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Ravenser

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  1. Ravenser
    I really must get more done this year . In fact I seem to have spent as much time taking stock as making stock. However first things first , and I'm going to try to transfer ORBC from the old forum. This is because half the projects concerned are unfinished - and it's not going to make a lot of sense if I announce with whoops of triumph that the PMV is finished and you haven't a clue as to the long-running saga of distress to this point.
     
    And I have a sinking suspicion the Bratchill 150 hasn't made any progress since I last copied stuff onto a new version of RMWeb...
     
    I will do better next year. I keep saying that...
     
    So - now let's see if I can get my head round Martin Wynne's transfer utility
  2. Ravenser
    ORBC
     
    by Ravenser
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri May 04, 2007 5:24 pm
     
    As I'm hoping that I will actually get something done over the bank holiday weekend, I thoughtt I'd better salvage the spiel about the Bratchill 150 from the old forums.
     
    Having gone back to RMWeb2 , I was confronted by my New Years Resolutions from January last year:
     


    I must make some progress on other fronts this year. I have a lot of DCC installations to sort out: the 31 where I misconnected a loose wire and fried the decoder, an extra 20 I bought because the number was the first 20 I ever saw, a Voyager for the club layout, probably a 60 (ditto)
     
    Then there are various MUs and locos. An old Lima 20 which I rewheeled and fitted with added pickups needs the body sorting out (yes I know, but I've already got the stuff and in the immortal words of Magnus Magnussen "I've started so I'll finish...") A decoder could sensibly go in that at the same time. There is the Bratchill 150/2 kit - should be simple and therefore an early candidate. Its about time I chopped up the Hornby 155 into a pair of 153s. More Beetles, more T1 decoders. Can I finally get round to the Home Made 37? Will the Ultrascale wheels for the Athern chassis turn up before 2007?
     
    Then there is the Branchlines chassis for the 04 I started almost 12 months ago . Not to mention the small Dark Secret in the cupboard
     
    And I really should do something about the light rail project this year (Other than operating it with a pair of 153s) . Even your average cowboy builder doesn't take 3 years over a pair of semis
    Well.. most of the DCC installations are done (the Voyager still needs more work and the 31 needs sorting out)
     
    The Athearn wheels for the 37 did turn up - but nothing else got done. The 153s are still an aspiration - though my Challenge project gives them an immediate use (once the Challenge Project is far enough advanced). The Sentinel got built
     
    The rest didn't , though I got a fair way with the 150/2...
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri May 04, 2007 5:30 pm
     
    So here we go (just under 13 months ago...)
     
    Quote:
     
    Not a lot has happened recently but now DMUs seem to be on the agenda.
     
    The other evening the Bratchill 150/2 kit came out for the first time. Fit of parts seems reasonably good : a little bit of filing was needed around the corridor connection on the ends. One area that will need careful attention is at the front end , around the interlock between sides and roof . There is a visible bump here and this will need filling and filing down as no such bump is visible on photos of the real thing.. It will also be critical to ensure exact alighnment of sides and roof so there is no "step effect" as you go round the rim.
     
    I'm also agonising over whether I need to fill the join lines where the end fits into the roof. I'm a bit short of 150 photo reference especially for internal ends and have resorted to gawping at a few other Mk3 MUs . Yes there seems to be a faint seam , but not a prominent one...
     
    One thing I didn't buy at Ally Pally was a set of Lima 156 bogie mouldings, as recommended by cloggydog
     
    Nothing has actually been glued together yet.
     
    Unquote
     
    4 days later a start had been made:
     
    Quote
    Posted - 12/04/2006 : 14:19:34
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    I've actually managed to make a start on the Bratchill 150/2.
     
    Progress to date amounts to gluing in the ends and making a start on gluing the sides in place. I'm having a spot of bother with one side, - there's a kind of interlocking step between side and roof at the cab end and the side isn't absolutely seating properly here, meaning that there's a hairline crack between roof and side towards this end. So of course the solvent wont grab at this end, and the side is only glued for about 2/3rd of its length .
     
    Fixing in the cab end might help. Unfortunately the instructions say that glazing should be fixed with contact adhesive - I'm not sure if this applies to the clear ends as well, and I don't think Uhu is going to give me a great bond here. I may have to slip in a sliver of microstrip or micro-rod to get a bond at the cab end and resort to a bit of filler to fill in any residual hairline cracks. (The other side's fine)
     
    I've started to fix the sides of the second vehicle - at this stage just at the inner ends . I've still got room to work on the interlock at the cab end to make sure that this time it really does seat properly
     
    Unquote
     
    By the end of the month , one concern had been allayed by the Fatadder:
     


    I have never had any problems using my normal Mek poly or plastic weld gluing the clear cabs onto by bratchel 456s, so there shouldnt be any problems.
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Rich
    Dreaming of Mountains and Snow.


    Fatadder:
     
    Thanks. That's one problem out of the way then . The ends can hold the sides in place and I sort out the hairline crack over the last 2 inches with filler
     
    I didn't really fancy trying to slip slivers of microstrip in - it would probably have been too thick and over done the correction.
     
    I might actually get some 21st century modelling done tomorrow then...
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri May 04, 2007 5:36 pm
     
    By mid June , things were far enough along for a first assessment:
     
    Quote
     
    Is it just me?
     
    I took yesterday off and full of good intentions decided to do some modelling. Hoping and expecting to make Some Serious Progress on several fronts.
     
    The net result? Er 8 small holes and a couple of bits of whitemetal stuck with Araldite . And no we're not talking big subtantial structural items like boilers and footplates . Try a few underfloor casting bits...
     
    The 150/2 has now reached the stage of 2 bodyshells. Yes , I should have drilled out the headlights before I stuck the ends into the bodyshell . No, I didn't . (And no it didn't turn out to be mission-critical). An Express Models lighting pack for the Dapol 150 has been procured as I'm not up to doing my own LED lighting installation , and I've managed to drill the headlights out to suit (actually starting with micro drills and opening out with broaches. If I'm honest, despite my best effort trying to centre the drills on the headlight , the results are only 98% straight, but they are the same size)
     
    After much effort with the needle files and fibreglass pencil I finished/gave up on cleaning the main engine and gearbox castings (given that the castings are ex MTK as cleaned up and sold by NNK , finishing and throwing in the towel come to much the same thing. In fairness the engines were always going to be the roughest and most awkward castings by some way).
     
    These are now araldited in place, after much comparison of the ex MTK instruction sheet, Jim Smith-Wright's Update drawing, and drawings in Railnew Stockspot 2. All show slightly different positions for the engines and transmission relative to the windows, meaning much poring and moving of bits of whitemetal , but Update and Railnews are pretty close here
     
    Also aradited were a pair of brass coupling hooks for the Dublo 20 (and one exhaust pipe on the 150/2 before the araldite went off). This now has main handrails one one side - the second side was going to follow the 150/2, but I didn't get that far....
     
    I still need to sort out some ex Lima 156 bodies for the Sprinter - so no progress on running gear.
     
    I think I'm now at the point where some intelligent comment can be offered on the Bratchill kit. Where Bratchill's own work is concerned, assembly is pretty straightforward and results good.
     
    But I'm a bit disquieted by the amount I'm going to end up discarding - basically everything below the bodyshell - and the amount I'm having to source from elsewhere. The underframe boxes etc supplied with the kit are nothing to do with a DMU and have been put aside. The bogies are well designed , and would be easy to build and attach - but they've got damper arms so must be discarded and alternatives sourced . I do hope I can fit the Bratchill centre bolsters , otherwise I've got to devise and fabricate alternative arangements
     
    So all I'm going to get from Mr Bratchill is two body shells - not including the seating , which is courtesy of DC Kits (and looks like Modernisation Plan benches - more work with file and paintbrush. ). Considering the kit cost me ??????‚??67, this seems a bit meagre. I'm having to source bogies, underframe detail castings , motor bogie, wheels, seating, and lighting units myself . That's quite a lot of the finished vehicle. And some of these items will require some work. The additional items will cost about ??????‚??85 -90
     
    Ouch.
     
    Obviously things look rather better if you're building one of his EMUS , where the bogies and underframe detail are right. But still, the 150/2's not cheap and it's not complete.
     
    Unquote
     
    Quote:
    Speaking of MTK, I've spent the afternoon sticking a few bits of whitemetal. Here's the base of the Bratchill 150/2 kit.
     

     
    Most of the bits on the side are now stuck to one of the underframes.
     
    Working out what is what and what goes where from Jim Smith Wright's drawing, Railnews Stockspot2 and the NNK/MTK leaflet is a bit difficult. J S-W and Stockspot seem basically to agree, but the castings don't necessarily match. The two objects on the left with round fillers are the two ends of the fuel tank. They are neither the same shape , nor remotely the same length (one's about 2/3rds the length of the other) nor the same height. The circular discs appear to be meant as representations of the ends of the air tanks???
     
    Its going to have to be strictly representional , I'm afraid , but at least it will be a represenatation of a DMU , not (like Bratchill's bits) a representation of an EMU
     
    Gives the thing bags of weight though
     
    Having discarded chunks of the kit to replace them with detailing bits from elsewhere, I'm now discarding detailing bits to replace them with bits from the kit...
     
