[berth44]

Don't think 'C of T' will be in todays mail.....Bugger..........Dave

[bluedot0]

Number 14, it's a gloss.......Phil

[bluedot0]

But it's not a spray can....Phil

[berth44]

You reckon it's what I need Phil??, if it is I'll air brush it on..Dave

[berth44]

City of Truro arrived today,"Wow" she's a wee beaut! On close inspection, all is good,but the 'opening smokebox' seems to have a wee problem,looks like a 'hinge' (wire?) has come loose, but I can't see it here at work,I need my magnifiers to see what's going on with it. I'm not fussed on it anyway, even if I do or don't fix it,'I'll secure it 'shut' with 'blue tac' or something, it's a useless novelty I reckon, too fragile for my big fingers to play with!!

The model requires a lot of 'tender handling' some parts being very fragile and Backmann even supply spare (tender) 'hand winding handle thingies (X2) for what I think is for the handbrake and waterscoop,there's also a pair of fixing "pole thingies' for the tarpolin (not supplied) for the protection of the 'real' loco crew.

A 'spare' front bogie frame (no wheels) is supplied so that the model can be run without the front coupling, a good touch, but weird, all you've really got to do is not fit the coupling that's in the 'bag of goodies' and cut off the 'NEM' fitting from the front of the bogie that's already fitted, you have to cut off the same fitting from the spare one anyway...weird!!

All the aforementioned stuff ( in the 'bag of goodies') plus there's more stuff to add!, etched name and nunber plates and work plates(the cabside plates don't have the inner red lining which is quite prominent on the printed ones) The tender has an adjustable draw bar for making it easy for the fireman, mind you, the screw is directly under the fist wheel axle,very hard to get at!.

Still with the tender, I don't like this arrangement that they (Backmann) have with the draw bar,(fitted to the loco) when handled and turned 'upside down' it comes off it's 'locator' on the tender and the two separate, resulting in pulling on the connecting wires and it'll also knock off the brake rigging out of it's fixing points as well....as I found out!!

I will fix this with no cutting or breaking of any of the original parts quite simply, but it'll be fiddly no doubt! I also thought for a model at this price,and with such high detail expectations, you would think the tender brakes would have been in line with the wheels, but only a 'blob' to represent the brakes is moulded directly to the brake rod arms,very noticeable on this type of tender! I was also very surprised to find that the buffers are not 'sprung',you would have thought they would have been!!

Lastly, I 've said what 'seems' a lot,(it is really!!!) but overall, it's still quite a brilliant model, paint finish is great, but a bit fuzzy on the 'GWR' logo on the tender, seems the wording on the printed plates is the same,"but a canny read that!!" I'm glad to own one never the less, just too bad I paid as much for it...........Dave

[SkyFire]

Bought another loco off Rails.

Great Western 0-4-0 Class 101 1835 - 2010 Locomotive - Limited Edition of 1835

railsofsheffield.com/great-western-0-4-0-class-101-1835-2010-locomotive-limited-edition-of-1835-r2957-JJJA15137.aspx

[bluedot0]

Well your the only kid on the block with one...........Phil

[berth44]

Oh Anthony, I would not buy one of those if it were only limited to two!!...'Orrible lookin' wee thing!..sorreeeeeeeeee.............Dave

[berth44]

That's possibly true Phil? I did some farting about with it last night...I fixed the smokebox door 'hinge', it was only a type of doubled over tiny pin that fitted to the door and into a wee hole, done in two minutes!
Next the tender problem, I slipped the loco and tender a bit closer using the fixing screw, it is really quite easy to get to. Then I thought about the connection,for that I looked to the 'Arizona', and I cut off a bit of 'thinnish' plastic sprue, drilled a hole through it's centre, roughly the same size as the locating pin for the draw bar, connected loco to tender and gently forced the 'sprue' onto the 'pin',then I cut it with my snips when it was on tightly to the draw bar,but not as tight she wouldn't move...perfect, now it does not fall off..my 7F (2-8-0 S&D) is exactly the same,and now I have a simple solution,it's next!!
I next glued the couplings and vac pipes in place and on the 'replacement bogie' I cut off a snippet from the square section 'NEM' pocket that the seller had kindly cut off and left in the bag, this was trimmed as was the bogie front to accept this part as a 'plug', so now there is no hole showing, plus it needs no painting!!
So now it's looking way better and has become a firm favourite, once the 'brass' plates are fitted plus a crew, it's going to be 'Wow....Wow' on the factor of 10..this boy is very happy, now, does it go??, I'm about to go and find out!!
Lastly,comparing the '50' year old Airfix kit boiler to the Backmann,all the bit's match up,except for one huge glaring,hit you in the face 'thing'..the Airfix boiler is some 4mm shorter,but only on the smokebox ahead of the chimney,funny thing, the loco frame is spot on!! So, that's a add in, or completely new smokebox for the 'Airfix' model, I wonder how many noticed that!!......Dave

