mattingleycustom

22 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Little Bytham no longer has two 'Cocks O' The North'....................

 

 

For 60501 to become EARL MARISCHAL, the backing for the nameplates needed shortening. A brand new curved blade in the Swann Morton, and GREAT care.................................................. I employed a rocking motion. 

 

There's no need to force off the original nameplate. 

 

 

Replacement etched plates from 247 Developments fitted perfectly. I ordered them yesterday and they arrived today. I call that service. 

 

Consult prototype shots because the A2/2s' nameplates moved around on the smokebox during their lives. 

 

Why 60501 and 60505 had their horizontal handrails cut short of the smokebox's front is lost in the mists of time. The other four had theirs clipped to the smokebox front ring. Thus, for 60502 they have to be added. 

 

They're formed of Gibson's small handrail pillars and .40 brass wire. The Hornby pillars are made of brass, but the rails themselves are made of steel. I exposed the brass and tinned it (WITH THE GREATEST CARE!). After soldering the new wire into the Gibson pillars, shaping it and then drilling small holes in the smokebox ring, the two were soldered together (WITH EVEN GREATER CARE!) and the new pillars superglued into the holes. Phew! 

 

Any chance of the original top lamp bracket surviving any treatment was instantly lost. The replacement is brass fret, formed/soldered and glued into a new hole. 

 

 

Rather than the fag of changing all the numbers, I just carefully scraped off the last digit.

 

 

And the different front end, with licks of matt black to cover the brasswork. 

 

Since 60502 was shedded at York, then the 50A 'plate can be left.

 

 

Complete and ready for weathering; heavy weathering, since York never seemed to have any cleaners. 

 

The replacement '2' isn't exactly the same colour, but weathering will disguise this. 

 

I sable brush-painted the cab roof eaves and the tender above the beading with matt black enamel. 

 

Worth doing? I think so. Strictly speaking, in this guise (numberplate above top hingestrap and early BR totem), 60502 is a little early for Little Bytham, but I'm prepared to be 'flexible'.

 

Will others 'risk' doing something like this to their brand new acquisition. I hope so, but the chances of cock-ups are manifold....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony,

Much prefer a P2 in its original condition, but these A2s are fine models.

When I was renumbering/renaming RTR locos professionally I used fine grade wet and dry paper (1200 or 1500 work well), depending on the standard of the original varnish finish this usually worked well removing only the numbers themselves, barely affecting the base colour underneath.

My preference was never to partially renumber; I would change the lot, then the spacing and style are consistent. Fox Transfers being my favoured type.

Some people can't get on with waterslide transfers but I found they produced the best results so long as they were applied to a gloss base and then varnished over with satin, or sometimes a satin/gloss mix to imitate the original finish.

Keep up the fine work,

Glenn

On 20/02/2021 at 15:39, toboldlygo said:

 

Unlike most Fox ex-GWR Etched Plates, 9440's doesn't come with a smoke box number plate - I had to get creative with decals  

 

 

 

Fox BR smokebox numerals I presume?, perfect for GW types, too big for everyone else.

Keep up the good work,

Glenn

22 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Yes, but the post I was replying too questioned why Hornby are producing the older, less numerous Third Dining Saloon rather than those newer coaches and (IMHO) the fact that many will want models that match the fully lined ones they already have is as likely an explanation as any. 

 

The 1935/36 stock (to the best of my knowledge) carried the simplified lining from new. 

 

John

The post you were replying to welcomed the new models but stated other types were more numerous, at no point did I mention liveries ...

... but as you mention it, personally I would like to see the lined Maunsell green produced as this is very hard to reproduce satisfactorily and Hornby have made a very good job of this on earlier releases. Plain green is easy!

Glenn

On 05/01/2021 at 15:20, The Fatadder said:

Bit of a sorry state when the only GWR offerings in the 2021 Hornby range are generic 4 wheel coaches.   I don’t think I saw a single older release in any form of GWR either, just two more BR liveries on the new prairie.

 

I was hoping for a Saint and Toplight coaches, but no.

The P2 seems to take precedence over 'Lady of Legend', perhaps next year.

