Jack's Present Day Workbench - Coaches of Many Colours

[Jack374]

Thanks very much for the kind comments guys…it’s been a long old job but I’m very happy with the result, and that it’s finally done!

 

In the last couple of months I’ve had little time so have been preparing for next weekend's excursion to Ally Pally with the Deadmans Lane crew. I’ve weathered the Meridian on the roof and underframe with a quick airbrush mist of matt black (for exhausts) and Railmatch frame dirt. This was sealed in with brushed matt varnish. Other jobs have included sound fitting (well…swapping decoders!) and painting the wheel faces…

 

 

I’ve also finished my Hattons EWS 66. I was waiting on a custom renumber set before weathering, however I had second thoughts, since 66207 has an odd cab door and is still in use in EWS livery today. So to hell with a renumber, I’d rather play with it as soon as possible! An airbrush weathering similar to the 222 was used…

 

 

And that’s it I’m afraid. Other small but nonetheless important jobs have included repairs, usually involving bits which need gluing back on, or straightening grills or the odd dab of paint. All wheels have been cleaned, couplings checked, and sound levels increased to exhibition volume from 'small box room' volume!

 

Seriously looking forward to my first exhibition in 2 years! If you’re attending then feel free to say hi, I’ll be behind Deadmans Lane for the most part, unless I’m hunting some food or being tempted by something expensive on a trader's stand…

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[The Fatadder]

Very nice modelling on the 222, look forward to seeing it in the flesh at Ally Pally at the weekend.

 

A question if I may, I found an old post of yours in another thread referring to your use of car aerosols, I was just wondering which colour you were using for the post privatisation warning yellow (and if you ever found a decent match for EWS red & gold).

 

Thanks 

[Jack374]

6 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Very nice modelling on the 222, look forward to seeing it in the flesh at Ally Pally at the weekend.

 

A question if I may, I found an old post of yours in another thread referring to your use of car aerosols, I was just wondering which colour you were using for the post privatisation warning yellow (and if you ever found a decent match for EWS red & gold).

 

Thanks 

Thanks Rich! I’m really excited to run the unit and operate Mick's layout for the weekend for the first time in 2 years. Feel free to say hi when you pop by!

 

Regarding aerosols, I did actually start a thread with a view to it being a database for post-privatisation or D&E colours. There is a more established (if outdated) thread for older colours, but I didn’t find much in there of use. The link to my thread is below:

The colour yellow I use is Rover Inca Yellow. It’s relatively golden-yellow and I feel quite a good match, however no colours matched from Halfords will be perfect. Below are some photos of yellow ends I’ve done with the spray can, including the 222 in my last post.

 

 

Usual caveats apply regarding lighting, any varnish I may have put on (but tried to find pics without). I can’t recall which primers I sprayed it on but I assume red may give more warmth. I’d guess I usually used grey or white for the above photos.

 

I've not tried to match EWS red yet…in another thread (copied into my thread) I found a recommendation of Ford Aporto Red, but haven’t seen any pictures or tested it.

 

I'm of two minds with rattle cans now, as they are always really thick but give a superb ultra-gloss finish ready for transfers. The custom match purple for the 222 was particularly heavy and needed lots of rubbing down. I’ll most likely stick with the matches I’ve found (warning yellow, DB red, DRS/ROG blue) for future projects, as they look right and I’ve proven them. I’m more sceptical about matching new colours at £5.99 a can, when the specific colour exists from railway manufacturers. That’s why I’m not going to try and match EWS maroon and will use Phoenix and try adding some other colours for an upcoming couple of EWS projects. It’s personal preference I suppose!

 

Hope that helps, if you’ve any questions let me know!

 

Jack.

[The Fatadder]

Thanks for that, I have just switched to using Vauxhall Mustard Yellow for the earlier more orangey BR shade of warning yellow.  The Inca yellow certainly looks like it does the job for the later shade.  Yellow is certainly one of those colours that I just find impossible to spray reliably to the standard I want with the airbrush, though you certainly need a lot more care not to apply to thick with the rattle can.  

