Jon020

I acquired one a few months ago... the first of the new BR Blues ones - as I've not badged it I can't remember which one it is .... but all I've done with it is test it on a rolling road for an hour or so in each direction and run it in both directions on my boys layout which has a mix of std and curved Hornby turnouts and a few tight corners; I've found no problems with road holding although there is a slight wobble. However, I'll be re-wheeling this at some point using P4 Ultrascales that I acquired a while back... and then it'll be a superdetailing job to see what can be done... but that's a way off and it's in the queue. Suffice to say.... mine's to be worked on and has been "tested" and seems satis. Jon

It seems I jumped on a bandwagon without realising as I purchased my 1011 plates a couple of months ago from Brian... but my "glory" has yet to be worked on.

Cheers Pete. Nowt wrong with a duff is there ;-) The locos are yet to receive interest in the classifieds - perhaps given that the Deltics were sold in the hour is an indication of the regard that the class 55s hold. But... yes... they're currently sharing a shelf in my glass cabinet (dust free) Best wishes Jon

Thanks for the comments Will, Jez and Jon... and nice to have spurred you on Jack. These models were a distraction from my usual BR Blue themed projects but as the 31 project had hit a problem... which I'm still contemplating how to resolve, they provided a nice little distraction. Just to mention, the 31 problem is that I've two Hornby 31s that I wanted to tackle - sorting their "issues" but one has proven difficult to address - and this is that the front end cut-out steps (4 in all at each end) are too shallow... height wise. I'd tried to cut one out and got a better size, but how to replicate the lip? Job parked. Once option will be to hack two Lima 31 bodies and transplant the noses across.... rather than using the entire bodies which to me still don't look quite right - so that's all parked. ... that and I've found a complete inability to get some P4 wheelsets - Colin from gibsons keeps promising that they're on the to-do list... but they're still on that list nearly a year after asking. U/Scale and others don't do them - so project parked. I've an 08 project lurking somewhere too; this has new Pete Harvey etch steps fitted - I must bring that back out and see if the enthusiasm that fired me on and then waned can be re-fired... I received some good feedback on that; others asked why I'd bothered - hey ho! Anyway... as the ViT 47s don't really suit my period, I'm going to sell them if anyone is interested. They are now both in the classified ads. best wishes.... one and all Jon

