A Hornby standard 4mt in em.

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
I've had a session this afternoon slowly away with the sounds of Radio X & a good cuppa to keep me going.

I've got a lot done this afternoon & I'm not actually far off completing the build I don't think. It's been a lovely kit to make so far & I've really enjoyed it.

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I'm blackened the platform so I can solder the cab & engine casings. Mike says to grease it but I find nothing solders & you end up with a gunky mess. I blacken mine instead as its no mess then & everything solders without sticking.

I best have a chat with Steve Bell now about some transfers for it.

This is a song that came on today & I've been singing ever since ( badly )


Si
 

Daddyman

Western Thunderer
I'm blackened the platform so I can solder the cab & engine casings. Mike says to grease it but I find nothing solders & you end up with a gunky mess. I blacken mine instead as its no mess then & everything solders without sticking.
I've never met anyone who does use the grease as Mike recommends. Surely it will slop over the edges?
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
I've never met anyone who does use the grease as Mike recommends. Surely it will slop over the edges?

I tried it once many moons ago when I built the de2. It ended with a lot of grease everywhere as it heated up & nothing would solder. It was a case of clean it all up & try again. I blacken everything now, it doesn't need cleaning off & takes paint well.
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
I've seen Rizla paper recommended as an alternative, seems to be popular when soldering up motion.

I've used that before today too, I used it more on markits crankpins as a spacer between rod & bush. I've since migrated to the deluxe crankpins they do which are superb.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
I tried it once many moons ago when I built the de2. It ended with a lot of grease everywhere as it heated up & nothing would solder. It was a case of clean it all up & try again. I blacken everything now, it doesn't need cleaning off & takes paint well.
What type of paint do you use, Simon? I have not blackened things for the same reason as you have here but, when I have used acrylics on blackened brass, the paint won't take and almost looks like it has curdled.
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
What type of paint do you use, Simon? I have not blackened things for the same reason as you have here but, when I have used acrylics on blackened brass, the paint won't take and almost looks like it has curdled.

Hey up Dave,

I use upol acid8 etch primer, you can get it from halfords. It's pretty decent primer & then I use either aerosol paints for basic colours like black & enamel sprayed from a airbrush if its more intricate.

What blackener do you use?

Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
The bonnets are now fitted to the platform. Unfortunately one of the bonnets has twisted & slopes a little. I'm a bit miffed but having said that I made a mercian barclay diesel in P4 with wafer thin etches. It was a bit wobbly looking in brass but looked fine painted & weathered.

20221121_201638.jpgScreenshot_20221121_201827_Gallery.jpg

Still, it's not a bad model & it's only to run on my train set at the end of the day so no ones going to be commenting on it's imperfections at an exhibition.

Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
With my poor wife in bed feeling rather ill & me at a loose end I decided to tackle some handrails on the hunslet.
One thing I absolutely hate doing is handrails, they are a pig to form & something I'm not the best at.
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Please excuse the white residue on the bonnet. I need to remove the body from the platform to clean it a bit more. Handrails are always delicate once fitted so I didn't want to brush that area to heavy. Thankfully only household cif cleaner was used so it's not permanent.

Whilst I kept the music off last night I have been playing this banger of a record by the Stereophonics a lot. The guitar solo is just superb.


Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
Last night I tackled most of the remaining parts on the hunslet. The chassis is ready for a motor fitting now although I'm going to leave that until after paint.
A few of the resin details I'm going to fit after painting as I think it'll be easier to do especially on the bufferbeams. I'm also going to try the same for buffers (I think)

20221125_055308.jpg

The window frames I'm leaving until the body is painted. They are aluminium & are better fitted with varnish Once the bulk of the models painted.
Me & my wife are going to attempt to make the transfer for the cabside ourselves as its simple text. I'm hoping I've got the paint choice somewhere near, I cannot seem to find a decent clean image of the loco & livery to match the paint correctly. I'm thinking of doing a few trial swatches with the airbrush this evening just to see what I think before applying it to the model.

