4mm An EM Workbench: whitemetal double act

Late-surviving LMS livery

Osgood

Western Thunderer
What I quite liked was that the wagon has been left untouched, as if the artist was acknowledging they were unsure as to what colours it and the detail should be, so rather than guessing it was simply left it as is.
 
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garethashenden

Western Thunderer
I wonder if the slow repainting of GWR engines is correlated with their retaining the same numbers? The other regions needed to renumber everything, but the Western didn't, so they only repainted engines when they needed major service.
 

Allen M

Western Thunderer
Hi Adam
Reminded by your LMS wagon.
I started Kidderminster Collage, then on Hoo Road (site now covered by Collage Road) in September 1956. There was a pannier tank regularly shunting the yard. This had 'Great Western' clearly down the side tanks. The livery by then was predominately matt 'dark grey'. Sorry I don't know the number or actual class or how long it lasted as I moved to a different area of the collage by the following Spring.
Regards
Allen Morgan
Hi all
I've had a think about this and it my have been GWR No28 the ex CM&DPLR loco. One possible place for information, if someone has access to it, is the book "When there was Steam" by Tony Barfield who was a fireman in Kidderminster about that time.

Regards
Allen Morgan
 
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daifly

Western Thunderer
Thanks - I've not heard of a pannier with 'Great Western' in full on the tanks, but I do have a lovely colour shot of 8750 class 9635 (built 1946) with 'GWR' on the tanks in one of my books.
Let me enlighten you then!
9701 at Swindon works c1933.jpg
Several (all?) of the condensing locos had "GREAT WESTERN" on the tanks but perhaps they were exceptions as they were based at HQ.
Faint but still distinguishable:
9716 at unknown loc.jpg
Sometimes you get two for the price of one:
9635 at Swindon works 24Mar63.JPG
But the clearest so far:
5713 at unknown loc 1930.jpg
Cheers
Dave
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Let me enlighten you then!
View attachment 127023
Several (all?) of the condensing locos had "GREAT WESTERN" on the tanks but perhaps they were exceptions as they were based at HQ.
Faint but still distinguishable:
View attachment 127024
Sometimes you get two for the price of one:
View attachment 127025
But the clearest so far:
View attachment 127026
Cheers
Dave

Very nice examples, Dave, including my friend 9635 which just couldn't shake the GWR off... The coda that I should have added, was 'in BR ownership'. I think I've seen a picture somewhere of at least one of the condensing panniers with GWR lettering post 1960.

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Superb! :)

I wonder if the slow repainting of GWR engines is correlated with their retaining the same numbers? The other regions needed to renumber everything, but the Western didn't, so they only repainted engines when they needed major service.

Maybe - I reckon that a highly centralised engineering set up with very, erm, independent tendencies might also be a factor, of course. You've got one enormous works which everything will end up at eventually and thus painting cycles were probably a bit longer than on some other regions. Compare that to the Southern which is *still* basically three independent railways, even now (four, if you count Salisbury depot and the LSWR mainline).

Adam
 
Lowfit

AJC

Western Thunderer
Some actual modelling (and in the form of a couple of relatively quick projects - there are others dragging on, but more of these later). This pair of Lowfit, both with LNER-type fitted brakegear but different in construction. Obviously in model form they're both rendered in Kirkcaldy-tooled plastic. The more complete of the two, fully lettered and liveried is the BR-build, from the Red Panda kit but with a Parkside LNER chassis:

Lowfit_001.jpg

Hopefully, you'll be able to see the additional work on the brakegear (which I've been told isn't worth it, more than once...) and the slightly wobbly tare numbers. Oops.

Here's the other, an LNER, wooden-framed version, like this one: 25/06/1963 - Hessle, East Yorkshire..

Lowfit_002.jpg

And from underneath - obviously there are levers and lashing loops still to add, but probably no Ford Anglia.

Lowfit_003.jpg

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Following the arrival of a couple of packets of churns from Dart Castings, I've been able to complete Bateman's Austin. The Somerset plates date it to 1960 and likely mean it would have been bought new from the local Austin dealer, Vincents of Yeovil. A touch of weathering as befits the dust of south Somerset roads but no more, because milk wagons were generally pretty clean. The 'fun' bit was the windscreen: prior to painting, I'd remembered to thin the inside edges of the casting which gave a bit of latitude with regard to cutting the glazing to fit and a greater gluing area. The actual fitting was still a matter of trial and error but has come out ok, I think.

FFK_009.jpg

This particular piece of glazing was a scrap of OHP foil (remember those? I kept mine after I went over to PowerPoint) which conformed to the inside of the cab nicely. Once fixed in the middle with a spot of superglue, the full fixing was achieved with a bit of Glue 'n' Glaze and looks not all that bad.

FFK_010.jpg

A cruel close-up for what's basically a bit of set-dressing, but I'm pleased. This is one that's been hanging around for too long!

FFK_011.jpg


Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Belatedly taking a holiday on the Isle of Wight which meant giving the boy - now 10 months - his first taste of steam between Wootton and Smallbrook Junction, albeit in the slightly rarefied environment of 2020. I think he enjoyed it, erratic ride on a recycled CCT chassis and all.

