Golden Fleece 30

Hi David, Yes the bottom two are original and "grubby" and look darker than a newer mint one. 60023 has Satin varnish on and the other 3 are paint without any varnish on showing the actual paint colour although maybe one has gloss varnish on but I cannot remember. They were taken outside to try to get as much natural light as opposed to flash but now we get another colour problem as over exposure makes things lighter and under exposure is darker. Even one stop from the "normal" can show a subtle difference to some so who is going to say what is correct? We all know monitors can give a different hue and I am not even going to worry about calibration. To me if it looks okay then I am happy :-) What a nightmare colour matching is. Even a Dublo finish would change over time with handling as that would start to give it a shine. When I started at the carriage works in York we still had a lot of BR maroon for coaches in stock so I "acquired" some but as you know it does not scale down and my coaches looked nearly black using the genuine article. Even the corporate BR blue was too dark on a model. Garry

That is very true Jamie, I too am very careful with my models and do not like the comment that I was heavy handed which is far from the truth. The answer to issues is in the line "revised with improved motor" which speaks volumes and acknowledges the fact that was a problem. Garry

You now come into the matter of what our own eyes see colour wise as Ray prefers Pine green yet to me it looks wrong so I always use Brooklands Green. Our eyes can see most colours differently to others and going back to colour slide film Kodak Extachrome had a blue tint to me and I always liked Agfa Chrome yet some thought Agfa had a green cast to it and liked Kodak. It is the same with paint. There is also the matter of slight variations in manufacture. I prefer Hycote and when our local shop changed to another brand it was nothing like the Hycote range so I have to travel further afield or get it on line. There were supposed to be subtle differences in the shades too which is why some paint mixers ask for the chassis number etc before they will mix a shade others do a basic referenced colour like Halfords although not around here anymore. Unlike Ray and some others I don't like Halfords paint anyway but at the time they were the only one to mix a RAL colour for me. This why what suits an individual you stick with. Here are some A4's in Brooklands green but don't forget lighting conditions can also affect what you see. Also, do not forget that the finish can alter the loco looks to with gloss giving a deeper richer colour. Garry

Not one of my better efforts but the Autocoach based on a DMU centre car is coming along. The problem was when I put the lining on, new pressfix transfers, I saw it was poorly made with an extra black line on, yellow-black-yellow-black which was terrible. By now it would not come off and I did not want to try to strip it so used a black lining pen and plain yellow DMU line. The black did not cover as I hoped but will have to do. I dare not try to varnish it now as in the past the black solvent from the pen can start to spread all over so it will have to stay like this. Needs glazing and a gong making but still looks the part for me. At the speed the 14xx can travel it wont be noticed much :-) Garry ps, I know blood and custard liveried coaches only had a yellow and black line (which was on the transfer sheet) but at times the edge between the colours is not always as neat as it should be when door fittings etc get in the way so I have used the maroon 3 coloured style in some situations.

In the past when I was doing live steam I used Plasikote (B and Q, Wilko's etc) which I liked (the spray was different lol) but before using on small models did rad on the HRCA forum when I was a member there were some issues with it, which I think required the painted casting to be put in an oven on low settings to remove some solvent etc before other work was done. Ray might be able to look this up as he is still a member. Plasticote B-B-Q black was great for live steam smokeboxes as being heat resistant it never lifted, chipped or started to peel. Garry

A 3 car set was planned and artwork drawn up for the catalogues but it was a management decision to only sell a 2 car set to keep costs down, along with only a circle of track no straights. In real life roofs would be different shades soon after leaving the works, it is only us modellers that try to keep things uniform :-) Garry

Unfortunately it is not always possible to stick with one type. Most of my railway colours are car ones which are acrylic but I always have to brush on the black (unless it is all black then Hycote satin black is my choice) and once the Humbrol black is on you can forget acrylic varnish, PLUS, as Ray mentions it can affect some transfers. Regarding staying with one manufacturer, sounds good in theory but, that is a no no for me as I do not like Railmatch colours (roof shades are okay) but not body side colours as theirs are always a dull finish and I do not want to varnish first before putting transfers on. Their varnish is fine as Humbrol is very poor, either the cans do not work from new or half way through can stop or worse flood out like Niagra falls. I like Hycote spray cans but never had success like Ray has with Halfords so I keep away from those myself. These are my own choices but we all have our own successful methods and choices. Long gone are the days when there only was one way and it all worked without issues. As Mike has mentioned even paint stripper is not like it used to be. Nitromors was excellent but then H and S said it needing "improving" to take away some nastiness and that left us with something that did not strip a Dublo model anymore. Even modern brake fluids are not the same but I never had success with that either preferring Modelstrip for plastics until I started with Caustic Soda. Garry