 

 

[great central]

Hoping you don't mind a somewhat tongue in cheek nitpick but EMR Meridians have never looked like yours.

They are all in varying degrees of filth, the vinyls of the early purple applications being simply stuck over the old EMT livery including the muck which had been allowed to build up since Abellio took over!

Then the later ones simply had the area where a vinyl was going cleaned, so there is a clean patch around the EMR Intercity wording which is still very evident many months after application. 

One of the worst is 222022 seen a few days ago, but fairly typical of the state of the flagship fleet of this operator 

 

[Phil Mc]

I took this pic today, mainly because the Meridian looked clean !!

 

 

Cheers,

Phil.

[great central]

6 hours ago, Phil Mc said:

I took this pic today, mainly because the Meridian looked clean !!

 

 

Cheers,

Phil.

 

Only cos you can't see the white(?) bits

 

Should have said that Jack's model looks very good 

[Jack374]

On 20/03/2022 at 11:18, great central said:

Hoping you don't mind a somewhat tongue in cheek nitpick but EMR Meridians have never looked like yours.

My model can’t look like all or any EMR Meridians…I’ve gone for a specific unit and not tried to represent the fleet generally. 222101 was the first of any Meridian to receive the purple ends and grey band variation of EMR, after 222104 received the full aubergine treatment. I photographed it on its first journey in its new vinyls, with clean body sides but weathered chassis (and roof). Below is the main photo, but I took a burst of all the coaches and all were spotless with little discernible sign of the former vinyls:

 

 

Such is the way with the modern railway, that less than a year later, there was a pretty major alteration anyway!

 

It’s since been replaced with an aubergine fairing.

 

I'm not particularly fussed about it being uber-correct…it’s close enough for me, looks the part and represents the first time I saw it, nice a shiny, after it’s facelift. It ran superbly this weekend on DL - thankfully!

 

Anyway, I’ve moved onto proper traction now…the workbench has no less than 1x 47 and 4x 37s on it currently! More on this later…

 

Jack.

[Jack374]

Speaking of Ally Pally, here are a few pics of some finished project which got a run out, that have featured in this thread. The container train was a bit temperamental on Saturday but had settled down by closing on Saturday. One issue was it was so long, my homemade magnetic couplings weren't strong enough and failed on the gradient on the front wagon! A couple of stronger pairs for the front few wagons are in development currently...

 

 

Very good weekend

 

Jack.

[The Fatadder]

Good to see you at Ally Pally, the 222 was even more impressive in the flesh!

[Jack374]

Cheers Rich, was great to meet you too!

 

Well, this is the last time you will read on these pages that university work has taken most of my spare time recently! Dissertation all but finished, all 14k words of it, and a week on Tuesday it’ll all be over…for good…it’s been a long 4 years.

 

With that in mind, the past week or so I’ve been able to get some modelling done. At Ally Pally I realised I needed to get some projects which were half finished over the line, as well as sort out my DRS 37 fleet, most of which I couldn't run/exhibit.

 

First loco chosen was 47813 in ROG with 'Thank you NHS' branding. I had prepped and painted the bodyshell fully in summer of 2020, but then shelved the project. For various reasons I decided to get the thing finished, so the excellent Railtec transfers were ordered and applied, with the ROG 'constellation' artwork and the NHS branding being applied in the same sitting to make sure they settled and dried together. The transfers went on well as usual:

 

 

I also added the buffers, which I’d prepped previously. The shiny shanks were done with adhesive foil tape.

 

The next project(s) are my DRS 37s. 37716 needed a bit of work and so did some of the others, so I’m getting them all to the same standard so I’ve got 4 (2x runners 2x 'dead') to play with. The bogies received attention first, starting with 37716. It sits on cast bogies, which are of the 'Deltic' type not the class 50 variety. Using Bachmann's most recent fabricated 6-wheel drive bogie moulding, the raised lip around the edge of the main frame was removed with a knife, then sanded to a slightly rounded profile on the corners, as per the prototype. A piece of plastic strip was added at the nose end too. The steps were removed and bulked out with plastic strip, then re-mounted using the original spigots which are long enough to fit. The brake cylinder lines were removed and a wire replacement fashioned from 0.3mm steel wire. On the real thing it has a couple of sections which bend outwards along the top of the frame, but after I did one this way I decided life was too short and did the rest straight along the top. Finally, some brass brackets from a PH Designs etch I had were glued in place and a speedo cable made from plastic strip and 0.3mm wire.

