5Bel

Hi All, Wow, nearly four years since I posted anything in this thread!! I did say it was going to be slow time. With the recent reintroduction of the Kirk sides by Phoenix I have taken it upon myself to finish the 4Lav. So armed with plenty of grey plastic sides and a new blade in my razor saw I set about it. The easiest to do by far is the Trailer Composite (TC). This was just a basic cut and shut of the sides put under an extended roof of which I have several. The underframe is extended Kirk with Kirk bogies. I could have ordered a 2Bil underframe but thought I would use some of my spares up. The next coach is the Trailer Composite Lavatory (TCL). This is a bit more complicated and I had to reuse parts from the previous effort seen before. Again it sits under an extended Kirk roof and will use the same chassis as the TC. The grey parts are the new Ex Kirk parts, green original Kirk. It's now on with the Drivers which will be a bit more complicated. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Michael Just read through Phil Dysons' thread. Turns out the Warship I was thinking of was a Mceechan kit that got passed on to Colin Massingham. Looks a lot better than the one I have!! Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Michael, It would have been Colin Massingham of MTK who would have originated the Warship but I thought there was another complete body shell out there. I will have to read Phill Dysons' thread all the way through again. I didn't wash the mineral wagon, schoolboy error, rubbing the paint off will solve this when it comes to repainting however. I will also use Tamiya masking tape this time!

