Jack P

Very light - My E4's will pull almost anything, but i'm not too confident about the LN, There are a few spaces I can add some weight - but it does confuse me that Hornby didn't make the boiler out of metal, which they did on the Schools to add weight- Ah well. Very brave of you to give your loco to someone else to practice weathering on - I certainly wouldn't! Sorry to hear about the situation it's now in, hopefully it's returned soon. I think the olive LN is the earliest iteration of the class, is it not? I didn't think you could go any earlier. Here are some pics of 853, things certainly got worse before they got better! I only had to hack up one area, which was the front bogie, to remove the NEM pocket, a bit of filing and then a blast of etch primer, followed by tamiya fine primer. I had a real mare of a time spraying semi gloss (I don't know why) so I decided to spray it matte, to get a nice even coverage and then will go over it with semi gloss varnish, It's been very cold here, so spraying anything is difficult. I need to find an appropriate shade of 'brass' before I tackle the pipework, all of the brass/copper tones I have are far too vibrant for the scale, Modelmasters 'Brass - Flat' looks like it might be okay, has anyone here used it before? More updates soon!

Dave, That looks faaaaaaaantastic, you are a true craftsman. I can't wait to see it all in motion! Please don't worry too much about the finish on the wheels or the body - I've decided to strip it when it arrives and repaint/re-line the thing.

Lord Rodney arrived last night, Kernow is crazy quick! I must admit that BR green does suit this loco well, and she is extremely well presented. I am surprised at how light the loco is though, I've heard that haulage isn't a problem, but I might see if I can add some weight somewhere. After about half an hour she was looking a little more disheveled: I managed to get the tender primed before calling it a night. The body is waiting for Snifters before it can go into primer, these will be a home job - unless they look terrible, then i'll consider other options! This is how things are looking currently, a mate of mine said i'm the only person he knows that would receive a brand new model and have it un-recognizable within the hour!

Tony, Your rake is looking fantastic, it looks like we have both been working on similar things. As for the ballast plow - Strip and repaint!

Nothing particularly exciting to report at the moment. I did spend some time clearing things off my desk that have been completed and replacing them with things that are now in line for treatment. I've also been assembling some more Cambrian Kits, i'm sure I don't need to preach to how good these are, as they already have a strong following, Graham is a great guy to deal with, and the kits are a lot of fun to put together - Like Mr Teague I find it quite relaxing. The SECR double bolster has now had shackles and stanchions added, I'm pretty chuffed with this. I'm trying to clear a backlog of kits and get them all assembled ready for priming and painting in one batch. I'm also accumulating a rake of Ballast hoppers, you can see the first one in production over the back, these will be more of a slow burn project, but hopefully by the time they're all done i'll have a nice long engineers train. I also popped into the model club yesterday for the monthly meeting, and was presented with the following As well as 9 Stevenson Locomotive Society journals ranging from 1964-1977. Two members at the club has been strongly suggesting that I look at O gauge stuff again.. and those loco drawings just happen to be in that scale - methinks there might be some collusion between them to convert me! Finally, something that may be of use to other post war southern fans - No affiliation, but Precision labels have just released somewhat appropriate 'No Smoking' window labels, White triangle with red letters and red edging, They are based on the GWR design, but they look close enough, and beggars can't be choosers. I'm also discussing the option of getting SR end details printed (restriction 1/0) and coach seating numbers. I'll report back once I have them! They are along the bottom row: That's all for now, I'm actually working on a proper to-do list, to try and get some efficiency and order to things. I've also been tempted by Kernows offering on Lord Rodney, and now have that and some etched plates winging their way to me - that might skip the list and be a priority when it arrives! (Sadly it won't be malachite.. I think) Jack

I don't think that photo of Bodmin is the improved version. Taken straight from the update: "Tooling modifications have taken slightly longer than anticipated. The new and improved decorated samples of all versions are expected Late June / Early July. Once these have been approved, production will be full steam ahead. Please note that the images shown are the FIRST decorated sample EP models. We are blown away with the level of detail on these models."