One tip I forgot to mention Mike after reading Rays post, DO NOT use acrylic if you have used an enamel earlier on the model. It reacts with the enamel solvents and is like paint stripper and as in Rays words "guess how I know". Some people say after a few days it is okay but I personally would never use it afterwards, these roofs had enamel base coat brushed on years ago yet when an acrylic black spray was used to neaten them up the peeling started. The first time I did find out the problem was doing a Dublo A4 (with acrylic varnish by accident as at the time I never realised the caps are different on the tins, clear for acrylic and opaque for enamel)) and had to strip a lined green body and start again. That was doing it a couple of days between enamel and acrylic. Either start with acrylic and don't use anything else, or start with acrylic then enamel. Garry

That is a nice job Mike, well done. Please note 1 - as you say Dublo never used a primer and I personally never use etched primers even on brass and some of these are still as they were painted 30 years ago. My only primer is a car aerosol. I am the opposite to you, I have never been able to master an airbrush but always do what you are happy and confident with. 2- I also prefer Methfix but these are getting harder to find (harder still for TT), even Dennis told me he was probably having to source waterslide ones when the others run out. I am not keen on Pressfix transfers but was told, and worked for me, is if they are dry and do not adhere well is that you can place them on a surface and use Meths to fix them. 3 - As you are using an airbrush can you mix satin and matt etc to alter the finish to your needs? I have no idea as I use cans of Railmatch Satin, as does Ray. 4 - The casting imperfections are a nuisance. Like you I never really noticed them on originals until the bodies were stripped then it was filing etc to remove. Your boxes look good too. I used similar ones but used a white paint pen to put the lines on as I went for the later lined look. Here is the BR green 2-6-4 as preserved on the NYMR. All these tanks used Methsfix transfers from Dennis Williams. Garry

So true Ray. Bending the tabs once to remove and replace is not too bad but as you say the plastic "rivets" are a nightmare. i guess the majority I did all had the rivet snap off and I just hoped the filler pipe wires would keep the roof in place, and, touch wood it has never been a problem that I can remember. On some suburbans due to no filler wires I have resorted to screws but mainly on my Neverwazzas. Garry

I don't really know the true answer but can say over all the years mine have never seen daylight as such as I have always had curtains/blinds to prevent any fading. My coaches have both variations as you mention as well as some being glossy others semi gloss. Second hand ones I cannot comment on as I have no idea about their history. What I would say is that if they have faded due to sunlight then at least one coach side should have been affected too. My guess is a different plastic may have been used. Regarding the EMU I noticed a long time ago, from the late 60's, that the EMU vehicles were a very slightly richer green body colour compared to any SR suburban stock. With some poor roofs I did respray some with a Dublo look a like or just grey primer and satin varnish which obviously then is different (as per the SR parcels coaches a few posts back). Garry

Could that have been on the layout "I ad that" by Andy Millar? His work is good with a nice layout and a lot of repaints etc and I think his layout was at Warley last year. Garry

Thanks David, I know a bit about Tri-ang but not the whole lot. They only made two steam loco chassis. Long wheel base brass frames with "integral motor" identical for Jinty, 08, Castle, Prarie, continental 0-6-0. The spacer castings were different. Then a short wheel base using the XT60 for the Britannia, M/N and French pacific. Only two sized drivers made, small for Jinty etc and larger for Castle etc. The Britannia centre wheels were the only sets to be fitted with a pin for a return crank. A1A motor bogie with same casting for the trailing bogie and lastly the DMU one completes the 4 TT chassis's made. The DMU was unique in not using any pick-ups. The wheels were steel with an axle either side of which the center part went into a nylon axle and cog, the outer ends went into a cast frame which was used for current collection to the motor. This sometimes can give erratic running and I have put pick-ups on a couple of front bogies after replacing with Jackson wheels. Garry

Hi David, The main part of the Jinty and Castle chassis is exactly the same, wheel spacing, motor position and fixing so it would not work just fitting larger wheels. In fact larger wheels do not fit the rear slot on the Jinty as it had a different spacer casting due to it needing a buffer beam and coupling. The Castle slide bars are usually lower but I bent them up and might need to go further, also I want to angle them but have to be careful as due to their make up I have had them snap before. I will have to make up some more Castle chassis's with XT60's as I have Kitmaster Royal Scots, Corgi Hall (Hogwarts Castle), resin B1, brass B1 etc to do. I am getting a resin A5 too and hope the large size will take the Castle chassis although the wheelbase may be too long and the M/N would have to be used. I say M/N as it is cheaper and common compared to the Britannia and with my spoked overlays the Boxpoks dont show. There is also a BR standard 3 tank on its way which I would like to use the Jinty chassis but again it may need an XT60 fitted. I have a couple of the Dublo/Wrenn Staniers which always looked fine until you just mentioned the wheelbase lol. They will stay as built now as life is too short with everything planned. Garry

