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fiddly details

Back to the beginning (and then a bit more too)

The Great British Locomotives Jinty.  The model that started this whole diversion into the late 50s era. When they first appeared (as part of a magazine series) they were so cheap that I brought a second one just so I could do a before and after picture.

Recently I dug it out but I didn’t want to just do another Jinty so my focus has been on its predecessor, the Johnson designed Midland 2441 class. Just for a little bit of clarity before we go any further both classes were referred to as Jinty’s or Jocko’s so going forward, if I mention Jinty’s I mean the later LMS Fowler 3f.

So the 2441 class.  The Midland built 60 of these which were considered as heavy goods tank engines.  They were later rebuilt by Fowler which made them look very similar indeed to a Jinty.  Initially there were 2 distinct types. with or without condensing apparatus. For those interested in these locos theres a good book on the subject, Midlands Engines No.5 by David Hunt, Bob Essery and Fred James (ISBN 1-874103-94-1)

The Model

Work required can be broken down into 2 areas.  Stuff you might want to do anyway and stuff you will need to do to depict the 2441 class. Let’s start with the stuff you might want to do anyway.

The handrails need replacing as do the lamp irons. The Chimney is a bit naff as are the safety valves and whistle.  The coal rail is too chunky and the buffers are somewhat generic. The steps would benefit from something a little more refined.

For the 2441 specific bits the smokebox needs to be shortened and its saddle is a different shape. The Dome is also a different shape (more rounded) although I believe some had the more flattened off type. The front splashers are different too. The biggie is the tank sides which are taller and drop down by the cab area to be a little lower than a Jinty.  The bunker is also lower and squarer with no overhang. The footplate is actually a little longer on these locos and the fairing at the ends is different.

So let’s start with the footplate.  The body of the model separates into 3 parts.  The footplate, tank sides and bunker. The boiler, smokebox and tank tops and the upper part of the cab. Handily everything is plastic so carving it up is easy. I believe that the Bachmann Jinty has a cast metal footplate so it might be a bit more tricky.

The tank sides and bunker are from 30thou plasticard topped with microstrip.  The coal rails come from my spares box (Brassmasters 1f etch) and the steps are from Mainly Trains.  Splashers are also from Brassmasters (1f again) and the buffers and vac pipes are from Lanarkshire models. The lamp irons are from Stenson models.  You can see at the back of the footplate where it’s been lengthened.

Not a lot to do the cab. New rear spectacle plates from Mainly trains.

The Boiler.  I cut the smokebox back and remounted the front piece (which is separate).  It seems that the condenser fitted locos had the handrail below the upper hinge like a Jinty but the others has it mounted above the hinge.  Chimney is from my spares box (Brassmasters Jinty detailing kit I think) and the safety valves and whistles are from Markits. The top of the dome had been filled and blended into a new shape.

When it comes to the tank tops, the drawings show the filler caps to be more central and they certainly would need to be on the condensing locos as theres a big pipe in the way.  However pictures of the non condensing ones show what looks like the bracket at the front of the tank indicating that they might be at the front as seen on the model.

A little bit of fiddlyness for the ejectors. The moulded one is a bit clunky and I believe depicts a combined large and small Ejector. When I did my other Jinty I used a cast detailing part for this from (I think) London Road Models. Some 2441 class locos had these.  The fiddly one depicts an earlier type and is cobbled together from 0.4mm wire with 0.6 and 0.8mm tubing.

The assembled loco (so far)  The chassis is a High level Jinty with the frames altered to be shallower. Otherwise it’s built as per the kit. I didn’t go for working inside motion as you really cant see it at all on these locos.


An unremarkable little tank engine – Part 2

Thoughts turn to the remaining detailing on the body of my 57xx tank.  I like to take pictures pre paint for prosperity before it all disappears under plain black and grime and no one really notices what you’ve done anymore!

Front 3 quarter view.  You will notice that the buffers are different.  Due to a timely new casting arriving from Lanarkshire models. Lamp irons are from Masokits and the sanding levers from RT models. The footplate pipework has been replaced with wire  The Whistle shield is from Modelu reinforced with a bit of wire. The tool box seemed a little ‘floaty’ as mainline had modelled it so I filled in the gap and re-scribed a finer one.

Rear view. The fire irons are from Springside Models and the rear windows from Mainly Trains (now Wizard models).  I’ve thinned down the cab sides I tried to do the water balancing pipe as one piece secured by magnets but as its all a little bit small the magnets weren’t really strong enough.  I had fears of it falling off and causing havoc with the inside motion so I had to settle for it being in 3 parts instead. Not sure what the little box is behind the rear footstep not all locos had them.  I think it might be related to the AWS gear.

Underside view – you can just make out the way the pickups are arranged.

