P.C.M

Thanks Rob, Not much done in the last few days, it's a bit cold for painting in the garage at the moment. Cheers Peter.

Superb stuff Alex, you certainly have more patience than me. Cheers Peter.

Only a little progress this week. 31403 now has some ETH sockets that I made up from plasticard, in the pic you can also see one of the open windows. I have added a strip of plasticard along the top to form the metal bar used to open the window. 37284 now has bufferbeam pipework added, and Hornby buffers. I think I may have solved the problem of the damn things twisting. I slotted in a square peice of plasticard which goes up against the side of the chassis and stops the buffer twisting. It also stops the buffer head sticking out to far. Hope the pic explains it better. Cheers Peter.

Talking of promotion a good friend of mine John Dedman has another book out, and once again my brother and myself have had a few of our pictures selected. If you liked the others in the series then this one shouldn't disappoint. Cheers Peter.

No worries Rick, Always happy to promote a good product. It sounds like you had more of a shake than we did, and we are only 30 minutes away. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Jeff, No shortage of Peaks here. I am enjoying watching your progress too. Cheers Peter.

As Rick mentioned on his Penhale Bay layout thread ( a top layout if you haven't dropped in and had a look) the state of Victoria had a 5.3 Earthquake Tuesday night. I was out in the garage sat at my workbench when I heard a low rumble then 30 seconds of slight rocking and it was over. Anyway as far as I can see there has been no damage. I didn't feel like doing much out there tonight so I took a few pics as it's been a while. I really need to clean the track and have a running session but I think I will wait for some warmer weather. So first up 47613 arrives on shed with 45111. 08472 is in the yard on some VGA's. A while later 45111 leaves the shed and picks up some ZDA 'Bass' wagons. Cheers Peter.

Hi Rick, Shame you couldn't make it Saturday it was a good turn out. I like the latest pics, it's very real to see lots of railway staff about with not a lot actually happening. Reminds me a bit of when we came off the road up Eastleigh Yard. Good to hear you had no real damage, I was out in the garage when it happen'd and actually heard it, it lasted about 35 secounds and rocked the garage a bit, no damage though. Cheers Peter.

Hi Phil, You are certainly cracking on with this, it's looking good too. Could I suggest longer radius points in some areas, as it looks like you have room. The bridge idea would be ok if it was more of a drain, ie the land could drop away and you could have a couple of concrete pipes leading into a small stream. If you get what I mean. Cheers Peter.

Hi Craig, Nice line up of class 31s, I am working on an ETH one myself, I haven't done the ETH cable and socket yet either. It's looking like I will have to make one from scratch. Cheers Peter.

I do like my class 33s, I spent many happy hours doing Cromptons between there and Southampton. When I get around to sound fitting one of my Heljan models I will look out for one of yours. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Guys, I am much happier with it now, Ian I just used a dark brown cheapo can from the 2 Dollar shop I held the tree at arms length and sprayed the back and underside, just a few short squirts then one small squirt to the front. Cheers Peter.

