Mikkel

I’ve started a curved frame Bulldog project, directly inspired by @The Fatadder's recent build (seen here) which alerted me to @heraldcoupe’s 3D printed loco bodies. Many thanks to both. I must emphasize that my Bulldog shell is one of Bill's rejects. It has various small flaws and should not be taken as representative of his approved prints. But I think I can fix most of it. The project is an experiment anyway, a means to to cut my teeth on 3D printed loco bodies. Above is the Bulldog body on the Bachmann Dukedog donor chassis, for which it has been designed. If I understand correctly, Bill's body shells represent latter-day Bulldogs, modelled after particular prototypes. I would however like to backdate mine, either to ca. 1919-22 or ideally to 1913-14. At first I thought this would involve a good deal of work, but the more I look, the simpler it seems. In particular I have become enamoured with this photo which shows 3301 "Powderham" at Par in 1913. As far as I can see, the body matches the Powderham photo on the following counts: D3 taper boiler (right?) Top feed Early lubricator cover Strengthened frames (as far as I can see?) Chimney Plain smokebox door Tapered buffers Deep frame “swing-hanger” bogies (although slightly different pattern?) Fluted conrods C10 and Siphon 😊 What would need doing: Make portholes in cab front Remove "boxes" at bottom of firebox (what are they?). Edit: Or maybe not, see comments. Replace tender. Is that a Dean 3000 gallon tender on Powderham? If so, Bachmann's City tender would match Standard name and no. plates from Light Railway Stores (Powderham did not have the special plates). The “tiebars” below the cranks were always going to be tricky, regardless of date. I want to be able to remove the body, so must either come up with something detachable (micro magnets?) or just leave them off. Edit: Dukedog tie bars will do, see comments. But I may have overlooked something significant, or got it all wrong?

I also enjoyed the video. Nice smooth running all round - not least the County tank. Very impressive, Neal.

Ah, that is a particularly lovely shot. Great angles and a nice blend of colours. Also, I like your weeds, dude!

Thanks, that's recent so maybe still some around.

I wrote to ask, I'll report back if he replies. There was talk of retirement I think. Very kind of you, thanks. They do look great. But I'm thinking much of the fun is in putting it together.

I know the feeling. I often make a mess with powertools, and then have to remedy with good old manual tools. Your end results look neat, nice save.

What a sight, Dave, they are beautiful. With layouts like yours we can see what it was like. Of course it wasn't always summer, etc, but there must have been moments like this nonetheless. The U14 is one of those six-wheelers that could have been a four-wheeler (perhaps it even became one, can't remember). Which makes me wonder why six wheels were chosen in the first place. Better riding?

Ah, very nice! Something elevated would look grand. This is Alexandra Docks at Newport.

Oooh, that is very nice. Some interesting views to be had from all sides. I like "Shed, misc." which of course is quite different from "Old stores" 🙂

Please do both, those six-wheelers are excellent. And the weathering is unmistakably in your style.

Lovely models. I like the Rover too. Am I correct it is the Scalelink 1906 Tourer kit?

Good to see this progressing Chris, the panneling looks really good. Recently I have become a little less enthusiastic about my magnetic clamps. On thin/soft materials I find that they can press together corners so tight that the areas above and beneath them "bulge" out. We are but human. A few days ago I had carefully marked some almost square pieces of plain styrene with arrows showing their correct orientation. Then I dropped them on the floor.

Out of period but for inspiration 🙂 I have noted "Ascot" with this photo (no date).

For me as a bystander they look fantastic. All your trials and tribulations can't be seen - which is almost unfair!

Some interesting info above, thanks gents. I was a bit confused to see this photo, as I thought the original furniture store at the Pantechnicon was long gone by this time. But apparently there was a Pantechnicon Ltd company that traded right up to the 1970s. Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

Thank you Dave, and welcome back. I was thinking of your "Horse drawn weekly" phrase while building this one, there's material for several issues across RMweb by now 🙂

Thank you Dana. Good point about the lower footboards, I hadn't thought about that. Your C19 in brown with the lake coaches sounds good, this is exactly the kind of mixed picture that I would also like to have a go at. It sounds almost prototypical that you have run out of paint 🙂

So all Thirds in brown too? 🙂

It's the lack of light that makes us gloomy. Come to think of it, you're not much better off! 😄

