londonbus

Hi, i’m In Moscow right now and have a collection of Russian SZD and RZD stock back home. The shop you were at is either Rocoland www.rocoland.ru or one of the Eurotrain shops www.eurotrain.ru 

 

Rocoland is a great shop, but rather tricky to find, it has some good exclusives (mainly by LS Models / Roco) and a good selection but they don’t take cards which is a bit frustrating.

 

Eurotrain has it’s own manufacturing to a very high standard, but is rather pricey. Rocoland general sells Eurotrain production too.

 

Chris White at Red Star trains produces some great resin models and is lovely to deal with, however call him, don’t email.

 

Eurotrain stuff can now be bought in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf, and occasionally there are Russian locos available in HO through the normal continental (Europe) manufacturers, Piko, Roco, Fleischmann. Modellbahnshop Lippe (google it) has a good selection generally and will post internationally from Germany.

 

LS Models do some excellent RZD sleepers and coaches. C&M Models in Carlisle are a good place and seem to order them in. Other shops will do this too, i’ve Just used C&M before and you need to be aware in advance of the production. Tillig / Heris and Eurotrain do the Ammendorf coaches that are synonymous with the Russian sleepers coming into Western Europe.

 

There is also a producer in Latvia called Modela www.modela.lv resin casts - so not the same quality as we’re used to nowadays.

 

Good luck!

Tremayne

 

If you need any more info please PM me! 

 

Ebay has some stuff but it’s very expensive.

Hi, i’m In Moscow right now and have a collection of Russian SZD and RZD stock back home. The shop you were at is either Rocoland www.rocoland.ru or one of the Eurotrain shops www.eurotrain.ru 

 

Rocoland is a great shop, but rather tricky to find, it has some good exclusives (mainly by LS Models / Roco) and a good selection but they don’t take cards which is a bit frustrating.

 

Eurotrain has it’s own manufacturing to a very high standard, but is rather pricey. Rocoland general sells Eurotrain production too.

 

Chris White at Red Star trains produces some great resin models and is lovely to deal with, however call him, don’t email.

 

Eurotrain stuff can now be bought in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf, and occasionally there are Russian locos available in HO through the normal continental (Europe) manufacturers, Piko, Roco, Fleischmann. Modellbahnshop Lippe (google it) has a good selection generally and will post internationally from Germany.

 

LS Models do some excellent RZD sleepers and coaches. C&M Models in Carlisle are a good place and seem to order them in. Other shops will do this too, i’ve Just used C&M before and you need to be aware in advance of the production. Tillig / Heris and Eurotrain do the Ammendorf coaches that are synonymous with the Russian sleepers coming into Western Europe.

 

Good luck!

Tremayne

 

If you need any more info please PM me! 

 

Ebay has some stuff but it’s very expensive.

www.eurotrain.ru 

 

www.rocoland.ru

 

Some Eurotrain stock is also now sold in Menzels Lokschuppen in Dusseldorf. 

 

Modellbahnshop-lippe is also a good place in Germany for Russian (and all continental).

 

You can also search on SZD (soviet) and RZD (Russian) on Ebay. 

 

I've lived in Russia and have a growing collection of Russian stock - would be happy to share any info if you PM me.

Finally found supplies for enough parts to complete one end of the Leicester station south end, got my tools, got my glue, just can't find my mojo just yet, but with rain forecast today,something may just happen modelling wise, also have quite a lot of stock that I might get lucky and win in an auction.

have a cuppa then go for it. Looking forward to updates and pics of progress

There is a company called Little Ghost that are based in Germany and offer white toner cartridges for Laser printers and can supply waterslide decal paper with a blue background.

I've recently invested in a cartridge, paper and a suitable printer, but haven't gotten round to trying it yet (decal printing).

The company offer white toner cartridges for a very wide range of printers, so as I required a new printer anyway, the best option was to match one of the cheeper cartridges to a printer that I could purchase in the U.K. - I purchase one of the HP Laserjet range for around £140 and then the white toner cartridge was around the same - this sounds expensive, but unlike Ink Jet printers, the cartridges should last indefinitely when not in use and the print capacity of the white toner cartridge will last me a lifetime (as long as there is no toner deterioration).