 

 

Next job was to sort some snowploughs. These are a real mixed bag, mostly Bachmann, with one PH Designs set from 37716. All were prepped, with the set for 47813 requiring rebuilding with plastic pieces as I’d cut a hole in a set for Kadees, but this didn’t work. I decided to mount them using thin brass strip, bent at a right angle to roughly represent the actual mounting style of the centre section. I’d already added plastic strip mounts for 47813 so these will remain. One of 37716 ploughs will be removable, so the mount is made from 0.9mm steel wire - more on this later. They were primed and today sprayed yellow from a Halfords rattle can.

 

 

Buffers will be replaced on 3 of the 4 37s, which means I need 6 'class 60-style' and 6 oval, since 37558 has a pair of each! I’ve used some of the resin castings I made of the Hattons 66 buffers, which were cleaned up and primed with the snowploughs. 4 in the picture will be for the next project, detailed below…

 

 

Finally for this post, I bit the bullet and bought a Bachmann class 90. Despite being for a future WCML layout, I decided to get one for sub-£150 while I could, considering new releases are now pushing £200! Despite the price tag, when mine arrived (from a well established retailer) the buffers and detail at one end had taken a pounding. As I was replacing it anyway, I didn’t ask for a replacement and received a meagre postage refund. However, having removed the detail and opened it up, I found both bogie mounts were snapped, which appears to be a common issue with the first batch. As I’d removed some bits I couldn’t send it back so had to keep it.

 

So my solution to the bogie mounts was to make some from brass and attach with a wire split pin. In hindsight, I could’ve soldered a 2BA nut to the mount and used a bolt to secure, but my original method works well. I found a 1mm copper wire washer sufficient to sit the split pin level with the chassis floor. I’ll let the pictures explain.

 

 

I’m glad the fix was straightforward and it means I’ll now not have to worry about the mounts breaking due to mishandling in future.

 

I got 90037 in RFD triple grey, and have decided to portray one of the Freightliner grey fleet, with red triangle branding. This meant the RFD branding had to go, which thankfully came off using cheap white spirit, cotton buds, and a lot of elbow grease! Transfers arrived from Railtec today so I’ll add them soon.

 

 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me! I’m enjoying these projects and the 'back to basics' detailing work which was lacking on the 222.

 

More soon!

Jack.

[James Makin]

Looking great as usual Jack! Loving the pics of all the cute little snowploughs lined up too!

 

Congrats on getting the Uni done and dusted! I bet 14k words are far more pleasurable to write on RMWeb than on course topics! 😄

[bradfordbuffer]

On 14/05/2022 at 22:24, Jack374 said:

Cheers Rich, was great to meet you too!

 

Well, this is the last time you will read on these pages that university work has taken most of my spare time recently! Dissertation all but finished, all 14k words of it, and a week on Tuesday it’ll all be over…for good…it’s been a long 4 years.

 

With that in mind, the past week or so I’ve been able to get some modelling done. At Ally Pally I realised I needed to get some projects which were half finished over the line, as well as sort out my DRS 37 fleet, most of which I couldn't run/exhibit.

 

First loco chosen was 47813 in ROG with 'Thank you NHS' branding. I had prepped and painted the bodyshell fully in summer of 2020, but then shelved the project. For various reasons I decided to get the thing finished, so the excellent Railtec transfers were ordered and applied, with the ROG 'constellation' artwork and the NHS branding being applied in the same sitting to make sure they settled and dried together. The transfers went on well as usual:

 

 

I also added the buffers, which I’d prepped previously. The shiny shanks were done with adhesive foil tape.

