Adam

I've almost completed one of these: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/123415-a-peckett-from-the-black-country-limited-lining/ Not a bad kit though there's a few features which I wasn't mad keen on - and how I've dealt with those is explained in the thread. Adam

Basically by applying the transfers - remember they're face down in this instance so the glue is on the top surface - onto the cab side (or whatever) and using Klear as a wetting agent while manipulating it, or applying it in the normal way and adding Klear which wicks under by capillary action. Once dry, it's stuck in position. Adam

After quite an interlude: It may appear closer to completion than it is; the rear wheelset is scrap (entirely my fault; I've given one of the wheels an incurable wobble) so a new one is on the way from Gibson. The lining was a bit of a saga: within the panels this is the same Fox yellow/black/yellow (N gauge variety) but applied upside down so as to provide a thicker black line and thinner yellow lining, glued on with Johnson's Klear. The sandboxes are knocked up from plastic sheet and a stub of square section with a bit of sprue for the lids. Also on the way, I hope, are some name and works plates from Narrow Planet so I'll save a full reveal until these have appeared and with any luck, I'll have persuaded it to run! Until then, here's the cab interior: Obviously, there's a little more work to do including, er, the tops of the sandboxes which sit at bunker top height and I had completely forgotten about. There's a casting for the backhead somewhere in the box, too. Adam

The D&S kit is now with London Road Models: https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/various/wagons/ Adam

Lovely work Dave - regarding Gorilla Glue (apart from the obvious allusion to gorillas' strength), if you get it on your skin, it will go a rather gorilla-ish shade of grey. Quite hard to shift... Adam

As a passenger, I'd much rather they made the things work properly and *then* sort out the high-spec' interior than admire said interior while the train blocks the down fast in the evening peak... Adam

So, most of a sheet of Fox yellow-black-yellow lining (the N gauge version - I'll need another sheet to finish the job) later and... And now the sun's coming up and before I start the day's editorial work, the edges have been touched in (per DLT's efforts in 7mm): I can see that there's the odd spot where I need to tidy up/add another coat but that's not too bad at all. Once that's done, I'll have to add the lining inside the panels as the current condition is more Pendre than Peckett. Adam

Margate's role in this model is pretty limited at this stage, isn't it? I've always hoped that someone would have a go at one of these and do it properly: the hard yards are worth it, and the mongrel origins are totally obscured under the primer so who cares? Top work! Adam

Ah, Morgan Design - a nice set of parts, but massively over-engineered and with instructions that are a bit... unnecessary, and are at the same time not comprehensive. It does work though. Some thoughts here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-wagons-on-tour/?p=3112361 I soldered the 'bolt in' W irons up solid rather than bolting them on (partly because I ran out of bolts and nuts but I see no reason not to simply spring the wheels in in the normal way). Adam

Since they rode on absolutely standard SR steam stock bogies, it's likely they always had plain steel wheels: the example about 200 yards from where I'm typing this (it belongs to the Tonbridge Model Engineers) certainly does. I suspect Ratio got this wrong, by simply using mouldings/stock wheelsets suitable for their Midland/LNWR coaches. Adam

Thank you - yes it is; it shows the relative thickness of the black line quite clearly which is a bit of a challenge when using lining transfers. I have some thoughts about this, but I'll have to see whether they work first... Adam

Little steps - I've applied paint. As a small loco, it's easy to brush paint the thing. I'm aiming for a standard later Peckett scheme - in my world, this machine was reboilered by the makers and treated to a repaint at the same time: a nice darkish green with black and yellow lining, a bit like Fola at West Thurrock: https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/British-Industrial-Systems/i-cCp9hdW/A There's quite a lot of lining so don't hold your breath... Adam

Very interesting - I was never sure that it had been built at all. Details (and I really do mean detailed details) can be found in the text of the enabling act in the London Gazette (the different numbers relate to the stretches of tramway in individual parishes): https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26226/page/6293 I like the idea that it might have continued, somewhat in the guise of the Wantage Tramway had loco' working actually occurred. A layout idea for someone, I'm sure. Adam

Oops - it happens to us all Andrew (not with a wheelbase, thus far, but I do have a couple of wagons somewhere which have had to have the floors made up to the right length) but keeping quiet covers a multitude... I do like the coach - proper hairshirt stuff! Adam

Thanks James! The couplings are a mix. At one end (not sure which), I've used the kit coupling hooks, laminated together and soldered, while at the other I've used some from AMBIS. In each case, I've dressed the edges with a file before installation. I'm sure I've seen lost-wax hooks in 4mm, but cannot recall who makes them. Both Gibson and Brassmasters make lost-wax screw coupling sets, I think. The shackle type top link is a spare from an etch of Masokits screw couplings (they come with a pair of 'short' links and one long one - I always use a long and a short so there are loads of short links left over). These spares are really useful. Adam

