David Holman

At long last, the Barclay tank is about where I want it to be. The chassis continued to put up a fight, but with a day at home while we had a plumber in to move a couple of radiators, an opportunity to do lots of fettling meant I got things there or thereabouts. The bogie has needed a piece of brass strip to provide a bit of downward pressure on the front end & it ran even better where I removed a large piece of crud from one of the flanges. Dummy springs and brake gear largely completed the job - though couplings still need adding. After all the work on the chassis, paintwork on the body needed serious attention, so after a clean up and a respray in matt black, I sent off for some lining and lettering from Fox Transfers. These duly arrived the very next day and while the lettering [Londonderry and Burtonport Extension Railway No2] was simple enough, the lining was a real trial of patience. Swilly loco lining seems to vary on every loco over the years, so while I'm not going to claim any fidelity for No2 during my chosen period of the later 1940s, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it either. Then thought long and hard about the weathering, because Swilly locos were generally well kept, but looking at colour photos, it is clear that paintwork wasn't always in ex works condition either, so it was back to Martyn Welch's excellent book The Art of Weathering for ideas. The under frames were the standard mix of Humbrol Gunmetal, leather and black - plus a dusting of weathering powders. Areas like outside cranks and cylinders were picked out in Metalcote gunmetal [2004]. Being too lazy to set up the airbrush for what was going to be little more than a couple of light passes, I instead used the stippling technique. Metalcote gunmetal, gloss tan and roof dirt [mixed 2:1:1] was lightly brush painted over the whole body, apart from the smokebox. The trick then is to use a 'flattie' brush to stipple the paint, all over until it dries, which then gives a nice, fairly even, covering. You have to do small sections at a time, but for me it works quite well. The finishing touch, once the paint has hardened overnight, is to polish the surface using cotton buds, fingers, cloth or whatever seems appropriate. This give a nice sheen and the loco, while work stained, still looks well cared for. The smokebox gets the same treatment, but with ordinary gunmetal. So, there we are - it's been a long haul, with a completely new chassis and probably three different paint jobs, but I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out. Indeed, while it is all still fresh, I probably ought to have a go at the Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T, but something different [and less stressful] may well be appropriate before that. I've rather indulged on the photos, but, after all the effort, it is nice to see a model that has finally turned out ok.

Very much agree with the above and overall you should expect to build multiple layouts as skills improve and tastes change or develop. It's all part of being creative. Easy to say here, but scenery shouldn't be complicated. Any contours are just a case of building up layers with whatever scrap materials are to hand, then covering it with plaster/filler/papier mache. Use a small bit of board to practice beforehand, so you can try various scatter material too. Surprisingly quick and satisfying to do. Indeed, why not make a removable section of scenery, on a piece of thick card or thin board, that can be dropped in place when finished? Will need to be stuck down and blended in eventually, but will keep some of the mess away from the layout.

No problem John, always happy to help. For 4mm scale you should be fine with 40 thou for bodywork, because the smaller size reduces the problem of warping. Depending on the prototype, microstrip for strapping will be smaller in section because 80 thou equates to six inches in 4mm scale - likely to be too wide/thick - so check your drawings. Have always used Evergreen strip, but it gets ever more expensive and my local model shops don't seem to sell it, which is a shame. Slater's Plasticard still do a limited range with more strips in a pack for less than Evergreen, like 50-100 instead of 10. Their 80x20 is particularly good value. Solvents can cause problems with thinner plasticard, so if you can get it , D-Lemonine is more gentle option.

The current Rai!way Magazine has an article on the proposals for developing Irish railways - including a new branch from Derry to Letterkenny. No mention of 4-8-0s though...

Very nicely done. A clear, for me, of a very mundane prototype making a fine model - especially when brought to life with some subtle weathering.