 

The next project(s) are my DRS 37s. 37716 needed a bit of work and so did some of the others, so I’m getting them all to the same standard so I’ve got 4 (2x runners 2x 'dead') to play with. The bogies received attention first, starting with 37716. It sits on cast bogies, which are of the 'Deltic' type not the class 50 variety. Using Bachmann's most recent fabricated 6-wheel drive bogie moulding, the raised lip around the edge of the main frame was removed with a knife, then sanded to a slightly rounded profile on the corners, as per the prototype. A piece of plastic strip was added at the nose end too. The steps were removed and bulked out with plastic strip, then re-mounted using the original spigots which are long enough to fit. The brake cylinder lines were removed and a wire replacement fashioned from 0.3mm steel wire. On the real thing it has a couple of sections which bend outwards along the top of the frame, but after I did one this way I decided life was too short and did the rest straight along the top. Finally, some brass brackets from a PH Designs etch I had were glued in place and a speedo cable made from plastic strip and 0.3mm wire.

 

 

Next job was to sort some snowploughs. These are a real mixed bag, mostly Bachmann, with one PH Designs set from 37716. All were prepped, with the set for 47813 requiring rebuilding with plastic pieces as I’d cut a hole in a set for Kadees, but this didn’t work. I decided to mount them using thin brass strip, bent at a right angle to roughly represent the actual mounting style of the centre section. I’d already added plastic strip mounts for 47813 so these will remain. One of 37716 ploughs will be removable, so the mount is made from 0.9mm steel wire - more on this later. They were primed and today sprayed yellow from a Halfords rattle can.

 

 

Buffers will be replaced on 3 of the 4 37s, which means I need 6 'class 60-style' and 6 oval, since 37558 has a pair of each! I’ve used some of the resin castings I made of the Hattons 66 buffers, which were cleaned up and primed with the snowploughs. 4 in the picture will be for the next project, detailed below…

 

 

Finally for this post, I bit the bullet and bought a Bachmann class 90. Despite being for a future WCML layout, I decided to get one for sub-£150 while I could, considering new releases are now pushing £200! Despite the price tag, when mine arrived (from a well established retailer) the buffers and detail at one end had taken a pounding. As I was replacing it anyway, I didn’t ask for a replacement and received a meagre postage refund. However, having removed the detail and opened it up, I found both bogie mounts were snapped, which appears to be a common issue with the first batch. As I’d removed some bits I couldn’t send it back so had to keep it.

 

So my solution to the bogie mounts was to make some from brass and attach with a wire split pin. In hindsight, I could’ve soldered a 2BA nut to the mount and used a bolt to secure, but my original method works well. I found a 1mm copper wire washer sufficient to sit the split pin level with the chassis floor. I’ll let the pictures explain.

 

 

I’m glad the fix was straightforward and it means I’ll now not have to worry about the mounts breaking due to mishandling in future.

 

I got 90037 in RFD triple grey, and have decided to portray one of the Freightliner grey fleet, with red triangle branding. This meant the RFD branding had to go, which thankfully came off using cheap white spirit, cotton buds, and a lot of elbow grease! Transfers arrived from Railtec today so I’ll add them soon.

 

 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me! I’m enjoying these projects and the 'back to basics' detailing work which was lacking on the 222.

 

More soon!

Jack.

14k words....!.....I'll stick with pictures thanks!

 

Well done Jack for uni work

[Departmental203]

On 14/05/2022 at 22:24, Jack374 said:

Cheers Rich, was great to meet you too!

 

Well, this is the last time you will read on these pages that university work has taken most of my spare time recently! Dissertation all but finished, all 14k words of it, and a week on Tuesday it’ll all be over…for good…it’s been a long 4 years.

 

With that in mind, the past week or so I’ve been able to get some modelling done. At Ally Pally I realised I needed to get some projects which were half finished over the line, as well as sort out my DRS 37 fleet, most of which I couldn't run/exhibit.

 

First loco chosen was 47813 in ROG with 'Thank you NHS' branding. I had prepped and painted the bodyshell fully in summer of 2020, but then shelved the project. For various reasons I decided to get the thing finished, so the excellent Railtec transfers were ordered and applied, with the ROG 'constellation' artwork and the NHS branding being applied in the same sitting to make sure they settled and dried together. The transfers went on well as usual:

 

 

I also added the buffers, which I’d prepped previously. The shiny shanks were done with adhesive foil tape.

