Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, LittleWesternModelRailway said:

The T3 Wagons look fantastic! Whole thing 3d printed and just sprung buffers, bearings, coupling and some wire added? Amazingly well detailed! Where do I get one :D 
(Spending far too much on looking for Rolling Stock rather than actually laying my trackwork :D )

 

They were originally something of an experiment, but Chris now has the print perfected. As you'll see from previous pages, we've been working on a number of obscure GWR wagons. They are also available in 3D printed form.

 

Drop a PM enquiry to @chuffinghell, tell him Mr Wolf sent you...😉

[MrWolf]

You've probably been wondering "What has Monsieur Loup been up to?"

 

Or perhaps not.

 

Mostly work work work work, like most of the under 95s, but there's been progress on various fronts

My poor burned out motorcycle has been completely dismantled barring the engine and transmission which was rebuilt last year, everything that was black enamel has been bead blasted and primed.

All the nuts bolts springs, wheel spindles and other bits that were originally zinc plated have been sent off to be stripped and replated.

A brand new fuel tank has been obtained along with new silencers that got dented in the crash landing.

To cut a long story short, it will be looking like new just in time to put it away for winter.

 

Various repairs and improvements have been made to Miss Riding Hood's Stürmgeschutz Triumph Herald and I've had the speedometer on her Triumph Speed Twin rebuilt as the odometer gears had stripped. The B33 has been treated to a new clutch basket and plates.

 

Back in the not so real world, I still haven't finished the dust cover, but the CC7 has its transfers and is partly matt varnished, hence the paler greys.

 

 

The T3s which @chuffinghell printed for me are now primed and topcoated. Transfers and brake levers will be added over the weekend I hope!

 

 

The details show up better now that they're painted.

 

 

Whilst hunting for some Mansell wheels for a currently classified project, I came across my stash of Tri-ang clerestory cut and shuts, some of which are at the painted stage. 

They're all vaguely genuine diagrams, except the eight compartment composite third from bottom, which I threw together out of the slightly less useful composite coaches as an ex Cambrian Railways something-or-other.

On top is the still unfinished Airfix autocoach upgrade and below it is ex MSWJR ex Midland brake coach. All of the Triang coaches have arc rooves heavily modified from the original clerestory items.

 

So I decided to punish myself for ignoring them the last couple of years by fitting partitions, seats and painting the droplights on the painted bodies.

 

 

Naturally there's a few wobbly edges to tidy up!

 

@che&susq

Edited August 20, 2023 by MrWolf

[Graham T]

Good to see you back at it Herr Wolf 🙂

 

[Limpley Stoker]

Glad to hear news from Wolf Hall.

I hope your insurers made restoring your singed bike manageable and covered your labour cost!

Painting all those droplights must have tried your patience though it was a bit alarming seeing those coach bodies stacked as if they were at a car breakers yard.

[MrWolf]

Looking like a Victorian version of Vic Berry's scrapyard at the moment this is another view of the Tri-ang coach projects.

 

 

I've added partitioning from.030" plasticard and seating by Ratio. It's surprising how much of the stuff turns up secondhand at exhibitions, so I guess we're all guilty of having unfinished projects!

 

The coach on the very bottom of the stack is a C10 from the compartment ends of two brake thirds, (as discussed earlier on @Neal Ball's Henley on Thames thread, the brake ends of which ended up on a Ratio chassis as a V5 PBV. 

Both are here:

http://www.gwr.org.uk/protriang.html

 

The coaches shown were modified by @nickwood of this parish. I've never met him, but he has been most helpful with rolling stock projects and his scenic work has provided inspiration for the station at Aston on Clun.

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

Looking like a Victorian version of Vic Berry's scrapyard at the moment this is another view of the Tri-ang coach projects.

 

 

I've added partitioning from.030" plasticard and seating by Ratio. It's surprising how much of the stuff turns up secondhand at exhibitions, so I guess we're all guilty of having unfinished projects!

 

The coach on the very bottom of the stack is a C10 from the compartment ends of two brake thirds, (as discussed earlier on @Neal Ball's Henley on Thames thread, the brake ends of which ended up on a Ratio chassis as a V5 PBV. 

Both are here:

http://www.gwr.org.uk/protriang.html

 

The coaches shown were modified by @nickwood of this parish. I've never met him, but he has been most helpful with rolling stock projects and his scenic work has provided inspiration for the station at Aston on Clun.

Wow! Hang on a second there Rob @MrWolf you’ve got 5 carriages there…. Details please! 

[JustinDean]

For me Summer always seems like a point where modelling takes a back seat, then as we head towards September it’s time to take stock and start planning ahead. 
Looks like you’ve got plenty going on there Rob, and also good to hear progress on bringing the bike back to life. 
 

Jay

 

[MrWolf]

I'll try to explain all in the morning, I'm out on a friend's 40th and it's all got a bit silly (who the hell has a pub crawl on a Sunday?) Fortunately a week off for the memsahib as she has already crashed and burned, although to give her credit, her high heels haven't given way yet. 

There's some strange bearded tranny DJ who hasn't heard of The Smiths despite playing an 80s night who has managed to incur her wrath. 

Things may get interesting....

[Graham T]

The who?

[GWR57xx]

Definitely not them,  they were a different band altogether …

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, GWR57xx said:

Definitely not them,  they were a different band altogether …

 

A band apart indeed. 

 

When we first met, Miss R and I were walking up Morecambe beach bawling "Hand in glove" at the top of our voices before retiring to the Midland hotel for cocktails. 

We got strange looks off people, but if the people stare then the people stare.... (And the sun shines out of our behinds....)

