Adam

Steve - quoting Mike and Judith's website (http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/catalogue/judithedge): "7mm kits are produced in .022" Material, with resin mouldings as in the 4mm kits. Wheels, motor, gears and buffers are not provided; the instructions detail recommended components and drive systems." Good news that the design for the oil-fired Sentinel 0-6-0 is under way - I shall look forward to building that. By the time it appears I might have got around to painting my Thomas Hill-built diesel derivative of the same! Adam

'Fraid so Colin. You're quite right Brian, the deck is a bit(!) on the clean side. I'm happy with the colour of the wood but there should be more texture/muck on it. I'm holding off on that for the minute until I work out how to achieve it properly. Equally, a straightforward route to a Bogie Bolster E would be very, very welcome. Adam

And back to wagons, and in time since this one was completed a month or so ago. Details of the conversion of this Bobol D from the Bachmann BDA begin earlier in this thread but here it is, fully lettered by means of an ancient sheet of just-about-usable Woodhead transfers and numbering from CCT (usual disclaimer). Paint is my usual combination of Halfords' rattlecan and Humbrols and I'm quite pleased with it though I'm in no enormous hurry to do another. The decks of these bolsters seems to have been darker than was usual for other varieties of open wagons - and this has been accentuated by the bright sunshine these pictures were taken in - I guess that the mix of 'hammerscale' and rust these wagons were subject to from their usual loads were responsible so I'm reasonably pleased with the finish but would be interested to know what others think. And for those of you that don't follow the UK Standard Gauge Industrial part of the forum, there's been more progress on my kitbashed Sentinel: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67087-a-post-war-200hp-steam-sentinel-in-em-closing-the-cupboards/?p=1419056 Adam

Very nice Andrew, but then it should be; a combination of prototype, designer and builder. Lovely. It'll be even better with painted wheels. Adam

Your bravery knows no bounds Colin and you were right to take the plunge; the result is far better than the original and that was impressive enough. That you were able to do this is testimony to your skill and to the soundness of the original construction. Bet you'll be relieved to see it done though. Adam

This started as a ‘simple’ regauging and detailing project retaining the original chassis. A quick – and far from comprehensive – tally of the work done, however, suggests that I may have got carried away… Body Beautiful (or something like that; the thing is built like a second row forward, all broad shoulders and big back end) · Complete replacement of handrail knobs and ‘plain’ handrails. The boiler handrails were reused, however. · New lamp irons (Masokits) · Replacement vac’ and steam heat pipes · Smokebox dart, number plates, steps added to the buffers · Added injector pipework and all the usual thinning and titivation Iain Rice taught us how to do all those years ago. · Enlarged cab ‘keyhole’ and tinned cab roof edges – this made the biggest difference to the model. Chassis · New wheels (Ultrascale – the loco’ came to me very cheaply so I could justify the expense). These entailed replacement balance weights and sundry mucking about. · New brakegear – see my earlier post. · Cosmetic frames behind the wheels. · Cosmetic rear frames and front framing. Sounds simple but took a lot of thinking about though the end result is well worth the effort I think and, once thought about, only took an evening to complete. The rear frames are still far too narrow but are a country mile closer than what Bachmann provides. · What Bachmann provides, however, is still there. I left the ‘radial truck’ alone though it’s actually no such thing. It consists of a sprung arrangement, reminiscent of a plunger pick-up, acts on the axle which runs inside a piece of what looks like phosphor bronze tube meaning that the wheelset is pushed, gently, onto the track. The axle can flop about in every plane going so I don’t think this qualifies as ‘proper engineering’ but if it stands up to service I will leave it be. The rods actually look quite good and are mechanically sound so I’ve left these alone too. · New front sandpipes. The nearly finished result is quite nice, all in all. You don’t see many models of these big tanks in black, the manufacturers and most modellers seem to prefer lined green and that’s fair enough, going on the photographs, so did Caerphilly works. When I get around to fully weathering it I envisage it being on the filthy side of grubby on the front of 30 or so minerals. Adam

