- This topic has 53 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
Graham Hudson.
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Posts
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Ian William Trotter
This might be a better way to keep up than using emails particularly if photos are involved and it might also help the website get more use.See what you think.
To start off I’ve included a photo of some steel rails that had a bit of flux leak onto them in my fiddle yatd (Now repaired – thanks to Martyn)Stay Heathy
Ian
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Allen Oakes
Hi Ian,
I think this is a good idea. I have replied to all by email to that effect.
Regards
Allen Oakes -
Membership Secretary
Hi
I’m on board with this idea and think it’s a good way to maintain contact and momentum.
My current projects:
Trying to iron out the last hiccup in the running of my newly converted Bachmann J72; it’s almost good enough but not quite perfect……….
Building the goods shed for my Tweed South Bank layout. It’s an exact copy of the one at Wooler on the Alnwick and Cornhill branch. It’s still standing and I pass it on my way to the workshop so I’ve no excuses!!! It has a very large roof window so I’m having to model quite a lot of the interior, which is interesting to say the least……
Pics to follow when I’m a little further along with itIan Lister
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Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
Well I found it!
Not certain what my first project will be because I have so many on the go at the moment.
So far it has been tidying the office and its never looked so good for years! Think the railway room will be next.
I finally got a baseboard off Killicrankie, S4 layout, back to its owner after I had rewired it and the control panel. Made a nice clear piece of floor space.
So now that my social calender is almost empty, just one more funeral to go to next week, I have a multitude of things I could work on. Organising Workington Model Railway Exhibition. Building more 7mm Maryport and Carlisle Railway chauldron wagons. Carry on rebuilding my 7mm model of Aspatria ready for said earlier model railway exhibition. Restoring the last remaining 12 inches to the foot Carlisle Tram body. Then of course there are TWO EM gauge layouts at home to work on before I start building the new O gauge one. I really need to do some more work for CSP Models as well to boost sales.Phew, take a deep breath, that’s the easy parts. The hard bit is home schooling the seven year old from now until they probably go back to school in September. Anybody got a spare bed for her? I’m willing to pay £50 a week!
Now you know what I’ve got to look forward to what about the rest of you?
Keep safe
Philip -
Graham Hudson
Excellent idea to keep in touch this way. Nice to see what my fellow modellers have been up to. For my part, self isolation has given me a good deal of additional modelling time, moderated somewhat by the fact that Anne has been extra busy at work dealing with students and academics struggling with travel restrictions and, in many cases, marooned abroad. I started building a High Level RSH 0-4-0ST for my proposed new layout last weekend and have almost finished the body already. I must slow down or I shall run out of things to build! I’m still waiting for my baseboards and for the etched kit for a colliery headframe both of which might keep me quiet for some time. I was one of thee group who got to the Perth Green show last weekend. It was good to see Martyn Harrison showing his excellent Welshpool & Llanfair model. having been to every EXPOEM since I joined in 1987 it will be a real sadness not to be going this year. Thank goodness for mail order.
Keep well folks
Graham HUDSON -
Graham Dixon
Greetings all. Hope everyone is keeping well. What with all this self-isolation I’ve been getting going again in the loft & have even managed some gardening. Have just finished weathering 21fish vans and 9 Tyne Dock hoppers. Some of it is a bit heavy handed but will have to do. Will try & post some photos in due course. Next job is to get on with some long neglected scenery.
Cheers, Graham Dixon
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Paul Willis
@Ian Trotter said:
This might be a better way to keep up than using emails particularly if photos are involved and it might also help the website get more use.See what you think.
To start off I’ve included a photo of some steel rails that had a bit of flux leak onto them in my fiddle yatd (Now repaired – thanks to Martyn)I have to say, I *think* that’s the first time that I’ve seen someone post an image on here. I didn’t believe it was possible.
That’s rather novel. I may be able to answer one or two queries with images in future, rather that providing links to the Scalefour Society Forum.
You learn something every day…
Cheers
Paul Willis
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Peter Shields
Greetings All,
Busy just now weathering a rake of 10 Accurascale HUO 24.5t hoppers in 7mm scale, after changing the numbers (individual digits) and adding the OLE warning flashes.
When they are finished I am going to start scratch building a LNER GS 3500 gallon tender in EM to go with the Bachman J39 (the LNER in the north east area in 1947) then repair the damaged points on my EM diesel layout (some pillock gummed them up when painting and broke the tie bar when trying to force the switch blades free).
