richbrummitt

Thanks Will. I can see more of the bank balance disappearing into a GW till. I really like their paint but wish they did more colours to suit what I require. Ho hum.

That picture in your reply is rammed with detail and subtle colouring. Very nice.

It's easy to be harsh on yourself (I know, I suffer from the same) striving to do better. Reality is always kinder than the camera at this size and I think I'd be really happy with what you achieved.

I also know what you mean about brushes. Dry brushing really does seem to hurt them - a lot. I notice you have one of those stippling brushes with short hard/stiff bristles. How are they? I've looked at them but am not sure what applications they have and how the effects are. I imagine that you get small splotches somewhere between drybrushing without all the paint removed and using kitchen paper on paint that is still wet?

These will be the focal point of the layout as people look out for the next train after seeing the previous one leave so well worth all the effort you put in for such excellent results.

I got a daylight lamp with three 15watt tubes in for the bench and it's one of the best tools I've bought. I've managed to pose it just in front of my brow and the light level is superb, however I do get a bit warm whilst working.

I recently 'upgraded' my modelling bookcase (there is no space for them on two full height bookcases in the living room because of the wife's books) from one A4 height shelf plus two others to 3 A4 height shelves because of growing quantities of larger books. I'm on to the third shelf already now I've bound my journals so will have to start being selective! Fortunately people have been kind and found all the out of print reference titles I wanted as presents over the last decade.

Good work there. I am finding your posts of interest.

There is/has been a reasonably comprehesive partwork on GWR horseboxes in GWRJ recently and many are not as modern as you think. The model looks like an N16. The roundel 'lettering' came in in '34 so it could be fairly new in service for your time period.

What I believe is out of period is lime washed cattle wagons. The lime wash was found to cause damage to the feet of the cattle and its use was discontinued in the 1920s.

Thank all. Patience Kevin. The instructions are being written. I figured that most people would like instructions? They will be available soon.

Dean 6' 4" bogies? Will you be doing a broad gauge version?!

I hadn't thought about doing more than the pair or two that I need for some unfinished kits.

Like sidecar racer said, cheap ones.

Another option (if you haven't got the 3 railcars yet) is to wait a while longer for the etched version from worsley works and build that.

The selected prototypes have a strong welsh bias, but not all are welsh. PO wagons seem to have ended up all over the place, especially the ones from larger collieries.

The promotional coaches made by Graham Farish and peddled by Shredded Wheat actually came with hook and eye couplings. I bought a few off eBay a number of years back. Once repainted they are in all other respects, as far as I could tell, the same as the 'proper' offerings at a much lower cost!.

If you don't find a better use for the building at the entrance to the goods yard it would probably make a lot of sense to have a weighbridge and hut.

Hahaha. It would be more sensible to remove the label. Pulling the plunger back seems to work reasonably well.

I'll think about Bryn's idea. I have taken to picking a little out of the tube with small parts and this 'modification' would probably prevent this.

The new tree makes the last attempt look like a generic model tree. I hope that one day I will produce trees as good as your latest efforts. Nice work!

As someone who worked in the street lighting manufacturing industry until a few years ago I would disagree with SOX being modern, however it would fit in with what many of us would consider 'modern image'. The road we live in has recently had the Low pressure sodium lighting replaced by PLL compact fluorescents. I had a look through your photos on the link and the subject matter are a little bit frankenstein in appearance.

Cheers for the link Tom. It took me an hour and a half to read through the 20 pages, time that I was going to spend drilling headstocks and fitting couplings to Mathieson wagons. Very informative and some hugely inspirational pictures.

II'll take another 4 years to paint it

After taking 4 years to add buffing gear and detail the headstock I presume...

Can whatever is in the cab be moved so that it is behind the doors rather than in plain view. It is the only thing that is really offputting.

I'm only used to the kind of herring in the ice counter at Tescos, but as an assembled model it looks tidy.

I agree, you should carry on. It looks so much better.