Glenn

23 hours ago, The Black Hat said:

Dont think its a retool. Really its a changed top with the chassis able to do both versions needed as the motion on them is the same. I can see me going for a number of the Lord President P2s which will be entering the paintshop as chance allows... brace yourself for:

60601 Thane of Cawdor
60602 Arthurs Seat
60603 Duke of Lennox
60604 Glenfinnan 

Any of those names beats 'Prince of Wales', where's the Scottish connection there?

Glenn

50 minutes ago, Paul.Uni said:

Just double checking so that I am clear:

SR dining third 7864 (R40030) is not this coach at Bluebell https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/7864.html

BR dining composite S7841S (R40031) is this coach at Bluebell https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/1365b.html

 

Have I got that right?

 

7864 is a Dining Saloon, or Restaurant First Kitchen. 7866/1365/S7841S is one of the Dining Thirds as rebuilt (twice!).

From that same site, this quote explains some of the story:

In late 1930 the first of the new diagram 2005 Open Thirds (like 1336) appeared and these were coupled to additional new-build First Class Kitchen/Dining Saloons. They also frequently took the place of the 1927 dining saloons, which were then reclassified as Open Thirds for general service in 1930, 7866 being renumbered 1365. The released number series (7864-9) was re-used in 1932 for new kitchen/restaurant cars.

... bit of a minefield and as I have stated before there were only six of them.

Glenn

A welcome addition to the Hornby range of Maunsell coaches but ... there were only six of them.

Other types were more numerous; for example the 1935 flush window stock (BCK, TK, BSK and TO varieties)  and therefore more useful.

Glenn

At last, a proper P2 (Lord President).

21 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Agreed, the K was a lovely looking loco, and I count myself fortunate to have seen a couple of them as a lad.

 

Whilst I'd certainly buy a K, I'd go 2 or 3 of the U, more if they covered enough variations.

 

Bachmann have form with ex-SECR and ex-LBSCR prototypes, too, so I'd think the K more likely.  Apart from the N (and to a lesser degree, the old LN) the blue team have avoided producing locos that ranged widely across the company/region.

 

Either by omission or intent, they seem OK with leaving  those to Hornby. so I felt something a bit more mainstream might be in order for a change. That said, crossover sales of Hornby locos and Bachmann coaches cut both ways and will have done neither any harm over the years. That'll no doubt continue with the new Bulleids.

 

 

John

Well I am going to stop going down the pub every night, stop eating out and ditch the expensive holidays and order some Bulleid coaches.

I think the U Class is long overdue, there were 50 of the things after all. Smaller classes (e.g. Adams Radial, Beattie Well Tank) have been produced.

If Bachmann really want to do something radical then why not do their own West Country/Battle of Britain, after all there were 110 of them and Hornby have never made the cab variation suitable for the earlier locos. Plenty of room for both players here I suggest (unlike Std 4 4-6-0s and A4s).

Glenn

On 07/12/2020 at 16:56, checkrail said:

One of the things I was determined to do was to alter the spacing of the 'Great Western' lettering on the tender.  I have seen photographic evidence, including moguls, of the two words being closer together than normal, but it's all at oblique angles or under layers of filth so it's hard to say for sure.  But even if so it was much more the exception.*  I wanted the 'normal' GWR look in which the spacing of the words left a gap big enough to fit the coat of arms.  I found lots of pics to illustrate this, including an exceptionally good mid-1930s one of a Bulldog at Worcester Shrub Hill clearly showing how the letters were laid out to give even spacing while avoiding the vertical lines of rivets.  It's on p 5 of Philip Hopkins' 'Great Western pictorial'.  I copied this using HMRS Pressfix transfers, which I had to cut up into sections of 2 or 3 letters each.  Here is the result. (The slightly wonky final 'N' is not noticeable under the grime at NVD - honest!)

 

For the general appearance and weathering I followed a great photo of 6329 at Leamington around 1930 on p19 of the same excellent book.

 

John C.

 

*  If this was the case, perhaps sometime not long before 1934 someone decided, "Who are we kidding?  We're never going to be putting the heraldry back on goods and tank engines now.  Let's put the words closer together."

