and it is pleasing to see that the end result came out looking very close to the correct profile as modelled by Dapol. The Heljan one has lost a windscreen wiper for which I haven't found a replacement yet. I also added the etched plates to it as an improvement over the original printed versions. I must add a little more weathering, particularly along the skirts. Rick: I'll check my Dapol one for any flash or moulding pips around the bogie rubbing points.

Thanks for that warning Rick. I'll keep a close eye on them. It may be worth putting a little thinned matt varnish around the edges to stick the plates a little more firmly. I remember you describing a few problems with the running on uneven track and, sure enough, it was just the slightest dip in the inner rail that was causing my problem. What was really odd was that it only occurred one way. Maybe there is a small burr of plastic on one of the bogie spring units or something like that.

Latest arrival at Newton Broadway: a Kernow Models weathered Dapol Western diesel-hydraulic D1037 Western Musketeer, straight out of its box. Well, almost, anyway. I test ran it on DC analogue power then fitted a TCS EU621 decoder, followed by a running-in session. It is still a little growly at the moment but it is improving with running. The running qualities are good, though and it creeps very slowly on speed step 1. I found that running in one direction only, it was derailing at a particular place on the outer radius inside the tunnels. Running in the same direction but turned 180 degrees it was fine! A slight tweak to the track at that particular location fixed the problem - it merely needed the inside rail lifted very slightly. I have not fitted headcodes or any other detail bits myself, yet. One advantage of the Kernow specials is that they pre-fit those fiddly little lifting eyes on the roof, as well as the name and number plates. I'll fit the headcodes from inside the apertures when I'm ready, like I did with their class 22.

Even with the error, Colin, I still had to click the craftsmanship/clever icon, although I was tempted to go for funny or simply like!!! If you hadn't pointed the error out I don't think any of us would have noticed. I'm sure the real things received a few 'rough patches' in normal service life anyway! As always, superb work.

I'm sure MTK did kits for these. I can't vouch for their quality ... or lack thereof!

The latest projects from me: a class 450 and an update on the class 73. The class 450 was produced using a Bachmann class 350/1 with slight modifications and Electra Railway Graphics vinyl overlays (see my workbench blog for more details if you are interested). I have now fitted legomanbiffo's sound (from DC Kits). At this stage I have only a single round 4 ohm speaker fitted with no sound chamber but I have a few ideas to improve on this - the biggest problem is lack of space. The initil start up has the air compressor going and pantograph contacting the overhead, so that bit isn't appropriate for the third rail only class 450 but I can live with that! The other project was to add the LEDs to my class 73, which had previously had Howes' sounds fitted some time ago (it's still an older LokSound v3.5). Bryan of Howes pre=programmed the Aux 1 output for some random flashes and sounds attached to functions F10 and 11. The locomotive has a completely repainted Lima body with a few extra details (correct jumper cables for a 73/0, for example) mounted on a much newer Hornby DCC-ready chassis. I do need to add a small shield where the LEDs project down through the chassis just above, and inside of, the bogie frames at the unpowered end.

The 4 COR doesn't have anywhere near as many doors and windows as the SUB! This is quite a daunting task you have set yourself Colin, but you seem to be mastering it extremely well.

Colin, I'm getting heartily fed up with pressing the 'Craftsmanship/Clever' button on all your posts. Can't you botch something up for us, just for a bit of variety?? p.s. Keep up the brilliant work.

Getting handrails straight is always a bit of a challenge. I have got it wrong on a few occasions, which is where my old method comes in handy! What I used to do in my "less skilled" days was to drill the holes oversized, fill with modelling putty (or Milliput, or similar). then stick the handrails (and any handrail knobs on locomotives) into the putty, straightening them as I went and remoulding the putty to fill any holes or slots left by moving the handrails about. This method still works where even one drilled hole is out of alignment. For the axle boxes, I have, on a few occasions, drilled through from the outside and inserted non-shouldered bearings then used filler to cover the hole again. That applied to a few very old plastic kits that had worn the axle bearings out and a couple of ancient wagons that didn't actually have pinpoint axles at all, just blunt ended rods for axles. I think it was DCC Concepts that marketed the tool you are thinking of, Chris. I wouldn't mind getting one of those myself. In the meantime, filler is my friend!!!!!

I seem to recall an Agatha Christie story where the locomotives changed repeatedly in different shots (even changing from tender to tank locos and back again!). Additionally, they showed shots of the trains running on single track, then interior shots where a train races past in the opposite direction. In a Norman Wisdom film, Norman handcuffs himself to a villain on a tube train and gets stuck on the outside of the doors while the supposed villain is inside. the train takes off to go to the next station, then continues on again from there. What's wrong with this, you ask? It was shot on the Waterloo and City line which has only two stations! The tube train was a Bulleid designed set. In the latter case, you can understand why the subterfuge was used since the W&C was closed on Sundays, making it ideal for filming assignments. In the former case, there's no possible excuse except for laziness. Many film directors go to great lengths to set the historical accuracy with road vehicles but fall right down where rail is concerned. Then again, there have been some howlers with wrong era road vehicles too - post-war Bedford lorries and London RT/RTL buses in pre-war settings, for example.

Yes, I noted that some of the wagon kits used Dapol underframes. I would have thought they might be a little too modern for the wagons represented by the kits but I'm no expert in these matters (as my previous comment illustrates all too well!!). All of the brake van kits I chose use the bespoke resin chassis supplied with the kits, which I found to be extremely complex, multi-layered works of art with very good depth of detail. There is a fair amount of flash but I found it was easily cleaned up in less than 10 minutes per chassis. My only other reservation was the axle bearings; none are provided and the axles just run in the bare resin. The wheels run freely so I figured that if they do eventually wear, I can drill them out and fit top-hat bearings anyway. It wouldn't be that difficult a job to do.

From looking at the photos in the Mike King book, they look right to me. I cannot vouch for them dimensionally as I haven't seen any plans for them. To be honest, I don't really care if they are wrong, as long as they capture the right look and atmosphere. Let's face it, records from that far back are not exactly thick on the ground and may be wrong anyway. Wooden vehicles were notoriously difficult to produce uniformly. Many bus body builders used wooden frames well into the 1960s and, as the preservationists have found out, nothing was entirely interchangeable between bodies from the same stable. Jeff.