You must be thinking of the 1/2" motor used in the first Castles and 8F's before the Ringfields were developed. The 1/2" continued with the R1 then with Wrenn in both the R1 and 0-6-2. Wrenn never used the Dublo 0-6-2 chassis which had the same wheel base as the R1 but made a plate to fit the R1 block modifying the body to suit. They also made a completely new pony truck for the 0-6-2. Garry

Funny that this appeard on my FB account tonight. A few variations. I have seen one where two signal boxes had a couple mounted across so it spanned a few tracks. Garry

I have managed to fit the Castle chassis to the Stanier tank but had to use one with an XT60 motor fitted. No way was the standard one going to fit even after all the metal removal of the pole pieces. Next on the cards will be to make the spectacle plates. The slide bars have been bent from the original position but may get bent a little more. Hopefully it should not take too long AFTER the spectacle plates are made which I am not looking forward to. The chassis is the one I re-motored in the 70's and has Romford wheels fitted which look slightly smaller than the Castle ones which is a good thing. I will replace Pendennis Castle with a 5 pole open spoked chassis which I managed to obtain a while ago with the vision of using its chassis on something like this. Garry

This was specified as for the Castle chassis and the tank/cab sides have a small slot cast in for the lugs on the rear casting to fit into. I did try a brit but it would need a lot of work the other way with packing front and rear, plus, the Brit has a smaller wheelbase which is too short for the tank. The Castle is better suited wheel base wise. I have now got a Castle chassis to fit, photos later. Garry

A start was made on a 3mm society Stanier 2-6-4 whitemetal kit. The gap around the saddle is due to a poor positioned fitting, or made, side as the footplate is part of the tank side casting for which the boiler top cannot go further down. The other side is closer but still not down to footplate level. There are no spectacle plates although I did write back when I got the kit but I never received them or an answer so I will have to make some in brass or nickel. The smokebox is not quite round but if I tried to rectify the saddle gap would be greater. Other than that it is not too bad. The black lines/shading is actually very slight scratches and not cracks. Another larger issue has now surfaced regarding this Stanier tank. Although an etched chassis is included it is stated to fit a Castle chassis but as you can see there is no way it will fit. One photo shows the chassis lug below its slot in the casting yet above there is no way the motor will fit inside the firebox. It looks like I will have to remotor a chassis with an XT60 again unless I can modify the pole pieces which I will try later today. Garry

Tri-ang altered the AL1 body before they used the Dublo moulding. Basically it was the same but Tri-ang added the silly looking levered switch on top instead of the neat Dublo plug and changed the body fixing for their own but worse chassis. Initially it still had two Pantographs but soon changed to just one.

David, I have seen some Dublo layouts where the Island platform buildings have been shortened, lengthened, built up on etc to be used in different locations, some of the nice "realistic" ones were as is and shortened to be used in Loco yards as offices. Garry

Thanks for your comment Mike. I don't think I would have paid that for this loco as it is not the easiest to repair. The plastic body may be pitted/scratched and which would not be an easy job to repaint unlike the R1, 08, Bo-Bo are. If it is dirt then okay it could be washed and new white cabs done. The pantographs look as if need replacing and these are very expensive IF you can get them and replacement etches were very poor, mine were and I binned them, they were weak and flimsy and would not stay in shape. If the early Tri-ang one, after they bought Dublo out, was available it was a little stronger but again expensive. Someone at a show (Tri-ang man?) had some new including the EM2 ones for £65 EACH. Chassis wise would not be an issue but I would fight shy of this body at that price. Garry

Ray, are you talking about the Dublo Ringfields? If so I have had quite a few weaken which were fine after a remag, prior to getting the remag machine I replaced with Neos before I discovered the issues with them, bought the remag and used MOST of the originals. I say most as a couple would not take and before I left the HRCA there was a discussion about a few faulty Ringfields Dublo used that were always weaker and would not take any remaging. Garry

Nice to know everything is sorted Mike. I don't know why people say the magnet needs turning, I know I did for some reason, but I always used to just swap the insulated side of the brush to the other too. That is what I did on all the Tri-ang locos I converted. I guess it stems from the vertical motored locos which is very difficult to do without drilling a new hole for the tube insulation etc. I always prefered the 1/2" motor over the Ringfields, to me more reliable, easy to work on, easy to use in a conversion. I have no idea about who made them but possibly in house. I do go around the Tri-ang factory once and watched them winding the armatures on the production line so I guess Mecanno did theirs too but cannot say for definate. As Wrenn used these motors for far longer and in greater quantities maybe they were in house builds. Garry

T Mike, there is a thin plastic washer under where the screws fit. The holes in the phosphor bronze was etched larger than the screw so it would not touch and then a nylon washer holds the screw head. You can use nylon screws but I did not have any at the time. Dennis Williams uses nylon ones (3mm) with his R1 conversions and I now have some for my TT builds both 3mm and 8BA. Garry