Mr Grumpy

[Mr Grumpy]

That's a really nice subtle level of weathering.

Thanks Adrian,
much appreciated

 

[Mr Grumpy]

All four platforms are complete and had a dust over with primer. As usual, once viewed in a photo little snagging jobs crop up, and a few of the ‘bolts’ need filing back.

These have been put aside in wait for my ex-GWR wagons to be built, the first of which is patiently waiting on my bench to be assembled.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I thought I would have a test fit of the platforms, and so far all ok Still a fair bit to do on this wagon, then two more!

 

[Mr Grumpy]

There wasn’t room to drill through the top of the solebars to fit pegs for the platform supports as they would have protruded down the front of the solebars. So this is what I done.

First, two rivets are filed off the plate where the 0.5mm holes will be drilled. Once the holes are drilled using the jig supplied with the platform kits, I made a U shape of wire and soldered in place. Then the rear of the wire is filed back and the pegs cut to length. Once happy, the plate is glued in place.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The platforms are a tight fit over the solebars and take a little patience to get on. This was due to the studs I fitted in the splash plates. Had I been able to drill through then fit the studs after the platform, it would have literally slid into position.

The transfers, name plates and chassis weathering will be completed once the last two tankers are finished.

I’m really pleased with the look of the tanker and building and fitting the platforms is well worth the effort to finish up with a model which is somewhat different to the standard Slaters tanker.
Oops....just noticed the droopy buffer

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I decided it was time to tackle the suburban BS roof once and for all. I have had a few more dabbles with no real success, so felt for my limited skills, a new roof was probably the way forward.

After great success with the Sidelines Stove R roof, I wondered if such a roof would be a sensible way forward. I ordered a roof and vents from Sidelines and put to one side until I completed the first GWR tanker.

The roof has inner ‘beams’ which runs the length and adds great stability to the coach sides, preventing any accidental pushing in while lifting. This may cause an issue when fitting the interior, so I may have to remove a couple of mm from the interior walls.

The first step was to remove the paint from the ends of the coach as I wanted to strengthen the corner joints to prevent splitting when (hopefully) re-fitting the interior.

The roof was then cut, allowing a couple of mm overhang of the gutters. These were filed from the rear and bent to shape. I harvested the periscope fittings from the original roof, but fitted lost wax cast vents to the replacement.

The next job was to solder a strip of nickel silver along the tops of the coach ends and file to shape to ensure a nice fit of the roof.

So far, I’m pleased with the result, but there’s still a fair bit to do.

The whole coach has now had the paint removed, as I need to re-fix a couple of hand rails, a door hinge, handle and an end step.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I still wasn’t happy once the interior was fitted. It still pushed the sides out a little and as I don’t want to glue the roof to the body, I had to think about my next move. So I removed the inner walls and consigned them to the bin, put the rest of the assembly in place and the fit is now excellent. I will paint the inside of the coach ivory with brown doors and add a red arm rest from paper next to the seats.
Next, I soldered two nuts to each end of the coach floor and slightly enlarged the clearance holes in the chassis so the bolts can be easily screwed in.
Hopefully the weather will be kind and I can get the coach painted and glazed. I still have plenty of transfers so no hold up there.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

It’s been a long road, but well worth the effort. I have just come in from spraying in the coach ends and couldn’t resist popping it up on to it’s chassis.
I’m off to the show in Reading to buy some bits and bobs, and if time permits, I’ll make a start on the glazing later.



Edit... as usual, I just noticed the battery box a tad pushed back after looking at the photo. Now nice and straight. I must check more thoroughly before posting photos

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Well, that’s just about it. I can’t lay my hands on the ‘no smoking’ triangles so will order some in.

The roof is just dropped in place at the moment, and the fit is spot on. I may glue it in place once I decide if any passengers will be populating the compartments.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I found the ‘no smoking’ triangles last night

 

[John57sharp]

I'm still learning to solder with an iron... although I have done a little research on silver soldering. I wish I had taken more interest during metalwork lessons at school

I must have been more forward thinking, our school metalwork shop had a display case with a model beam engine in it, so I decided on first seeing it to take metalwork and learn how to make such things... learnt a lot of good stuff which has been useful throughout life, not in my IT career, but in my chosen hobbies! I haven’t made the beam engine, but I’m working bit by bit on a vertical boiler 0-4-0 in 7/8ths scale.