 

The next project(s) are my DRS 37s. 37716 needed a bit of work and so did some of the others, so I’m getting them all to the same standard so I’ve got 4 (2x runners 2x 'dead') to play with. The bogies received attention first, starting with 37716. It sits on cast bogies, which are of the 'Deltic' type not the class 50 variety. Using Bachmann's most recent fabricated 6-wheel drive bogie moulding, the raised lip around the edge of the main frame was removed with a knife, then sanded to a slightly rounded profile on the corners, as per the prototype. A piece of plastic strip was added at the nose end too. The steps were removed and bulked out with plastic strip, then re-mounted using the original spigots which are long enough to fit. The brake cylinder lines were removed and a wire replacement fashioned from 0.3mm steel wire. On the real thing it has a couple of sections which bend outwards along the top of the frame, but after I did one this way I decided life was too short and did the rest straight along the top. Finally, some brass brackets from a PH Designs etch I had were glued in place and a speedo cable made from plastic strip and 0.3mm wire.

 

 

Next job was to sort some snowploughs. These are a real mixed bag, mostly Bachmann, with one PH Designs set from 37716. All were prepped, with the set for 47813 requiring rebuilding with plastic pieces as I’d cut a hole in a set for Kadees, but this didn’t work. I decided to mount them using thin brass strip, bent at a right angle to roughly represent the actual mounting style of the centre section. I’d already added plastic strip mounts for 47813 so these will remain. One of 37716 ploughs will be removable, so the mount is made from 0.9mm steel wire - more on this later. They were primed and today sprayed yellow from a Halfords rattle can.

 

 

Buffers will be replaced on 3 of the 4 37s, which means I need 6 'class 60-style' and 6 oval, since 37558 has a pair of each! I’ve used some of the resin castings I made of the Hattons 66 buffers, which were cleaned up and primed with the snowploughs. 4 in the picture will be for the next project, detailed below…

 

 

Finally for this post, I bit the bullet and bought a Bachmann class 90. Despite being for a future WCML layout, I decided to get one for sub-£150 while I could, considering new releases are now pushing £200! Despite the price tag, when mine arrived (from a well established retailer) the buffers and detail at one end had taken a pounding. As I was replacing it anyway, I didn’t ask for a replacement and received a meagre postage refund. However, having removed the detail and opened it up, I found both bogie mounts were snapped, which appears to be a common issue with the first batch. As I’d removed some bits I couldn’t send it back so had to keep it.

 

So my solution to the bogie mounts was to make some from brass and attach with a wire split pin. In hindsight, I could’ve soldered a 2BA nut to the mount and used a bolt to secure, but my original method works well. I found a 1mm copper wire washer sufficient to sit the split pin level with the chassis floor. I’ll let the pictures explain.

 

 

I’m glad the fix was straightforward and it means I’ll now not have to worry about the mounts breaking due to mishandling in future.

 

I got 90037 in RFD triple grey, and have decided to portray one of the Freightliner grey fleet, with red triangle branding. This meant the RFD branding had to go, which thankfully came off using cheap white spirit, cotton buds, and a lot of elbow grease! Transfers arrived from Railtec today so I’ll add them soon.

 

 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me! I’m enjoying these projects and the 'back to basics' detailing work which was lacking on the 222.

 

More soon!

Jack.

Hello there Jack, nice to get an update from you in a wee while! I must say 47813 and the 37 bogies are looking superb!

 

And a 14k word dissertation.....yikes! It makes you wonder what the uni professors are getting high on!

 

But good luck with it mate, sure you will ace this!💪

 

Looking forward to seeing more progress here!

