Skinnylinny

Thank you! I'm going to add some dummy front and rear frames, but this will wait until I have the chassis running properly. They will be used to disguise the means of attaching body to chassis. Heh, we did jokingly suggest adding a sound module to the layout, although I vetoed anything continuous. Possibly a few seconds of sound that can be manually triggered. I rather fancy the audio from the old Nationwide clip of a parachuting bagpiper. Unfortunately for the piper, the pipes are a two-handed instrument, and one also needs two hands to "flare" when landing. The sound when landing is... certainly something!

Also in progress (and still wanting a little tidying up) is this piper figure from Finescale Figures. Unfortunately I broke off the piper's chanter while removing the supports, so that will need replacing with some plastic rod when the figure is ready to be installed on the club's forthcoming Edinburgh Haymarket layout. The 4mm scale tartan paint hasn't turned out too badly, although it's definitely 00 rather than P4! I started with a coat of red, then diluted some Vallejo "German camouflage green" acrylic and used a calligraphy pen to apply the green stripes. Not perfect under cruel magnification, but plenty good enough at 1:76.

This set of 3D printed bits on eBay (no connection to the seller) looks to have some useful bits, including 3 tin baths, 4 buckets, 3 coal scuttles, 3 watering cans... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404021184052 Other things that might be relevant would be milk churns (available from many places), while a bedpan ought to be easily-enough fashioned out of a plastic fireman's shovel or spade by cutting the cross-piece off the end of the handle, and rounding-out the shovel blade. Personally, I also intend to stock the bar of the bar car with some Preiser bottles as I have a load left over from a previous brewery project!

Not much to report in the last month, I'm afraid. I have been gifted a (surplus-to-requirements) Silhouette cutter by a friend, but have been too busy with work to get around to poking it properly. Thanks to @Dungrange at the club placing an order with the (sadly now closed) Finescale Figures, I have acquired a group of three youngsters for Linton Town, and have had a thoroughly pleasant afternoon painting them (although I think the faces need a darker-skintone wash). They do look rather familiar, seen here on Brewhouse Quay...

Well that hasn't taken long at all - done in between various work bits (mostly while waiting for the computer to do its thing), I now have one side completely lined, crested and named/numbered, and hopefully, if all goes well, I should be able to do the bunker rear and the other side tomorrow before going to club in the evening... We shall see. Black edging has already been applied throughout so hopefully tomorrow's work should just be attacking with the lining pen and the red paint.

And, as if by magic... This morning I dug out my red lining transfers before a work call. Unfortunately, they are old and crumbled as soon as I tried to apply them to the model. Ah well, I have a bow pen kicking around here somewhere... About 30-45 minutes of lining later and here are the results so far: (Forgive the body being a bit squint on the chassis! It's just resting on top and is currently slightly rear-heavy, pending me sticking some weight in the smokebox) Honestly, I was surprised at how quickly this came together - possibly even quicker than if I'd used transfers, and without the backing paper to hide.

Thank you, Jim! For a change, I thought I ought to dig out something actually related to the thread title. A while back, I started on an 0-4-4t for the Great Southern's local passenger trains. This has mostly sat in bits in a drawers for several years... until today! The chassis has been stripped down, trimmed, and reassembled, some new side tanks made of plasticard, and a quick coat of paint. Note that in the picture below, the front splasher isn't fixed yet - it won't be attached until the body and chassis are properly located with one another, so that it'll be in the right place. Some frame extensions will be added from plasticard, both at front and rear, and I'm considering painting the wheels blue. So far my 0-6-0 tender loco has blue wheels, but the smaller 0-6-0t has black. There will also be some bits and bobs added to disguise the motor where it sticks out in front of the tanks - clack valves and plumbing and such. These parts will be fitted after lining-out, though, as they otherwise tend to get in the way! My current plan for livery is to match existing GSR stock, something like this (with black edging to panels):

Sadly not - this is HO scale (so 3.5mm), and narrow gauge on 9mm gauge track! However, point taken on moving the motor back a bit in the tender. I'm already struggling a bit for space due to using 3D printed frames rather than etching them, I don't think I could fit multi-stage gearing in too...

