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SRman

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Blog Entries posted by SRman

  1. SRman
    When visiting Peter Mantle's (PCM) Llanbourne layout for the monthly BRMA meeting yesterday, I took along two locomotives that were recently reblown with legomanbiffo sounds. One, 37 698, behaved perfectly (although I noted that I have at some stage lost the horns at one end, probably when transporting it to an exhibition). The other, class 40 D211, disgraced itself by dropping the bogie frame at one end. I was still able to run it and show off the sounds but it looked rather odd - like one end was floating on air!
     
    The cause of the bogie frame falling off was the inner end transome actually breaking off. Unfortunately, the centre part of that transome is what clips over a lug on the end of the bogie's metal chassis.
     
    I worked into the early hours of this morning fixing it, after thinking about how to repair it so that it would regain some strength.
     
    The answer was to use a 2mm wide strip of 60 thou plasticard, reinforced with handrail wire drilled into the ends through the bogie side frames, plus more wire drilled and bent around the attachment points for the bottom part. This was then superglued thoroughly as well to retain all the wire bits and strengthen the joints.
     

     

     
    It works perfectly on test and seems to be very strong. All that remains is to apply a coat of black paint, to be followed eventually by a bit of weathering on the whole underframe/bogies and on the roof.
  2. SRman
    Last weekend I bought a cheap Hornby N15 at our local swap meeting. It was missing its dome but it ran sweetly and all other bits were present, including the Hornby bag of bits. It was the NRM model of 30777 Sir Lamiel, in BR late crest livery. I have memories of a ride behind Sir Lamiel on the Scarborough Spa Express back in 1984, when it was in SR green as 777.
     
    After scouring eBay and the spares suppliers like Peters Spares (and others) and not finding any spare domes or even spare or damaged bodies, then the various component suppliers (247 Developments, Craftsman and so on) , I have to build my own dome.
     
    I have made a start using Milliput. It is slightly undersized and a little crude at the moment but I will add a bit of filler and file it back to shape once set. It's a start!
     

     

     
    Edit: Another photo added, this time with 30799 for comparison. It occurred to me that I should compare the domes of two Maunsell locomotives rather than using the Urie Arthur.
     

  3. SRman
    Another new project started: a 2 HAP unit of the 5601 - 5636 batch built to the Bulleid style.
     
    This is based on the Ayjay Models resin kit, bought through Radley Models. As I intended to use Hornby 2 BIL running units and chassis, I asked Phil Radley if he could sell me just the body shells and seat units. He very kindly did this and included the floor/chassis units as well as he wanted only the bogies for other uses.
     
    Having adapted the same manufacturer's 2 HAL unit to the 2 BIL chassis recently, I had a fair idea of what to look for this time. Modifications involve cutting/milling some notches out of the sides of the seating units, removing part of the seating unit on the motorised coach, and removing the buffer beams and fittings from the body shells. I also drill and ream out various holes in the floor or under the seats to clear some of the projections from the Hornby chassis and also the Lenz decoder. These holes can be covered over with a bit of thin plasticard later, before painting occurs.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    The 2 BIL buffers will be replaced with non-sprung white metal castings for BR retracted buffers - this will be consistent with BR practice, where the Pullman buffing plates were normally used in conjunction with the buckeye couplings, and also with the Bachmann 4 CEP or 2 EPB units with which this one will be able to run. It could also run with a Hornby 4 VEP - I have a couple of photos (in reference books) of this occurring.
     
    At this stage, I am planning to finish the unit in plain BR blue with full yellow ends, but I could change my mind before getting to that stage of the construction.
  4. SRman
    Here are two more vans of the workbench, weathered using the same techniques as the previous two vans. For dirty roofs I use a lot of Humbrol #66, a very good all round weathering and roof colour - good for tyres on road vehicles too.
     
    For the previous crimson SR Van C roof I used the same grey #66 at full strength, then a very thin wash of the Revell brown #84.
     