My intended victim for this model was 8718 which in Brettell Lane era was a Kidderminster Loco.  It later went to Stourbridge where it lost its number plates and gained painted on numbers in a reasonable attempt at the GWR font.  I preferred the proper number plate.  Searching for pictures I couldn’t make out a BR logo on the tank sides. A request to the GWR modellers and British Railways Steam era 1948 to 1968 facebook groups didn’t yield any answers either so reverting to my ‘model what you see, not what you think you know’ approach I left the logo off.

Below a few images of the finished loco. The crew are the customary Modelu products.

 

So there you have it – An unremarkable little tank engine.


An unremarkable little tank engine – Part 1

One of my slow burning projects has been a humble little 57xx tank.  A combination of the old (But essentially quite good) Mainline body and a High Level Kits chassis but with a bit of twist.

Iain Rice wrote about these back in MRJ 61 and 62 using a similar route, in his case using a Perseverance chassis as that was what was available around the time, and I would urge readers to refer to this as a start point.

The High Level chassis

Like all of Chris’ chassis this was a joy to build (this is my 4th of his chassis kits now, who would have thought it?) I opted to use Brassmasters bearings which may have messed the alignment up a little as I found I needed to mount the break gear 1 mm lower than as supplied.  Strangely though the buffer height seems fine. I differed a little bit from the instructions by making all of the brake gear removable.  The rear rods that go behind the wheels seems to trap the rear axle in place as supplied.

Eagle eyed viewers might spot something little odd and yes, you’ve guessed it – I’ve gone off piste again.

A couple of prototype pics from the Severn Valley.  Personally i though the inside motion was pretty obvious looking at the real thing and while there is a representation of it in the High Level Kit I wanted it to move.

So this is a mish mash of bits – Brassmasters 4f bits at the axle end and Finney GW bits at the front.  The GWR version of inside motion seems much simpler that the midland one and the hardest part of this task wasn’t putting it all together but getting it in place.  Being a small loco theres not a huge amount of wiggle room.

The body is essentially good, you could say extremely good for its time.  The obvious stand out bit of weirdness was the top of the dome but nothing a spot of filing can’t sort out. It did come with a separate main handrail and some wire ones around the bunker but they were all a bit heavy so i replaced those along with those handrails that were moulded on. I reduced the size of the front wheel splasher by cutting it off and gluing it back on, The width of the cut being all you really need.  I didn’t feel the need to fiddle with the centre and rear ones.  While on my 94xx I replaced all the pipework under the tanks in front of the cab with this model I thought it was good enough as is, although I have cut away the ‘holes’ as per Iain’s article.   Theres a bit more detailing to add to the footplate yet and the lower pipework will need to be replaced.


From Little Acorns, Part 2

Work continues on my latest building.  Gutters are from Modelu.  When I last used Modelu guttering I found getting it stuck on was quite problematic however this time I tried Ultraglue from MIG (which I’ve mentioned here before) and I am pleased to report it works very well.

Fire escape from Langley Models.  A few people noticed the upper door in my last post.

I’ve started to work on the base for the building to sit.  The fence is Knightwing security fencing modified to resemble that seen in pictures of the real Round Oak.  The sign was part of the etch I drew up for the building windows.  I decided not to call it Round Oak as its not a model of the real place but Acorn Steel works had a nice ring to it as its smaller.  Acorn was the name of the company magazine issued at Round Oak.

Moving along the fence we find an area where someone has made a hole!  Perhaps it was kids trying to get in or perhaps it was a worker looking for a short cut to the station?

The other end.  I decided some remnants of an internal line into the works would be an Idea.  For the surface behind i have tried out some AK interactive concrete.  Theres areas of the building that will need to be concrete or stone however the texture is too heavy for 4mm scale.  It would work as very, very rough concrete or as a base for rough ground perhaps. In this case I sanded it pretty much flat.

Finally I couldn’t resist a little test run of the buildings lighting.


Low cost modelling

I was pleased to find that given the recent high temperatures and the layout living in a shed, that there appears to be no ill effects and all the rails are still straight and pointing in the right direction.  I hope everyone reading this can say similar.

The above is a major blast from the past.  Years ago when the West Midlands Area Group of the Scalefour Society was active, its organiser, Les, one week supplied us all with a parkside fish van kit. I think (memory is fuzzy if I’m honest) the idea was some sort of little competition to see what we would do with it. I don’t recall that anyone did but since then its sat in my kit stash contemplating its place in the world.  As you can see it’s finally been built.  I must admit the very long wheelbase produces a pretty ugly proportioned vehicle but its ready for service on Brettell Road.  A note of thanks to Andy Hanson for kindly supplying the transfers.

Above is a V33 van again from my spares box.  It uses Ratio sides and a Cambrian 9ft wheelbase underframe. I don’t know how I ended up with the sides and while all the bits had, obviously, been paid for at some point I’m calling this one a freebie!

Added a couple of pre-Worboys road signs from Shirescenes.  These are inspired by a picture of a Barclay tank crossing Level Street that I found.  I made the furthest one about 80% the size of the nearer one to force the perspective a little.