I have to admit, I hadn't thought of having the worm drive a wheel *above* it, then gearing downwards. That's an extremely clever approach! I am, of course, trying to work out a drive shaft for my HOn30 4-4-0, but that really wants driving on the rear axle (as the front one is so exposed with the bar frames), and the cab makes it rather tricky to have the gearbox any taller than the cab floor without intruding. Unfortunately, that seems to mean I'll need the drive-shaft end behind the coupled wheelbase, which you say is suboptimal. I could possibly bring the worm forward into the firebox and drive a gear chain back to the rear driver. The difficulty being getting the axles and gears into place without them being visible from outside. Perhaps a slot-in gearbox, although I was hoping to fill the firebox with lead for low-down weight over the coupled wheelbase. Food for thought, thank you!

I believe so! There's a lot of plumbing still to add yet. I have considered some brass clack valves, and copper wire is easily enough formed... Careful, Jim - you'll have me wanting to roll a boiler out of sheet soon! Incidentally, may I pick your brain at some point about drive connections from a tender-based motor to a loco-based gearbox please?

Heading back to the UK, at long last - work has started on converting that lovely Train Simulator 4-4-0 into a 3D-printable model for Linton Town. Yet to be decided are name and number for this beast, which surely must be one of the most prestigious locomotives of the company. 5'6" driving wheels should give it a lively turn of speed, and hopefully a handful of bogie carriages won't tax it too much. Currently name-wise I'm thinking of Lady Sybil Ramkin. There's a long way to go yet, but the locomotive is definitely taking shape. I'm not sure what to do for the tender - whether to go for the "standard" GSR tender (a chopped-about GBL SECR Wainwright tender) or to draw up the shorter tender as seen on the Train Simulator model. Then again, maybe that should become the "standard" GSR tender... I've drawn up Salter safety valves, but to be honest these will likely not be printed, being replaced with brass turnings, or possibly spring cases fabricated from brass rod and tube. Either way, I'd like them to be appropriately shiny, along with the smokebox-mounted lubricators and whistle.

Unfortunately it looks as though the composite is missing a roof ventilator (second compartment from the right) - this was also the case with the previous SR and BR releases. Not wishing to find fault, but is there any possibility of the ventilators being made available as spares for those of us who'd like to add it? I have a few packs of ABS whitemetal LSWR "torpedo"s but it would be nice to have them all as exact matches - I'll have to compare size-wise when my set arrives.

There's also the Peco Model Scene "Vari-Kit", although you'd still need to find transfers. It does come with the option of no roof pod, small roof pod or large roof pod, though, and I've seen single- and double-door versions on offer. I can't say I've built one, but I've seen them on the local model shop's shelves!

Looking forward to mine arriving - I already have the LSWR (Drummond) repaint of an Oxford Adams Radial, and an A12 (3D printed) ready and waiting!

I suspect the Airfix kit is underscale, rather than the Lima building being too large. I've read that many building kits of that time marketed as "HO/OO" are closer in scale to 1:100.

Well, the proposed livery has been applied to the American 0-4-0. I think picking out various details has made a big difference in terms of making it look less toylike and more like a model, as has the use of a couple of different textures (a very dark metallic gunmetal on the boiler has given it a nice sheen, while a matt black has made the running boards look a bit more grimy). Still to go are adding glazing (which will be a fiddle as I can't figure out how to separate the cab from the chassis, so the motor gets in the way somewhat!), crew and some fuel in the tender (likely chopped-up matchsticks). I'm also pondering picking out the cylinder end caps in polished steel, just to give some tonal variation on the chassis. I'm pleased though - the loco is a lovely little runner, although being an 0-4-0 does require very clean track for smooth starts. The flywheel on the motor definitely helps though!

Indeed that's been what I've found - there's almost no two alike! That being said, I'm only doing these because they're fun and cute, much like the lead ore wagon. I have absolutely no reason for needing one of those, but it's adorable!