    Those curious objects looking like whitemetal archery targets seen in the piccy above which are alleged to be airtanks , or at least the ends of airtanks (one of the late Mr Massingham's less plausible fibs) to be precise. I stuck them on, found they were wonky, shakily attached , and didn't even begin to resemble the air tanks found under Mk3 derivative stock , or the drawings or anything else really. Sanity dawned, I reached into the relevant bag of Bratchill bits, retreived 4 x plastic air tanks and stuck 'em on. A plastic rod drive shaft between gearbox asnd engine went in to
     
    Apart from that I've been adding plasticard sides to MTK/NNK's cast facades for battery boxes etc
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri May 04, 2007 5:46 pm
     
    By the time I reached the bogies , we were into mix and match territory...
     
    Quote
    No work done, just some shopping
     
    I finally phoned MB Models in quest of the Lima 156 bogie frames recommended by cloggydog. Unfortunately they're now out of stock , as they've had quite a few people buying them recently . Wonder why that would be....? Perhaps I'm not the only person who's actually building a Bratchill Sprinter
     
    So I resorted to Plan B , and ordered some Hornby Networker bogies and one or two other bits from East Kent Models . Service was exemplary - stuff ordered on Tuesday afternoon was waiting for me when I got home yesterday
     
    The sideframes will need to be sawn off the bogie mouldings and superglued to etched H-frame units - I have a pack of A1 Models etches in stock. It looks like I will have to fill in the slight recesses around the bogie pivots , and possibly file down the mounts as well (fortunately the holes are the same size in the Bratchill floorpan and the etches)
     
    The trailing vehicle is the easy bit . More awkward is the powered vehicle. Gluing the sideframes to the Beetle is not difficult . However I will have to provide pickups on the trailing bogie and that's a bit more problematic.
     
    Soldering a wire across the top of the cross stretcher for wiper pickup from the top is easy enough, but means the H frame is live to one rail. Fitting a second pickup is then more awkward. Last time I tried this , on a light rail vehicle, I ended up with through wiring to 2 trailing bogies , each one live to one side, because attempts to fit a second pickup on a bogie resulted in shorts.
     
    Through-wiring an articulated LRV is one thing, but I'm not going to do that on a 2 car DMU. And there must be a chance of simply fitting an excellent set of brakes to the trailing bogie
     
    Seating is another problem . I took the Hornby 155 out of its box last night and a number of problems started to emerge for the 153 conversion. The moulded seats in the 155 are nothing like the seating units supplied by DC Kits - which I'm increasingly certain are 2 + 3 high density seating for a Modernisation Plan unit, and not 2+2 seating for a Sprinter. So they are completely unsuitable. I'm not sawing down 3 seat units one by one into 2 seat units (This is despite being quite explicit on the phone to DC Kits about what I wanted , and being assured they would provide a suitable pack)
     
    Unfortunately E Kent's Hornby spares list does not include seating units for the 155. The candidates are Networker seating (almost certainly 3+2 suburban), Mk3 seating , and Eurostar seating . If anyone has any comments , I'd be glad to hear them , but present thinking is to go with the Eurostar seating units as being 2 + 2 and presumably having plenty of airline seating
     
    I'll need more seating for the 153s anyway , as the seating needs to be extended at both ends to fill the unit, as well as installing end partitions. And I suspect I will have to replace the bogies with etched H frames when I do the conversion - the Hornby versions are the very opposite of open
     
    There's also the complication of the wiring and installation for the decoder on the 150 . I'm making the coach with the toilet the powered vehicle with a view to hiding the decoder in the toilet compartment
     
    It doesn't seem to be getting more straightforward
     
    Unquote
     
    By mid July the tale was looking still more like a corkscrew :
     
    Quote
    And things have got even less straightforward , as the person who was going to paint the unit (and any 153 conversions) can't now do it intil the New Year , if even then
     
    The gubbins has now been installed under the second floor pan , and here is a picture for anyone else who is trying to reconcile a bag of whitemetal bits with a couple of drawings and concluding that the two things don't exactly match.....
     

     
    This is the second and very slightly better underframe. You will see that the two ends of the fuel tank bear no relation to each other....
     
    I don't guarantee this is absolutely accurate compared to the real vehicles - in fact I'm sure there are some differences (fuel tank for starters , and the exact shape of the exhaust arrangement being two). However it is a reasonable approximation of the equipment underneath a 150/2 , as opposed to the excellent model of the underneath of a 321 MS which is what you get if you s8imply use the bits in the kit
     
    After further investigation , I've decided the best way forward for the seating is Mk4 TSO coach interiors from E.Kent Models. These have the right sort of seats in a 2+2 arrangement with a fair amount of aircraft seating in the mix . A fair amount of chopping up of the units will be necessary, but it's the only route that offers something approximately correct
     
    It's perhaps worth adding that there are two black plastic airtanks underneath the exhaust unit, both mounted laterally , not transversely, with the smaller tank towards the centre. Black on black hasn't shown up well
     
    Unquote
     
    The start of August saw things working towards the rails:
     
    Quote
     
    I had a day off yesterday, and actually got a bit of modelling done
     
    Thankfully the weather is now cool enough to dig out the soldering iron. 3 x A1 etched H frame bogies were folded up and soldered, and the sideframes cut from the Hornby Networker bogies stuck on with cyano. The brass of the etch does project slightly above the cosmetic side frames but I think I'll have to live with that.
     
    I've fitted two to the trailer vehicle, using the Bratchill screws and attachment points. The recessed wells in the floor pan have been packed down to floor level to provide a bearing surface for the fold up bearing tabs
     
    And suddenly I've got a vehicle, instead of a collection of bits and sub assemblies. All it needs is windows, interior,lights and one or two details. Photo will follow
     
    Even better, my Boy's Bumper Bag of Kadees arrived from MG Sharp, and a little experiment showed that a dropped head Kadee should mount at the correct height via the enlarged coupler slot I filed in the front
     
    I'm told that The Thing To Do is to use a medium shank Kadee at one end and a long shank Kadee at the other , as this will get it round a 2' radius curve. There's a packet of medium shank overset Kadees in the Starter Pack, but no long shank equivalent, and the separate packet of #49 long shanks I ordered is still on back order..
     
    I've decided to make the DMSoL the motor car as this gives me a toilet compartment in which I can hide the decoder
     
    I've even started to contemplate the supplementary pickups off the trailing bogie in a cheerful frame of mind .
     
    And I've found someone else to do the paint job. It's starting to come together
     
    Unquote
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri May 04, 2007 6:23 pm
     
    Quote
    As promised, a photo:
     

     
    I'm afraid black plastic doesn't produce the clearest results. We'll have to say its currently a Stealth Sprinter. But it rolls very freely, sits very steady and weighs quite a bit
     
    As the Mk4 seating has arrived from E.Kent Models, I've started some desultry hacking. I was going to fit interiors after painting , but I've come to the conclusion I'm going to have to fit the interior on the powered vehicle before it goes away for painting, so that I can get all the wiring round it. (to be specific , Decoder, leading bogie pickups, Beetle pickups, and Express Models lighting)
     

     
    The problem of the snowploughs seems to have a solution , and I'd better order some for the 153s as well
     
    Unquote.
     
    It was not long after this that we managed to break RMWeb1.5....
     
    A hasty knot in the thread and we rejoin RMWeb2 late in September...
     


    The cast brass snowploughs for the 150 have arrived from Hurst , so we may see some progress on that front , too.
    Some comments from bigjim, who had done some 153 conversions :
     


    quote:
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Originally posted by Ravenser
     
    The cast brass snowploughs for the 150 have arrived from Hurst , so we may see some progress on that front , too.
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    they are good those ploughs, i find when fitting them put a dummy bsi on and glue the plough to the body and rest them on the coupling too, otherwise they fall off, or use miliput, they really make a world of difference to the 153 models, i have done loads of them now, far too many, i can do them in my sleep now!!
     
    heres one of my efforts, i know you have seen my "times are changing" so heres a different one "heart of wales"
     
    And bigjim again:
     


    quote:
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Originally posted by Ravenser
     
    Thanks for the comments. I'm afraid I don't have any bright ideas to sort the bogies, so a little bit of trickery with a mk 1 paintbrush looks the only option
     
    The Hurst snowploughs do seem to "lift" the 153s. My 150 looks very naked around the front end withough ploughs .
     
    Whose conversion pack did you use for the 153 conversions ? I've got a Hornby 155 to rework at some stage and some A1 packs in stock .
    And how were the vinyls done?
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    the kit i used was the hurst one, really good quality and simple to do.
     
    as for the vinyls i took pics of the real thing and measured the dimensions (got some funny looks off the passengers as i did it during a turn round at crewe a few years back!!) and got someone to make them for me (lettering only) but the big pic on the side was simply done by photographing the real thing side on and reducing it in size on the computer then printing it onto a sticky label!!
     
    if you want some "heart of wales" decals i have some left over and a set of "times are changing" too, i also have loads of arriva decals
     
    i tried to fit a spud motor to another 153 i did and it ran like a dog, i got it in a mtk class 150 kit which i ended up using the motor/underframe castings on a 153 and chucking the rest in the spares bin (where it is still languishing) i ended up putting the Hornby motor back in
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Edited by - big jim on 16/10/2006 21:36:01
    And rather embarrasingly, there the matter has rested ever since, as a couple of locos , a Challenge layout and the club project plus various bits of admin have been ahead of the 150 in the queue
     
    With most of those disposed of, I'm hoping the 150 and the Challenge project can make some progress this weekend.
     