In the last few weeks I have been working on a class 31 and aclass 37. 31403 was the number chosen for my Hornby class 31 which I picked up fairly cheaply a few years ago. I will eventually put a Hornby chassis under one of my Lima 31s as I think the Lima body is a bit better than the Hornby one. I did 31323 a while back using the Hornby loco and I am pleased with how it has come out so thought I would do another one. I try and model locos that I have a picture of and can remember seeing. Llanbourne is well short of ETH 31s (I have none) and 31403 fits the bill I have a couple of pics of the loco and at some point I had haulage on the beast. Another reason for choosing 403 is that it was an unreferbished ETH loco and it had the raised roof cowl. which is something I wanted to have on at least one model. As it turns out 31403 is a bit of a celebrity as during the early 80s it worked a Royal train with another class 31 and for this train it had its bufferbeam painted red and the handrails on the front of the cabs were painted white. I would also seem to have been one of the last ETH locos to be referbished. Anyway work done so far. I have taken a roof fan and grille from another model and while at it I changed the mesh so it no longer sits at an angle but straight down the length of the loco I also added two strips under the mesh. It's not as good as the Shawplan etch but it loooks ok. I have also taken the boiler port from the other loco as it is the sealed up one. According to my platform 5 book 31403 had its boiler isolated but in my pics the loco still has its train heat pipes which seems odd. Something else I have added are latches to stop the battery boxes falling open. The Hornby model does have them on one side but they don't really show up so I made my own. I have also hacked a couple of Dapol figures for the train crew, most of my locos have a driver or two and I normally open up a few windows. The wipes have also been changed to hang across the top of the window rather than down each side. 37284 is the other loco on the workbench at the moment. I needed a Canton based class 37 and I have a few pics of 37284 which I had on a rail tour top and tailing a pair of Cromptons. So far I have only pulled the loco apart and sorted the handrails on the front as they seemed to be at an odd angle. Most of the time has been spent trying to improve the bogies by cutting the sides off to make them the right width I have also had a go at raising them up about 1mm the make the gap smaller between the bogies and loco body. Cheers Peter.

No worries Jon, if you need more info let me know. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Mate, I have toned the tree down a bit with a bit of spray, looks heaps better. Thanks to everyone for your help on this one. Cheers Peter.

Nudge nudge wink wink bowchickawowwow. :locomotive: Well if you aren't to tired out it will be good to catch up. I will find Daves address and PM you. Cheers Peter.

Hi Jeff, The woodwork is looking good, looking forwards to seeing some track going down. Hope the Shoulder is ok. Cheers Peter.

Hi Rick, Welcome back, pleased to hear the layout hasn't been washed away. We have certainly had a bit of rain, Though not as much it would seem as you had over in the Uk in the first week or so. There is a BRMA meeting 5 minutes down the road from you in Langwarrin Saturday. If you want to drop by I will give you the address. Cheers Peter.

Hi Leon, Always good to see an update, the wide angle shots looks great. Cheers Peter.

Great set of pics guys, the snow effect is fantastic. The man with the dog must be a bit of a spotter to be out in cold, though I don't blame him there is plenty to see. Cheers Peter.

Hi Jon, I have started a workbench thread in the detailing RTR section, i have posted some pics there for you. Hope you find them useful. Cheers Peter.

Hi all, I had a workbench thread running on the old RMweb but since then the work done on my locos and wagons etc has been posted on my layout thread. recently I started working on a Hornby class 31 and also have a Bachmann class 37 sitting near by which will be started soon. This and the fact that I said to Jon on his class 47 blog that I would post some pics of what I have done to my Bachmann class 47 has prompted me to restart a workbench thread. Ok then first up some pics of my Bachmann class 47 bogies. (The Inter City loco has not been modified), which shows the extended pipework on the bogie and one of the 8 detail bits that come in the detail pack which fit to each corner. They aren't the best molding but don't look to bad. Something that really bugs me about the Bachmann 47 is the bufferbeam cowl which is to deep. I remove the small square raise section and replace it higher up then I remove 1mm from the bottom of the cowl which make a big improvment. The tanks on the blue class 47 have been modified to look more like a class 47 than a class 57, Ian (Pennine MC) did this mod and there is a thread of what he did on the old RMweb. Another mod I did on my later class 47s was to remove the raised lip that runs along the bottom of the cab front. The red and white square seen betweem the bogie and tanks is an engine cut off switch? which I have added, one on each side. All my loco's have the bufferbeam pipework both ends and are also ftted with Kadees. I admit they don't look as good as screw links but for a terminus layout with lots of shunting I think Kadees are the way to go. I did write a small article on how to have pipework and kadees in MI2. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Brian, I might have to see if I can find a few pics. Cheers Peter.

I like your thinking Phil, nice plan. Cheers Peter.

Hi Brian, The class 31 is looking great, as do pete's etches. I noticed the boiler port is sealed, as it is on my Hornby model. I am thinking of drilling it out, do you know if there was any mesh recessed in the hole? it is quite big. Cheers Peter.