What I notice from many old photographs of GWR locomotives is that the spacing between letters for 'Great' is slightly wider than that for 'Western', it doesn't make the two words equal in length but evens them up a bit.

Glenn

Tony,

I believe Coachman (now departed from this particular parish) found one of the problems with the latest Hornby Gresleys was that the underframe was too wide (I think by 2 - 3mm). That would explain the lack of tumblehome below window level.

I suspect Hornby were trying to square that compromise between trainset curves and prototype appearance and falling somewhere in between. A real shame as their later efforts with the other Big Four companies have produced some fantastic models of Stanier, Maunsell and Collett corridor stock in particular.

Glenn

On 17/11/2020 at 17:46, Tony Wright said:

I was considering asking the same question.

 

My complete dislike of tension-locks is well known (even though I've demonstrated their use in some moving footage). In my experience, they have a habit of becoming uncoupled in use, they look like no coupling ever used by real railways (standard gauge at least) and, if attached to bogies, can cause derailments. 

 

Steve's model is very natural, an example of excellent craftsmanship and beautifully-observed. Then I see the tension-locks!

Another reason to hate the things:

Tension locks are vicious nasty things that attack without provocation, I was simply trying to remove one from a Hornby Maunsell carriage which resisted rather too much, so I gave it a good heave and the hook alone detached but was embedded in the end of my thumb! ... cue much foul language (and 'claret') as I removed the thing.

I find using small pliers to get the coupling out from the NEM pocket is far less painful.

Glenn

On 28/04/2015 at 15:38, Combe Martin said:

Further to my post no 13 just above, I've looked at the quoted website, and yes it infers set 390 was Blood & Custard into 1961 which is wrong, though it does query this with a question mark.   I've also checked my own S&D coach set pictures analysis, and from sets 390-399, only 392 and 393 don't appear in green at all.  The rest (apart from 391, see below) all appear in green in the late '50s early '60s period. 

 

I can find no picture at all of 392, and 393 was still Blood & Custard in May 1957, but was withdrawn around July 1958 so this one may have stayed that way. 

 

The latest picture of set 391 I can find is April 1955 and it's green, but this must have been Southern Railway green as BR Southern Region didn't start using their green till July 1956, it was also green in June 1952.   Given that set 391 was withdrawn around April 1958, would it have been repainted into B&C ?

 

There is also another error in this same section of the Blood & Custard website, it states that the Southern's set numbers were in 6 inch numerals, that's only 2mm in OO gauge.  They weren't, they were 8 or 9 inch numbers.

I have put Set numbers on many BR(SR) coaches (Maunsells, Bulleids, Mk1s) and for the BR style I find Fox 8" numerals look about the correct size, 6" appears way too small.

Glenn

Hartland Point perhaps, as butchered by Bulleid?

Jack,

21C122 Exmoor looks just about perfect with the etched Fox nameplates and class scrolls, well done - if only Hornby had put the original cab in their tooling it would have saved all of us SR modellers a lot of hassle.

One question: whose transfers did you use for the yellow bands?

Glenn

On 13/09/2020 at 21:39, Jack P said:

 

I have it on good authority (Mr Graham Muz's) that  21c122, 21c129 and 21c140 received standard length smoke deflectors in early 1947, there are a few others, but photo reference is mandatory. 

 

Which is excellent, as that fits nicely into my timeline - I did pick up some RT short deflectors too, just incase.

 

 

Gentlemen,

According to the good book: 'The Book of the WC and BB Pacifics', 21C108 Padstow received standard length deflectors in Jan-47, with 21C122 & 21C140 gaining them in Feb-47 . There is a photo of 21C122 in this condition on page 17.

Unfortunately with most of my library packed away I cannot confirm 21C129; although I expect Graham is correct.

Glenn

Jack,

The original cab looks good and having had a go myself (and given up; decorating to do!) I appreciate how much effort you have put into it.

I did find one particularly good photo of the original cab in close up on the Wadebridge (34007) loco group's site: http://www.34007wadebridge.uk/

go to Photograph Gallery and see the pic of 's21C107'; unfortunately it doesn't show too much roof detail but does show how the yellow lines are tight to the cab window frame. Together with the other photos of Wadebridge in malachite in SR/early BR days, very useful.