    The delay hasn't entirely been a bad thing. Thanks to one or two people I now have some much better ideas about how to install the Express Models lighting kit. The circuit board will now be mounted on the roof, avoiding much awkward sawing up of the interior seating to fit round it. This will also mean that the LEDs can stay firmly inserted into the cab front, and there will be no complications in routing the wire+ plug to the slave lighting unit in the trailer via the gangway. Effectively the whole thing becomes part of the removeable top - not the underframe
     
    This also means that the partitions can be glued in place and I just have to cut a notch in the top for the wire to pass through. And it leaves the underframe clear to install a Tony Wright style simple wire coupling between cars. This gets round the possible problem of Kadees uncoupling between the cars if standing in the wrong spot
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue May 08, 2007 5:22 pm
     
    I had lots of good intentions for the Bank Holiday weekend. I was going to crack on and sort out the bogies for the poweered car , pickups, motor bogie , that sort of thing.
     
    And what happened?
     
    Er, well I almost finished the trailer car instead.
     
    It now has an interior, with seats concocted out of chopped up bits of Hornby Mk4 interiors. Unfortuately part way through the process I rechecked my references and realised that 150s are supposed to have 3+2 seating , not 2+2. At least nearly all of them do. I'm afraid I was led astray by too many miles on 153s and 156s . The HornbyNetworker interiors would presumably be more appropriate, and I suppose I should have written off for some and called a halt till they arrived...
     
    In fact being a OO bodger , not a P4 modeller , I'm afraid I assembled the interiors using 2+2 seating , set in "airline seating" on the principle that it is going to be pretty difficult to see the details of the interior through the windows and so long as there are shapes , of a suitable shape , in a suitable place , of approximately the correct colour , the eye will be happy and not enquire further
     
    Lighting has been fitted , using double sided stickytape to hold the slave unit of the Express Models lighting kit to the roof and the cab front (sticky pad behind the gangway door)
     
    I've also added part of a Hurst Models detailing kit (for the 155). I took some effort to file the profile of the top of etch to match the moulded gangway, and on checking a photo I find that the top of the gangway seems to have less of a rounded corner - like the etch. Are the Bratchill moulded gangways not quite right?
     
    I'm struggling with the other bits on the etch. I've identified the door opening buttons (already used A1's), the windscreen wipers (moulded on the glazing) but there are 2 square brass frames which sat inside the gangeways on the etch and some other tiny bits, and I've no idea what they are....
     
    All that needs doing to the trailer car now is fit the etched roof aerial pod and the brass snowploughs - plus painting and fitting of the glazing
     
    Then I've really no excuse for not sorting out the power car
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed May 16, 2007 9:24 pm
     
    Over the weekend I actually got the pickups installed on the power car. Two bits of brass handrail wire soldered to a piece of copperclad strip (as sold for building points - spare from a Mainly Trains sample pack) , with a connection to the inside from some strands of computer ribbon cable.
     
    The copperclad was pared away with a craft knife before cutting off to length so that the whole lot would be low enough to fit on the cross beam of the H frame without fouling underneath the floor. I added loops to the ends of the pickups - much easier to adjust than bare ends
     
    The worst is almost over. Can the end really be in sight now?
     
    Thanks to several threads several new loco projects float back into view. The Airfix 31 should definitely be tarted up. I even have a spare painted body , bought as part of the Dapol factory clearance along with the body I used for the 20 (as well as a battered and crudely painted one bought for 50p) I shall probably spare the original body ton please collectors and rework the spare.
     
    However a hasty check throws up no photos of 31 402 - and besides it seems she went from FP to the WR . Besides , the Airfix body is pre refurbishment, and couldn't easily be altered. I'm not certain of the visible differences between an unrefurbished 31/1 and original 31/4 conversion so I'd best stick to an early 31/4
     
    Checking through a Cl31 site threw up another, better candidate loco : 31 408 . This is well recorded in photos , was at MR, BS , and CD in 1985-90
     
    And best of all is this:
     
    http://www.class31.co.uk/picture/31408-bk-090383_t.jpg
     
    a JohnTurner shot of her at Brocklesby in March 83 with a Cleethorpes/Newark local service ( 4 x Mk1s) - allocated to IM and working in N.Lincs. Any unrefurb 31/4 is going to be slightly out of period on Artamon Square in 1988-90 (a Steve Jones shot at Stafford in 1988 shows her refurbished) but 31 408 is going to be spot on for my theoretical ultimate N.Lincs early 80s interests
     
    And thanks to Jim S-W , the scrapbox 37 is definitely back on as Athearn PA1 chassis can be DCC'd. The second Athearn PA1 chassis is earmarked for the battered 31 body to give a green headcode box Brush 2 for the little GE BLT project I've got involved with (We'll try to keep it to the Gresley compo kit and the Dublo 20 not the ex LNWR BCK and the road van)
     
    A further thread took me to Russell Saxton's livery site. And a photo then raised an interesting possibilty for the Ultrascaled Lima headcode box 20 lurking in a cupboard. Maybe not a mid-late 80s blue IM loco. Nor a late 60s blue loco for the cancelled Thamesside plank.Try a late 70s green TO loco?? I hadn't realised 20 177 was still in green , at Toton, in late 1976. That could easily find itself in the Scunthorpe area
     
    Speaking of Ultrascales I must write off for repleacement wheelsdets for the Pacers to sort out the binding problem in the diverging roads of the points (what was that Capain Kernow was saying about a Jinty and an A6??) . With any luck I should have them by the start of 2008. I don't think sorting out the Pacers is going to be an early priority
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Pennine MC on Wed May 16, 2007 9:39 pm
     


    Ravenser wrote:
    . I'm not certain of the visible differences between an unrefurbished 31/1 and original 31/4 conversion so I'd best stick to an early 31/4
     
    None, bar the ETH gear (which Airfix didnt model anyway). Some (non-ER) 31/4s had the boiler exhaust plated, but so did some 31/1s - an easy mod with thin plasticard. So with another Fotopic trawl, you *might* just find a 31/1 that was still unrefurbed in the late 80s
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Phil on Thu May 17, 2007 7:03 am
     


    Ravenser wrote:
     
    Try a late 70s green TO loco?? I hadn't realised 20 177 was still in green , at Toton, in late 1976. That could easily find itself in the Scunthorpe area
     
    Ravenser - try 20141. I think that was the last, or one of the last 20s to carry green livery - possibly even into 1980. At least, I think it was green under all the dirt !!!!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Phil on Thu May 17, 2007 7:07 am
     
    The ever helpful Brian Daniels fotopic site :
     
     
    http://briandaniels.fotopic.net/p38615978.html
     
    Continued thanks Bri !!!!
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:45 pm
     
    This is by way of a blatant bump , in order to stop the thread being locked.
     
    The melancholy fact is that with various distractions, I haven't actually made any progress on any of these fronts in the last month. In particular no progress at all has been made on the Sprinter.
     
    Maybe tomorrow, or possibly next weekend. At least the external distractions are clearing, and I'm hopeful some of these projects can be finalised in the next few weeks.
     
    In the meantime I have managed a little bit of modelling , and have started a very elderly building kit, which is going to need a lot of upgrading. Yet another large cardboard box with a half built project in it is cluttering up the sitting room
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:49 pm
     
    Resurrecting my workbench thread from the depths , I'm shocked to see exactly how little I've done, and for how long. Building a layout does seem to preclude building any stock. There has been zero progress on the Sprinter
     
    However the purpose of this is to record a way forward for dealing with the factory weathering on a Hornby 31. I didn't really feel comfortable with the weathering or the colour it left the blue - photos suggest the sides of 31s were fairly clean and blue , not covered in brownish gunk on their lower half - that stayed below the body
     
    You are of course always advised to try out a new weathering technique on a piece of old junk in case it goes horribly wrong. So I tried it out on a new Hornby 31... In reality if you want to see what you can do about a particular factory effect , you don't have a lot of choice.
     
    I took a scratchbrush , aka a fibreglass pencil , to the paintwork. At the top of the thread I mention
     


    the 31 where I misconnected a loose wire and fried the decoder,
    I now have 2 x Hornby 31s: rather than risk 31 174, which works, has a bodyside band and was allocated to IM in the 80s, I tried to minimise my risk by using poor 31 270 , which is none of these things and is still stopped. I started from the bottom , and worked up , very gently - the whole process was rather hair raising when you recall the price of these things, and the idea was that if it went horribly wrong and I went through the finish, it could be patched up and rescued as rust affected/paint stripped areas, which appear on the bottom of the body in shots of run down 31s
     
    Thankfully it worked , and the preliminary results are seen here.
     

     
    I haven't finished work - I've simply gone far enough to be sure it's working. When I do press on , the intention would be to apply a thin weathering wash of grey over all then pick out grills in black . Applying my usual matt varnish overcoat might be awkward here.
     
    And if I'm going to put that effort into weathering, I have to get the thing to work again....
     
    I've also started work on adapting the inevitable Pikestuff kit for a low relief building. After the long struggle with the ballast, quick results are morale boosting.
     

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Platform 6 on Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:29 am
     
    Thanks for the update on your thread - especially on the Hornby 31. I have a couple but I don't admire the Hornby "weathering". I really want to do my own. Removing it is a first step I've wondered about.
     
    I've also got a Pikestuff 3-road shed from a few years ago and again, I don't know what to do with it. I don't know of any sheds in "Pikestuff blue" - I'm thinking of a light grey to respray it. I'm modelling pre-TOPS blue.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:03 pm
     
    Platform6:
     
    I've treated the Pikestuff shed with Humbrol Metalcote, a light silver, and it seems to give a very satisfactory result (details in the Blacklade construction thread near the end). You could also try mid green : there certainly seem to be some green sheds near us
     
    I know the Challenge is over , and I really shouldn't be working on Blacklade but... While trying to sort out the photos on Sunday I posed an unbuilt card kit for a warehouse in the right place to show the effect, and well.. I couldn't help thinking that all it needed was layering up and one thing led to another and I had yesterday off and by lunch time we were well under way to a warehouse.
     