Many thanks, also for that link - an enlightening read. I did not know about the Victorian colour explosion, it has made me see the pregrouping liveries in a new light. The "Decadent young woman" is superb, and I notice her yellow book! Ah, very nice. Jonathan I think the Shirescenes version is your best bet if you are looking for one to go in a train (although it is currently sold out). The Gem/John Day kit is so tall that I think it might be out of loading gauge, even with the roof boards folded down. So I clearly need another lower one if I am to fulfill the company's promises! Thank you Nick, some very useful info there. The HMRS images sound like gold, very tempting! Here are some shots with different numbers of horses, it seems to have varied with the needs an capacity:

Ha ha, thanks Rich. Nope, I've thrown them away! What does stand out in the close-ups is that the padlock shackles don't pass through anything. Must do that better next time. Many thanks Douglas. It seems that there are 11 horsedrawn vehicles at Farthing now, from GWR and local traders. More than is needed really, but I do enjoy building them. Interesting, I wonder if it the same as this one, from the same company, which seems to have been in the National Brewery Museum at one point: Williams and Griffin horse-drawn Pantechnicon by Steve Knight, on Flickr

Hi Colin, you are lucky in having one of the Dart Castings kits, they are sold out at the moment. I think they represent the more typical, lower style. @Worsdell forever has built a nice example, the photos are gone from his thread but there's a nice video showing it here: Regarding the font, it is Bookman Old Style. I must emphasize that I do not know much about fonts, so beware. I tried to check and it seems that this font is OK for my Edwardian period, but am not 100% sure. Let me know if you need some hints on spacing and resizing in Word, it is a bit clunky and the options are distributed over three different menus. Many thanks Dave. Maybe I should give the fuse wire another go. If I could somehow harden it so that it doesn't bend when constantly dismantled... The horses from Dart Castings are very good, as you will know. I used my homespun size-chart for their figures (below, note that the 1:87 label has been moved to another horse in their range since I made this, but doesn't really matter). I considered Suffolk Punches, which can be seen pulling large Pantechnicons in photos. But, like trees, the figures are so big that they look out of scale, even if they aren't. The Shire horses have been modelled a little smaller, so I chose those. Many thanks Matt. Yes, you have nailed the problem with the reins. I have lived happily without them for quite a while now, but you know how these things can suddenly become an issue when you start thinking about it again!

Hi Neal, thanks - and yes it looks like you have more than enough on your plate at the moment, seems like your fleet is doubling in a very short time. Reminds me that I must get back to my coaches. These little "quickie" projects can be real time-stealers! Many thanks Martyn. Perhaps some of the road vehicles will be right for your period. There's a nice selection of railway owned lorries and delivery vehicles. Good old whitemetal. Hi Mike, yes, some removal firms clearly used the railways to their advantage. My lettering on that point was inspired by the example seen on this website: https://www.avwoodworks.co.uk/imagery_content/horse_drawn_wagons.html Historical photos show variants with a single horse, two horses and four. All depending on the van and load size I assume. This one being quite large should perhaps ideally have had four, as you suggest. But luckily UNBRIDLED didn't press that point futher 🙂

A blond mammoth. Of course! Mr Bailey will be very pleased 😄. Thanks Chris. I admire Daryle for keeping these whitemetal ranges on the market, and even upgrading them a bit if I understand correctly. They are of course of a certain age, and the GEM kits weren't always to exacting standards in my experience. But I find them pleasant to build. I have some of the cows, which are very good I think. Many thanks, Geraint. These little projects are just trifles of course, but we might as well have fun making them. Mrs X is not the first ghost from my childhood to have been locked away in a model. There was also The Weasel. I can recommend this as a highly efficient form of therapy. Just don't do it in real life! Thanks Dana. I think the printed sides work particularly well if there is a natural "frame" around them to conceal the edges, as here where the van is paneled. And I like how you can experiement easily. E.g. I had planned red lettering but I felt it looked like a circus van (my choice of "Bailey" didn't help!), so I went for black letters.

Thanks for the tip Bill. I hadn't heard of the dental floss solution before. What I've found is that most thin materials are soft and bendy and therefore require careful arrangement. The results can be excellent as seen e.g. on Shaun's layout: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/11359-grim-up-north-goathland-queensbury-bradford/?do=findComment&comment=5425473 - and Kevin's: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/120848-little-muddle/?do=findComment&comment=5449522 But my table-top layouts are set up and taken down on a daily basis, so fiddling with their otherwise brilliant solutions every time I get a layout out would give me a nervous breakdown 🙂