The sepia shots seem to give the best atmosphere Jeff.I do like those.

Thanks Alan. I like the atmosphere in them and they seem to make the model look more realistic too.

Incidentally, I did try fitting the cab doors but they didn't like the curves on my layout so they were taken off again!

I do like black and white photos,i think it goes back to the days before colour tv's when you had no choice.:thumbs

Having found the correct SECR grey I gave the ex-LCDR brake van a quick coat. The grey is darker than I thought it would be and seems to  resemble Great Western wagon grey fairly closely. The paint will have to be touched up as construction proceeds but it is nice to get an idea of what the final appearance will be like. The Humbrol blue-grey #79 that I used as a stop-gap seemed too dark to me at the time but actually looks like a faded version of the 'proper' SECR grey - something I may use to advantage if I add any SECR wagon kits to the construction list in the future. 





I have now commenced fitting the 'wooden' brake shoes, adding them to the rigging already started last week. I have only done one side as this is extremely fiddly work and I was getting tired and clumsy as work progressed! The brake shoes are not yet fastened to the floor so look a little uneven in the photo. While the metal parts are being soldered together, the upper parts have been passed through holes drilled in the plastic floor and will be araldited into place when I am ready.





I intend adding a thickness of plastic inside the brake blocks. 

After the brake gear is finished, the next thing will be fitting handrails and footboards, glazing, then finish the painting and add transfers. It shouldn't be too long before it is complete. :)

I noted that Bachmann's Collectors Club has announced a set of three SECR liveried open wagons, so have ordered a set online already! they will sit nicely in the existing train with the ex-LCDR brake van bringing up the rear.

While I had the soldering iron out, for a quick and easy job I added a TCS Z2 decoder to my recently acquired Hornby LBSC A1 Terrier 'Earlswood'. The conversion went like a dream. I did the same as for my previous (Dapol) Terrier conversion and drilled a series of holes to form a slot in the cab floor below the firebox door and threaded the decoder up through that.

A quick check on the programming track, allocating the number 83 and it was off on the main lines. It went backwards so I swapped the orange and grey wires to the brushes, put the body back on, tweaked the inertia/momentum settings (CV3 = 20 and CV4 = 15) and off it went, very, very smoothly (it was already a good runner on DC power).

It's nice to get an instant result that works!  :cool:



Photo taken before fitting the decoder.

I managed some further work on the brake gear on the ex-LCDR brake van on the weekend. All rigging is now in place - at least, all the rigging I am ever going to do! - but the tops of the brake blocks are not yet anchored. I have threaded the tops through holes in the floor. Where I managed to break off the top strips I have soldered short lengths of wire for the same purpose. The last photo shows these projecting inside the van body and also my stove, made from a resin barrel with a brass tube stuck into it! The tops of these strips or wires will be bent over to locate the blocks at the correct height, then araldite will be used to fix them permanently

And now for something completely different! 

I performed a quickie weathering job on a Bachmann blue class 25, 25 276. This locomotive has lost its sound-fitted chassis to a green example. I have used the usual weathering mixes of Humbrol #62 leather, #85 coal black and metallic gunmetal, plus some matt varnish.

I have tried to be subtle on the sides, leaving some nearly pristine blue showing. As a visual displacement technique, I have carried the yellow of the front up over the centre part of the gutter to disguise the too-flat curve over the windscreens. While this is fairly obvious in the photos, it works reasonably well to the naked eye at normal viewing distances.

I may, at some stage, renumber this locomotive into the pre-TOPS style.

Well, my GAP Z arrived today. It was a little delayed as it broke GAP's mould! Chris Meachan included a note of apology and explanation of what happened.

I immediately started a cleanup of the flash and moulding pips. I then took the Stanier body off its chassis and removed the front pony truck. The rear tender coupling was removed and the wires snipped back near the decoder socket. The Socket circuit board was filed down as per the instructions and the inside of the body cleaned up with a milling tool in the Dremel.

I carefully drilled out the chimney, starting with a small pilot hole then progressively larger drills until I got to the right diameter.

The result is not quite sitting correctly yet, currently being about a milimetre (or less) high at the back. I'll sort that out before long. The wiring will be simplified as I eliminate the capacitor and remove the tails of the wires to the tender coupling.

Anyhow, here are a few photos of the start I have made.







Note in the first two shots the Stanier 8F body can be seen in the background In the foreground is an old Triang 'Nellie' locomotive that I have decided to upgrade and detail a little as a 'quickie' project. It has gained Romford wheels and axles cascaded from my Craftsman 07 diesel shunter - that received new Markits wheels and axles. I also shaved off all the moulded handrails on the boiler and smokebox and replaced them with proper handrail knobs and wire. I had to make up a replacement baseplate from 40 thou plastic as the original disintegrated! Because I have used insulated wheels on both sides, I have to rig new and extra pickups then I may even stick a decoder into it as the chassis will no longer be live. I'll post pics of that in my when I have better light for photography - the black model with black details doesn't show up well at present. Maybe I should have taken a few pics before hitting it with the black paint!