Well, as the photo shows below the chassis remains far from plain sailing, with half the contents of the tool box in use. However, not a disaster either - more a case of being as methodical as possible, carefully investigating each stage, although a couple of self inflicted errors certainly didn't help. Error number one [despite the best laid plans] was discovered when I came to fit the wheels and found two of the frame spacers weren't in the right place! Fairly easily fixed, but annoying just the same. I was expecting wheel fitting to be tricky and so it proved. I cut my modelling teeth on Romford Wheels [EM gauge] and Slaters [7mm], both of which have square ended axles with screw fitting. Gibson wheels [for me anyway] are another matter, being a force fit on the axle. Simple enough with inside frames, but outside ones mean threading the axle in first, then both the wheels & finally the frame on the other side. Though a tight fit to begin with, the wheels soon seem to become very loose on the axle and/or the rim. Add in the need to thread the centre axle through the gearbox and a recipe for profanities is quickly brewing! Things weren't helped when I discovered that the square tube I'd added to the ends of the axles was working loose - negating all my efforts to make quartering simple. Salvation came when I remembered I'd got some Loctite 638 jointing compound. An innocent looking green liquid, it has been holding key areas of the inside motion in my Sligo Tank for several years now, despite being bathed in oil, so it is good stuff. The downside was needing to do more dismantling that I wanted, but that's chassis building for you. You may have noticed that the motor is now facing the other way - another round of dismantling... Finally got everything together & with the fixing nut on the main gear slackened was able to roll the chassis and check for clearances all round. Next came the connecting rods, which needed a fair bit of fettling before they ran smoothly. Another complicated task was fitting the pickups and wiring everything up to the motor. Nominally, there ought to be plenty of space between the outside frames to do this, but in practice there is less room than you'd think & I've needed a lot more wires than usual too. Still, early this evening, after a brief trial with some fly leads on the bench, the chassis successfully ran under its own power around Fintonagh. Not quite mission accomplished, because there is still the bogie to fit, the conrods, along with brake gear and springs, plus painting and weathering. The paint on the bodywork needs attention too, but at long last I'm starting to feel more confident of getting there.

My favourite is the original Brush Type 2 which became the Class 31/0. Drivers called them Toffee Apples because the main throttle control was removable and needed to be transferred to the other cab when changing direction. It was a ball shaped handle on the end of lever/stick - hence the nickname.

Can barely begin to comprehend the amount of work and planning that goes into such a creation.

Alphagraphix do a J18/19 in 7mm scale, though Mayner's comments still apply. No idea what Terry McDermott did to create a 101 (J15) for Richard Chown, but presume the kit was rescaled/drawn/photographed from his 4mm version. Either way, he did an excellent job because when the kit fell into my hands 20 years later it proved very good to build. See Tribute to Richard Chown on the Work bench thread. Wish I could say the same thing about the Alan Gibson 7mm scale Great Eastern 2-4-0 kit I built in the late 90's. Suspect it was a blow up of a 4mm version which wasn't exactly great in the first place, so enlarging everything only amplified the errors! Taught me a lot though...

Still waiting for a new pack of 1/8" shim washers, but in the meantime, realised I could set up the cranks and axles for easy quartering. As already mentioned, Slaters wagon axles are 1/8" diameter, with 1.8mm extensions. Their 7mm scale locomotive cranks, though plastic, have square section brass centres, so how to square off the ends of the wagon axles? In my box of metal sections, I found some 2.4mm square section brass tube, which has enough meat on it to enable the inside to be drilled out to 1.8mm diameter. Hence the square section tube can be slid on to the axle ends, to be glued in place via a simple jig to ensure the square ends line up - thereby enabling the cranks to be quartered. Slightly unfortunately, the inside section of the cranks is about 2.2mm square, so the new ends of the axles need a bit of filing down to make them a nice snug fit. However, once done, it was then possible to fit the cranks to the axles. The crank pins are 12ba bolts, over which brass top hat bearings go & the coupling rods then slide on to this, held in place with a nut and washer. Initially, the coupling rods were a bit tight & I also found the cranks were catching on the ends of the slide bars. However, a bit of gentle reaming soon eased the crankpin holes, so with the slidebars cut back a little, I soon had what should be a nice rolling chassis. The outside frames mean there is plenty of room to fit the motor gearbox, though it will undoubtedly be fiddly threading axles through washers, gears and wheels, so not there yet!

Great to see 5'3 being the benchmark. According Slaters, the b2b in 7mm scale is 33.98mm - so 34 then... For 7mm 3' gauge, I use b2b of 19.2 mm. P4 axles aren't long enough for wagon axle boxes in 21mm gauge, but using 2mm brass wire means uncoupling magnets can't cause mischief.

Good advice from John, as ever. Smith's couplings aren't completely to scale, but the more open hook and slightly larger links make them useable while still looking the part. Definitely better than tension locks, though a lot of people use threes links within takes of wagons and coaches, with something else either end for easier shunting. Screw link couplings certainly look good, but operationally are the Spawn of Satan and (especially between corridor coaches) are best avoided!

