North Cranford

[john dew]

Hello John,

 

Our best season for a very long time.    1988 was it or 89?   Not going to Google it.    I stood on the tank park in Sennelager and bet the Regimental 2IC a bottle of champagne that we would win the 4 Nations, and we did.       And he coughed up - Veuve Cliquot.

Think you missed one......it was 1990 you won the Five nations and to cap it all you did the Grand Slam.

 

Sennelager brings back memories with the ranges/training areas all named after Normandy battlefields

 

Cheers

[M.I.B]

John,

 

Your memory is better than mine.  Sennelager is not quite the worst lager in the world(I loved living there -happy days)  Munsterlarger was the worst lager in the world. 

 

 

NC News..............  the side etches for the J12 are on their way to Nth Essex, and I will see them in 9 weeks perhaps ish.

 

The pair of 6 wheel bogies for the J12 are with Mallard the maestro of melting, for him to solder and bend, or is it bend and solder?  (That's why they are with him and not me - otherwise it would be "melt, burn, bend, swear, burn. melt, swear, and more burns."   Now MIG welding - that's easy in comparison.........

 

And I have seen some lovely photos of the H33 12 wheel restaurant (Comet kit) which Mallard is turning from 2d into 3d for me.

 

Right - I'm off to aboard a luxury cruise liner with a very difficult problem for me to sort..........

[Mallard60022]

John,

 

Your memory is better than mine.  Sennelager is not quite the worst lager in the world(I loved living there -happy days)  Munsterlarger was the worst lager in the world. 

 

 

NC News..............  the side etches for the J12 are on their way to Nth Essex, and I will see them in 9 weeks perhaps ish.

 

The pair of 6 wheel bogies for the J12 are with Mallard the maestro of melting, for him to solder and bend, or is it bend and solder?  (That's why they are with him and not me - otherwise it would be "melt, burn, bend, swear, burn. melt, swear, and more burns."   Now MIG welding - that's easy in comparison.........

 

And I have seen some lovely photos of the H33 12 wheel restaurant (Comet kit) which Mallard is turning from 2d into 3d for me.

 

Right - I'm off to aboard a luxury cruise liner with a very difficult problem for me to sort.......... Norro Virus.......take a mask and plenty of rubber gloves.

I suspect you meant for the H57  If you wanted an H33 I'm gluing the wrong bits together!

As for Mig welding

 

Ar$e

[Mallard60022]

Oh, I'm sorry I should have finished your H57 today but sadly I fell asleep in the Conservatory instead, such is the excitement in my life. Actually it was probably the result of going to the gym for 20 minutes and having a short walk this morning. Make the most of refloating luxury Liners matey whilst you have your youth.

Philth

[gwrrob]

Any progress photos to drool over Quackers.

[Mallard60022]

Any progress photos to drool over Quackers.

With Tinker's good grace (sure he won't mind):

 It has progressed beyond this but I haven't taken any more pics.

The UF and bogies to be finished (well, soldered up). The roof to be cut to length and taped in place for transportation.

Tinker is doing the main part of the work that follows on from the basic soldering. Soldering is difficult when you don't have the kit and you are in a desert.

This is exactly what Geoff set the Comet Coach Soldering Service up for, that is doing the basic soldering tasks with the kit and allowing for some flexibility in what is done. This allows the owner to complete the thing themselves to their requirements when it is convenient for them.

P

Edited March 3, 2017 by Mallard60022

[gwrrob]

Very nice and Tinker will enjoy trying to squeeze those gas tanks between the upstands.Not to mention those tables in the interior with plates and tablecloths...

[Mallard60022]

Very nice and Tinker will enjoy trying to squeeze those gas tanks between the upstands.Not to mention those tables in the interior with plates and tablecloths...

The Tinker has had the 'fun' with tanks before so he is prepared!

Philth

[M.I.B]

With Tinker's good grace (sure he won't mind):

Of course I don't mind - credit where credit is due - you have done a great job. As for H33 vs H57  there is indeed some variey in there..........

 

And as for table cloths and plates, do I dare go for menu cards as well??????