 

Jules

[Jack374]

Well 5 months since my last post, summer has been and gone, and the leaves are a fallin'! Modelling took a back seat in summer due to the nice weather and more recently a bout of illness. I did manage to get 'Fordley' up and running mind, and me and Cal had a day playing trains. Below are a few photos, some featuring stock seen in this thread:

 

 

Now to projects. The 4x DRS 37s have been slowly getting there, with 2 nearly ready to appear at Warley next month on DL. I’ll show what I did to these when they’re finished. The large logo pair of 424 and 407 have taken more effort, because I decided to do the nose ends 'properly', as per my 37405 featured way back in 2019…again, I’ll show the mods when they’re complete. The first step was to strip them, using about 95% IPA in a small sealable container:

 

 

On the 90 front, I’ve added transfers from Railtec and all the detail bag goodies to grey 90047. The pipes were heated gently with a close soldering iron and curled round to represent them in the stowed position. My fictitious TDM cable covers made of styrene have since been painted yellow, while eventually the replacement cables which run to the side of the bufferbeam will be added from wire. A good weathering will finish this off nicely:

 

 

And it would appear I have doubled my Bachmann 90 fleet with the addition of a Freightliner Powerhaul variant for a great price. The price must’ve been good because one bogie pivot was broken…not worth sending back as I’ve already developed a fix. So fix v2.0 features a 1.5mm brass bolt with washer soldered to the head, and a corresponding nut soldered to the bogie cradle fabrication. I decided to use 2x wires threaded through the bogie tower (missing the gears!) instead of the existing pickup mounts, just to ensure the load doesn’t snap them off. And yes, I am aware Bachmann spares sell bogie frames, but I know mine won’t snap from rough handling now…

 

 

Finally to 47813, which is now finished bar weathering. Lighting was upgraded using copperclad board and 0603 SMD LEDs with corresponding 10kΩ 0603 resistors. The 3 pin plug links to the handy pads provided already on the ViTrains circuit board.

 

 

The ‘elephant’s trunk' multi-working connector was fashioned from 1mm styrene rod (bent with heat from a soldering iron) and small pieces of styrene strip. I found a Heljan (?) spare so this was used at one end. I discovered after looking through my spares tin that the Bachmann 37 ETS cable at one end looks like it’ll be great donor to make future MW sockets. I don’t use them anyway as I find them a bit crude so that might save faffing with a soldering iron!

 

Here's the finished article. Loads of small details took lots of time to add, such as kick plates (S kits etch), handrails (0.3mm wire), radiator grilles (PH Designs…I know they’re too high but correct height ones aren’t available!), nameplates (Rainbow Railways), LazerGlaze (Shawplan) and the roof aerial (one bristle of a black paint brush…). They make all the difference though, and I’m glad I added them all. Just needs a light weathering, although I do like the ex-works look…if Mick will let me run it all shiny!

 

 

More work to do on the 37s before Warley and then Blackburn the weekend after, both with DL. Now I suppose I should check and wheel clean all my stock!

 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me :)

 

Jack.

[Jack374]

Evening all, here’s a long overdue update in the limbo period at the end of December - I hope you all had a great Xmas, and all the best for New Year!

 

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind and included Warley and Blackburn exhibitions on back to back weekends with Deadmans Lane. I didn’t take too many photos at either, but 47813 was right at home on the RTC:

 

 

Other projects finished were 2x DRS 37s, with 37716 having pimped bogies with 0.3mm wire air pipes, beefed up steps, brass lifting points (PH Designs), along with new buffers and re-mounted snowploughs. The latter are removable to allow a Kadee to be fitted if desired.

 

 

I also finished the Freightliner 90 by weathering it. This consisted of a wash with diluted frame dirt to create streaks down the flat body side, followed by airbrushed frame dirt on the roof and chassis. However, don’t use standard decorator's masking tape on transfers which have only had a thin coat of varnish…

 

 

The pic below shows how I weather a diesel/electric loco chassis, by removing the wheelsets then remounting the bogie frame, and masking the pickup ends which sit behind the wheel.

 

 

Also, here is a pic of a clever hack with the Bachmann 90 - if you remove the wheelsets and remount them the opposite way round, the gears are offset so the loco can be hauled 'dead' and will run freely. No messing with worm gears and driveshafts as is often required!