I always wondered if drilling a small hole in the hexagon bolts on the Hornby motion would improve the appearance although something else I haven't been brave enough to do myself.

Keep up the good work.

Glenn

Rob,

The plain black with GWR sits well on the Pannier; put some etched numberplates on it and it will look just about perfect.

Glenn

On 02/07/2020 at 11:51, DLT said:

Err, good question, you’ve got me there, I’ve no idea!

I think you'll find it was black shaded numbers for (red) bufferbeams and on the malachite green painted locos and green shaded numbers on the (black) front of the Bulleid Pacifics and on black locos ... time to get the black paint out! ... or replacement transfers.

Regards,

Glenn

Very impressive build of a very impressive loco. One small point on the livery, shouldn't the bufferbeam numbers be shaded black not green?

Glenn

17 hours ago, gwrrob said:

 

Nice to hear from you Glenn. Of course and what a piece of history she is .

 

HMS Victory is probably the most significant bit of kit from an era when Britain truly rules the waves, just mind your head when you go around as sailors were short in those days (Nelson certainly was). Oddly enough I think we're short of sailors now!

The two carriers both live at the 'historic' end of the Naval Base, so you'd be unlucky not to see one at least on a visit.

Next time you come down please visit the Spinnaker Tower and the Gunwharf and spend some cash, it helps keep my Council Tax down. If any of us are ever allowed out again!

Glenn

On 15/03/2020 at 19:16, gwrrob said:

 

The background subject gives the game away. Even @toboldlygo hasn't made a model of her.

 

HMS Queen Elizabeth berthed at Princess Royal Jetty in Portsmouth Naval Base.

Did you go on the Victory Rob?

Glenn, Pompey resident and former 'Docky'

17 minutes ago, Graham_Muz said:

Hi Glenn 

 

Yes I have used A few of Hornby’s 21C159 split from sets as the basis of renumberings. 
 

Well spotted regarding the intended effect of the extended smoke deflector from the original short version to the later standard length.
I have used an often published photograph of 21C151 in this condition as the basis for this model, and yes the short yellow strip on the front face of the cab is correct (but was often obscured by dirt). 

Graham,

I had a look at 'The Book of ... ' this morning and was pleased to see that Hornby got it right regarding the yellow lining, there are plenty of photos of new light pacifics with this feature, something I had been blissfully unaware of until now.

21C165 and 66 are renumbered, but little else has been done to them, I think I will add the Fox etched roundel to the smokebox as it adds relief. 21C165 has had the original glazing unit removed as she would have had two glass panels in this condition, I will post some photos on here once the pair are completed.

Glenn

9 hours ago, Graham_Muz said:

#OnThisDay 1874: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace. The Southern Railway named 21C151 after him.

I was looking at your photo of 21C151 and noticed that the centre yellow stripe continues across the flat front part of the cab which I thought was odd, until I looked at my renumbered 21C165 and 21C166 models that are on my workbench and they have the same feature (mine are ex-21C159 from a Hornby set, I suspect your model was too?)  ... I am sure it is incorrect but I will check.

Nice job, I like the nod to the extended deflector with the slight change of hue in the malachite. Just remember to replace 'the pipe' under the cab, you know the one that always breaks off!

Glenn

On 11/11/2019 at 16:56, Staffordshire said:

 

     I have a couple of questions, that I would like answered or my thoughts confirmed regarding details for 34005 Barnstaple

in original form .... 

 

    I am wanting to finish 34005 as running in circa 1956 ...

 

   Questions I have,   What colour background to the Nameplate ?

 

                                    Tender details .... 4500 gallon in original condition, ie high sided ?

 

                                    Extended Smoke deflectors ?

 

                                    Livery,  BR Green with Early Emblem ?

 

     

 

 

    Many thanks, 

 

       Ian

Nameplate colour: Black, in the photo compare it with the red ground of the plaque; Barnstaple's is a grey castle on a red background

All other details as seen in the photograph: extended deflectors, original condition tender, early crest.

Glenn