Jack P

Hi guys, I'm assuming this is pretty generic, i'm specifically after information relating to the southern railway Circa 1947, but information from any region, or what's used on preserved railways, is helpful. I'm looking for a list of what tools you would typically find on the footplate of a steam loco, and/or what tools the fireman would pick up from the stores before heading out on a working turn. I appreciate there will be some very simple things, like (obviously) a shovel. But i'm looking for as comprehensive of a list as possible. Fire irons, Lamps, rags, buckets, tea pots, any hand tools, coal pick, pep pipes (how common were these?). Why? The idea is i'm wanting to assemble a sort of 'pack' for each loco that i'm detailing, so that when I get around to fitting a crew I can add the rest, instead of just picking from whatever random assortment of bits I've got lying around. Cheers! Jack

Thank you! I think the contrast works nicely too, it's amazing how many shades (tints?) of black there are on a black loco! I do cut the numberplate off, as you say it is a 'must do'. I use a new sharp scalpel and score around it, and then eventually cut deeper, until you strat getting through it, you can tidy the area up with sandpaper and a fibreglass pencil. Some diluted tamiya putty brushed on, and black paint really helps hide any sins. Most smokebox doors can be taken off to make this job easier, I usually break the glue with the hard end of a paintbrush and tap the door off from the inside. You're much less likely to damage things on the front of it this way. Some doors are trickier than others, I backdated a BR E4 and that left a gaping hole, so I had to fill that and rebuild the smokebox strap, not wildly difficult, but fiddly, frustrating and time consuming (like most things in this hobby). HTH!

Started a new role at my job, so I've been a bit busy lately. Did manage to get these shots last night though Really happy with how the pipework turned out after a black wash. The draincocks still need to be toned down with a wash Still needs a decent weathering to unite the finish properly. But it's all together, and all in one piece!

Excuse the overexposure, I've just finished off my repaint/backdate of Lord Rodney Still needs a few little bits (mainly snifters) and some slightly heavier weathering, but it's all in one piece now. Thanks to @45568 for encouraging me, and helping me find the right prototype!

I've been watching a fair few Army Modelling videos recently. Not because they are a particular area of interest to me, but just because I'd like to see what other skill-sets and techniques are used in other areas of the 'Modelling' hobby overall, as opposed to just Railways. Adam Wilder does an amazing job with thin copper sheet, to represent more accurately the thickness of certain parts of Armour, in addition to that, he also re-creates damages from reference photos. Some of the other techniques involve stippling diluted putty onto surfaces to represent the textured finish of cast iron. There is much to be learnt (learned?) when you take a look at the other facets of 'Modelling' as a hobby, and how far they go to achieve their version of 'Realism'. Attached is a video from Night Shift, not quite as good as Wilder, but still an extremely interesting video

It's the only reason I asked! A feeling we all probably know too well. Excited to see how it progresses though, the print looks good!

Tony, I thought it prudent to ask here, if only for the benefit of other thread readers, would you be able to snap a few pics of your Van and Parcel trains? I appreciate that you probably have a few - the more the merrier!

It's made even worse, because often i'm left waiting for things to arrive, and so something gets pushed back and something new started, Rinse and repeat! Not to mention when it's something like the LN, it becomes a pet project and jumps up the list a little bit and thus sees completion in a little under a week! I've been trying to clear a few wagons off the workbench. My David Geen kits turned up t'other night, I had a quick look at them and then quickly put them in a box with some other stock that is yet to be started/opened. Please excuse the poor photo. I need my camera back! Hopefully this illustrates the amount of lettering these little blighters have. I had to cut individual letters for the 'Tons' because there wan't one in the right size on the HMRS sheet. I know the stanchions are incorrect - I thought it wouldn't bother me but it really does. I'll remove them and add some brass or plastic rod to represent them correctly - I'm currently trying to figure out what will look the best, and once i've figured it out, the bo-rail needs all 16 of its stanchions replaced too! This photo is a little better, and hopefully shows the deck weathering off, I'm still undecided if I should fit it with a load or not. I don't want it to look rubbish - I've ordered some shackles and some fine chain and will experiment when it arrives. Maybe i'll just leave them on the decking. Jumping back to things that have jumped the Queue, I managed to pick up locally and seriously cheap, (£50 for all 3 inc postage) 3 Centre coaches for the Brighton Belle, 2 were the later silver roof versions, 'GWEN' and 'MONA' and one was the 1934 version 'Third class Car #86'. I've ordered some transfers to re-do the number on this one to 85, and another set of power cars are now winging their way to me from Hattons, these will need to be renumbered too, but I'll have a proper full 10 car set after that! I had the airbrush out and tried to match the colour as best I could, It's not perfect, but it's suitably 'off-white' for me. The rear coach roof is Hornby's version, and the front two are my own colour. These were given a night near the heater to cure and have been put back into their boxes this morning and put away, detailing and weathering of the entire set will be dealt with later on. I've been reading Mike Trice's thread on painting a more realistic 'Teak finish' and am seriously considering stripping my full brake! That's all for now.