    The kit is one of those added to the Bilteezi range in the early 80s as a sort of postscript and drawn very nicely by Maurice Bradley - I think he was an architect as he has "letters" - ARIBA.
     
    I've bought 2 kits , and I'm layering them using mounting board with the printed windows and cut out. This gives some genuine relief to the model. Photos to follow - the basic principles should be applicable to the Bilteezi range in general and also to Street Level Models kits
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by MartinWales on Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:55 pm
     
    Nice work on the 31-I'm just plucking up the courage to weather mine!!
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:48 pm
     
    I've been working on another building for Blacklade . This is one of the Bilteezi sheets - not the original Vacy-Ash sheets from he 50s but one of the low relief buildings drawn by Maurice Bradley in the 80s. He seems to have letters - ARIBA - so I assume he was a qualified architect
     
    The original building was in Hampshire I believe but similar Victorian brick warehouses are common enough in the E.Midlands and therefore right for Blacklade.
     
    The big issue with the Bilteezi sheets is they're flat. The printed windows can be worked round but part of the character of these buildings is they're chunky and have deep inset brickwork.
     
    Never fear - heavy rework time ....
     

     
    Here we have the bits. At ???’???‚¬????????‚??1.50 a sheet (actually 2 x A4) , buying two isn't a hardship. One front has had the recesses cut out, and been mounted to 1mm mounting board. The other has had the windows cut out and been mounted to 1mm mounting board. All brickwork has had a light rub over with a suitable pastel pencil to tone down the yellow and give it more of a Midland redbrick look - in this case, Derwent Terracotta
     
    To minimise warping , I'm using permanent Photomount to fix the thin card to mounting board. Blacklade isn't going to be exhibited (for lack of means to move it) and I hope this will be perminent enough
     

     
    Here we see some hasty masking up with freezer tape to keep Photomount off the bits that will be visible after layering up
     
    A fair bit of the afternoon was spent cutting slivers of card from spare bits of the kit and sticking them over the exposed mounting board edges . All the windows and all the doors have been done as well as the recesses. Not quite as bad as it sounds, and the finished result can be seen here
     
    Close flash photography is quite cruel to my felt tip and pastel pencil touching in of the edges, but there is an awful lot less edge to touch in than if I'd just left the mounting board unclad (brown seems better than red , and a rub with something called Sanguine de Medici seemed to help - this pencil is from another range , grabbed cheap in a closing down sale . Quite why the Medicis are supposed to have had a darker shade of blood I can't say....)
     
    And here is the result. :
     

     
    The imperfections are not quite so obvious in life ("honest guv!") and the result is a very chunky frontage with heavy relief . You'd not think it was a flat card kit to start with
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:26 pm
     
    The warehouse is now finished and awaits installation.
     
    So last night, between sneezes, I opened one of the packets of Ultrascale wheels for the Pacers, expecting that this would be the usual 5 minute drop in job.
     
    It isn't
     
    There are no instructions, which is a good start.
     
    I've removed the trailing wheels , only to find the replacements won't fit. They have a dirty great boss on the back of each wheel which fouls the plastic moulding very comprehensively. Still worse , this moulding is a bearing surface - the pin points fit into an open U where the W irons whould be , and are held down by plastic in the centre on which the axle runs . Except that on the placement wheelsets thereis a rubby great boss in the way. So somehow I've got to file the plastic down , on both sides , to get the replacement wheelset in.
     
    I can't simply leave the original Hornby wheel set in place (it was the driven axle that caused the problems over point work). This is because the Ultrascale wheels are smaller diameter than the Hornby wheels they replace
     
    The driving axle is more fun. It looks as if I have to knock the old axle out with a nail (and the gear wheel!) to extract the old wheels , then remount the gear wheel on the new axle - somehow - and add the wheels
     
    I suspect a tiny drop of superglue to secure the gear wheel may be appropriate - I don't have any Loctite (And I do mean a tiny drop)
     
    I bought a Pacer replacement chassis from Branchlines a month or so back , and compared to this it looks relatively straightforward , reliable and well engineered. Significantly easier to do , in fact. I never thought I'd ever say that about attempting a chassis kit....
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jim s-w on Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:36 pm
     


    Ravenser wrote:
     
    The driving axle is more fun. It looks as if I have to knock the old axle out with a nail (and the gear wheel!) to extract the old wheels , then remount the gear wheel on the new axle - somehow - and add the wheels
     
    I suspect a tiny drop of superglue to secure the gear wheel may be appropriate - I don't have any Loctite (And I do mean a tiny drop)
    Hiya
     
    Out of interest are the Ultrascales 10.5mm diameter or 12mm like the Hornby originals? Rather than Gluing the gear on a better bet is to knurl the axle by rolling it with a file a few times.
     
    Did you get your 150 finished? Did you have any window frames off me
     
    Cheers
     
    Jim
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:44 pm
     
    Jim:
     
    1. Hornby 13mm diameter; Ultrascale 12.25mm
     
    2 There is roughening /knurling of the replacement axle at its mid point. However alignment may be interesting as the gear will have to be fittted in place - you can't extract the wheelset , as it slots through a metal casting with the gear sitting in a cut out in the centre.
     
    The more I look at this, the worse it gets . I can't even fully disengage the motor unit from the chassis without unsoldering connnections
     
    3. The 150 is still unfinished. Having got the warehouse out of the way , I was looking for a nice quick win before turning to finish off longer term projects , and I thought an Ultrascale rewheeling pack would be a doddle: 10-15 mins at most....
     
    A final push on the 150 should be the next item on the agenda, or pretty close to it
     
    I haven't had some of your etches, but I probably need them. How do they fit into the build sequence ? I'm having the unit painted by someone else, and they asked for it before the glazing is fitted, to simplify masking. I assume the etches must go on before painting as the paint partly covers??
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jim s-w on Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:44 pm
     


    Ravenser wrote:
    Jim:
     
    I haven't had some of your etches, but I probably need them. How do they fit into the build sequence ? I'm having the unit painted by someone else, and they asked for it before the glazing is fitted, to simplify masking. I assume the etches must go on before painting as the paint partly covers??
    Thats right - etches go on before paint.
     
    If it were me I'd use the Branchlines or High Level kits for the 142. Ultrascale sounds like a bit of a pain and will result with the wrong sized wheels anyway.
     
    Cheers
     
    Jim
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:10 pm
     
    Jim: This may be a stunningly stupid question but - can you fit the glazing after the etches - or does this require the sequence glazing/etches/paint , meaning the glazing has to be masked for painting?
     
    I've a feeling I may be parking the Pacer in the too hard basket for the moment . Making up the girders for the bridge looks like a more productive use of a Sunday evening
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jim s-w on Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:32 pm
     
    Hi
     
    No, you fit the glazing after the paint. You do need to cut your own but there is a small overlap between the etch and the hole. I have asked a lazer cutting company about the costs of getting windows cut - if its viable i'll let you know
     
    Cheers
     
    Jim
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:35 pm
     
    So I'd have to throw away the window glazing in the kit?
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jim s-w on Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:44 pm
     
    Yeah
     
    Its means you loose that god awful prism and the over thick frames effect too You do re-use the door glazing though
     
    Cheers
     
    Jim
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:22 pm
     
    Hmm.
     
    I'm starting to wonder just how many bits of this Bratchill kit I'm actually going to use , having already discarded virtually everything below the floor and replaced with components from other sources
     
    I made a little progress with the Pacer. The trailing axle can be pullerd out and worked on seperately. The moulding has an open U-iron on each side - the wheelset is held in place by running through two slots in plastic lumps that project upward between the wheels (ie within the back to back). I reckon you need to file these back from the outside to get the wheels in place. It may or may not be necessary to file down the projections to the bottom of the slot . I did, over filed , and will now need to cannibalise a spare moulding off the second Pacer. As I have a Branchlines pack for the second Pacer, that's not a problem . Anyone with just the one Pacer and an Ultrascale pack would now be tearing out his hair.
    ________________________________________
  3. Ravenser
    This one's gone wrong somehow - try the link
     
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2497&start=25" page on Old RMweb
     
    Comment posted by russellwar on Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:34 pm <br />
    <cite>jim s-w wrote:</cite>
    <br />No, you fit the glazing after the paint. You do need to cut your own but there is a small overlap between the etch and the hole. I have asked a lazer cutting company about the costs of getting windows cut - if its viable i'll let you know<br />
     
     
    Cheers
     
    Jim
     
    />If you do, I will quite happily rip out my windows. Let me know too.<br />
     
    <br />The thought of ctting all those windows scared me until now <br />
    __________________________________________</]
    posted on Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:58 pm
     
    They've done it again.
     
    First Bachmann announce a 150 shortly after I buy a Bratchill kit. I still think I will probably get there before they do though - we've not seen a preproduction model yet
     
    Then Hornby announce a 153 , knocking the project to convert an elderly 155 into 2 x 153s on the head. That's not a problem - I could probably use a Provincial liveried 155 suitably detailed, the beetles can be diverted.
     
    Now Bachmann announce a Cravens. Building the DC Kit in my cupboard (acquired second hand) was going to be next cab off the rank after the 150, given that the 153s have been taken out of the pipeline. This because it can only be plain BR blue - which is the sort of livery even I can do.
     
