My models (some LNER)

[Mercator II]

Wow, just spent a pleasant hour or so re reading your thread, and very enjoyable it was Brian. Some of your creations are beyond words, and has planted seeds in my head for future projects of my own, now to find my mojo again and get back to my bench and work on the two locos on it

Keep up the inspiring work

oOo

Brian

[Manxman1831]

Been a trying few days, with a modicum of success. Got my R-M turbo-mechanical sorted out after its flying lesson, just need to work out how to reproduce that whopping great pair of girders underneath the real thing and I'll be ready to repaint.

Had a thought about how to attach my nameplates temporarily on 752, and come up with using staples superglued across the backs and slotting them into the gaps above the splashers. Managed to get one side sitting straight, but the other is being a bit of a pain. Tweaking required methinks.

In other news - looked at the R-R turbo-electric in order to work out how best to produce the tumblehome and the window openings.

[Manxman1831]

Had a look at the hoped to be donor for 2558. I'd not realised that the RailRoad version R2675 had a high cab, d'oh! I shall have to compare to photos of the real engine and work out where and how much to cut down for my given period. New chimney required too, as the one it has at the moment is little more than a block of plastic. Add all of that to the new tender body and full repaint, I'm going to be rather busy if I want her ready for the road transport show at Ruddington in April. I love a challenge, but I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

[Manxman1831]

A few 'before' shots, prior to getting hold of bits and one of my dad's books on the GC with shots of Tracery. I suspect I'm starting from the wrong 4472 model, but we shall see. I hope to not have to change the dome.

[S.A.C. Martin]

How bizarre. So the older Railroad 4472 had the high roofed cab and a low chimney, but the new one has - drum roll please - a low cab and a tall chimney? Compare:



Looking forward to seeing your work on yours. I'm working on one for a friend currently and it's been quite a pleasant build, right up the point where I realised the cab side sheets needed extending.

[Manxman1831]

Must admit to some trepidation regarding the possibility of extending the cab side sheets. HOWEVER, I do need to check with the book, but I might be lucky and not need to do so. I'll find out soon, hopefully.

Enjoyed reading your conversion so far.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

So to take it to it's 'Logical' conclusion, get an old FS and a new FS and swop the cabs over, then you 'Should' have two correct FS's..................betcha don't though

manna

[Manxman1831]

Evening all. York was a fun day out today. Many different styles and ages of layouts spread across the three floors and two balcony areas. Purchased a good number of bits, and forgot to pick up just as many but you can't have it all ways.

Picked up sufficient rod to fabricate the ladders for the Reid-Ramsay and Reid-MacLeod. Got most of the bits I require for Tracery, bar a set of Doncaster plates - need to check the photos now and hack and slash a non-streamlined corridor tender into a non-corridor streamlined one. I think I might start with the tender as this may take the longest to sort out.

[Manxman1831]

Been busy this lunchtime. Tender nearly altered - requires a big chunk of the old tender-drive block chopping, then fettling and repainting.

[Manxman1831]

Made a little progress today - handrails and butchery.

Handrails - replaced the moulded ones on the L5502 body. A word of warning for anyone following this - the plastic is VERY soft, which is great when you come to remove the moulded ones, but not so when you come to open out the holes for the replacement knobs. The bit will go through quickly, and get stuck as it is pulled back.

Butchery - the old tender-drive casting was a pig to saw through. The surface is hardened and the black coating doesn't help matters, whilst the actual metal is soft enough to grab the blade as you cut, this is enough to make a simple job extremely tiring and took me the better part of an hour.

[Manxman1831]

This week has seen a bit of progress from the last pictures. Lining out is well under way, with a warning to any newcomers - when applying transfers/decals make sure your surface is shiny or the things won't take to it. While lining out the boiler bands, I found that a fair number of the strips were trying to detach from their placing. This is the first time I'd had this problem and realised soon after stopping for the night what my problem was... I'd not varnished the model prior to application as I usually do. Not the end of the world, but it did give me a bit of a headache trying to work it out. So the model is now varnished ready for the next lot of lining.

The book is where I started out from with this latest stint of modelling since 1995 and the tips inside have been used to make more than just model trains.
Apologies for the poor quality photos tonight, I should have taken these during the day when I had proper light to work with.

[Manxman1831]

Just a quick update from today's trip to Ruddington for their road transport day.

Tracery ran like a dream. 752 had a slight hiccup, but ran well enough afterwards. Here are the two of them together for the first time away from the workbench.

[Atlantic 3279]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one daft enough to cut corridor tenders down to non-corridor width!

[Manxman1831]

I think I followed your method, Graeme. The hardest part was cutting through the metal block, but that was my choice.

[Manxman1831]

A bit of work has been occurring recently - some reasonable, some not.

752 - opened up boiler from chassis to insert extra weight for traction and road-holding on curves (hopefully). New windows PVA'd to replace thick ones.

23141 - girders and steps now in place under cab. Leading end numbering applied. Compare with magazine picture on page on of this thread.

2558 - numbering and lining on front bufferbeam. Windows in cab using PVA (Glue 'n' Glaze). Checked the official photos and might get around to lining out tender bufferbeam and top beading.