Neal Ball

I might try a black one as well then, I wonder what the effect would be on a GWR carriage… deeper tones perhaps?

Yes indeed, I have the SRM and the Toplights on order from Kernow. Customs will have a field day if they ship together🙁

The Great Central railway has long been used as a test bed for mainline operators and also Brush etc. To me it makes sense, even more so if they can make some money from it. Driver training etc. when the line is ordinarily closed, or between steam paths, might be a nice little earner. The only thing will be the life expectancy of the units…. Good luck to the GCR.

My guess is they were pre production photos….. Looking down the list of photos that Kernow have for each loco, they still include the CAD images for available stock. As Robin has said, hopefully Chris Nevard will be photographing everything.

Morning Graham, greetings from the sunny Costa Blanca. How about this as a possibility……. Would you believe that at one point, Henley-on-Thames also looked as bleak as CR? If you look back in my thread, you will see in about February 2019 in preparation for the move to Spain, the layout was cut in half and then folded into itself. Wood was braced between the two sections and the thing was wrapped into an old duvet in case it should rain when it’s going into or out of the removal truck! Just a thought. Good luck with the move, Neal.

I see Kernow have received stock from Dapol of the next GWR mogul 2-6-0 locos: https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/70645/4S-043-009-Dapol-GWR-Mogul-Steam-Locomotive-number-4321-in-GWR I wonder if this means the Mainline and City carriages were in the same container? It will be nice if they were.

Wow that looks great Tim thank you

I am careful about the measuring when doing varnish, otherwise it’s a rough measure! Having been caught out a couple of times with a bad finish I always use Vallejo paint and thinners.

Id rather have a shot of vodka in them 😎

No, it needs a bit of thinning first. I try to get the consistency of milk, not always easy! Mixing in an old Railmatch glass pot, not the pot on top of the airbrush. That’s interesting, not tried that one. I usually use soap and water. But I must admit that a couple of whitemetal bogies have a couple of scratch marks where the paint has chipped off.

The primer I am using is the Vallejo white surface primer 73600: I realise there are white and black primers, there is also grey... They also do Red; Green (various shades); Cream; Brown (various); Blue. Maybe I am missing out by using one primer colour! It looks as if a lot of them are aimed at wargamers / WW2 modellers. I cant help to be intrigued by (say) a Red Primer and how the results might be different. This weekend is the Murcia half marathon, which is a City to the South of us and we are staying over for a couple of nights. As we come home on Monday I will go over to the model shop to get some more Primer: https://www.hobbyonline.es/buscar?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=Primer&tm_submit_search= Obviously its all in Spanish, but strangely they quote the paint colour names in German! A while ago Alan Butter at modelu tried using a white primer on some figures and black primer on others and was going to compare the results. I shall have to search to see if he finished that.

Spraying day 2 - today was far better than yesterday, the paint flowed, the spray gun behaved etc. etc. Starting with the County tank 4-4-2T this has had another coat of white primer. The loco body and chassis have now had two coats of primer. The protrusions through the wheel bearings are heat shrink with cocktails sticks inside and then insulation tape, to hold it all together. It means I have a handle to hold onto! Onto Carriages - in total there are 3 carriages being sprayed together.... thats 3 sets of under frames; 3 interiors and 3 sets of roofs. Starting with the 70ft carriages. These are 1st/3rd class composites (Left and Right handed), these will sit either side of a Restaurant carriage. The final 70ft interior is in the middle of the two parts of the C23 all third Clerestory: The primer is shewing a few places where extra filler needs to be applied. To be continued....

Thanks very much Miss Prism, it certainly looks a lovely loco.

I saw that yesterday as well Robin, if you then click onto the Rails website, they are still showing CAD drawings for some locos. The incoming locos, are they from batch 1, or the new revised tooling? Either way, it must mean a Dapol container is close, which may (or may not) have the Mainline and City carriages on board 😎

Thanks for all the cab comments for a moment (I should have checked my photos first!), it’s still on the bench and will be painted again soon. The SRM passengers are also on the workbench still, needing to be finished…. No sign yet of the SRM, but that’s ok. I would rather wait a while longer and know that it’s been tested properly before being sent. However after being on “holiday” since before Christmas my Anthony Manor has been fixed and is due to be returned today. Yesterday I checked on the previous days spraying and hopefully will manage another coat of primer today. As ever primer shows up where more work is needed and a bit of filler to be applied in a couple of cases. My preference for batch spraying, proved a bit hectic…… 2 x 70ft carriage bodies, underframes, interiors, bogies…… plus c23 carriage body; roof; bogies… plus the County chassis and body - that’s a lot of separate items all needing cover to prevent dust landing etc. Anyway, onwards and upwards, there will be another coat applied today. Photos to follow!

I found making up a bank of gas cylinders very frustrating - so resorted making them up with a base of plasticard on the top and bottom, which once they are painted can't be seen.

Re: Steam loco cabs and pipework etc. When in use, would the red paint have stayed on for long? assuming they left Swindon painted..... The issue is to get a colour photo from that period of a footplate. Dean Goods 0-6-0 at Steam museum at Swindon in 2018. This photo of no 6000 KGV was taken on the same trip: Compare those to the photo I took when i was on the footplate of GWS Saint 4-6-0 Lady of Legend in 2022, where there is no red paint at all!

Thanks for all the comments about the backhead, all are easy to fix. Sadly none of it will be seen as the cab is quite enclosed, but at least we will know it’s there. Yesterday the loco and recent kit carriages had a first spray of primer.

Thanks I should have found one of my cab photos from Swindon. The regulator wouldn’t be red either! Thanks again.

So long and thanks for the models 😎 (To miss-quote Douglas Adams!) It's certainly the end of an era: I don't think Henley-on-Thames would be the same without Hattons - particularly the trunk service when we moved over here. Then there was the PX service - as early as my conversion to DCC I was using this service and then again when we were here. Before moving here, the other store of note was obviously Gaugemaster as the shop was just down the road, but even so, sometimes Hattons was more convenient. Without being too maudlin, it's just a change..... However of course, thank you to all the staff and good luck for the future.

I was also told they were being shipped around that time, with batch 2 being shipped around December, ready for a January arrival into the UK. Obviously the review samples for the magazines were from the production batch(?), so whatever the delay, they cant be far away now. It would be fair to assume that batch 2 has been caught up in the latest issues and will be travelling around the Cape of Good Hope. I am guessing here, but maybe when the strikes on ships started, some would have been in the middle of the Red Sea and either to put into a friendly port, or be turned round..... I am sure they will be in the UK in the next couple of weeks.

I suspect the shipping containers are caught up in the middle east issues.... and are probably being diverted via the Cape of Good hope... https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/20/more-than-100-container-ships-rerouted-suez-canal-red-sea-houthi-attacks-yemen

Suggest you discuss this with Kernow - as I have said before, they seem friendly enough.

Yes, you can just make out the numbers on the buffer beam and the cast cab side plate is bigger than usual. The train looks like a B set and a van. (Perhaps a stores van) I’m guessing.

Thanks for this. I too cant wait to get it sprayed - the weather is due to be warm this week, so I am hoping it can be done and then obviously finished off.