David's Workbench

[Galteemore]

Fascinating to see you re-enacting the real history of the CVR stock David. Although your two CVR tank locos are probably nervously hoping you don’t take this historical fidelity  too far! 

[David Holman]

Certainly no scrapping allowed - though have wondered if (had they been in better condition), the Swilly might have been tempted to take them on?

 Not sure what purpose they would have had, but might have looked good in that lined, dark green they used.

[David Holman]

Measure twice, cut once, the old saying goes - to which I would add, Look, Look and Look Again. This is because, in checking out photos of Phoenix, noticed that I'd missed a couple of things on the Railcar and Unit, in particular the front buffer beam - or lack of it.

 Must admit, I had wondered about this especially whether it was painted a different same of red to the body. Well, how wrong can you be, because not only is the buffer beam much narrower than it was in Clogher Valley days, it is also black. So, out with the Dremel and a slitting disc to cut down the offending articles, then a coat of matt black and job done. The ladder to the roof rack on the railcar is in the wrong place & needs to be offset to one side, but that will have to wait, so don't tell anyone for now.

  Phoenix has proved to be another reason to study as many photos as possible. Cream upper body, red lower body and black under frames? Not quite. The window frames seem to be black, as is the beading above/below the red body work. This certainly helps lift the ugly duckling a little, though swan it ain't! The picture below gives some idea, though there is quite a way to go yet, in particular weathering. Some photos show it utterly filthy, but in others it is quite well turned out, so no decision yet.

 

[David Holman]

Two new posts on the same day? Don't know what the weather is doing over the water, but in this corner of Blighty, it is still April - windy, with hefty showers involving cats, dogs and donkeys. So, a bit of footy and cricket [thank you Australia], as background to some more modelling.

 Phoenix has taken quite a while to paint, because no sooner did I tidy up a bit of black then was noticing cream and/or red then needed attention. After that, it needed its name adding, along with the number plates.

 The latter, being Number 11, was readily made from bits of plastic sheet and strip. My Slater's plastic numbers fret has become rather brittle, so just as well only '1's are needed, followed by a red background then brass coloured paint for the raised bits. Lettering is from a set of transfers that have been lurking in a folder for many years. Unfortunately, each letter has a significant carrier film which can be seen in some lighting conditions. 

 Couplings and weathering are still missing & Phoenix got pretty filthy at times, so that is something I'll need to psyche myself up for.

 Something else that needed finishing off while the paints were out are two 'red vans'. These were ex Clogher vehicles, used with the Railcars. Mine are resin cast bodies I did several years ago, mated to Branchlines wagon chassis. Have fitted larger wheels, as per Donegal practice, because they initially didn't ride well on the CVR 2 foot ones, especially at the much higher speeds involved.

 Lettering is just white gel pen and again, couplings and weathering are yet to be applied. These vans only went up to number 23, so given my two have different strapping to ones seen in photos, have given them 24 and 25.

Edited Sunday at 16:26 by David Holman

[jhb171achill]

Mighty stuff indeed - as usual!