    The next two vans have variations on the overall weathering, starting with the roofs using thin washes of Humbrol #66. The Fruit D (a Parkside kit I bought second-hand already built) had an all over wash of Humbrol #66 followed by a thin wash of Humbrol dark earth #29, then a little of the Revell #84 brown partly washed and partly dry-brushed around the door edges and lower sides, plus the underframes. The SR Bogie B had a similar but lighter treatment on its sides, plus a little dark steel around the axleboxes, springs and brake linkages.
     
    All of the vehicles had their wheels and brake blocks painted with the Revell brown.
     
    The Fruit D and Hornby bogie B are shown below, together with a pristine bogie B, untouched by my paint brush ... so far!
     

  5. SRman
    I have spent some time over the last two days fitting a lighting kit to a Bachmann class 20. The wiring up was complicated by the fact that it has sound fitted (reblown by Howes), a bass enhanced speaker and a pair of wires leading to a two-pin socket which allows a second, de-motored class 20 with a larger bass reflex speaker to be semi-permanently attached.
     
    The lights include separately wired marker and tail lights at each end plus a cab light. The sound decoder is an ESU LokSound with only four external functions for five lights. I wired the nose-end marker lights (i.e. the headcode disc lights) and cab-end tail lights together, auto-reversing with just the tail lights at the nose end, so that's two functions used.
     
     
    The marker lights at the cab-end are wired to the aux 1 output, F11 on the decoder.
     
    The cab light is wired to the aux 2 output, F12 on the decoder.
     
    To run with the nose end leading there is no choice in having the tail lights showing at the cab end if the leading marker lights are lit. Other than that, leaving F0 on but hitting reverse so the cab-end is leading results in the nose-end tail lights coming on; pressing F11 turns on the cab-end marker lights. Turning F0 off leaves the marker lights on F11 turned on but means there are no tail lights showing, for use when in multiple or hauling a train.
     
    Overall, I believe I have achieved the maximum versatility/best compromise from having five lights on four available functions.
     
    The class 20 has been lightly weathered and actually has a cab swapped from another disc headcode model where I had modified the side windows from the original Bachmann recessed sliding ones to being flush mounted but fixed. It was renumbered to D8058 with the earlier style numbers (as per a photo of the real locomotive).
     
    The lighting kit came from an eBay seller under the name of Stickswipe, who was also very helpful.
     

     

     

     

     

  6. SRman
    After a bit of a gap, I have now added the door bumpers for the second side of the Cambrian Kits Sturgeon A. After I finish this one, I have to repeat the whole process for the second wagon!
     

     

     

     
    The lighting was poor so I turned the flash on on the phone camera for the first two shots. None are ideal but they'll do for now, to show progress.
  7. SRman
    My modelling abilities have been temporarily curtailed, along with my on line presence and reading abilities; I had a cataract removed from my right eye last Tuesday and am having the left one done this coming Tuesday. I am typing this with one lens in my glasses and a patch over the right eye!! Once the left eye is done, I will have to wait for some reading glasses before I can see properly to read and type again - I will be doing a little of both but with severe limitations for a month or so.
     
    I did have one small wheeze though: I decided that the wheels on the Southdown Duple Commander coach were wrong for the vehicle it represents, as all the photos show proper coach trims fitted. A rummage through the spares produced some Pirate Models coach wheels from their Duple Dominant II kits, left over from the reverse swap I did when building a Metrobus AEC Reliance coach which had standard bus type wheels. The only reservation I have is that the Pirate wheels are about a millimetre larger in diameter than the LBC wheels. It's a bit hard to judge while they are unpainted, but I think it will look right once I have done that.
     

     
     
    Just for the record,here is the previously mentioned Pirate Models Metrobus Reliance coach (all white metal), together with Paragon kits for an Optare StarRider (resin) and Tillingbourne Valley Plaxton Bustler (etched brass and white metal), all built some years ago.
     