Finally a couple of milk churns from Modelu.  To get the galvanised effect I painted them silver.  Then a very light dusting of Halfords grey primer (holding the churn at arms length from the spray can) followed by matt varnish.  I think it worked but if anyone will ever notice, who knows?


Another classic

The good old Airfix cattle van.  When I was a kid my dad built one of these so I decided Brettell lane should probably have one too. I deleted the opening doors (it was easier to replace the top ones completely than modify what was in the kit) and detailed the underframe with Mainly Trains, Bill Bedford and Rumney models parts.

As with all Airfix kits of the time the roof was pretty clunky so that was replaced with a new one from 30thou plasticard and microstrip.

Ive no idea when this kit was first sold but even with modern eyes this looks like it was bit of a bargain!

Moving on to a more recent kit.  The Chivers model for an LMS long low thats been in my stash for a few years now.

Also from Chivers, and also from my stash, I’ve finished off another LMS twin bolster.   Chivers kits seem to have quite chunky underframe mouldings and while this isn’t noticeable on most of their kits I’ve built it was kind of more obvious on the first twin bolster I built (on the left).  Potentially the use of sprung suspension adding to the problem I felt the underframe looked too wide and the w irons were too far from the wheels, giving a kind of 00 look to the wagon.  On the new one (and the long low pictured above) I thinned the w irons to about half thickness and I’m happier now. It might very well that its only something I notice though!

A ‘historic’ photo of the Barclay tank shuffling a steel train.


Bit of pick ‘n’ mix

Bit of a pick ‘n’ mix post this one.

Lady Margaret now has her identity thanks to some custom nameplates from Narrow Planet

Finding your own compromise

When it comes to plastic kit building it helps if you think of a line.  At one end of the line you have the kit  as supplied, built as per the instructions with no attention or research what so ever on the prototype itself. At the other end you have the kit, researched, wrong parts replaced or corrected and superior parts substituted, as much extra detail as you can manage. Rumney chassis kind of thing. Inevitably we all need to find our place somewhere along the line that we feel comfortable.

This place can be influenced by several factors.

Cost – adding a lot of extra parts can mount up to quite an expensive model.

Expediency – high end models take a lot longer to build. Do we have the time

Reliability – no point adding every little detail if in use you’re going to knock it all off again.

Usage – if you wagon is part of a train of 30 that are only ever going to trundle past at a scale 40mph are you going to have the opportunity to notice the extra work?

Consistency – no point mixing highly detailed and basic kit builds together really.

Volume – how many models are we going to need?

Heres my pretty much standard position along that line.  The base model is a parkside kit. As mentioned elsewhere I’m not particularly worried about compensation or springing on a 10ft wheelbase wagon but i do use it for vehicles longer than 12ft wb.

A – brass tie bars. I use 0.8mm L section.  the real things aren’t L section but i use this for strength and you cant tell unless you turn the model upside down. In plastic kits the tie bars are a real weakness ad they are either bendy, get broken or to avoid those 2 things, massively thick.

B – break hangers from Bill Bedford – It doesnt take much to add a little finesse to the brake gear and trick the mind into thinking its all a bit more refined that it actually is.

C – metal buffers, or in this case metal buffer heads. Unless your kit comes with metal buffers already lets be honest here, the plastic ones are going to be awful. These are MJT buffer heads.

D – couplings. A whole discussion on compromises in itself. In my case I use Smiths which i know are overscale but they are (quite) easy to use in operation.

E – brake pipe from Lanarkshire models.

Glue

Ive recently been trying this stuff. Ultra Glue from MIG for etched and clear parts. Its water based so can be thinned if required and so far it seems to do the job at least as well as superglue.  Its especially good for fitting name plates as while it has good grab it takes a few hours to fully harden and being water base any that creeps out can be lifted off with a wet paintbrush.

Reading

It’s been an awful long time since Martin Welch treated us to his ‘bible’ the art of weathering. And while still essential reading things have moved on a bit, especially so in the last few years or so. Some of the paints Martin used are no longer available (Humbrol tarmac for example) but theres a whole market now of weathering paints and materials.  This (rather large at over 500 pages) book is an excellent window outside of our sometimes a little comfortable railway world.

Having had a little trundle to Stourbridge shed and back for some Diesel, Class 11 shunter 12049 waits for the nod back into the yard at Brettell Road.

Narrow planet

Brass for tie bars and Bill Bedford hangers

MJT

Lanarkshire Models


Years end – more fiddly bits

As 2021 draws to an end I’ve been doing some of those fiddly little jobs that I kind of hope always get lost into the scene but I know they are there. Starting with a pushbike from the Southwark Bridge Models Kit.  The kit is for a late 19th century bike so I modernised it a little.  I think these may be reduced from 7mm scale model as some of the parts are at the very limit of what will etch and gives you a decent idea of what it must be like to try and solder a spiders web together!

