Side Lines LMS Coaches and Haywood GWR Coaches

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Orion Coaches

I stumbled on this archived web page while researching Porthole coaches. It’s from Side Lines old web site.

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The prices and availability are dated but if they are going to be made available again, these are the diagrams we might expect. The Hawksworth autocoach would suit many branch line layouts.
 
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paratom

Western Thunderer
I like Malcolm Binns' kits (Side Lines). It all started when I had a small inheritance and I bought a Lee Marsh Jubilee (Bushbury 3B Jub 45688 Polyphemus) and had enough left over to buy a coach. Lee recommended I contact Malcolm and he had a Crimson and Cream Open First Period III to sell. So I then though about creating a 6 to 8 coach Midlander rake and have worked on a number of them so far.

Then along came Finney7 and their Princess Coronation kit. It took a lot of courage and a long chat at Bristol GOG 2018 to convince me that I should tackle this project.

Meantime I have been advancing a completely different project at Penmaenpool and the two projects sometimes compete but more often take over from each other due to me living and modelling in southern France where Slaters parcels take a week to arrive instead of overnight, bla bla bla. I am not picking on Slaters, they are just an example! I have three to five projects on the go at any one time.

At the moment I have three Sidelines kits on the go, one Period I Brake Third I acquired from LarryG of this parish, and two Period III Portholes for the Midlander rake.

Now there has been some revision as to which coach will go with which locomotive. Kits I build will always be more loved that locos I buy, so the Jubilee will stay in its glass case while the Semi is being built and some of the coaches destined for the Midlander will be turned out in crimson for the Birmingham Scot. The Period I coach will find a place on Mid Wales excursions. By the way, here it is in Halfords Etch Primer:

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But this thread is about the other two coaches so my next post will be associated with them, the Portholes!

Paul
The paint job looks really good. Did you decant the paint from the spray can and put it through an airbrush or use it strait out of the can ?
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Straight from the can. Best to use acid etch in cooler weather, it apparently means that the etching process is prolonged as the paint takes longer to dry. Counter intuitive perhaps?
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Always good to see quality brass coach kits on the market. The folding veins on the sliding windows make a big difference to the appearance of 7mm coaches. I saw Jintymans auto trailer and it looked very good indeed.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Well, I am starting to prepare the workbench for a new phase of coach building and in doing so I have re-read this thread.

Something that struck me was the comment that first class seating was severely cut back in the 1950s with the modification of B sets so that only one coach in three had a few 1st class compartments. We all know that first class seats are incredibly expensive in the UK and offer little in the way of comfort to justify the premium. Before I retired I used French TGV and Grande Lignes services a lot and benefited from a Senior Card as well as the opportunity to buy advance "Prems" at ridiculously low costs, one time being 46 euros to travel from Paris to Narbonne in a first class TGV.

A typical Duplex TGV set consists of two power units, one at each end, four 2nd class and three 1st class carriages, these being separated by a buffet car. First class is often full (particularly between a major city and Paris) with passenger numbers decreasing further away from Paris. The pricing structure is obviously key to maintaining high passenger demand for first class.

You have to wonder what the pricing policy will be for HS2!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Where things are today:

First, the Porthole Corridor 3rd/2nd
A95C9AE3-486D-4BBC-B26B-3D15C4366DAB.jpeg

Next the Porthole Corridor Brake 3rd/2nd
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The Full Corridor coach needs, in this sequence, lining and lettering, addition of corridor connections, overall satin varnish, glazing and couplers.

My plan is to bring the Brake Coach up to the same level of build. I don't have any matching roof paint (French car bumper spray to be obtained soon from Feu Vert) but I do have paints to complete the chassis and interior paneling and seating. The latter two colours are Vallejo Green Ochre for the paneling and Vallejo Burnt Red for the seats. These will be brush applied on a satin black base after the brass is primed with acid primer. The bogies are already painted but require a shim on each pivot. The couplers will be three MagClics and one screw coupling, this going on the brake end. The Brake Coach body (sides and ends) needs some end detailing before being primed and painted BR Maroon and Satin Black.

In the longer term, there will be several more similarly completed Side Lines coaches coming back from France to join these two, when the final touches will be done as a batch. Then back to France to join Jubilee 45688 Polyphemus.
 
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Today I tried some acid primer by Jenolite on the bonnet panels of my Riley Kestrel. After shaking the can for the required time I pressed the valve and nothing came out. On further examination some grey paint was slowly oozing out of the can. When I finally got the ooze out of the way, the spraying was far from good, a lot of spitting droplets appearing on the surface. The job is OK because the surface will be sanded with 600 grade wet and dry, but I am glad I didn't use this can (and the next, it was the same) on the Brake 3rd Porthole. So a visit to Halfords for the more expensive UPOL No. 8 Acid Etch Primer is required if I am going to make any progress.