The scorpion diagram I latched on to had a 12' wheelbase. There isn't a lot else to them though because they are basically a floor with protrusions extending over the buffers and some rails to fit beams to for securing the load in the direction of travel. From the not great (from a point of view of fathoming underframe details) photographs I have in reference books the diagrams you list appear to have variations of brake hanger, linkage, and cylinder placements so might not be so easy as a 'one size fits all'.

Yes, that is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. Only minor problem I can see with that plan is that some of the variants had non-central V-hangers, so I think the steel underframe conversions will need a little creative adjustment...

I would have had the hangers as part of the etch and remove the ones on the conversion kit. They are attached to the rear and under the solebar on the prototype, and not the front.

I put the underframe in as my request in the recent 2mm survey, but realised it was going to be very much a minority interest, so was starting to think about drawing up an etch myself.

 

Best plans I have are in the Iron Mink book by John Lewis, which isn't really a good prototype (only 10 built, whereas there were several hundred of each of the other types). There's also a good picture of the fruit van on the GWS site at http://www.didcotrai...7886pic_01.html but unfortunately it has the later style of brake levers.

On p22? That's not the same as the under frame that I had in my mind. If it something that you would like to do then I am happy to let you. It is no where near the top of my list of stuff I'd like. Incidentally I requested self contained buffers. Perhaps wider appeal but essentially the same problem.

I've been looking round for a suitable chassis for the 1890-1910 GWR "brown" 4-wheelers - which includes most of the early horseboxes, plus early meat and fruit vans, (and a handful of iron minks). It was 10 foot wheelbase, 16 foot long, 3 foot 6 inch wheels and vacuum brakes (8 shoes), with some small variation between the different vehicles. Perhaps the Mica body would give something small and relatively simple (though to some extent it would duplicate the N Gauge Society one). I would be interested if you decided to pursue the idea (as well as a few of the siphons).

 

David

That's a decent shout and I've wanted something similar previously and have subsequently forgotten about it. I built a Mica from the NGS kit and being 1:148 it is bigger than I wanted it to be. The chassis is something like 3 part chassis kits with various bits of bent and flattened wire plus a turned brass vacuum cylinder. The lettering was a trial too and whilst it looks decent enough (see cruel enlargement here) it hardly runs at all. This is mostly due to fitting 7mm wheels in a chassis and 8 shoe brake parts that are meant to use 6mm diameter items.

Should it have outside clasp brakes? There are various detail differences between the early stock of this type that had 3'6" wheels. The best information and pictures I have is for the one under an X4. One way to progress this very quickly would be to have a 10' w/b carcass with 8 shoe brakes plus linkages, and levers to which would need to have added the steel underframe conversion kit, RCH axle boxes, and 5' springs with link hangers from the 2mm SA to complete the outside appearance. Is that any good?

I also want some 6'4" coach bogie stretchers so I have to draw those. Maybe there is not much spare space after all. I'm still looking/thinking. Maybe a scorpion or something would be interesting. I don't want to hold things up too long because this computer design thing is taking over all my hobby time, and is something that I do for a day job too.

... but that leaves me with space to fill and so am thinking about knocking up a drawing for a horse box or similar smaller vehicle.

Actually scratch the horse box for an idea I remembered that they have louvres atop their sides. Something else smaller. Hmm.

Waiting with baited breath...

Whilst drawing the end doors for the O6 I'm coming to the conclusion that it won't fit well in the existing fret layout because of all the extra strap detail parts that need including so this might form a separate fret for amending the O5 kit, but that leaves me with space to fill and so am thinking about knocking up a drawing for a horse box or similar smaller vehicle.

Likewise. What is the Ultima underbody detail like?

I sold all my Ultima coach kits (which were mostly the pre-printed sides type) a while back as a job lot but I kept a Siphon G, and two Monsters (maybe one is a Giant). I have got as far as folding up the body on the Siphon G and that is it. I can't speak for the present supplier because I have had these for a while and they were all bought as un-built second hand. They have an acceptable level of detail regarding the truss rods and include castings for the battery boxes, cylinders and dynamo as appropriate. The bogies lack some relief but I will use 2mm SA ones anyway so that isn't a concern. The only thing I don't really like about them is that they are not available in nickel silver.