I've lost track of this thread somewhat, but I don't recall this shot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32200120@N08/11351309425/ An unbadged Morris/BMC FFK(?) tractor unti with trailer and insulated meat container in yellow in Windsor. Interesting shot. Adam

Hi Colin, Mike It's a case of horses for courses, really. I have a Bachmann 08 with Ultrascales and haven't had any particular problems with shifted cranks. Dad built his 08 from a Modern Outline Kits offering many years ago and this, for a time, led him a merry dance with split and shifted cranks (Gibson as well as Sharman I think) but has since settled down following a replacement gearbox. No, I don't know why it should have had this effect! Of course, real 08s have much the same problem on occasions. I think, though I might be wrong, that the current set of cranks are Loctited in place. I have no problems with using Loctite to fit final gear drives so it is not an aversion to the stuff or a desire to have a mechanical fixing. I chose to pin simply because the wheelsets on this loco' are intended for conversions and thus have a nice big boss behind the visible face of the wheel. Now theoretically, this would provide a good surface area for Loctite but since I'd set the quartering, drilling and pinning in situ just happened to be easier. 'Normal' wheels would have been treated to Loctite. I've seen the debate on the Scalefour forum about wheels and there are some interesting things that I'd like to try at some point so I don't want to get embroiled against those with a prejudice against Gibson wheels but I've not had many problems - and for most of the things I build, there simply isn't a choice but to use them - that were not self-inflicted. Mike Edge says that under the current regime of Colin Seymour standards are much improved and he uses far more of them than I do. That said, generally I cannot and will not live with Ultrascale's delivery times; they're a quality product (and priced accordingly which is fair enough) but I am quite capable of using the alternative option which happens to be cheaper and available by return of post. Adam

I spent an interesting hour or so fettling last night revisiting a project that's been sat on the shelf for far too long. It shouldn't have really because it's 'simply' a re-wheeled Bachmann 66xx, a prototype I've always liked despite its Swindon origins. It's been sat around waiting for me to do something about it because the wheels on the driven axle (Ultrascale) kept slipping and my efforts at cosmetic improvements had got as far as the brakegear. The former problem required a bit of bravery to rectify but was at least theoretically straightforward. The latter issue was was that the very nicely modelled brakes supplied by Bachmann were nowhere near the wheel treads in OO and were, if anything, even further away once the EM wheels went in. Besides all this, I wanted to fit some cosmetic frames behind the wheels just for the look of the thing. As you can see, there's nothing complicated about this. The cosmetic frames are simply strips of black 60 thou' epoxied to the chassis block in what is now a reasonably conventional fashion (see Tim Shackleton's conversions of Bachmann's std 4 2-6-4 tank and N class in MRJ a few years back). As you can see, I've made a few minor tweaks of my own in the form of the brass additions at the front which are really only there to provide a large surface area to fix the guard irons to. The little bits of tube protruding from the frames are what I do with kit or scratch built chassis and copy an idea I first encountered in a High Level kit. Pegs of 0.7mm brass wire at the top of the brake hangers clip the brakegear sub-assembly into position. This not only allows the brake gear to be easily removed but generally allows it to be modelled properly though in this instance I have made it a bit representative compared to the very detailed Bachmann moulding. This doesn't really matter since the thing can only really be seen in profile. The bits of tube also have the function of providing a mechanical fixing for the dummy frames which is no bad thing. All the various bits are from Mainly Trains etches, designed by Iain Rice. The scary operation of the evening was drilling through the boss on the back of the Ultrascale wheels, and pinning them firmly to the axle. The wheels are quartered, the chassis rolls very nicely and the epoxy should have cured by now. The slipping is not an issue I've had with Gibsons, interestingly enough, though I admit my experience with bigger locos is limited. I'd be interested whether anyone else has come across this. This one at least is on the home straight. Adam