Really enjoying reading your various excellent builds, most inspiring and probably expensive....

Cheers
John

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Hi John,
Thanks for your compliment
I only have one kit on the shelf at the moment, an exquisite MOK 9f, but I have nowhere to run my stock.
To keep the interest bubbling along, I decided to build a ‘quick’ layout utilising my existing baseboards from my previous layout.
The reason behind the ‘quick’ layout option is for several reasons:
I had a wobbly moment a few weeks back, nearly sold up and went back to 16mm live steam in the garden
That thought hasn’t completely gone away, but to throw further complications in to the mix, I have three further options for an 0 gauge layout:
A spare 18’6” room, buying a 25’ shed or just a loop in the garden with limited scenics.
So, back to the quickie. I built several Timbertracks buildings a while back, but decided I wanted to incorporate a dairy facility, which could also double as a rail served factory on other occasions. All the buildings needed to be quick to build, and suitable if moving to shed or garden. So, apart from a water tower, I bought a few Skytrex kits to try out and they have been very nice to build. This is the state of play at the moment:

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Here’s afew shots of playing around and checking clearances....
Ps...I didn’t like the Skytrex signal box roof, so I made my own

 

[simond]

I don’t know if this will help, but my approach is to build a module, a part of a future plan, and given your current indecision, I wonder if it isn’t something you’d like to consider

I’m currently building the loco shed for what I hope and intend will be a serious shed layout one day. This means that the scenic and building work I’m doing now will not be wasted if & when the “big project” finally starts, and it satisfies my desire to be getting on with things. And it allows me to indulge in hand built track, and other extravagances, because it’s part of the long term plan.

The details are in my Porth Dinllaen thread on RMWeb;

Porth Dinllaen in 0 - 7mm+ modelling

I’ve been building stock for said layout for around twenty years, it’s a relatively new approach to build chunks of the trackwork & scenery.

Food for thought I hope
Best
Simon

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Thanks Simon.
One of the likely homes for the new layout may be a loop round the garden. Due to the hill that we live on, it probably won’t be practical to install a shed for a scenic area, such as station etc. So, I have been experimenting with some resin building offerings to see if they will be suitable for outside use. Unless I plan on carrying all my Timbertacks buildings out for each session, they will probably have to be sold on, which would be a wrench.
At present, Im more or less using everything that was left over from my previous layout. Once the permanent home is decided upon, I would very much like to build my own track and consign the Peco points to the fiddle yard.
It’s such a nice change to get back to laying track and wiring up. I really did need a break from building rolling stock for a while.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The track laying is all but complete, just the coal yard to lay. I have made a start at blending in the goods yard and loco shed track to give the sunken appearance. I haven’t decided on lime stone or cinder ballast for the main track as yet. All the buildings will be blended in so as not to look as though they are sitting on top of the ground, but in it.
I’m looking forward to experimenting with grasses and weeds later on.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I have at last completed the ballasting and done battle with various sections of lifting cork sheet.
There is still lots to do such as coal staithes, bridge embankments, bay platform, signals etc etc, but I can now play trains in quite a nice environment and re-charge my batteries before finishing the last two milk tankers.
I had thought about starting my MOK 9f, but keep moving it back in the queue. I think I’m going to enjoy my locos and rolling stock for a while.
I think I have just about achieved my ‘quickie’ layout in around 3 months, but it will take a while longer to add all the odds and ends that will bring it to life.





View attachment 91572

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

One siding looks a bit close to the engine shed .

Impressive goods shed though, makes a nice change for a utilitarian building to dominate the scene rather than a decorated station building.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

One siding looks a bit close to the engine shed .

Dave,
It is closer than prototypical, but I think it’s the camera (phone) angle making it look closer still. Also I think I have put the shed down out of level. However, all my locos trundle up there with no probs.
The goods shed is vast

Edit... when I said all my locos ran past the shed, I forgot to try my Dapol 08 the headshunt has since been moved 10mm to the right

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Remedial work in progress...