Kevin, would that have been the South Acton shuttle, by any chance? That used a single G23 Stock car that wasn't converted to Q stock but was double-ended.

Hi Jeff.  Thank you for your reply, you got me there, but, it was many moons ago. Your are correct about theActon Shuttle, I knew one driver he had the nickname " Rigor mortis" and he was famous for "chasing the extra buck?" And he would travel anywhere that he thought the dreaded " Driver Only operation" was roumered to be introduced on. The London Transport shop had a photo of him driving the Acton Shuttle. 
The more I think about? whichever stock/Year it was? The Guards compartment that I'm referring to was the only one in a "Box",  Meaning that it had been a driving cab , hence the nickname "Horse Box" . Every other stock DM had a glass partition and air worked Guards door. But let's not spilt hairs over my recollections.
All the best. Kevin

The F Stock from 1920 also had some double-ended DMs, with two cabs. I always think the F Stock looked more modern than the later G, K, L, M, and N Stocks (which all became part of the Q Stock), perhaps because of the clerestories on the later ones, where F Stock had elliptical roofs.

Hi Jeff.  As far as I can remember, the Horsebox conversion were the one with "Flat end Clerestory Roof".Where the 1938's had an elliptical.   Kevin

Flat-ended clerestory would have to have been the G23/Q23; either that or something much, much older. 1920 F Stock had elliptical roofs and elliptical end windows, making them very distinctive, and subsequent clerestory stocks after the 1923 G/Q Stock had the rounded ends to the clerestories (that's the K, L, M, and N Stocks which became Q27/Q31/Q35), then came the 1938 Q/O/P Stocks with the flared sides and no clerestories.

I have given each of the five cars in the Q Stock train a coat of satin varnish to seal the transfers and also to tone down the high gloss finish (which has the added benefit of hiding some of the blemishes in my paintwork!).

This is a combined photo of the two Q27 cars - the mixing of the two photos into one can give a few minor odd effects.

Hi Jeff. Excellent work, which reminds me, the "five light signalmans headcode" on one of the variants, the first time I set up the "Headcode" I couldn't find the fifth light, until the driver pointed to it. By the way, I have actually started on reducing my " ever lengthening queue of unbuilt kits, and the GWR 6 ton crane kit from "Cambrian", I had trouble keeping the wheels in between the bearings, so good or bad? I wrapped masking tape around the frames while the glue set.  All the best. Kevin

Thanks Kevin.

I have to add some sort of headcode and destinations to both ends, Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I haven't fitted the shoebeams to the Q27 DM yet.

As for kits, I just did another "quickie" Cambrian kit, for a second LSWR open wagon, but I chose to do different braking arrangements on this one. I didn't bother masking off the wheels and bearings as the wheels themselves benefit from being painted (the treads can be cleaned off with a rotary wire brush in the Dremel),  and the bearings are protected by the wheels themselves.

Also going through unbuilt kits, I have recommenced work on a four car A60 train. I had painted the body shells a metallic silver, but I just don't find that convincing for the dull aluminium finish on these trains. I tried overpainting with Humbrol "aluminium" colour, knowing that it dries dull, but that also dried too dark, so I have now painted the bodies in Humbrol light grey #126, which I think is actually more convincing, in conjunction with a darker grey for the driver's doors and all of the corner pillars, plus an even darker grey for the roofs.

Next I'll have to assemble the white metal bogies and paint the underframes and floor units.

I bought some seat units off Radley Models to suit as well. I may have to find suitable motors for it: I have only one Black Beetle spare (not enough for a four-car unit), so may have to resurrect some Tenshodo SPUD motor bogies I have filed away. I believe they can be converted to DCC.

I'll post photos soon.

After that I have a four-car C Stock set to do. If the greys work out well on the A Stock, that's what I'll do on the C Stock as well.