[M.I.B]

The Tinker has had the 'fun' with tanks before so he is prepared!

Philth

 

Oh yes -- from Comets and Cents to CRAARVs, Scorpions to T34s , M1 Abrahms to Leopard 1s and Leo 2s,  I have had loads of fun with tanks 

[M.I.B]

And an extremely funny night shifting 26 Regt RA and their tracked artillery pieces (AS90) in '93..........

Edited March 4, 2017 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

Not much modelling done last month while I was home for all sorts of reasons.

 

Being a tad chilly in the garage was one of them.

 

I have a few projects stacked up ready:  a weedkiller train, a Castle with a late Hawksworth Tender, and a Saint, and  a couple of "cash earners" to finish and sell via Ebay in order to pay for the Bachmann crane when it is released.  I have one of my scratch built "OPEN C" wagons herein Dubai and it will be converted (re logo'd with HMRS decals) to accompany "Crane 16" having seen late 40s footage of the OOC crane set up via Robin's Brent pages.

 

That's not forgetting the full brake side work which needs to be "corrected".

 

Anyway, despite having lots to do, I only really progressed with one:   a pair of (ahem) LORIOT P wagons,

 

I had seen via "A Nod to Brent" that someone else has similar "standards" to me in that, he applies a little "leeway" to RTR in order to fill gaps in what the kits or "bastardized" RTR world can offer.  I saw 2 LORIOTs on his photos and decided to investigate.

The Hornby "LOWMAC" can, with a little "licience" be converted into a late 1940s LORIOT P.  I came to this conclusion after going through the GWR wagon books and measuring up the Hornby model:

LORIOT A - a unique "one off"

B- has holes in the side frames at load level - and wheel base is wrong

C- close-ish - wheel base is a scale 1 foot too short

D&E - shape is all wrong

LORIOT F was a one off and the brakes are very different

LORIOTs G-N all the the wrong shape compared to the Hornby offering.

LORIOT P is "quite" close - length, brakes and wheelbase are close enough for me.

So via Ebay, 2 x Hornby LOWMACs appeared, and were painted. I also got rid of the huge Hornby couplings and replaced them with the smaller and  more discrete "Dapol" sized coupling into the NEM pocket.

 

 

Each in a different shade of GWR Grey.  LORIOT Ps dated from 1945 at the earliest, so I decided to leave them quite "pristine".

 

 

Letters and numbers courtesy of the "usual" HMRS press on decals.

 

 

I added two trusty "Grey Fergies" which shows the difference in the two colours. The tractors are made by Oxford  if you were unaware. 

 

Wagon numbers are correct, care of the Russell book.  My pack of chains was in Kabul at the time that I did these in Nth Essex, so when the chains ( from Cambrian models) go home, I will make sure the Fergies are appropriately restrained.

Edited March 5, 2017 by M.I.B

[M.I.B]

The J12 side etches are at Home. Along with an Airfix Centenary.

 

A pair of 6 wheel bogies are being made up in Retford..............

 

And I am out here.........

 

I hope you are all happy and healthy.  72 years ago today, the Bridge at Remagen was the subject of a failed reserve demolition and  because it remained standing, the Allies sped though the heart of Der Vaterland that bit quicker, thus speeding the end of the war.  Had the Allies been slower, Wolfsburg and Hannover may have been in East Germany........

[Castle]

Hi MIB,

 

Good to hear from you again and congratulations on the promotion!

 

I'm not saying we think alike but...

 

 

The LORIOT L is a second hand brass kit that was obtained from a fellow RMWEB member and I have yet to work on it. The idea is that it might go early BR or debranded GWR with the W prefix on the number. The grey Ferguson is a kit that I got from somewhere and represents a vehicle that is owned by one of my team on the real 4079!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

Edited March 7, 2017 by Castle

[The Fatadder]

The J12 side etches are at Home. Along with an Airfix Centenary.

 

A pair of 6 wheel bogies are being made up in Retford..............

 

And I am out here.........

 

I hope you are all happy and healthy.  72 years ago today, the Bridge at Remagen was the subject of a failed reserve demolition and  because it remained standing, the Allies sped though the heart of Der Vaterland that bit quicker, thus speeding the end of the war.  Had the Allies been slower, Wolfsburg and Hannover may have been in East Germany........