I’ve finished off the signal wires using MSE posts and easyline.

This meant I could finally get the barrow crossing finished too.

Below are a few evening shots of various comings and goings.

 


A short post in brass

Been fiddling with bits of brass again. I wouldn’t normally bother taking a picture of something as simple as a point lever but I found that the ones I built before were a little vulnerable and easily bent.  I haven’t changed the ones i use (Shirescenes) but what I have done is doubled up the levers themselves and they now seem a lot more robust.

I’ve built platform trollies before to but this time I have changed the supplier.  I think my previous ones were Scalelink but this one is from London Road Models and is much more detailed. It even had a representation of the brake linkages.  Regular readers will no doubt know by now I’m a sucker for this sort of thing!  The trolly is shown perched on a two pence piece for scale.

Moving on to something a little more obvious.  This is the Churchward models (now sold by Phoenix models) footbridge kit shown in temporary position.  As my track spacing is quite wide here I did need to extend the main arch by one panel and, luckily as the etches for the arch are the same, I could use the spare bits that weren’t needed on the facing side. The sides were cut and shut with  the new panels grafted in meaning the only bit I needed to fabricate from scratch was the main span floor.  An enjoyable kit to build this one.

Shirescenes

London Road Models

Churchward Models


Revisions and clutter

Remember the diagram 1973 mineral wagon I posted a few entries ago?  Turns out I missed some of the reinforcing bits that were added after they were built. Im not sure how as they were in the prototype pictures I was looking at!  Anyway thats been corrected now

Ive finished off  a few Bachmann RTR wagons too.

The steel high-fit was actually already done.  Ive just added a container to it. The other 2 are actually 2 of the 3 vans I first brought for the layout. Discounted in Modellers Mecca bargain bin!  The tarpaulin is black latex cut from a surgical glove.

When I built the retaining wall for this side of the bridge I did intend to do something a little more substantial but decided that It would look weird if the wall was 2 different designs. However a friend mentioned that the buttresses looked a little too puny so I reverted to what i should have done originally and modified the existing wall to match.  I admit I did want something more grandiose than this but for where it is it wouldn’t have made a lot of sense to have something to elaborate. I definitely don’t subscribe to that inane ‘rule 1’ idea of its your layout do what you want.  There has to be some degree of plausibility in there somewhere.

Clutter – What is a yard if it doesn’t have some clutter in it?  Much like the retaining walls though you don’t want to go too mad.  At the end of the day this is someones product and they aren’t all that likely to leave it lying around on the floor.

So I opted for 3 small groups of stuff as can be seen above.

I always wanted some coal facility and I had this in mind when I built my tractor.  Again nothing too posh, no coal staithes or anything like that – just a few piles and some more clutter.  The steps, scales and the conveyor (behind the tractor) are 3D prints kindly donated by my friend John.

Finally a couple more evening shots.


Signs of life

With the Stourbridge end of the layout looking half decent attention has turned to the Dudley end of the new boards or the middle of the layout. Theres a few things that jarred about this scene now that it’s more open.  Before you couldn’t really see them.  The pavement doesn’t flow properly and there are big gaps at the end of the bridge girder. Also the lower part wasn’t finished.  When I designed the bridge I did have the foresight to include a half etch to allow the rivets on this side to be punched through.  However when I built it i didn’t bother! Ive already pulled up the road.

So the road and pavements have been redone. I made an overlay for the bridge from paper.  The pub sign is from Model scenics and features our much missed cat Moo.   The figures are from Modelu.

The bridge from track level.  Ive added the retaining walls with some nifty top capping that Tim kindly cut for me.

Turning around we see an overview of the somewhat neglected platforms.

An overview of progress so far.

Ive added a scattering of people from Modelu and Airfix.  I thought the lady with the umbrella was particularly suitable.  I still need to do more work to bed this end of the building in.  Considering this is the rush hour theres not many people about.

The station has 2 cats. The sensible one is Shadow while the mischievous one who wants to play is comet  They are more interested in chasing each other than the local rat population!

On the other platform a couple of elder ladies discuss the immanent closure of the station with the station master.

Agent A gent waits for the bus.  It’s late as usual!

Now that the some of the lighting is in place a few dark shots.


Greenery and decoration.

I’ve reached the stage where all the significant greenery is pretty much done and I can move on to some titivating of parts of the layout.

I’ve made a basic wooden fence to block off the line that crossed the road originally.  The rudimentary gate (which looks like it hasn’t been actually used for years) is simply a few bits of 1x1mm brass soldered together.

Proverbially walking up the road a little we come to the station signs.  These are based on a photo I found somewhere.  The fading on the signs themselves was actually an accident. The result of me handling the printout a little too early.