From what i've managed to deduct, if you're planning to exhibit, or have a complex shunting layout 3 links are tedious and will shatter the illusion (hand of god), and possibly you should look for something that has some form of auto coupling. If exhibiting, isn't your thing and/or you don't mind being actively involved with shunting, and you prefer the look of 3 links/screw links then you should do it. Depends on where you model as to what you can get away with, I run Kadees in my coach rakes, but i'm lucky because the Southern Railway ran rakes as fixed sets, and actually used knuckle couplers. I use a bit of a mashup of couplings/hooks/loops. Screw links are Roxey Mouldings coupling hooks, soldered together to make them double thickness, with the included loops and 'screw' link. 3 link couplings are Smiths loops with Brassmaster hooks - which are again soldered to double thickness.

To my eye, the Hornby version of malachite looks more 'varnished' than the colour you might get straight out of the Tin from Precision or Railmatch. This video is worth a watch, (there's another rabbit hole we could go down around colour scaling, but lets ignore that for now.) I've tried to timestamp it at the comparison of Matt/Satin/Gloss and no Varnish finishes on the same model. I think it sufficiently evidences the massive variation you can get with the same base colour. Disclaimer: I'm not into warhammer, or Miniature wargaming, Nor is it my channel, but I think that the theory is applicable to railway modelling. I think fundamentally though, It's unlikely that (regardless of whether or not the general consensus is that it's right or wrong) Hornby will change the colour they use for malachite, and it's something you'll simply have to put up with unless you plan to repaint your coaching stock!

Being the huge fan of variety that I am, would 31265 be a simple re-number into 1947 condition, or does the flat sided bunker (or something else) preclude this?

I've had mixed results with Humbrol stuff. Some of their powders are good - and the Matte Leather/Matte Black combination is a trusted classic. I've recently started using Tamiya stuff, mainly as it's much easier to get a big range here in NZ, their 'Panel Line Wash' products are fantastic, and I swear by the black one, the brown ones are quite light, but they flow fantastically well and dry matte. I'd imagine that the other colours would be just as good. Just my 2c

They are the odd late 2000's versions that don't fully click into place, some sort of tap to turn on, tap to turn back off or auto off when the wheel goes back past the center, annoying to get used to, and an odd thing to change (maybe trying to get Bimmer drivers to use them more?) I only know all this because I use the things though!

Any chance of a full car pic? Managed to get my partner to upgrade her car (although it wasn't particularly hard) went from a 1.5 Mazda Axela to this: E87 130i Msport. Not sure if it's going to come under the 'classic' umbrella, but It's now not the newest gen of 1 series, and its actually pretty close to my E46 for age so i'm sure you guys won't mind. It's almost embarrassing how much faster than my wagon this thing is, the nearly 200kw output that the brochure boasts is amazing (it certainly doesn't feel like it's lost much, if any, over the years), and the linear power from that glorious sounding Inline 6 is amazing. I'm lucky, there's a public road behind my place that's used in local hillclimb events - Having taken this car and my Mum's 2018 Golf GTI for a few 'test' runs up the road at night, I would say the BMW is actually more fun to drive, and it feels faster too..

A few more photos from the club the other night. Looking at these photos makes me realise I need to address the middle splasher it has two prongs which slot into the footplate, which makes it really easy to add etched plates. But I think when replacing it, I did not push it in all the way, either that or i'll need to file down the tabs a little to get a better fit! And here's one on the bench with the nearly completed H class 1319. I need to have a serious round up of projects that are half done - before I start anything new! That's all for now!

Oh . I was really hoping I wouldn't like the look of the crane in SR grey!

I'm hoping to get back out to the club before I fit the draincocks and front steps (before It won't go around the clubs corners) and get a few videos of it running in the right direction! As a quick update that isn't really of my own doing, if you haven't already - hop on over to DLT's thread and check out what he's managed to do with my N15x!

Holy Cajoles Dave! I've said it before, and i'll probably say it again - That looks fantastic! Don't worry too much about draincocks, I made some too. As for them fouling the front bogie, I wouldn't worry about that too much either. Those steps are a real pain, I'd meant to epoxy some brass strip behind them before I sent the loco off!

