Adam

Well, it's only platework, I guess? I'm pleased to see that work has started on it though. Adam

Thank you. Yes, I did - Peckett presumably used washers or two types of stanchion. I'll have to check. Adam

Bringing things together. I do wonder whether it's easier to do a neat job (and this really isn't one, at this stage) on neat kits? This is certainly true of plastic wagons - my efforts with modern Parkside productions tend to look better before the paint goes on than those from, say, Cambrian. With proper location designed in, I'd probably have splashed a lot less solder around and the result would be tidier and, though progress seems speedy, quicker. I am pleased that it looks properly 'Peckettesque' - the shape of the saddle tank and pattern of handrails are key to this. This three-quarter view is pleasing since it demonstrates those features. The side on view is less so, since it shows up the somewhat squashed look of these locos. No matter, at this point it couldn't be the product of any other builder. Looking more closely, I have really made a mess of the bottom of the smokebox, even though the assembly is square: mercifully, the loco has very large sandboxes mounted on the footplate... Adam

While I've been rolling platework, here's the latest from the workbench. I've knocked up the bottom half of the boiler - I managed to mangle the half-etched original which, in any event, wasn't quite long enough - from nickel silver sheet, and added the centre ring of the tank barrel from shim. Obviously, I'll have to re-drill a couple of handrail holes, but the effect is far better than the half-etched grooves that represented the overlap originally. I have now straightened the wingplates. That soft brass striking again. Adam

In 4mm, it might be a bridge too far. In 7mm, though, I reckon something appropriate could be done. Not that I'm about to try... Adam

By the by, a couple of pictures of the real thing - at opposite ends of their respective lives - found online. First, a 'special' with external rear bunker in the Somerset coalfield, Lord Salisbury: https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/33614297090/ And another, working for the military at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyfuller/5848830334/ A useful detail picture, here, from the 3' gauge Peckett, Scaldwell, showing injectors: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fairlightworks/5920019324/ The kit provides these as an etch... Adam

Hi Guy, It's always the second corner that gives the trouble - the designer has given some help in the form of half etched relieving lines in more or less the right place, for once (the last one I did, from Impetus, was not). Of course, the thrupenny bit/new pound coin effect needed to be eliminated too and that would have wiped out any rivets that had been embossed, had I done so: not the designer's finest hour there. Without the confidence that it was the right size, forming that corner correctly before fitting is tricky and I made a bit of a mess here. Partly this is because the brass used is quite soft, work hardens quickly and became very soft when annealed, and the margin for error is limited, mostly because I simply got it wrong and had to adjust the bottom edge with pliers. The cab roof, and the boiler, for that matter, is flat as supplied, but a simple, shallow curve is easily to form with a rolling pin and whatever resilient material I happen to have to hand (a selection of my wife's teaching notes and some discarded offprints in this case). Adam

News from the miniature Altlas Locomotive works residing, not in Bristol, as nature intended, but in west London. Like many kits for smaller locos of a certain vintage, this kit is intended to have a body in one lump with a tiny motor mouthed vertically in the firebox: in 7mm that approach is more sustainable in 4mm so I've embarked on a touch of redesign in order to mount the motor in the boiler, possibly with a flywheel. The basics are well-established: the boiler/saddletank make one assembly, while the cab/footplate make another. As, deigned, there's no positive location at the front - hence the elongated hole in the footplate to accommodate the securing screw in the base of the smokebox. The bits of L section served to mount the boiler on the real thing but serve as location on the model, as will the piano front for the cylinders later. The saddle tank is more problematic, but not really through fault in the design of the kit. The way it was supplied is an issue, however, since the pre-rolled wrapper would have to be flattened in order to rivet it before being re-rolled. I wasn't even going to try to do that and will, when the time comes, apply rivet transfers. Before that comes, though, I'll need to add a layer of shim to form the centre ring of the tank - this a characteristic Peckett feature. Note the somewhat battered bottom edge: this will be disguised... Putting the two together looks a bit like this: It does sit properly when screwed down, honest! Adam PS - Still rather a lot of solder...