Continuing our walk we come to this.  What can be more of a model railway cliché than the good old bus on a bridge?  Well since I am not going to be doing any buses for this layout I have gone for a midlands style bus stop instead. The main column was something I had in my spares box.   The rain on the layout is always going to be going left to right as you look at it, so it makes sense that the autumn leaves and litter do the same.  The top of the bridge is particularity known by the locals as being a bit blustery. (Theres actually a real location nearby known locally as ‘windy corner’)

Peering over the bridge we see the lower end of the station footpath. The Midland style fencing and wire fencing posts both come from Scale Model Scenery as does the little beware of trains sign.

Looking back at the bridge we just walked over. The girder is 2 of my previously designed etches combined together.  I still need to add the top capping to the sloping walls yet.

Overview looking towards Stourbridge.  The 2 buildings are still just loosely placed at this stage.

… and towards Dudley.  You’ll have to use your imagination for the moment for fill in the bridge and the wall on the left.

Old warning sign from Ambis Engineering

A train!  Remember those?


Nothing new here

With the point rodding redone and signal wires back in place theres not really anything left to do on Brettell Road part 1.  I was hoping to embrace the latest technology with the rodding and decided to go with 3d printed BR stools from Modelu.  However those didn’t work out for me at all and proved to be far too fragile.  Ive sent them all back and Alan is going to investigate as he believes there was a problem with the resin.  I’ll do a follow up post when he comes back with his findings. So as the old adage goes, sometimes its best to stick with what you know I went back to the trusty Brassmasters etched ones instead.

The cranks are also Brassmasters although I’ve used the MSE bases as I thought they were better.  The rodding itself and signal posts are also from MSE with the signal wires from ezline. Unlike the previous version where I made some of the point rodding work, just to see if i could, I didn’t feel any need to to it again.

A few more detectors for the ground signals  were knocked up from bits of brass and my rain technique of coats of Tamiya smoke and AK wet effects fluid reapplied.  I guess you could say I’m back to where I was a few months ago!

Theres something oh so familiar about glimpses of grubby track between bridges and retaining walls.

At the other end of the layout the extra bits of the bridges have been added.

One thing I forgot to mention before is this stuff. Its great for fixing ballast and while its no where near as cheap as the traditional PVA/ water/ washing up liquid concoction it can be used straight from the bottle with no messing around wetting everything first.


Bogie Ballast hoppers

The plan for New Street has always been to feature a selection of engineers trains.  The ones I have had in mind are a rake of loaded mainly 4 wheeled hoppers, a rake of loaded bogie hoppers, a rake of loaded grampus style wagons (partially fitted), a rake of empty salmons and a mixed rake of unfitted oddities(also empty).  All of these trains have been started to a degree and most of them many years ago.   However I had an urge to get at lease one of these trains finished off and it was the bogie ballast hoppers that appealed the most.

These have been pretty much done for years with most just needing the hand wheels and safety screens finishing off.

The oldest model is an old Cambrian kit for a Sealion.  Because this model does look a little different to all the others it will actually form part of the 4 wheel rake so that it doesn’t stand out.

Next up a couple of Lima Sealions.  An excellent model for its time let down only by the odd bogies. Ive replaced them with Cambrian ones.

The Lima tooling went to Hornby and rather than just stick it in a ‘railroad’ range box they did actually do some decent upgrades to this model.  Mainly the bogies but also adding the safety screens.  The rest is as Lima designed it with the exception of Hornby moved the end handrails from the top of the platforms to the buffer beams and replaced the inner original handrails (which were plastic) with better wire ones.

The above image serves to show the changes made. The hand wheels have been replaced with Stenson Models etched ones and the safety screen, while a commendable effort, wasn’t fine enough in my eyes. I’ve used cut down etches from Extreme etches intended for the class 56 bodyside grills. I also replaced the buffer heads with some  from MJT.  The livery Hornby applied to these seem to be a hybrid of the earlier light grey version applied in the later dark grey style. I couldn’t find any like this so the lower black band was added.

Also from Hornby the later welded Seacow.  Again the screens were replaced.  These too had the lighter grey livery so they were resprayed into the darker grey.

Bachmann have also done a Sealion and theres not a lot wrong with it as it comes. I still changes the screens and hand wheels for consistency throughout the rake.

The super easy conversion to a lima Sealion is to remove the vacuum cylinders to turn it into a Seacow. Lima did brand some of their RTR models Seacow but they retained the vacuum gear.

A more involved conversion is to stretch the lima model to produce the larger 50ton Whale. These were started way before the Cambrian Kit appeared although they do now ride on their bogies. Hand wheels are again from Stenson models.

Although a modest train for New Street its still virtually as long as Brettell Road!


Bit of a mixed bag

Bit of a mixed bag this post, starting with;

A kind gift.

My friend Tom contacted me to say he had an old Millholme models kit for an LMS 30t bogie bolster and did I want it?  Of course it would be rude not too!

