[berth44]

Just think how many words when I gets me Deltic!!..incidentally,I've tried two more Emails to the UK..still no reply.........I got my CR card statement....I bought and paid for it on December the 9th....153 quid, my' B in L' got it 3 days later!!...Dave.

[SkyFire]

Time for a strong email I think.

[berth44]

I'm trying Anthony,but you got to tread carefully with relatives,it's just annoying the crap out of me is this deadly silence so is!, surely it has been 'posted',but is it on a plane, or a boat??,why am I not being told..I can't figure................
The wife cares not a jot,I've asked her to phone HER brother,but she's washed her hands of it..typical really,just what I expected,cause she hates my hobby with a vengence,so, just think how my recent activities are affecting her!!, a layout in my garage??,"****!!!" I should be so lucky!!
Anyhoo,I know I should not rabble on, I love my wife (and my 'B in L') I should just shut up and wait, but why am I so unlucky??,I scored a Deltic,( the joy of it!!)and you and Phil know just how much I wanted one,I was desperate even!!,but it's the 'not knowing' where it is that's annoying me, it's an unfortunate fact that the 'PO' are known to 'loose' stuff(one for you,one for me!!) this my friends worries me (especially over Xmas) and I don't need that!
I can only live in HOPE,will the PO come through and deliver?,or is my boat going to conveniently sink??
"""If""" I'm a loser out of this, I'll be M-A-D,(so sad) and why should'nt I be?,is there anything I can do?,,,,,,in a word 'Zilch!!'I know one thing though,I will not get a chance to buy another 'Deltic', not because of the cost, it will be because of a loss of 153 quid,and to go for it again, "naw" once bitten!! I will have lost the trust in the 'PO', unless my goods are registered from the 'other side'...and there my friends lies the question,"why did I not specify to my brother in law,(because of the high value)I'd like it registerd Roy", the truth?,he offered to post it,"look he said, you kept us for 5 weeks over there, postage?,don't be daft brother,ah'll attend tae that!",that probably saved me 50 bucks, but, it'll the personal loss that will hit me more.
Anyhoo, hoo, tonight it might be there waiting on me,I'll be 'positive' in my thinking and trust in the 'system' for the time being.... I live in hope, but would it would have been nice to be informed of when and by what means it was sent??

[bluedot0]

It will arrive without doubt.....but as you say your hands are tied and not knowing the details is very unsporting......I would have thought the BnL would have made some form of contact with you.....I'll pray to the god of model railways for you.......Phil

[berth44]

Ok, did a wee bit more on the 'Princess' last night,emphasising the 'wee' Mostly it was just looking and thinking,this is what I did.
From the depths my 'South Africa' box,I found a pair of front steps, a fret (Nic/Sil) of coupling parts + a 'plastic link' coupling, a vac /pipe and 4 handrail knobs..yip, just 4...that was a shame,I could have used a whole heap more of them!
Anyhoo, the steps were metal, probably ex Hornby-Dublo (removed from a loco), simple work here, a bit of Nic/Sil strip was found and cut to form a couple of brackets that I bent at right angles, I then glued one to each step and these in turn to the underside of the front footplate (just behind the bufferbeam).
Straight forward stuff there, same thing for the coupling hook, removed one off the fret plus a 'bracket stiffenener' (this is an item that is bolted to the real loco bufferbeam through which the coupling hook/drawbar goes) It is very small in model form but I managed to superglue it centrally to the bufferbeam , I drilled through it's wee 'slot' and through the bufferbeam wiff a wee drill then slipped in the 'hook/drawbar' and onto that went the plastic link coupling (it's temporary,and fragile,I'll eventually replace it with a metal one).
We're getting there folks,'slowly', over the footplate steps I drilled the holes for the grab handles and a hole was centrally drilled through the smokebox door to take the yet to be made up 'dart'.
Using one of the 'knobs' I passed a tiny brass eyelet through it's hole and trimmed that to form the outer 'handle' Another eylet was trimmed and twisted round the 'knob' to form the inner 'handle' ,it looks the part, but the outer 'handle' needs to be a fraction longer, if I cant get it off, I'll make a new dart, still got 3 knobs left!!(aint I lucky,the man with 3 knobs!!)
I'm nearly done now,there are a couple of 'details' that I've added need to be altered, a battery box is required, this'll be made from 'plasticard' (AWS, down on the left side situated on the running plate, right on the cabin front, but not fixed to) After that,she should be ready for its new coat of green and new identity, '46203,The Princess Margaret Rose'...Dave