Little Ghost do offer complete bundles (Printer / Cartridges and paper), but the prices of the printers seemed elevated and the shipping costs would be higher for a printer from Germany. The service was excellent though - the cartridge arrived within a few of days.

https://www.ghost-white-toner.com/model-builders/?lang=en

Hello Albion 47509! What a great find, i’ve Checked out the website and there is a dealer literally 6 miles from where I live near Frankfurt. I have plenty of renumbering and other decal work to do so may take a good look at this option, expensive though it is, if the quality of the white is good enough it will probably make sense. Thanks. T

Looking forward to more updates! 

Thanks for the info and background on this wagon. It’ll be winging it’s way to Germany very soon.

There was a reference to this online photo on the www.traintesting.com site quite a few pages back but nothing since - it’s my only hope to run one of these wagons with a degree of credibility! The image (not mine) is at Sileby in 1983.

 

http://www.traintesting.com/images/M4_0016.jpg

 

Any history to this lone wagon? And it’s very difficult to see if it has ICI lettering, painted over or taken off. Whether it has the TOPS panel (can’t see any black on the photo).

 

It’s loaded with what is presumably Limestone.

 

So which would be the closest? Presumably it’s ICI004A (no black TOPS) but difficult to say. Maybe ICI005A?

And Rails of Sheffield are still selling these on EBay without making it clear that it's a corroded chassis.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-039-OO-039-GAUGE-R2420-BR-GREEN-CLASS-31-039-D5512-039-DIESEL-LOCOMOTIVE-OS-/192430655829?

Good on Rails - they have now updated their Ebay listing and made it clear the loco may be suffering from corroded metal. As you’d expect from a quality retailer.

I have recently tried “Experts-Choice” A4 decal paper. Produced in both clear and white / inkjet and laser printers. They are available in single sheets, but i’ve also found them occasionally sold in packs of three sheets.

 

This is my first experiment which highlights some of the limitations (of my modelling and the paper) - however I believe with the following improvements the results will be quite acceptable to the eye (but probably not a HD picture)

 

1) the white background is a separate decal and applied first, on the Esso logo I printed a very fine line as a guide where to cut it.

2) a clear decal is placed over the white decal with the Esso writing and the thick blue line (this hides the original thin guide line.

3) mistakes I made on this first example i) I should have trimmed the second clear decal more closely ii) I did not leave the decal in the softening solution (decalfix / Microsol) long enough / apply sufficient solution to the decal whilst applying so it didn’t get “sucked” into the rivets iii) I didn’t pre-gloss varnish the area where I intended to apply the decals iv) I printed the ESSO writing on both the white and the clear sheets so aligning them wasn’t perfect. Just printing once gave me the depth of colour so i’ll leave the white decal blank.

 

Despite the above “human” errors, I am very satisfied. Although Satan’s Goldfish’s suggestion of applying a body coloured border to blend the decal to the background is certainly worth a try, there’s always something to learn here, and usually more than one way to get the result you’re after. Thanks for starting this thread.

 

Thanks for your comments. Restraint & observation keeps coming back as a theme and knowing when to stop is a very difficult lesson to learn! Mick, your Flickr feed is well worth a peruse.

What do you use to weather the front of steam locomotives underneath the firebox door where the ash accumulates?

 

I remember reading somewhere of a MIG weathering powder (Ash) however now I can’t find the article. I also can only find MIG “pigments” - are these one of the same?

 

I’ve also noticed PECO are now producing a range of weathering powders, one is ash.

 

Has anybody used real ash? Finely crushed?

 

I’m away from home for a few weeks, so before I start experimenting myself i’d be interested to know how other modellers create their preferred ash effects and any thoughts.

And Rails of Sheffield are still selling these on EBay without making it clear that it's a corroded chassis.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-039-OO-039-GAUGE-R2420-BR-GREEN-CLASS-31-039-D5512-039-DIESEL-LOCOMOTIVE-OS-/192430655829?

Try Roco 73382 and 73383 Elektrolok El.16 in EBay - just be careful about buying AC instead of DC. NMJ manufacture an El 14 - just noticed your picture is diesel. time for new glasses. Good luck anyway.

Thanks for the reply John, a test batch of the blue / green tint wagons now dismantled and i'll use them to try different approaches, but the easiest will probably be as you suggest, spraying liberal filth.

Another question for the group... I've collected a few Esso tanks over the years and have started to personalise and weather them. Most of the wagons have what I consider to be the correct base silver (left) based on the various online and book sources of colour photographs. The Bachmann triple pack 37-668 is not only very badly factory weathered but also the base silver appears to have a distinct blue / green hue. This can be seen in the photo below (although it doesn't appear quite as pronounced on the images). 