Stories of my demise have been greatly exaggerated; I’ve been around, but spending my modelling time, modelling rather than writing... but here’s an attempt to readdress that. Some months ago I acquired a pair of ViTrains 47s. I’d always admired certain aspects of these models, not least their bogies, and the opportunity to pick these up in these liveries was not passed by. The Virgin loco was acquired after I missed out on a trip to Warley as some small compensation; the DRS one was picked up in early December as an early Christmas present to me. The Virgin livery was one that struck home with me as I recalled seeing these operate the cross country services at Stockport whilst I lived there in the 90s; the DRS livery is one I’ve admired for a while; i think it’s the nicest of modern liveries today, and the revised version recently unveiled has enhanced this further. So, whilst both models would be subject to detailing and some repainting, the bodysides on each would remain almost as presented. Coincidentally, I found that the two models represented “twin” locos; Virgin 47805 and DRS 47802. Paradoxically, both of these locos operated top-n-tail on a number of services whilst both operated for DRS until quite recently. 805 is still earning its keep, in fact I’ve seen photos of it working what I presume to be the Norwich short-set today, but I think that 802’s days are possibly over... making way for the new order 68s. I’ll tackle the DRS loco first as this needed a little more work. I wanted the model to represent the prototype as closely as possible and 47802 has some oddities. Firstly, it has non-standard buffers, presumably to help prevent bufferlock when shunting at low speed, but my observations suggested that the bufers at No.1 end resembled those of a Class 31, whilst the buffers at the No.2 end resembled those of a Class 60. Fortunately, both are available as Hornby Spares (I think I used Peter’s spares for these). The other item that singles 802 out is its multiple-unit working connector; for a while it was equipped with a recessed straight plug rather than the elephantine proboscis of the majority of the class. Unfortunately, ViTrains chose to represent this only with a transfer which I did not feel was good enough. Other areas of treatment would be some refinement to the bufferbeams, shawplan roof fans and grills and laserglaze all-round (almost). The loco was disassembled with some trouble... the glazing and fans unit were secured with a considerable amount of glue, but some careful prising won the battle. The first step was to replace the transfer connector unit; I chose a 0.4mm drill in a pin vice and drilled holes in the corners and around the edges... before cleaning up the edges with a square Swiss file. I then cut some squares of plastic card to represent the buffer plates, through which holes would be drilled to take the Hornby buffer shanks. These looked fine to start with but second thoughts later on would drive a “plan b”. To back-fill the connector recess, a square of plastic card was cut and glued in place at the correct angle to provide the right nose-down angle to the connector unit; the front edge of this plate was chamfered to provide a neat front finish. Holes were then drilled in the new buffer plastic plates and the new buffers were trial fitted. To be honest, I thought that these were a bit chunky, so I looked through my spares-bits box and found that I had a Shawplan Class 56 bufferbeam detailing etch that I’d used the bufferbeam steps for on my 47, but the buffer plates were still in the bag... so I removed the plastic squares and tried the etches; these are quite old etches but they serve the purpose and looked a lot better once trial fitted with the buffers again, seen here at the other end this time. The MU connector housing was then drilled out with a 0.3mm drill near each corner and a short length of 33 swg wire inserted to protrude slightly to represent the plate bolts. A fifth hole was drilled centrally to take the “pin” of the MU connector once I’d made this from plastic rod and microstrip. A further slither of plastic card was added under the hole for the ETS connector, to represent the connector mount, based on prototype photos. It was then time to mask the locos up and apply some colour, with 805 had been brought to a similar, paintable stage. In reality this is quiet straightforward and addresses a bugbear I have with these models, namely their thin finish... which really shows poorly on light colours and in this case, it’s the yellow. There’s also a bit of a seam/lip around the nose join, and sanding this down first is useful. For some reason, I added the handrails to 802, so these went yellow too. Once masked, I treated both locos to some Railmatch post-84 warning panel yellow (202) though my trusty Iwata revolution. Once dry, I treated the bufferbeam and buffers on 802 to some white primer to provide a good base for the red paint later. Once dry (and the Railmatch primer does take a long time to dry) I added representation of the cross-beam air-supply pipework using 33swg nickel wire and thin plastic rod pieces, that were hollowed out to represent unions. This was secure in place with some Bob Smith Industries Super Gold+ CA glue – which is a great non-blooming superglue that I’ve started to use a lot (similar in viscosity to Zap-a-gap green – but works really, really well). The lamp brackets were fitted too. These are nice little mouldings but a bit fiddly to fit, the BSI glue did a good job here – noting that 802 only has these on the 2nd man’s side. Then I moved on to 805’s buffers. These are the normal 47 buffers but I didn’t like the “flat” ViTrains ones, so I repeated the exercise I’d performed on the Bachmann ones, I stripped them down and popped them in a minidrill and spinning this up, I reprofiled the buffers with some fine papers – getting the correct profile. A hole in the centre face was drilled out with a 0.4mm drill held steady with the buffer spinning. The image hopefully shows the improved result which takes only a matter of minutes to do. Then it was on to the bit I’d been dreading ... that of the roof grills. The etches are exquisite and represent the right weave (choose the right one!) but they are fragile; I’d broken a few whilst working my Bachmann 47 project previously, so extra care was taken... and it all worked out splendidly. The mesh is removed from the fret and then I use a grinding tool in my minidrill to de-burr the grill edges, then roll it slightly using a soft foam surface and the soft plastic handle of a swiss file, and then place accurately and tack down with Zap-a-gap Pink (thin) until secure. Once these are in place, the same approach is followed for the grill surround... and glued in place. Then keep fingers clear. Once dry, I decided that the best course of action was to get some paint on quick (paint seems to strengthen them – yes they’re that delicate). So I masked up the bodies leaving just the grill section exposed ...and gave them a few gentle wafts with some grey Halfords primer... which works a treat. With 802 put to one side, attention turned to the bufferbeams of 805, which are of course different and not able to be modelled using the ViTrains parts alone. A rummage through my spares box finds a few Heljan 47 sprues with (thank goodness) some ETS modules of the desired type. In comparison, these look alot bulkier than the ViTrains ones, but i think it’s ViTrains that got this wrong not Heljan. I blanked out the appropriate fittings with plastic card (per prototype photos) and added the Heljan fittings complete with wire “cables” that were drilled into the fittings and passed through new holes drilled into the bufferbeam. This was a bit of a fiddle, but the end result looked reasonably effective. Then it was back to the paint shop, where the roof grills were sprayed a matt black (to be adjusted later) and