Hi All, Every now and again, I get an hour or so when I am modellig that everything goes wrong!! I mixed up some paint for the underframes of the wagons that I think is too light and the masking tape pulled most of the paint from the mineral wagon!! On the 12 ton van and the brake van the Bauxite coming off is not really a problem but I was finishing the 16 ton as fresh out of the works!! Oh well, these things are sent to try us. At least its only a mineral wagon! As the underframes are drying the colour is growing on me, a little bit of weathering and it will be OK. The Bauxite on the SR van is Humbrol 113 satin brown, that seems to have stuck quite well, the other three are Railmatch. I shall rub the paint off the mineral wagon and start again, I may even modify it to a rebodied version. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Michael, Thanks, I had a suspicion it was a Steve Beattie kit but couldn't remember if he did one or not. I know there was another resin Warship made by someone but can't think of the manufacturer now. As for the wagons I have painted the Bauxite, the three BR wagons have Railmatch and the SR van has Humbrol 113. Both colours look OK to me, I will take some pics later. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, A quick update ont the wagons. The Slaters Brakevan and 12 ton van have been completed and all have been primed with red oxide. The builds are as straightforward as you can get in this scale and they add to the fleet nice and quickly. Hopefully I will get the Bauxite on today. Now for a question, does anyone know the origin of this Warship. It has a resin body and although the finish is quite crude there seems to be good detail. It has etched fan grilles and walkways and the headcode boxes are brass plug in units which seen to have the original non headcode box on the inside. It came as part of the lot with the Manor and 10000. If anyone is interested in these then drop me a PM as I would rather not use Ebay! Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, Thankyou for the kind comments regading the wagons. As for North Wales there is a lovley house in Penmachno for sale at the moment which would have suited us just fine. Unfortunately it is about four years too soon!! I have finished another kit ready for painting. This one is a Freightman SR fitted van that has been residing in the loft for the best part of 20 years. Bits of the wagon were scattered in all sorts of places but I manged to round up all but the brake lever assembly on one side. This was fabricated from brass strip and a chopped up Parkside lever. The buffers are from my spares box. I also have been given two locomotives to refurb and put on that well known auction site. They are a Springside Manor and an RJH LMS 10000. Both are built to a decent standard so shouldn't prove too taxing. The Manor has already been cleaned and is already to go and 10000 needs some internal bracing and new numbers. Its now off to do more modelling, though it might be a 4mm 4Lav this afternoon. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, I thought it was about time I put my 7mm efforts into the correct category. This thread will be mainly my own projects with the odd commission thrown in for good measure. After delivering the 47 and K42 brake to Shropshire on Saturday, I stopped off at a railway near Chester to deliver the 50 to it's new owner. The railway in an industrial unit has inspired me to make more of an effort with my own 7mm projects. To that end I went to Peterborough armed with some birthday money and purchased three 7mm kits, a Parkside 16 tonner, a Slaters BR brake van and their 12 ton standard van. As I had already built the 16 tonner in standard unfitted form I thought I would try and convert it to a fitted version. This I did using parts from my spares box and pictures from various books. I decided not to do the rebodied version as I am going to finish this in mid 60's condition. This is a quick and simple way to add some variety to a fleet of mineral wagons. The rebodied one will come at a later date. While taking the photos I took advantage of the sunshine to take some pics of two of my other mineral wagons. Both are Parkside models with various weathering techniques. I also have a LIma 16 tonner that I am going to convert into a 10ft wheelbase version. With a planned house move to North Wales in the next few years I shall be building up my 7mm stock and scaling down on the 4mm stuff, probably ending up with just BR blue electric stock. I have always known I would end up with 7mm, visiting the layout near Chester has reaffirmed this. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, I have been quite busy lately with various projects. The Orion Models K42 full brake has been finished and will be going to Shropshire this weekend with the 47 and 50. I could not get the roof the correct shape so the sides were removed from the one piece bodyshell and a new aluminium roof fitted. I think the finished model has come out quite well. The crimson is from Railmatch and the roof is Humbrol acrylic grey. This coach will be used in it's new owners milk train. The next project is a rather battered Bachmann 121 that it's owner would like repainted into South West Trains livery. I am going to have my work cut out with this one. Still I like a challenge. I am now going back to 4mm SR Electrics for a while, I have a 4Lav and a BR 4Epb on the go. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, Pete, your Deltic looks fantastic. I looked for the light clusters but couldn't find any so finished the model without them. The 47 is finished and will be on its way to Shropshire shortly. The transfers are the excellent Railtec product. I am very impressed with the quality of these and will use them whenever I do a Diesel loco in future. I think this livery suits the 47 really well and is probably second favourite after blue with a silver roof for me. I have enjoyed repainting this model and it has given me the confidence to go on and tackle more multicolour liveries in the future. Though every now and again something in plain blue wouldn't go amiss!! Next onto my workbench are a GWR K42 full brake and a battered Bachmann class 121 which will be finished in South West Trains livery. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, A quick update on some of my ongoing projects. I seem to have my appetite back for modelling so I have taken full advantage of two weeks leave to get my teeth into a few things. Firstly is a Heljan Deltic repainted into Porterbrook colours. The purple colour is a bit of a shock to the system when you first see it!! Next up is the PRMP 50 that I had to totally strip and repaint after a the varnishing went all wrong. It was repainted using only Railmatch products this time and all turned out well. The transfers are the excellent Raitec product and the plates are Fox. Finally is the Heljan 47 repainted into Intercity livery. It will be finished as 47515. Again I have used Railmatch paint and varnish and the transfers are on order form Railtec. I have really enjoyed getting my modelling mojo back. Lets hope I keep it for a while this time! These models are all destined for other peoples layouts. I have a Bachmann 121 to finish in South West Trains colours and I am in the middle of building an Orion models Collett K42 full brake, so plenty to keep me busy. The 50 and 47 were photographed on my new test track in the garage. It been nearly 20 years since I have actually had track pinned to a baseboard! Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Michael, That is great news. I have a few to do and the fret will make it easier to do other types as well as the standard TSO. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Michael, Are the Mk2 frames going to be generally available? As there seems to be a trend currently for cutting and shutting Big Big Train Mk2's I think they would be very useful. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Darius, I am very jealous of your 508, its a stunning model. It's a prototype that I have always wanted to model as I travelled on them extensively in my youth, I also must have copped every one of them. It goes to show that with a lot of effort and a great amount of skill MTK kits can be a viable proposition. Looking forward to seeing it complete. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, After what seems like ages I have finally got the 56 ready for weathering. I had a bit of a drama with the acrylic varnish crinkling the orange cantrail stripe, but I overcame this by coating the transfers in Johnsons Clear before spraying the varnish. The cab roofs do not fit as I would like but they are as good as it is going to get. It has been quite a battle getting the model this far, I would have liked to build it from the start but I think the end result has been worth the endeavour. I have now got the 50 to finish but I am off on holiday to North Wales to look at some Narrow Gauge next week, so it could be a while. Cheers for now,Ian