 

Is this a Bachmann paint mistake or is this based on a prototype? It's noticeable enough to be annoying (if it's not correct) but the prospect of repainting and replacing the decals is equally annoying! 

 

Opinions & Guidance welcome. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks... in the end I sprayed a light coating of bauxite (Railmatch acrylic) over the sparkling areas of the wooden sides, and a mixture of Tamiya flat black and a mid dark brown over the chassis. I lost some of the nice tones of the 3 layers of rust i'd built up. But at least it doesn't look as if Tinkerbell has been waving her magic wand any more. Plenty more experimenting , I've started to go through this part of the forum with great interest.

Hmmm... I've nicely weathered 6 wagons over the past few evenings... last fly past with the airbrush used a few spots of a darkish browny Vallejo rust into a mucky mix. After a few subtle layers and with the spotlights on, and having cleaned my glasses and realised it was all sparkling a bit. After some elimination work I noticed I'd accidentally used some Metallic Rust by mistake...

 

I've tried some mattcote and it's a bit less sparkly, but any other tips to reduce the sparkle? apart from turning the lights off that is.

This has been a most useful read, and will require re-reading to fully absorb. I am looking at a way of adding some realism and interest to operations over and above just running a Working Timetable and the idea of cards is one i've seen on McRuss's layout. The laminator will be busy. 

 

Any helpful experience / Comments on making the pockets on the Car Cards for the Way Bills to fit in? 

 

Best of luck with the new layout. Look forward to seeing progress.

 

From the full Hornby production the product codes it affects are:

 

R2413

R2420

R2421

 

Hornby mentioned that it has not affected later batches with the A, B etc suffix.

Just as a footnote - I sent two locos back to Hornby and they confirmed the problem as the corrosion and gave me 2 x £100 credits for use on the Hornby website. But the following extract from their email to me suggests they may now not be offering the credit any more. Although I guess always worth a try.

 

From Hornby...

"In 2013, a concern relating to spares resulted in Hornby being unable to repair the Class 31 Locomotives, therefore we moved to offering £100 voucher to anyone still effected.

 

Hornby offers a 1 year guarantee on all its products. Depending on the sales channel, we understand and appreciate customers can buy these items up to 3years+ of the original launch date. In the case of the Class 31 it’s now been 8 years since the original concern arose.

 

Following a review of sell through data and the log of customers that have reported this as an issue, it is our belief that affected units have lessened year on year, and as a result Hornby has taken the decision to withdraw any further voucher offers as of the 31 July 2016."

This probably shows what I mean better than words....

 

Good rainy afternoon collective knowledge of RMWeb. I've recently taken delivery of Hugh Longworth's excellent Reference on all BR Steam Loco allocations from 1948 to 1968. Highly recommended, if quite an investment.

 

Under the locomotive class are the following columns from left to right. Date of allocation / Notes (if a shed was recoded / loco withdrawn) / Shed Code / Shed Name.

 

Qu: In the second column many of the locomotives have the notation "I" in many cases multiples i.e. "IIIIIIIII" in red. I cannot see anywhere in this book what this refers to - I'm sure it's not referred to as it's obvious. To all that is except me.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks

I have a number of Hornby Class 31 and have been testing all my locos after storage. I noticed one loco had a cracked body which I took off, started to file down the metal without realising there was a serious problem. The whole thin part of the solid metal chassis under the cab just crumbled. That's when I searched here and found this thread! Good job too, I have another one. However a quick phone call to Hornby this morning resulted in some superb customer service and the two locos will be sent back.

 

From the full Hornby production the product codes it affects are:

 

R2413

R2420

R2421

 

Hornby mentioned that it has not affected later batches with the A, B etc suffix.
 

HI Markus, this is really coming on since I last saw it. The buildings are looking excellent. 

Very interesting thread as i've stumbled on a new subject and wasn't aware so many non British wagons ran in the UK throughout the country. 

 

A little bit of research particularly into the Italian vans (some mentioned earlier in the thread) Below is a current production Piko of a ferry wagon. Piko 54720. Also ACME seem to produce some very similar vans with product number 40141. Likewise Roco 47526 and 56066. Electrotren 1310 is the blue Spanish Transfesa ferry vans which carried onions.