Fair point, @TurboSnail, well made! In the search for something a little different, I've modelled another South Walian coal wagon, so we now have two slightly different ones. However, neither has their end-door latch mechanism modelled yet, so that'll have to be the next thing to happen to them! I don't really have much use for these on Linton Town that I can think of, but one might find its way there occasionally... In other news, the first HOn30 locomotive has arrived - that little Minitrains 0-4-0 tender locomotive, and it's really very cute! I can't wait to give it a run with the two carriages passenger cars. The motor in the cab is a bit of a pity, but I imagine some suitably-grubby glazing, and a crew, will go a long way to disguising it. Also, the steam dome (with whistles and safety valves) protruding from the cab top implies a T boiler, which would thus be represented by the motor... Next step is deciding on a livery. I'm currently leaning towards a black loco and tender with silvered smokebox and a polished wooden cab.

Honestly, every time I run mine, I am extremely impressed by my Hattons SECR P class. Granted, I only use it on live-frog pointwork, because of its short wheelbase, but several club members have also commented on how beautifully it runs. Suitable for 1909 to 1961, and they're adorable!

And to prove the old adage correct... today's announcement from Bachmann includes an LSWR d1410 from EFE. That being said, I don't like the running number choice personally - while 11111 is an appropriate number, it's... a little distinctive for my taste! Even so, I have to say I appreciate the offering of more RTR pre-grouping wagons, and I might have to get one in order to have a steel-underframed one to contrast with the wooden-underframed kitbuilt one. And as for the cross-country sets... That would look rather tasty behind my A12, or indeed behind the T9 if I ever complete it!

The HOn30 passenger cars are well on their way, although I need to assemble the end handrails from wire (after creating a suitable jig!), and I'm nearly happy with the painted finish, after which I can get on with glazing and repairing one or two glazing bars which didn't quite print correctly. I have also popped together a small bogie hopper which I've had sitting around for a while, so the stock is gradually growing. I was browsing the Dundas Models website and found that they have just managed to get hold of some new stock of Minitrains "Fiddletown & Copperopolis" outside-frame American 0-4-0 tender locos in h0e, so one of those has also been ordered, which should (after changing the couplings!) give me a loco to pull this various stock. These locos are also quite sought-after for various 009 body kits, so if you've been looking for one, now might be the time! Rather closer to home, I have just finished a David Geen whitemetal LSWR d1410 van. I already have a Cambrian plastic kit, but it has the later style of narrow planking, while the DG kit represents the earlier builds of these vehicles, thus being more suitable for Linton Town. I'm very fortunate to be temporarily looking after a layout bought by a friend, until he's able to come and collect it, so I have a nice backdrop for photos of 4mm stock. I'm sure this didn't encourage the build at all... Looking at that photo, it looks like the roof has shifted towards the far end of the van while the glue was setting, so I will have to pop that off and re-seat it! Oh well...

Hiya, Is this the one you're after? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235105630107 Hope this helps, Linny

Well, that was a thoroughly enjoyable word day - five hours of steam haulage through London and Kent. We were expecting Mayflower on the front, but that was not to be - a less-modern engine (though still not my period of interest!) appearing instead: While out, I acquired the two HOn30 passenger cars, and the photos really don't do them justice. I'm very much looking forward to getting some paint on these. I also popped into Janes Trains in Tooting (between visiting two friends in London), where I acquired some 009/h0e/HOn30 points, enough to get started on the first module. It's a bit of a treasure-trove, with plenty of second-hand stock. I nearly left with some more RTR wagons for bashing, but remembered from the move that I have quite a lot of unstarted projects already that I probably ought to try to work on instead... Still, on my way back home just now, and looking forward to some unpacking! And, goodness, maybe even some modelling at some point!

Thanks, Chris - I didn't end up winning the competition (only one prize) - there were many very worthy entries, so I don't feel bad for "losing" to a beautifully modified and repainted HST power car! It was rather bright in comparison though... I'm slowly unpacking and getting settled in the new place - at least the stressful part is now done!

Thank you! Also, I'm loving the cowcatcher fitted to Nesta. Will she be gaining a huge headlight and a bell as well? 😂