then the engine compartment sections were masked out and painted Diesel roof grey – again all with the airbrush. Finally, the bufferbeam on 802 was masked up and sprayed matt red, and the ETS and other fittings to 805’s bufferbeam were painted white as a base of the orange later, and 802’s handrails picked back out in white. The buffer beams were finished off with a mix of ViTrains and Heljan pipes (choosing the best for each fitting) and a Hornby screw-link coupling which cosmetically look fine. The pipework was picked out in white and then the buffers were fitted to 802, along with the MU connector that I’d made from plastic rod and microstrip. Fittings on both were painted orange and the plastic buffers on 805 were painted with Humbrol gunmetal Metalcote and then polished to give a nice metallic finish. Whilst not evident in most photos, the cabs were painted and drivers assembled. I had some spare Bachmann drivers that I bought quite some time ago and by amputating them from the waste, they can be made to fit in the cabs. I also adjusted their right arm positions to that they could be reaching for the controls appropriately. I painted these following the layers process... dark base colours followed by lighter highlights ... which gives a good effect - it was described by “Northern Maiden” I think on this forum a while ago. These were glued in to their cabs for positioning later on. One further failing of the finish of these locos is that they tend to look a bit “flat”. I therefore decided to bling the models up a bit and as I had chosen to represent them as relatively clean locos, I sprayed the entire bodysides, roof and ends with Precision gloss varnish. I found I had a can of ready-to-spray varnish so gave this a go and it worked quite well. I was less impressed a few weeks later when I went to use it again to find that the whole tin’s contents had turned to the consistency of jelly.... which was then disposed of L Anyway, this provided a good base for the additional transfers that I needed to add back to the yellow ends, for the overhead warning flashes on both and black loco numbers for 802, all of which were from Fox transfers. Once dry, I glazed the locos using Shawplan Laserglaze, neatly dropping each screen into the opening and securing with a bean of Johnson’s Klear. I retained the original cab door glazing pieces on 802 as these carried DRS transfers and whilst I’m sure these can be procured, I saw their retention as a small concession to be lived with. The roof fans were fabricated and painted red. These were affixed to the existing fan units with cocktail stick pieces as axles secured through new holes drilled into the plastic mounts. Once fitted, they looked fine. I’d not been idle with the chassis either, I’d cut out a section of the fuel tank ends (the triangular end section) and replaced this with a square section to better represent the shape of the tanks. I fashioned some fire pull frames from plastic card and attached these with a strengthening piece behind to the chassis underside. These were then painted white with a red boarder. I lowered the ride height by removing the metal spigots that run through the bogie tower. This allows the bogies to sit a little higher and gives a pleasing gap between the bogie and body. Clearances are tighter but sufficient. 802 has/had a different speedo pick-up on the centre axle of the no.1 bogie, so the provided unit was replaced with a plastic hub and wire assembly, with a plastic card cover fabricated to replicate prototype photos. Chassis and bogie details were all fitted and the entire assembly was sprayed with a matt black/weathered black mix to tone the whole thing back. The piperwork, springs and fittings were then picked out on 802, per prototype photos before the whole assembly was weathered lightly using my Premi-air airbrush (preferred for weathering) and various subtle shades of Railmatch sleeper grime, frame dirt, brake dust, light rust and roof dirt. The roof of each loco was also lightly weathered (more heavily on 805) to represent general roof grime and exhaust, again using the airbrush and careful application/wiping with soaked cotton buds... but to give a gentle misting effect. Some light dirt misting was applied to the bodysides of 805 and the buffers were “greased” using some thick silver/black mix which was then flattened with a flat surface. Initial train assemblies looked promising After exhibiting at a local model show, I removed the hastily applied windscreen wipers (Class 55 items) and set about making the correct class 47 items. These are Shawplan items (as you’d expect) and made using a neat little etch and a piece of 33 swg wire that I add to represent the blade. This is glued along half its length and then bend away to form the blade and wiper arm separation. Once the glue has dried, I blacken the wire with a permanent marker to represent the blade. These are then affixed into the loco nose ends through small holes drilled in the wiper are recesses, as shown; apologies for the narrow depth of field in this shot... the camera was in quite close. Then, DISASTER! One further aspect that I’m not a fan of with these models is their clip-on, clip-off body... or rather not-clip-off. It was as I was trying to remove the body of 802 that I managed to put a finger through one of the roof fan mesh grills. ... which ended up costing me a little in the swear box. Sometimes, it’s best to put a model down and walk away... so I did. After a day or three, I had a hunt around and found that I had a spare grill mesh in the drawer. So, I removed the damaged mesh’s surround carefully and pried the mesh away. I cleaned the surrounding area of the hole to get a good bond and applied the new mesh, and then applied the mesh surround. So far so good! The whole area was masked and re-primed with Halfords paint. It was then a job of deciding how to best finish it off. I masked and sprayed the area around the mesh in black, as before, and once dry, masked the loco except the roof section and applied some gloss varnish in sections to the roof to delineate the sections and “lift” the entire look. Again, once dry, I then weathered the roof section, but this time, I started with some frame dirt and a little black to add some shades of browns into the engine cover covers, and then slowly built up the darkness of the paint to apply, waft-like to the general areas, especially over the cabs, but leaving more of the roof sides clean. Darker colours were slowly applied (805 was getting a similar treatment) until i finished with a very black mix lightly for soot stains around the engine exhaust. I’d not been happy with the buffers on 802, so these had their faces painted with a lighter shade of Metalcote (Steel I think), after which the grease treatment was given only to the centre of the buffers to make them look clean but certainly used – just like they’ve been appearing in some recent pictures for a magazine subscription leaflet (REx). After a few days drying, reassemblies were attempted, carefully, and a few photos taken for posterity. In the sunlight, the finish does look quite striking. I think they look clean, but used... hopefully as they would have appeared in 1994 (for 805) and 2007 (for 802). I’m still quite attached to the livery of 802 but it’s not in keeping with my period-of-choice so this will possibly seek a new home. 805 has a different look and whilst the livery is not quite as appealing to my eye as that of DRS Compass, it does cause a tug of nostalgia from my days in Manchester when I saw these in operation – this was back in a time when the railways had lost their interest for me – oh how I wish I’d been differently enthused back then (hindsight’s a wonderful thing), but this one will need to find a new home too... otherwise it’ll be resprayed into BR Blue... and that will never do will it. Anyway... thanks for reading. Jon