 

 

Finally, a post-exhibition job has been to try and solve the persistent poor running of my Freightliner container rake. Some of the issues have been down to my homemade magnetic couplings, but the KTA/KQA Dapol pocket wagons have been particularly prone to falling off. I managed to add about 30g of lead over the bogies and this has brought the weight up by almost 50%. However, I have been running them with "heavy" containers I made, which it turns out are about 25g each, so I’ve not really added much more weight. We’ll see how they run at the SEC in February and if they don’t run well, it’s back to the drawing board!

 

 

As ever, thanks for reading. I have a couple of locos which are awaiting warmer weather for paint/weathering/varnish on the workbench, but otherwise I’ll be concentrating on Fordley over the next few months, with its exhibition debut pencilled in for November at Blackburn. I’m sure I’ll get some more projects across the 'bench in the meantime though…

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[newbryford]

7 minutes ago, Jack374 said:

 

Finally, a post-exhibition job has been to try and solve the persistent poor running of my Freightliner container rake. Some of the issues have been down to my homemade magnetic couplings, but the KTA/KQA Dapol pocket wagons have been particularly prone to falling off. I managed to add about 30g of lead over the bogies and this has brought the weight up by almost 50%. However, I have been running them with "heavy" containers I made, which it turns out are about 25g each, so I’ve not really added much more weight. We’ll see how they run at the SEC in February and if they don’t run well, it’s back to the drawing board!

 

 

 

 

I can see a Hattons 66 on that diagram......

 

[The Fatadder]

11 minutes ago, Jack374 said:

but the KTA/KQA Dapol pocket wagons have been particularly prone to falling off

I’d suggest having a look at the wheels, I’ve had persistent running issues with some Dapol wagons, switching out the wheels for other brands sorted it out nicely.

 

[Jack374]

Thanks for the advice Rich…thankfully wheel swap wasn’t needed at Glasgow, the set ran the best it has ever ran! Good to meet you at DEMU.

 

In the last 6 months I’ve moved house, county and job, and I’m now a trainee driver for a FOC on the real railway! This is truly dream come true territory.

 

I’ve done a bit of modelling on a variety of projects. On the 37 front, 424 and 407 have had their noses improved by bulking out the headcode panel with plastic strip, adding the MW socket recess, Replica Railways high intensity headlight, and new lens surrounds from plastic tube, as per 37405 shown a few years back. I replaced the yellow LEDs with white ones, and 'toned down' the colour of the lights using masking tape.

 

 

The noses were painted and transfers added from Railtec. I decided to add reinforced windscreen surrounds from Shawplan, which were secured with gloss varnish. This has highlighted a livery error, where the black on the windscreen is too low, giving a strange effect now the frames have been added. I’ll paint this a little higher in due course.

 

 

And this is how it looks now. I just need to add all the details and then weather.

 

 

Onto a resurrection of an old project. My two Network Rail coaches I wrote about in this thread way back in 2018, have been sat painted and transferred up in my cabinet at my parents for ages, waiting to be finished. So I’ve decided to finish them, beginning with adding DCC Concepts wheels with pickups to the Replica Railways B4/5 bogies. These were simply soldered to some copperclad with wires fed through to the coach. I’ve yet to see whether the RTOV requires the pickups from the other coach, or whether 2 wheels per side is enough. I think I know the answer but I’m hoping for the easy option!

 

 

I've also finally glazed the coaches using Shawplan Laserglaze. It went in very smoothly, with only one or two of the smaller (thinner) windows needing light sanding due to paint build up in the window apertures.

 

I also painted the interiors with red oxide primer/dark grey to provide a less conspicuous colour scheme which is less noticeable from the outside:

 

 

And the newest project is to motorise a steam loco support coach! Due to a couple of issues, my model of 6233 'Duchess of Sutherland' has had to have the pickups removed. I’ve also removed the worm gear so it is free running, as it would never haul an 11-coach train no matter how much lead I put in it. Therefore, I’ve used a Bachmann class 150 chassis (same bogie and pivot wheelbase dimensions) and put it inside a Hornby BSK. I tested the chassis with 11 coaches and it coped with slight gradients with ease.