    Questions, questions. Do I simply plough ahead , on the basis that it will be at least 2 years before I get my hands on one of Bachmann's? Do I really want 2 Cravens ?
     
    Do I try to build my kit as one on the parcels unit conversions of the late 80s ? These would arguably be slightly closer in period to a newly converted 153 , and I think some of the conversions amounted to a stripe down the side and removal of some seats . But this leaves me without the passenger DMU for at least 2 years . Should I convert a Bachmann unit to parcels condition in due course??
     
    Questions, questions....
     
    __________________________________________
     
    Comment posted by PaulCheffus on Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:53 am
     
    <cite>Ravenser wrote:</cite><br />They've done it again.<br />
    <br />Now Bachmann announce a Cravens. Building the DC Kit in my cupboard (acquired second hand) was going to be next cab off the rank after the 150, given that the 153s have been taken out of the pipeline. This because it can only be plain BR blue - which is the sort of livery even I can do.<br /></font></blockquote><br />Hi <br />
     
     
     
    Yep its annoying. I had a DC Kits 105 in the cupboard for about eight years then last year decided to make a start, but I will finish it.
     
    Dapol did something similar to me. I spent two years scratchbuilding a pair of Telescopic Steel Hood wagons. Finished the first one and started applying the transfers to the second when they announced they were doing one in N. I have again decided to keep mine and finish the second as they haven't cost me much and to replace them would be about ??????‚??30.<br />
     
    Cheers
    Paul
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by <b>Platform 6</b> on Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:54 am
     
    <cite>Ravenser wrote:</cite><br />They've done it again.<br />
    <br />First Bachmann announce a 150 shortly after I buy a Bratchill kit. I still think I will probably get there before they do though - we've not seen a preproduction model yet ....<br />Questions, questions....</font></blockquote><br />
     
    I know exactly how you feel. I've a DC Kits 108 unstarted but now have some Bachmann 108s. I really think the DC Kits window bars will not 'cut the mustard' compared to the Bachmanns'. http://www.rmweb.co....es/icon_sad.gif
     
    And then there's the 8T cattle trucks just announced! <img src="http://www.rmweb.co....on_rolleyes.gif">
     
    I've slowly been building up a collection to detail/weather from Dapol - and then along comes Bachmann again. <img src="http://www.rmweb.co...._frustrated.gif"> <br />
    You just can't win! <img src="http://www.rmweb.co....es/icon_lol.gif"> <br />
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:14 pm </font><br />
    I've finally managed to do some modelling (does layout building count?) Well, stock modelling anyway.
     
    I had all sorts of good intentions about kits to be built . With it being so fine I even thought of digging out the resin WD road van kit and having a go at it in the garden - as resin dust in the home isn't good for your health. Only a passing thought though and as its set to rain tomorrow the moment passed.
     
    After attempting to weather a Harburn chemical toilet and not liking the results entirely - I wiped most of it off and touched up the roof - I had the acrylics out. So I decided to experiment with weathering a wagon in acrylics - normally I stick strictly to enamels. Out came a few recent RTR engineers wagons which were embarrasingly untouched ... and I spent most of the afternoon weathering two wagons.
     
    A factory weathered Hornby Seacow was the first victim. I didn';t much care for the effect on the underframe and the interior seemed to have had a faint coat of some spare LMS crimson. The inside of the hoppers and the ballast shoots got a coat of Humbrol matt leather , which proved very satisfactory and makes a big difference. I got enthusiastic and gave a Bachmann Limpet a thin wash of the same over the factory painted interior (much better than Hornby but a shade dark)
     
    I'm not too keen on Railmatch Brake Dust - frigteningly yellow and light when wet and darker but still pretty yellow dry. Rescue for the bogies came with a coat of Tamiya Flat Earth XF52 - the fag end of a jar left over from painting the sleepers on Blacklade. I didn't mix it properly and the thin part proved a very effective wash on the underframe of the Limpet , though things like the air tanks need a proper coat
     
    The chequerplate end platforms on the Seacow got a wash of matt leather, followed by a wash of flat earth. That was it for the Seacow - Hornby had effectively taken care of the sides for me. There will be better Seacows out there - a good few owned by folk on RMWeb - but I'm rather pleased with the result and its certainly a considerable improvement. The Limpet has had a few bodyside streaks but the body needs a proper working over with enamel washed and dry brush to tone it down and give it that faintly rusting washed out look<br />
     
    One thing is nagging at me - I presume I can apply Railmatch matt (enamel) varnish over acrylics? I know one way goes and one way doesn't between enamel and acrylic - I take it it is enamel over acyrilc? I normally apply a sealing top coat of matt vanish and it does tend to lighten and tone down , which the Limpet needs
     
    Overall impressions are that it's worked so far and seems effective over large areas. Thin washes can be problematic , and covering power seems poorer than with enamels . On the other hand , speed of drying means you can almost keep working. With enamel washes the Seacow would surely have taken a couple of evenings
     
    And a photo of one of the kits that didn't get built :
     
    <img src="http://img119.images...1024x768ko0.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    an etched kit for a Warflat , courtesy of DOGA. I'm rather looking forward to having a crack at this because it looks fairly simple and the nearest thing to a quick win possible with an etched kit. However it will have to wait till the vacuum based vice I've ordered from Squires arrives
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sat May 10, 2008 2:18 pm
     
    Having just lost a long posting , this will be short but I did manage some modelling over the bank holiday. The Warflat didn't get done , for lack of a vice (Squires didn't have what I ordered) and photos are in short supply because the other thing that didn't get done was sorting out the ground cover and fitting the storage tank to the fuelling point on the layout- at which point it should make a nice little diorama for taking photos
     
    I finished the Limpet - wash of "off black to tone down the rust/black and wash of faded rail red + Humbrol 94 to tone down the orange. Excavating in my boxes to find the WD road van kit turned up a VGA I'd forgotten about which acquired Kadees and a wash of Tamiya Flat Earth on the underframe. Representing a coat of dirt on the stainless steel sides probably needs an airbrush and I haven't got one.
     
    In the same box I found a VDA bought off someone else a decade ago as a doner. I didn't much care for the basic weathering so reweathered in washed of enamel and acrylic andI'm very pleased with the result In a burst of enthusiasm I fitted Kadee no5s - well if it went wrong this was a spare wagon - which was my first genuine Kadee installation . In a further burst of enthusiasm , I added a kadee to one end of the Limpet to replace the pocket I robbed for the VGA. Possibly an underset coupler would have been better than packing it - I suspect it's slightly high
     
    On the wagon kit front, the WD road van progressed as far as cleaning up the flash and drilling holes for the handrails. Being resin, working with files drills etc in the flat is absolutely forbidden onsafety grounds, so I had to wait for a fine day and go outside. The instructions are a possible entrant for Metropolitan's Rubbish Instructions competition. They give tips on using cyano, and on painting, they tell you how to prepare the Dapol chassis and drill the holes. They do not contain any instructions on assembling the parts in the kit, though there's an exploded drawing attached
     
    These 2 can rarely have appeared on the same workbench:<br /><img src="http://img356.images...1024x768xq3.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    The Slaters MR asymmetric box van of 1880 must be the earliest prototype available as a plastic kit. This is for someone else. With the POA Blackadder I have copious amounts of Blood On My Hands [ the last 2 elastoplasts were removed this morning - it seems to be twist drills not craft knives that do the damage]
     
     
    The chassis came from a monstrosity Triang Hornby claimed to be a Winkle - the body went in the bin. That also surfaced from the boxes in the cupboard. Suitably cleaned up and with the V hangers filed out and representational detail . Then I made a blunder - digging in my boxes I found some A1 18" railfreight buffers , which sounded right late on a Bank Holiday without a photo in front of me, and fitted them. Photos of similar wagons in the Cheona books show "two stage" oleos on POAs and TTAs They are very firmly stuck - and they're staying.
     
    The thing is , I'm not attempting to build "the definitive 4mm POA Blackadder" for desplay on the DEMU stand at a show. Its an attempt to knock up another airbrake wagon from bits out of the cupboard at nil cost on a Bank Holiday Monday . I actually havbe a 51L /Wizard Models kit and will build that properly - the likely fate of both is to form a rake of 6-7 scrap wagons for use on an exhibition layout , and quite probably there may be several such rakes required. This wagon is making up the numbers, and I suspect most of the effect is going to lie in painting and finishing . It is already dawning that things like the black and yellow stripes on the top won't be easy. Does anyone do Railease logo transfers?
     