[berth44]

Thanks Phil for praying......Dave

[berth44]

The 'battery box is on the right side!! oops...Dave

[bluedot0]

It's amazing what you find in those little boxes of bits that lie around in the shed......any news on the Deltic.......Phil

[berth44]

Yip,for sure Phil,this wee box from my dear departed mate has been a saviour,it's full of goodies,you need that tiny wee nut and bolt..it's there, there's old style carbon (Tri-ang), along with the 'newer' tiny little mothers for them thar CAN motors, and then there is 'and and and and and'..heaps 'n' heaps!!.....and at the bottom of the box, wait for it??...wee rubbish bins....(Peco) with lids, and then, 'behold!!'...up in the loft, there's more boxes from 'SA' , I have'nt been into them for years!..I'm thinking there might be some goodies..".Hmmmm???",methinks, it'll be worth a wee 'rummle'...........Dave.

Ps, I was not going to mention......"The.....D.....e.....l......t.....i.....c"......."Naw".....just have to take my mind off it,be resolved to the fact that I wont be getting it anytime soon...sigh

[berth44]

Quick update, the 'Crimson' has been painted out on the 'Princess Helena',so for the time being it does not exist! All the mods have been completed on the body,but I'm not quite 100% satisfied with some of my work! (I'll gladly admit that I messed it up!!) so that's got to be fixed before my 'seal' of approval!!
The nameplates for the above and 'City of Stoke on Trent' have not arrived yet from the UK, hopefully that will be soon and I can complete all the afore mentioned work on my 'Staniers'
Lastly,the '4th' Stanier ''Duchess of Gloucester" has a lot of work to do on her before she's a 'runner', that will happen when I clear my bench of all the other 'stuff!'...Dave

[berth44]

Brush painted all the 'black' areas on the Princess,it still requires some 'touching up' but she's starting to look a wee bit better.....Dave

[berth44]

The above 'did' look OK until I decided it required more 'finishing off' and another coat of green, to cut a long story short,I messed it up, I over done the rubbing down, ending up with two nasty 'grooves' having used a 'mechinical tool' to do the work!! I had to use a filler to fix that,then more sanding (hand) more 'undercoat' and another 'air brushing in green, but I just could not get the air brush to work properly and I'm quite disgusted with the finish..carelessness more or less I think on my part, resulting in this dreadful..... 'work' ...cough cough!!
So, there ye go, even the best of us have real off days!!...and then (da ra) to make things even worse, I got my 'nameplates' from the UK for City of Stoke-on -Trent and The Princess Helena Victoria,or so I thought, but instead of the later, I had ordered another set for 'The Margaret Rose'..I'm definately not with it!!
Anyhoo,I had already changed the running numbers on the 'City' by simply removing the last two digits of 46234 on the cabside by gently rubbing them out with my finest 'wet &dry',then using numbers from my old (and I mean old!!) HRMS (set 14) I replaced these digits,and it's a perfect match!! (phew,somethings gone right for me!!) The new nameplates were put in place and the smokebox plate as well.
All this loco needs now,as far as detailing and finishing off is concerned, a tie bar between the loco and tender and some work is needed to fix 'daylight' between the trailing truck and the 'ash pan'.....Dave

[berth44]

I've removed all the paint from the above.......the hard way..rubbing down..and scraping it off with my finger (thumbnail!!)...it was a bad job,I now put it down to my air brushes...cough cough!!
It looks an absolute disaster at the moment, I'm hoping that once re-painted with this 'new' airbrush it'll be right...........Dave (Mr Disaster!!)

[berth44]

Update,looks like 'dead stop' on this one, cannot locate parts!!..Dave

[SkyFire]

Bugger.