I've ordered some lining transfers from railtec so that makes that job a little easier rather than doing it with a lining pen.

Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
I've taken a bit of a break from the little hunslet. It's painted almost I'm just awaiting transfers before I go any further.

I've been pottering about getting some other mainline locos up & running recently for our group layout that I am involved in.

A good few years ago I was over at my friend's shop after he'd bought his latest collection. Whilst having a quick look I came across a djh b16. It was reasonably well built in 00 but for some unknown reason the builder had stuck a hornby ring field motor in the tender & made it tender drive.

It's sat in a box for I don't know how long & it's finally come across the bench.
The first job was to address the tender. One of my friends has what can only be described as a modellers Barry Island in his workshop & he came up trumps with a chassis kit for a lner group standard tender. This was great I thought until I got home to realise it was a north eastern tender. This stalled the project & then I took another look at it. The axle spacing was fine for 2 of the 3 axles so I took the drastic measure to do a cut & shut. I ordered some markits wheels for the project some years ago to fit the tender.

After starting the project the other day I realised something else. The chassis was nowhere near the right place for the tender wheels I had got. After I had done the cut & shut & got the chassis to sit in the tender level I didn't take into account the wheels. It sat too high. To combat this I started routing my spare wheels box to find something suitable. In the end I dug up some really old wheelsets from some maj models kits. I think the wheels actually pre date me.

With the tender now sat at the correct height to the loco I could now get on with em'ing the loco. It wasn't really a problem to do & after putting a djh gearbox in & some pick ups on the loco I was ready to test. Off she went on the colliery track.

With this done it was on to weathering.

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The weathering wasn't without its issues. I had put some paint into my airbrush which was a very expensive iwata some years ago, only for the neck of the paint jar to snap in the brush. I have a feeling that's heading for the bin now. I had to rush into the garage to find a cheap Chinese brush I've had for years. Funnily enough after a quick service it's fired to life thankfully.

I've still a few bits to do the loco but I'm rather happy with how it's turned out. I do have a thing for north eastern prototypes & have had a few layouts in the past inspired by the old north eastern railway.

Si
 

paulc

Western Thunderer
I've taken a bit of a break from the little hunslet. It's painted almost I'm just awaiting transfers before I go any further.

I've been pottering about getting some other mainline locos up & running recently for our group layout that I am involved in.

A good few years ago I was over at my friend's shop after he'd bought his latest collection. Whilst having a quick look I came across a djh b16. It was reasonably well built in 00 but for some unknown reason the builder had stuck a hornby ring field motor in the tender & made it tender drive.

It's sat in a box for I don't know how long & it's finally come across the bench.
The first job was to address the tender. One of my friends has what can only be described as a modellers Barry Island in his workshop & he came up trumps with a chassis kit for a lner group standard tender. This was great I thought until I got home to realise it was a north eastern tender. This stalled the project & then I took another look at it. The axle spacing was fine for 2 of the 3 axles so I took the drastic measure to do a cut & shut. I ordered some markits wheels for the project some years ago to fit the tender.

After starting the project the other day I realised something else. The chassis was nowhere near the right place for the tender wheels I had got. After I had done the cut & shut & got the chassis to sit in the tender level I didn't take into account the wheels. It sat too high. To combat this I started routing my spare wheels box to find something suitable. In the end I dug up some really old wheelsets from some maj models kits. I think the wheels actually pre date me.

With the tender now sat at the correct height to the loco I could now get on with em'ing the loco. It wasn't really a problem to do & after putting a djh gearbox in & some pick ups on the loco I was ready to test. Off she went on the colliery track.

With this done it was on to weathering.

View attachment 175259View attachment 175260View attachment 175261View attachment 175262

The weathering wasn't without its issues. I had put some paint into my airbrush which was a very expensive iwata some years ago, only for the neck of the paint jar to snap in the brush. I have a feeling that's heading for the bin now. I had to rush into the garage to find a cheap Chinese brush I've had for years. Funnily enough after a quick service it's fired to life thankfully.