Cleverer would have been *double-sided* copperclad - I could have soldered the overlay on rather than relying on glue. Next time... I can't see anything too problematic on the horizon as yet, though the multipart brakeshoe/hanger assemblies look like they might be fun. I'm very much of the view that all Pecketts are a Good Thing, though some are more enticing, aesthetically, than others. I especially like their adherence to the rivet right until the end despite it making modelling more difficult. Adam

Hello Guy - yes, all in hand. The usual combination of a small Mashima driving through a High Level gearbox, a 54:1 Roadrunner +. The gearbox goes in the firebox driving the rear axle while the motor will sit in the boiler with a flywheel on the other end. The basic principle was used on my Impetus Bagnall detailed here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/30496-preston-docks-bagnalls-impetus-kit-and-prototype/ Note that this means that the chassis has been modified slightly and instead of a pair of flat spacers at the top, in addition to L-shaped ones at the ends. The compensation pivot will perform that function at the top and there's a large flat spacer at the bottom. My feeling is that much more than 54:1 for small steam locos destroys the impression of sharp acceleration you can get with small tank engines. Wheels are another matter - I'm using 3' 8" 11 spoke wheels from Gibson (intended for an Isle of Man Beyer Peacock). The pattern of the spokes isn't quite right for a Peckett, but you have to take what you can get. Adam

This project may be a slow burner, or not, we'll see how things go. It's a Wychbury Loco Works (latterly, Mercian - hand-drawn by Pete Stamper, I think) X Class Peckett. This came from a club member's estate and is built, in part, in memory of him: John wasn't really a modeller, but he was full of good intentions and, as a Bristolian, had a fondness for Pecketts, Avonsides and other products of Bristol's engineering companies. It's not bad, but is of its time and requires a bit of fettling to get a reasonable drive train inside and some additional detailing, though in the main, what's there is pretty good. The instructions must have vanished somewhere along the line but that's not a concern: it's obvious what almost all the bits are and for the few areas of doubt, photographs fill the gaps. I've seen a few of these built up and, while it's not really my favourite type of Peckett - I like the chunkier 0-4-0s and outside cylinder 0-6-0s - that's not the point. Stage 1 - basic assembly of the footplate and cab side sheets. So far, so good. Stage 2 follows (and goodness, what a lot of solder...): The first changes come into play here: the buffer beams supplied were brass etches over rather shrunken whitemetal castings. I replaced these with chunks of copperclad which is rather easier to solder. From here, the next step is to sort out the other sub-assemblies, the chassis and the boiler/saddle tank. The latter will be made up in one piece to allow the mounting of a decent-size motor, flywheel and proper gearing in the boiler. Adam

Thanks Jason - with such a small layout, the focus is going to be on the stock whether that's the viewer's main interest or not. We have an Ian Kirk one - which came to us secondhand, since I don't think dad ever saw one in service down in Cornwall - and, like you, I doubt that Parkside have done anything about the body moulding (though a new 12' wb chassis would be nice). They're an odd design all round, both for the reasons you suggest and that they were built so late on. Slightly smaller is the next project, a Wychbury Loco Works (latterly, Mercian - hand-drawn by Pete Stamper, I think) X Class Peckett. This came from a club member's estate and is built, in part, in memory of him: John wasn't really a modeller, but he was full of good intentions and, as a Bristolian, had a fondness for Pecketts, Avonsides and other products of Bristol's engineering companies. It's not bad, but is of its time and requires a bit of fettling to get a reasonable drive train inside and some additional detailing. In fairness, the extent of that will be relatively limited since most of it is there albeit with a bit of finessing. Soldering is, er, less than invisible... Most of this is as it comes but the buffer beams - supplied as badly shrunken whitemetal castings - have been replaced with 1.6mm copperclad. More will only follow once I've fitted a new element to my principal soldering iron. More on this will appear on its own thread in the UK Standard Gauge Industrial part of the forum: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/123415-a-peckett-from-the-black-country/ Adam

I did write 'most' people, Mike - present company obviously accepted! I would note that commentary I've seen makes no mention whatsoever of the wagon pieces. Adam