Phil – I would want a lot more than £50 a week to put up with THAT particular 7 year old mate!
Keep safe everyone – Peter
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Norman Blackburn
Hi all, hope all’s well.
I’ve been catching up on various projects some of which are shown. The Gresley coaches are Hornby coaches with the sides removed and Ian Kirk sides fitted . They fit perfectly. One is a 3 compartment brake third and the other is a Kitchen First.
I will ask for suggestions as to the other two coaches with Comet sides. They ran on the ECML in trains such as The Master Cutler and the South Yorkshireman.As this is my first post I hope that the photos are inserted correctly
Regards Norman
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Looking good. Are you keeping the tension lock couplings?
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Possibly but I am looking at fitting Kadees mounted in the buffer beam. I’ll have to do better on inserting Photos
Norman
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Norman, you are doing better at attaching photos than I am. Evert time I try to attach some photos of my RSH tank it gets refused because the files are too big! Are you doing something I am not?
Regards & keep well.
Graham -
Hi Graham,
I used Adobe Photoshop to reduce the size of the Photos to the required size and K bytes. I don,t want to put my phone No on here but Keith smart will have it. Give me a call and via e-mail I could alter your photo to suit.
Norman
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Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
Graham
I know it is a slow process but on my photo file I can ‘right click’ and then click ‘mail to’ it gives me an option as to what size file attachment I want to send. Select medium, for some reason it is always smaller than I want! I then e-mail file to myself and save to same folder but with an ‘s’ at the end of file name.
Round about way but if you have not got a program, or can’t be bothered to learn how to do it, then it is an option.
Philip -
Hi everybody,
I have been having the same problem as Graham and, following Norman and Phil, I investigated free s/w to do photo reduction. Microsoft has a free downloadable package called Photo Reducteur, which I have used to create the attached photo of the Walschaerts Valve Gear for the Vale of Rheidol tank I have been building. I hope you like the photo. Any comments or constructive criticism welcomed.
Allen Oakes
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It looked as though I did not make the attachment properly – trying again
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Hopefully 3rd time lucky
Allen -
Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
Allen
Second attempt worked. That looks like a nice complicated piece of metalwork!
Philip -
Hi all
Busy day yesterday spraying Black paint (the thermal cutout on the compressor cut in 3 times)In the paint shop were:
2 hornby A4 chassis converted at least 2 years ago
PDK D30 finished 3 years ago
Cambrian GWR crane, Ratio NBR cask wagon and Slaters MR van all finished unknown.Today’s work will be painting a PDK D40
The coaches with Comet sides mentioned previously were the Bulleid Tavern car set, the one with the mock Tudor sides and brick work. Any ideas on how to paint bricks on a coach side?Norman
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Hi All
Busy painting the D30 and D40. I find it very useful to have an area set up in the attic for spray painting. No problems with dust and no complaints about the smell. The lining will be done using Fox transfers which give a good result but take some time to apply neatly. I still have a Perserverance D11/2 which I painted about 15 years ago and still have not finished the lining.
The Judith Edge BR class 06 had been left untouched for about 8 years! A days work and it is also ready for the paint shops.
Keep safe
Norman -
Hi Chaps,
The RSH 0-4-0ST is nearing completion but not without some difficulty. Rods and chassis both built on the Avonside jig should mean no binding as wheels were quartered with the GW press. Finally realised there was not only nil sideplay on the leading axle but there was so much friction between the washers and hornblocks that the wheels really had to be forced to turn. With each of the spacing washers given a few strokes on wet & dry all was well on reassembly. In fact the chassis behaves like a wagon with pinpoint axles if the final drive pinion is put out of mesh. The body is finished in dark blue and lettered for NCB No.13, maybe that was asking for trouble! Thanks to GD for making me aware of Railtech transfers.
Graham Hudson -
Hi Chaps,
Following the sad news of the passing of Dave Alexander I have suggested that we might have a meeting eventually devoted to his memory. Many of us have models built from his kits and parts which we could bring along while one or more members who have known Dave for many years might like to put some words together. In the meantime why not dig out those unstarted or unfinished Alexander Models kits and get busy? Between us we can probably cover just about the whole range.
Stay healthy everyone.
Graham Hudson -
Hi Chaps,
Following the sad news of the passing of Dave Alexander, I have suggested that we might devote a future meeting to his memory. We could have a display of models built from his kits and parts while one or more members who have known Dave for many years might like to put some words together. In the meantime if you have Alexander Models kit that need finishing or even starting why not get busy.
