TimC

Good stuff, look forward to seeing you there. I'd like a look at your Model Express VAA. You mentioned that you did a mod to the floor, I've got one and I'd be interested to see exactly what you've done there. Cheers

Hi Brian Are you going to the Bristol Show? If so, will you be bringing one of your Heljan 47s - I'd really like to see how you narrow those tanks. Cheers

Thankfully, the Ashes are over and I'm just about recovering a normal sleep pattern. The body sides/roof and floor plan preparation are progressing again. I'll probably get some Westdale door stop castings at the Bristol O Gauge show in a couple of weeks for the sides as opposed to using just a cut down stump of brass rod. Then I'd like to get the body in primer before assembly. The one matter I'm not decided upon is whether to fit the glazing before or after painting. The windows are drop in individual clear plastic untis and the window bars are represented by paint. Andy Siddall in his Class 108 thread fitted them first and masked them all off prior to painting. Hmmmm....

Brian Nice work as always. Are you planning to sound chip this one - Is there much room inside? Merry Christmas!

Hi David At times, I'm guilty of just using whats around me and whatever springs to mind. I like your idea and if I need to do something similar in the future I'll try it. Saying that I'm quite happy with the results I've got. Thankfully, on the modelling table front, I'm in the living room next to the fire. Though I do get some stick if I encroach onto those shelves too much Now, after a couple of days of distractions, hopefully I'll get a productive morning in today.

Hi TTG Nice idea but unfortunately that is not an easy retro-fit now unless I make another pair of boxes as there is glue and card spacers on the inside the blind which would make fitting a diffuser (neatly) difficult . The photo above shows the lights quite bright. This is a more a function of the camera (a fairly cheap Nikon Coolpix) working in a low light environment than what they actually look like in the flesh. In the end, I will probably just have a hint of light behind the blinds on the completed model - maybe just barely perceptible. So you may ask why then go to the effort but the blind boxes I've build are an improvement on the flat etch supplied with the kit. If, I do end up needing needing to tint the LEDs, then they'll just get an appropriate thin wash of acrylic paint.

Ressaldar/Two Tone Green - Thanks for the positive comments guys, I'm glad you're enjoying the thread! Hi Andy Yes, the destinations are just printed off with an ordinary inkjet printer and stuck to the inside of the glazing material with a smear of Glue'n'Glaze. I lashed up (quite literally!) some power this morning to the destination panel. See what you think (I had about 4V applied to the two LEDs coupled in series and a 1K resistor), they can certainly be made brighter if required. The LEDs and their backing plate are not permanently fixed yet and I'll get them more central once I do fix them in. Looking at photos the panels were not that bright so in the end I'll set them quite dim (probably less bright than in the photo below - it just needs hint of light): At the moment, my plan is to have the front marker lights and destination panel (one end) and the tail lights at the other end on the same function off the decoder. I will certainly have to play around abit with trimming the voltage down and with different resistor values to the various LEDs as DMU marker lights were not that bright and as you have said in your thread the tail lights were certainly dim but I'll cross that bridge once I get there. The one other thing, I'm not finalised on is whether I will use normal white/warm white LEDs for the marker lights (dccsupplies do both with red in 2 colour common anode format). Once I'm further down the road with the rest of the build, I'll compare with another lash up and see if the destination panel LEDs needs to be tinted slightly to match if I go with warm white (hence why they are not yet in their boxes permanently). However, sometimes, warm white just looks a bit yellow to me. Anyway, hopefully, I will get the DMBS body together by Xmas. I'm working on only one car at the moment just to see how it all goes together, so far so good. Cheers for now.

Shawn Maybe but how about a Swindon Cross Country Class 120? I'm plodding on with the Cravens, nothing really to report about the bodywork. Its the interior I'm really looking forward to.............