Pendon also houses John Ahern's Madder Valley Railway. Although it looks it's age now (parts of it must be over 80 years old), it nevertheless remains inspirational, because it is completely scenic, but built in an era when almost everything had to be created from recycled materials. No Woodlands Scenics, no plasticard, no pva glue - Cow Gum and flour and water were all they had. Have his books on loco building and model buildings and much of what they contain are still relevant, albeit with modern materials. Love the diorama concept, Kevin.

Couldn't have put it better. Love its craft and soft colours

Slow but steady progress on the Barclay chassis. The top spacers were put in next - the rear one containing the hole for the bolt fixing to the body, the front with the plate to which the bogie swivel post is attached. There is no front fixing as the front top spacer slots under a piece of L shaped channel to hold it in place. Next up was a small piece of L shaped brass on which sits the 8ba nut for the bolt for the bogie unit. The fiddliest bit [inevitably with the most rude words] involved fitting the cylinders, slide bars and motion brackets. For reasons I can't explain, these were fitted to the loco body originally, which made it a complete faff when adding the crossheads to the cylinders. Most of the bits were retained from the original effort though there were times when I wondered if I should have made new ones! I did end up making new slide bars and was initially concerned that I could neither find, nor buy any brass strip of the right size. The local model shop came to the rescue with some small section U channel, into which I soldered some 0.8mm nickel silver wire which then plugged into the cylinders. Hopefully, all seems to be in place & you can see where I've put in a bit of packing between the cylinders and the frames, which gives an all important bit of extra clearance for the cranks, rods & so on. I'd bought some MJT horn blocks, but decided against using them. However, the cosmetic etches have been soldered to the frames. They will largely be hidden once the cranks have been put on, but should given a reasonable impression. And so to a squirt of automotive primer. Whether this is too soon or not remains to be seen, but at some point soon, I need to fit wheels/motor/gears and eventually the outside cranks and rods. Once in, the former will pretty much have to stay that way, because I certainly don't want to be dismantling everything too often or any time soon, once fitted. The chassis can be brush painted, while the wheels will be pretty much invisible - good job, as they have twice as many spokes as they should. Things like brake gear and the underslung dummy springs will be glued in place, as it is really not a good idea to get a hot soldering iron anywhere near the Gibson wheels. For now, I'll be waiting for the postman to send me a pack of 1/8th inch shim washers to pack the axles. The motor will drive on the centre axle, while the front and rear ones need bit of side play. Fingers crossed, once the wheels are in place I'll be able to get on with the cranks and rods. It would be rather nice if these worked nice and smoothly after all the hassle that went before, but I'm not holding my breath.

A fine and fitting tribute.

Barclay Chassis 2.0 Have been brooding a lot these last couple of weeks over my inability to get this chassis right, though I console myself with the fact that outside framed/outside cylinder chassis are far from common and there isn't a great deal of information around to help. Where there is, conventional wisdom seems to say do a conventional inside chassis & add dummy outside frames. Trouble here is that with the Barclay tanks having underslung springs, this makes getting wheels motor gears out rather difficult - hence my going along the keeper plate route. Was still thinking about that when I ordered some MJT horn blocks from Dart Castings, which use 14ba nuts to allow the bearings to be dropped out if required. However, in the end I decided this was not for me & have gone back to a more traditional approach. This was influenced by the drawings Roger Cromblehome [Alphagraphix] kindly sent me. Interestingly, these just use the outside frames & are therefore a much simpler affair than trying to build an inner and outer chassis, with horn blocks and compensation. I also made the drawing below, in order to establish clearances for wheels, motor/gearbox cranks, coupling rods and so on. As can be seen, there is plenty of room for the motor - though not if I'd used the MJT horn blocks, which are 4mm deep. High Level ones are much slimmer mind. Using washers will limit any side play on the centre, driven axle, but enable enough on the outer axles to cope with my 3' radius paintwork. The main problem with this approach is that wheels/motor/gears have to pretty much stay put, once fitted, plus working out when to prime and paint the chassis will also need careful thought. The trade off is [hopefully] a much simpler chassis. So, back to basics - starting with the coupling rods, made from two strips of brass, soldered together, drilled for the 4'2/5'4 wheel base, then filed to shape. Next came the outside frames, done in the same way, but with significant use of a slitting disc in the Dremel. Crude, but effective and [for me anyway], much quicker than a piercing saw. I then made myself a simple jig to add a couple of frame spacers to one of side frames. The jig is just two pieces of L shaped aluminium angle, screwed at right angles to a piece of Contiboard. Hair clips hold the frame and spacer in place while they are soldered together. Once both spacers had been soldered to one frame, it was time to dig out my Poppy's Woodtech chassis jig. Mine is actually designed for 0 gauge, 3/16th inch axles, but by using two lots of brass tube over the 1/8th axles, still works well enough, as shown below. The three long pieces of 1/8th steel rod indicate everything looks parallel, so [fingers crossed], the rest should follow. You might just be able to see the brass top hat bushes in the frames. I've deliberately put these facing outwards & have filed them down so that the 29mm 1/8th inch section of each axle sits nicely within them - allowing the outside cranks to clear the frames. So, there we are, with the final picture showing the new frames sitting nicely under the Barclay's bodywork. Unlike the previous version, the cylinders, slide bars and motion brackets will all be part of the chassis, because fixing them to the footplate was not a good idea. That's it for a few days though as the Domestic Authority has decreed we need to do some decorating and as we all know this [like work] is the curse of the modelling classes...