Hope you are all well,
Graham Hudson -
Good idea Graham. I think that Keith knew Dave better than most of us but I am not sure if he uses this Forum so I will mention it to him next time I speak to him about Workshop Wise 2020 (IF there is one this year!).
About your idea of bringing along some of Dave’s locos at our next meeting (whenever that may be) – can I bring along the boxes of unmade kits instead?
Peter
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Hello Graham,
Like Peter, I think this is a good idea which we should do if (when) possible. However, like Peter, if we manage to arranage it soon, then I will have to bring the kit boxes, which I hope are maturing nicely.
Allen Oakes
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Hi Peter,
I’ve already raised my idea for a meeting devoted to the memory of Dave with Keith. He was keen to adopt the idea, but when we get to actually have a meeting is anyone’s guess. It appears our government has made a series of blunders resulting in the prolongation of the pandemic in the UK and causing the very sad data we hear about every day.
Keep safe and build some kits! Unbuilt Alexander Models kits or part built one will be very welcome when we do get together
Regards
Graham -
Hi All
Good idea for the next meeting I’ve actually built two Dave Alexander Kits: Class 15 and a Class 17.Progress has been made with the Judith Edge class 06. I’m waiting for the works plates before putting the numbers on. As Narrow Planet’s etchers are shut down for the virus the plates could be some time before they arrive.
I’m finishing an LMS streamlined coronation which has been on the go for at least 30 years. It started with extending two of the original Hornby body shells and detailing the original tender by fitting the coal pusher and thinning down the moulded edges. The loco and tender are fitted on Comet chassis. When the new super detailed Hornby model arrived I obtained a new body moulding to replace the modified original.
Over the last few weeks I have painted it but I have had no success with the Fox transfers, stretching, not lying flat, breaking up especially at the front curves which have no carrier film only paint. Is this because the transfers are about 30 years old? any ideas.
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George Clements
With the help of Steve Young, I have finally managed to get a password to allow me to access the forum. Best wishes to everyone and I hope you are all safe and well.
I have been sticking to my resolution not to start any new projects until I have completed some long neglected ones. So far, I have been concentrating on the maltings building on the Montgomery Canal. Having left it for so long I discovered that I have mislaid a sheet of the embossed plastic sheet for the facing. Fortuitously, in looking at the South Eastern Finecast website I confirmed what Peter Shields had told me that they do offer English Garden Bond pattern, which I had not seen at the shows. While the front wall of the building is constructed in Flemish Bond, the sides and back are all English Garden Bond. Very efficient mail order provided the necessary supplies very promptly.
For some of the architectural detail, I have ‘invested’ in some resin casting materials. Initial results have been promising, but some of the masters I have produced have proved somewhat inadequate, and more practice is required. There are some tricky issues in the juxtaposition of the roofline, involving the overhang of the slates and the placement of corbels, gutters and decorative brickwork. I have had to estimate dimensions, and I shall not know whether everything will fit together satisfactorily until the endgame. I have also laboriously constructed the windows from Evergreen sheet and microstrip and have provided them with a margin which means that they have to be installed from the inside of the building, which presents further challenges.
I also have some of Dave Alexander’s kits unmade, and a G5 (as a NER Class O) in course of construction with one of Peter Stanger’s chassis kits. Quite far advanced, but needing paint and fiddly bits.
George -
Hello George,
Lovely to hear from you. Good luck with the building – it sounds fantastic.
Regards
Allen Oakes -
Hi
Good to hear people are OK and keeping busy. I’m not able to get to my workshop in Wark to work on the layout, which is frustrating, but have brought the ‘Buildings and Structures Department’ home so I can make some progress. Goods shed (a copy of the one at Wooler) and station buildings under construction; hope the photos work………
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Looking great!
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I love the look of Ian’s goods shed, and feel ashamed of my feeble efforts by comparison.
I am persevering with my attempts at resin casting with mixed results, but remain optimistic. I have realised that the lintels I have made are too deep, and I need to find out whether I can reduce the casts or whether I will have to alter the masters make new moulds. The resin remains quite flexible, so I’m hoping that they will cut down o.k. As usual, the scaling of the proprietary embossed sheet is not quite correct for the prototype, as far as I can work it out, and a compromise will have to be accepted for the roof slates. -
Hi All
Making another dent in the kit collection but still with far to many.This time an North Eastern Kits D20 Built with Alan Gibson wheels and a small Portescap motor. Not that I particularly like Portescap but I have several in stock. A High level motor/gearbox would have been far easier to fit. I recon that this build was quite quick, less than a year and the livery is my favorite ( unlined Black).
