nickwood

I'll assume that the bus driver and all the passengers are doing the same then Is the car a Hillman Hunter?

No driver either......

The coaches are now more or less finished, just finally fixing the roofs and bogies and some weathering and they will be done. You can just see a passenger or two in the photos, there are actually a dozen seated between the two coaches but they take some spotting. Hardly worth the bother really. I've also picked out the handles and handrails with some brass coloured paint. Hopefully the final weathering process will hide disguise some of the remaining rough edges. I didn't set out to achieve perfection, if I had wanted that I would have built the Roxey Mouldings kits. I'm pleased with the result and it has been a great to do some old fashioned kit bashing. I'm happy that they look good enough from normal viewing distance that I can run them on Much Murkle at exhibitions and give some variety to my normal coaching stock.

Thanks for ll the likes, they help keep me motivated. Mikkel - I think there may be a possible variants the Ratio sides could be used for. It's just a case of working out which kits are needed and where the cuts need to be. I'd be really interested to see you take one one

When I last posted on this project I thought it would be finished by now but I got sidelined as usual. In a flurry of activity the two coaches have been painted; quite nicely from viewing distance and quite badly if you saw them in close up photos which of course you are not going to. The colours are my own mix of GWR cream and brown using Games Workshops Citadel range of acrylics. They have also been glazed which I was dreading having to do as each compartment had to be done individually. Lots of cutting and but it was actually quite easy to do in the end. Work on one compartment at a time. Cut the glazing sheet to fit, remove and then apply Humbrol ClearFix to the rear of the panels with a cocktail stick and stick the glazing in place. The lining was a different story and I'm not really happy with it but it will have to do. I bought some HMRS pressfix GWR loco and coach lining at an exhibition a few months back from a trader at a show. When I came to try it on one of the coaches I found that it was no longer sticky. A bit of experimenting on a piece of scrap plastic card and I found that it would work using the waterslide technique so I decided to press ahead. Perhaps a mistake. Using this method the lining transfer tended to tear when removing long strips of backing paper so it has been patched up in places and little bits are missing in others. I'm hoping that I can disguise this with some judicious weathering. First up the driving brake and its composite trailer GWR roundels and numbers next, along with driver and a few passengers. Roofs to go on, a little weathering and they should be ready to go into service behind my new Bachmann 64xx Pannier.

Andy I don't want to hijack David's thread any further but I think he has answered your question in much the same way that I would have except to say that I rejected Spratt & Winkles on the basis that they were just as ugly as the tension locks they would have been replacing.

David I also use DG's on Much Murkle handed in the same way and absolutely agree with everything you've said. Making the loops and droppers out of a single piece of wire eliminates having to solder the droppers to the loop which is fiddly. Whilst I have a number of electromagnets installed there are always occasions when for one reason or another stock doesn't uncouple or you want to uncouple where there is no magnet. I have some uncouplers made from coffee stirrers with a small magnet glued on the end to lift the loop. Works a treat. One question if I may, why do you find it necessary to extend the loop?

Excellent Mikkel. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result and perhaps nicking your idea for Much Murkle.

Ben, feel free to pinch the idea. Pleased to be of help. Hi Andy. The couplings are DG from Wizard Models using electromagnets also supplied by Wizard. The magnets were installed before ballasting the track but could with care be installed retrospectively. They just need a hole drilled from underneath. I can't remember the size but it is about the same diameter as the sleepers are apart on Peco track. Thanks for the comments on the operations. There is nothing particularly special in my approach apart from all rolling stock has been rewheeled with Alan Gibson wheel sets and the track and wheels (particularly loco wheels) are kept very clean. All my locos have standard RTR mechanisms. I might also add that I use an old KPC handheld controller (sadly no longer available) that does perhaps give finer control and slightly slower running that the Gaugemaster W that I keep in reserve, but it is also very good.

Hi Ben If you look at post 82 on page 4 these are as good a shots as I think I could take to show how the lighting clips over the supports. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58847-much-murkle/page-4 Each bar is made of a 2 strips of softwood 32 x 11 for the top and 65 x 18 for the back. The length of the top is such that it extends beyond the support it sits on and the back is cut to be slightly shorter than the distance between the two supports. There is no reason for these sizes of the softwood except they were wide/deep enough to protect the light fittings in transit and I just happened to have these sizes in stock at the time. You can see in one of the photos how a small block has been attached to sit in between the inner and outer faces of the support. You could make the top strip longer and fit the block so that it locates on the outside of the support. This particular bar was extended (very roughly) to mount a magnetic catch to hold the end fascia. Hope this helps

I had a bit of spare time today so I decided to tackle the problem point. I removed both the motor and the over centre spring. When I examined them both they seemed to be ok but just to be on the safe side I changed them both. Everything is now back to normal so I'm not sure which was the problem but I now suspect it was a weak spring rather than the point motor. As the springs are fairly easy to change and all the points are getting on a bit I've asked Peco for enough replacements to change the lot.