Looking forward to seeing that j12....

[M.I.B]

I have managed to do my first batch of modelling since arriving in Dubai three weeks ago. I am continuing with the three Cambrian sleeper carrier wagons begun in January.

 

I can only progress so far because I have not sourced any white spirit or similar brush cleaner.     I am also missing the Smiths couplings which I am sure I brought out here,

 

These are by far the most difficult plastic kits I have ever built,  simple  because of the way they have to go togehter due to the shape of the original ittem.  It can't have been fun designing this as a kit.  Photos haven't come out well with flash, so I will try some tomorrow with some better light.

 

I hope you all had a good Paddy's Day on Friday.

[M.I.B]

Have been researching what I can use to clean up after brushing Humbrol Enamels.

 

Will put a post up on the "Painting etc" pages and see what arrives.  I would be so pleased to at least paint and letter up the three sleeper carriers, and also my scratch built OPEN C I am re-lettering to match the prototype used on Crane 16 at OOC.

 

On the day when we lost a founding father of 21st Century music, I hope you are all happy and healthy.

 

I'm gonna write a little letter, 'Gonna mail it to my local DJ........

[M.I.B]

 

image.jpeg

 

he grey Ferguson is a kit that I got from somewhere and represents a vehicle that is owned by one of my team on the real 4079!

 

 

Thanks Castle.

 

My Fergies are RTP.   

 

Got to love a grey Fergie.  I am torn between a grey Fergie and a diesel 50s Fordson for myself,  Not as a show queen but as an easy to fix and run, working toy.

[M.I.B]

So, there is a little "frothing" going on about the new Hornby TOAD.  And I freely admit that it is a hooooooooge improvement on the previous TOADs with the giant moulded lamp on the rear boards.  And I have had the joy of scribing off these carbuncles and making them look real again.  Scratch marks hidden by glued on lamps, and for the really bad ones, they will run veranda first.

 

But is it £7 better than last year's efforts from Bachmann?   I don't think so.    Everyone's opinion counts, and there are many modellers who would rather spend years getting one TOAD right in some sort of "Superfine" scale, and there are others who just want to watch the trains go round. As long as we stay happy that is what matters.

 

I know I am not along in being somewhere inbetween.

 

So I came very close to buying 2 x 2017 Horby TOADs last night until I shopped around online.  Credit where credit is due, and the Sheffield box shifters offered me a "quality" TOAD at £7 cheaper than the best reduced pre-release price of the Hornby TOAD from 2017.

 

When I was a kid, having started with MIB Snr's Dublo, I graduated onto second hand Triang and then Hornby.  I had a couple of TOADs and the "magic hand" craned them onto the rear of the next freight due out.  "One day when I am big...I will have a TOAD for every train the lad said..........."

 

One or two RM Web'ers know approximately who I am and what I really do, and I do it solely to pay for a farmstead for some adoreable equines and my pretty little blonde girl.  I could be safe and modelling at home.    If I wasn't doing it, I would live in my current place, mortgage free and spend all my cash on fast cars , booze and loose women.  The rest I would waste.....     (RIP George Best).

 

Get to the chase boy............

 

So I have ordered 2 x Bachmann TOADs from Steel City,  and finally have one per freight load.  And there is a saving, which pleases my Jockanese bones.  And that goes towards finding a permanent home for NC, and Big Dog, Ben, Sophie, and the blonde.  Perhaps it'll happen before I even get the "Shed 2" project done?  That would be a turn up for the books..........

 

I hope you are happy and healthy, and on Mother's Day in my country, I hope you have told your Mum how much she matters to you.

[M.I.B]

Today, after trawling around quite few a places on my walk back from where I work, I came upon a substance which is freely available here, which will clean my brushes......

 

 

So let the painting begin..........

Edited March 26, 2017 by M.I.B

[john dew]

Frontier Brand seems a rather appropriate name for you!

 

Cheers

[gwrrob]

I think with separately fitted handrails the new Hornby toad will be a bargain and I'll take several ta very much.