From the depths of the workbench and with the aid of many tiny bits of tube the rest of the Peckett has emerged. There are still things to do, notably the sandboxes which, while easily the best castings in the kit, were the wrong shape/size... Quite a lot of the tube generated the steam turret which is not bad and certainly good enough for the gloom of the late-Victorian cab. This same gloom is the reason why I shan't be doing all the accompanying pipework. And in three-quarters, showing how the various components are hung off one another. You will see that even by my pedestrian standards, the soldering is less than tidy. I'll blacken it when I get home tonight and then think about painting. Lined green, I think. Adam

The speed limit applied, I think. Adam

Following from my last post, work has continued on the bodywork. The footplate and cab are matters of ongoing mucking about, but the tank and boiler is complete and was treated to a coat of primer over the weekend and a dose of Archer's rivets (Peckett being a great devotee of the mechanical fixing almost until the very end). In primer, the characteristic Bristolian outline is apparent and the thing is now in dry store until the rest of the loco' is done. I've also ordered some plates for the beast from Narrow Planet so the end is in sight, I hope. I've noted (and eliminated) the bits of fluff. Note that the lubricator (behind the chimney) is now the correct way up. Thanks for pointing that out Mr Avonside. Adam

Hi Kevin, I hope they were able to furnish answers (and if not, please ask here). Glad you enjoyed them. Adam

Really!? It was quite a while ago, but this one was relatively simple (for a pacific); there are no splashers or other things that need fettling though the Walschert's valvegear required a bit of thinking. 1. The bogie was replaced with one from Comet because it was far too narrow but that's like for like using the same fixings, etc. 2. The Markits wheels are more or less drop in replacements reusing the original drive gear on a 3mm diameter axle. I recycled the return crank fixings from the original Hornby wheels, but soldering them in place would have been a perfectly viable alternative. 3. The Bissel truck wheel uses the flangeless wheel supplied with a 10 thou' plastic sheet spacer keeping it off the railhead >95% of the time which isn't 'proper' but is effective and far from obvious. The pick ups took a bit of tweaking, as I recall, but it runs well and hauls well (as can be seen in the video linked to above). Yes they are. They scrub up pretty well (not my work, I was probably a small child when they were built and dad was probably at school when they came off the moulding machine!). Adam

More or less pure Hornby, albeit with Markits drivers and Gibson carrying wheels and a new front bogie. It's been sighted in ModelRail (this shot from the shoot via Chris Nevard): Adam

Interesting - how are you applying the Precision Paint, Jol? I've had no luck with their paint applied neat by brush but have had good results with several well-thinned coats in both dull and matt(ish) as well as satin finishes with decent brushes. It's not quick, since building the required colour density takes three or four coats with six hours between them, but it works. Adam

Hello, Yes, you will have done - a great many of my completed wagons live in Yeovil with dad and get run on South Junction; I've no layout of my own so I'd rather the things got used. That said, I hadn't realised until this morning that the layout had been out - we've just moved house so familial communication has bee a bit sparse recently! The 'box at the left hand of the layout as you look at it is also in this thread with posts starting here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-an-early-lms-brake-m806/&do=findComment&comment=2623619 I hope that 1. it worked and 2. you enjoyed it and the stock. Adam EDIT - There's a video: (South Junction from 10:33 - not sure about the juxtaposition of the HST and GWR 4-6-0... most of the footage includes a southern rake with my model of 34108, Wincanton on the front, which is pleasing).

Still haven't sorted out the lubricator, the quartering got the better of me and it's entirely my own fault. After a pause (we've moved house), a return, having found tools, re-established the bench and dug out suitable project to provide a break from stripping paint. The Peckett has been troubling me somewhat as, no matter what I tried, I couldn't make the quartering work. The problem, having worked out that the front pair of wheels worked just fine on their own, was to take down the rear wheels and to learn that one of the bearings was on the huh (as they say in Norfolk). I've replaced it and with the aid of some 'Romford' type wheels from Scalelink... It works! Well, rolls. Once a replacement wheelset appears from Gibson, I can set it up with these and fit motor, pick-ups and so on. In the meantime, I can get on with detailing safe in the knowledge that mechanically, it will behave. Phew! Adam

And that's fair enough - could you, however, be so kind as to provide the reference number from the TNA catalogue? Sounds interesting. Adam