Thanks Peter, I was hoping I could backdate Rodney, but it seems it was pretty unique, so that's dead in the water!

Michael, This layout is extremely impressive in both size and scope - Not to mention the quality of modelling is superb! I can certainly appreciate and respect the amount of research that's gone into getting it here, and make your vision a reality. Looking forward to seeing more updates. Oh, also, I've been very tempted to go EM recently, and this isn't helping!

Lightning looks absolutely fantastic! Those Brits are a seriously impressive looking engine

Not sure if an E46 is counted as a 'Modern Classic' in the same way that E36's or E39's are, but I picked this 325i M sport Touring up a few months ago. It's auto, but its a nice daily so i'm not too worried. It was also owned by a BMW dealership employee, so came with a massive folder of preventative maintenance done, the plastic cooling system being the main bugbear in the straight 6 E46's. New Zealand was hardly spoilt for choice when it came to the Touring versions of the E46, the UK had the option for the 330i AWD manual, which would be nice! I love the thing as it is, fun to drive, great on long trips and modern and comfortable enough for me (being relatively young), not to mention insurance is much better on this than my previous car..

I'm interested to know this too!

Just checking here first, Rodney would not be correct for a renumber to 862 'Lord Collingwood' would it? Outside steam pipes coming through the deflectors is a issue on the model, but probably wouldn't be too hard to fix, just checking there's nothing else I should be aware of? (smokebox etc) On an unrelated note, Were any of the LN's still in wartime black except for Rodney towards the end of 1947?

I've seen a few pictures of this build on Facebook and I'm extremely glad I managed to find it on here! Your work is extremely neat, and your attention to detail is fantastic, Especially considering this is not just one loco build! I'd also be interested to know if the smoke unit will worth as you intend with your splitter, how sharp is the transition between the single pipe into the two? Also is that a class 76 in the case behind?

Sorry to bump an older topic, but I thought I'd weigh in here. I used to suffer from really bad headaches and nosebleeds, which somehow I'd never attributed to the use of chemicals while modelling, but now with the proper safety equipment it's changed the way I do things, and i'm sure is only beneficial in the long run. (no sh***) I airbrush exclusively indoors, and I haven't really had any issues with paint getting anywhere. I make sure to use a full respirator mask. I don't have a dedicated booth, but I do find that a hattons box opened out with a little plastic 'lazy susan' type table is sufficient for me, it stops the paint going everywhere and I can adjust my desk maps to shine directly into the box. I've drawn a little diagram - when I'm airbrushing I close the door, set the fan over it and turn it on full force to oscillate, then, depending on how windy it is open both windows next to my desk. I've found that the 'booth' does a good job of preventing overspray, and the fan + the open windows do a great job of getting the fumes out. I employ the same tactic when doing lots of gluing. As odd as it sounds to say - I think I benefit from having such a small room to work in, there's not a particularly big space for the smell to linger in and the fan over the door stops the smell spreading to the rest of the house. As for my preferred mask, I have 3, one is for if i'm doing lots of sanding and is just a pack of disposable masks for wood dust, the next I use for solvents and gluing, and that's just a simple facemask with a respirator and I use a 3M mask, similar to the one Mick posted, when painting. My final comment would be that despite trying different 'styles' I haven't really found an acceptable way to use areosols inside, unless they have a relatively low pressure. I do most of the spraying with those in the garage.

Chris, those are fantastic.. May I humbly suggest starting your own thread? (I saw Photos of your L1's a while ago and they are seriously good too) I can guarantee that i'm not the only one that would be interested in seeing more of your work! I've got a donor Hornby Maunsell coach that I plan to fit replacement Non-descript brake sides to, and this certainly gives me something to aspire to.

Tony, Thanks for that. I agree, I think the varied traffic also gives me some exposure to the other constituents of the big 4. I haven't yet had the chance to rebuild one of the corridor luggage vans, but I do have one on order, along with the Roxey detailing kit, so its certainly going to be in the works soon. Both of your examples look great!