Well I've made some progress with the cab fronts. I had a good number of goes at getting the destination boxes to my liking. In the end I used balck plasticard and, with gentle heat, bent it around a former (itself made from scraps). Having no layout myself, I opted for a couple of generic Cravens DMU destinations - Doncaster/Cambridge. The blinds themselves seem have used a variety of 'fonts' and where possible the destination was stretched out to the full width of the blind, except where names were short (e.g. York/Hull). I did spent ages trying to get SPECIAL to look right - the problem is that it is the curved letters like S and C that really stand out if they are wrong. Having had a lighting test, I found that two LEDs were better than one. With only one LED, only the middle of the blind appeared to be illuminated. Thankfully, my boxes were just deep enough to take two of the square type LEDs (see above). I need to add the gutter which rises up to towards the mid line of the destination blind box (see http://roger-sutclif.../p68102234.html). The marker lights are work in progress. They will be lit by white/red 2 colour LEDs (with common anode - ideal for DCC and available from dccsupplies). I opted for plastic tube rather than brass and have made the lens by building up a clear (ish) accumulation of Glue'N'Glaze. This is a bit of an art as too much seems not to dry clear so the glue needs to be built up in thin layers. I've got about eight on the go and I'll pick the best four! Going forward, I'm going to pick up with the instructions and get on with the sides/roof/non driving ends.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Andy - I've got your thread book marked and IC126, you've given me a good use for my next (empty) can of Old Speckled Hen! Having very carefully removed the 2 digit headcode box and the louvres/other unwanted detail on the cab fronts. I moved onto the destination blind panel. The kit has a solid etch that should be let in between the gutter rail above the cab windows. I thought it very odd that this panel was not included in the cab moulding and then I twigged. The cabs in this kit must orignally have been produced for the Easy-build Class 129 single parcels car (now I understand). However, I want an illuminated desination panel. In checking the sizing of the panel from a good end-on photograph. I noticed that the marker lights looked a bit low (looking at a variety of pictures of cars from difference batches - marker light position appears to be a variable) hence off came the marker lights too. I therefore ended up removing all the detail on the fronts below the windows which actually made cleaning up the cab fronts after surgery much easier. I'll make up some new lights from brass tube. I'm currently experimenting with a fabricated box out of plasticard: It should not be too obtrusive in the cab as the destination blinds are in the roof. The glazing will probably end up flush with the ends too and not inset as per above. I'll let you know how I get on. Weekday mornings are my modelling time so not much will happen over the weekend.

Well I was going to start a JLTRT Class 37 that has been lurking around but I came home from Reading Show last weekend with an Easy-Build Cravens Class 105 DMU. I only went to their stand for some Delrin sprockets and they were demostrating the SWD DCC sound in their Cravens. Cut a long story short, I came away with a bit more than the sprockets. My JLTRT Class 25 is now awaiting the paint shop, which is in my case is outside so that project is unlikely to progress towards completion until milder weather arrives. I've enjoyed others construction threads so thought I'd write this project up - it may motivate me, we'll see. My modelling interest is the BR Blue era, circa 1981/2, a period of time when I spent an inordinate amount of my time sitting on my bike at Horton Road crossing in Gloucester and, when funds allowed, getting around the network. However, the grass was always greener elsewhere and it was the Eastern Region that really caught my interest. I certainly remember the Cravens units and their curved backed seats in particular when on trips to Norwich/March and Doncaster/York. The Easy-Build Kit comes complete expect for paint and transfers and any extras you may want to add such as lighting, passengers etc. Here are the components for the DMBS vehicle (there is a load of straight wire and misc plastic rod/section too). The DTCL is similar but only the DMBS is motorised. The instructions for the kit come on a CD and updates are available from the Easy-Build website. My chosen prototype is DMBS/DTCL E50381/E56426, a BG based set. There is a photo here: http://www.flickr.co...phy/3702734462/ Needless to say research wise, you can spend hours (and I have) trawling fotopic and Flickr for prototype pictures. There is also an excellent thread here on RMweb relating to the introduction of the Bachmann 4mm Cravens model that covers alot of the history and build differences. One other essential source of infomation for DMU modelling is the Railcar Association website www.railcar.co.uk When I start a project I need to have some little challenge to get me going so I'll pick up with the instructions (which I have read!) once I've got the cabs sorted. The cab as supplied in the kit: A few jobs here. The 2 digit headcode box and louvres on the front need to be removed and I need to sort out the destination blind box and fit some lighting. If anyone has already built one of these kits and has any timely advice then I'd welcome it! Hopefully, I'll report back soon.

