Years ago I started detailing the HO Jouef/Playcraft F type sleepers even down to replacing the bogies with re-wheeled Fleischmann Schwanenhals-Drehgestelle ! More to the point, the paint I used was Halfords Ford Balliol Blue from a rattle can. This website has photographs of the Night Ferry stock if you haven't seen it before The Night Ferry.
Thanks for the paint suggestion Dave; next time I'm in Aberystwyth I'll pick up a tin. While I had a few spare minutes I googled the type F sleepers, mainly to see if I could come up with a drawing, instead I found this image of one at an Old Oak Common open day. Image from Wikkimedia Commons
I really should be making progress with my Belgian riverside layout, but at the moment I'm held up until I can get down to the Corris Railway next Tuesday to whip some wood through their circular saw. Not wanting to waste valuable modelling minutes I opened the box labelled night ferry brake and took a look to see what needed doing next. What needed doing next was fitting the underframe. The kit underframe is too short so the solebars were cut where the guards compartment steps stood a good chance of hiding where I would splice in extra sections. To the left can be seen a simple plasticard spacer which ensures that the four solebar sections are correctly spaced from the ends. Once thoroughly set I cut sections from the solebars of the donor van and fettled them to fit in the gaps. To fit the wheel sets I had to grind away part of the outer cross rib at each end. At the moment the van runs on some Alan Gibson 3 hole wheels with the shorter axles designed as Lima replacements. Fitting the kit bearings to the kit sideframes and spacing them at the distance set by the ribs under the kit floor means that the kit wheel sets won't fit. Using the smaller Gibson wheels gives a better ride height too. Finally here's a glimpse of the van as it stands now, albeit with the roof just plonked on.
Neil....coukd you please tell me where i can get the transfers as a friend is doing one for me....many thanks Ivan
Neil You might care to see this. It's 7mm, complete with spelling mistake, I know nothing of it's origins and there's nothing on it to give it away. The roof needs a repaint and the CS wheels need changed, but it takes me back more than 50 years watching the almost always late up Night Ferry through Orpington. Regards Martin
That's a lovely model Martin, very evocative and perhaps scratchbuilt as the Night Ferry is quite a niche market. Ivan, my transfers came from Marc Models here.
Whilst I really should finish off a few projects I couldn't resist starting a fresh one particularly as I had the necessary raw materials to hand. Here's the result of a few minutes work with a diamond cutting disc in the pendant drill. A little later on the bits I'd harvested from the donor models have been stuck together and work started on scraping detail away. Still a way to go, not least the other side which still has about half the moulded handrails in place.
Remember the Night Ferry brake van last seen in grey primer? Well in a bit of a push to tidy away some of the ongoing projects on my workbench I blew the dust of the model and the tin of Ford Balliol Blue that I've had in stock for the last year. I've also started sticking things to the under side of the model. Since taking the snap I've added the truss rods. Lettering next if I can remember where I stashed the transfers then a blast of matt varnish before glazing.
Since starting this thread my OO ambitions have taken a different tack, partly because after ten or more years away from my home town of York I'm beginning to appreciate it from a tourists point of view rather than seeing it as a dull but pretty town plagued by tourists and partly because I've been seduced by Hornby's K1 and Q6. So what was going to be another London will end up as another York. If you only know the railway bits of York chances are that you won't recognise what I will be doing but if you know some of the odd corners away from the tracks, particularly if you have memories from fifty years ago then some of what I'm doing may make sense. I wasn't going to mention the project here (Thunder) as it doesn't fit with any of the original aims of the site, Western, finescale or large scale; however we seem to be a bit of a broader church so I'll give a quick photo summary here. The space I have to play with. Roughing out my initial ideas. With lining paper underneath so I can create templates. Setting out roads too. Temporary wiring allows playing/testing to take place. Some areas are still to take shape. Simple card structures to help with judging scale and proportion. My apologies for the clipped nature of the captions. I've gone into more detail over at 'the other place' where it seems a better fit with the nature of that particular forum. I'll attempt to keep updates going here and I'll attempt to give them some Thunderish relevance if possible.
Nice and tidy and fit for purpose, Neil. A coincidence as I’m also considering the use of Code 100, as I was given quite a bit. I’ll be intrigued to see how you make it look good, although as I’ve already seen from your Belgian project, your more than able to do something special with the ‘entry level’ stuff. I’m all ears. Jonte
I really wouldn't worry about your layout being WT enough Neil , there are some very good 4mm scale models appearing on here yours included. Just please don't give it a joke name ?
Saw this Bankfield Goods, Liverpool docks UK 1963 ‘n’ thought of you, Neil (well, the shed bit anyway). Regards, Jonte
Thank you Jonte, a fantastic image in its own right. If you've taken a look at the thread at the other place you'll no doubt have seen these: Glassworks 1 Glassworks 2 and exclusively for Thunderers this grainy but atmospheric shot from the other side of the bridge.