[bluedot0]

Now thats the sort of engine they give away "free" Anthony........
"orrible little bugger".....

Working on her already Dave, the boiler hasn't gone cold yet from traveling here.....Phil

[berth44]

"C of T" runs like a wee sweety, nice to see that outside motion!!..Dave

[bluedot0]

I'm glad to hear your happy with it.......Phil

[berth44]

Very Happy Phil, and, my Class 101 Hornby DMU(with 'Whiskers!') came today, all the way from Exceter....Australia!! I'm very pleased with this 3 car unit, it is of course the old Lima one 'updated' by Hornby by the way of a 5 pole motor, nothing else I don't think!
It still has the big 'ugly Lima' couplings, I'll probably just remove the front ones and add bufferbeam detail, I'll leave the ones joining the unit together for the time being.
This unit is miles better than the old Tri-Ang ones that I have, so they will be getting packed away out the road never to see the light of day again,but I suppose the were OK on their day!!
This unit is in no way parfect, not up to todays standards anyway, but it does capture this class very well,the printed on 'whiskers' and the 3 lines of 'yellow' lining is just perfect!! If I can source detailing for the engines and all the undercarriage running gear, it just might be enough to make it just that wee bit special to me!!
Whether Hornby upgrade the unit even further, or Backmann bring out a new one, who knows?, but this is a fine unit and will fit in nice with my others, just too bad it were not a Scottish unit, but that can happen, not today, way down the track!...when I actually have one!!!, meanwhile, it's just another for the collection........Dave

[berth44]

The 'Dapol Deltic' kit arrived from the UK yesterday, so it was a great day,class 101, Deltic, and the 'Coaling Tower!!' came as well, good things come in 3z!!!
A wee bit on the 'kit', it comes in a bag, not a box!, that's part of history now!! Opening the bag everything is moulded in grey plastic and there is a bit of 'flash' around, mainly in the 'front winscreen'(almost filling the things!!) this is a part of the 'nose section', this also had large 'flaps' of flash as well, easily removed, just shows the moulds age..50 years!!
On the whole it is still pretty good, well detailed,especially the cab!, and with the 'kit' you get a brief history of it's origin,once thought to be 'lost', the moulds had been misidentified as a steam loco!! 'Kitmaster' is clearly 'moulded' into the underside of the loco frame.
I thought I'd make a start on cleaning it up, flash all gone as are the heavily moulded lines for the nose whiskers and the striping on the side,just the one nose, one side, that was enough for the one evening!! These lines/stripes apparantly were only raised a fraction on the real thing,so I've not completely got rid of them, I'll see what the 'Fox Transfers' are like when the set arrives from the UK, I'll decide then if the lines will be gone completely!
This kit does not have a glazing sprue, Dapol appologised for this saying that this part of the 'tooling' was not there, so I must source this, I'll get onto "Howes Models" and order a glazing 'kit' and paint as well and any 'other' thing that I can think of when I'm at it!!(incidentally Phil, it's not 'French Blue' it's 'Deltic Blue"...what else??!!,I'm still going to check,cause I read it was 'FB'......somewhere!!)
Anyhoo, this looks like a 'fun' job, just got to think how I'm going to motorise it, some say a Lima class 37, but I'm sure I'll figure something out...just don't want to go to great expense in doing so!!
Lastly,the work bench is cleared (almost) in my garage, the fallen shelves are back up and I've found my air compressor, now, where's the frigging air brush!!....the class 31 will finally receive it's 'green livery as well...........Dave

[bluedot0]

Things are progressing, access to the workbench.....the signs are positive......Phil