Even better, just some expensive teaks, and not an expensive apple green loco! It's re-assuring to know that it would at-least be relatively prototypical. Excellent! Looks interesting with the blood and custard coaches, this is exciting news (not for my wallet though). Tony, I actually have a very good, and prototypical reason for this; The rear coupling hook fell off

Still working on it, will get the powders out and try for a streaky look. I really need to practice roof weathering! Now there's an idea! Would it be headed by something southern, or would I need something else LNER? I'm slowly building up my collection of foreign Parcels stock, two LMS and 3 LNER vehicles, need something western next! No Photos at the moment, but two videos from the club layout the other night Hopefully I'll have some more interesting updates soon!

Bloody hell. Simple and brilliant! Cheers mate.

I went in through the chimney and gave it a knock with the (solid) end of a paintbrush, It just popped off! As for getting a replacement smokebox door, I actually didn't - although maybe the Hornby spares team could help? I just took a sharp scalpel blade and carved the number-plate off, then used a combination of sandpaper, fiberglass pencil, and some Tamiya putty to get it smooth. Chris, I wasn't able to find any Alclad locally and I have heard that it is very good, but I'm impatient, so I went and grabbed this stuff from the local model shop Pretty happy with it, but will see what I can do about getting my hands on some Alclad stuff. As for MiG products, I have a few of their washes and powders and I too think they are fantastic. I think the best wash I've used so far is Tamiya's Black panel line wash (Panel Line Accent Colour), also no affiliation, but if you get a chance - try it out! Thanks Nile, I've decided on solid spoke wheels, I think 3 hole wheels were too early for my period, but across 3 different books I can only find a handful of pictures, and none in the livery i'm looking for. Isn't it always the way! Thanks Tony, a Wargaming friend of mine said I could try out some of his - now I know which ones to grab next time I swing by his place - as above though, the ModelMaster 'Brass' enamel I picked up, i'm very happy with! I''ve had something else foreign across my bench, an LNER Teak Full Brake, I really like these Hornby Teaks, and I wish I could find a reason to buy a rake of them! Very simple weathering on this one, Tamiya Black Panel line wash on the body and solebars, Tamiya matte Black on the roof, and a dash of Humbrol 62 added for the under-frame and ends. Here's old mate again, looking a little bit more respectable. I did a quick Wikipedia search of 853's namesake, Sir Richard Grenville, an interesting chap! The model was painted completely matte, and then was gone over with Tamiya Semi Gloss aerosol, which came out perfectly. I then went back over the tender interior, smokebox and cab roof with matte black again. The pipework was done with the above ModelMaster 'Flat Brass' and then toned down with the also aforementioned panel line wash. (no affiliation with these products, just stoked that they've worked for me). Still needs the glazing fitted and the front steps and draincocks, but hoping to take it to the Model Rail club first and give it a bit of a run! That's all for now, Jack

Did I send you some of the Deluxe ones too, Dave? I know all about that dammed carpet monster - I read on here that one of those robotic vacuums will turn up all sorts of things you might think are lost forever!

Alex, elaborate on this if you please? Did you give it to them to weather, for you to then observe to help you with your own weathering? I love my H2, Will certainly be getting another when Bachy bring one out in malachite! The Hornby Schools are monsters They are so ridiculously heavy, and then on top of that, the driving wheels have traction tyres. I think they most i've had behind one was 16 coaches, made up of maunsells and pullmans - I only stopped because I ran out of coaches! Thanks Chris, I need to give Lacquers a go, I'm running into the issue of paint not really enjoying being handled - Often even after it's been varnished! Which one would you suggest for brass? I've managed to get a few more wagons to the final stages, they just need bits here and there, mainly the running gear painted black and numbers/lettering I have another load of Cambrian wagons, as well as some RTR stuff arriving for repainting soon, I've also been lucky enough to get my hands on 13 David Geen kits, which (for now) will go in the 'Round-tuit' pile, until I feel I can do them justice. Excuse the 'in-progress' shot, hoping to get these bolsters detailed and then finished off. I'm not sure which wheels are accurate though, is anyone able to shed some insight? SECR Wagons illustrated has photos of them with spoked wheels, but I can't tell if they're open spoke or not - i'm fairly sure that disc wheels are wrong regardless though Also worth mentioning, I managed to get a roll of 5g stick on wheel weights, used for car wheel balancing - i've been using these for adding weight to all my parcels stock and the kit-built wagons. I had been trying to find some locally, and finally managed to come across a roll of 1200 for $72 nzd! I can't imagine that i'll need any more (ever!) Finally, here is another in progress shot of 853!

Dave.. That's seriously a masterpiece!