Edit to say that this paint could be old stock.
 
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
No luck buying decent acid primer locally but I think I have some in France, so the Porthole Brake Third/second is now packed up to go with us. I am not sure if I can buy UPOL paint in France but the French "Halfords" a.k.a. Feu Vert, stocks good aerosol car paints (I buy their bumper spray for the coach roofs).

More progress later next week.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Since arriving in the Railway Room with house attached I have completed soldering up the Porthole Brake Third/Second and it now has a coat of acid etch primer:

B43D46F3-B18E-4D63-9EB5-4B4739D8F554.jpeg962AC800-B4D8-4B0D-8FC7-6A898957A922.jpeg

A few bits need adjusting but the next step will be to spray the sub frame black and then hand paint the interior seats and panels. While doing this I will also mask off the body and roof, ends black, side’s BR maroon and roof “bumper” grey.

I always think it a major step completed when a coach is in primer.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Meantime, another coach project is stalled due to my stupidity. I left a spare set of brake blocks behind. Grrrr!

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It’s a Side Lines Period 1 Brake Third. I bought it (unmade) from LarryG a few years ago. Several brake blocks disappeared so the bogie on the left cannot be completed until I have their replacements to hand. So close!
 
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Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Paul.

Your porthole brake looks a very neat construction and a good, smooth primer finish. Should form an excellent base for the final livery coats.
Frustrating about the errant brake components.
Dave.
 

Stephen Freeman

Western Thunderer
No luck buying decent acid primer locally but I think I have some in France, so the Porthole Brake Third/second is now packed up to go with us. I am not sure if I can buy UPOL paint in France but the French "Halfords" a.k.a. Feu Vert, stocks good aerosol car paints (I buy their bumper spray for the coach roofs).

More progress later next week.
Feu Vert eh! Green "Traffic" Light. It reminds me of a visit we made to a French Doctors once, when she gave us some directions in broken English "turn left at the burning fires", it did amuse us! I don't think I've seen that one. I suppose it depends on which area of France, where we go (not since before Covid unfortunately) it's "Roady", which I think might be something to do with Intermarche judging from their colour scheme.
 

parky

Western Thunderer
My plan is to bring the Brake Coach up to the same level of build. I don't have any matching roof paint (French car bumper spray to be obtained soon from Feu Vert) but I do have paints to complete the chassis and interior paneling and seating. The latter two colours are Vallejo Green Ochre for the paneling and Vallejo Burnt Red for the seats
I was wondering what to paint the interior of my rake of Sidelines with and your post came at the right time. The Green Ochre was a surprise, but looking at it I found that Halfords Camouflage Khaki was a good match and saved me ages painting the partitions. Just the seats to hand paint
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Stephen

Feu Vert are certainly all over the south of France. The "logo" is a pure white cat with green eyes, quite weird. The paint brand they sell is MOTIP which seems to be as good as anything from Halfords' range. I also discovered I have about a dozen cans of Halfords grey etch primer stashed away here, so once the one can of UPOL Acid 8 is empty they will swing into action.

Alan

I don't think it is overly important to choose the "right" upholstery and panel paints. Particularly if the interiors are not going to be lit up.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Green interiors? LMS Stanier coaches had empire veneers. I think earlier LMS coaches had stained and varnished woodwork. The Porthole brake does look tidy.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Green interiors? LMS Stanier coaches had empire veneers. I think earlier LMS coaches had stained and varnished woodwork. The Porthole brake does look tidy.
Larry, Jenkinson and Emery admit in their tome that there is not a lot of information on coach interiors through time, but one thing I do see is their reference to “lighter wood panels” on Period III coaches. One monochrome photo shows a very light paneling in a 3rd class corridor coach. Based on this I selected a Vallejo colour with the strange name green ochre. It doesn’t appear to be green in the jar and was the closest approximation to an acrylic paint I have used.

As I am not using interior lighting it is important that contrast is needed to show any detail of the interior, hence my choice. But I have other options to compare with here in the railway room paint stash, so a little experiment will be conducted today.

Naming colours seems to have little relevance to the manufacturers. The colour selected for the outbuildings in England (including the motor house constructed last year and featured on WT) is Sadolin jungle green. Nothing like a jungle, but then Sadolin was originally a Scandinavian company so what would they know about jungle colours?
 
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