HI All, With the 60 and Full Brake complete I have turned my attention to the 50. It has had the black around the windows painted and put back on its bogies for photographing. The PRMP kit captures the look quite well but I am not too sure about the headcode boxes. I think they maybe a bit on the shallow side. Glazing and transfers will be done next week. For my next 7mm project I am doing an Ian Kirk Gresley Full Brake. Assembly is quite straightforward, I use a straight edge to get the top of the coach side lined up. This way the roof sits nicely and is fixed with no gaps. I am building this from the roof down with separate floor, the resultant body is quite strong. It is quite nice every now and again to build something this simple and massive credit must go to Ian Kirk and his design of his kits. It is also good to work with plastic again. This build will progress quite rapidly and will be fitted with cast metal bogies for weight. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, A quick update as to how the models are coming along. The 60 is finished apart from the front handrail and painting the cab handrails. The plates and transfers are from Fox. Initially I put modern overhead warning flashes on the sides, but on closer inspection of Brian Daniels model I realised they are of the older type and duly changed them. The 56 is now back on its wheels and I will be getting on with finishing early next week. The Hawksworth Brake is finished bar couplings and a coat of clear to seal the transfers. Again the transfers are from Fox. This has been painted with Hycote Ford Burgundy red and I think it gives a good rendition of maroon. The 50 will get it's paint work finished next week and I am going to be using Railtec transfers to finish it. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, Over the past couple of days I have been finishing the basic painting of all the models. On the 56 the whole side has been rubbed down and repainted. This time I was very careful when I removed the masking tape. Thankfully this time everything was OK. The cab ends and doors were brush painted with Humbrol Satin 85. There are just a few bits to touch up on the body then I will varnish it ready for the transfers. The 60 has had its coat of blue. Heljan have produced a very impressive model and I think the Blue makes it look longer. Again some small touching up is needed before a coat of varnish. The Hawksworth full brake is now just awaiting glazing, commode handles and transfers. The body on this particular model bows in quite a bit and once the glazing is in place it is going to be quite a struggle to get the chassis back in. The 50 is awaiting blue paint as the masking tape pulled a small patch off, but as the Rugby is about to start that will have to wait until another day. I have really enjoyed doing these models and they will go a long way to paying for my trip to Sri Lanka in November. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, With the 50 done and the Full Brake in its coat of primer it was time to put the last of the three greys on the 56. Duly masked the paint went on well including on the roof domes. However when removing the masking tape from the other side this happened, Hopefully it won't be to difficult to remedy, it seems to be only the topcoats that came off as the primer is still on. With a bit of luck it will be only the two greys I have to repaint. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi All, The 50 has had its basic colours applied. The builder of this loco has captured the look of the prototype quite well and it portrays the bulk of these locos effectively. I have had a slight mishap with the roof colour. The masking tape pulled away some of the grey paint but as the primer is still on it shouldn't be to difficult to patch paint the area. I will leave it for a couple of days so the blue can fully harden before I put masking tape on. The 56 has had its roof painted and the 60 has been masked up ready for primer tomorrow. The Hawksworth full brake has had its first coat of red oxide primer, I have decided to give it a coat of Maroon. Cheers for now, Ian.