Not fitted yet is the Exactoscale working screw coupling, It has been assembled and works, However out of a pair about half a coupling are somewhere on the workroom floor.
Off to raid the kit cupboard
Keep Safe sorry alert
Norman
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Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
That’s not inside working motion is it?
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Hello Norman,
Thanks for posting the pictures of the D20. I heard such good things about Arthur’s kits, and I like the look of the 4.4.0.s so much that I bought one and it is in my stash. Heaven knows when I shall get round to trying to build it, but your’s looks as though it will be a fine model.
Best wishes,
George -
Hello Philip
No working motion just the slidebars as supplied. I had thought of fitting crossheads with parts of the connecting rods. But now that you have mentioned it !
Norman
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Hi All
Following on from Phillip’s comment on working motion I have now fitted DUMMY crossheads, piston rods and connecting rods painted a dirty red that can just be seen. Before anyone comments the brass beading was painted black during the War and the photo I have of E2372 has painted beading.Keep modeling
Norman
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Hi all,
Another build from the back of the cupboard. This is a Perseverance D11/2 that I built about 25 years ago, painted black about 10 years later and finally over the last few days I have got around to finishing the lining and lettering. The model has a compensated chassis with a Portescap motor ( they were still expensive 25 years ago). The yellow lettering for the name looks wrong but it is correct for the painted names on ex NBR locos. The name is from some transfers that I produced for my ‘0’ gauge kits reduced to 4mm.
Whats next to complete; An A1 models Fell, A Martin Finney A3, DJH J35 ……….. etc
Norman
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Hello Norman,
You’d better slow down or you will exhaust your stash.
The model looks fine although, ad you say, the yellow lettering does seem weird. -
HI all,
A bit slow on the EM modelling recently as I have been busy with My 3 1/2″ Highland Railway Loch. Valve gear now set and runs on air. The painting is progressing slowly mostly due to humid conditions which causes problems with spraying cellulose paint I’ll post photos when finished.
Back to the small stuff. This time a D49 which again had been painted some time ago and was waiting for the lining. The loco body is a detailed Hornby moulding on a Comet chassis. The tender is a Great Central tender chassis from a Dave Alexander kit with the body from a Bachmann tender with the side profile modified fot the different cut out at the front. Lining transfers were from the Fox range. Unfortunately Fox only do one sheet with the narrower footplate lining. This is on their B! lining sheet (gets quiet expensive when thats all you need on the sheet I’ll fit the buffers when I find them.
Keep safe,
Norman)
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Hello Norman,
The D49 looks very nice indeed, and I sympathise with you over the buffers that have gone astray: I have reached the stage where I spend more time looking for things than doing anything constructive.
I look forward to seeing pictures of the 3 1/2″ loco in due course, and hope that it may be possible to hold a meeting of the Group before too long.
Regards,
George -
I’ve finally finished the station buiuldings for Spittal; they’ll be planted on the layout this weekend, now I’m allowed to visit the workshop!!!
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Ian. Absolutely superb. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh one of these days.
Cheers Graham -
Beautiful buildings Ian, – I’m very envious.
Best wishes,
George -
Hi George
I’ve finally got the 3 1/2″ Gauge Loch painted and final boiler tests are complete. Now just waiting for the restrictions to be lifted so that I can get the stean test done.
Also just completed building an EM j35
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Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
Tantalising glimpses of a layout in the background there!
Pleased you are still making progress Norman and nice to look at the results of your hard(!) work.
From a slightly less locked down Cumbria
Philip -
Hi All
Happy New Year, Lockdown, Modelling time,I didn’t realise that it had been several months since I last posted on this topic.
J35
The J35 started life as the DJH kit. The tender was scraped and replaced with an NB models tender of the J37. The chassis was also scraped and replaced with an NB models J37 chassis slightly shortened over the length.
Midland and North British Railway Joint Brake Third.
I had thought that I would build a rake of these but after building one , no more. Ratio Midland Clerestories will do.