  8. SRman
    Further to yesterday's entry, I have now fiddled with the CV settings on the Dapol/Kernow Western, with a view to dimming the excessively bright lighting in both headcode panels and cabs.
     
    I downloaded the full manual from TCS's website and eventually deciphered it to work out what changes were necessary to the CVs in the EU621 decoder fitted to D1030 Western Musketeer. I set the following values, using the TCS Constant Dim level 2 setting):
     
    CV49 (forward direction headcode/headlights, forward direction only) to 66
    CV50 (reverse direction headcode/headlights, reverse direction only) to 82
     
    ... and the following values, using the TCS Constant Dim level 1 setting)
     
    CV51 (cab light, no2 or B end, both directions) to 44
    CV52 (cab light, no1 or A end, both directions) to 44
     
    The lights are now much more acceptable to me, and there is less obvious light bleeding around the headcode panels. Compare these two photos to the previous entry.
     

     

  9. SRman
    I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the headcodes looked on my Dapol Western. You may recall that I mounted some Heljan class 53 headcodes inside the Dapol headcode boxes but the font is not right on those.
     
    I have now redone the headcodes, using Heljan headcodes supplied with their Western diesels. These were mounted on bits of 20 thou plasticard, approximately 17mm x 6mm which were then stuck inside the headcode boxes using a little Black-Tack (actually Homelux Bath Seal). The font typeface and size are both better than the class 53 ones but don't suit the size of the internal aperture quite so well.
     
    While I had the headcode light boxes out of the locomotive, I polished the outer 'glass' faces a little with some T-cut, to remove the sprayed on weathering (mine is a Kernow special).
     
    I'm still not entirely convinced by the end result but I still prefer it to externally stuck-on bits of paper or vinyl.
     

     

     
    Also visible in the background is the lit up signal box, now with an extra resistor in series with the first, and a light coat of Humbrol primrose over the plasticard light baffle (which actually seems to have produced a slight greenish tinge).
  11. SRman
    Quite a while ago, I started building a Bratchell Models class 455/8 unit - the first batch with the really ugly front end! Most of the build has been covered in my layout thread in the main forums but it really belongs here on the workbench blog. The unit has actually been running on the layout for some time.
     
    I started the handrails on the leading DTS car using handrail knobs but this looked much too coarse when compared to photos of the real things. On the trailing DTS, I used shaped wire handrails with an intermediate support made from plastic rod, and this looked much better. I have now revised the leading car to match. By way of explanation, even though it is an EMU, for DCC purposes I need to designate a front and rear for the train, so the number 1, or leading, car is the one immediately ahead of the MS car with the Replica motorised chassis installed. The trailing, or number 4 car is the one behind the TS car, which itself is also behind the MS car. Formation is DTS(#1)+MS+TS+DTS(#4).
     
    In the meantime, I had fitted the jumper cables and receptacles (adapted from Blacksmith Models EPB jumpers) to the leading DTS but not the trailing one. That also has now been updated to match.
     
    Turned brass horns were also fitted.
     
    DTS #1 has some seats installed but none of the other coaches has an interior fitted yet.
     

  12. SRman
    The Hornby BIL has now had the final coat of yellow on its ends, this time with a hint of orange added to closely match BR's warning panel yellow shade. My initial attempt failed as I mixed too much orange in! I started again with the paint mixing before I was happy enough with it to actually apply it to the model.
     

     
    I have also applied a wash of the new Humbrol weathering washes grey to the roofs.
     
    Next, I have to retouch the jumper cables and add unit numbers, plus amen the coach numbers.
     
    The Heljan 33 also received this new colour mix on its cable ends and sockets. That also will need the jumper cables retouched.
  13. SRman
    Work on constructing the Bratchell class 319 continues: I have now assembled all of the bogies as per the instructions and installed them under the correct coaches.
     
    I drilled out the head and tail light apertures on the Driving Trailer coaches and tacked some red and white LEDs into them. These will be made to work later. I will hve to touch up the WIPAC panels as they chipped slightly during the drilling process.
     