I've still a few bits to do the loco but I'm rather happy with how it's turned out. I do have a thing for north eastern prototypes & have had a few layouts in the past inspired by the old north eastern railway.

Si
Hi Simon , have you had any luck getting the neck of the paint cup out of the body ? A cheap ezy out would probably work as i wouldn't think the broken part would be jammed in too tight . It would be a shame to junk a nice Iwata brush and I'm sure you could get a replacement cup for it .
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon , have you had any luck getting the neck of the paint cup out of the body ? A cheap ezy out would probably work as i wouldn't think the broken part would be jammed in too tight . It would be a shame to junk a nice Iwata brush and I'm sure you could get a replacement cup for it .

Hey up Paul,

No, I've not done anything yet. I've not wanged the brush. I'm going to soak it in celly to loosen the paint then hopefully it'll wobble out.

I've not done a great deal recently as I'm waiting on the royalmail to bring my some transfers. I will be updating my other workbench thread with some western /southern region modelling I've been doing today.

Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
December 27th is always a day out on the trains for me & my family. I had been given a voucher for the East lancs railway & I'd been waiting for something good to come I fancied doing. As it happens the 27th was the last day of service for the 56xx. 20221227_124603.jpg


20221227_124609.jpg

We had a lovely run up & down & my highlight wasn't the actual steam haul it was a trip on this.

20221227_133935.jpg20221227_152901.jpg

I remember travelling on these with my dad when I was a nipper, pure nostalgia.

Having tripped up the old lanky it enthused me to dig out a couple of my lanky projects that needed finishing.

First up a bachmann radial tank.

I've had this model a good few years now & when I got it I em'ed it on a gibson conversion set. Its run like a dogs hined leg & I've never got good smooth running. I've tried many different things but it just would not play ball. I found a set of 4 old romfords of the same diameter so I did the old switcharoo today & put it onto romford wheels. It ran beautifully from the off so I was finally happy it was ready for service. I blue tacked the axle nuts & painted over them.

I then dug out my lanky bomber I built from a cotswold kit. It was an absolute pig of a thing to build & the firebox was like soldering a bit of church roof lead together. At times I nearly threw the thing in the bin.
It's actually turned out really nice. I opened the milled chassis out a bit to fit in a high level gearbox & coreless motor. It runs beautifully silent & it'll haul a very large coal train having tested it on the layout down the club.

All I did to the lanky bomber was give its wheels a touch of blue tack in the centres to hide the captive nut & then gave both a quick spray of matt varnish. Once the varnish was dry I weathered both of them.

20221228_163422.jpg
IMG-20221228-WA0006.jpeg
For the purists the lanky bomber is incorrect, it never carried its br number & in its last days carried a lnwr tender but mines a what if loco. Its a 24b Rosegrove engine along with the radial. On my railway the class 31 soldered on into the late 50s before being withdrawn in place of wd & 8fs.
20221228_215640.jpg
20221228_215636.jpg20221228_215646.jpg


Si
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
Today I penned in a afternoon in the workshop as my wife & kids were out visiting.

I decided to start on a standard class 5. My friend gave me the body & tender & I got the chassis pack from comet. This is for the big layout I am part of at the local club. It's being finished as 73053 late crest based at Patricroft shed in Manchester. I've a lovely picture of it passing Sowerby Bridge Station which set the scene for my model.

I've had a relaxed afternoon & got the basic rolling chassis built
20221230_155304.jpg
IMG-20221230-WA0002.jpeg

Im ordering a high level highflywr plus for the model & fitting a large mashima can motor into the boiler. I might even fit a flywheel for a bit of extra weight & grunt.
This will be the main project for the next few weeks although weathering & small projects in-between too.

Hope you all have a great new year.

Si
 

Dave F.

Western Thunderer
Hi Si, have you checked out the cab handrails for 73053 , the body you have is for the first batches of Fives and have the double handrail cab and cab doors, 73053 should have a single handrail, a grab handrail on the tender and a traditional fall plate, other details are different too.
My own Std Five is 73053 but a DJH kit with a scratch built EM chassis.