Some video from the two shows. Mineral Train Autotrain Dukedog shunting Must do some more of these.

Hi Coachman. Thank you and I'm very pleased to have you amongst the band of followers. Hi Ben Sorry I didn't see your post until after the show and the layout was dismantled otherwise I would have taken some shots for you. I'm not sure when I will have the time to re-erect the layout so I will see what I can mock up to photograph and show you how the lighting strips are constructed. Hopefully I'll find time to do it in the next day or so.

Andy Thanks for making yourself known and it was good to have a chat. Also thanks for posting the pictures but I would just like to add, that is not my neck in the 6th one down !!!! Regarding the problem with the point, after a lot of poking, prodding and cleaning we decided it had to be the point motor at fault. The problem was that it is in a very awkward location under the baseboard which would mean the baseboard would have to come out to get at it safely. As it is the central baseboard this would have meant effectively taking down half of the layout which we really didn't have time for. We decided to switch the point out so that we could use the running line but not the Cattle dock road. On testing this we found that for some reason the switch blade on the same point now wasn't making contact when the road was set down the main running line into the platform. We solved this by using a rubber band attached on the point motor so that it pulled the pin and hence the switch blade across tight. This bodge worked well all day thank goodness. Thankfully the rest of the layout ran well and no-one noticed that the wagons in the cattle dock didn't move all day. Abingdon is a great one-day show that is very busy. I had a lot of interest from Exhibition Scouts and ran out of my flyers that I give out. 2016 & 2017 are already looking busy with invites but I don't have another show now until October. A nice long break to do some maintenance and a bit of a freshen up in places. I also have a couple of ideas to improve the presentation, but more of that some other time.

All set up ready for the 'off' at Abrail in the morning. I have left MM with a problem on one of the points that I will need to explore in the morning. It isn't throwing properly for some reason, possibly a bit of dislodged ballast but I ran out of time to sort it tonight. Hopefully that's al it is or something else that is a simple fix otherwise the punters might find it entertaining watching me trying to do some upside down soldering !!

Thanks for correcting my typo. I hope you can make it and please make yourself known if you do. Thanks and I remember the chat. Thanks Ben. If you go back to page 3 post 72 onwards you should find all the details you need. If you want anymore info then let me know and I'll see what I can do, John, many thanks for stepping in, in my absense. I certainly don't mind you doing so and I think it is favour returned (not that I'm counting!) I have seen this wagon before and it is tempting. The main thing that has stopped me so far is that Much Murkle's cider company is called Rancoutt's not Weston's. For the same reason that I didn't want to use Much Marcle as the name of the layout I didn't want to use Weston's Cider either. Having said that a rake of these would look nice with the corrections to the decals. The colour of the tanker is the same as that I chose for Rancoutt's so that works. The other problem is that there is no facility in the plant for loading tankers although that could probably easily be achieved with a bit of strategically placed pipework. Food for thought.

Much Murkle has two outings coming up in quick succession. Kenavon Railway Society in Reading on Saturday 21st Feb 10am - 5pm at The Warehouse, 1A Cumberland Road, Reading RG1 3LB. The show is in aid of the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway Abrail, Abingdon MRC Exhibition on Saturday 28th Feb 10am - 5pm at the White Horse Leisure Centre, Abingdon, OX1 3PJ. Hope to see some of you at one or other of these events.