Hi Jeff. Thank you too, when you say "C Stock" , do you mean the old C/O and C/P stocks that ran around on the Circle Line and Hammersmith & City lines? which were painted Red? or do you mean the C 69 and C 70 stocks(Which earned the nickname "One Armed Bandit" ) and painted silver , because they were driven Left Hand only with the Master controller and Brake all in one?   All the best. Kevin

Hi Kevin; I was referring to C69/77 Stock. I have some Little Bus Company resin kits for these to make a four-car set, and also a rather more complicated composite Fleetline kit, with brass, white metal, and plastic parts, also making up a four-car set which may or may not ever get built. C69/77 Stocks ran the Circle Line and also the Hammersmith & City Line until recently.

I have a train of CO/CP Stock already running, with one more white metal trailer car to build when I feel inclined to do so; that will make the CO/CP train up to six cars (2 x three-car units), where it is currently five cars (1 x two car unit and 1 x three-car unit).

Hi Jeff.    Thank you, my first kit, which is part complete "Wills, SR/BR(S) Bogie B Passenger Van" is really a van of many parts, talk about complicated? But I didn't realise there that there were so many LT Train Kits available, the one stock that was a favourite of mine was the "District Line R stock" and I have seen a cardboard kit advertised, but for me that would be a bridge too far. Your mention of "White Metal Kits" reminds me, what is you preferred way of getting crisp clean folds in the white metal? Keep up the good work, Kevin

Hi Kevin.
One generally doesn't fold white metal; the parts are usually castings with a small amount of flexibility to allow straightening if they get bent in transit.

Many of the older white metal kits have been converted to resin kits with one-piece body shells, where before the white metal kits used multiple separate pieces to form the sides and ends, as in the demo photos below (actually taken some time ago). These show a couple of F Stock trailers, but the principle is the same for other such kits.

Edit (additional info): note on these kits the roof was in two parts with a connecting piece in the middle. I had already glued the end castings to the roof ends here, allowing me to ensure that the finished sides matched the length required, as there was a small amount of leeway in the fit of the side components.






Radley Models does have R Stock resin kits available. You would have to combine those with Q38 DM cars to get a full set (modifying the Q38s slightly to become R38, R47 or R59 DMs).

Card kits can be made more robust using reinforcements and something like shellac, but that would also discolour them if you wanted to retain the printed liveries. Some of my earliest modelling efforts used card, making buses and carriage sides for starters.

Hi Jeff. Thank you,  silly me I meant " Etched Brass", 40 odd years ago I did have some "White Metal" cab ends for a 2 Bil, and if and when I get around to it? I believe my "Brakevan Kit" has some white metal parts, but it is mainly "Etched Brass" and that was meant to be the question.It is a pity, in a way that there are so many parts, to certain kits, but they do add detail and it is worth doing a good job, if you have the patience ?    All the best. Kevin

Etched brass is not my favourite material to work with! I do fold or bend using a variety of methods, as I don't own any purpose-made bending bars. For long folds I clamp one edge of the brass with a steel rule and then slowly work along the fold with gradual pressure all the way along. For small/short folds, a good pair of pliers does the trick.

Changing subject slightly, I have commenced work on the A60 Stock bogies and motors - unusually for me, I'm using two Tenshodo SPUD motor bogies that I have had in storage for years. I have tested these and they run fine on DC, so the next step is to wire them for DCC. To that end, I have pulled the brass contact strip out that connects with the brushes, and folded it upwards outside the motor housing to allow direct soldering of the pickups to the red and black wires on the decoder. the brushes have two tags sticking up out of the top of the bogie, which I previously soldered wires from remote pickups to, but which will now receive the orange and grey wires from the decoder.

I have some TCS M4 decoders free, so will use two of these (one for each power bogie). The four functions available on these decoders will allow for future lighting options.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos showing the very early stages, where I have screwed the adapters to the SPUD motors and glued the sideframes on to those, and I have glued the top-hat bearings into the bogie sideframes, then the bogie stretchers to one sideframe only, pending attaching the other sideframe and sandwiching the axles at the same time. The SPUDs had spoked wheels fitted already so I'm leaving them as is; LT tended to mix types of wheels quite indiscriminately on earlier stocks, but I'm not too sure about on the A Stock. With the solid bogie design, this won't really show much in any case!






Note the old 'credit card' style Hornby Club card I'm now using as a mixing palette for the Araldite two-part epoxy. I can only mix small batches at a time to work through the fiddly assembly bits.