Hi Russ, thanks... the trial covered all 12 (?) plugins but I don't see myself trying all of them and I'm yet to be convinced about its effects but I've a month to find out haven't I ;-) Silver-Efx is probably the other one I've heard of to be honest and results do look nice - so it;d be nice to try that sometime if, as you suggest, I can find it. I'll try this one first. Thanks Jon

One from last weekend at the CVR... on the N7's last weekend of operation. Image levels adjusted in Lightroom and then played around to create the B&W image in Topaz that I just downloaded a free trial version of. Comments welcomed Jon

Eventually found a couple of these in WHS Burgess Hill on way home today - Haywards Heath doesn't seem to stock them any more. I was quite pleased to find them having planned to buy and strip to do a repaint so wasn't worried about any poor finish on the model... but blimey they were bad. I too considered that they were based on a rough copy of the Bachmann model... but it's an approximation and lacks the refinement (what you'd expect for the price I suppose .... as others have said)... I ummed and ahhed... and then put them back. Why on earth would I want to go to the lengths necessary to improve these to a display standard when I already have a backlog of 3 or 4 Bachmann deltics all needing attention? so I put them back, to allow other would-be buyers the opportunity that I would have deprived them of. It's a shame that more care couldn't have been taken over the model's finish... maybe at that price, quality control or checking ... or even taking care to do a half decent job in the first place aren't a consideration. For those of you that have acquired one, I hope you like it and enjoy it... and I hope that anyone else in B'Hill acquiring one now benefits from my sacrifice Edit - I've got to be honest though... by copying the Bachmann one, at least they've got the right cab traper-in... something that neither of the recent O gauge models have managed