     
    Also the TTA chassis is representational at best - and a hasty look at Paul Barlett's site suggests it may be wrong for this body style:
     
    Wagon with TTA chassis?:<br /><a href="http://gallery6801.f.../p23292324.html" >http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/p23292324.html</a><br />
     
    Wagons with same body style as jonhall's resin casting from his demos- which is what I found in a box:
    With FAT suspension but longer brake levers:
    <a href="http://gallery6801.f.../p23292333.html" >http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/p23292333.html</a>
     
    With pedistal suspension:<br /><a href="http://gallery6801.f.../p23292307.html" >http://gallery6801.fotopic.net/p23292307.html</a>
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sun May 11, 2008 5:16 pm
     
    Most of the ground work around the fuelling point was done last night , so we have pictures of the stock. Unfortunately I still have to resort to flash , despite a sunny day , so quality isn't perfect :
     
    Weathered VDA and Limpet<br /><img src="http://img122.images...p1010312bi3.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    home mixed greys in acrylic , Railmatch faded rail red plus a coat of railmatch matt brushing varnish on the VDA . The varnish does bring out the faded silver grey
     
    Weathered Seacow and partbuilt POA Blackadder<br /><img src="http://img158.images...p1010321uu8.jpg" alt="Image" />
    __________________________________________
    posted on Thu May 29, 2008 9:30 pm
     
    Some folk can nearly finish a DMU kit in 72 hrs (my 150 still sits as a black reproach on the bookcase). Me , I had a bank holiday and what did I manage in 72 hrs . Err... I fitted Kadees to two wagons, and part painted the Blackadder . The POA and a detailed Hornby TTA now have Kadees and I've used up all the number 47s in the packet. Possibly I should have used something shorter as the buffers look a bit far apart. The Blackadder is off-black , (except for the underframe which is suitably brown and the interior which is suitably rusty ) I'm in the corse of sourcing transfers. And that's all folks - except I waved the chequebook around in the direction of various detailing bits
     
     
    It may not be quite right in the underframe department , but the POA is starting to look quite good - if you don't know your stuff on the details of wagon underframes
     
    A rummage through boxes turned up some MEA bodies bought for 50 p each off the Bachmann stand. Dangerous things, cardboard boxes . I need some more TTA underframes, cheap
     
    The MR box van was finished, painted in what may be too dark a shade of grey and dispatched to its new owner. I used acrylics cos I was rushing the job , and I have to admit I'm not entirely comfortable with athem as a medium at least for basic painting. Covering power is not as good as enamel - I'd hate to apply yellow acrylics - and they have a habit of drying up very fast - potentially disasterous if you've mixed a shade .
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:41 pm
     
    A little progress over the weekend. Some of the shopping arrived on Saturday, and with a packet of flushglaze in my hot sticky little hand I attacked the LMS BG. It's rather embarassing to have to admit this is my first serious coach project - assuming a couple of Ratio MR coach kits in my mid teens are excluded (results were slightly better than might be expected, but not in the "keeps all feet on the floor" department). The last 2 layouts were freight only , the light rail project was a different ballgame , so its nearly 20 years since I had to worry about coaches
     
    The flushglaze went in neatly enough with UHU - there's probably a much better way of doing it, but this seemed safer than superglue - and an excellent flushglaze effect was achieved [ There is a sequel to this- it doesn't go without saying ].The bars behind the glazing were reinstated with white cotton , a pair of tweezers and more dabs of UHU top and bottom. The old wheels were replaced with Hornby coach wheels , and while the body was off I started weathering the underframe. As it came , the van had the solebars painted blue , and I initially set about painting them black as it gave a most odd appearance, before spotting that the new Bachmann GUV also had blue solebars , and removing most of the black acrylic in haste with a fibreglass pencil. Black and white photos were no help at all here.
     
    The underframe was then treated to a coat of dilute (enamel) Railmatch frame dirt as this seemed a suitable darkish brownish shade to approximate the colour of underframes in various colour photos of coaches. In a fit of enthusiasm, I then tackled the new GUV with the same stuff . It's remarkable how long painting an underframe actually takes , once you've got in around all the detail and painted the fronts and backs of the wheels (as they weren't primed , I'm not sure how durable this will be , but I don't make a habit of handling my stock by the backs or centres of the wheels , so it should stay on . At least it seems to , where wagons are concerned ).
     
    This makes a big improvement to both vehicles and the BG is now starting to come together. I need to weather the ends suitably (the upper footsteps have been removed, as they had gone by this stage - electrification) and fit Kadees. The GUV is a very nice piece of work , and has NEM pockets at the correct height (I think) but a lot of parcels vans got truly filthy and this is a bit of a challenge of one of my first attempts at coach weathering
     
    I'm still not particularly confident about the BG in this livery (blue/grey) and condition (gangwayed) in parcels traffic as late as the 80s, though a little less unhappy than I was. The relevant Cheona book turns up 3 photos - one gangwayed in all over rail blue in parcels traffic in mid 1975, and two with the gangways removed plated in all over blue, one c1980 . Paul Barlett's site turns up photos of derelict vans in the mid -late 80s , but blue, and with gangways removed/plated, and one photo of an LMS BG in blue/grey , from 1968.
     
    So - blue/grey is a geniune livery, and gangwayed vehicles were used in parcels traffic , and to at least the mid 70s . However the only photo of this is in blue .. Blue/grey gangwayed Mk1 BGs were certainly used in parcels trains in the 80s, and LMS BGs were certainly used in parcels trains to some point in the 80s , probably the mid 80s , but the only photos found show vehicles in plain blue with gangways removed. So a blue/grey gangwayed LMS BG in a parcels train in the period 1985-90 is not proved impossible but seems a bit unlikely...
     
    I'm not doing a repaint , and the gangways are rather nice work anyway . But there is enough flushglaze left to do another van, so if an all blue van turns up (they were certainly produced RTR) a pukka plated conversion might well be on the cards . [ Since then another one has turned up...] Overall , the base model seems quite good
     
    In a rush of enthusiasm, I extracted a very elderly Hornby Mk2 from the bottom of the stockpile , in the naive expectation that similar improvements could be made. Alas , this is a very much worse proposition. For starters , the sides are about 4mm thick, so the "flushglaze" doesn't fit flush - there is still about a 2mm step , and it is not going to look too plausible against modern models . Then , the flushglaze doesn't fit. It's necessary to file back the inside of the window apertures to get it in at all , and with all the vents this is a major task, and one that is likely to result in a loss of crispness/minor damage. I wrote off 2 sets of windows before I worked all this out
     
     
    Then the coach is not, as billed, a BSO Mk2c but a BFK mk2a, of which most of us have much less need . The rail blue is self coloured plastic . There is no white lining between blue and grey .There are probably some more faults I was too disheartened to spot. It's now gone back , literally , to the bottom of the pile
     
    But the parcels train could end up looking rather nice...
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:04 pm
     
    The blue/grey BG is now done, barring Kadees , and the wheels on one side which I forgot to brushpaint. Since it's now dawned that a parcels train has a gaurd and a guard needs a van its a necessary item at a practical level 'cos he can't ride in a CCT, the Maunsell Van Bs had gone by the 80s, and there's not really sufficient length for a Mk1 BG and much else, though I shall probably end up with a Mk1 BG in the end because they were so much a staple of parcels and van trains in from the 60s to the end
     
    The Bachmann GUV is also more or less done, and as a payment on account here are some rough shots . You can see that "on Ravenser's bookcase" is not a figure of speech and the Branchlines 03 chassis just visible has made zero progress in at least 18 months . Despite being taken in daylight flash was necessary and played its usual tricks, and without a tripod, strewn with digital noise and not quite pinsharp they are blatently snapshots...
     
    <img src="http://img223.images...3quartertc9.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    <img src="http://img225.images...rguvsidedv4.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    This is my first attempt ever at weathering a coach : I wouldn't use some of these methods on a passenger coach but NPCS notoriously got covered in grime and I can live with the results . The photograph over emphasises colour contrast but clearly the bogies need another wash of track dirt
     
    I've sourced a TTA chassis and it clearly doesn't fit the MEA bodies. I suspect a scratchbuild will be needed . Anyone know a source of suitable heavy plate W irons and FAT suspension?
     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by PMP on Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:56 pm
     
    The bogies and underframe look too shiney, and the wheels are too brown vs underframe. I'd give the wheels a wash of matt dark grey/black to take the 'earthyness' away, and then give the underframe a coat of matt varnish first, before applying any more weathering. That way it'll harmonise your colours so none stand out above the others!
     
    <img src="http://www.rmweb.co....n_thumbsup2.gif">
     
    __________________________________________
     
    posted on Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:18 pm
     
    The underframe is the bit that didn't get the treatment with matt brushing varnish..... Washes of Railmatch Frame Dirt seem to come out semi-gloss. The bogies aren't quite so shocking in real life as in the photos , but the brown wash was clearly far too weak here and needs redoing, and the ? battery box suffers from the same problem. With varnish on the whole lot , not just the body/solebars/roof , it should look more uniform
     
     
    __________________________________________
     
    posted on Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:16 pm
     
    I've patched up the GUV , the bogies no longer look like a fright (though I think I may have missed one wheel) and if Imageshack would stop running like extremely viscous glue , some pictures could be posted:
    <img src="http://img57.imagesh...41/brguvfg3.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    <img src="http://img57.imagesh...3640x480cd4.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    And here's the LMS BG:
    <img src="http://img57.imagesh...7/lmsbg5vk5.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:45 pm
     
    I've finally got round to doing some modelling , and some Townstreet castings are decorating bookshelf and workbox
     
    These are for some 3/4 relief buildings. You may be unaware that there are any 3/4 relief buildings in the range - this is 'cos there aren't . Once again I am suffering from my usual inability to build anything in accordance with the instructions, compounded by delusions of grandeur. The original intention was low relief but they seem to have grown in stages at the back.
     
     
    In short I'm attempting to kit-bash plaster castings , and I'm not sure if it was a bright idea. The main building I've been working on is by way of a trial piece - the housefront casting (acquired via someone else) suffered some slight damage to guttering and downpipe , which I've attempted to patch - successfully with the guttering, more questionably with the downpipe . If it doesn't work out - well it was a test piece and the bits might otherwise have been ditched.
     