Brian When you DCC fit your locos how do you control the various lights? The SWD and Howes decoders both seem to come with a large number fo function keys assigned to various sound effects with only one or two spare functions left for the lights. Earlier in this thread there is a picture of your DCC fitted class 26. On the left of the picture (showing the internals) just above the speaker is that a subsidiary function only decoder? (or is it just a plug/socket or your LED resistors on a piece of vero board). I've got a JLTRT Class 25 which is nearly finsihed and I've been sorting out the DCC this weekend but I want six independent light functions (headcode, cab and tail lights each end) on top of all the sound/DCC control functions on the SWD Loksound XL decoder. This means going over 16 functions and I'm striggling to understand if this is possible (my NCE PowerCab can handle upto 28 functions but I'm not sure that the XL decoder can). What do you do? Thanks BTW - Those bulkhead lights in your latest Cl20 are awesome - might have a go at those myself.

Thanks - I'll keep my eyes open. I model in 7mm so I will have a good look at them first to see if they are man enough before parting with any cash!

Excellent thread. BTW, who markets that painting stand you have there under those IC liv MkIs? Thanks

Brian I spoke to you at the Bristol O Gauge show in January. You told me the make of plunger picks-ups you used (they weren't slaters). We were looking at your Class 26. Can you please remind me whose pick ups you use. Cheers

What a fantastic thread! I could watch that AVI clip of Waverley over and over again. Anyway, here are a few from me: 47004 on Eastrield before it gained celebrity status. July 1986 08755, Waverley Pilot. Feb 1987 27050, Haymarket, July 1986 85018, Glasgow Central, Feb 1986

Hi Ian You did some Model Express VAAs a while ago. Which transfers did you use? Also did you replace the buffers in the kit with Appleby's (and again if so which ones?). Cheers

Hi Barry PM sent. Many thanks.

Hi On the old RMweb there was a post where you could download the BR Corporate Rail Alphabet fonts. I have rebuilt my PC and lost them. Can someone who has them please post them as a reply. Thanks in advance.

Hi I toyed with this as a project in the early 1990's but it never got off the planning board. At the time, I did go and visit Bill Potter who then lived in Bishops Cleeve as he had photographed the area frequently in the late 1950s/early 1960s. However, most of his pics were already published, even then. The problem I had with the project was I wanted to concentrate on the shed and old (original) station but there were just too many walls making viewing the model difficult and I didn't want to omit buildings as this would change the character of the confined space that was the character of the place. Anyway, I would be very surprised if Jim Clemens had not shot some footage of the Tewkesbury Quay Branch. He lived in Evesham and covered the local scene extensively. Have you had a look at his B&R DVDs? (they were not out when I was researching the area). Another place I would now try is the National Monument Records office at Swindon (in the old works offices, just opposite STEAM). A search of the aerial photographs is free and you can view up to 200 photopgraphs per visit. The link is below, just pop in the OS grid reference, within a week someone will come back to by e-mail and tell you if they have any matching material. Most of the collection is pre 1960 so should be relevant (I'd be very surprised if there was not something of use). http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.00100300b005002 I'd also contact the Tewkesbury YMCA Railway Club http://www.shelbrooke.co.uk/wls/wls3-5.htm, Ian Boskett's number is on the link (I'm sure he'll be more than happy to chat). They will know for sure if there are any 'private' collections that cover the branch. Actually, looking down their 2009 schedule, they had Mike Clemens (Jim's son?) this year. It is also quite funny for me as I was the Gloucester Support Group (of the Glos Warks Rly) events organiser back in the late 1980's and my line up for 1987 was virtually identical as their 2009 programme. Best of luck - btw I always fancyed a model of 58071 (but I've gone over to the dark side - well Corporate Blue anyway).

Top work again Brian! BTW - Will you be on the JLTRT stand at Reading?