[M.I.B]

"So he's all quiet for ages and then a pile of posts in one night......"

 

Quite a few reasons for this.  I was away in Oman, and I have been busy e;sewere as well.  Also, I move house tomorrow from an apartment in an apartment hotel, to a flat in a tower block.  But quite a "nice" tower block in a nice part of the world.  So I used it as an excuse not to be at work after lunch today.  So a quick trip home, packed my stuff, and then spent that remainder of the afternoon and early evening doing some modelling.

 

Finding some brush cleaner motivated me.  So off I went again..........

 

To re-cap:  I am building 3 sleeper carrier kits from Cambrian.  They will join a couple of GANES (Bachmann MACAWs with rail loads) plus one rogue Lima MACAW with a rail load. Added to this are a Cambrian light crane and runner, and a TOAD.  These will meet up with the three ballast hoppers from Cambrian made a few pages ago.  They will all be linked wioth Smiths links to form a permanently joined PW train.

 

I thought I had brought some Smith's Instanters out with me this time, but they are nowhere to be seen!  Perhaps I will find them when I umpack at the next Chateaux MIB. So they won't be totally finished until I get Home, but 90% (needing Smoth's Instanters and weathering) will do for now.

 

 

 

MACAWs, hoppers and TOAD are ready, and with my current workload, I won't get the crane and runner done for some time...

 

Once I spent time taking the flash off the pats and pressing ( no glue needed) the brass bearing cups intothe one piece long sides, I tackled putting the basic shape together.

 

This was tough!!!   The hardest kit I have ever made.  The two long sides need the end platforms and their "drops" added at both ends.  And while the liquid poly glue was still sof,t I set too very quickly.  What a wobbly structure.   And you need to ad the wheels at this point too!  You need to be an octopus!

 

If I made these again I would make up the platforms and their drops on a right angle jig and would let them set solid before gluing them onto one side. 

 

The result was not perfect, and I could see no way of making it perfect other than doing as I said above.  But I had started.....

 

So I set them onto a set of rails, and to make sure it set at least square, I added some weights along the whole length of the unit.....

 

I copied this for all three units.

[M.I.B]

I think with separately fitted handrails the new Hornby toad will be a bargain and I'll take several ta very much.

Robin!   You are making me feel stingy now!

 

 

In a few years, when these are on Evilbay covered in scratches and daubed paint weathering, I will buy some because I will have NC up and running.   One day...........

 

In the meantime, please keep providing the inspiration - loving the Grange-ness going on at the moment.

 

AGNO = A Grange Never Offends.

[M.I.B]

You may note from the photos above that the end platforms on my sleeper carriers seem to have developed a slight edge to them, when they should be flat as a pancake.  There was not really any other way to avoid this totally - the right angle jig suggested would only have gone partially towards sorting this.

 

At least they were not "warped" and they rolled "square".

 

So I fitted the load bed floors.  These come in two halves, and fit from underneath. Eagle eyed will see that there are small lugs for the floors to butt up against.  If you want to model these empty, then remove these and attach the floors very carefully.  However, mine will be "loaded" so I left them and wasn't too concerned about the fit of the floors as you may see.

 

 

As for loads - Years ago I bought some resin sleeper loads. I trimmed them down to fit in a few OPEN Cs which I scratch built on some Hornby long fuel tank wagon chassis.  One will soon become a match truck for the OOC crane, as mentioned a post or two ago, so I brought the resin load in case it "worked" with the sleeper carriers.

 

But some of the sleepers in this load are not as per photos of the way there were laid out on original sleeper carriers.  Some semi longtitudinal, and the rest longditudinally loaded, so they might be be retained, probably for a static pile somewhere.

 

From MIB Snr's modelling box, untouched since the early 70's, came a bag of track sleepers.  These may have been under the sections of rail currently on the GANEs and MACAW.

So while watching TV last night ( a rare treat for me) I trimmed and filed these down into individual chaired sleeper units.  These will not make full wagon loads, but at least they will make partial loads and cover up a few construction sins........

Edited March 26, 2017 by M.I.B