[St Enodoc]

52 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

retiring to the Midland hotel for cocktails

Splendid.

[MrWolf]

48 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Splendid.

 

Indeed.

 

[MrWolf]

Well, despite being a size eight on a bad day the Memsahib has managed to hog around twenty eight square feet of bed and I'm too far into blurred vision for any late night railway modelling, so I'm going to have to do a Spike Milligan und sleep in ze shape of ze swastika on the top left corner of ze bed....

 

Bah humbug.

[St Enodoc]

16 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Well, despite being a size eight on a bad day the Memsahib has managed to hog around twenty eight square feet of bed and I'm too far into blurred vision for any late night railway modelling, so I'm going to have to do a Spike Milligan und sleep in ze shape of ze swastika on the top left corner of ze bed....

 

Bah humbug.

You could sleep on the floor (been there, done that....).

[MrWolf]

Just now, St Enodoc said:

You could sleep on the floor (been there, done that....).

 

Yes, but I am in no sense in the doghouse, so not expected to sleep on the floor.Chivalry prevents me shoving, so I'll have to use stealth to obtain my share of mattress.

Anyone who has owned a dog bigger than a Border Collie will know how this works....

[Winslow Boy]

The pillows keep hold of the pillows at all costs. Don't let her get the high ground that's all I've got to say. Speaking as one who has a miniature schnauzer who likes to lie on top of the pillows even if my head is on them.

[MrWolf]

A friend of mine has a similar problem with a cat and has awoken on numerous occasions to find himself wearing a tabby toupee...

[MrWolf]

20 hours ago, JustinDean said:

For me Summer always seems like a point where modelling takes a back seat, then as we head towards September it’s time to take stock and start planning ahead. 
Looks like you’ve got plenty going on there Rob, and also good to hear progress on bringing the bike back to life. 
 

Jay

 

 

Thanks Jay,

 

It's very much the same here and as much as I love building models I wouldn't miss the summer for anything, so we get out and about as much as possible.

There's an awful lot still to do at the layout, mostly small details, but the really big omissions in ascending order of me not looking forward to doing them are:

 

Trees

Telegraph poles

Signals

Wire fencing.

 

So I think that the first thing to do is make a simple jig, GWR wire fencing for the construction of.

 

The bike is by comparison a much simpler task, although blasting the cycle parts has revealed some old bodges that I had my suspicions about ever since I bought it.

Nothing that can't be sorted out with the right tools and a little task appropriate profanity.

 

 

[Limpley Stoker]

13 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Indeed.

 

Wow, did you build that?

[Winslow Boy]

42 minutes ago, Limpley Stoker said:

Wow, did you build that?

 

Yep 1 : 1 scale.🤣

[John Besley]

18 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Indeed.

 

 

Cool ArtDeco building.... is it a kit or scratch built

[MrWolf]

5 hours ago, Limpley Stoker said:

Wow, did you build that?

 

5 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Yep 1 : 1 scale.🤣

 

I'd like to be able to say yes and that I knocked it together in a spare afternoon between adjusting the clutch on a Vincent and showing the memsahib how to make a proper Lahori chicken....

 

But no.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Hotel,_Morecambe

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by MrWolf
Added link.

[MrWolf]

On 20/08/2023 at 18:47, Neal Ball said:

Wow! Hang on a second there Rob @MrWolf you’ve got 5 carriages there…. Details please! 

 

A real mixed bag of modified Tri-ang clerestories.

 

 

Above: 8 compartment clerestory composite to Diagram C19 (allegedly!) made from two composite bodies. The rooves will be similarly joined to save altering the rain strips.

 

 

A D15 four compartment arc roof brake third made by shortening a Triang brake third, swapping over the guard's lookout and door on the opposite side so both sides match.

These were built to lot number 730 in 1895 and 766 in 1896. Numbers were 2863-82 and 2058-67 respectively.

 

 

In comparison with the C19, a standard Tri-ang seven compartment composite will receive an arc roof as an absorbed Cambrian Railways coach. It will ride on Ratio LNWR bogies with Bachmann 14.1mm coach wheels.

 

 

Diagram C10 clerestory all third as detailed on gwr.org. This was my first attempt at a cut and shut in years. It's mounted on Hornby clerestory bogies cut and shut from 10'0" to 8'6", which is easier than it sounds, despite the bogies being made of a particularly evil grade of plastic.

 

 

A D7 brake third made from bits of two brake thirds, it will run on 6'4" Dean bogies. IIRC @nickwood built something similar for Much Murcle.

 

 

Above, the GWR ex MSWJR ex MR brake third that will run with number 23, again a much chopped up brake third and inspired by one that @RosiesBoss built.

 

 

The arc roof, as yet only in primer is from cut and shut clerestory roof, preserving the original Tri-ang rain strips.

 

 

The original clerestory roof had a section cut from the centre so that the rain strips lined up. This was reinforced by bridging the clerestory with a strip of.030" styrene.

Once everything had thoroughly hardened (48 hours) saw down the sides of the clerestory and remove it.

Cut another piece of.030" to fill the gap left by the clerestory and then"plate over " the clerestory area with a strip of .010" that is about 10mm wider than the old clerestory.

Once it's all hardened, sand / scrape the outer edges of the patch to blend it in with the shape of the roof.

 

It might sound like a lot of work, but it's a damned sight simpler than trying to make a three arc roof from plasticard and you get a free location rib for the sides.

 

It's a pity that you can't buy Ratio four wheeler rooves separately is all I will say!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by MrWolf
Credit

[Neal Ball]

That’s some build project you’ve got going on there. @MrWolf

 

Thanks for sharing.