 

First job was to remove the ~10.5mm wheels from their axles and mount some Bachmann 14mm coach wheels instead. This was more complex than usual as the 150 axles are split and each half is live, so a metal/metal joint with no plastic bush between the wheel and axle.

 

 

The original pickups therefore couldn’t be used, as the 14mm wheels have plastic bushes. I removed the old pickups and screwed in some 2mm phosphor-bronze strip using the same screw as the old pickups, and it works a treat:

 

 

Next, holes were cut in the chassis of the donor Hornby coach, handily following the coupling apertures already there. Some small window mounting spigots were removed along the top of the windows in the body, to allow the new chassis block so seat properly, as well as the corner mounting clips which didn’t fit over the chassis:

 

 

Then the chassis block was attached using 0.3mm steel wire, twisted to form a mechanical way of attaching the two parts. It moves slightly to allow the body to seat. Amazingly, after all this butchery, the two central chassis/body clips still function and are sufficient to handle the body and pick up the whole coach! Replica Railways Commonwealth bogie side frames were glued to the original 150 clip-on bogie frames (having cut off the side frames), with some plastic strip packing:

 

 

The next jobs on the BSK will be to add small details, paint some details, add cant rail stripe and transfers (custom order submitted with Railtec).

 

The Network Rail coaches will have details added/painted and a coupling system added which I’ve yet to decide on. Then the RTOV will have a decoder wired up and lights added.

 

Lastly, here are a few pics of some stock which has featured in these pages, working on Newbryford's Deadmans Lane layout at Model Rail Scotland in February. I’ll be out again with the crew at Wakefield in September, and hope to have a few more projects finished by then.

 

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[Steadfast]

Hi Jack, 

 

Are you out of the classroom and doing your handling yet? Getting out in the wild us a great feeling!

 

That's a brilliant idea motorising the support coach! Should give you nice reliable running there. 

 

I've got to get on with my yellow stock. My RTOV is still largely a DBSO, but is getting there slowly. 

 

Jo

[The Fatadder]

Love the idea of the 150 powered support coach.

[WCML100]

Great idea for a motorised support coach, especially as they cannot go anywherethem these days… 

 

other projects look great too 😃

[Jack374]

Thanks for the comments guys :)
 

10 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Are you out of the classroom and doing your handling yet? Getting out in the wild us a great feeling!

 

That's a brilliant idea motorising the support coach! Should give you nice reliable running there. 

 

I've got to get on with my yellow stock. My RTOV is still largely a DBSO, but is getting there slowly.

 

Hi Jo, no I’m not out yet, I’m only 6 weeks in. This week just gone I’ve been out doing cab rides for the first time, which has been a fab experience and cemented the fact I’m pursuing a career I really want to do! I’ve got 2 more weeks of rules next then another week out in the cab.

 

Oddly, modelling time has been plentiful this week as I’ve been on relatively short turns! It takes a back seat during rules weeks though, as I need to revise in the evenings.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[JackB95]

Fantastic modelling updates, and congratulations on joining the club. It's an awesome feeling driving, and completely bonkers when you first out on your own. I experienced that myself just over a year ago. Unreal. 

 

All the best in the new job! 

[Steadfast]

14 hours ago, Jack374 said:

Thanks for the comments guys :)
 

 

Hi Jo, no I’m not out yet, I’m only 6 weeks in. This week just gone I’ve been out doing cab rides for the first time, which has been a fab experience and cemented the fact I’m pursuing a career I really want to do! I’ve got 2 more weeks of rules next then another week out in the cab.

 

Oddly, modelling time has been plentiful this week as I’ve been on relatively short turns! It takes a back seat during rules weeks though, as I need to revise in the evenings.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

 

Excellent stuff! Enjoy those cab rides! Rules is pretty heavy going, but you need your switch off time too, other wise it doesn't sink in as well and can become a bit much.

 

Sounds a good excuse for modelling, even if it's just 5 minutes gluing on a handrail or painting some air pipes. 

 

 

13 hours ago, JackB95 said:

 It's an awesome feeling driving, and completely bonkers when you first out on your own.

Isn't it! So weird having an empty seat beside you.

 

Jo