    I posed the four car unit on the layout for one photo, although it has no undergear at this stage. I will also have to install weights into each coach and I am not entirely sure I have posed it in the correct formation: the Pantograph Motor Second car (PMS) and Auxilliary Trailer Second (ATS) are correctly formed and oriented but the Driving Trailer Second (DTS) and Driving Trailer Composite (DTC) may possibly be at the wrong ends of the unit. I'll check this when I am ready to assemble the full unit for real. Note also that the ride height of the PMS car is wrong, and will remain so until I trim off those footboards on the Replica chassis.
     

  14. SRman
    We had our first postal delivery since Christmas Eve today (Monday), and look what the postie delivered! My Bratchell class 319/1 kit in Network South East livery! I pre-ordered this kit back in May and got the special advanced order price, which saved me over £50.
     
    The body shells go together very quickly and easily, so I have glazed and assembled all of them already and slipped the Replica Railways motorised chassis into the PMS coach (that's Pantograph Motor Second!). I still need to remove the moulded on footboards from the chassis but I'll leave that until I am ready to adjust the height it sits at in the body.
     
    Now here's a question: does anyone have a good photograph of a 319 pantograph well (319/0 or 319/1 will do), please? I will need to recreate the insulator and bus bar runs as well as mount the panto in the right place.
     
    Here are a couple of photos of the first bit of my progress.
     

     

  15. SRman
    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!
  16. SRman
    I have just started on some more pre-grouping brake vans, this time from Smallbrook Studios (http://www.smallbrookstudio.co.uk/). These are all resin kits and come complete with Dapol OO wheels, white metal buffers, NEM coupling pockets on self-centering mounts with (changeable) tension lock couplings, and all the handrail wire, microstrip, styrene and other bits and pieces to makea complete model, except for paint and transfers. The instructions seem reasonably clear and a re backed up with diagrams.
     
    The resin parts are all packed individually in separate resealable plastic bags, all contained within a larger resealable bag.
     
    I purchased four of these kits from Smallbrook and their Michael Rayner was extremely courteous and helpful, even when I asked question s that were already actually answered on his website (the scrolling wasn't working using Google Chrome so I didn't realise the info was there!).
     
    I have taken a couple of quick snapshots, showing two of the kits partially assembled but unpainted and a third one in its component pieces.
     
    From left to right: LSWR 18 ton road van to D. 1542; 20 ton LSWR goods brake to D. 1549; and the almost identical Metropolitan Railway 20 ton van (in pieces). The latter comes with optional duckets as they were removed in later life. Not shown is the LSWR 10 ton goods brake to D. 1541 that I also bought.
     

     

     
    I don't envisage these kits taking long to finish properly but at the same time, I won't be racing through them as I did with the SR Z class locomotive - I was on school holidays then!
  17. SRman
    Having found the correct SECR grey I gave the ex-LCDR brake van a quick coat. The grey is darker than I thought it would be and seems to resemble Great Western wagon grey fairly closely. The paint will have to be touched up as construction proceeds but it is nice to get an idea of what the final appearance will be like.
     

     
    I have now commenced fitting the 'wooden' brake shoes, adding them to the rigging already started last week. I have only done one side as this is extremely fiddly work and I was getting tired and clumsy as work progressed! The brake shoes are not yet fastened to the floor so look a little uneven in the photo. While the metal parts are being soldered together, the upper parts have been passed through holes drilled in the plastic floor and will be araldited into place when I am ready.
     


    I intend adding a thickness of plastic inside the brake blocks.
     
    After the brake gear is finished, the next thing will be fitting handrails and footboards, glazing, then finish the painting and add transfers. It shouldn't be too long before it is complete.
  18. SRman
    I have now added the first vinyls to the Bachmann SouthWest Trains class 450 (ex-Silverlink class 350/1). I was a bit stuck for the right shade of blue to match the SWT blue on the vinyls so as a preliminary undercoat for any exposed edges, the inner end and the roof I used a Revell dark matt blue, then followed it with some Precision Paints First Group 'Barbie' blue, which has turned out to be an almost perfect match for the vinyls.
     