Following the diversion into parcels stock and with a desire to get some more projects at least physically complete, the last couple of jobs on the Clayliner tank were done last night. Nothing very exciting, just some bits of tank-top-ephemera, but the addition of hinges, screw clamps on the inspection hatch and whatever that valve arrangement is meant to do next to the filler adds to the sense of busyness up there and prompted a blast of primer while waiting for the cooker engineer this morning. I have now straightened that wonky ladder rung by the way. The effect of the etched mesh is rather better than I expected - the mesh is finer than I thought. Now back to work... Adam

I had pondered that, but since these were often sign-written (hence not a 'typeface'; the things weren't typed) or, rarely I expect, transfers this variation in 'weight' and colour density seems to have been normal. The Fruit D in this link has quite 'thin' lettering - http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/fruitd/h1af423b2#h1af423b2 - while this LNER BZ has lettering more akin to the PC Models sheet that furnished the lettering for the Parkside version; it's a bit heavier, more dense and more orange in tone. The variation in livery colour is something I like - it shows up the change from Crimson to Maroon on vehicles in a similar condition. the other unusual thing about these vans is that they seem often to have been numbered in the freight, as opposed to passenger, series by BR so there's no regional suffix on the number. The LMS, of course, turned out the batch they built in freight stock livery. Very odd for what was definitely a piece of NPCCS... Adam

A game of spot the difference if you want (though the above post rather gives the game away - click on it for a bigger version): A close-up of the Parkside version. The planks are a bit finer and the underframe needed a bit more work but otherwise there isn't much to choose between them. Adam

To be honest, Arthur, I think the only essential modifications are the brake linkages and their safety loops since they're quite a distinctive feature. Everything else is a feature of my detail fetish, but it is all properly mechanically fixed. The lever guides are pinned through the solebar and supported up the back with a piece of 'z' shaped nickel silver wire, while the vac' pipes and steam heat pipes are anchored to the buffer planks; if I am going to take the trouble of putting the detail on I only really want to do it once... Adam

Thanks Colin, glad to hear you're feeling a bit better. Here's something else I've been working on, one of the new Hornby CCTs. Basically, it has had a new set of brakeshoes, various linkages, pipes, new buffers (yes, I know it's missing its heads, I've run out) and the thing that makes the biggest difference, a coat of paint on the underframe and roof. A very tidy model and although the Parkside kit for the same vehicle is very good - indeed, there's nothing to choose between them above the solebar - but the detail you get on the underframe on the Hornby version is rather crisper. In other words, you have do the same work but on a ready painted, assembled model. Adam

Just to tie up a project, here are a couple of shots of my now complete Rumney Models/Parkside Minfit. The weathering mix is a mix of Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal, Track Colour (#173) and the bottom of a tin of matt orange. There was a slight problem with the first pass - it seems that the pigment in the matt sand I'd been using to lighten the mix seems to have floated out. Anyhow, a second pass sorted that out and the overall effect is pleasing enough. Adam

Not a lot of activity on the workbench at the minute what with demo'ing last weekend and that was very enjoyable, I wouldn't mind having another go if anyone wants to offer me the chance, and the appearance of the sun. Still, here we are, the clayliner has gained its ladders (RT Models reinforced/made 3 dimensional with a bit of 0.3mm Nickel Silver wire) while a couple of Presflos have made an appearance. There's not a lot wrong with these - well, the W irons are a slightly odd shape, and the steps could be a bit better, but what can you do? Presflos hunted in rakes so how much attention are you really going to give? All I've done is replace the buffers and vac' pipes, add screw link couplings, take the TOPS lettering off, removed the Blue Circle roundel from one and added 'Presflo Cement' lettering, warning flashes, etc. as appropriate) and painted the white ladders bauxite. Ready to weather now. Adam

Very natty. I think that Smiths do a suitable weighbridge plate. I believe Wizard Models stock them. Adam

