Paul's workbench

[UpDistant]

Paul,

Have you got a particular date in mind? I might be able to help.

John

[kimballthurlow]

Hi All
Livery application on 2745, sprayed with primer followed by Tamiya XF5. The green is a little pasty in its matt form but will liven up once varnished. I'm in the midst of my favorite part, transfers and bow pen lining....

Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul
I am very interested in two items - first the XF5 paint. I am always looking for matches, and that gives me an alternative.
My other interest is the bow pen. I have a good set last used at my work in the 1970s with what we called Indian ink (Rotring was one brand).
Not having tried this with paints I am asking about the run - how much thinning for a Humbrol enamel would you consider appropriate? I know it is probably a trial and error thing but your experience sounds like a thing of joy.
Regards
Kimball in Brisbane.

[nzpaul]

As it happens, there's an article by Ian Nuttall in the latest 'Railway Modeller' magazine (July 2021) concerning the Thames-Forth Express, with lots of information about the service as running in the late 1930s. Are you able to get this 'down under'?

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that. There's a couple of local book shops that have decent magazine stands and carry most of the modeling publications albeit a couple of months behind.

Paul,

Have you got a particular date in mind? I might be able to help.

John

Any time in the 1930's really, thanks in advance for your help.


Kimball
XF5 is the closest I've found to matching the Hornby shade of Apple (grass) green, it's a bit darker than Railmatch and pretty close to Precision but does require a varnish to get the colour out of it. I used to use Precision but not allowed to import it any more, forcing the search for an alternative.

re: the bow pen. Using mostly Humbrol satin, I've not needed to thin the paint from well mixed fresh tins, and with the pens I have (A Steadtler and a few AliExpress cheapies) I'm able to achieve some very fine lines. Thinned paint will tend to spread out a bit once the line is applied, not always a bad thing. I've also had some success with Tamiya Acrylics but you need to work quickly as the paint dries quite fast.
The Cheap pens required some filing to even the tips and honing with 1200 grit wet and dry, but now work quite well. (good Youtube lesson by Mike Trice I think it was on honing pens)
Bow pens are quite temperamental and in the right conditions will refuse to work at all, when they do work well it does give one a sense of achievement. Being in a relaxed state of mind seems to help for some reason as well.
Hope this helps

Paul

[Danby Wiske]

Incidentally, there were two sets of stock for this service, one LMS and one LNER. The RM article is about the LMS stock...

[kimballthurlow]

Kimball
XF5 is the closest I've found to matching the Hornby shade of Apple (grass) green, ..but does require a varnish to get the colour out of it. ....

re: the bow pen. Using mostly Humbrol satin, I've not needed to thin the paint from well mixed fresh tins,...
Bow pens are quite temperamental a ....
Hope this helps

Paul

Thanks Paul very much appreciated.

Kimball

[nzpaul]

Incidentally, there were two sets of stock for this service, one LMS and one LNER. The RM article is about the LMS stock...

That's what is alluded to but not said on the SB page. Mr Weallans has kindly sent a number of pages that I will print out and read through. One photo, at first glance, appears to show the train made up of a mixture of LMS/LNER coaches but I need to read it more carefully before claiming that as fact.
Thanks to all who have taken time to help on this subject, very much appreciated.

Paul

[Graeme Leary]

Hi Paul,

Perhaps the photo you mention has a 'through portion' of LMS carriages in with a mainly LNER set. d17 and 'Dave's C and W works' and I have been talking about this as I wondered what to do with some LMS carriages I had. They pointed out this type of formation would have been seen on trains running from eg Bristol to Newcastle (possibly even further north). I now have this type of set replicated (with a couple of minor modifications) with 2 LMS and 4 LNER carriages and for which my D49 Hunt class is ideal to work the formation. (Apologies to John and Dave if I have the details not exactly correct).

Graeme

[nzpaul]

Perhaps the photo you mention has a 'through portion' of LMS carriages in with a mainly LNER set.

That could well be the case Graeme. Some more information has turn up in my inbox from UpDistant (thanks John) so more reading should mean I have a reasonable idea of how the LMS and LNER interacted between Carlisle and Edinburgh. Looks like I'll be on the hunt for some Stanier coaches, does that give me an excuse to acquire a Princess or Duchess? I'm kidding of course....those big, manly locomotives given girls names....how could they.

Paul

[JASd17]

Clive Carter wrote this volume:

"Passenger Train Formations 1923-1983, LMS-LM Region", Clive Carter, Ian Allan, 1983.

I am sure the Thames-Forth was in there - I have a copy somewhere, but cannot find it at present. It is not often needed!

John

[JASd17]

Whilst looking for the Carter volume, I remembered LMS Coaches by Jenkinson and Essery had some formation information:

Thames-Forth 1938. BTK/TK/TK/RTO/RF/CK/BTK. There is a note saying there would be up to 4 more TKs in the Summer Saturday formation.

There was frequently a North British Yeast van behind the loco southbound too.

There is nothing on which period of LMS coaches they would be.

John

[nzpaul]

Thanks John, there's a colour photo on Steve Banks site that shows exactly that. Described as an NBR fruit and yeast van. I should probably do some research into that and build one if they were a regular feature. Period 3 LMS stock for the 1938 train according the info I have been given (whatever that means, I have to learn a whole new vocabulary to talk LMSese).

Paul

[JASd17]

Period 3 stock was the latest LMS types. The three periods were descriptions invented by David Jenkinson to make sense of the progression of LMS coach design. Steel panelled coaches with simplified lined livery.

John

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Captain Cuttle now officially named and numbered. I've spent more time than usual fitting a decoder. Things went horribly wrong trying to install the NCE D13 into the boiler as the larger NCE wiring wouldn't sandwich itself happily between the motor and boiler top so a major rethink ensued. I've banished all electronic gubbins to the tender and run wiring looms to connect pick-ups, motor etc.
For no other reason than finding a light bulb that fits in the fire-door hole, I've installed a firebox glow effect which just added to the complexity of wiring between loco and tender. It's not much more than a gimmick really but fun to play with while testing on the rollers.
The tender is currently being lined so completion not far off, then into some LMS coaches for a change of scene.

Tender chassis showing the wiring interface to the decoder.

Link to a short Youtube clip of firebox doing its thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXqzFeaTZtU

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
1st of 3 done, Colorado and Flamingo wont be quite a complicated as this one. Just a quick recap, Triang Hornby "Flying Scostman" turned into Captain Cuttle. Chassis and gear bushed and fitted with modern Hornby Wheels, cylinders, valve gear and front bogie. 5 pole MRRC/Airfix 1001 motor. Bachmann trailing axle frames from old split chassis V2. Round dome put in the right place. Tender built up from Hornby chassis and wheel set and a Graeme King resin tender body. Painted in Tamiya XF5 Green with Numbers and boiler bands from HMRS transfers, all other lining done with a bow pen. NCE D13SR decoder in the tender, setting CV116 to 38 and CV117 to 1 gives amazing slow speed running (not that it's built to go slow), just a tip for DCC users.
Just a bit of glue n glaze in the windows and that's it.
I'm not sure I'll ever do an A3 like this again, but it's been worth the effort.....I think.

Also finished of another long overdue model, the Dapol brake van with the waving guard. I didn't feel like applying a 6 digit number with Pressfix transfers so it has the number from the decal sheet in the kit. Given that the guard will be waving on the way past, I hope nobody notices my laziness

Cheers
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

Captain Cuttle shows just how good the Triang Hornby item nearly was.