On the A60 Stock train, I initially sprayed the body shells in a metallic silver, but I really didn't find the effect convincing. The A Stock in original form had actually quite a dull finish, so I have experimented with shades of greys, settling on Humbrol colours #129 for the main body, #126 for the corner castings, driver's doors and communication doors, and #67 for the roofs. I have included some before and after photos of the bodies to show the effects of the different colour schemes. Grey #126 is not perfect; I feel I need a slightly bluer shade, but I really don't want to mix it as that makes touching up later much more difficult. As the photos show, there are a few touch ups still needed to the lighter two greys. 

If you look at photos of A Stock in service in the 1960s, I think I have got closer to the effect of weathered aluminium.

Hi Jeff. Thank you, speaking of Underground train wheels, many years ago LT had purchased a batch of wheels from Austria , I believe that they had spokes, and there were incidents ( three I beieve?) with broken Axles or Spokes? in passenger service.  I have a Wood Workers vice with smooth jaws, and it should be wide enough to cope with all Etched Brass wagons and at least some of the older style carriages ( the 50' ones), have you tried this idea?I am concerned that if the jaws had a tight grip, it may spoil the detail of the etch:oops::???:. As far as Motors go? they are beyond me, maybe I should read up on the subject ? it maybe good bedtime reading, and then I could dream about trains . Kevin

If you use the vice to fold the brass, put some strips of felt (or something like that) to prevent bruising the metal.

Hi Jeff.  Thank you, I did  have some doubts about my idea, and thought you would have theanswer. Kevin

I have ordered some wheels with shorter axles from Steam Era Models; unfortunately for me, David form SEM is on holiday so the wheels will be delayed a little. It was nice of him to answer my email from his holiday location, though, so top marks to him and SEM.

In the meantime, I have now wired two TCS M4 decoders to the motor bogies and tested them successfully on DCC. I arbitrarily allocated an address of 40 to both, but I haven't actually worked out numbers for the unit yet. This just follows on from my other underground sets, where the first number was allocated according to the last two digits of the car numbers of the 2-car motorised CO/CP set (37). The F Stock (with cars still unnumbered) became unit 38, and the Q Stock is 39, so logically the A Stock will be 40. 

:)

Just to throw a spanner in the works, the S Stock is 87 - the two motored cars have last digits of 87 and 88.

Back to the A Stock, while I have put all the bogie and underframe parts back in the box, I have continued painting and touching up the body shells, and can also start on painting the seat units, so progress is not entirely at a stop.

I have been fiddling with a few projects while on school holidays, but am running out of time before having to go back to work again.

I recently re-chassised a Bachmann London Transport Pannier Tank, L91, which used to have a split chassis but now has a DCC-ready chassis donated by a BR black example I bought at a reasonable price off eBay. Because of its origins, I have had to repaint the wheels and coupling rods; they are still a bit shiny but some judicious weathering should fix that.






Also recently completed is a Cambrian Kits LSWR open wagon, which has joined a pre-grouping train of kit-built wagons, including my previously built LSWR open and two LSWR vans. I have chosen an alternative brake arrangement on the second open wagon.






Also pre-grouping is the Bachmann LBSC E4 0-6-2T, which now has a crew fitted. I have been buying pre-painted loco crews as well as painting a few more myself, and had a minor blitz on putting them into some locomotives, including a Merchant Navy, a Standard 4MT 4-6-0, a Beatty well tank, two E4 0-6-2Ts (the other one being a BR lined black example), a C class 0-6-0, a 700 class 0-6-0, and an N class 2-6-0. There are still more to do, although tank locos tend to be more difficult to do, particularly if the cab roofs are glued on too well.




Finally for now, I have found a colour I am happy with for my London Transport A60 Stock train - a 'flat aluminium' colour. This four-car unit is under construction, but is presently held up awaiting wheels with a suitable axle length (ordered but not yet here). I fitted the side frames to the motor bogies (two Tenshodo SPUD motors), followed by wiring two TCS M4 DCC decoders to the motor bogies. The M4s will allow for future lighting to be fitted and controlled. The body shells in the photo are still in the process of being painted, so have some rough edges apparent.