Bodgers and fiddlers

[Les1952]

Great work there Les! Never one to turn down the chance to see some A3s in action - even if they are in the wrong livery/period!  I've got a few to do myself, Humorist is a must in 1930's condition (double chimney and LNER livery!). I'm also tempted to try and backdate one into original Gresley A1 condition...

Crossed topics I know, but the only thing that really gives that Minitrix break composite away (other than the slightly faded look - prototypical) is the lack of the waist lining. Otherwise it really looks the part in front of those Dapol Gresleys.  Did you repaint that one? If so cracking job!

I did try to persuade Dave when he was still at Dapol that Humorist with double chimney in LNER green should be in batch three of the A3s, together with Manna, even if only to give him an excuse to say Dapol has goog Mannas.....

The brake is a Minitrix, repainted by my son (AKA Mr Simon).  Somewhere he has another one or two Gresleys with brass sides and Dapol chassis, but in blood and custard.  I will line it eventually- no coach lining in stock so it will have to wait until my next order from Fox.

More bodged A3s include one bought as an NQP from Dapol.  I have reattached the dropped valve gear and araldited it in place, so it runs well.  Originally a Flying Fox it has swapped its boiler with a Colorado.  I replaced the single chimney with a whitemetal one from BHE, which is too thin, and the resultant loco represents Colorado as it was between getting a double chimney and acquiring blinkers and an A4 boiler.   As it isn't a real NER  allocated loco it is spare, in case another needs a replacement motor.  The other hal;f of the swap is now 60088 Book Law.

Some of the A3s will be out at Grantham Railshow in September, the layout isn't big enough to run all nine......

All the very best.
Les

[Stevie DC]

Les,

Such a shame that Humorist has so far not made an appearance with Dapol, an unusual member of the class in LNER days and one that could easily be done using Dapol's existing tooling. 

Your son has a real talent at doing bits and pieces like that (I do follow him on RMWeb, especially when he models proper eras!). Actually, I think I met him briefly at TINGS a couple of years ago (doing demos on the N Gauge stand), unfortunately the penny didn't drop until I got home. Please pass on my best regards.

I've been looking at the potential of boiler swapping as I really would like a model of Flying Scotsman is c.1930's condition. My thoughts would be to take the Dapol Flying Scotsman and swap the boiler with Papyrus. I'd need to carefully file of the super heater covers and move the steam pipe to the other side of the boiler as a minimum. Luckily the A3's green seems to be a good match for Precision's 'LNER Doncaster Green' so some careful patching up of the paintwork should be possible. The bango domed boiler can then be mated with the rest of Papyrus to create Spearmint (which I think was the first of the last batch of A3s built). While I'm at it, I think I'll have the rivets off the smoke box door, fine for the BR era but not appropriate for LNER days (tooling restrictions, I'm guessing).

Going slightly off topic, it's interesting how Dapol's three LNER green classes all have a different shade of Green, even the newer batches. You'd have thought that they would have standardised on one colour by now... 

[Wingman mothergoose]

Going slightly off topic, it's interesting how Dapol's three LNER green classes all have a different shade of Green, even the newer batches. You'd have thought that they would have standardised on one colour by now... 

Actually not that different from the real thing, depending on where the loco was painted/repainted the shades of green could differ quite a bit. And it wasn't uncommon for the paint to fade after a period of time.

Chris

[Stevie DC]

Actually not that different from the real thing, depending on where the loco was painted/repainted the shades of green could differ quite a bit. And it wasn't uncommon for the paint to fade after a period of time.

Chris

Chris, good point! A lot of the paints were mixed at the various works so colour shades could vary also, paint pigment wasn't the best back that so, as you say, faded quickly. Even so, I am left wondering about how this makes sense to an RTR manufacturer. Either way, this is taking things a long way off topic from the original post.

Back on topic, I've got another C11 chassis to 'bodge' into an LNER 2-6-0 tender type! 

[Les1952]

Les,

Such a shame that Humorist has so far not made an appearance with Dapol, an unusual member of the class in LNER days and one that could easily be done using Dapol's existing tooling. 

Your son has a real talent at doing bits and pieces like that (I do follow him on RMWeb, especially when he models proper eras!). Actually, I think I met him briefly at TINGS a couple of years ago (doing demos on the N Gauge stand), unfortunately the penny didn't drop until I got home. Please pass on my best regards.

I've been looking at the potential of boiler swapping as I really would like a model of Flying Scotsman is c.1930's condition. My thoughts would be to take the Dapol Flying Scotsman and swap the boiler with Papyrus. I'd need to carefully file of the super heater covers and move the steam pipe to the other side of the boiler as a minimum. Luckily the A3's green seems to be a good match for Precision's 'LNER Doncaster Green' so some careful patching up of the paintwork should be possible. The bango domed boiler can then be mated with the rest of Papyrus to create Spearmint (which I think was the first of the last batch of A3s built). While I'm at it, I think I'll have the rivets off the smoke box door, fine for the BR era but not appropriate for LNER days (tooling restrictions, I'm guessing).

Going slightly off topic, it's interesting how Dapol's three LNER green classes all have a different shade of Green, even the newer batches. You'd have thought that they would have standardised on one colour by now... 

Yes, Simon does have talent- he gets his artistic sense from me and his ability to make something using it from his mother- dyspraxia if genetic hasn't gone down a generation.   I was also on the stand that year at TINGS.  I don't know whether you'll be released from TINGS this year long enough to do RMWeb Live at Coventry, but Simon is with me on Furtwangen Ost.

Release three of the A3s hasn't happened yet, though I did float Manna and Humorist with the new team also.  Too late for me with Manna- another bodge of mine, this time just a straight renumbering but not reduced to full Gateshead grot.   By the time I first got to talk with Dave about A3s the superheater header was already part of the boiler moulding, and although we talked about doing it, by then it was already too late to make it and the bits for right-hand drive separate parts.  I was one of the very lucky few to see the CAD and the black prototype before it was announced.  Have you managed to get the dome off a dapol A3 intact?  I mangled the sigle chimney on Colorado trying to remove it to swap over, which is why I ended up with the whitemetal one.



Just a bit of a shame that the Jackson Evans nameplates aren't quite the same radius as the splashers, it allows glue to seep through the gap before it sets.

Thinking of bodging and bits- any market for 3D printed cab doors to fit standards?  Talking to N-gauge Bob this morning he has the same problem as me, doors breaking off Dapol 9Fs, and other Standard tender engines not having them to start with.  Or is it really something better bodged up using Evergreen strip? 

All the very best
Les

[EtchedPixels]

The thought of etched brass loco kits fills me with dread. I don't think I could ever make one. Let alone know where to start.

You start with the first one, then the second, then the third, and by about the fifth you are on a roll. At that point you unsolder 1-3 (or put them in a very hot oven while the wife is out) and rebuild them.

There are better things to start with - etched buildings, containers etc.

Alan

[Newportnobby]

(or put them in a very hot oven while the wife is out)

I never thought of putting my wife in a hot oven