For anyone that hasn't joined the dots (or doesn't regularly take MRJ), my second piece for the Journal describes the scratchbuilding of this wagon, a Lowmac WV. Thanks to this edition's editor, Karl Crowther, for asking me to do it. I'm pleased with it, I hope anyone who gets to read the article enjoys it - it's an excellent issue if you have an interest in wagon-based modelling: The Mill and Morfa Bank are both stupendous bits of work and probably much more interesting to most people than my wagon or the 7mm banana vans. Adam

This Parkside 24 1/2 tonner was picked up cheaply at the Southampton show back in January; the ultimate 'box of wheels' as far as I'm concerned. It's an interesting observation on British Railways, the National Coal Board and Britain in the '60s in general that the last BR-built batch of these were built in '62, only a couple of years before - and at the same same works(!) - the Hop ABs, latterly HAAs. This is a design concept that really dated from the late 19th century... This is a representation of an early build of the 24 and a half tonner so it has plain bearings and will get one door spring for each door. There's quite a lot that's still good about this Parkside kit, the body in particular. The chassis needs work, however, but this is the minimal-intervention approach: new buffers, axleboxes and the brakes stretched to get nearer the wheels. The push rods have overlays from AMBIS Engineering etches (the etch comes with push rods for wheelbases from 7' to 12' at 6" increments; one of those 'I wish I'd known about these years ago' products) and make a big difference. I should have finished the solvent work by later today and final detailing should be finished some time later this week: I really need to get a few of these things ready for paint; the workbench is getting crowded. Adam

Try this and scroll: http://www.mousa.biz/fourmm/wagons/lnwr_wagons4.html Adam

No other comment on the loco',but the brakevan is LNWR, a diagram 17B, which I realise that Bill Bedford will be producing a kit for: http://www.mousa.biz/_images/BWK1510.png There's a picture of the real thing on the LNWR Society website: http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Wagons/brakes/Diag017B.php Adam

Love it . A

Hi Ian, They're nice little castings aren't they? Dart Castings: http://www.dartcastings.co.uk/dartcastings.php#HORSEDRAWNVEHICLES,AVANANDASCOOTER(OOGAUGE)and they're sold as Lambrettas. The model designation is useful too, so I know how to paint them. For completeness, the signal box bits, like the lever frame, is from Springside (I bought mine from Gaugemaster). Adam

That's kind of you to say, but I trail in the wake of Geoff Kent... I've always thought it was an attractive prototype, but it's the fiddly details that will bring the model together and I can't wait to see that. Adam

A belated thank you, Jamie, that's extremely kind of you. Some signal box sundries: the instrument shelf (I think that's about right for a junction box - instruments for up and down lines and one for the branch) which will be hung from the roof and, of all things, a swarm of scooters, one of which will be plucked out for use as the bobby's personal transport. Adam

Very nice indeed Andrew. Adam

Hi Andy, The structural matters wouldn't concern me overmuch: if handling the layout is too heavy going it will never deliver what you need from it: if the appearance is similar then that strikes me as less of an issue. With regard to the mill, might the problem really be that it reaches the top of the existing backscene making that look odd? In scale the mill isn't so dissimilar to the mill that still stands behind Alresford station, and of course, it stands on the river which is what I'd expect so I'm not sure how it's out of place, especially given the name of the layout. Adam

Very nice. I appreciate that you don't fancy doing too much to it, but I would thin the cab side sheets a smidge and definitely the cab roof. Adam

The roof is now complete, but here's some sense of how it got there. Half slated - I used normal office copier paper - solvent-welded in place and sealed with diluted PVA. Slates tended to come in 2:1 ratios of length to width and I went with 6mm x 3mm which was probably a bit too big having subsequently looked at prototype shots in a bit more detail. Never mind. Here's the completed roof, with ridge from 10 thou' as is the flashing around the stovepipe, welded in with more solvent. Other details are being worked on, including some cast signage from AMBIS Engineering. All are characteristically Midland Railway: The 1/4 mile post will replace one fitted before the layout was extended - what's there already represents an LMS concrete post and, being made from plastic, won't survive being moved. Why bother? Well, if you're going to model the things, they might as well be the correct distance apart... Adam