Take Three

Having managed a very minor refresh on my recent scratchbuilt i/c loco, I was enthused to carry out some rebuild work on another older O9 loco and after some thought the Shifting Sands workhorse, No.3, has emerged from the workshops resplendent in yellow livery for the first time in about 20 years.

I outlined No.3's history (Come in number 3) at the time of her last overhaul 12 years ago (The New Look No 3). When I first completed her in 2004 she was painted yellow and I always felt that at some stage I would restore that colour scheme, despite all the subsequent changes over the years. Back in January I dismantled the locomotive back to component parts and gave everything a bath in Dettol to begin the paint stripping process. 

After nearly 48 hours in the Dettol bath, the majority of the paint was gone. As the 2012 paint job was applied over the 2005 one, from outside in there was a layer of Dullcote, Citadel acrylic, primer, Railmatch varnish, Halfords topcoat and primer - it is hardly a surprise it took so long! One victim at this stage was the Black Dog casting used as a handbrake lever in the cab, an old break that had been reinforced with brass wire. I could have fixed this but...

...my intention was to enclose the cab and you wouldn't really see it, therefore it was removed, fixed, and used where it could be seen in the newer locomotive. The whole of the door-opening cab side was removed from the cab and replaced with a new fabrication. This did not follow the door position of the 2005 cab side but looked "right". At this stage I also shortened the main frames as the long front overhang always had the effect of making the bonnet look thinner than it already was. The cab and bonnet were moved forward and adjustments made within the cab. Where necessary all joints in materials were re-filled and sanding ready for a fresh coat of primer.

A coat of grey primer was followed by masking up for a coat of white primer in the areas to be painted yellow. The yellow was sprayed with Halfords 'Broom Yellow' and touched in with Vallejo Flat Yellow where necessary. The underframe was sprayed matt black and then over-painted with Vallejo Black Grey, the same colour being used on the various grilles on the bonnet. The cab interior is a lighter grey and a new brake lever has been added, created from an Airfix/Dapol mineral wagon handbrake lever.

Painting was concluded with a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, after which the task of adding the smaller detail parts was carried out, including an open sliding window on the cab side, a nod to the original 2004 model. The exhaust, headlights and air horns retain their original finish and the number plates were cleaned up prior to refitting with matt varnish. Lead window strip weights, removed prior to paint stripping, were reinstated to both body and underframe, where the primer from the previous rebuild was still visible as seen above.

I'm really happy that I have made this much progress in just two months. There is a little weathering to do to complete the model, this will largely be around the underframe area and the plan is to be as subtle as possible, although a workhorse it is still a miniature railway locomotive rather than an uncared for industrial machine. 

Colin

Re-roofing the 'Romneys' - Completion

Just a quick update, some warmer weather a few weekends ago allowed access to the workshop at at reasonable temperature so the new 'Romney' roofs were primed, painted and varnished.  Following this they were fixed into position on the coaches and lightly weathered.

I'm very impressed with how these roofs have turned out, given that in the past I have not been confident to use the Dapol/Hornby surface as it came due to the problem of hiding the joins.  However, I've managed to loose them well on these (I put this down to employing a little more patience in rubbing down and re-filling), so these may form the prototype for future roofing work.

Colin

Re-roofing the 'Romneys'

Moving on from straightening out the roofs of the Exmoor-style coaching stock, the next job for winter tinkering is to address the problems with the roofs on the coaches known as the 'Romneys'.  Although RH&DR in style, they actually owe their origins to the work of Clive Mortimer and his planned 'Great Ouse Valley Railway'.  There were actually several of these coaches, mostly shell-only, and three, no.s 9-11 were selected for rebuild back in 2005/6.  Here is no. 10 ready for paint in Feb 2006:

From this picture the construction of the roof is all apparent, chopped about Hornby/Dapol brake van roofs covered with tissue secured with solvent.  So much solvent that six years later the result is seen on no. 11:

It's a bit wibbly-wobbly along the edges and starting to bow upwards at the ends.  The only solution is new roofs, these have been built using the same materials as the originals but with the split in sections moved over one of the doors.  There will be no tissue paper cover this time, one of the reasons back in 2005/6 was to hide my bad cleaning-up of the roof sections of their rainstrips and chimney.  I think I have made a better effort this time, please excuse the typex in use as filler as a final fill over the join, this will of course be smoothed back before painting:

Things may slow down at this point as it is minus 3 degrees in the workshop and not exactly the time to be spraying primer.  Luckily, these coaches were semi-retired some time ago so there is no hurry!

Colin

The New-Look No.3

As previously discussed, the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway workshop crew's winter project has been a rebuild and repaint of diesel No.3.  Here she is after the attention of the paintshop staff:

The main colour is Games Workshop/Citadel 'Regal Blue'. I had contemplated keeping the chassis in dark grey as before but eventually chose dirty black with red headstocks for visibility.  All painting was achieved with acrylics (other than some red enamel used as an undercoat) and the varnish is Citadel 'Purity Seal', which despite some of my recent issues went on fine....

The new driver (just) fits in the cab, I had to remove part of the false ceiling to get his head in!  The old detailing bits, lights, exhaust etc have been re-used without change, however the numberplates are new, being old Jackson-Evans etches.

Around the other side the cab window has lost it's dividers and is now a single piece.  The van is a recent quickie build using a spare Black Dog Mining under frame and some Parkside Dundas 4mm scale van doors. The pointed roof is just to be different!  It isn't really an SMR vehicle and makes no.3 look quite industrial, but that is not intentional.....