The kit was 51L Models previously Chowbent previously PC Models. The brass parts were very thin 9 thou. Half etched parts 4 thou. The wooden roof was replaced with ratio moldings. I recon that I could have built a Loco in the time I spent on this coach.Streamlined Coronation
I finally got round to having a second attempt at the lining. Not perfect but it will do. This time I cut the transfers (Fox) into shorter lengths and then applied them after the previous section had dried. The transfer for the curves at the front does not have any carrier film only paint.
As mentioned previously the model is a Comet Chassis with a current Hornby body. The tender is an original Hornby body (from the early short Model). Detail, coal pusher added and the original thick sides thinned, with a comet chassis. The original body for this model were two early Hornby bodies cut and glued to the correct length.N15
NB models body with a Pete Stanger 52F Models Chassis.
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Hi Norman,
Great to hear from you and see the work you have done. Hope you are keeping safe and well. My own modelling has been generally bits and pieces due to my layout and workshop being in the garage – hence at present very cold!
Best wishes for the New Year
Allen Oakes -
Hello All,
I have recently completed two locos with the new HL coreless motors that Chris Gibbon is supplying. I have found them to be superb, quiet and very smooth running on very little current, much like the old Portescaps which I have now run out of. One went into the new Austerity 0-6-0ST built from Norman’s kit and drives through a 90:1 gearbox. A few parts were replaced with items from RT models and the chassis is from the same source. The other went into a High Level 14xx chassis kit built for a customer. Thankfully neither loco had Gibson wheels, but Sharman for the austerity and Ultrascale for the 14xx. I do not use feedback controllers but I would like to know if anyone has used one of these motors on feedback and how they got on. I do know that Portescaps do not like feedback.
I am now building the coal conveyors for the drift mine layout but let me make clear they will not work! The coal will be loaded into the hopper in the screens building via a hinged roof. Unlike the loading hopper on Middle Peak, the operating rod runs above ground thus avoiding the cranks and vertical shaft which have occasionally given us trouble. The control is via a square rod running inside a square tube but all this will have to be disguised somehow. I must take some more photos an post one or two.
Graham Hudson -
Hello folks
The new layout ‘West End Drift’ is taking shape, hopefully the photo will give a flavour. -
Hi Guys, Happy New Lockdown Etc.
Just to show I’ve been doing some work here’s a couple of my recent modelling projects.
First a GCR Bogie Brake Van (Not yet complete!)
Second a D&S NER Horse Box, this was relatively straightforward, just took a long time.
Third a Martin Finney (Via Brassmasters) LNER Group standard Tender. I’ve always wanted to try one of his kits but they looked much too complicated for my collection of thumbs. After a bit of guidance from Graham I decided to try the Tender as it is a separate kit and I do need one for a J39 waiting in a drawer somewhere. The Kit is beautifully designed and actually simple to construct mainly because everything is accurately etched and there are excellent diagrams in the comprehensive instructions. I enjoyed the build so much that I’ve decided to ge a Finney V2 to go with the tender.
Those are the good bits, Now it’s back to trying to get a PDK D34 kit to fit one of Peter Stangers Chassis Much surgery required.
Stay Safe and hope to see everyone reasonably soonIan Trotter
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Philip T Tuer, S.R.N.
@Graham Hudson said:
Hello folks
The new layout ‘West End Drift’ is taking shape, hopefully the photo will give a flavour.Graham
Please can you add a photo or two or three? Nothing is showing up in your post. -
Great stuff Ian. Glad to see you’re keeping busy & look forward to the time I can see your work in the flesh / brass!
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Hello Chaps,
I’ve just managed to convert a Hornby A2/2 to EM, but beware, Hornby have started to use 2mm driving axles and die cast rods. The axles run in nice brass bushes similar to, but not the same as, the bronze ones Bachmann use. There is not enough metal in them to bore them out to 3mm, still less to 1/8″ If you use Gibson wheels you will have to fit reducing bushes such as Branchlines supply or hope the Gibson ones are not bored off centre. If you use Markits wheels you will have to do what I have done and use 3mm axles running directly in the cast chassis without the bearings. There will be a bit of slop but the original Hornby wheel sets have even with their bearings. The cast rods make clearance between the motion, the motion bracket and the leading crankpins very limited. They are not easy to bush either. I drilled out the centre and trailing wheels and fitted the Hornby crankpins to them and used a 10BA csk screw as the leading crankpin as this would screw in almost flush. The finished conversion runs very nicely but it took over 30 hours only partly because I tried to find ways of retaining the bearings. I suspect future offerings from Hornby will also feature these changes so think twice before rushing in.
Graham Hudson
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