Golden Fleece 30

The latest 6 Kitmaster coaches have arrived with two green ones. I have to say it is a shame these will get painted as the green plastic really looks to be a good shade for SR stock unlike the maroon plastic used being too bright (similar to early Tri-ang stock). I was tempted to leave the green plastic untouched but you can see some marks in the plastic, the lines from the top ridge curving to the window sides. These are not scratches and have no feel to them but I have no idea what to call them but it must be part of the moulding process as similar ones can be found on the maroon ones. Garry

Hi Nigel, they are all from Ebay and quite often on and yesterday I received another six unmade ones. Two were green although that is immaterial as they get painted. Sometimes they are cheap, my first eight, all boxed, were only £14.85 plus £2.50 postage for the lot yet this week two maroon ones went for £19.00 EACH plus postage. Those I did not bid on, they start at £5 plus £4 postage and I will not be paying that for one. The six I have just bought were £21.00 unboxed. Does this mean I will be bidding against you soon lol? Garry

Here we have a Blood and Custard liveried Kitmaster Restaurant Car. This was all brush painted as there were no spray cans available for either colour, at my house that is. I may get some if I decide to do any more in this livery but I am not keen on the lining for this livery. It is certainly not as good as the maroon versions. The roof, like the other Kitmasters, has a slight bow. I did try a screw through the roof of one but unfortunately even the longest 8BA at 1" was too short so I am now looking at a brass strip screwed to the roof that has the 1" screw tapped into it. I am fitting Tri-ang coach bogies as the Kitmaster ones are not too good with metal wheels. Only one more to complete from the 8 I bought, but, I have managed to get another 6 which are on their way. One thing I have noticed is that the windows are not moulded flat which does detract from the clarity through them, it seems as if the plastic "sunk" as it set in the mould. Also those window vents are a pain to paint though. Garry

As you say Robert Falcon has a lot of grills so those sides would need to have etched I guess. Ideally for mine, and others, the sides need to be flush with the cab ends needing the sides cutting off but that would be too much work now, life is too short lol. At least the Brush Type 4's had flat sided bodywork, if not I doubt I would have done this conversion. Garry

Brush type 2 to Brush type 4 As I am unlikely to get one of the old BEC whitemetal Brush Type 4 locos I thought I would have a go at converting the Tri-ang Brush type 2. All front window detailing was removed and a new central bar giving two windows was glued in situ. Headcode panels were cut in, all raised detail filed off then the body cut in half as the Type 4 is 21mm longer. Two flat strips of brass were cut to the new length to fit between the cab doors. I had thought about getting etches made with the small windows, door and handholds etched in but unlikely to recover the cost so went for plain sides. I know there is a step due to the new brass sides glued on to the original cabs but hopefully the handrails later will disguise it a little, it would be too much hassle taking the sides off for a flush fit to the cabs. The bogies obviously have retained their fixing positions but the roof is a different matter. Having cut one end off I had thought about making a piece to fit the two parts but now thinking of getting a spare to cut to the length of what is now missing. Unfortunately I will not pay the price for the one on Ebay so will wait longer. The buffers are a larger round shape so I am looking for some very old 00 ones to use (my Deltic used these filed oval). The paint job is the worst one I have ever done due to issues with a new make of primer and it would be too difficult to strip so this is in Matt finish. Garry

I think there were 4 different versions of Mk1 Restaurant and Buffet cars which at times were fitted with 3 styles of bogie. You have researched a little more as I just put any number available on mine, in fact I don't think I have had any catering vehicle numbers. I think some were full length catering coaches with no seats hence full length Dining cars used. I am doing one, Dining car, in Blood and Custard which I don't think existed in real life. Plenty of ex LMS and LNER catering vehicles were Blood and Custard though. Garry

Looks better to me with the gloss finish Ray although I would still like a gloss varnish to give the same finish and look as a gloss paint does. I know you have used Railmatch which are dull finishes to start with though. I have a feeling you need modellers license for this as I think this version of Mk1 Buffet came out after Blood and Custard finished but I have done exactly the same myself, we use what is available. Garry

Kitmaster number 3. This one has been sprayed with a satin varnish finish. Looks like the roof needs something to help it stay down. The second side is not shown as on one end some of the glue somehow managed to get onto the outside and had a set to with the paint. Needless to say the paint lost, hopefully I will be able to do a touch up on it. Garry

Very nice Nigel. Garry

Nigel, Now you have mentioned Methsfix transfers I can understand. I really like and prefer those to any others and used them on most of my Dublo locos. I would certainly have liked them in 3mm scale and agree they are a lot stronger on a model wear wise and look better being thinner. I will say I have only ever used them on gloss green locos without any problems or satin black. I do have a YouTube video showing these being put on an A4. Railmatch are dull finishes which I don't mind on roofs or wagons but not on locos (or coaches if I can help it). I do like the Precision gloss finishes though. Regarding your GWR brown I have noticed the lighter/early EMU shade has also been discontinued although both are still available in the small brush on jars. Garry

Until now I have always varnished over transfers Ray. Locos nearly always Satin with the odd gloss one but my TT coaches are gloss. I am not keen on the lighter shade produced by Satin, and, Matt is always a definate no-no. I am interested to see what Nigel says about the accidental handling on unvarnished pressfix transfers. Unless I use a car spray for a colour I never use acrylic, I have never been a fan of it preferring enamel, plus enamel does not give the peeling as acrylic can when used over enamel. What I have also discovered is some paint strippers do not work on acrylic as they do on enamels. Garry

Some Trix pick-ups are slightly smaller (narrower) and can give issues, I found that out with a genuine 3-rail Trans Pennine unit on my Peco 3-railed track. I cured it by soldering a small nickel disk I domed onto the shoe. Garry