Some snaps from the day:

W_11.jpg

W11 running round at Wootton, Isle of Wight bunker and IoWCR chimney and lovely Maunsell green matching most of its reclaimed summer houses and chicken sheds including this rather lovely wooden box on wheels:

IoW_carriage.jpg

One of the very, very few new rail vehicles ever built for service on the Island: Historic Carriages Restoration | Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The other train in service - which ordinarily I'd have had a ride on too - featured relative super power and modernity, bogies and outside valvegear:

41298.jpg

Bogie_rake.jpg

And last time I saw B110 (as I'll forever think of it), it was in steam which, erm, it clearly isn't right now:

B_110.jpg

One day, I'll get to ride on what's left of the main line, but not this year...

Adam
 
Late-surviving LMS livery

AJC

Western Thunderer
Go back a page and you may remember the strange case of the LMS open in LMS livery, with large letters, round about 1957? 4mm - An EM Workbench - off the bench and over the water to Wight

How could I resist?

LMS_5_001.jpg

LMS_5_002.jpg

All this is from Rumney Models, both the chassis - which is pretty routine - and the body which is a bit more involved and very clever. It provides replacement wooden ends for a Parkside BR open which has corrugated ends as supplied. The depth of planks on these is made from three layers of brass with the detail cunningly aligned using the etch fret (a lot of 2mm scale kits do this sort of thing I understand). The floor and the core of the ends fold up into a 'U' and the whole is held to the chassis using the end stanchions. @jjnewitt has arranged things so the floor is modelled slightly higher than the prototype would be to allow a bit more space for weight under the floor so I've reinforced the edges of the floor that would otherwise rest on the solebars with some offcuts of flatbottom rail. A few more details to add and then I can glue the plastic sides in place. Almost as easy as the plastic kit...

Adam
 
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Late-surviving LMS livery

AJC

Western Thunderer
And ready for paint:

LMS_5_004.jpg

It's come together quite nicely with Justin's own axlebox castings and buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. I might well do another of these conversions - I don't really have enough opens - but I'm not sure I'd go with the brass body. It's all very neat and hugely enjoyable, a but I reckon I could manage it from plastic quite happily. It might take a bit longer, I suppose, but I could leave the soldering iron unplugged.

That said, the ends do look very good:

LMS_5_003.jpg

I seem to have run out of vac' pipe castings so had to make some from scratch which is a right faff, to be honest, but here they are, not plugged on to the dummy which adds a bit of character.

Adam
 
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Late-surviving LMS livery

AJC

Western Thunderer
Two standard designs from their respective companies, finished in contrasting ways. The LMS one we've seen before, and is finished per this picture: Harborne Station: xxx. My interpretation differs from that of whoever colourised the original in that I've preferred bauxite patches over black, but hopefully the inspiration is obvious?

LMS_5_007.jpg

The other is this SR 8 plank (from Cambrian with a Parkside chassis and my usual additions):

SR_8_001.jpg

What's next?

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
I'd love to know how you did the weathering on the chassis...really impressive and life like.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you, Mike. It’s my usual method. This being a coat of primer, followed by brushing Humbrol no. 98, Matt Chocolate, over it all (unless modelling an ex-works wagon, I never use black) which is allowed to dry thoroughly for a few days.

The weathering is applied with washes of enamels, using matt leather, metalcote gunmetal, a touch of orange and a little grey. Lots of thinners is added, meaning the method is a bit like watercolour painting with the mix altered to taste and varied according to what is being painted: the axle boxes get more or less unadulterated gunmetal for example. Once dry a light polish with a soft brush puts a bit of a shine on things.

These wagons don’t look quite so red with rust in the flesh!

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
More therapeutic wagonry in the shape of a Cambrian Salmon. I've done one of these before: 4mm - An EM Workbench - on the trail of M401033 and friends, but this one has the 8' bogies. Interestingly, there are quite a few differences between these otherwise very similar wagons.
  1. Handbrakes - short wheelbase bogie types have handwheels on both sides at each end, generally with 4 spokes.
  2. Buffers - a variety of different types were fitted over the years but the long-wheelbase bogie type seem to have had a type of self-contained buffer often seen on ballast wagons, iron ore hoppers and so on. They're derived from the GWR type, but with a pair of ribs on the casing rather than six. They also had oval heads which is a challenge: you can get the buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies, but only with round heads: BR Salmon with 8ft. wb bogie YMA YMP YMO YMB | DB996416 Salmon AB @ Stewarts Lane 80-03-08 � Paul Bartlett [2w]
So the brakes are easy, but have an interesting actuation mechanism: BR Salmon with 8ft. wb bogie YMA YMP YMO YMB | DB996502 YMO [2] which I'll worry about later. The buffers took a bit of thought. I found a set of oval overlays from a Masokits etch for Mark 1 details and so, taking a deep breath, proceeded to solder them to the whitemetal buffers. Contrary to expectations, this didn't produce a molten blob of lead alloy!

Salmon_long_001.jpg

Salmon_long_003.jpg

Like the previous Salmon, I've epoxied in a couple of bicycle spokes for strength. The Pipe wagon in the background is a medium-term project. Parkside supply the wrong chassis with heavy duty W irons (the real things were only 12 ton capacity) and there's masses of detail still needed.

Salmon_long_002.jpg

Adam
 
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