Thanks chaps. A couple of points raised there - Mike I know about the dates but they're barely legible on this monitor nearly twice the size! Weathered, no one will be any the wiser and the basic pattern of graphic was in use from the mid-60s on so I'll spare myself that job! Thanks for the badgering Colin; I do like making Southern wagons when I get the chance and don't have nearly enough fitted opens. The brakegear is ABS which, although I'll replace the safety loops, is much the best available in my view; etched Morton gear can look lovely but it is always a fiddle. The green triangles seem to be another thing that came in a bit earlier (again, the mid-60s) and I think they were to differentiate 'traffic' opens, medfits, etc, from those the engineers had claimed. I've modelled a couple of medfits like that though don't have any pictures to hand. Adam

Despite the sunshine I've been active doing a couple of bits and pieces: I'm doing a bit of demoing at an EMGS event next weekend (first time for everything, details here: http://www.emgs.org/16.html?category=2) and what I've agreed to do is something along the lines of 'Wagons and Rolling Stock - Finishing Touches'. Having scratched my head a bit as to exactly what this means I've come to the view that this should be in two parts. First, the little extra details you can easily add to kits and RTR (and ways of making them durable) and second, painting and finishing. These wagons are to be used as examples/talking points while I work on other things. Well, that's the plan anyhow. The Bachmann Covhop featured above, relettered with Cambridge Custom Transfers, treated to new buffers and waiting the rather curious angle iron assemblies that were on the end of the real things. I don't think I'd bother with the latter if I were running a block train but I only really want one or two so I shall bite the bullet and do the fiddly work. Despite a couple of comments about the spec' elsewhere, the competition is Bill Bedford's kit. I'm sure that this is excellent and the built example I've seen looks lovely but getting the thing running to a standard I'm happy with would cost c. £50 plus build time. This will be about half that which is relatively pricey for a tarted-up RTR item by UK standards I suppose but still quite a satisfying project from a very good basis. The Cambrian range is increasingly prolific these days and this dia. 1375 is pretty representative of what is now produced. The one-piece, 'ready to detail', chassis means that assembly is about as easy as it gets. It would have been easier still have I used the supplied brake parts - which aren't bad at all actually but I for reasons of durability as much as anything else I fit metal brake levers and tiebars made from brass angle as standard. Adam

Thanks for that Bigbee - I've already got that one! That project is very much on the back burner at present, What has seen some work are my clayliner tank and Sentinel steamer. See below: The Sentinel, of course, has its own thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67087-a-post-war-200hp-steam-sentinel-in-em-building-a-bonnet/?p=1337537 Adam

Ivan - I think that James is referring to the possibility of body kits suitable for mounting on a Farish outside framed 08 chassis. Adam

It's like the real thing in that the tipper isn't permanently fixed although most people wil need to do so. So yes, it will tip but if you want to make it operate fully prototypically, you'll need to work out some sort of latch to hold it in place. Adam

Martin No problem; thank you for the opportunity and well done on the pot! Adam

I knew there was something I'd missed Brian, thanks. For those interested in the lorry, here are a couple of pictures of the completed, weathered, vehicle. While I was at it, I completed the other lorry I had on the go (which I think was pictured back up the thread), a Bedford S type tipper. A strange omission from the die-cast ranges this; for a time the 'Big Bedford' was as ubiquitous as the TK which replaced it. Another RTI cab with a host of home brewed bits and a fictional but hopefully plausible livery. Given that this model is envisaged as part of a fleet working in the coal industry I feel that it is a bit clean at present, not least because this would be a vehicle towards the end of its working life by the mid-60s. I've done an Albion Reiver 6 wheeler in the same livery. There's the basis of a diorama here... Adam

In the '30s? I'm afraid that either the photo has been mis-dated or that it's something else. I might have access to that book, do you have the page number and full title? These vans weren't converted until 1943 and only built in their original form in 1939 (SR Wagons vol. 4, p. 65). There were a few vans - several types of ferry van, for example and, famously, privately owned salt wagons and some grain vans with broadly similar roofs. In any event, with the wagon and carriage works at Eastleigh being so close seeing pictures of SR oddities in the Southampton area shouldn't be too surprising. After nationalisation, these things were just another 10' wb fitted van and would have been common user; they could have appeared absolutely anywhere. Adam