Scratchbuilding an N gauge Gresley coach

[Atso]

Hi Alan,

The solebars have been painted Humbrol No. 70 Matt Brown which looks just right in natural light but I'm not sure about how it translates into picture. Anyway some more pictures of the K3, Full Break and spare sides I'm now acquiring...

[TonyM]

Hi Fellow Dapol converters

In answer to the question re sole bar/underframe colour I also have decided and use Humbrol Matt 70 as being very close to the real thing and matches the preserved Buffet Car on the NYMoors railway of which I have a close up photo. It also is very close to the paint that Dapol are using. The photo is in my webshots albums but I will try and get a copy posted.

TonyM

[TonyM]

Hi Guys

Gresley teak Buffet as promised

TonyM

[TonyM]

Hi Me again

What are folks thoughts about the lettering? That is NOT Gill Sans what is it? The nearest I can get is `Cheltenham Bold` which Fox do in gold with red shading but it is way, way too big at 9mm. Right text, wrong size!!!!! I have ordered their `Cheltenham Medium`gold but without the red shading #FG1305, this comes in 2mm high caps, for my Dapol Buffet which is on my workbench. I shall just have to pretend it is red shaded, but in N the detail gets lost under the weathering.

TonyM

[TonyM]

Hey Atso

The full brake looks good. Question? have you done a sneaky and fitted it to a Dapol underframe because those look remarkably like Dapol buckeye couplings? If you have, nice work, and will also run with the repaints.

TonyM

[richard]

I haven't been following the discussions on the ngauge listserver very closely, but my understanding is that the Full Brake shares some of the Dapol parts - hence the surplus toilet vents on one of the frets.


Richard

[Atso]

Hi all,

The full break isn't the N Gauge Society kit but rather one of the etched overlays from the Ultima range fitted to a Dapol Gresley.

However, my understanding is that, as Richard said, the kit was developed with Dapol and includes numerous parts from their production models. I didn't go with the society kit for several reasons:

1. There is something that I don't think quite looks right about the assembled kit.
2. With Dapol's Gresleys down to £9 at Hattons and the overlays costing £7.50 the total cost minus paint and transfers is £16.50 against £26 for the society kit.
3. I wanted to see if I could pull of this conversion.
4. It's left me with some sides that I can convert into other diagrams of coaches.

Anyway, the coach is only half finished while I make a ducket for the other side. The side is assembled apart from this and I've take a picture of it 'in the brass' for comparison.

[TonyM]

Hi Steve

Is the K3 a kit, a kit bash or a modify something else. A K3 is a loco that would go very well on Millchester. They were also black so would not need lining.
I am also tempted to have a go at the full brake as you have because, like you, I do not feel that the NGSoc kit looks right. It is also very expensive and uses the NGSoc flimsy bogies and I would have difficulty fitting an NEM pocket for the buckeye coupling. As you say with Dapol Gresleys at 9GBPs from Hattons they are cheap enough to really have a play with and try some different mods.
I see your workbench is covered in a self healing cutting board, so is mine, they are invaluable.
Cheers

TonyM

[Atso]

Hi Tony,

The K3 is actually the mythical Foxhunter kit. I managed to persuade a very kind gentleman to part with it (no instructions yet though). The kit is designed to fit on the Farish Crab chassis but I've used a shortened V2 chassis with smaller wheels and a lot of metal removed from both chassis and body to get something a bit more acceptable, I'll dig out the camera and take some pictures of the chassis tomorrow - now if someone would come up with an O2!

The self healing cutting mat on my work bench really gets some abuse used from everything from cutting through to soldering (carefully!) and painting.

[Atso]

Still progressing with the Full Break, I've now made a ducket that I'm happy with and have glued this in place and given the side a clean. While waiting for this to dry I decided to make a start on a non-corridor side using the Dapol side that has been separated from the donor model. I've cut the side to length and replaced the missing beading with some 10 thou plastic rod.

Sorry about the flash washing out the drawing underneath but hopefully you get the idea...

[Atso]

Right, today's work included carefully filing my new beading on the 3rd to the same height has Dapol's and starting to paint both this and the other side of the Full Break. The pictures shows the 3rd at about coat number 4 and the Break at coat 2.

[rob]

Steve,great coaches,the teak effect is working superbly.I'm losing track of just what you are slicing and dicing but am getting the impression that for every two Dapol's you buy,there are 3 coaches emerging from the works !
I wish I could get mine to reproduce like that!

[Atso]

Hey Rob! Thanks for the comments.

You're right, but carefully cutting the sides off the Dapol coaches they can be reused. Building non-corridor stock requires the compartment sides of two coaches, so as you thought, every two conversions will hopefully produce three coaches. Just need to find some under-frame details and decent bogies for the non-corridor stock!

I'm also going to try and be clever and turn my first two non-corridor coaches into an articulated unit (most likely a first/third pairing).

[TonyM]

Hi Steve
The NGSoc has 2 Gresley bogies listed in NS, one is an 8ft6in standard Gresley bogie #ULT068 and the other is a heavy weight bogie in etched NS #ULT069 both listed under Ultima Models at 4 GBPs , doesn`t say whether that is a pair or singles. I am going to send of for one of each to see what i get as I am after Gresley bogies to try and make some old Farish suburban teaks into arts. I am going to have to order by post as they have not got the on line shop up and running yet. I won`t get these till after Xmas now. Don`t know if this is any help.

Cheers

Tony

[Atso]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the tip, I've got a couple of the old Caven'dish bogies lying about somewhere and might trying the NGS shop for some new etches. However, I'm also considering scratch building a set (just to see if I can!) using and internal chassis and cosmetic outside frames. This would mean that the resulting bogies wouldn't be running on pin-point axles but I'd be interested to see how much difference it actually makes it I oil mine...