The kit represents, as best as I can tell, a diagram 1682 45 ft bogie bolster. These were a continuation of a Midland design with the only obvious difference being that the earlier ones had handbrake wheels rather than compound levers. The sides and solebars were, nicely, cast in one piece and being as old kit the bufferbeam and ends where missing. The trussing was also cast in whitemetal and was somewhat optimistic as its a long piece in a not very strong and somewhat bendy material.

So to work I replaced all the trussing with 1mm L section brass from Eileens.  The brake lever castings were OK and they are both mounted at one end. It appears that only the bogie at this end is braked at all.

The bogies are ratio ones and I ditched the swivelling plate idea as supplied preferring to pack them out and mount them with a screw.  The bufferbeams were from my scrap kit parts box and the extra rivet detail from Archers transfers. The buffers were the ones supplied in the kit.

Lampost conundrum

My plan to extend Brettell Road includes completing the road currently on the left of the layout as well as adding a new road.  Digging around looking at local pictures in the late 50s the lamposts seem to be mostly the concrete cast type.  Theres a couple of options for these. Hornby Scaledale none working ones and woodland scenics working type.  I immediately discounted the latter as they are far too chunky and just look awful.

Not that the Hornby ones look any better.  Im not sure why they bothered to produce these as they are basically crude lumps of resin and they don’t even provide a foot for modellers to mount them.  The idea of fitting a surface mount LED and hiding the wires on the none viewing side went out of the window!  I must be able to do something better than this surely? Especially as, at most I will only need 5 of them.So with some K&S metal section (1.5mm square for the top and 2.4mm Hex for the main trunk I made this. The base was blended into the main columns and sprayed with Plasticote suede. I also very lighty dusted some grey primer and blank over it to give a more concretey colouring. Below is how it looks in position.

Baby Grampus

Flicking through Simon Bendall’s bookazine ‘Modelling British Railways – Engineers wagons’ I was taken by a wagon I’d not come across before. The GWR designed ling.  A 14 ton open wagon that looks like a baby grampus. In the bookazine, Hywel Thomas built one by cutting down a Chivers Tunney but I decided another route would be to stretch a Cambrian starfish instead. So 2 starfish kits were found and a lot of cutting ensued. The doors on a Ling are shorter than a Starfish so each door had a section cut from the middle with new strapping from microstrip. Buffers are from Lanarkshire models, W irons from Bill Bedford, door bangers and steps from Rumney Models and the test of the underframe from plastic section and the spares box.Above is the reason i referred to this wagon as a baby grampus.  Along side one it’s considerably smaller.  Comparisons between the shortened doors and the starfish originals can also be seen.


The last few DMU’s – Part 2

Attention has moved the the under frames of my DMU project. As I mentioned when building my class 114 the easy option for the 103 would be to stick with the 110 under frames and I would expect most people wouldn’t notice.  However as per my 114 project that wont really do.

The DMBS.  Its easier to start with a center car chassis than a power car as when you cut off the Hornby details it gives you a flat floor to work on rather than just a hole. The battery boxes are from Replica and most of the other (black) bits are spares from a Heljan class 128.  The white bits are scratchbuilt and the buffers are from Lanarkshire models. The heating ducts on a class 103 are quite distinctive as is the way the exhausts are routed past the inner bogie.

The DTCL I must add a note of thanks to Eddie Knorn for his assistance in helping me work out were the bits all go.

For the class 129 the obvious thing to do would be to mount the body on a Bachmann class 105 chassis.  However the class 129 chassis is a bit different to a normal cravens unit and shares some parts with a class 108, especially the distinctive battery boxes. So most of these one came from a Bachmann 108 with again some scratchbuilt parts  Buffers and their stools again come from Lanarkshire models.

With all these there is still a little more to do before paint, namely bogie steps, air horns and lamp irons.


Compound finished off.

So back to the Bachmann compound then.

The body  looks pretty much spot on to me and the firebox Bachmann had modeled suits the loco I have chosen to do. 40925 was a late survivor and based at Bournville so that’s local enough  for me.  I added the lifting points to the front frames and the large pipe coming from the smokebox. This is an exhaust steam injector and not all compounds had them. As far as I can tell they were only fitted on one side, that being the side opposite the driver (compounds came in both left and right hand drive versions).  The smoke box has been painted in Revell no9 and the difference looks a little stark at this stage.

The ejectors are the Bachmann ones cut down, again refer to a pictures of your specific loco as these varied a lot. There’s a connecting rod that appears to go from the back of the ejectors to somewhere near the slide bar support bracket. In the pictures that show this well it always looks extremely close to the face of the rear bogie wheel. I decided the best way to replicate this was to mount it on the actual bogie instead.

Crew from Modelu – the driver looks distinctly uncomfortable straining to see. As the compounds had very large cab roofs I haven gone for a rain sheet on this model.

