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KARL CROWTHER

 

Firstly a few nascent rolling stock projects I’ve had on the go for some time. This is a Jidenco kit for an LNER 25Ton hopper which I bought, part built, on the second-hand stall at last year’s Manchester Christmas Show. To say part-built, what I mean is, some rivets had been rather heavily embossed and the main hopper had been folded to shape – so it was a complete build, really. The first thing to do was file off all those rivets, leaving behind lots of small holes. These will be filled and the rivets later added from transfers. I’ll admit it wasn’t an easy build. Those corner stanchions need to match up exactly with the outline of the hopper and I found I had to add a 20-thou strip to its ends to get the correct relationship. The solebars in the kit have a half-etched centre with rivet detail and you are supposed to fold part-way through a full depth top and bottom edge with no relieving line to facilitate this – impossible in my view, so I made new solebars from brass section.

 

Here on the underside you can see the replacement solebars. As etched, the brake gear all lies in line with the axleguards which mount behind the solebar. I managed to retain this part but separated the brake gear from its pull rods so it could be bent inwards to line up with the wheels. Essential references in working on this project were Peter Tatlow’s LNER wagons book and an article on the type by Geoff Kent in MRJ 190.

 

Move forward after quite a few hours and you can see what has been added in completing the vehicle. The distinctive brake lever arrangement was done using some parts I added to a photo etching job I prepared over last year’s Christmas break, as it happens, while the buffers came from Lanarkshire Models and the springs/axleboxes from Rumney Models.

 

Here you can see the complexity of the distinctive North-Eastern pattern brake gear arrangement. The short links between the individual brake blocks and the horizontal pull-rods beneath the axleguards are made from thin strip with a hole drilled at one end to fit over the brake pivots (easier to see in the photo than to describe in words!). The little 90 degree crank where the actuating rod passes round the end of the vehicle was a spare from my stash of signal parts. The tall brake ratchet, again one of my own etches, also shows up well in this image. In fact at the time, I also bought a second, completely unopened kit, but don’t think it will ever get built. But I’m quietly satisfied with how this one has turned out and looking forward to getting it painted.

 

Also on the go for some time is this LMS 20 ton iron ore hopper wagon. The body is a developmental 3D print from Andy Vincent, but with all of the underpinnings added by yours truly, basically from the bits box. There’s still a little more fine-detailing to do on this one, but it should make an interesting addition to the fleet. Almost inevitably, having gone to all this effort, I see that Rapido are going to do one!

 

The final item of rolling stock is this Parkside kit for one of the Southern PMVs, here married with the Masokits sprung underframe. Very straightforward to assemble and not much more to say about it really.

 

The completed van awaiting weathering. The window bars were from brass wire and microstrip, painted a pale grey and fitted behind the glazing, while the lettering came from Cambridge Custom Transfers which had to be cut into lots of small pieces to fit around the diagonal stanchion!

 

Also on the etching that I did were parts to make a 2-lever ground frame to work the release crossover at the end of Kendal platforms 1 & 2. The inspiration came from one that occupied a similar position at Lakeside - here we see the parts before work commenced (there are some signalling bits & bobs here too).

 

And here after assembly – which was quite tricky as basically there’s nothing to locate all the parts together; it kept coming apart from the heat of soldering but I got there in the end. The two levers came from a Masokits fret, while the base it stands on were made up from scraps of Plastikard.

 

And here we see the completed item ready to fix onto the layout. As it happens it won’t really seen as it will be hidden by the overall roof. However, there will be another one out in the open for the release from Platform 3 to the goods loop – only thing is I didn’t include enough parts on the fret! I guess strictly speaking the lever that’s reversed should have been painted blue as it’s for a facing point lock….

GREG BROOKES

 

Some of my recent modelling activity at Shenston Road has been of an atmospheric nature. As well as the sounds of claxons and the roar of the blast furnace at BSC Shenston, a visual addition comes in the way of steam and smoke being emmited from the chimneys.

 

And why stop there, when the gasworks competes with the steelworks for emmisions.

 

With plenty of industry in the area, the M&B brewery brings with it more steam escaping.... all that's required now is some associated smells to take me back to the late '60s and early '70s. I just hope my wife doesn't notice her cotton wool has disappeared from the dressing table!

 

Captured on a recent visit to Hornsey Broadway, my Bachmann Warship 814 Dragon is seen at the head of an inter-regional freight working.

 

Brush type 2 number 5530 is an Old Oak Common allocated loco, seen here in the presence of its Eastern Region sisters at Hornsey Road depot, carrying a 1C78 headcode used on a previous Paddington - Hereford working.

MIKE WHITCHURCH

 

Work has concentrated on the storage yard for the station side of the layout, with new baseboards being built and trackwork laid.

 

The next step is working out the technicalities and geometry of the loop and connecting each end of the yards.