Lovely job - pretty engine & very fine model.

My little project of Donegal trailer No5 is about complete, though the couplings still need buffing plates, lamp irons need adding and a bit of weathering wouldn't go amiss. Overall though, a nice, cathartic exercise after the frustrations of the Barclay chassis! The roof was finished by a combination of a 20thou 'skin' and some car body filler. The chassis took a bit more thought, especially when I realised the wagon etch I'd used needed cutting down, because the trailer has no sole bars as such, while brake gear is a case of bits and pieces cobbled together and hiding under a coat of matt black. Couplings are work in progress. Am experimenting with slimline tension locks, removing one of the hooks from each pair & adding a round buffing plate, so they look like narrow gauge 'choppers'. A piece of soft iron wire [paperclip] will be soldered to the dropper of the remaining hook, so an electromagnet can be used to lift this hook to uncouple. As can be seen below, the trailer will be used with Railcar 10. Photos indicate that, because the seats weren't reversible, both trailer and railcar were turned at the end of each journey, which will make for a nice set of moves on the layout - ideal when trains are short. Have made sure the trailer is free running, so Railcar 10 has no problems in hauling it. Meanwhile, pondering on a replacement chassis for the Barclay, have now taken delivery of a few items to help in the form of MJT horn blocks and Slater's 7mm scale outside cranks. Decided my home made cranks were not up to standard, while the Slater's ones have the advantage of having square holes to sort out quartering. Still an issue though, because they don't do a 21mm gauge extended axle. However, am hoping I'll get round that by using their 7mm scale wagon axle, which has a 35mm central section an eight of an inch in diameter, with extensions each end of a smaller diameter. Rummaging in my box of brass tube, found some square section that nicely goes over the axle extensions and [with a bit of judicious filing] can be made into a good fit for the outside cranks. So, with a simple jig I can now have self quartering outside cranks and what's more Gibson driving wheels will fit nicely over the square section tube. So far, so good, though I'm still going to need to make new frames and coupling rods, for which I need to do a much better job than last time. Wish me luck!

Wonderful.

The thing about Trevor was his skills were museum quality across every aspect of his layouts. There are folk who make stunning locomotives, superb scenics, buildings or brilliant painting, but Trevor did it all and to see his work close up was a rare privilege.

Saddened to read of the passing of one of the great layout builders of our time. If you've never come across his work, he is well worth looking up. Trevor worked in S gauge (1:64) and his layout, East Lynn was just stunning. Everything scratchbuilt, working inside valve gear on all the locos and covering pre grouping Midland Great Northern/Great Eastern. Helped operate it a couple of times and it ran superbly. The real treat was to work the quayside, complete with wagon turntables and chain shunting. All in all a remarkable talent.

Joyous!

Good stuff - many thanks, Andy. My time period is second half of the '40s so that works out fine.

Steady progress on the trailer this week. As well as the AlphaG kit, there is help in the form of three quarter views from opposite ends in two photo albums - one the Steve Flanders pictorial, the other Michael Bunch's Donegal Diary, part 1. Indeed, only recently realised that Trailer 3 was custom built as such & not a repurposed earlier railcar like some of the others. Much of the work has been fiddly, with 40, 60 & 80 by 20 micro strip for the glazing [inside and out] and some 10 by 20 for the lower panels. The seats have been made from 40 thou sheet, with three separate pieces for each. To help with painting, these were mounted on a separate inner floor. Painting the interior has been quite a challenge too. Used Humbrol brown and a very fine brush to do the glazing bars and doors. The pagoda style roof has caused much pondering. The AlphaG card kit provides one idea and may use this as a template to create a 20thou 'cover' to the under frame illustrated below. Alternatively, may cover everything with filler and then sand to shape.