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APRIL 2019 UPDATE
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HYWEL THOMAS *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
KIER HARDY *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
PETE JOHNSON *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
KEITH TRUEMAN *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
STEVE HARROD *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Recently attention has turned to the front left section of the main board. This is to be a
plant yard, maintaining some of the machines used at the off-scene spoil tip. After picking
up one of my favourite kits - the Wills Tin Church - for a bargain price at a toy fair,
I knew it had to form at least part of the yard. After much trimming and extending it will
become a partially covered working area, open on one side and supported by I-beams. Behind
it the end of the main workshop also uses some more of the tin church.
A close up of the rear extension of the tin church and also the variety of wall finishes to
suggest a much modified old building now used as a servicing Shed - Preiser and Wills walling
plus D&S window etches.
Some further progress. The porch from the kit, slightly modified, now forms an entrance to a
stone-built office (a cut down resin casting). As usual, nothing is flat so steps feature
prominently. Somebody once tried to render the walls too disguise all the mismatched construction
but most has now fallen off.
This wall is now almost finished and has gained some paint and weathering. Some detailing is
still to follow but the basics are done and it now feels like it’s grown slowly over many years
and, probably, in a few more years will be bulldozed flat!
Recently finished is the old store behind the yard office. Tucked under the disused high level
lines that once served the coal tips at the dock it is now semi-derelict itself but no doubt
contains some interesting artefacts behind the dirty windows.
A slightly different angle reveals the disused yard alongside the lock-up, home to a part-restored
(or is that part-scrapped?) old car. The bridge to the right leads over the canal to the next
scene to be worked on. The recently added Wills equipment cabinet still needs painting.
A close up of the dodgy lock-up and adjoining less than secure yard. There must be a fearsome
dog somewhere as there’s little graffiti and the old car has yet to be torched. Evidence of some
old advertising adorns the far wall.
And the next section to be worked on will be this group of buildings beyond the canal basin and,
once again hemmed in by old call tip embankments. Most of the buildings originated with Morfa Bank
1 but have been slightly altered to suit the new location. The old corner shop will eventually
become a workman’s cafe. As with the rest of the layout there is little flat ground.
And finally this month, another view of the scrap yard, which is still growing but is close to
being finished. You can never have enough scrap yards!
A few months ago Paul donated a pair of Parkside Lowfit kitbuilds. At the same time I was in
the process of modifying a pair of bailing machines to fit on such wagons. I've no idea if the
Oxford Diecast bailer is accurate, but it's far too wide to fit safely within the loading gauge. This
particular special order has 10mm of body / chassis width removed for a comfortable fit, roped and blocked
to stop them moving. Chain pockets have been carved out of the decking with shackles to secure the rope.
I've lettered the wagons using a selection of Modelmaster transfers, with weathering to the
sides and colouring to the deck. The 'loads' have been sprayed red from a rattle can with the
tyres and other details picked out in black. Black edged paper strips were then glued on with PVA
and given a coat of matt varnish.
A group of 4 Accurascale Cemflos are captured on a running in turn, the wagons
destined for the Shenston Road fleet. Despite some initial reservations regarding the shorter
24mm pin point axle, the conversion to EM gauge and fitting of the couplings has taken around
7 minutes per wagon by Greg.
Some of the screwlink couplings supplied are a bit stiff and require freeing off, and the handle
is unfortunately sticking up when they're coupled together. Re-gauging the wheels to EM is
fairly straightforward, especially when using a wheel puller such as
this one.
Some very careful surgery to the inside of the axle guards with a sharp knife, and the
removal of some of insulating bush on the face of the wheel, will see the existing wheels
happily pulled out and rolling free (as shown here). Another excellent wagon from Accurascale
with so much added fine detail... next on the list for Greg will be weathering. Another
rake of these wagons will soon be delivered to the Eastwell fleet, with Paul and myself agreeing
that inside of the wheels would benefit from facing off 15 thou, reducing flange thickness,
and the distance they require moving on the axles.