Hope that helps,
Dave F.
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
Hi Si, have you checked out the cab handrails for 73053 , the body you have is for the first batches of Fives and have the double handrail cab and cab doors, 73053 should have a single handrail, a grab handrail on the tender and a traditional fall plate, other details are different too.
My own Std Five is 73053 but a DJH kit with a scratch built EM chassis.

Hope that helps,
Dave F.

Thanks for that Dave, I've just had a look at brdatabase to see where 73050 was shedded. I think a crest change will be in order to make it an Agecroft/Patricroft loco from 66 onwards.

Cheers

Si
 

Dave F.

Western Thunderer
Hi Si, just found my books on the BR Stds' and unfortunately it shows 73050 was the first to have the modified cab and tender handrails plus it originally had a BR1G tender similar to what you have only with the modified handrails so, what you could do is pick one of 73000 up to 73049 as they all had the BR1 tender (the first fifty) which is identified by the low water scoop dome, but it's quite easy to remove the tall water dome and fit one left over from various DJH kits if anyone in your group has a spare one. Ofcourse in their last years tenders got swapped about so maybe you could leave it be and say nothing.
If you want to pick some numbers I'm quite happy to check them out for you.

Regards,
Dave F.
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
December 27th is always a day out on the trains for me & my family. I had been given a voucher for the East lancs railway & I'd been waiting for something good to come I fancied doing. As it happens the 27th was the last day of service for the 56xx. View attachment 176996


View attachment 176997

We had a lovely run up & down & my highlight wasn't the actual steam haul it was a trip on this.

View attachment 176998View attachment 176999

I remember travelling on these with my dad when I was a nipper, pure nostalgia.

Having tripped up the old lanky it enthused me to dig out a couple of my lanky projects that needed finishing.

First up a bachmann radial tank.

I've had this model a good few years now & when I got it I em'ed it on a gibson conversion set. Its run like a dogs hined leg & I've never got good smooth running. I've tried many different things but it just would not play ball. I found a set of 4 old romfords of the same diameter so I did the old switcharoo today & put it onto romford wheels. It ran beautifully from the off so I was finally happy it was ready for service. I blue tacked the axle nuts & painted over them.

I then dug out my lanky bomber I built from a cotswold kit. It was an absolute pig of a thing to build & the firebox was like soldering a bit of church roof lead together. At times I nearly threw the thing in the bin.
It's actually turned out really nice. I opened the milled chassis out a bit to fit in a high level gearbox & coreless motor. It runs beautifully silent & it'll haul a very large coal train having tested it on the layout down the club.

All I did to the lanky bomber was give its wheels a touch of blue tack in the centres to hide the captive nut & then gave both a quick spray of matt varnish. Once the varnish was dry I weathered both of them.

View attachment 177000
View attachment 177001
For the purists the lanky bomber is incorrect, it never carried its br number & in its last days carried a lnwr tender but mines a what if loco. Its a 24b Rosegrove engine along with the radial. On my railway the class 31 soldered on into the late 50s before being withdrawn in place of wd & 8fs.
View attachment 177003
View attachment 177004View attachment 177002


Si
Si,

52945 DID carry it's BR number.

Ian
 

34091 Weymouth

Western Thunderer
Happy new year everyone I hope everyone's had a wonderful Christmas & new year. It's been a hectic one here but we've had a wonderful time.

One of the kids was wanting batteries for toy they got for christmas so I was sent to find some. Whilst having a route around the kitchen drawers I can across this kit for a parkside trestle wagon. I must have purchased this kit whilst buying paints or supplies at Frizinghall models. I tend to pick up wagons & then forget about them.

I decided that I would spend new years day morning putting this kit together. I got bits done between jobs & by the evening I had it painted & transfers fitted.

20230102_105803.jpg20230102_105807.jpg

This morning I've just added some different colours to the bed of the wagon which I'll tone back woth some washs. I'm adding a big plate to the trestle destined for Horwich loco works.

I used to hate building wagons but I now find little projects like this really fulfilling. A sign of age I guess.

Si
 
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