    I also pre-painted the leading end of the roof with red and orange to roughly correspond with the Stagecoach 'swoops' so that the holes in the roof vinyl overlay for those colours where the vents go through would match.
     
    I have applied the first vinyls to just the one side at the moment so I could assess which edges need to be pre-painted on the other coaches.The instructions say to apply the roof flashes first so I did that carefully, then added the unit numbers on the cab end, over the windscreens. While I was at it, I added a destination over the relevant windscreen.
     

     

     
    There are a few small air bubbles present and I may try the previous method used for Electra Graphics to smooth the vinyl over any raised detail, that is, I'll try the hair dryer heat on it to see if I can improve things a little. Overall though the effect is quite good. From normal viewing distance I think it looks great.
     
    One other thing I will be altering though is that front end sweep of the orange and red: the ERG version is set too low so will be cutting it off at the corner and hand-painting the remainder. The red stripe should intersect the lower part of the tail light and there should be a band of blue across the bottom of the cab front (already painted earlier when I did the roof, in fact!).
  19. SRman
    And now for something completely different!
     
    I performed a quickie weathering job on a Bachmann blue class 25, 25 276. This locomotive has lost its sound-fitted chassis to a green example. I have used the usual weathering mixes of Humbrol #62 leather, #85 coal black and metallic gunmetal, plus some matt varnish.
     
    I have tried to be subtle on the sides, leaving some nearly pristine blue showing. As a visual displacement technique, I have carried the yellow of the front up over the centre part of the gutter to disguise the too-flat curve over the windscreens. While this is fairly obvious in the photos, it works reasonably well to the naked eye at normal viewing distances.
     
    I may, at some stage, renumber this locomotive into the pre-TOPS style.
     

     

     

     

  20. SRman
    Also on the workbench again is the SECR (ex-LCDR) brake van. After pondering the diagrams and thinking about how the brakes would work, I have finally worked out how to do the rigging. This photo shows the first steps, with a little black-tack holding the components in the middle.
     

     
    Next items to be fitted will be the wooden brake blocks. The kit has etched brass blocks which are way too thin to properly represent the wood, so my intention is to use the brass blocks as templates to add some 40 or 60 thou plasticard, which will be glued to the brass bits then fitted to the van.
     
    Once those are done, I can fit the hndrails, lamp irons, step boards and complete the painting and decorating for full service.
  21. SRman
    Almost all done now. The two Cambrian wagons have been running in service. However, they were still a little too clean so I have lightly weathered them with mixes of Humbrol 85, 62 and gunmetal, dry brushed or washed on according to the needs of the particular areas to be weathered.
     
    The effects are fairly subtle and only just show up in the photos.
     

     

     
    I also made a couple of videos of them in service with the Bachmann SECR 'C' or the Hornby LBSCR Terrier hauling them. I have posted these elsewhere but I add them here as well.
     
    This is in colour more or less as it came out of the phone camera (a small amount of trimming and editing only).
     

     
    And now, as I have tried to simulate some old movie footage circa 1910 or so.
     

     

  22. SRman
    Two more evenings work are represented here. Painting the wagons has proceeded, with the LSWR open getting a colour more representative of the correct one. I have used a thin coat of LSWR coach umber over the red oxide base colour - it is supposed to e a purple brown shade but once weathered I think it will look pretty close.
     
    The transfers have been applied using te HMRS (ex-PC) Pressfix SR wagon sheet, which included lettering and numbers for the SEC, LBSC and LSW Railways. There are a couple of very minor repairs to make to the lettering and numbering, plus the dots between the tare weight numerals to add.
     
    Still to do are a coat or two of matt varnish, to be followed with a bit of weathering.
     

