Darius43

I pre cut the curves on pieces of Tamiya masking tape and apply them to suit. Cheers Darius

Window glazing fitted. All those side windows make the inside look rather empty so I have ordered a resin engine to fill the space. Cheers Darius

I guess paint dries quicker down here on the south coast. Cheers Darius

Decals applied and an overall Matt varnish coat sprayed on. Cheers Darius

Primary painting completed. Cheers Darius

Primer coat on body and tanks installed using plasticard. Cheers Darius

Silver Fox models B Class started. Hornby Railroad Class 55 chassis (as recommended by Silver Fox) modified to fit. I had to thin* the inside faces of the Silver Fix resin body with a Dremel so that the chassis would actually fit. The tablet catcher recesses below the cabside windows were a bit shallow so I drilled out the lower parts and re-made them using plasticard sheet. I cut away the Deltic bogie sides and glued in place the Silver Fox replacements. I sanded* the rear faces of the replacement sides to provide a decent surface for glueing. I glued strips of plasticard to the inside faces of the resin body to act as chassis supports. Body fitted to chassis - it’s an interference fit at the moment. Next tasks are further cleaning of the body and scratch building the tanks that sit between the bogies - the Silver fox ones aren’t that good. Cheers Darius * I always wear a respirator when sanding resin and keep it on until all the resin dust has been cleaned up.

Do the on train announcements say that “we are now arriving into” whatever the station is rather than “arriving at” the station. The former suggests to me that the train will be hitting part of the station. Cheers Darius

Obtained an unboxed Hornby Class 101 centre coach from eBay in blue/grey livery. I detached the coach body from the chassis and removed the interior. The window glazing was carefully removed and the body masked for painting into Regional Railways livery. The first class logos were removed from the window glazing using the end of a cocktail stick dipped in white spirit. The wooden cocktail stick is abrasive enough to remove the painted on sign but soft enough not to scratch the clear plastic. Fox Transfers lining decals applied and glazing re-fitted. Coach interior upholstered and gangways fitted. Light weathering of chassis to finish. Cheers Darius

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Buffer beam hosiery and light weathering to finish. Cheers Darius

Funky Cheers Darius

Pantograph and bus bar gibbons fitted to the roof. Cheers Darius

Brass wire cab handrails installed. Cab and bodyside glazing fitted. I had wondered if the SE Finecast glazing panels for the Triang or Trix Class 81 or the Hornby Class 86 would fit but alas they don’t - apart from the Class 86 triangular quarterlights. Glazing panels were thus cut from clear acetate sheet, trimmed to fit and fixed in with a very small amount of superglue. The windscreen wipers are Bachmann Class 85 spares from Rainbow Railways. Cheers Darius

Class 84 load bank lining and other decals applied - courtesy of Railtec. The orange cantrail lining will be applied tomorrow after these decals have set under the coat of Klear varnish. Cheers Darius

The replacement “modern” Hornby motor coach chassis arrived today and the interior, motor and trailing bogies were fitted to it. I added 3D printed buffer hosiery from West Hill Wagon Works. Light weathering of the new chassis to finish. Cheers Darius

The CMAC bogies and chassis were painted black and brass top hat bearings fitted to the bogies. I used wheels from old Hornby Class 86 bogies, removing them from their original axles and fitting them to new axles (from spare wagon wheelsets) that have pinpoint ends. Initial painting completed. Cheers Darius

Spotted on and obtained from eBay - 3D printed resin model from CMAC. The parts are nicely moulded but small print support “trees” need to be trimmed away and the parts cleaned up with a light sanding - especially around the buffers. I sanded off the moulded BR arrows and removed the cab front handrails. I will add brass wire handrails after painting. The undergibbons part is a loose fit to the body with no support points so I added those using strips of 1mm thick plasticard fixed with superglue. Alas a trio of air tanks are located where the pantograph should sit and these are impossible to cut away. I therefore stitch drilled around them and carefully cut between the drilled holes to remove them. The resultant hole was cleaned up and filled with plasticard. Hopefully CMAC can delete these air tanks from future prints… A bonus with this loco is that it doesn’t need to be motorised, which simplifies the construction considerably. Priming next. Cheers Darius

Motor coach interior completed. Replacement motor and trailing bogies located. I have ordered the newer Hornby 101 chassis part from Peter’s Spares as it will be easier to fit the newer bogies to it. The old Lima bogies will be added to the spares box. Cheers Darius

I picked up this second hand Lima Class 101. Someone had done a reasonable job of detailing and weathering the chassis but more can be done. First off the Lima pizza cutter wheels on the trailer coach were replaced with better wheels. The interior had the floor painted grey. I repainted the floor and painted the seats and partitions before applying home made upholstery decals. This was followed by peops and a driver. The body was then given a clean and re-fitted. The plan is to replace the pancake motor bogie and trailing bogie of the with more recent Hornby DMU examples. Cheers Darius

I have the CMAC Class 450 in the stash - obtained when it was first offered on eBay. I got as far as applying a coat of grey primer. Cheers Darius

I had one of these pedal tractors in the early 1970s - I think my Dad got it second or third hand from a mate at work. The main wheels were not rubber tyres but hollow hard plastic so they just wore out from being used on hard paved surfaces. It also made for a very hard ride… Cheers Darius

Alas they’re sold out on Etsy - perhaps they’ll print some more. My father worked at Harland and Wolff in Belfast in the 1950s as an apprentice marine engineer when he first came over from India. He returned to Belfast with us all in the late 70s working for Michelin. That’s how I got to go to BRA for my education. Cheers Darius

And we’re off… Cheers Darius

Yes. Why aren’t rails keeping me fully informed 24-7 about the status of MY ORDER that I haven’t yet paid for instead of focussing on running their business. Interesting choice of content for a first post on IRM. Personally I am happy to carry on modelling and let the coaches and other preorders turn up when they do rather than fret as to where they are. If you are really vexed you can always contact Rails directly, as others have done. Cheers DariuS