On to the tender

The body Bachmann supplied was a later Fowler type with coal tunnel and doors. Of course the loco I had picked had the earlier type without them. Luckily Brassmasters do a conversion kit and coal rails so that was what I used. The floor in the Bachmann model is flat so I knocked up the coal chute from plasticard.  Incidentally the supplied handrails are absolutely fine and don’t need replacing. They had to be on the one side for no other reason than I mangled it!

So the model has been weathered (to look tired but not scrap line) and aside from the wheel balance weights I can call this one done.


The Bachmann Compound – part 1

I found a relatively cheap Bachmann Compound recently and thoughts have turned to what to do with it.

Lets start with a little disclaimer. Alan Gibson supplies a set of wheels to convert this loco to P4 and I would have every confidence that just swapping the wheels would get a p4 steam loco up and running pretty quickly. After all a 4-4-0 has got to be about the best case scenario you could really ask for. I didn’t try it myself but we’ve had a wheel swapped GWR Grange (I think) running on Moor Street for years now.

Being relative new to RTR steam locos, this is actually my first RTR tender loco I’ve had since i was a kid, there’s always 2 areas that stand out to me as looking a little weak on pretty much all RTR steam locos. No, not the wheels although big, in your face, wheels do perhaps yield the greatest benefit of swapping to p4 visually. The areas I am talking about are bogies and tenders. More specifically in the case of the latter, tender underframes. They just always seem so, for want of a better description, flat!

The bogie

So to the bogie. There was nothing about the supplied RTR one that i wanted to keep so its a straight swap with a Comet example. As supplied they can be built with central springing for side control but no springing on the axles. Setting some simple springs up however couldn’t be easier.

The loco chassis

To the loco. I decided I wanted to use some of the Comet chassis bits but not exactly as intended. So the first process was deciding what of the RTR offering I wanted to keep and what I wanted to replace.

I wanted to use the sideframes in a sort of Brassmasters easychas inspired way and keep the original Bachmann drive. Initially I thought the crosshead was just an RTR bodge but they do actually look like that. So that and the cylinders were keepers. I also liked the brake gear so that stayed.

The Comet chassis is not designed for this model and is too long. The wheelbase between the driving wheels and hence the coupling rods are also too long. Comet do specify this is the case on their website. The Bachmann frames are actually the right width at the front of the loco but narrow from the cylinders back to accommodate the 00 wheels. The cylinders look, from underneath that they might fit on little pegs coming down from the footplate. They don’t, they slot sideways into the chassis. Its best to pop them off and keep them safe.

I decided to split the chassis behind the forward step to loose some of its extra length. The front part being a relatively easy fit. The rear part needed some trial and error to cut away little sections to get it to fit. The Bachmann model is driven on the front driver ( it looks like the chassis was designed for gears but to both axles but it doesn’t have them), so the Comet chassis was carefully titivated so that the rear axles position matched. I wasn’t too worried about the front driver as I has decided to keep it rigid.

By leaving the RTR style bearings off the rear driving axle you get a little room for vertical movement. A Brassmasters sprung bearing was modified with a bit of tube (the Bachmann and hence Alan Gibson axles are an odd size). The frames were glued in place using 60 thou plasticard to space them out to something more prototypical. The springs are part of the RTR keeper plate so they are too to far back but I decided to leave them as is.

The brake gear needs a bit of modification to fit over the new frames and it was here that I hit a little unexpected snag. Bachmann use bigger wheels than scale. I wonder if this is because its a development of the national railway museum model which being an earlier example had bigger wheels? Anyway the effect of this is the brake gear sits too low and would likely hit the rails when crossing pointwork. The solution is to take a mm out of the top of the keeper plate so that everything moves up a little.

Valve gear

Lets be honest RTR valve gear is generally a bit weird. Its often both too big and to thin at the same time. The Bachmann coupling rods are about scale height (ignoring the bosses which are huge!!) but being only 1 piece of metal aren’t thick enough. So these were discarded and the Comet ones used in their place. Suitability shortened by 2mm.

The connecting rods as supplied are quite good though. Much more meaty and they feature the big square bosses that the Comet ones don’t, so hybrid valve gear it is then! The Bachmann crank pins are 2mm wide (really!) so a bit of tube was soldered in to make them fit the Gibson crank pins. While I was at it I made another 2 collars for the trailing driver a the coupling rods on a compound are outside of the connecting rods.

On to the tender

Body great but underframe – ugh!

Luckily Lanarkshire models do a replacement chassis kit for a Fowler tender. This was assembled as per the instructions. For the outer frames I was kindly supplied a spare etch by Brassmasters and mated this with some Comet springs and axleboxes. I decided to keep the Bachmann steps as they are moulded as part of the tender body.

As is often the case with this sort of stuff, the most pleasing view is the one you wont ever see!


A somewhat unfocused post.

Something that always bugged me about my Heljan class 27 was the somewhat odd buffers. A long time ago i got a set of replacements from Sutton Loco Works and its just one of those things I never quite got around to. Well now that little job can come off the list.

Finished the roof of my station building – just need a layout to plant it on!