A pair of visitors from the Southern Region, in the form of BRCW type 3 locos D6566 & 6575.
Baby Deltic D5908 departs Hornsey Broadway with an Up suburban service.
The Class 04 bodyshell has had green undercoat applied, and a start has been made on the
frames, once again based on the Branchlines kit.
The main focus for the month has been the Class 11 conversion. To assist making the longer
side boxes epoxy putty casts of the Hornby moulding were made. These were then used to
press-mould melted polystyrene to produce additional front panels.
Before the changed side details could be added the original door latches were carefully
cut away and the bodysides scraped down smooth with the edge of a knife.
0.12mm polystyrene sheet was then used to make a fresh set of doors. With these bonded to
the bodyshell, holes for the grab handles were drilled and the hinge positions marked.
The modified side boxes have also been bonded in position.
More epoxy putty was then used to make impressions of the Hornby hinge details. An example
of the press mouldings taken off these tools is in the foreground, and these were carefully
cut and filed down to produce the hinge fittings (centre).
The bodyshell is pictured after the hinges and latches have been added.
On the cab back the lamp conduit was added in 0.31mm wire, and the black stripe pattern
carefully restored.
The shell is pictured after addition of the glazing and touching-in of the yellow stripes.
The basic black livery for the chosen prototype has also been applied.
Just a handful of BR diesels had the original 1948 ‘BRITISH RAILWAYS’ titles applied.
No. 12051 was new to traffic in February 1949 and must have left Derby works in this
short-lived interim livery. At some later date the lion-on-unicycle badge must have been
applied, and the earlier titles thinly overpainted. Later still, the number was reapplied
in block style characters, and wasp striped ends added - probably in the early-1960s.
But photographs from 1971 show the loco to have never been repainted in its 22 year life,
and the original 1949 titles clearly showing on the weathered black paint. This unusual
example has been chosen for the model, which is shown
ready for weathering with the mixed markings applied.
The hot and humid weather here in Brisbane hasn't been all that conducive for modelmaking lately,
but on a rare visit to the railway room I've had the opportunity to run a few trains and take
these snaps. A Sunblest Leyland lorry delivers fresh bread to the pub.
Baby Warship D6325, a Dapol model with engine exhaust port corrected, and the model repainted
and weathered. Whilst visiting the big smoke D6325 is seen here having just shunted its rake
of empty engineers consist back into the siding.
An AEC Swift hurries along on another run. This is the Britbus model soon to be detailed
and weathered just a little.
Over the last few weeks I have been concentrating on locomotives for the Newton Abbot
Works Dump project, which has seen me working on a couple from the Dapol stable - a
Western D1015 and NBL type 2 (North Brit) 6322, and also a Heljan Hymek (Mek) D7024.
D1015 Western Champion - I normally don't entertain the thought of modelling a locomotive
that has made it into preservation, however I have a great memory of D1015 at Cheltenham back
in the day and along with the fact I wanted to model an air braked Landore Western that was
not too wearworn, so for 1971 Western Champion fitted the bill perfectly. The cab interiors
were repainted, and a driver + secondman from the Modelu range were painted before being fixed
in place. View showing the Western cab to the left, and a Warship cab on the right.
Showing the boiler exhaust port modifications on D1015. I suppose the biggest task on this Dapol
product was correcting the boiler exhaust ports, by drilling and filling out to the correct profiles.
I converted this loco to EM gauge using the existing Dapol wheels, being split axles like the
Bachmann Warships was easy to complete. I scratch built the ATC and Earth pick ups, made new
glazing for the headcode boxes and decided right from the start that D1015 would have 6V53
and 6M55 codes at each end (China Clay). The final touch to D1015 was adding the air
pipe label that was positioned on the lower front nose directly above the air pipe. Western
Champion with the Landore style black roof panels, I do not know whether they were painted
like this or they were cleaned around them leaving the exhaust carbon deposits on the roof panels,
which ever is true I like this Landore mod. The label for the air brake pipe can also be seen.