MATT OWEN

 

I initially started rebuilding this Lima CCT 6 years ago - inspired by some of the models on this very website. In the years since, I worked on it in dribs and drabs, but never with much enthusiasm. I recently returned to the model with renewed motivation, as it'll be an important item of stock for my future layout. There's a useful article by Karl Crowther in the 'Modelling British Railways Parcels and Mail Trains' bookazine which addresses the issues with the underframe. Unfortunately, I was a bit too enthusiastic with my butchery of the chassis and ended up having to rebuild everything from scratch.

 

I reused many of the Lima parts, including the battery boxes, but the rest inevitably came from the spares box or was repurposed from elsewhere.

 

The model is now nearing completion - note the roof is still removeable at this stage to enable the windows to be fitted after it's painted.

 

Also on a similar subject is this second project. At the start of the year, I told myself I needed to reduce the amount of random stock I was building. I've stuck to that as best as I can, however was fascinated and inspired after finding a photo of one of these LMS CCTs online. I seem to have a knack for finding kits with underframe parts missing and this was no exception - plastic sheet and Evergreen section to the rescue!

 

Once again, the underframe parts are a real mix of scratchbuilt, and odds and ends including some nice cast axleboxes and springs from Rumney Models and buffers from LMS. A few final bits still need to be added and then it can join the growing queue at the paint shop!

KIER HARDY

 

A new addition to the London Transport fleet is this tree lopper lorry, utilising a Basetoys Thames Trader cab and chassis, with the body knocked up from 1.5mm styrene sheet. Five of these Thames Trader lorries were bought in 1962 to replace former STL buses (converted to open top) for trimming trees on the central area bus routes.

 

With only three-quarter viewed photographs to go by, the length has been compressed slightly without the need to lengthen the wheelbase of the chassis. It should in fact be a couple of millimetres longer, but I'm happy to live with this discrepancy. Tree lopping work was only carried out during certain parts of the year, so for a few months these vehicles were de-licenced and parked up until needed again.

 

1245F was one of 5 vehicles which were all delivered in an off-white / light grey livery, with 4 being transferred to the new London Country operation in 1970. One was retained by London Transport and repainted into green livery. They were eventually replaced during 1976 to 1979, following the delivery of new Ford D series lorries (of which 2 used the original bodies from the Traders).

 

These vehicles had a sliding door on the nearside for crew access to the upper deck, and large rear doors (with yellow and black chevrons) for unloading foliage and branches. There's still some more work required before it's finished, including glazing and transfers instead of the printed paper lettering.

 

English Electric type 1 number 8304, a York allocated Class 20 is the latest addition to the Hornsey Bdy fleet. A Bachmann sound fitted model converted to EM gauge in the usual manner, a change of headcode and weathered to finish.

 

I saw this locomotive at Crewe in 1972, running northbound light engine through the station.

ANDY LEE

 

This month sees another Parkside Iron Ore Tippler wagon added to the fleet, with Gibson wheels and Smiths couplings added. I weathered this one by doing all the usual layers in a different order, producing some different variations to save them all looking the same. I held it upside down to paint so I didn't keep subliminally painting the same weathering paterns on every wagon.

 

Another MSO, ususal painting and weathering techniques, this time with a Limestone load which I believe is Natural Scenics from Hampshire Models. Fitted with Jackson couplings, as this was all I had to hand.

 

BR Twin Bolster Wagon. There are some interesting pics of these on Paul Bartlett's site and it was fun to make something different for a change. These are Parkside kits, weathered to look worn like the pictures of the prototype.

 

Now for some 1:1 scale modelmaking. These replica flame cut panels have been produced for clients, made from 2mm acrylic sheet, so can't be passed off as originals.

 

They are all full size, made to look like original flame cut panels. The numbers and data panels are all custom made from vinyl, just like the originals.

 

All the rust is hand painted with Tamiya, Archive X and Vallejo paint, and weathered with washes of dirt and grime to look real and worn. Primer chips are all hand painted to show the lime green primer showing through.

JONNY DUFFETT

 

Here's a diagram 1/411, a 45 ton slab / coil wagon. 58 of these wagons were built at Swindon Works in 1962 and worked from Abbey Works, Port Talbot. All were out of use by 1982.

 

They had a raised superstructure to cradle large slabs. From looking at the works official photograph, it appears that the superstructure was modified in later service, so both variants have been drawn.

 

And now for something completely different. Drawn entirely for my own amusement, a London Tramways Works Car L. These were ordered by London County Council in 1909 for use in transporting heavy items such as wheelsets and traction motors between depots. The originals had a trolley pole for overhead current collection but latterly only used the conduit system between the rails, and continued in service with London Transport and lasted until the demise of the tram network in 1952.

My 3D designs are available free at Thingiverse for you to print yourself, or visit the links page for printing service options.

Wishing everyone 'seasons greetings' and all the best for 2025.