Hi Dave.... cheers. Just looked (because I had no idea) and it's 24... in the gym jon

Hi.... the name's Jonathan (or Jon when ease is sought). Been living in Burgess Hill for about 12 years; before the 10 years in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire and before that Hertfordshire. My railway interest began (or started again) about 7 years ago when I realised that the daily commute to Gatwick was on units my grandfather and I rode on days out to the watercressline - ok.. so they're not exactly the same, but simialr. Our proximity to the Bluebell fostered the interest in steam but nostalgia kicked in and recollections of my early days at Kings Cross (from hertofrd North) with Deltics etc overtook this... and became my primary focus. I'ev done a few deltic detailing/weathering projects based on the Bachmann model (the others are still not good enough to draw me into O gauge), the last one being converted to P4 to be as accurace and finescale as possible. A 47 project followed (complete) along with a 105 and some other bits on the go. I've recently completed (yesterday) a couple of more modern image 47s to display this weekend at the BHMRC exhibition; please come along and say hi if you're there. Other inetrests are photography (firmly a canon user), mainly railway subjects but a decent landscape shot is hard to beat - putting the two together is an aim. I enjoy drawing too - railway again... but when time permits; oh how I wish I had more time. Not a club person ... just struggle along on my own, but with the support of many online, either here, the S4 forum, or facebook groups. Nothing against clubs... it's just the "time" issue. P4 is the direction I want to take... if I can get over the permanent way hurdle and work out the logistics of getting it working... the draw of ready-to-plant track and points is a temptation back to OO. Cheers Jon P.S. and clearly I don't use spell checker as often as I should

One of the LMS diesels... and a Bulleid too. Superb!

Anything running over the bridge yet Matthew?

Good to see that the week off was put to good use Pete. Personally, I'd be concerned pushing the traverser out of the front if you were using the rear rails... in case it got knocked.. but yes, if you want that many lines then it'll possibly be the option you gave to select... I'm presuming that the intent is for this to be exhibitable... which I hope it should be . Jon

Good to see this in colour; I though the sample on display in the cabinet at Ally Pally held promise and there are a number of areas on this model that are better than the Bach OO version (and some more recent O gauge versions too)... as far as is possible to tell from these pictures... so the model holds promise, and it'll be nice to see a full review and maybe get a thorough assessment from a type-expert. The yellow panel on the model doesn't look quite right for KOYLI as it should have the large radius on the upper corners (there are 6 varieties of SYP on the Deltics) but there's promise. Shape looks reasonable... bonnet top not so sloped as the Bach one.... cab taper looks to be present (whereas it isn't on the current O gauge ones); there's also some room left for areas of refinement to be gained by some etched part manufacturers. Which is good. Yes... looks nice.

Tim's work Lee? They do look good!

Excellent work Pete... and a good use of some time off too. I look forward to seeing what you mange by the end of the week ;-)

Hi Pete, glad I looked on here and caught your work; I'm not spending as much time here as I used to; too many other demands of time. I really like the revised backsene and facia; you sure we can't persuade you to bring it to the BHMRC show ;-)

Thought I ought to contribute something ... and why not when we've had this to play with and pose for the day

A couple of a Spam Can on a freight working... last weekend Friday 7th March headed for Ropley at North side crossing And Saturday 8th March... not 1965 departing Ropley Jon

I caught on that the show was on a a little late matthew... I'd have popped over otherwise with my two in tow... but getting them out in the sunshine was possibly the healthier option - for them and my wallet ;-) Hope to see you on Friday Jon

Superb... and you can still traverse the real ones transiting between preserved and main line today ;-)