I can't agree with John more! I'd be blimmin' stoked if my ones turn out 'not too bad' too, those are amazing!

Small update, I've been working on finishing off a few parcel vans, including an interloper (the first of many). I've been adding weight in the form of car wheel weights inside, and in the case of these southern vans, a full repaint and renumber, weathering is now done too. Here is the interloper in the form of an LNER CCT, it hasn't been renumbered (any subsequent ones will be) but I did add a panel line wash, and picked out the handles on the doors, also toned the roof down, needs a final spray over the roof and then some matt varnish to seal it all in. It's certainly nice to add a bit of variety. There should be some LMS parcel vans joining it soon too! Finally, the SR Queen Mary is nearly done, paint is finished, couplings have been added and it's now waiting for transfers, you can see the representation of the brake linkages underneath. I also need to add the tiebars (?) to the bogies, I cut the moulded ones off and at the time of taking this picture was still waiting for a restock on my brass black, this has now arrived, the bars have been blackened and just need to be glued on. Once this is done, and it's been lettered and numbered, it will also be in line for a coat of matt varnish and some weathering. That's all for now!

Thank you kindly! A product called 'Wilder NitroLine Old Grease', it was recommended to me by @Brocp - check out his workbench for further use of said product.

That Patriot looks the absolute business mate!

Might seem a bit crude, but epoxying something long and stiff inside of the coach body, like a cut down bicycle spoke is something i've seen done on long bogie bolster, would add some bracing and possibly depending on how it was arranged you could use it as something to assist with the roof placement? On the topic of Worsley Works, (no affiliation) if anyone was thinking about picking up any of their etched replacement sides, Allen needs to fill an 18"x12" sheet - so now's the time!

Hey Phil, It's scary to think how long its been! I used it as a bit of a test bed when I first practiced soldering, so I had to start by de-soldering everything. The donor coach was just a BR Hornby composite, I plan on building a rake of R1 and R0 stock in the future, so it won't be the last coach I hack the sides off. Thank you for your kind words RE vegetation - sadly none of the work is my own, as this is the club layout, I am glad it proved inspirational though! Hi Pete, Thank you for that, I had a feeling it would be something like that. Going to have to be a case of working from photos I think!

Hi guys, To those more knowledgeable than myself; How frequently were corridor end plates put into use? From what I can gather (from photos, sometimes they were in place and sometimes they weren't, sometimes at the front of a rake and sometimes at the end) I'm particularly interested with the immediate pre-nationalisation Southern, but interested to know railway practices across the board. Cheers!

Small update, I've been working on more malachite green SECR Coaches, and a couple of wagons, nothing particularly exciting, but it's keeping me busy. First up are these two LBSC wagons, the first retains the original ends, but has the later small logo livery. The second wagon has the cut down ends and the large logo livery, I've also made an attempt at pre-shading the interiors and weathering them down, no external weathering as yet, the aim is to complete a few more and weather them all in one go. Next, there's the modified H class at the head of a short rake, just sitting on my desk, but its finally had numbers and letters applied, I still need to do the front buffer-beam. I think the etched plate on the splasher looks nice, i've tried to tone it down with a black wash so its not as stark. Does anyone know if these locos retained the Gold band that ran along the curve and the bottom of the splasher, i've seen one loco that definitely had it in 1949, but i'm not sure if this was an embellishment of this specific loco, or if they all were turned out this way? Finally thanks to @Mallard60022 I have these Maunsell Tourist Open sides (and have since Feb of last year!) to go on my recently butchered composite coach, They are waiting for the grab handles and door handles to be fitted before they're ready to go on, I also need to file down the sides of the ends on Hornby donor to get closer to R1 width. That's all for now!

Rob, that looks fantastic! Is the tank 3D printed by chance? I humbly offer a picture of my own oil burning conversion, (prior to it being numbered).