    The main problem is the side walls: Townstreet's only stone side walls have very Scottish stepped gables: entirely authentic for Fife but I'm not a Scot and have no intentions of modelling Scotland. This leaves stucco castings and the need to reface them , or provide an alternative.
     
     
    The low relief fronts are square ended with stonework continued round the edge. The stucco sides are mitred. Option one, based on something I'd seen from someone else, involved sawing off the edge of the end casting to allow for the depth of the front, then cladding the thing in Slaters rough cast stone plasticard, with a suitable cutout to fit round the casting for the front . This was for the chimney end. Option two involved a new end in 1/8th balsa, clad in the same Slaters plasticard, but this time with a sizeable overlap across the end of the facade casting . I had hoped to cover the end completely but there is a small gap : with the edge of the plasticard suitably treated/cut out at the mortar courses this is not very noticeable
     
    I then painted up the castings and the plasticard stonework . First problem - you get a different shade on the plasticard and the plaster with the same paint (I was using Humbrol 94) . This was blended in by a hasty wash of Humbrol 93 on the side/end of the front casting, and the result is a fairly decent match. However a dry run suggests that Option 1 produces a very noticable butt joint with the two castings being very difficult to fit exactly to each other. This is unacceptable : the plasticard has been ripped off the side casting - it was stuck on with Evostick - and a new plasticard overlay will be prepared without the cutout , in the same was as for Option 2
     
    As the building will be part of a terrace, you may well not see the side walls at all , which is the only reason I'm prepared to contemplate these approximations and bodges . What may well be visible is the gable and very top of the side wall, so something has to be done, rather than simply a plain bit of balsa
     
    Its also very apparent why the full relief buildings (from which the side castings come) use mitred corners - I can't see any other way of securing a reasonably neat join between plaster castings. I suppose I could have tried filing a 45 degree mitre onto the front castings , thus sacrificing the cast stonework detail on the edges - the castings are about 9mm thick
     
    I've also painted up castings for a three storey bank. These are over a centimetre thick, and I'm inclined to use the plasticard with a slight overlay onto the casting - anything less than about 9mm out of line with the adjacent building and all you'll see is the cast plaster detail on the side . Anything more - well , a dressed stone facade and rough stone sidewalls aren't exactly unknown , and any difference in texture /colour can be accounted for by the change of material. I suspect this is mainly going to be an issue at the gable and the top storey
     
    I'm also having to cut down slate roof sections to fit the house ( involving careful use of a junior hacksaw ) and it looks like I'll have to cut pantiles to size for the bank
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:47 pm
     
    A little more work on the Townstreet castings, and some pictures.
     
    First the scene of battle (or as the Anglo Saxons preferred, the place of slaughter...)
     
    <img src="http://img507.images...orkbenchpb2.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    You can see I've recently peeled off the Slaters cladding from the end plaster casting after a certain amount of shaking of head..
     
    Here's the rework , showing the large overlap .This time I've gone a bit further and I've cut round individual stones , wherever possible, as well as filing back the edge of the plasticard to a bevel to avoid a prominent line, and filing out the mortar courses at the edge .
     
    <a href="http://imageshack.us" ><img src="http://img224.images...treetendrq2.jpg" alt="Image" /></a>
     
    Here we have the frontages - I have still to paint the window bars white
     
    <img src="http://img507.images...rontageswy4.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    I've been experimenting with the slates. Initially I used Humbrol 112 Tarmac - and after comparing it with some roofs visible out of the window, I decided it was far too dark. The small test piece (off cut from cutting down the roof) features half painted with 112 tarmac then given an acrylic grey wash composed of Tamaya matt white and matt black (roughly to the shade of the darker Railfreight grey) . The other half was an attempt to mix the tarmac with some white enamel to tone it down.
     
    I'll be going with the Tamaya wash.....
     
    <img src="http://img232.images...eettilesbf7.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by c37408 on Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:15 pm
     
     
    How odd, I just spent some of Saturday dirtying up a very similar looking Parcels BG! I'll post some pics later. Yours looks great to me though, I especially the variety of shades of blue it now has in that second pic!
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:28 am
     
    The GUV is partly a demonstration of the difference made by decent photography, as I didn't actually rework the body weathering at all. First shot is taken in haste with flash , close up - which tends to do awkward things to colour and certainly accentuates any contrast. The later shots are taken in natural light . The underframe needed a bit of reworking though
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:40 pm
     
     
    Not too much to report, but on account , as it were , here is a hasty snap of the POA Blackadder, which still needs wasp stripe on top edges and buffer beams , and further weathering
     
     
    <img src="http://img370.images...p1010494zd5.jpg" alt="Image" />
     
    I have been struggling with the roof of the larger Townstreet building , which is pantiles - the supplied castings need to be cut down in both dimensions, and the break on the narrower roof at the back has not come out straight - as it is the back of a 3/4 relief building against a backscene I am pressing on , in the expectation it won't be noticable when in position on the layout
     
    Painting is Humbrol 82 , lining orange, which was the nearest enamel I could find but is still a bit bright and well orange. I have applied an extremely weak wash of matt leather acrylic toned down a little with matt flesh. Perhapsd this is slightly too light a weathering coat , but the results of tests using thicker heavier coats on off cuts were not good at all
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sat Sep 13, 2008 6:35 pm
     
    Moderate progress has been made with the Townstreet buildings. The small house is now complete, the windows properly painted , and the bank is complete except for its roof - I think I need a final toning down acrylic wash on the pantiles which are still a bit fresh and new.
     
    I had quite a few problems with the roofs . No way could I get the slate roof of the small house to fit without gaps, and I ended up filling the gaps at the top of the gables and at the ridge with very fine grade milliput (about the first time I've got milliput to work well - maybe using a pack that was less than 5 years old helped ) The gap around the chinmey base was filled in the same way, and painted to resemble concrete flashing (121 pales stone ) this worked rather well.
     
    The stones picked out in 110 chocolate stood out a bit too much even after a grey acylic wash - I had to apply another yellow brown acrylic wash then reweather with very faint dark grey to tone the whole lot down
     
    But I must say the bank looks a very very impressive structure when the pantiles are put in place as a dry run
     
    To give a glazed effect to the windows I painted over the black with Humbrol Gloss Cote
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:19 pm
     
    Well, a bit of progress to report. The bank is finished and I'm pleased with it. I still haven't cracked weathering pantiles, but as reasonably new tiles it looks fine. I've also had a go at paining and finishing two buildings which someone else built, using the same approach. These seemed to come out a bit darker - perhaps ~I was slightly heavy handed with the dark acrylic weathering wash, perhaps I made it too close to black and it should have been more of a grey. But still the overasll effect is good , and stone buildings which have been cleaned up a bit a different times are not exactly the same shade.
     
    Blacklade, my Challenge layout , has been a bit stalled in recent months. The two major outstanding jobs have been fit the point motors /decoders and build the screen wall , and somehow other tasks, commitments, work and so forth have taken priority. But I have at least taken a first step , and built up the first of two MERG accessory decoder kits , kindly sourced by paulcheffus. Now I haven't actually tested the thing yet - it was only finished on Sunday night - but the thing is finished, and I'm very hopeful I haven't accidentally fried the IC chips.
     
    Considering I haven't attempted any form of electronics circuit construction since I was in my teens - and that was only a few very simple projects at school , most of which didn't work - this may seem like tempting fate . However I have to pay tribute to the kit design and technical support provided with it , in that I assembled the thing , slowly, but without any serious difficulties or real problems . Apart from one hasty appeal here to discover which way is positive on a capacitor , there was nothing that actually proved a stumbling block .
     
     
    I think I know the real reasons why my teenage school efforts at simple electronics were normally a failure:
     
    1.They didn't teach me anything about soldering . To be specific , they didn't teach me the necessity for cleanliness of the work pieces and tip to achieve a joint, anything about recovery time, or the role of flux. Maybe something was said at the beginning of the lesson and perhaps I missed those 2 sentences , and perhaps I wouldn't have missed key points like that if it had been an English lesson or a history lesson. I don't know. But I'm quite sure nobody ever actually showed me how to make a solder joint or taught the theory of good soldering - if they did it can have been no more than 10-15 seconds by the desk and half a sentence
     
    2. Nobody ever mentioned that you can destroy an electronic component by overheating it. I didn't hear that till years later.
     
    I remember lots of repeated attempts to remelt joints with a lingering iron in the hope that they would flow properly and not be dry. No wonder most things didn't work - I must have cooked several of the components in the assembly process
     
    This time I've been very careful - fine tip bit , straight in and out, minimal time on the job , give components a chance to cool before the next joint - and the bit time to recover. As I say it's not yet tested , but fingers crossed - the joints look neat bright little cones, as they are supposed to
     
     
    Another job under way is weathering a Hornby PO open for someone else. This is the 4 plank open - acquired second hand for not very much when my local model shop was closing down . Modifications have been slight - I removed the brake gear on one side as a granite company's 4 planker is most unlikely to have had independent brakes like a bottom door mineral . The wagon is beaing worked into post war condition - ie very tatty . After a "toning down " wash of a lighter grey to fade the lettering and a further wash of a timber colour , I've painted out several of the planks in a different timber mix.
     