A little further progress on my Z. I have been adding various bits of wire of suitable sizes for the ejector pipe, clack valves (doing the same as I did for the G16), and the handrails.









It is not runnable right now because I still have the blanking plug out of it - I will have to do the wiring mods mentioned before and maybe even shift the DCC socket board altogether for clearance reasons.

Last pics for tonight: the Z with Bachmann sprung SR/LNER buffers added (but only push-fitted until after painting!), then with steps added. A few minor repairs are needed to the step mouldings before painting. I am going to make completely new rear bunker footsteps out of plasticard as the resin ones were a bit ragged. Sorry tha last one is a bit blurred but the light was really not good by then.






Edited to substitute a clearer photograph for the second picture.

One more from me: the finer detailing continues on the Z. I mixed a bit of Milliput to repair the holes and gaps in the resin castings and used that to make some crude clack valves. Once painted these shouldn't look too bad. After some digging through photographs, I have worked out that the rather delicate lifting links for the valve gear were covered by boxes on the footplate after nationalisation (or possibly even just before!). I have made boxes of approximately the right size from two pieces of 60 thou plasticard laminated together.

There was also one more little wire handrail/handle on the smokebox door to do and that can also be seen in this latest photo.




The G16 has also had my crude Milliput clack valves added.

I also have a sheet of etched brass spectacle frames, the rear ones with coal bars on, from Mainy Trains and will use these on the Z. I have also used a set on the Triang 'Nellie' project which can be sen at the rear of the photo.

And yet one more shot of the detailing bits. The holes in the tank fronts are a fudge as the real items actually pass behind the tanks; on the model the tanks are integral with the boiler (a necessary compromise for the casting).



I will try to carve a little more detail into the clack valves rather than leaving them as semi-shaped blobs!

Still tweaking and refining things on the Z, I have added the strange pipework on the front above the buffer beam and the rear bunker steps, which were cut from 20 thou plasticard.

I temporarily installed a small Gaugemaster decoder, gave it the number 950 and took it to show off at PCM's BRMA meeting yesterday. It ran rather hesitantly because of the various disturbances to wiring and valve gear and a little resin dust in the pickups but after a quick lubrication job and dust off it is now (as I type) trundling around my layout.

I still need to add lamp irons and the smokebox number plate and then, I think, it will be ready for painting in plain BR black.







I have not, as yet, figured out how I am going to affix couplings!

Every time I think I'm close to finishing this I discover more details that I have missed! I keep checking the photos for positioning of items; the last time was to add the lamp irons and I noticed two more handrails on the back of the bunker. The lamp irons have been done using round section wire, flattened a bit in the pliers (not enough though!). The bunker handrails were added. The smokebox number plate was added out of 20 thou plasticard.


"At last I can apply the first coat of primer!" I thought. I duly dismantled the body from the chassis and sprayed it with a coat of grey primer (which is still drying as I type this) and I looked at the pictures again and then I spotted the two handrails on the footplate above the front steps! Ahhh well. They'll just have to be added afterwards.


Anyway, here are two more pics showing where I am at now, but just before the painting started.

Progress report for the Z follow: the first coat of undercoat grey (photo 1), handrails added over the front steps (no photo), second coat of primer grey (no photo), followed by two shots with the first coat of black (photos 2 and 3, front and back).










The black needs a light sanding down to eliminate a few lumps and blemishes before a second coat then some brush painting to pick out buffer beams (in red, of course!) and other details. There are still a couple of wire pipes to add around the whistle area, with the whistle and safety valves to be added last in unpainted brass.

The locomotive has now been sanded back lightly and resprayed, followed by a quick going over with Humbrol #85 coal black satin on footplate, smokebox and tanks/bunkers, then the buffer beams and buffer shanks were painted red. I have also filed the cylinders down just a little.


The GAP G16 4-8-0T can be seen in both photos as well.

Beautiful job Jeff.Very nice indeed.

Thanks Alan.

Last night I added the crests and numbers, then this morning I added glazing to the cab and ground away a couple of spots inside to allow the body to sit slightly lower on the chassis. It still looks a little high but is better than it was.





The main tasks left to do involve the whistle and attached pipework and the safety valves, plus a little painting of details and some weathering.

Getting very close to being finished now! I have added the safety valves (Markits) and whistle (a Bulleid one from Markits - the only type I have to hand right now!) plus a representation of the pipework leading to the whistle area. This is only representative as some of the pipes were a bit too fine for me to cope with. I need to dig out the copper paint for the clack valve pipes and those whistle ones.



I added a partition of plasticard inside the back of the cab to separate the lower bunker from the cab area - visible from some angles looking into the cab.

Coal has been added to the bunker (some of it is still loose in the photos as I haven't shaken it out again) - an underlayer of IKEA coal followed by a layer of real coal.

Looks good, but don't bother with the copper paint as external copper piping very soon ( within a matter of days) blackened with use, and was only cleaned if it was a top-link loco, if it's piano wire, or similar, leave it natural.