Hi All, With the Parcels unit happily earning it's keep I was asked to finish and paint three locos. An MMP class 56, a PRMP 50 and a Heljan 60. The 56 needed most work as I had to remove quite a bit of solder from various parts of the superstructure. It also came to me fully built with all the handrails and end fittings already on. The owner of this loco wants it in Coal Sector triple grey. The 50 is a straight painting job into large logo livery and the 60 is a repaint into British Steel livery. It has had it's first two greys applied with the roof still to do. Then it's the underframe along with the window surrounds. There is a vast amount of detail on this model and it would have been a nice challenge to build it from the start. I am using Railmatch for the first time on this model and the 50 with Precision for the 60. The 50 is in the process of having it's blue applied at the moment and the 60 is still to be started. While waiting for various shades of paint to dry I have been finishing a BR Models Hawksworth full brake. This came to me as part payment for the Dukedog I built as seen earlier in this thread. It had no instructions with it, so I have been referencing a Hornby 4mm model. The kit goes together easily and once I got in the swing of things it built up quickly. As I plan to sell this model to fund a trip to Sri Lanka I am undecided which livery to paint it in, probably Maroon with a possibility of Blue. I would be interested to hear peoples views on this. It will go into primer tomorrow and hopefully the 56 will get its roof done. I will post pics of the 50 tomorrow. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Chris and Crompton, Thanks for the comments. Keep going with your DC Kits, they build into decent models. I have a half built Tyneside 2Epb, a quarter built 6S, a 3D and a Class 119 dmu to do! As promised here are some pictures of the Hornby 2Bil conversion. Modifications to the Hornby Dummy bogie are to cut off the mounting lugs and open out the hole for the wires. Also the shoe beam has been thinned down. Bogie mount made from thin plastic. Bogie in place. Body refitted. Better photo of the new Kirk bogie under the DTC. This is quite an easy and quick conversion, which has given me a spare power bogie for my 4Lav. I will do the trailer bogie conversion on my other 2Bil and this will give me a dummy bogie for the other end of the 4Lav. Cheers for now,Ian.

Hi All, Having purchased two Hornby 2Bil units I decided I would modify one to be unpowered and run them as a 4 coach train. This has the added bonus of providing me with the motor bogie for my 4Lav project. This is a brief outline of how it was done. Firstly incorrect trailing bogie was removed from the DTC and replaced with a slimmed down Ian Kirk trailer bogie from his 2Bil kit. A nut was secured into the DTC chassis and the new bogie fixed in place. Modified Ian Kirk Trailer bogie. The brake blocks are from a Hornby Pullman bogie. Nut secured in DTC Chassis. Bogie in place. Then I removed the power bogie from the driving car and cut off the bogie housing unit. This has the advantage of taking 125 grams out of the finished unit. To do this I carefully removed all the plastic bits from the chassis unit for safekeeping while cutting. Starting the cutting process. The trailer bogie originally under the DTC was then fixed in place in the resultant hole in the chassis and all the underframe bits put back in place. For some reason I forgot to take pictuers of this bit of the conversion but will put some up soon. I had heard reports that the Hornby 2Bil was unable to pull any kind of tail load. To test this I decided to do something that I haven't done for ages and actually play trains!! A circle of Hornby track was got from the loft along with the two 2Bils, I also got out all of my 4mm models to give them a run. The Q1 is the only 4mm steam loco I own but this will probably change next year when Hornby's H makes it's debut. I am pleased to report that the 2Bil's haulage power is more than adequate for the dummy trailer unit. I will repeat this process with one of my 2Hal's. Most of the stock ran around the 2nd radius cicle, the Class 71 wouldn't do it! I have learned one thing from the runninig session and that is that it is a right pain to keep transfering stuff from the loft to run it. I think I will stick to 7mm in the garage and have a nice 4mm layout in the loft. Everything is back in the loft now!! I have some 7mm stuff to do now to help pay for my cricket tour to Sri Lanka in November 2017. Cheers for now, Ian

Hi Robert, Thankyou for your comment. A quick update on the units. The underframes for the Bep have been finished and just await painting and I have glazed one side of the Hap with Laserglaze. The Laserglaze is an excellent product and lifts the model no end. As it is sunny in Lincolnshire at the moment I took the chance to get some pictures. I am off to play football this afternoon (at my age I should know better) so wont be getting a lot more done. I am going to spray the underframes in that lovely gungy electric unit brown that seemed to cover everthing below the solebar. Cheers for now, Ian.

Hi All, After finishing the 7mm 101 parcels unit I seem to have my modelling mojo well and truly back. I have gone a long way to finishing the 4Bep and 2Hap. Both units have been painted in Precision EMU green with small yellow panels. The Bep has had its Bachmann glazing refitted and the buffet car just needs final touching up and it will be complete. The Hap will be glazed with Laserglaze which I have not used before so it will be good to see how this turns out. Here are some pics of the progress so far. Both units are going to be unpowered and will run as part of two unit trains. I am really pleased with the colour of the units, it is a while since I have painted anything green. Transfers will be from Fox and Modelmaster. This afternoon it will be the Bep power car underframes. Cheers for now, Ian