Galteemore

There are two main hazards with buying a half built kit off the web. One is that it may be incomplete. The other is that work done so far will be badly done. This PP arrived as a box of half-used etches and a few made up body parts. The chassis did look good in the eBay pics, and so it proved in real life. The body was mounted on a wooden block, which is a combat indicator that the builder knew their business. Having gone through the boxes, most of it seemed to be there, bar the tender chassis. It took longer than I would have liked to make this from scratch , but it’s more or less done now. Several attempts were required to get it right and I will fine tune it before final assembly. It will be sprung - albeit crudely - and the weight will be transferred to the loco as per Mike Sharman’s recommendations for 4-4-0s. The tender body carcass had been very competently assembled and just needed detail work such as lamp irons and water filler. The arrival of tender toolboxes from Laurie Griffin today mean that the tender is basically done. The loco needs a little more work….some of the cab parts were distorted by the time in storage - and horribly tarnished - but 74 is coming together. I had to desolder some of the existing work as the parts had not been assembled as per the kit instructions. Adrian’s very clear on the order in which things should be done and it’s not wise to ignore that. As you can see, the cab area is now more or less on track after some careful cleaning, metal bending/squeezing, and not a little soldering. I am a little alarmed to find that this is my fourth GN model in a row and I haven’t touched anything SLNC for a year…..I blame @leslie10646…. As an historian by training , it’s been fascinating to discover from the paperwork accompanying it that this was one of the first kits to be bought - the builder was on Adrian’s ‘expression of interest’ list, and this kit dates from 2001/2.

Fabulous to see a body shell which could so easily have been binned resurrected so successfully

It’s incredible. A must for any Irish modeller I’d suggest - esp if you model the pre 70s era.

Gordon Gravett also recommends a coating of scatter crumb before static application. This adds body and depth to the grass.

Simply splendid. I do like a nice clean nickel silver engine. Some lovely work on that tender - I do like the elegant brackets holding up the coal space just adjacent to the tank filler.

That van is gorgeous. One for you, @leslie10646?

Now that’s rather charming. Ideal for those jobs when lugging out the pillar drill just isn’t worth it! Good for plasticard wagon making I dare say….

Excellent. Nothing better than trying your hand at this and building some confidence.

Great little line - used to be my local ! Good to see the main line connection back. Risborough is like the Goraghwood of the Chilterns, with two active branches!

Sounds like fun Leslie! Be interested to know what’s causing the S to short. One of the joys of building brass kits…..

Beautiful Alan. That represents many hours of thought, care, effort - and in all likelihood some choice combinations of words….really captures the likeness of the original.

Agree with Leslie, whoever took it, it must rank in the top ten of colour Irish rail photos from that era.

Some of these ladies were very adventurous, taking part in the ultimate Wild West of railtours, the LRTL trip to Dingle.

The drone eye view is most interesting - the Hattons ones look very skinny by comparison !

Great stuff Leslie. To be pedantic Rev Alexander was Dean of Derry and then Archbishop of Armagh

Know what you mean David! For me it’s also the mystery of what’s inside….shades of Auden… .Letters of thanks, letters from banks, Letters of joy from girl and boy, Receipted bills and invitations To inspect new stock or to visit relations, And applications for situations, And timid lovers' declarations, And gossip, gossip from all the nations, News circumstantial, news financial, Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in, Letters with faces scrawled on the margin, Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts, Letters to Scotland from the South of France, Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands Written on paper of every hue, The pink, the violet, the white and the blue, The chatty, the catty, the boring, the adoring, The cold and official and the heart's outpouring, Clever, stupid, short and long, The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong. and that’s only the letters - haven’t got to the parcels yet!

Fab Leslie - was hoping for a parcels train from you! Love that little W1 van. Your efforts last year inspired me to run my own GN parcels this year

That’s pretty good for the genre. At least it doesn’t have a cowcatcher and a Flying Scotsman nameplate

Latest project - two GNR parcels vans, variants of which traversed SLNC metals regularly. Alphagraphix kits. Not quite finished yet / need to sort last few transfers. Will lightly weather them when that’s done. Nice little kits. Rocking axle allows some compensation.

Nespresso order arrived today with a new flavour. Hadn’t realised they had a link with Belmond. Interesting bogie design….

Fabulous story. Will be a nice mix of stock. Multum in parvo !!

Thanks Alan. Beyer tanks are like that as you know. Simple squares at the back - horrendous curves at the front!!

Yep. Been there done that got the burnt fingers…..

Well done Alan. The Beyer smokebox is a thing of beauty but not easy to replicate, with those subtle curve reversals. Looks great.