Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[S.A.C. Martin]

Watching with great interest Graeme, my apologies for lack of replies, but resin casting is something I have very limited experience in, so not really of any great help!

The cast sides look terrific mind, lots of detail.

[davidwest]

I'm going to be first inthe queue for a resin kit!

[Atlantic 3279]

Is that for a Toad E then David?

At last, with a home-made waterslide transfer for the conjoined HB insignia:

[mick b]

Would the HB van have Black strapping ? Looks good

[Atlantic 3279]

Black strapping apppears to have been a feature brand new, pre-grouping. I don't have a picture of this kind of van in LNER livery still serving as a ventilated refrigerator, so I've had to go by comparison with other vehicles, both one of these vans downgraded to general use, and other vent-fridge vans of NE, GN and LNER group standard designs, which appear to have had plain white livery post-grouping in the pictures that I've so far seen.

[mick b]

Tatlows new NER /HBR wagon volume has the HB version with Black strapping in both HB and LNER livery. A NER version is in plain white in LNER days.

[Atlantic 3279]

Are there some pictures of these H & B vehicles in the new Tatlow that I have missed? I have looked at pages 18, 19 & 20 many times, noting only two photos of these vans in white insulated-refrigerator livery, both on page 19, the upper one showing a row of vans and the lower one showing 4273 only, in both cases the livery being H & B. Can you point me to the picture that you are referring to?

[mick b]

Sorry usual cock up I was refering to page 19.

They are both H&BR Vans . But ? if the H&BR painted them with Black strapping would they change their methods under NER/ LNER ownership?? the NER still went their own way on painting for years after the grouping.
I have never noticed before that some are plain white, the couple I have built from D&S are both with Black strapping . It makes them much easier to model as well !! as the Black is a pain to paint !!

[Bill Bedford]

Sorry usual cock up I was refering to page 19.

They are both H&BR Vans . But ? if the H&BR painted them with Black strapping would they change their methods under NER/ LNER ownership?? the NER still went their own way on painting for years after the grouping.
I have never noticed before that some are plain white, the couple I have built from D&S are both with Black strapping . It makes them much easier to model as well !! as the Black is a pain to paint !!

A quick look through Tatlow Vol2 suggest that the photos of wagons with black strapping are all builder's officials. This suggests the black paint was there to enhance the contrast on the photo, akin to loco grey on locos. I doubt very much that the wagons would be seem in service with this livery.

[Atlantic 3279]

An interesting observation Bill, thanks. Rather convenient too, as I don't want to try to pick out all of the body ironwork in black without messing up the white......

On the subject of the NE diag F10 vans, I've realised now that the LNER period photo in Tatlow 2 even shows the end ladders in white, so my blackening of ladders and roof rails may be wrong. Of course, the laders, or the rungs at least, might not have stayed white for very long once in regular use.

[James Brodie]

Dear Sir, Are these models in 00 scale ? please and would or could you consider 0 scale??
Jim Brodie

[Atlantic 3279]

Hello Jim

All vans are adaptations of OO gauge ready-to-run or kit items, originally to suit my own needs and interests in that scale. I wouldn't want to get involved in other scales as that would simply divert me (further) from getting on with my own modelling.

Graeme

[Atlantic 3279]

Cast resin Toad E parts have now gone off to a friend for him to assemble as his part our shared project, and finally my Elephant-Flu (and family challenges) have been easing off (for the time being), allowing me to get on with application of insignia to nine nearly-finished vans. Couplings, vacuum pipes, sealing varnish, weathering etc remain to be done. The F10 van downgraded to fish use needs a couple of little blackboards adding. I still haven't done the rivets/bolt-heads on the end platforms of the Toad Es. I have however, following earlier debate and supply of authoritative opinion on here, changed all of my brake van stepboards from red-brown oxide to mucky grey colour. In the meantime I've realised where I got the impression that they might be body-coloured in the first place, and that is from the ever-unreliable route of attempting to judge colour from tone in the monochrome photos in the Tatlow books.
I have tried to select suitable running numbers as far as possible for these vehicles. You'll notice in the pictures that one Toad D has its lettering placed a bit higher up than the other. This was a bit of an oversight, but having studied many brake van pictures my claimed excuse for this is that the high lettering is on a Doncaster built vehicle (they seemed to put letters on brake vans in different places according to the whim of the day) whereas the other is Darlington built. I had a cursing-moment with the lettering of the GC brake too. Having placed the "NE" just above the main handrail on both sides, as per the one picture showing this livery in original Tatlow, I then got my new super-Tatlow back from my mate and found several pictures all with the main letters placed one plank higher. I have therefore used the running number of the van in the first photo! The plates on the solebars, where applied, are remnants from Slater’s transfer sheets for North Eastern vehicle kits. The numbers, if you could read them, don’t match the main ones on the bodies, but I’ve tried to select the plates with numbers that look similar……..

I should be able to start examining a certain large green engine shortly, and get out for some fresh air and exercise now that we have daylight and reasonable weather. It has been a long dreary winter! Looks like Cock o' the North may have to wait until somewhat later in the year.

[mick b]

Nice work . First time I have seen the Fish Insul Meat Van modelled in that livery , very tempting to build a couple .

[Atlantic 3279]

If you intend to convert from the Hornby moulding, don't forget to remove the label clip representation before painting too. It can be done later, as I discovered upon realising that it was in the way of the post-1936 NE/10 tons/7816 insignia , but it would be more convenient at the earlier stage.....