     

     

     

     

  23. SRman
    The class 450 conversion from a Bachmann Silverlink class 350/1 is now all but complete. There are a few very minor tweaks and finishing touches to do but the unit is now running as a complete four-car set in one livery.
     
    It's not perfect. I have a few small air bubbles, a couple of small lumps in the paint underneath, and I cut and partly hand-painted the front end stripes to correct the Electra printing. It still saved an awful lot of work in adding the various livery elements and looks absolutely great at normal viewing distances. I am going to suggest a few minor changes to the vinyls to Adam Warr of Electra but, even if he doesn't consider the alterations, I would still whole-heartedly recommend the product.
     
    I have taken a couple of videos of the unit too and will edit them into one vid and post that in the next few days.In the meantime, here is the unit, 450 107, looking complete and actually in service.
     

     

     

     
    Edit: video added.
     

  24. SRman
    As I am recovering from the back problems of the last week or so, I have now been able to start a few simple modelling projects - or continue with existing ones. I can only spend short times sitting at the workbench for now but things are improving rapidly.
     
    Besides the class 350 conversion to class 450 mentioned elsewhere, I have finally, after much thought, come up with a way to level the LCDR brake van - it was previously sitting a little high at the compensated end. The solution was actually quite simple. The compensated unit rocks on a single piece of wire threaded through the cradle mounted on the underside of the wagon and the separate cradle carrying the 'W' irons and the wheels and springs. I removed the wire (it was only lightly glued in place), and removed the wheel/axle/'W' iron cradle assembly. I then used a drill the same size as the wire and hole in the wagon mounted assembly and drilled the holes upwards towards the floor, elongating them into slots by a little less than 1mm - this was by trial and error to get the ride height just right.
     
    Once that was done I reinserted the wire through the two assemblies and all was well.
     
    The other thing I did was to give the whole body a quick spray of grey undercoat, followed later by a thin coat of Humbrol blue-grey #79 as a base coat, to be followed by more thin coats of the same colour, before the final coat or two of the proper SECR grey can be applied.
     
    I still have to sort out the brakes and brake gear. I have found the diagrams in the instructions almost incomprehensible, together with the brass 'wooden' brake shoes being too thin to be convincing, so I am going to rethink the brake blocks altogether, probably using plasticard, before I nut out the brake rigging.
     
    Here are the progress shots; please remember that the colours are by no means final.
     

     

  25. SRman
    Encouraged by how smoothly the DCC conversion of 31 327 went, I decided to do 31 004. This one also ran very smoothly on DC so I thought it would go just as well as 31 327. WRONG!!
     
    The actual hard-wiring went more smoothly because I knew exactly what I was doing this time. I pulled the Digitrax decoder out of 31 327 and plugged it in to 31 004. It ran like a dog! It stuttered and stopped and refused to complete even one circuit without stalling. I thoroughly cleaned the wheels, oiled the mech, cleaned the wheels again, making sure I got the backs as well, checked the pickups and tried again. It was better but not brilliant, so I tried a Gaugemaster decoder (demonstrating the wisdom of using the JST-compatible decoders!) with BEMF but that was no better (probably slightly worse), so I put the old Digitrax one back in. The Gaugemaster decoder worked a treat in 31 327 though.
     
    After much persuasion (both physical and verbal!), 31 004 has been trundling around the layout for an hour and a half now. Hopefully this will free it up somewhat.
     
    I took a few photos of the hard-wiring process this time so you can see what s involved.
     

     

     

     
    Incidentally, I removed that capacitor between the brushes on both models after the photos were taken.
     
    And here is 31 004 in service. I detailed it with the separate handrails on the fronts some years ago. 31 327 was easier in some ways because it only had two handrails at each end whereas 31 004 has four, albeit they are all straight ones. It now just needs the red circle coupling codes added above each buffer (these early 31s had electro-magnetic control), some pipework on the buffer beam at the end without a coupling, and a lot more weathering added.
     

     

     

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