Thanks again to the folks who have hit the like button. I managed to get a bit more done today and have brought both coaches up to the same standard. They are ready for priming but it's now too late (cold) to go out into the garage to do it. Here's a photo of the driving coach ready for priming. Vacuum pipes have been added at both ends and steps to the guards door. These were a bit of a pain to scratchbuild in plastic but didn't come out too badly in the end. It actually might have been easier to solder them up in brass. As already mentioned the other coach is also now complete with all underframe detail and seating installed. Hopefully I'll get both primed ready for painting tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who has pressed the like button etc it is appreciated. The trailer coach has been brought up to the same level as the driving coach. i.e. the corridor partitions and seating fitted. Well not quite true, the seat backs have been done but the seats themselves have not yet. No photos as it is only a repeat of what has been described before. The next job to tackle is the underframe which includes the trussing, full length running boards, vacuum and gas tanks The underframe trussing is the most complex and difficult job. One problem is that I have been unable to determine with any certainty is if they were steel rods or angle sections on the prototype. I've opted for angle mainly due to the fact that this will be more robust on the finished model. If it turns out that I have chosen wrongly, I can live with it. This was never going to be an exercise to please the rivet counters. Each truss was carefully measured and cut. A nick was put in one face so that the angle would bend to the correct angle. One face was trimmed of to allow the truss to be cemented behind the solebar. Shot of the underframe after installing all the various bits and bobs. One benefit of photograhing your work is you see things the eye doesn't pick up like the slivers of plastic still attached after I had scraped the leading edge of the running boards to thin it down slightly. They have now been removed. The couplings have been soldered to the bogies A very cruel close up showing the coach sitting on its bogies for the first time and finally a couple of shots of the pair of coaches together. The trailer still has the underframe detail to be added and both coaches still need vacuum pipes and a few other small details before painting. Cheers

Unfortunately there isn't a shot of a set at Clifton Down in the book.

Hi Martin Thanks for the comment and it's no problem to raise your question here. I'm away for a long weekend and I'll check the book for photos when I get home next week but my memory says there isn't a photo of a set at Clifton Down.

I said that sorting out the ride height was the next job. Well, that's not what happened. I decided to tackle the compartment partitions and seats instead to increase the rigidity of the structure. First a number of partitions were cut using a spare coach end as a template and trial and error to trim around the strengthening strips I had glued along the inside of the coach sides. Seat backs and bases were made up out of plastic card and glued to the partitions once they themselves had been glued in place. Holes were drilled for the machine screws that will hold the bogies which were then fixed with 5 minute epoxy resin. Luggage compartment grilles from 247 Developments were fixed with superglue. The grilles from the outside.. The solebars have also been fitted using channel section from Sylmaster. Need to do the same for the trailer coach and THEN they are ready to sort the ride height out.

Got the floors cut today and have glued the bodies up This is what they look like with the roofs loosely laid on top Next job will be to sort out the ride height before sending them back to the spray booth.

Thanks to all those who have hit the like button, it is appreciated. The roofs were primed and then I rubbed it all off again to make sure that the joints were flush and all the ribs and cut off gas lights were flush (more on those in a minute). When I made the first roof I carefully chiselled off all the gas light fittings and thought I had put them safely to one side. On preparing the second roof I did the same only to discover that I couldn't find the ones that I'd cut off earlier. I think I must have accidently thrown them in the bin. Here's the ones from the second roof. As you can see they came off very cleanly but this leaves me with only enough for one coach. So what to do ?? Answer scratch build some using two different sizes of plastic rod. et voila!! Some don't look so good close up but I made lots and picked the best eight required for the second coach. The two roofs with gas lights, vents and rain strips applied ready for priming again. Soon be time to start putting the bodies together.

I'm been feeling a bit under the weather all week and decided to have a quiet weekend with nothing planned. The good lady has now got the same bug (blames me for it of course!!). Well she would if if she hadn't lost her voice, so it is definitely going to be a "quiet weekend" What a wonderful afternoon. Modelling whilst listening to the commentary of the IRON (Scunthorpe United for the uniniated) thrashing Leyton Orient 4-1 on their home turf. It doesn't get any better. Here's the results of my afternoons efforts. First up the donor sides. The previous two kits used on the driving brake and the Composite coach (the one in grey) are old Ratio kits that I've had in stock for some years. To build the trailer I needed to buy another all third coach kit which I did at a recent exhibition. This was in one of the fancy new boxes that Ratio are now using. I opened the older one first and immediately noticed the amount of flash on the sprues but also in the windows. Now, I was thinking that the newer Compo would be even worse as Ratios's moulds must be getting even more worn as many years have past, so I was very surprised to see that the new mouldings were very clean and crisp. Have Ratio retooled in recent years??? The cuts made as per instructions, not so many this time and very straightforward. Glued together and strengthened on the inside as before. There is a bit of distortion from the camera lens, they are straight. Honest! The two roofs then had the vents and rainstrips removed and were cut and spliced. Sorry I forgot to take photos of this process in my excitement listening to the footie, but I did manage one of the completed roof. I'll get them primed this evening ready for some more work tomorrow.