The NBR BG has been on hold for a while because I have been waiting for a friend to sort out a roof for it (who was in turn waiting for another friend etc.) I collected it at Telford earlier this month so I will progress that once the CCT leaves the bench.

In the meantime to wet appetites I thought that I would share another Telford acquisition which came quite out of the blue from a chance query.

Earlier in the year I bought a set of etches for a Gresley Restaurant triplet set from CPL and I was in discussions with both Rupert Brown and Peter Dobson about etches for the underframes and roof parts etc. I can get some of Rupert’s underframes from Wizard Models but Andrew needs to sort them out and Peter Dobson although having wound up newbould models as a business is still supplying bits and pieces and had done a test etch for the underframes but had never progressed them. I had arranged with Peter to bring some Gresley bogies to Telford for my CPL set and he said would I like to see his test etch underframes to which I said certainly.

It turned out that not only had he done a test etch for the underframes but also for the bodies as well but he had taken them so far an then popped them aside. Having had a look at them I asked since he hadn’t touched them for quite some time, if he would sell them ‘as is’ and a deal was struck.

This is what I got for the money:

Also included were the remaining partitions for the restaurant cars and some etched tables. And hidden away under the tissue paper in one of the boxes was a very nicely finished Kemilway roof – so now I know what they should look like and can be made to look like…. note to self must try harder!

Two evening’s modelling on the trot sees moe progress made.

The body is well on it’s and is now quite a heavy and sturdy unit.

I added the steps and dug out the etched LNER plates that Brian, a kind RMWebber let me have.

The ends, like the body sides are made up from 2 layers and the outer one has holes for pins that hold the cast end stanchions in place.

Soldering them in before adding the inner layer has made them quite secure – the use of some judicious heat sinks should see the ends attached to the body without them coming adrift.

I took the A3 along to the O Gauge North West show at Leigh today for a run on the test track.

The optimistic gents on the test track hitched her up to 44 wagons and she sailed away beautifully. Quite surprisingly they let me run her for around half an hour or so (I had expected a few laps at best). So I came away with a much inflated chest.

I have spent a goodly amount of time today updating most of the pages on the main site which has also seen a change of theme. Please take the time to have a look

Railway Models and Art.co.uk

My very first effort at building a 7mm scale loco was a scratch build of Colonel Stephens, Shropshire and Montgomeryshire loco number 2 “Severn” I built it in 2010, painted it blue in 2012 and lined it this week…

All the lining was done with bow pen and bow compasses using Humbrol gloss enamels.

Once the sides were on the D176 I turned my attention to the bogies – yes I know that I need the underframe but there is method in my madness honest!

I need some Fox bogies for the BG and I have in the stash several sets of Newbould model Fox bogies (they are desdtined for other things but can be borrowed in the interim…).

The things about the Newbould bogies is that nice as they are there are no instructions so I had the lightbulb moment of building a set of Kemilway and a set of Newbould in tandem so that I could cross reference parts to get an idea of how the Newbould ones go together.

Below are a couple of photos of where I got to. – All is done to this point without any soldering on either pair of bogies.

First up the Kemilway version. They gave the first time that I have had to do any amount of filing, which was needed on the front and rear of the frames. To be fair the instructions do point out that you will need to make them fit properly.

Then the Newbould version.

So far they are similar in many respects.

Last night saw a little more progress on the chassis for the F8. I got it folded up and then soldered in the lace pins. They have done the trick nicely.

Not much has been happening on the workbench of late due to DIY/Gardening and general lack of Mojo :0(

One of this things that has been done is one of those things that I was dreading and which when I finally plucked up the courage to have a go at it went very smoothly and easily.

What I was dreading was soldering the two pieces together in between the whitemetal fingers.

How I achieved it was:
I fastened both arms to the links to the rods together with the 16ba nut and bolt provided. The ends of each are half thickness to create a lap joint. I then bolted one end to the frame spacer and held the two half lapped ends together with a pair of cranked locking tweezers.
Next using a tip that I picked up on one of Richard Lambert’s threads I cut some strips of kitchen paper and folded them so that they would fit down either side of the area to be soldered and wet them with a pipette after using tweezers to position them. Once the whitemetal at both sides was suitably protected, flux was applied to the joint; a quick in and out with the soldering iron tinned with 145 degree solder and the job was done.

Hopefully the 3 photos show the various positions as the valve gear moves.

Due to other distractions (including updating the website) and general lack of Mojo I haven’t done much modelling for a couple of weeks.

I did spend a couple of evenings on these though.

They are replacements for the whitemetal pipes that are supplied with their kits by Parkside. They look nice enough but I find them a bit vulnerable.

So some 1mm rod, some 28 gauge brass beading wire and some of the infamous scrap etch and we have these – apologies for the not too cracking photo. This was the second attempt and at that I gave up.

A bit like wheel blackening, I find making these up to be very therapeutic.

I recently changed the filters in my spray booth after putting it off for far too long. It won’t come as a suprise that it was a much easier job than I had built it up to be in my mind. Having done that I made a start on my backlog of stock ready for painting.

First up is a Slaters MR open wagon. I picked this kit up cheap from the bring and buy at the GOG Halifax show. I added internal detail to it from plastic strip as I built it but otherwise it’s straight from the very ancient box…

As I predicted the riveted strips to represent the girders took a bit longer but it all went on with no problems and there was plenty of spare.

Next job is the guide wheels but not tonight I am going to the theatre to see Oliver.

In between fiddling about with the valve gear I have also made up the front of the frames. At this point only the laminates of the frame extensions/lifting rings and the frames/cages that support the back of the buffers are soldered. All the rest is just held together with the slots and tabs. It really does make it easy when it all fits as it should and it is self supporting while you apply the solder.

I had a mass painting session over the long weekend with quite few of my Slaters/Parkside wagons now ready for transfers.

I also did a bit more with the cab detail of Nellie and thought I would take a couple of photos as once it goes inside it won’t be possible to get the same angle shot again.