Well, that's about where the workbench breaks up for Christmas, any ideas of a holiday project are just that, ideas, as there seems to be an endless list of other activities to be involved in!  So to all readers of O9 Modeller, have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year.  I'm not yet sure what 2013 brings, but I can sense change in the air.....

Colin

Come in number 3....

....your time for overhaul is here!

You have to feel a little sorry for nameless SMR no. 3, clearly the workhorse of the fleet with a somewhat up and down existence, as the pictures below will show.  The Kato chassis underneath is often borrowed to try under new build locos, and quite frankly the cracks were starting to show, especially one in the main frames. A long overdue overhaul was in order, but first, a history lesson from the 'Shifting Sands' archives.

No. 3 (because it was the third O9 loco I built), came into my hands from Clive Mortimer, a well known scratchbuilder of 4mm scale diesels, many of the rarer designs that the ready-to-run manufacturers are only just starting to see the benefit of.  Clive had visions of the 'Great Ouse Valley Railway', a Romney style outfit in the east of England.  This loco, and several coaches, were the only manifestations of it in O9, but he later restarted work in 12mm scale on OO gauge track.  One day his vision may come to fruition!

No. 3 arrived without any form of chassis, and I quickly put together a frame to fit around a Roco HOe mechanism.  I had to add bonnet side extensions to cover the motor:

Painted bright yellow, the loco gained the nickname 'Yellow Perril', hardly original but it suited!  There then followed my period of O9 indecision, where I almost gave up, started making static models and dioramas, then changed my mind.... By this point, I had altered the side frames to show the Roco ones underneath, but the chassis moved on to another loco (as seen here), and a dummy chassis featuring 4mm scale wagon axleboxes was built.  A bit Lister-like if anything:

After I had restarted work and was planning what became 'Shifting Sands', the loco had fallen into disuse and was eventually given an rebuild that featured many new parts.  The chassis frame was from Knightwing components (and had been built on-spec for another project), whilst the cab sides were a pair built initially for 'Jay' but replaced on the final model.  At this stage only the bonnet front and top, cab front and rear are the original parts, the rest was new build and replica:

With the varnish yellowing the coat of blue paint worn after the rebuild, and the cracked frame to repair, it was clear that the overhaul would need a repaint to go with it.  What was unexpected was that the cab would be modified again to an open doorway, inspired by 'Redgauntlet' at New Romney (which I suspect inspired Clive in the first place).  So here we are, awaiting the paint shop, where the colour will again be blue but the shade darker, pretty much the colour she arrived in:

Opening the cab up meant a new interior and new driver, as the old one had been compromised to fit over the Kato chassis.  I'll get a picture of the new recruit (the usual Preiser airman mash-up) posted soon, but needless to say, with it being Movember, he has a 'tash!

Colin

The Test of Time

'Shifting Sands', my O9 representation of a seaside miniature railway, has not operated in over 18 months, in fact I can't think when it was last operated before it went to Cleethorpes for display in 'Rails to the Sands' during 2010.  Although the layout has been home for the best part of two months, I have not had the opportunity to carry out any test running due to other commitments.  However, on Christmas Eve time came into my hands and I was able to remove the layout's cover and see what was what.  Barring a couple of loose scenic items, quickly fixed, there was no damage to the layout and a visual check of the wiring confirmed all was OK.  Out came the stockbox and after an initial quick 'one loco in steam' check, other items emerged to be "tested"...

Operating 'Shifting Sands' perched on it's box-cover on the future  nursery floor.

The layout itself performed faultlessly, I didn't even have to clean the track as 'Shifting Sands' rails have been coated in graphite (from an artists pencil), a trick well known to members of the Gnatterbox Gn15 forum to improve electrical conductivity and reduce the need for cleaning rails and wheels.  There are some cons to this method but nothing that affects a small, level layout such as this.  Some of the loco fleet did require a drop of 'Electrolube' in places to improve their performance, but after a while all was running well.  Sadly the light wasn't too good that close to floor level in the evening and the resultant photos aren't shareable here.

However, a second running session today in daylight has allowed a few more shots to be attempted, and also allowed a different selection of stock to be operated, including some from my 'O9 Heritage Collection' that aren't always seen in operation.

'Intrepid' with coaches built by Clive Mortimer for his 'Great Ouse Valley' project.

What have always been known as the "Romney's" on 'Shifting Sands' are in fact coaches started by prolific scratchbuilder Clive Mortimer for a project called the 'Great Ouse Valley Railway', which Clive started but decided not to pursue several years ago.  I was gifted his half started coaches and finished three of them off, with a lot of rebuilding, as the initial enclosed stock for the layout.  Later replaced in service by my own scratchbuilt stock, these coaches are now showing a few signs of ageing such as warping roofs and a few knocks and chips in the paint.  I am in two minds whether to repair them or conserve them as heritage items!

'Thunderbolt', my first conventional O9 steam loco, with Owen Ryder/Avalon Line coach.

My Owen Ryder/Avalon Line 'Ratty' coach is perhaps a little on the big side for 'Shifting Sands' as it is wider and longer than the home-brewed open coaches, but it is of importance to me in terms of O9 history as it represents the early commercial period and a prototype vehicle as well.  It isn't as smooth on it's bogies as the  stock running on MicroTrains trucks, and has therefore not seen as much service as other coaches.  'Thunderbolt' had become overshadowed by my Pacific 'King George VI' in recent layout appearances, but this simple Bachmann conversion should not be overlooked as a source of scale-outline miniature railway motive power.

And finally....

'Pandora' in the dunes.

I could not resist this shot of 'Pandora' in the headshunt by the dunes.  Happy days....