The gutters are a recent introduction from Modelu. I found they don’t like superglue at all but stick very nicely with liquid Poly (in this case Tamiya extra thin).

Popped back to my Kirtley to pick up a few things that irked. The loco to tender gap has been tightened up a bit and the rain cover tidied.

Crew from Modelu

Bit more off a proper project this one. A clasp braked 16 ton mineral from a Parkside kit on a Rumney Models underframe. The only down side to Justin’s stuff is it looks better not painted! A few pics below for history.


Project Coronation – Tender part 4

Progress on my tender build continues. This is the front end with some of the detail started.

And the rear end.

Inside showing the fire iron tunnel and and the coal pusher which is a 3d print.

Below are the some images of the tender in its nearly complete state. There’s still a few bits I need such as the ladder etc but focus will now shift back to the loco.


Some Steel wagons.

The diesels have escaped to Brettell Road again. Actually its just a convenient photo background but there you go.

New Street isn’t known for its freight operations but there were some services booked through the station on a fairly regular basis. Normally late at night and of those steel traffic was quite common. To that end I have recently finished off a few old Cambrian bogie wagons that have been lurking in my half started box for a while now.

First up a BDA. When I started this model there was no Stenson Models so sometimes, letting a model live in the half started area for too many years works out as a positive. The little kit for the braking gear lifts the model. I’ve used Jon Hall etched bogie inserts with the cambrian bogie sides but if you want better, sprung bogies with nicer sideframes then Stenson models do those too.

I replaced the supplied bolsters (when i say replaced I actually mean lost!) with microstrip which better suited the wooden ones fitted to the earlier conversions anyway!

In a not entirely unrealistic scenario, a class 56 heads towards Round Oak.

BAA also from a Cambrian kit.

… and a BBA.

Although my Yorkshire DE02 is part of the Brettell Road fleet they were still very much around in the late 1980s and still in their original wasp livery so this scene isn’t implausible either!


J94 project – something a little different.

Several years ago now DJ models appeared with much fanfare (Although only in one place if we are being completely honest) and announced a brand new J94 model. This was of interest to me as 2 of them were used by the NCB in the local area. While it would have been a nice to have I was never going to go for the RTR effort but i did hope that if it was good enough it might see a few unstarted Brassmasters kits appear which would be a little more up my street.
In the end this didn’t really happen so the idea was kind of abandoned until the good folk at Brassmasters mentioned they had a unfinished test build of their kit somewhere. Money changed hands and a slightly different style of project was formed to what I’ve done in the past. 

So this is what i was presented with (albeit with a Giesel chimney that i replaces with a RT models casting) and a little box of spare parts. I’ve never finished a half started loco kit before and with no instructions and not knowing what bits I didn’t have it was going to be a bit of an adventure.

The easy route would be to just add the body detailing and finished what I had but the chassis was missing most of its representation of valve gear and I didn’t have any of these bits in my little box of spares.

The chassis as supplied.

My friend Les supplied me with a copy of the original instructions (which sort of helped a little) and members of the Scalefour Society forum kindly provided pictures of the etches, some finished models and some prototype pictures so I set to work.

The detailed up body, using prototype pictures as a guide.

The Chassis. I used a Brassmasters inside motion kit, shortened by 3mm and simplified. The prototype locos seeming to have a much more rudimentary arrangement than the LMS locos the Brassmasters kit is intended for. I also couldn’t use the original central pivoted rocking beam compensation so I have sprung the front two axles from a central pivot on either side instead.


A little wander around.

The point of the above picture is nothing more than the drainpipe.  Yeah so what? you are no doubt thinking, we’ve seen this stuff before!  Well you would be right but modelling this sort of stuff is now a lot easier thanks to some useful bits from Alan at Modelu.  See here.  I still need to add the actual gutters yet.Speaking of Modelu a couple of Alan’s figures discuss the latest delivery of real ale to the pub.  The chaps umbrella is actually a parasol intended for Z gauge.  The lights and indicator on the lorry do work as can be seen in this little video of a wander around the layout.

For those who like to see things, here’s a daylight version too!

Finally a couple of images starting with Brettell road trying to impersonate a small depot somewhere!


Return to the factory

Although the factory was essentially finished for Scaleforum it lacked the clutter that gives it an ‘in use’ look.  Unless the workers were meticulously tidy I suppose. So I have gone back to make a bit of a mess.  The image above is the before shot……and the after.  I’ve added a wall and gate to the entrance. The old lorry was featured earlier. The wooden boxes are from 4Ground models. I knocked up a rudimentary travelling crane from bits of brass and plastic. The discarded machine tools were 3 d prints and originally intended to go inside the building but I thought they were a bit too nice to hide away so I weathered them up an dumped them outside. Another crane from bits of brass and some basic yard lights.  Below are a few images of the factory at night.  The yard lights do provide a bit more light to the centre of the layout.