Darwinian

The advantage with Vallejo paints is that the dropper bottles make repeatable mixes much easier. I have reasonable matches for the interwar GWR colours all mixed from the “Air” base colours set plus Camo Green. If you try different mixes on the primer you intend to use and keep a record of the numbers of drops of each colour it’s not too hard. For a “lake” I’d start with “maroon”.

Another possibility is Stationroadbaseboards.co.uk in Norfolk. Got mine from them a good few years ago now. No personal connection etc.

Ha, fixed it. It was a bind somewhere. I broke the solder holding the drive stretcher bit of the gearbox which allowed the main part to sit a bit further forward and dropped the motor height a smidgen. Had to file away the ends of the brake mounts to provide clearance. All a bit tight between 00 frames. No real damage done elsewhere = Result

I have put insulation tape over the contacts on the motor so it shouldn't be a short but I'll double check. I suspect that the motor/gearbox is hitting the body somewhere and creating pressure on the mechanics causing them to jam. I ran out of patience yesterday so it's sat on one side while I ponder.

Aberdare all assembled apart from rods. Now I have hit a problem. Setting the body the last mm down onto the chassis stops the mechanism. The unpowered wheels are free but I’m mystified. With footplate 1mm above chassis drive train is fine. Fully home and there is no movement. All very frustrating as it’s all so tight in there I can’t see the problem.

Back to the Aberdare. I decided I didn’t like the brake pull rods waving about in mid air behind the cab steps so I have knocked up some basic brake cylinders and injector overflow pipes.

I have just looked through my 2012 “GWR pannier now a 57xx” thread in “kit building and scratchbuilding” to refresh my memory. Assuming the Bachmann body is basically the same your two mystery screws hold the bunker weight block. This includes the cab back detail up to the toolboxes. The “coal” is moulded as part of the bunker which clips over this weight. I chain drilled around the edges with a small drill bit and cleaned up afterwards with files / scalpel blade. I cannot remember if the bunker is part of the cab moulding or separate. Hope this is helpful. There is also a Modelu workbench blog including his upgrade of a 57xx but I can’t get the hang of blogs.

You've done a neat job on getting rid of the topfeed pipework. I notice that you have left the injector overflow pipe running across the footplate and valance. I'm not sure when this route was introduced but have a feeling it was a BR era thing. Originally the pipe went through the footplate and behind the valance until just ahead of the cab step. It's not that difficult to remove it if it wasn't like that in your period. I should add that I have done a topfeed less 57xx from the Replica Railways body shell in 1929 condition.

Eileen’s emporium probably stock them too. Usual disclaimer.

Re Gibson crankpins: The 2018 (current) catalogue lists the screws as M1. Either M1 or 14BA washers should fit. Or simply make your own washers as you did the connecting rods? Enjoying seeing this develop. Adrian

I am impressed that you have got that chassis so square using simple flat spacers. Using L shaped spacers can help to keep the frames parallel longitudinally and vertically while soldering them up. But then maybe that wasn’t possible in this case. Splendid progress so far.

I had that thought too Johnster. On the GWR low sided wagons there are obvious ropes holding the uprights at least. Maybe there was a rope across the top too but I’ve not spotted one. The rough surfaces would provide plenty of friction lower down but not at he top as you say. Lower image page 33 of “The Rhymney Railway Vol1 The main line from Cardiff” John Hutton. Shows NCB planked wagons loaded this way, being shunted with no apparent ropes. Llanbradach colliery sidings 27April 1957 B J Miller collection.

True but I cannot find a suitable supply of anything else with a small enough diameter. The props shown in the GWR wagon loads images are remarkably straight and uniform. Possibly from pine forest. I think the appearance of the models is close enough from layout viewing distance.

Quick paint job done. LED lamp giving a rather red hue.

More pit props. This is also on the pit props thread in modelling questions... but I’ll put it here too to continue the earlier experiments. Double stack smaller pit props made from cocktail sticks and envelope back card. They probably need painting!

I only recently found this topic and have been experimenting with wooden skewers/cocktail sticks. Following guesstimates from pictures in various books here’s my take on the smaller size pit props as loaded in a 7plank. And the construction method. Once painted the two stacks will be attached to the base to make a load. The uprights seem to have been roped to lower sided wagons but not 6-7 plank ones. Oh each stack took about one hour to make while watching TV.

There is a good discussion of turntables in the layout section “Henley on Thames - GWR in the 1930s” Around page 46. Sorry I’m not sure how to add a link.

I can't remember the details but there was a layout where a line of coaches formed the bottom of ""the backscene". You could do the same with your Javelin, possibly behind a wire link fence to suggest it's on the "real railway's" sidings but it would take up one tracks worth of the width. Then have an operational preservation era yard in front of it.

Some proper S. Wales stock spotted at “iard fer”. The R1 is really a bit big as it takes up 2/3 of the length itself.

A quiet afternoon at iard fer Just a scalescenes box file in 00 photographed on iPod. And in original colour

Slowly making progress. Gardening, decorating and the Aberdare for Cwmhir have taken priority but now evenings are getting dark again.... That's an 850 pannier, just got to finish off the conveyor and sort out fixing buildings at the back in place. I have a leftover length of backscene from Cwmhir that will cover both boxfiles. I have also been making some "levers" (more like fancy pull/push knobs) for the front of box 2 to connect to wire in tube to operate the points.

I stand corrected and a little more knowledgeable.

Oh just thought. I've found the easiest way to cut straight lines in brass is to use a skrawker and a ruler. Make several runs along the brass until it starts to show through on the reverse. Then bend back and forth (you might need to clamp longer pieces under a ruler) until the brass snaps along the line. Much neater than piercing or hacksaws but of course not always possible.

All this discussion of the reaction of lead oxide mystifies me. According to Wikipedia white lead is a complex mixture principally composed of lead carbonate. My GCSE level understanding of chemistry is as follows: Hydrogen sulphide gas is I believe relatively unreactive (and the sulphur is less reactive than oxygen so would not displace it from lead oxide anyway) and would disperse quickly in the atmosphere. In the atmosphere hydrogen sulphide would dissolve in water droplets forming sulphuric acid (acid rain). This would react with lead carbonates to form carbon dioxide, water and lead sulphAtes, which are also white, but possibly importantly are soluble. With regard to the role of carbon (soot). Carbon is more reactive than lead so would displace it producing carbon dioxide and lead metal, (this applies to lead oxide too) which is of course grey. At atmospheric temperatures however this would be a very slow process. However none of this takes into account any effect of the oils used in the paint formulation to inhibit or alter these reactions. We need a paints chemistry specialist for that. The soot in the atmosphere would be composed of very fine particles (microscopic) which, much like weathering powders, would adhere to any non-glossy or oily surface and would not easily wash off (think of buildings in the industrial heartlands). It is often hard now to appreciate just how much soot there was. A lecturer at Leeds uni. once told me that in the 60s a sheet of white paper left by an open window would turn grey by the end of the day. So the suggestion that coach roofs were more subjected to soot from being behind a locomotive seems a reasonable one. Just as an aside my Dad always swore that the old lead white gloss he used to paint window frames with had far better colour fastness than modern lead free paints.

I’ve only ever used a square batten of wood screwed to an MDF laminate base to support right angles (as Doilum says). Cheap, easily adapted and does not act as a heat sink when soldering. Also, remember that surfaces to be soldered need to be freshly cleaned of any oxidation / production residue. Fine grade wet and dry paper and/or a glass fibre burnishing stick are my preference. Wear vinyl gloves or similar when using the fibreglass brush, the splinters get in your skin, are hard to see, difficult to remove and can be quite painful.