North British D6322 - I bought this model off Trevor Hale (from this parish), a Dapol North Brit
which he had almost finished converting from a green example into a Blue small yellow D6327. Trev
had already turned the Dapol flanges on the wheel-sets and converted them to EM, and also corrected
the cab interiors, so at first I was very reluctant to change it into another Class 22, however
D6327 was an 82A loco in 1971 and was normally seen either in the Bristol or Gloucester area. So I
decided I had to convert it to a North Brit that would have been seen around the Newton Abbot area,
D6322 was selected as this particular North Brit was withdrawn from NA in late 1971 and was stored
on the Works Dump (So I had to do it). The first area I needed to change was the detail fittings on
the nose cones, as it had a nasty front end prang in the early 1960s, meaning that one front end was
different to the other end. The air horn capsules were changed to the later circular version and
the position of the lamp irons changed. I have also angled the MU equipment that some Class 22s
seemed to have. Showing the front end changes and masking off in readiness for priming with Tamiya
fine white primer and then a coat of Fiat broom yellow.
The next challenge was to replicate the excessive fading of BR blue livery. This was achieved by
using a fibreglass pen to remove a lot of the top blue. This exposed the primer Trevor had put
on and by pressing a little firmer also exposed the original green livery. Then using various shades
of blue and white paint I set to capturing the unique weathering on this loco, using faded rail red
to show the pinkish undercoat.
The old Lion and Wheel emblems are from the Fox range, numbers from HMRS, and the data panel and
shed code stickers by RailTec. To finish off I need to get some etched window surrounds from
Extreme Etchings, and then D6322 can be glazed.
Hymek D7024 - When it came to selecting a Hymek for 83A, I did have a selection to choose from
(D7003 & D7054 were considered), however I had to do a Lickey Banker as I used to see these
work through Cheltenham after replacing the North Brits on P-way / breakdown trains. I hear you
saying, hang on a moment how on earth is a Bromsgrove Banker getting to the Newton Abbot area?
Well on summer Saturdays back in 1971 there was a train off Worcester, the 1B44 to Paignton
(so this is my excuse). The first thing I needed to do was remove the headboard clips and then
drill in the lower door handrail modification. This was made from drilling out inside the
pre-drawn area and then filing back to protect the bodyside I used masking tape.
I also took the opportunity of removing the handrails from the front ends so I could re-spray
the small yellow panel using Halfords Fiat broom yellow. I then masked off the area for the
data panel and applied the blue background in readiness to apply the Railtec data panel. Still
to do are the head codes 1B44 & 1B74. I have removed the front glazing for weathering around
the front window frames. Weathered front end showing new painted yellow panel, blue painted
route availability patch and door mod.
Underside view of the front end detail showing the scratch built coupling kicker plates and footsteps.
Then the weathering brushes came out to capture the look of MeK 24 in 1971. The stippled effect
to some of the weathering is seen. The emblem is from Fox. I used T-cut to remove the underscored
Heljan version.
Glazing is from Shawplan / Extreme Glazing and fitted like a glove, kept in place with PVA
glue run thinly in a capillary action. The etched Hymek numbers are already cut out and
ready for fitting. Also showing the material used to create the surround for the door handle mod.
The Heljan wheels are completely different from the other models I have converted to EM, not
being split axle means they are isolated from the axle by grommets built into the wheel disc.
I considered buying a wheel puller, however curiosity got the better of me and I decided to
use a hammer and punch to do the job. Its a bit crude however it worked! One wheel set, the
one with the larger grommet moves quite freely, however the other wheel set needs some
convincing hence the Punch technique.
Using a EM back to back gauge and some measuring callipers enable me to use the hammer and
punch to achieve the EM wheel set width, Ghastly crude, however highly effective.
I have drawn what I am trying to achieve for my Newton Abbot Works Dump project, and which
side its being viewed from. It shows a backscene which will be kindly painted by my military
artist and friend Nick Trudgian.