Nigel, are you saying that Pressfix transfers do not need a protective coat? Also are you saying that they are used on a matt finish or require a matt finish applying? I can live with the coach numbers not being varnished over as unlikely to get handled much. I personally do not handle the sides anyway usually, it is mainly other operators at shows. The paint I prefer for these is Precision gloss maroon but do use Railmatch for other items at times, plus some car sprays. The Precision gloss is between a high gloss and a satin finish which is an ideal finish and look to me. I know gloss varnish keeps the richness whereas satin and matt progressively lighten the colours. Garry

Here is the "third" Kitmaster coach. This is unassembled as at the moment I am in two minds whether to varnish as the others or not. I think the paint finish itself is the best you can get and varnishing spoils the appearance, gloss or satin makes no difference, varnish does not give the same finish as the paint. The only advantage of varnishing is the help in securing the transfers. Looks like it will be a day or so before I decide on this one, obviously if I leave it as is then it cannot be done after the windows are fitted. Garry

Try this Ray, see if it is what you want. http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?wtcode=M1912&rows=50&syear=1966&smanuf=Ford&smodel=Thunderbird&sname=Sahara%20Beige Garry

Ray, Sierra or Sahara lol? Garry

Hi David, I too had no success with the "peelable" carrier film and mine resulted in the same way with the transfer coming off. I do use their diesel and some wagon ones but not peelable. I have ordered some of their DMU lining to try out. I think Lima may have used the incorrect triple lining and to me these stand out like a sore thumb, although these days only when I have my glasses on lol. Garry

Modelmaster must mean they are waterslide then. Often thought about them but worried how wide the carrier film maybe, looks like no carrier or do you have to cut close to the lines? I fully expected to be removed from the HDE but I still think my point was valid as was my previous one about links and names a few months ago. Admin are power mad and they can keep it. In reality there was nothing there to help me, I only joined to help others but too many issues with a few members and then admin thinking they are superior when all they are being is hypocritical saying no to the "peasants" while yes to the "gods". I don't know why David Walker got thrown out though. It is actually the same with the HRCA with the committee thinking they are god when from the top just rude and ignorant and that is why my membership will not be renewed lol. Garry

The lining looks to be HMRS pressfix and if so it is just patience Ray, I have never tried waterslide coach lining. It looks to have the Yellow/Black/Yellow triple banding at waist level, any particular reason as Blood and Custard liveries only had the Yellow/Black twin lines with black facing the cream on both waist and cantrail levels? Garry

Here are some Dublo Neverwazza EMU's. These are etched brass Bulleid suburbans to fit Dublo chassis's and uses the Dublo EMU motorised chassis. Also is a Dublo style toilet suburban, again etched brass. A pair of EMU parcels vehicles using the Dublo powered chassis. A motorised GUV using the Bo-Bo bogies. A fictitious EMU/DMU using the Bulleid etches but a pantograph fitted to the centre car. Also a very rare unpainted EMU front. There are quite a few unpainted fronts that have the moulded ridge that the yellow fits into around the world but this one is one of only 200 that does not have the moulded ridge and only the second one I know of. This matches the Dublo adverts but were not supposed to be used/sold as BR decided on the yellow panels before sales started and Dublo quickly added the ridge to paint the yellow in. Garry

Thanks. I wanted to remove the raised bar but it would have been a nightmare to do keeping the sides smooth but leaving the door handles etc. The lining used fits reasonably well on the ridge although it was a gamble trying to keep it straight and on it. The gloss varnish shows the edges so the next one might be done with Satin to see how it looks. Garry

My second Kitmaster coach with its bodyshell completed. Still on temporary bogies and roof fixing yet to be decided. For some reason the end door window on one side seems to be frosted but too late to alter. Garry

My first Kitmaster coach body shell completed. It is Precision BR maroon with HMRS lining and Fox numbers/letters finished with gloss varnish, the upper lining had to be in two pieces and on one side you can see the join. The window bars were a nightmare but only 7 more sets to go. I have not decided how to fix the roof yet (which is not painted yet), my initial thoughts were small neo's and tinplate but I may look at glueing a nut in the centre to use a screw as per late Tri-ang ones. At the moment it is on Kitmaster bogies with Jackson wheels but they may get changed for Tri-ang ones as the running is not as I hoped for. I am reasonably pleased though especially as each kit worked out at £1.85 and at the moment I am looking at 6 in maroon and a couple in Blood and Custard. One window does have a mark "etched" into it so I cannot do much about it and one side has a "grey" spot that the paint would not cover but at 100 mph it will not be seen. Garry ps I do know the lettering on one side slopes a little.

Here is what I call an unusual Exley coach although some of you may be able to tell me otherwise. The Blood and Custard liveries are quite rare as such and I was lucky enough to obtain 6 last year to go along with 2 others I had. All of those have been painted on the Stanier shell vehicle with the roof cross ribs pressed in and only 4 doors at the ends. Here the livery has been applied to the SR style shell that has the curved full length rib (LNER similar?) with a door near the middle on each side as opposed to just the ends. Strangely it still has an M number. This coach has not been dismantled to be cleaned as is my usual procedure as it seemed to good to strip for now, it has just had a wipe over and I may use a small paintbrush to clean the windows. Garry

Thanks David, the gears issue is for me to work out some etches for 4 coupled locos in TT where an XT60 will not fit. At the moment I have three to do, an ex LMS compound 4-4-0, Schools and WR 14xx. The Compound was designed for a K's tender drive which I did not know was made in TT so unlikey to get one but I prefer loco driven mechs anyway. The 14xx has a flimsy whitemetal which flexes so an etched nickel one should be more sturdy. The Schools will be for the Atlas model which obviously never had a chassis designed for it. Garry