    I am not quite sure I've cracked a suitable mix for timber. My first effort, concocted out of Humbrol 94, some Railmatch Centro Grey (not sure what use I have for Centro grey.._) and 53 Gunmetal had a faint greenish shade - gunmetal is recommended under these circumstances , but any noticeable quantity seems to have a substantial and not wholly desirable effect on the shade . The second attempt, for the planks, featured Humbrol 110 , Centro grey and a faint trace of Gunmetal and seems rather better , though perhaps rather yellower -
    "representational "; pine planking rather than a faithful shade , which would surely be more of a silver - grey . The solebars got a second wash with the revised wood mix - it's very noticeable in shots of weathered wooden POs that the solebars end up similar colour and of a piece with the body
     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by PaulCheffus on Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:13 am
     
    <cite>Ravenser wrote:</cite><br />1. They didn't teach me anything about soldering To be specific , they didn't teach me the necessity for cleanliness of the work pieces and tip to achieve a joint, anything about recovery time, or the role of flux. Maybe something was said at the beginning of the lesson and perhaps I missed those 2 sentences , and perhaps I wouldn't have missed key points like that if it had been an English lesson or a history lesson. I don't know. But I'm quite sure nobody ever actually showed me how to make a solder joint or taught the theory of good soldering - if they did it can have been no more than 10-15 seconds by the desk and half a sentence
     
    2. Nobody ever mentioned that you can destroy an electronic component by overheating it I didn't hear that till years later.
     
    /blockquote>
     
    I was originally taught to solder by my Father at the tender age of eight but you are right school never did explain things properly. As one of my hobbies during my teens was electronics (possibly influenced by my Fathers interest as a Radio Amateur) I learn't quite quickly that certain electronic components don't like heat.
     
    Cheers
     
    Paul
    __________________________________________
     
    posted on Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:51 pm
     
    A photo of the wagon - transfers are now on, and a wash of off-black "dirt"; will be added over everything. I'm not entirely sure about the ironwork - flash tends to exaggerate things, but it is slightly red in natural light, and perhaps something a little further towards chocolate brown would be better
     
    <img src="http://www.rmweb.co....le.php?id=39204" alt="">
     
    __________________________________________
     
    posted on Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:02 pm
     
    The wagon is now finished - unfortunately I didn't think to take another shot before delivering it . It recieved the thin wash of black (which picked out the planking slightly)and the lower regions got a thin wash of Railmatch trackdirt which makes the wheels stand out less, before an overall coat of matt varnish. To be honest the whole lot didn't radically change the appearance from the photo
     
    A certain amount of time over the weekend was spend playing about with DCC - I was supposed to be sorting out points on Blacklade , but with the layout up it seemed like a good chance to use it as a programming track - one of its functions in life.
     
    The Hornby-Lima NSWGR 422 class was duly fitted with a decoder. Breaking in was something of a nightmare at first as I couldn't get the body off , even though it is supposed just to remove from the chassis . I resorted to business cards down both sides to get some leverage , (and I mean cards plural...) and eventually managed to free the ends . I suppose I should at this point post a photo of the interior /chassis : unfortunately I didn't take one at the time and you can guess why I'm not anxious to remove the body and take one now.... Consequently you'll just have to use your imagination and picture - a chassis with a very Lima looking round pancake motor complete with beige blob , plus a largish circuit board amidships with a DCC socket in it, and at the far end a recessed open area. The loco has working headlights - a twin white LEDs in a block at at each end centrally above the cab windows- which are powered by 4 brass strips fixed to the interior of the roof, pressing on contact pads on the circuit board. There are no cab interiors<br />
     
    The general effect can be judged from the photo - this is in fact an 80-class of 1981, taken at Broken Hill in Dec 1983, and not the earlier 422-class (1969) or 442- class (1971) as the copyright is mine,but the effect of the front end is very closely similar (for the record the top of the cab of the 422 is a lower shallower profile , and it lacks the cut away recess at the apex of the cab in which the horns are fitted on the 442 class and 80 class - I've been doing some hasty looking at photos)
     
    <img src="http://www.rmweb.co....le.php?id=40692" alt="">
     
    There are some pictures of 422s on the Aucision site in support of their forthcoming high-spec 422 class
     
    I fitted a TCS T1 with harness - the new version with Back EMF , which was stuck in the convenient recess at the end with double sided tape and the harness wires restrained with parcels tape . Unfortunately the harness can be seen through the cab windows at one end - the recess is where there might be a cab interior but isn't
     
    Performance is good. With a bit of tweaking (and track and wheel cleaning) I managed to get it to move at speed step 2 of 128 . Start volts were set at 1V [entered as 18], and I've played about with the speed curve by making mid volts 4.6V [80] and top speed 11V This reduces the tendency to high speed running at the upper end while leaving a good top speed : an excellent moderate and controllable speed is maintained up to about speed step 70 I left the suppression capacitors in place - it performs as well as I could hope from a pancake motor and rather better than I expected . I tried experimenting with dimming of the LED but it really doesn't seem any dimmer . There is only one function required - for the lights - though the headlights are directional. The decoder has all sorts of wierd and wonderful US light effects , but as I'm not sure if any of them are relevant to NSWGR operations I haven't used them
     
     
    All in all , it looks like a good 'un and I'm very pleased with it. Many thanks to Shortliner and Chris Ellis at MTI for selling on the review copy [ Now all I need is some wagons . And mayby a CPH tin hare for the passengers. And about 6' x 18"; plus fiddle for a small terninus , plus some rock moulds , and some gum trees ... And space to put it... Stop !]
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:54 pm
     
    Contrary to appearances , I've actually been doing a bit of modelling recently .
     
    New Year is an appropriate time for taking stock, and I duly did. There are an uncomfortable amount of projects outstanding , and accordingly this years New Year Resolution comes from Magnus Magnussen : "I've started, so I'll finish" . Or in other words - no new projects . This doesn't mean I'm not going to start anything new - it means I'm trying to avoid buying anything new in order to sort out the stuff to which I've already committed , and which is adorning the book case or sitting in the cupboard. Or worse still sitting on top of the cupboard forming a pile of debris
     
    Buying 153s doesn't count, of course . They were already on the list as a carry over from 2008 , because Blacklade needs 153s to enable multiple unit working . My Central 153 has been rushed into service , with a TCS T1 decoder , the floor, tables, and seat backs painted (I used a spare bottle of Railmatch Centro Grey , for which I have no use at all) and passengers added - Slater's figures painted up with acrylics and the legs cut off. I tried to modify them to remove some of the period air (eg WWI forage caps) but you can't see much inside beyond the shapes
     
     
    I've also had a fit of putting Kadees onto everything with NEM pockets . The 153 requires a long and an extra long Kadee - two longs together are not enough separation with 23m vehicles. The 57 I picked up cheap off the Bachmann stand at Warley has has another T1 fitted and runs very nicely , and has acquired long NEM Kadees - anything shorter fouls the 3 link coupling . So have my FEAs . These were ordered basically to support the venture without any actual need but I decided that if I had container wagons there really ought to be some containers for them , and I've bought some C- Rail kits . Four 40's are now built and nearly all the transfers applied. Yang Ming , in particular, is something of a pig on the livery front with 8 seperate transfers on the door alone. Being a cheapskate I mixed up my own blue for the P+O box and I think its come out a bit light. The containers are the first time I've used Microsol - quite essential given the ribbed sides - and its proved very effective
     
    I've also got a couple of tank containers - on the first one I tried painting after assembly and discovered it makes painting the framing in black very difficult indeed. The second kit has therefore had the framing prepainted before assembly - much easier. I have also struggled to get a decent white finish to the tank barrel - I'm up to 3 coats now on the first tank
     
    The one perminent Kadee fitting was to the 422 class , where I cut off the very obtrusive forward projection from the bogie which carried a Roco coupling . After much headscratching the best I could come up with was plasticard packing behind the buffer beam to create a platform , onto which I glued a piece of 10 thou plasticard overlapping the buffer beam, then glued the draft box in place on top with solvent and reinforced the joint with a fillet of Zapagap cyano. Kadee used was #24 Talgo , but with the draftbox only. I've only done one one end at this stage because I'm not confident of the strength of the joint
     
    There's also the new stock box, mainly for engineers wagons , which I've knocked up out of a boxfile , based on an idea in one of Chris Ellis' books, not to mention the Parkside PMV which keeps failing to get done, and the possibility of sorting out the old Airfix 31 , thanks to a useful note by K9-70 in the DCC forum
     
    __________________________________________
    posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:23 pm
     
    Things are looking up...
     
    I've built the Parkside PMV , although perhaps it's not my best kit ever. Things kept going wrong and having to be bodged. Firstly , when I assembled the underframe there was a slight rock , and the solebars were too firmly stuck to remove one and pack it. After trying to drift the bearing by opening out the hole slightly I was driven to the horrible bodge of getting out the soldering iron , and drifting the bearing with a 25W Antex. That wheel set is now a little loose and sloppy , giving enough float to ensure all 4 feet are on the floor, which is a potential problem with a wheelbase this long.
     
    On the floor is also where two of the roof vents ended up , and as the carpet is green , there they'll stay.... I resorted to bodging up a representation of the roof vents with scraps of microrod and solvent
     
    I had glued on 4 footboards before I checked Paul Bartlett's website and found that by the 1980s all footboards seem to have been removed . I've removed mine and cut away the struts for the lower footboards, though I can't remove the strap across the spring and I haven't represented the brackets which used to support the footboards. The final bodge was that I needed tall vac pipes - I don't have any SR ones, and I resorted to some LNER pipes from ABS
     
    It's going to get Kadees and then I can have DMU tail traffic. Maybe the SR bogie brake comes next.
     
    The Airfix 31 is up and running on DCC as well , as reported elsewhere, though I need to get in and oil the worm gears. Then I just have to produce a detailed body....
     
    __________________________________________
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