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Thank you Ken, for you kind comments. I also share your love of Bavaria, just having returned from Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Nordlingham and Fussen among others.. The beer was especially good! Rgegards TOny

A very tidy build as ever Ken, as you say the kit will build nicely from the box. For my take on this kit check out The Derby Line thread. It took time and effort though to source all the bits I needed, the project took over a year. Regards Tony

The MMP tanks make an appearance on Hollowbeck shed at the Guild Halifax show.

Nice to see the engines in their new home! All the recent transfers to Peterborough North were originally built by Allen Hammet, I recall that he built three Proscale V2s at once and moaned like hell about how badly they fitted together, but he managed a very tidy job as always. I changed the tenders on the V2s for RTR ones as the originals were the low fronted ones and not suitable for these engines. I managed to re-do my weathering and blend the new tenders in. I can't remember what green Allen originally used, I'm sure it used to vary with age and grime in any case. Pity you're not keeping the numbers Gilbert, As I'm sure I've seen pics of the GC engines on the ECML - probably after shopping I guess. Regards Tony

Hi Martyn - no won't be at Reading, I'm afraid - heading out to Bavaria this weekend, 1st stop ( well nearly! ) the railway museum at Nordlingen... If you do get an 8F let me know and I'll drop you some notes on a couiple of things you might want to change.. Cheers Tony

I couldn't resist a face off between Richard Lamberts and my 8Fs, if only I had time to build 2! The MOK LMS tender running gear is comprehensive and includes all the water pick gear. It's not the tidiest job I've done, but the real thing must have been covered in crud, so I've not been to meticulous. It's just been washed, so there are water droplets in evidence. There is still some trimming and tidying to do and the cross beams have to come out with th einner chassis, so they are held in place with 14BA screws..

Now it looks like an 8F - a most enjoyable kit build. This is one of those kits that goes together very well - not without a few things to fiddle with, but excellently designed. It would be interesting to see the revised version. Having the Wild Swan LMS Locomotive Profile was a major aid to construction. My next project will be a 2P and getting information on that will be interesting...

The J39 looks very nice and tidy build Andy - all you have to do now is pluck up the courage to weather it down a little! I do like it with the small tender, my Chinese one has the 4200 gallon tender, which only a limited number had. Regards Tony

This kit fits together very well, the few changes I have made are:- to add Hobby Horse Cinder Guards Use Griffin boiler band cleats Drill out the boiler washout plugs and use square n/s bar Add Warren Shepherd boiler washout plugs. Next step is to weather the frames before putting the wheels on and assembling the motion. Regards Tony

Meanwhile ( in a Clarkson voice ) I have been building the excellent MOK 8F - progress so far. The cab has more working components than the rest of the loco! Cinder guards, doors and flip up seats!

The K3 arrived back after being lined out by Paul Moore and here is a grab shot. I decided my time was better spent building other stuff. He's done a cracking job as usual, but I will be adding a layer of grime as she doesn't look quite right so clean. It's remarkable, when you think an engine is nearly finished how much work there is to complete it to everyday condition. The tank wagons have been sprayed as it is just about warm enough now in the workshop...

The K3 has now departed for lining now, and I won't see it until March, but here it is, after being sprayed black. I decided in the end my time would be better spent building stuff ( which I enjoy more ) than learning to line out, as my time, like most folks, is pretty limited. Sometimes you just have to be realistic about what can be acheived in the time. I'm now on to MMP tank wagons, but there is a well documented build in the gallery on http://www.7mmlocomotives.co.uk/ so I'll just post up when they are built, there are a lot of bits, but the kits fit together beatifully, I'm really enjoying the build. Cheers Tony

At last it is finished - apart from testing and fitting the cab interior. It's been a fair trial, with much scratchbuilding and modification of 80000 tank parts. But it actually looks like a Fairburn!

Hope you don't mind me jumping in guys - I've just started 2 of the MMP tank wagon kits. There are plenty of parts in the etchings, thats for sure, but they are a joy to build as the parts fit together beautifully, very little fetting if any, is required. A joy to build. I've just got the basic underframes done so far. A marked contrast to the K3 where nothing really fitted! Regards Tony

After being tied up with Fencing work and Heyside for the past few months, now the Manchester show is over it is back to engine building at last. The K3 is pretty well finished and is now awaiting lining etc, so it is back to the Fairburn. If the K3 was an assisted scratch build, so is the Fairburn chassis. The kit although fits together perfectly as it comes is woefully inaccurate, so after obtaining some Standard tank castings - I have set to modifying them by using Lambo's already partially completed chassis as a guide. It always helps when someone else has done the thinking part of the excercise. So here are some almost ready castings with his chassis in the background. So with any luck we'll have these ready for the next Heyside show at Aylesbury in 2013:-

Hi Brian - I've just caught up with the 08 pictures - excellent, inspiring work as ever. I'm still plucking up courage to weather my MMP Green 08. Never had a problem with the mainline stuff, but shunters seem to weather slightly differently and of course in the steam era there is the effect of coal smoke... Cheers Tony

Thanks Mick - I'm not sure if the K3 will be at Manchester, Heyside and outside jobs are eating up my time. If it rains a lot it might be! I've just finished the JLTRT 4F, which will be there... Well, you are making progress with the D49, it is a case of how much you replace, I think you should persevere with it! With the K3, I treat every part with suspicion... Who knows, as soon as the K3 and D49 are finished, a kit could appear, but you can't be sure of that. Keep up the good work Regards Tony

Having worked out that the front of the tender is completely wrong, I went about adding the 'V' shaped frontage. I think the kit design might be suitable for the tenders with the flared top, but later tenders seem to be similar to the front of the tender on the early V2s. So now I'm just putting together an order to DMR for the remaining components. Maybe I should have bought one of their tenders in the first place! Scratch brake gear with Griffin stretchers have been added, I'll show a pic of the tender chassis soon... Cheers Tony

Work progresses apace on the tender, which so far appears reasonably accurate, apart from the coal space, but with a full load of coal I am not going to bother with that. The kit ( as in many cases ) depicts the engine and tender in early condition, so a new coal space divider has been made from scrap etch. It is higher and 1' 11" further forward than the original ( RCTS Green Books ) , which straddled the pick up dome. Fortunatly I was able to copy the unbuilt Finney one I have in stock. Ah - there's another problem, the pick up dome casting has a rounded edge on the top, it should be sharp edge, like the top of a tin... I - and the K3 will be at the Guild Area 4 meet at Gresford near Wrexham demonstrating this Sunday July 10th, come and say hello.

People have been asking about the K3, and after a lull in work I began on detailing the body, working from front to back. Using a number of Ragstone components, dart, snifter, sandbox lids. I had to scratch the sliding cab window fo the leading one and then I got to thinking about the cab doors. So I really need to build the tender ( which I have started ) to ensure they fit ok. I will add some pics of that build in due course. Then it will be back to the loco chasiis to finish that off. Here is the loco so far:-

Chaos in the works yard as I try and items of stock finished!